Baby Assassins 3 - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Baby Assassins 3



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
In a strange turn of events, we’ve seen Well Go USA making some changes to their lineup, as they seemed to have tightened their corporate belt and shifted directions in how they produce home media. The last few months have seen the Texas-based import studio releasing their films on digital and MOD only, with the MOD (manufactured on demand) discs being burned BD-Rs rather than pressed discs like Warner Archive or stuff from Alliance. That being said, they are still peppering in some of their bigger-selling titles on pressed media, and Baby Assassins 3 happens to be one of them.

Back again, the 20-year-old Japanese assassins Chisato (Akari Takaishi) and Mahiro (ex stunt woman Saori Izawa) are once again under the proverbial gun. After botching an assignment by letting their target get away, their boss forces them to make amends by hunting down the target once more and fixing what they botched. Only problem is, the person who interrupted them the first time is a freelance assassin named Kaede Fuyumura (Sosuke Ikematsu) who seemed more than a LITTLE unstable the last time they met. And after running into him a second time as they hunt down their target, Mahiro and Chisato soon realize that this enemy is more than anything they’ve ever met before.

If you’re familiar with the Baby Assassins series, then you know what you’re in for. It’s basically the Gen Z Japanese version of Two Broke Girls, just with guns, knives, and brutal martial arts take-downs. Chisato and Mahiro giggle, talk about cake, dream of drinking their first beer now that today is Mahiro’s 20th birthday, and, of course, killing targets for the Assassins guild. They mess up at the beginning of the film and begrudgingly have to fix their mistakes (like usual), but it’s really the villain that gives the film the spice it really needs.

In the previous two films, the twin teenage assassins are always portrayed as invincible. While they have some close calls (especially with the brothers in the second film), they always come out on top and do it with style. You’re never really worried that they’re in over their heads, nor that the antagonists ever really pose THAT much of a threat to them. However, Kaede is the one villain that makes you actually sweat, wondering if they’re going to beat him. He’s a sadistic monster who seems to have a strange moral conflict within himself about his own evil. Yet he’s still driven to do what he does and show zero mercy in doing so. Not to mention his martial arts and gunplay skills put him at another level. The fights are up close and BRUTAL, with even Mahiro’s incredible hand-to-hand combat skills second best to Kaede’s. Simply put, the film actually makes the two girls WORK for their wins, and in the process, get the absolute snot kicked out of them.

I’m also highly approving of Kensuke Sonomura’s choreography. The fights are tightly done, up close, and extremely vicious. Plus, the gunplay is superb. I’m not sure if Kensuke did the weapons handling as well in the film, but the wide variety of weapons used (Mahiro still uses her classic 1911, although she switches to the Sig GSR 1911 from her S&W E-Series 1911 from the previous film, while Chisato swaps over to a suppressed Sig P229 Legacy), and the tactical use of reloads, cover and target acquisition is top notch. Sure, there’s some big cinema trickery and style over substance going on, but it’s way more believable than 90% of the gunplay in modern movies.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

Baby Assassins 3is presented on Blu-ray with a stellar looking 2.39:1 AVC encode that suffers from only a few minor aesthetic quirks. Likek usual, I can’t seem to find any definitive information on what cameras were used, nor the resolution of the DI used for the home video master, but I can pretty definitively say that this was digitally shot, that’s for sure. The final result is a great-looking image, with bright primary shades (clothing especially), good-looking CGI blood, and a grungy aesthetic that is distinctly Japanese. There is a pretty moderate yellow tinge to the darker scenes, though, which sometimes adds in some yellow smears in black crush areas, as well as skin tones sometimes looking sickly as a result. But overall, this is a unique and very pleasant-looking image and right on par with the rest of the series.









Audio:

Once again, the series gets a rousing and immersive action soundtrack in DTS-HD MA lossless (no Atmos sadly), and for the most part, this is quite an incredible track except for one major flaw that really puts a wet damper on the whole thing. Audio is clean and clear, with great vocals once the track is boosted a few DB’s from normal on the receiver (I found it about 5 DB lower than my usual default position), but once boosted has a massive dynamic range and some intense use of the surrounds during the copious action sequences.

Now on to the major flaw in the mixing, the bass. It’s not that it’s cut off or has a steep sub-20Hz drop off, but more of a major mixing issue. The LFE channel is just cooked WAAAAAAAAAAAY too hot. So much so that if kept at the normal fixed position in a properly level-matched home theater system that it comes across as bloated and distorting. I actually thought something was wrong with the system chain somewhere, as the second I booted up the home menu, I was met with overly hot and boomy bass. And in the opening 20 minutes, it was so bad that I was considering turning it off. Going through and testing other well-known demo discs in my collection immediately cleared up any issues in my home theater setup, as they all were perfectly balanced and clean-sounding. So after playing with the balance in the receiver, I got it to a good balance, but that required a negative 4.5 DB drop on the gain settings of my SVS PB-3000s, which is frankly absurd. I’ve had some tracks I needed to boost or lower 0.5 dB, but a 4.5 DB adjustment on the gain levels is crazy. Even then, I was getting some crazy bass levels in the film, bordering on clipping and booming more than a few times. Once balanced, I got it to a good 4/5 or 4.5/5 in terms of how amazing the track sounded, but the fact that the user is required to manually play with and tweak the LFE level in their receiver or subs' gain knobs is a big flaw, and why I actually rated the audio at 3.5/5.









Extras:

• Feature-Length Storyboards
• Deleted Scene Storyboards
• Interview with Director Isao Takahata
• Interview with Roger Ebert
• Promotional Video
• Image Galleries
• Teasers & Trailers

Final Score:

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Baby Assassins 3 is a fun entry into the franchise, even if it still rehashes a lot of the old tropes that the previous two films dabbled in. The real jewel of the movie is Sosuke Ikematsu’s psychotic villain, as he adds some flavor and spice to the otherwise repetitive plot. The action is absolutely top-notch, with ex-stunt woman Saori Izawa delivering the goods in every action sequence she’s in. The Blu-ray sports top-notch video, but a problematic audio mix that had me scratching my head for a good 20 minutes trying to figure things out. All in all, a fun movie and well worth watching if you’re into the highly frenetic, gory, anime trope-ridden series that is Baby Assassins. Fun watch for sure.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Akari Takaishi, Saori Izawa, Sosuke Ikematsu, Atom Mizuishi, Kaibashira
Directed by: Yugo Sakamoto
Written by: Yugo Sakamoto
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: Japanese: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Japanese DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: NR
Runtime: 113 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: August 26th, 2025

Recommendation: Fun Watch

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