[Trigger Warning: This review covers a film that touches on some sensitive subject matter. Namely, a villain with a lolita fetish and a main character being forced into a younger version of her body and being controlled by said villain. There is – thankfully – no sexual violence depicted in this film, but I felt the need to put a disclaimer anyway.]

During Aniplex Online Fest 2024, a trailer dropped for a film that instantly captivated my attention like nothing else. A cyberpunk action story, but one that traded the traditional neon-drenched eerie gloom for a bright, sun-drenched European-inspired city that might look utopian if it weren’t for all the blood being shed. Gunfights, explosions, sinister men, and amid the chaos, a young woman in a cybernetic body, dragging a large attache case and toting a mean-looking pistol. This was Virgin Punk, and I couldn’t fucking wait to watch it

It was to be the start of a new series from Yasuomi Umetsu, a beloved director and animator behind Kite (1998) and Mezzo Forte (2000), two OVAs famed for their gunporn, to say nothing of the actual porn in their extended editions. Yep, they were hentai, albeit with enough exciting action and competent attempts at weaving revenge stories and crime thrillers that they could cut out the sex entirely and still find an audience. And that’s exactly what happened when the OVAs found their way overseas, not that there was much choice when the uncensored versions were banned in multiple countries.

But see, I didn’t like Kite. It’s actually one of my least favorite anime. I found it a little gross, to be honest, and even the highs of the action weren’t enough to compensate. It was heralded as a classic, but I found it lacking, such that it stained my perception of the director and his work. You might wonder why I’d be so excited for Virgin Punk in that case, but I think the trailer speaks for itself. There’s just one problem: the trailer speaks for itself, and once it got subtitles, I feared that this new film would fall victim to the fetishes of an unfortunately cracked director.