BABY ASSASSINS 3 Review: A Killer Threequel That Thrills
BABY ASSASSINS 3 stars Akari Takaishi and Saori Izawa, and Sosuke Ikematsu
yugo sakamoto
BABY ASSASSINS 3: Win A Blu-Ray Copy Of The Smash Hit Action Threequel From Well Go USA!
The film arrives on digital and Blu-Ray on August 26!
BABY ASSASSINS 3: Well Go USA Completes The Trilogy With The Official Trailer
Coming to digital and Blu-Ray in August from WELL GO USA!
Fantasia XXVIII Review: Yugo Sakamoto’s BABY ASSASSINS: NICE DAYS Delivers Excitement, Emotion and Evolution
8.5 min. read Since I run a semi-popular martial arts cinema Instagram page and YouTube channel, when middle-aged men saddle into my DM’s and, with sticky fingers, pound out the phrase, “I like Japanese girls,” I like to think they’re referring to Chisato Sugimoto and Mahiro Fukagawa, the titular characters in the Baby Assassins franchise. This way, I retain a modicum of innocence and my sanity remains fully intact. Which is to say, they should be talking about Baby Assassins. In fact, everyone should be talking about Baby Assassins because they’re bloody great. As part of FANTASIA 2024, I was treated to a screener of the third film in the series; the oddly titled BABY ASSASSINS: NICE DAYS. Those not the familiar with the franchise, imagine the cuteness of anime girls combined with the mind-blowing action of the underrated Hydra. It’s a somewhat unusual mix that works so much better […]
BABY ASSASSINS: NICE DAYS Official Trailer Pits Two Assassins Against An Unbeatable Killer
Writer and director Yugo Sakamoto’s new action thriller is well on the way with Baby Assassins: Nice Days, now third in line to a franchise that is also still growing with an upcoming spin-off drama in the works as well. The film just awarded its helmer the coveted Daniel A. Craft Award For Excellence In Action Cinema and, as we speak, is screening for eager Fantasia Festival attendees this week. The film rejoins Saori Izawa and Akari Takashi for another run as buddying assassin duo Chisato and Mahiro, whose latest work-cation hire soon pits them against a seemingly unbearable assassin, played by none other than Sosuke Ikematsu (The Last Samurai, Killing). The film also stars Atsuko Maeda and Otani Mondo, along with a new high energy title track that now stands incumbent with the film’s forthcoming marketing. I loved this film, and it just so happens that contributing writer Shaun […]
NYAFF XXIII Review: In BABY ASSASSINS: NICE DAYS, A Killer Threequel That Thrills
8 min. read Thanks to its ubiquitous approach to action and comedy, crafted brilliantly between the artistic vision of filmmaker Yugo Sakamoto and his chosen action director, Kensuke Sonomura, the Baby Assassins movies stand to comprise one of the most fruitful franchises of modern action cinema today. To that end, you also have to credit Sakamoto’s lead casting choices with his A Janitor co-stars, Akari Takaishi and Saori Izawa, taking their pre-existing screen chemistry and applying it to the Baby Assassins universe. It is an original, and enriching world that has grown in four years, and continues to do so in a current total of now three features, the latest being Baby Assassins: Nice Days, which makes its World Premiere for the 23rd annual New York Asian Film Festival this month, ahead of a September release in Japan. Joining the franchise is a new character named Kaede (Sosuke Ikematsu). He […]
Streaming Sleepers: Kill Time With BABY ASSASSINS 2 Over At Hi-YAH!
