Introduction
Conditions for Receiving Bounty: Bring the brain of a wanted criminal possessing illegal Somadea to the authorities.
Whether the target is alive or dead...is irrelevant.
The year is 2099. Humanity has advanced, overcoming all injuries and illnesses with the development of the Medical Android Technology "Somadea." However, along with the development of Somadea, crimes misusing said technology have rapidly increased.
Somadea grants physical abilities far superior to those of normal flesh and blood, and by illegally modifying it, Somadea can be misused for criminal purposes. To deal with these Somadea crimes, the government established the Bounty Hunter System. Civilians registered as bounty hunters are permitted to kill illegal Somadea users designated as wanted criminals by the police. In return, they are rewarded with large amounts of bounty money.
In this unforgiving world, Ubu Kamigori makes a living hunting down criminals as a bounty hunter. But one day, when she returns home from a job, she finds the man with whom she has a sordid history waiting there—Mr. Elegance. And so, her destiny begins to unravel.
A tale woven by mechanical girls and the smell of gunpowder smoke, this suspenseful action begins!
(Source: Aniplex of America)
Audience reviews
10 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
mailboxspiders
It's a well-animated story set in a futuristic world where a creepy older man and a gun-toting Lolita-type with impressive fighting abilities kill bad people for money.
Basically, what Yasuomi Umetsu seems to make nearly any time he's in the director's chair.
There's revenge, generic psychopathic cybernetic villains who can shoot bullets and missiles out of their arms, a creepy older man, and a gun-toting Lolita type with impressive fighting abilities who fight these generic psychopathic cybernetic villains who can shoot bullets and missiles out of their arms.
Don't worry, the movie beats you over the head with these facts, too.
Admittedly, most of these scenes really do look impressive, especially all the fluid movement in the fight scenes and the live-action-movie-inspired camera pan…
Read at the sourcefp264
A breathtaking short film well worth watching. The graphics are very beautiful and colorful, even though I wasn't particularly fond of the way the heroine was drawn at the beginning of the film.
The action is fairly well balanced throughout the story. It is quite violent and therefore not suitable for viewers of all ages.
I was genuinely surprised to see that in such a short amount of time, the filmmakers managed to develop interesting and engaging themes that leave you wanting to see what comes next.
The music is pleasant and accompanies the subject matter really well, adding an extra layer to the overall experience.
Read at the sourcedjtremix
Interesting, but feels more like a "concept" than a show
Overall Thoughts: I’d say this was pretty interesting. It’s not amazing, but there is definitely a lot of potential here. To be honest, it felt more like a high-budget promotional teaser than an actual short or movie. I just stumbled onto this after seeing a YouTube short and got curious. I really like the world they built, but the story felt like a bunch of brainstormed ideas rather than a finished script.
The Story
Like I said, the story is kind of all over the place. If this was meant to be a standalone thing, then yeah, there’s not much to talk about. But if they ever turned this into a full series with this level of animation? I’d definitely watch it. It just needs a lot more insight into what’s actually going on.
Animation
T…
Read at the sourceAeroGunz
“Virgin Punk: Clockwork Girl” is what happens when you have an interesting idea, a semi-decent execution but no time.
This OVA has more in common with “Kite” than “Kite Liberator” (its actual sequel) when it comes to writing and feel. Needless to say, I liked it. The story idea is right up my alley, the plot… yeah, here we have some problems.
Before we start I would like to explain something. I will be talking about “plot” and “story”. Many people use these terms interchangeably. I’m not one of those people, so to make sure everyone is on the same page…
PLOT is the surface-level events. What, when, where, how and why (externally) things are happening.
STORY is why (internally) things are happening and what internally happens to the character during the plot.
I’ll start with this. This s…
Read at the sourceTharr
Yeah, I don't get it anymore, what the problem is.. maybe now it will stick.
