Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl is a Supernatural Love Triangle
Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl shows what you get when lovestruck high schoolers with powers clash: Gallons of blood, utter insanity, and hilarious entertainment.
Written by James “Crypticpsych” Lasome
November 27, 2010
Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl Movie Trailer
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Release: August 15, 2009 (Japan), October 19, 2010 (US DVD)
Directed by: Yoshihiro Nishimura and Naoyuki Tomomatsu
Written by: Naoyuki Tomomatsu (screenplay) and Shungiku Uchida (manga)
Starring:
Yukie Kawamura as Monami/Vampire Girl
Eri Otoguro as Keiko/Frankenstein Girl
Takumi Saitô as Jyugon Mizushima
Kanji Tsuda as Kenji Furano
Jyugon (Saitô) has a problem. On the one hand, he has Keiko (Otoguro), the leader of the Lolita clique and the girl who believes she has claimed him for her own. On the other, he has Monami (Kawamura), the mysterious and quiet new exchange student. One Valentine’s Day morning, Monami gives Jyugon a chocolate as a sign of her feelings for him (a Japanese tradition). When Jyugon eats it, he goes into a hallucinatory state, during which he develops a bloodlust and can see people’s circulatory systems rather than their usual forms.
When he manages to suppress the visions later, he confronts Monami about the chocolate and discovers that its strange red filling was actually her blood, that she is a vampire, and that he is now a half-vampire. 
Monami begins pressuring him to drink a little more of her blood so that he may become a full vampire and her partner. Meanwhile, Keiko discovers Monami’s interest, though not her secret, and begins pressuring Jyugon about it and working to get back “her” man at all costs.
Meanwhile, Keiko’s father, the school science teacher and vice principal Kenji Furano (Tsuda), is, by day, a meek, daughter-spoiling nerd. By night, though, he dresses in the Kabuki style and works with the sexy school nurse toward attaining his dream of becoming his generation’s Dr. Frankenstein by experimenting on the student body. One day, the nurse accidentally comes upon a droplet of Monami’s blood and brings it to him. Through research, Furano realizes he may have finally found the secret to life itself since the blood reacts violently with regular blood. Now if only fate would provide him with the perfect test subject…
Just like when describing Nishimura’s previous solo movie Tokyo Gore Police, it’s not possible to describe this movie fully in a simple plot synopsis. For one thing, a little knowledge about Japanese culture before going in is necessary. In addition to the chocolate custom and the Lolita clique dressed in fashionable Victorian, we are talking about a movie featuring a clique in exaggerated blackface who worship Florence Griffith-Joyner and Barack Obama, an extreme, near-racist version of the Japanese Ganguro subculture that involves over-tanned, dark skin and unusual clothing.
The directors are also playing with some of the ideas seen in TGP again here such as the same epically gory style and multi-hyphenate genre 
tendency. In particular, it feels like an effective gory, action-packed relationship comedy with light amounts of horror coming from the experiments of Furano and the various forms of Frankenstein Girl. In addition, the society in which cutting is trendy is now a high school with a varsity wrist-cutting team (leading to a spectacularly gory championship scene). Not to mention that one of Monami’s powers is that, if she’s injured, she can harness her blood and use it as, or turn it into a, weapon, much like the ability of the other film’s engineers. Finally, Koh Nakagawa provides another brilliant score (one that’s appropriately more cheerful, sunny, and fun).
The acting in Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl is solid, if sometimes a little over-the-top. Kawamura’s Monami is particularly impressive, imbuing her minorly self-centered character with a sense of charm, naiveté, and vulnerability that helps the viewer identify with her and want her to be happy. Tsuda’s comical Kabuki version of Furano is good as well; although that performance goes a bit overboard at times. The directors also cast some brilliant cameos, including Eihi Shiina (from Tokyo Gore Police and Audition) as Monami’s mother in a flashback and Takashi Shimizu (Director of Ju-On: The Grudge and its American remake) as a funny, borderline-racist Chinese teacher who teaches the class the Chinese characters for “Ju-On” and praises his own films.
There are, however, a couple of flaws that keep Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl from reaching the same heights as TGP does. First and foremost, the reason TGP worked as well as it did for me was because of Nishimura’s balance between the serious and the darkly comic. Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl mostly spends its time in the comedic and bizarre alone. As a result, the film feels a little more out there than its predecessor and suffers a little, in terms of accessibility, from it. Also, while both films have outstanding practical effects and great, intense fight scenes, Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl uses a few more computer effects than TGP. While most of those do work well, a few come across a little overly cheesy.
At its core, Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl feels like what would happen if Twilight was handed over to Japan. On the whole, the two movies are nothing alike, but if you start at the most basic plot element, what one finds is a story in which a regular person is caught in a love triangle with two supernatural creatures. However, where Twilight is perpetually brooding, gloomy, and unnecessarily serious, this film is gifted with a whimsical atmosphere, entertaining fight scenes, over-the-top gore, great acting, an engaging story, and a generally cheerful color palette. It may go off the rails at times, but it mostly stays on track to give viewers one wild, bloody, original ride. Questions or comments about Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl? Discuss it on The Ossuary Forums!
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