In 1995 Keita Amamiya directed an all new chapter in this story, however Kikaider was nowhere to be seen (well if you look closely you’ll see him briefly) and instead his arch nemesis took centre stage. Amamiya was no stranger to the genre Hakaider originated from, having been involved in numerous TV projects such as Dinosaur Task Force Zyuranger (later successfully adapted by Haim Saban to become the original Mighty Morphing Power Rangers) and a lot of the Kamen Rider series after 1988 (one of which was disasterously adapted by Haim Saban to create Masked Rider). He also has several features to his name including Cyber Ninja and three Zeiram movies. Hakaider might very well have started out as a TV pilot, as the Media Blasters release features two different cuts of the movie, one a feature-length director’s cut and an original version which is a very TV-friendly 50 minutes. However there is no accompanying TV series and so it is the superior 77 minute director’s cut we shall look at here.

It is the far future, a group of scavenger thieves break their way into an abandoned prison. A tip-off from a former warden promised them many valuables to be found in one of the underground vaults underneath the main buildings. Eventually they find a large metal door and blast their way though, only they don’t find what they are looking for. Rather than many great treasures, they find a man with impeccably styled hair, imprisoned under many layers of chains. The scavengers have little time to be disappointed however, as the man quickly breaks from his chains and seems to change appearance in the darkness before totally slaughtering his liberators. This is the mighty killer android Hakaider, kept imprisoned for an incredibly long time, yet he can no longer remember who he is, or what his purpose is. He finds his motorcycle, also chained down, and heads out onto the highway looking for answers. He heads towards the nearest place of civilisation, Jesus Town, an outwardly free and and peaceful society which is really cruelly ruled over by Gurjev and his robot Michael along with his cybernetic soldiers. Gurjev is a pretentious goth pretty boy with an odd Christ preoccupation, hence his odd white outfit complete with a wing on one shoulder, and his fondness of Christianity-related names for things.

Gurjev uses pseudo-religious propaganda to create an image of a peaceful and utopian existence for Jesus Town citizens, when in reality it is more of a military dictatorship, his soldiers a constant presence. To make matters worse, Gurjev also arrests anyone seen as a dissenter and conducts terrible experiments on them, making them dribbling idiots and making them into more of his soldiers. Michael (presumably the named after the archangel) is the leader of Gurjev’s armed forces and has been programmed as a naïve zealot of Gurjev, spouting such nonsense as “You are justice” in the face of Gurjev’s cruel experimentation on human beings and his harsh crushing of anything approaching resistance. Speaking of resistance, as Hakaider is tearing ass towards Jesus Town a group of rebels (all dressed in black) prepare to raid of of Gurjev’s trucks. One of the rebels is cutie pie Kaoru who is caught up in a bizarre dream where she is chained to a tree and is saved from a skeletal zombie with white wings by a dark night on a horse. The rebels successfully complete their raid but fortunately (or possibly unfortunately) their raid coincides with Hakaider blasting his way into Jesus Town and the rebels find themselves stuck between the violent cyborg and Gurjev’s white-clad soldiers. Kaoru, somewhat predictably, sees our anti-hero on his motorcycle and believes him to be the knight that saves her in her dreams, and so persuades her rebel friends to help him escape after totally obliterates the squads sent out to stop him, with the help of his incredibly powerful shotgun missile launder thing. Gurjev recognises Hakaider as the robot enforcer who preceded Michael, only he was far too unpredictable and dangerous, but was hidden by the scientists who created him before Gurjev could have him destroyed. In the safety of their hideout Hakaider’s arm regenerates and Kaoru gazes at him adoringly, trying to win him over to their cause. Hakaider is unconvinced until Gurjev’s troops raid the building (some secret hideout that was!) and eliminate the rebels, leaving Hakaider to seek revenge against Gurjev for himself and for Kaoru.

Mechanical Violator Hakaider turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable lightweight sci-fi romp, looking pretty good despite its low budget. While hardly taxing in the plot department, what little plot there is serves only to give Hakaider excuses to maim and destroy, but the whole thing is pulled off with a lot of style and is kept at a satisfying pace so as not to drag. The plot does create a couple of minor irritations though, like the rewriting of Hakaider’s history which just serves to confuse the connection between this Hakaider and Kikaider’s enemy in the original series. Also, though Hakaider has lost his memory and does not know who he is or why he exists, this is barely explored as he immediately heads straight for the city his creator controls and even though he encounters the rebels and seems to take to Kaoru a little, he was just going to kill everybody to start with anyway. These are minor points though, as this was never really meant to be an in-depth character analysis, which does also make me wonder if Hakaider’s character was to develop in further episodes.

Visually this film is quite distinctive and has some great touches, the wardrobes of the various characters help to reflect their allegiances, Gurjev and his troops adopting light colours which highlight his delusions of goodness and god hood, the citizens of Jesus Town dressing the same to show their conformity, while Hakaider and the rebels dress in black thus standing out as dissenters against Gurjev’s regime. Rather interestingly, there are also points during the film where blood n’ guts are replaced with white feathers – Hakaider causes the head of two troops to explode but instead of blood and bits of brain being splashed about, instead the air is filled with feathers, it is certainly a striking image. Also striking is Kaoru’s waking dream of the mysterious knight rescuing her from her winged attacker, the way she is dressed, the design of the knight’s armour to match the shape of the eponymous character when he is in full-on cyborg mode, the winged zombie too, all of them are effectively designed and beautifully filmed to make the dream sequence a stand-out stylish moment. The action too is well-handled, though the are no acrobatic Hong Kong style martial arts and the budget was small, they’re well shot and effectively choreographed, only once or twice did the budget limitations show through, especially when you see the use of some rather dodgy stop-motion animation near the end. The main cast members are decent too, Yasuaki Honda does well as the pretentious and loopy Gurjev, fitting the gothy waif character he’s given. Yuki Kishimoto is extremely handsome as the human form of Hakaider, though he’s really not given much to do except look vaguely confused and emotionless, and he also bares a strong resemblance to Kyle McLaughlin. Mai Hosho is our standard cute Japanese girlie, doing nothing more than look innocent and adorable and provide a little motivation for our (anti) hero, though her character does make you wonder how she got mixed up with a bunch of rough and moody political dissidents to start with.

Mechanical Violator Hakaider is an undemanding and enjoyable sci-fi fantasy adventure. While not the most original or thoughtful of Japanese sci-fi, it contains enough action, style and violence to keep the viewer entertained, and is distinctively Japanese enough to make it stand out from other b-movie fare.

Seeing as I couldn't get my DVD ROM to play my DVD of this movie so I could take some screen caputres, here's a picture of the little cutie Mai Hosho who plays Kaoru.