Btw, all my reviews are about quality, not enjoyment. The I liked/disliked this media is the wrong way to review something. For example, "I love this movie. Its the last one I watch with my grandpa, who was my hero"/"I dislike this movie, I watched it with my now ex-wife who cheated on me". I hope I made my point clear and there's no need to also include stuff like " what about if you dislike something, only to rewatch it again with some people around you (or maybe after you consume something special) and suddenly you like the movie. Only to rewatch it yet again a couple of years later and dislike it"?
Back to the main program. Visuals. The art style is decent enough. It has the vibe of the old classics, paired w…
Read at the sourceemberreviews
Virgin Punk: Clockwork Girl is, as of this moment, unfinished, and the vagueness with which the director talks about upcoming installments leaves me a bit puzzled as to how exactly I should talk about it. For now, I will roll with the assumption that there will be more. What we have now is essentially the first act and a bit of the second act to a full story, and it’s a decently engaging start. Ubu constantly getting the short end of the stick in life and seeing how she adapts to every adversity was a compelling watch, while the creepy and controlling Mr. Elegance contrasts her straightforward demeanor with an unsettling flair. It does rely pretty heavily on action movie logic for its more destructive moments, but that’s not a facet I’m especially ready to poopoo considering how strong sai…
Read at the sourceLv99_Mastermind
11/10 Product, 1/10 on transparency regarding the length of the product. You cannot advertise something as a film, list the runtime as a full 90 minutes, and then blueball everyone by cutting it at 35 minutes, leaving people with "behind the scenes" that you mention is "bonus content" that is nearly double the runtime of what you said was a movie. Even without knowing how phenomenal the episode would be before walking in, I likely would've still payed full price and shown up if somewhere, anywhere, it was mentioned that this was a short or OVA. Sure, I could've gone and deep-dived into the JP release and spoiled half the episode to see whether or not it was full-length, but it's not the consumer's responsibility to do that. It was trailered as a movie, listed as a movie, so like the dozens…
Read at the sourceSneakrfreak
A great anime that is captivating in story and also in animation. A professional bounty hunter who has skills, wit, and an appetite for revenge and redemption.
I was locked in from beginning to end. Only reason i did not score as high as other anime shown in theaters was the lack of screen time.
It is 30 minutes (episode 1) with an hour of interviews from yasuomi umetsu and SHAFT staff after.
In US, so expected a full run time movie, but got a taste of what could be. My own fault for not paying attention to other reviews wishing ‘it was longer,’ i thought it was purely anecdotal.
Nevertheless, this opened my eyes to viewing umetsu’s other works and becoming a new fan.
Still worth supporting, I was not disappointed in the actual performance, this is peak animation and great storyt…
Read at the sourceLoadfuzion
To start off, I'm aware that some audiences were surprised as to the short runtime of the "movie". For clarification for future audiences, this is more like an OVA attached to a documentary to suit theater runtime. The actual anime itself is roughly thirty minutes, so if you don't want to sit in a theater for what is effectively an anime pilot episode, I would suggest waiting for Blu-Ray or streaming
If you're at all familiar with Yasuomi Umetsu, Virgin Punk is very much a spiritual successor to both Kite and Mezzo Forte, that is to say gorgeous animation, grungy lolita cyberpunk, and a female MC who knows how to handle a gun. Ultraviolence, nudity, and gun porn is the name of the game, it's what Uemetsu has been doing for decades and he isn't stropping now. In many ways, Virgin Punk feel…
Read at the sourcekingpeep
No reviews, so here's one!
The main reason I went was Shaft, and I went in totally blind (relevant later).
Enter a world where humans can modify their bodies using "Somadea". This can be used to replace a limp arm or turn that same arm into a machine gun. Simple concept, the twist here being that the prostheses isn't allowed to connect to your brain, you feel no pain, no sweat, nothing.
We follow Ubu, an orphan who is forced into a bounty hunter life of capturing people who use their Somadea with evil intent. She's pretty good at her job, and without getting too deep into the twist, the action is exciting. Animation is excellent, all hand-drawn. The score is fantastic. The world-building, through background and dialogue, is beautiful. The plot is intriguing, the characters are engaging…
Read at the source