Critics reviews

Shinji Imaoka’s down to earth approach, which is utterly devoid of pretensions and simply lets its lightweight tale unfold in pleasingly laidback fashion, its many offbeat elements cheerfully being accepted as part of its surreal world.

To say that this musical sex comedy (with dark undercurrents) is quirkily weird would be an understatement. There is plenty of sex, of course, although none of it is either remotely titillating or even appears intended to be so... Imaoka’s film is too shoddily thrown together, too patchy and uneven, to qualify as any kind of masterpiece – but it might just leave the more adventurous viewers out there tickled pink.

Imaoka is a veteran of pink films, Japanese soft-core pornography, and the overuse of mediocre sex scenes keeps the project within the boundaries of the genre. He has said it is a fusion with the Japanese teen musical, and it is, except that the badly lip-synched songs with insultingly worded lyrics barely meet the basic requirements. That the kappa is a non-human adds an element of the science-fiction genre, but do not expect the intelligent overview of even a Godzilla.

Pink film titan Shinji Imaoka’s saga is a bizarre hybrid that oozes oddness while simultaneously treating its heroine’s emotions with sincere compassion... From characters bursting into bubbly dance routines set to upbeat songs with randomly ominous lyrics, to an explicit encounter between virgin Aoki and Asuka’s whorish colleague, Underwater Love marries the real and the unreal with charming bizarreness.