Star Virgin (1988)

So, this girl Eiko has this device strapped to her arm which, when it detects that she is about to have sexual intercourse, transforms her into bikini-clad super heroine Star Virgin, who uses her powers to defend her chastity, by beating off, so to speak, her attackers.  Oh, and save the world as well.  I know next to nothing about Star Virgin other than it is a low budget direct-to-video 1988 Japanese production that accompanied a video game of the same name.  Actually, I have no idea whether the game preceded the film or vice versa.  With no subtitled version apparently available I've had to piece together what it is about from watching it in Japanese and reading the online comments of others who do speak Japanese.  There is still much about it that I don't understand, but I think that I have the gist of it.  Now, this high tech chastity belt thing - in a flashback we see a dude, presumably her father, fitting Eiko with it, but I'm still none the wiser as to why?  Is he just an insanely over protective father?  Are they aliens and he's heard of the rapey reputation of earth men?  I just don't know.  Moreover, I'm still not entirely clear as to the circumstances under which the device is triggered - is it only when Eiko is threatened with rape?  Or do other forms of sexual assault count, (the fact that, during the prologue, the horrible phallic tongue of a giant space toad activates it when it gets too close would seem to indicate the latter)?  Would consensual sex set it off? 

As for the plot, it involves this geeky guy who I presume is some kind of boy friend, being kidnapped by this old military guy - with his shock of white hair he rather reminded me of a Japanese Jon Pertwee - for reasons unclear to me, (they might have something to do with a plot to take over Japan, or the world, even) and taken to his hovering island.  Eiko pursues them on her flying scooter, transforms into Star Virgin after encouraging the villain's henchmen to try and rape her, rescues the geek, gets chased by a robot, encounters a giant dung beetle and a giant spider, before they are recaptured.  This time Eiko indicates to the dirty old man villain that she'll have sex with him, so he takes his liquid viagra which transforms him back into a dirty young man and Star Virgin is back to defeat him.  There are various other bat-shit crazy things going on, most notably the villain's giant Statue of Liberty shaped robot which comes complete with a flame thrower in its torch.  Oh yes, Eiko also sometimes flies around in a spaceship that transforms back into her house when it lands on the beach.

The heart of the film, though, is Eiko's bizarre super heroine alter ego - whose world saving powers seem to be merely a by product of attempting to maintain her virginity.  Preserving chastity might seem to be an incredibly conservative use of super powers yet is entirely consistent with the super hero genre.  After all, aren't super heroes always using their powers to maintain the status quo?  It is the super villains who are always seeking to bring about radical change.  Batman, for instance, really is 'The Man', always backing up the police instead of investigating them for brutality and human rights abuses, using their methods - back street beatings and terror - to fight crime rather than pioneering more humanitarian approaches.  Yet, despite its conservative aims, Eiko's super powers are somewhat contradictory in that in order to transform into Star Virgin, she has to encourage men to try and rape her.  So she spends a fair amount of time encouraging the very male behaviours her high tech chastity belt is meant to discourage.  The message it is sending to young girls is highly questionable - if you have to save the world, then you really do need to be asking for it.  Star Virgin really is a prime piece of 'what the fuckery', with its bizarre premise, rickety special effects and annoyingly catchy sound track of bubble gum pop songs.  I have to say that I found it hugely entertaining and, at only fifty seven minutes, it never outstays its welcome.  Ultimately it is another of those pieces of Japanese pop culture that leaves us westerners scratching out heads and asking 'what the Hell are they on?'  Because, whatever it is, I want some.