Weatherwoman Returns, A (Otenki-oneesan R) (1996)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Trailer-Madman trailers x 3
Rating
Year Of Production	1996
Running Time	84:56
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Tomoaki Hosoyama
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Misa Aika Ryoko Kata Ryo Kurihara
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Dual
RPI	?	Music	Kunihiro Ida

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Keiko (Misa Aika) is a schoolgirl whose father owns a local TV station with minimal ratings, no sponsors and a mountain of debt. When he dies suddenly, Keiko decides to leave school and take over the station. Her ideas to revitalise the station go nowhere, mostly being sabotaged by rival TV station owner Megumi (Ryoko Kata), who wants to take over Keiko’s station, and her offsider Sakaguchi (Ryo Kurihara). Keiko comes up with a plan to revamp the weather report, and hires an attractive presenter after a local talent contest. But when the presenter becomes sick before the first report, Keiko takes over and at the end of the segment flashes her panties. The weather is an instant hit, but Megumi fights back and the result is a televised contest to determine who will be the reigning weather woman champion.

     Made as a result of the unexpected cult success of A Weatherwoman, A Weatherwoman Returns (Otenki-oneesan R) has nothing to do with the first film other than having the same writer / director, Tomoaki Hosoyama, the same name for the main character (although in the sequel Keiko is a very different character and played by a different actress), and the fact that a weather presenter shows her underwear to get attention and ratings. Whatever satire the first film attempted about the cult of personality is now absent and A Weatherwoman Returns is just plain bad, but not bad enough to be interesting. The plotting, dialogue and acting are poor, the humour crass, the direction and camera work sloppy; instead the film ramps up the erotic quota and the two female leads spend a lot of time naked in either a bath or hot springs. They are certainly both good looking, but this is pretty much the only redeeming feature of A Weatherwoman Returns.

     A Weatherwoman was hardly high art, but did acquire a cult following. A Weatherwoman Returns, made on the popularity of the earlier film, finished the franchise with a thud.

Video

     A Weatherwoman is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, probably the original ratio, and is not 16x9 enhanced. It is a direct to video release.

     This is a soft print, not helped by the fact that in a number of scenes the camera panned quickly from one speaker to another in a swaying motion. The colours in exteriors look quite faded. It is hard to know what to make of the interiors, especially Megumi’s suite which is glitzy, garish and dull all at the same time with colours bleeding into each other. Blacks are good, but shadow detail can be very indistinct; when Sakaguchi is at the bar, for example, it is hard to see what is going on.

     There is digital noise reduction in the darker scenes, but it is not excessive. Skin tones, brightness and contrast vary and there is an occasional dirt mark and some aliasing, but nothing serious.

    English subtitles are in a yellow font and easy to read except where they were superimposed over white Japanese titles. They seemed to be timely and mistake free.

     A print that gets by, just.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is a Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0, surround encoded at a surprisingly robust 448 Kbps.

     Dialogue seemed clear and understandable. There were not a lot of effects in the film and the surrounds and rears were used mostly for the music. This score by Kunihiko Ida was loud in the mix and very intrusive, playing loudly in dialogue sections. I found it distracting.

     On occasion there was a slight hiss in the audio, such as at 13:29.

    Lip synchronisation looked fine.

     The audio was just passible.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Madman Trailers

     Trailers for Godzilla vs Mothra (2:16), The Grudge (2:07) and Howl’s Moving Castle (1:38).

     The Region 0 US release of A Weather Woman Collection with both films is listed on Amazon.com for $US140! There does not seem to be a current listing for a single disc edition of A Weatherwoman Returns. Our two disc Region 4 re-release of A Weatherwoman and A Weatherwoman Returns by Madman is the way to go.

     Made as a result of the unexpected cult success of A Weatherwoman, A Weatherwoman Returns has nothing to do with the first film. It is a poor film, the assets of the two main female leads being its only redeeming features.

     The video is average, the audio just passible; there are no relevant extras.

     A Weatherwoman and A Weatherwoman Returns are released in a two DVD package by Madman. This is the same package that was released previously but if the films are of interest and you did not buy it previously you now have another chance.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall