Michireiga

Michiko Nishiwaki and Rei Yanagi

Michireiga (Miranian: 美智麗画; "Michi–Rei film") is an Akashian subgenre of action films that specifically starred actresses and stuntwomen Michiko Nishiwaki and Rei Yanagi. Their films were known for their glossy visual style, fast-paced action, blend of high and low culture, and the humorous banter between Michiko and Rei. The subgenre's heyday was in the 1980s–1990s, making them icons of the neondai era.

Background

Michiko Nishiwaki (Miranian: 美智子 西脇) was born on 21 November 1957 in Takao. She was interested in gymnastics and volleyball as a teenager, and took up bodybuilding due to dissatisfaction with her body image. She became a powerlifter, and later a champion powerlifter and bodybuilder. She also ran 3 fitness clubs in collaboration with her brother.

Rei Yanagi (Miranian: 麗 柳) was born on 13 December 1968 in Shimachi. She studied dance and taekwondo, eventually achieving a black belt in the discipline.

They both entered the Akashian film industry in the 1980s, initially working as stuntwomen and fight choreographers before making their film debuts.

Films

Michiko and Rei made their first film together in 1987. The director had initially planned to cast Michiko in the villain role, but changed his mind after witnessing her chemistry with Rei during auditions, and instead they were teamed up as heroines. The film was a critical and commercial success, and launched them to action movie stardom. A series of films would follow in a similar vein, lasting into the 1990s.

Michireiga boasted a slick visual style and energetic editing that earned them great popularity during the neondai. They drew influence as much from classical action cinema as contemporary music videos and fashion photography, with the intense and bloody action sequences starkly at odds with their polished trappings. For audiences who were ordinarily not interested in action films, the main appeal lay in Michiko and Rei's chemistry together.

Michiko and Rei were famed for their unique combination of martial arts skills and classical beauty, and had complementary styles. Generally, Michiko played the more experienced and refined characters, drawing humour from the contrast between her strength and conventional onnarashii. She also showed a talent for deadpan humour, particularly through expressive use of her eyebrows, and favoured a more stylish wardrobe. By contrast, Rei played the more impulsive characters, showcasing a gentle personality with kawaii appeal, and preferred a casual and more tomboyish wardrobe.

Michiko on set, 1993

Michiko and Rei were little involved in the production aspect of Michireiga, and worked with a variety of screenwriters and directors. They choreographed and performed their own stunts, and were a tough negotiating team, enforcing a series of rules to protect the character of their films together. They were close friends off-set, and shared a distaste for celebrity culture. They generally shunned publicity and avoided promoting their films after their breakthrough, relying on word of mouth for them to succeed.

Although their 1987 debut permanently associated them with the neondai, they maintained their popularity into the 1990s. Some of their last films departed from the neondai aesthetics and featured a grittier visual style, closer in spirit to nouvelle vague and Quentin Tarantino. While their career was mainly focused at home, their films did gain success abroad, mainly in Kirisaki and Gylias, where they achieved the Gylian breakthrough. They enjoyed a warm relationship with Miranian Gylian contemporaries Chikageki, a fellow comedically-tinged action duo, and worked together on 1993's Uncontrollable Urge.

Michiko and Rei gradually slowed down their pace of work in the late 1990s, and unofficially retired as leading ladies. Since then, they continue to operate Michiko's fitness centres, and mainly focus on stuntwork and fight choreography.