The arrival of Baby Assassins 2 to the Hi-YAH! streamer couldn’t have come at a better time. With a spin-off series drama in the works and a third film already making the festival rounds, the Yugo Sakamoto-directed franchise remains one of the most popular of its kind with its energizing lead cast, quirky and off-beat humor, and stellar action that crackles with each gun battle and hand-to-hand fight scene. Well Go USA is the North American home to the franchise thusfar having already released the first two films on home media, as well as its adjacent streamer. The second film returns Akari Takaishi and Saori Izawa in the respective roles of Chisato and Mahiro, two coming-of-age guilded members of an assassin organization still struggling to live life responsibly while intercepting two rival assassins from another company, played by Tatsuomi Hamada and Joey Iwanaga. Read my review for the film by […]
BABY ASSASSINS Is Getting A Killer Dozen Episodes For TV Tokyo Later This Year
A twelve-episode series is in order at TV Tokyo for a continuation of the Baby Assassins franchise. Actors Akari Takaishi and Saori Izawa will reprise their roles as portrayed in the current films from writer/director Yugo Sakamoto. The announcement comes off the heels of the teaser for the third and latest feature installment, Baby Assassins: Nice Days, which arrives on September 27 in Japan. According to the film’s official website, the series will broadcast in the weeks leading up to the film’s release. In addition to Sakamoto, who is penning and directing the show, action director Kensuke Sonomura (Hydra, Bad City) will set the stage for the show’s action sequences. Plot details remain under wraps, as does the show’s broadcast plans outside Japan. 2021’s Baby Assassins became a mid-pandemic hit, following the killer exploits of two highly-skilled assassins, high school girls, Chisato, and Mahiro. Their resolve is tested upon gradutation when […]
BABY ASSASSINS 3 Goes Surpisingly Dark In Its First Teaser Trailer!
If you’re an action cinema fan and you haven’t been living under a rock for the last few years, you’ve probably heard of the Baby Assassins films. Currently one of Japan’s finest exports, the series has balanced quirky comedy with slick fight choreography (courtesy of one of the best in the industry right now, Kensuke Sonomura), which is why action junkies were shocked when the teaser for BABY ASSASSINS 3 dropped. There looks to be a distinct lack of their trademark comedy this time around. It feels much darker in tone and dare I say that the film might have more action? Check out the teaser and the first poster below. Yugo Sakamoto returns to the director’s chair and, of course, Saori Izawa and Akari Takaishi return as the titular assassins. Baby Assassins 2 is currently out on Blu-Ray in the US courtest of WellGo USA and hits their HI-YAH! […]
BABY ASSASSINS 2: Win A Blu-Ray Copy Of The Hit Action Comedy Sequel Releasing April 2 From Well Go USA!
It took scrolling to a random tweet in the past week or so to inform me that a third installment of the hit lo-fi hit Baby Assassins franchise is well on the way for later this year. So, I guess we can add this on our 2024 calendars going forward. In the meantime, the second and latest release from Well Go USA with Baby Assassins 2 is coming next week to Digital and Blu-Ray, and we’ve got two Blu-Rays to give out to the masses. All you need to do is share with us your favorite action scene from any of the works of the film’s action director, Kensuke Sonomura, and write your answers to filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com. This contest expires after 11:59pm EST on April 1, and is available only to residents in the United States. Good luck, and be on the lookout for the film’s Hi-YAH! streaming launch on July […]
Fantastic Fest XVIII Review: In BABY ASSASSINS: 2 BABIES, The Work Is Its Own Reward
Life is still as hard as ever for an assassin trying to make it in today’s economy with a decent part-time job. Such was the case in 2021’s Baby Assassins for endearing killer roomies Chisato (Akari Takaishi) and Mahiro (Saori Izawa) as the two stood toe-to-toe with heavily-armed yakuza gangsters with daily responsibilties to fulfill in between. Two years later, the oddball duo is still “killing it” while trying to get the hang of adulting in writer/director Yugo Sakamoto’s latest sequel, Baby Assassins: 2 Babies. Caught between trying to beat the clock on long-overdue bills while abiding by their assassin guild’s strict policies and dealing with life’s inevitable incidences, Chisato and Mahiro find themselves suspended from the guild and right back at square one, with no choice but to pound the pavement for work. In the interim, little do they know that they have become the targets of Makoto (Tatsuomi […]
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