Mizuki (Yumeka Saski) is an infertile hooker who desperately wants a child. Left with no other options, she resorts to kidnapping a baby, and raises him as her own. Eight years go by, and a lonely convenience store owner named Tatsutoshi (Kazuhiro Sano) enters her life. They slowly fall in love and become a dysfunctional family unit. Tragedy strikes however, when Mizuki is killed in a car accident, forcing Tatsutoshi to bring up her son. Ten years later, the young man turns into a kidnapper himself, and things predictably end in tragedy yet again.
Let me get this out of the way first, Anarchy in (Ja)Panty is a fucking great title. The movie, of course, never comes close to living up to the title, but hey, with a title like that, what possibly could? Despite the awesome title, the tone is all over the place. Although technically a “pink” film, this is more or less a standard crime thriller with occasional detours into luridness. While it never quite comes together, the unique structure (not to mention the title) is enough to make it memorable.
Anarchy in (Ja)Panty runs a scant fifty-seven minutes, but even then, it’s heavily padded with long scenes of people playing ping pong. The gratuitous kaleidoscope effects in some scenes get pretty annoying too. However, there are a few WTF moments that help offset some of the stuff that doesn’t work. I liked the fact that Mizuki had a penchant for pissing on the side of the road whenever the inspiration took hold. There’s also a dude with diaper fetish that is pretty much only there for shock value. Some of this runs against the grain of the serious family drama, although the family drama isn’t quite strong enough to make the tragic finale work as well as it probably should’ve.
There’s a good chance that in time I’ll forget the ins and outs of the plot. However, there’s zero chance I’ll forget the title. So, at least Anarchy in (Ja)Panty has that going for it.
AKA: Anarchy in Japan-Suke.
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