MovieChat Forums > Densen uta (2007) Discussion > It's social satire not a straight 'Horro...

It's social satire not a straight 'Horror' movie.

posted 15 years ago by tensaip
1 reply | jump to latest

The negative reviews for this film all revolve around the lack of scariness. Cheez-Whiz Crackers, you poodles, DENSEN UTA is a COMEDY! The movie satirizes the recent spate of Suicide-Horror fare by conflating the Japanese obssession with cuteness and the permissive attitude toward suicide. The correlation is that the cuteness aspect (genki) of Japanese culture serves as a distraction from the opressing weight of one's own Japaneseness. The film both mocks and accedes to the necessity of genki phenomena such as AKB48 to Japanese culture.

[–] erilaz 14 years ago

In addition to that, I'd have to say that Densen Uta is first and foremost a vehicle for AKB48. Not only do we get to see them performing in their Akihabara theater, but the important schoolgirl roles (maybe even all the schoolgirl roles) are played by members of the group. If that isn't enough, the original story for the film was written by Yasushi Akimoto, AKB48's producer.

Incidentally (but probably not coincidentally), the film's director, Masato Harada, also directed a 1986 film called Onyanko The Movie: Kiki Ippatsu, which was a vehicle for Akimoto's first idol-pop megagroup, Onyanko Club.