Juvenile Detective Fluff 3 -- Baby Johnnys, complete with sparkles and frills
Well, I didn’t get around to the lone juvenile detective after all, instead becoming distracted by Shinjuku Boys Detective Team (1998), starring Aiba Masaki, Matsumoto Jun, Yokoyama Yuu, and a couple of cute girls who may or may not have had careers later. It is extremely bad (and bad video quality). But also stupidly entertaining at times.
Sousuke is our main character. He likes to investigate things, which basically means kicking his little scooter around Shinjuku at all hours and paying attention to urban legends, like the one about the lonely girl who’s really demon or a ghost or whatever.
He also occasionally defies the laws of physics.
And sometimes contemplates the meaning of life.
Kentaro spends most of his time at cram school, but he also lets Sousuke drag him (quite literally) into doing computer stuff for Sousuke’s ‘investigations.’
And that, of course, leads to unhealthy meals and nights spent crouching in the alleys of Shinjuku.
Golly, they’re cute kids. Aiba was always pretty, but this little movie amazingly managed to catch Jun between periods of terrible awkwardness.
Look, they’re eating!
Other characters are Kyoko, who wants to do karate, but whose parents tell her that ‘a girl should be a girl.’ I say, a girl should be able to break anyone who lays an uninvited hand on her. Kyoko practices in secret.
Mika is a teen model who was in a shampoo commercial. She now is stalked by paparazzi and is in the midst of a media circus because she was snapped eating a donut. Her mother is some kind of tarento, and she gives Mika a lot of crap about watching her weight and her image. So the poor girl gets it from every direction.
Mika is lonely, and is unfortunately drawn to another lonely girl, Arisa.
Arisa is a little odd.
Her daddy is a little more odd.
Her daddy’s pet is a lot more odd.
Arisa tries to escape her daddy's overprotectiveness, but it doesn't really work.
Enter the mysterious Sho. And his ear cuff.
His adult sidekick carries an awesomely cheesy gun...
...that shoots a ray of cartoon sparkles. (Aren’t these effects fabulous?) So they are able to fend off the robot dog temporarily and save the kids.
Sho, for no particular reason, hands out nifty pocket communication devices to the four kids. Was 1998 pre-cell phone in Japan? Kentaro has a pager (his controlling mother pages him to make sure he’s not having any fun), but no phone. I think Mika had a phone, though. Probably for work.
Like the clean-cut, innocent teens they are, the foursome use their new devices to plan a picnic!
After which, Aiba and Jun show off their JE training.
Darlings... you’re not even dancing to the same music, are you?
Eventually, Mika is so overwhelmed by her mother and her job that she runs off to Arisa, whose idea of a good time, well...
Then they all have to team up with Sho to defeat psycho long-haired robot-dog-wielding daddy. Which to some extent involves leaving a lot of the work to the mysterious guy in the leather jacket.
Kentaro thinks he can charm the robot dog into submission.
But apparently that only works on a certain class of fangirl.
Hey, this is Juvenile Detective Fluff! Isn’t there supposed to be some homoeroticism?
Well, it’s cute that Sousuke zips up Kentaro’s coat so he doesn’t get cold while doing ‘computer stuff,’ but it really seems like these two are just regular pals. Are they just going to pair off with the girls?
Ah, wait! I was looking in the wrong place entirely. It comes at a moment of weakness on Sousuke’s part...
Wow, look at those cuffs!
Unfortunately, this love is not meant to be... But they'll always have Shinjuku!
Aww, don't be sad! Don't forget about this!
RAWR!
Sousuke is our main character. He likes to investigate things, which basically means kicking his little scooter around Shinjuku at all hours and paying attention to urban legends, like the one about the lonely girl who’s really demon or a ghost or whatever.
He also occasionally defies the laws of physics.
And sometimes contemplates the meaning of life.
Kentaro spends most of his time at cram school, but he also lets Sousuke drag him (quite literally) into doing computer stuff for Sousuke’s ‘investigations.’
And that, of course, leads to unhealthy meals and nights spent crouching in the alleys of Shinjuku.
Golly, they’re cute kids. Aiba was always pretty, but this little movie amazingly managed to catch Jun between periods of terrible awkwardness.
Look, they’re eating!
Other characters are Kyoko, who wants to do karate, but whose parents tell her that ‘a girl should be a girl.’ I say, a girl should be able to break anyone who lays an uninvited hand on her. Kyoko practices in secret.
Mika is a teen model who was in a shampoo commercial. She now is stalked by paparazzi and is in the midst of a media circus because she was snapped eating a donut. Her mother is some kind of tarento, and she gives Mika a lot of crap about watching her weight and her image. So the poor girl gets it from every direction.
Mika is lonely, and is unfortunately drawn to another lonely girl, Arisa.
Arisa is a little odd.
Her daddy is a little more odd.
Her daddy’s pet is a lot more odd.
Arisa tries to escape her daddy's overprotectiveness, but it doesn't really work.
Enter the mysterious Sho. And his ear cuff.
His adult sidekick carries an awesomely cheesy gun...
...that shoots a ray of cartoon sparkles. (Aren’t these effects fabulous?) So they are able to fend off the robot dog temporarily and save the kids.
Sho, for no particular reason, hands out nifty pocket communication devices to the four kids. Was 1998 pre-cell phone in Japan? Kentaro has a pager (his controlling mother pages him to make sure he’s not having any fun), but no phone. I think Mika had a phone, though. Probably for work.
Like the clean-cut, innocent teens they are, the foursome use their new devices to plan a picnic!
After which, Aiba and Jun show off their JE training.
Darlings... you’re not even dancing to the same music, are you?
Eventually, Mika is so overwhelmed by her mother and her job that she runs off to Arisa, whose idea of a good time, well...
Then they all have to team up with Sho to defeat psycho long-haired robot-dog-wielding daddy. Which to some extent involves leaving a lot of the work to the mysterious guy in the leather jacket.
Kentaro thinks he can charm the robot dog into submission.
But apparently that only works on a certain class of fangirl.
Hey, this is Juvenile Detective Fluff! Isn’t there supposed to be some homoeroticism?
Well, it’s cute that Sousuke zips up Kentaro’s coat so he doesn’t get cold while doing ‘computer stuff,’ but it really seems like these two are just regular pals. Are they just going to pair off with the girls?
Ah, wait! I was looking in the wrong place entirely. It comes at a moment of weakness on Sousuke’s part...
Wow, look at those cuffs!
Unfortunately, this love is not meant to be... But they'll always have Shinjuku!
Aww, don't be sad! Don't forget about this!
RAWR!