Kamikaze Girls

Kamikaze Girls, originally released in Japan as , is a 2002 Japanese light novel written by Novala Takemoto. The story centers on the friendship between two students named Momoko Ryugasaki and Ichigo "Ichiko" Shirayuri. These two are from completely different backgrounds: one is a Lolita-fashioned girl and the other, her antithesis, is a (juvenile delinquent). Viz Media licensed the novel for an English-language release in North America in 2006. A live-action film adaptation of the novel directed by Tetsuya Nakashima premiered in Japan in May 2004. It starred Kyoko Fukada as Momoko and Anna Tsuchiya as Ichigo. It was filmed in the town of Shimotsuma in Ibaraki Prefecture in eastern Japan. Viz Media screened the film in select theaters in the United States in late 2005 under the title Kamikaze Girls. They released it on DVD with hardcoded English subtitles in January 2006. The DVD extras include the original Japanese movie trailers, an interview with the lead actors, and a music video featuring Anna Tsuchiya. Third Window Films released Kamikaze Girls on Blu-ray in the United Kingdom in February 2010. The Blu-ray contains optional English subtitles, the same extras as the DVD, and the short film Birth of Unicorn Ryuji. A manga series based on the novel was illustrated by Yukio Kanesada and serialized in Shogakukan's Betsucomi magazine in 2004. The chapters were later collected into a single (bound volume) published under Shogakukan's Flower Comics imprint. Viz Media licensed the manga for an English-language release in North America in 2006. Plot The book begins with Momoko talking about her life as a lolita living in a small town in the Japanese countryside. She explains that her father used to sell bootleg clothes, until he ran into legal trouble and had to flee the city to Shimotsuma, a rural area. She is the only lolita in her town and has no friends, but she doesn't care and believes that her lolita clothes are all she needs to make her happy. She is obsessed with getting clothes from Baby, The Stars Shine Bright, her favorite clothing boutique. When she runs out of money, she decides to sell some of her father's old merchandise. Ichigo, a member of an all-female biker gang, sees an ad for the sale and visits to buy some bootleg apparel and is extremely impressed. She soon shows up at Momoko's house almost daily to buy things for the members of her gang.