Fly Me to the Saitama II, From Biwa Lake With Love is one of those mixed genre types of film where viewers will get to see Shōjo, fantasy, cosplay, rom-com all mixed into a vaudeville style stage show.
When I first saw the full title, I had thoughts of Macross running through my head (mostly because the word, “Love” is often used in many subtitles). And I had to remind myself about how the conflict began by looking at the first film again (movie review can be read here). It’s basically a story about the citizens from a specific prefecture wanting to be free from Tokyo’s political wrangling and Rei Asami (Gackt) led the party.
In the first film, he was working alone until Tokyo born, Momomi Dannoura (Fumi Nikaido), joined him. They became a couple and together, found allies in Chiba so they can together fight the Tokyo elite. By the end, these two adjoining municipalities got the freedom and believe that all’s well ends well. I had to chuckle when these heroes say the fight was not over and wanted to help other districts.
Part two sees this rag tag team take on the Kansai region (which comprises Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe). This prefecture is landlocked; unless I missed something, that “fly me” scenario has become “set sail.” Technically, the title explains it, since there’s a lake to cross, even so, aren’t pirates traditional oceanic seafarers?
While some situations fly fast in this film, thankfully I caught mention that Rei gave orders to build a beach and waterfront so they can pretend to be like pirates! I’m glad this film isn’t like Pirates of Penzance, otherwise I’d truly crack up laughing. Although both works concern themes regarding duty and honour, just how they play out is rather sweet.
The plot in this sequel does not differ from the original when Rei helps Kai (Anne Watanabe) to rally troops against Osaka’s Mayor (Ainosuke Kataoka). When the conflict concerns politics, over anything else, to balance this tale out with its surreal moments is a challenge. I feel director Hideki Takeuchi really wanted to go all out Monty Python and that can be problematical. Thankfully I had the luxury to be able to see this work a few more times to really make sense of it all, and while this film is not a worthy successor, it’s still a must if you love Gackt on the big screen.
3 Stars out of 5
Fly Me to the Saitama II, From Biwa Lake With Love Movie Trailer
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