Review for Underwater Love (Review)

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Introduction
I don't watch a lot of erotica as a reviewer. I'm never quite sure how to approach it, and I haven't really gotten past the teenage smirking stage, a sneaking suspicion that none of this stuff should be taken seriously. But then there is my innate trust in Third Window Films. They are a distributor that I follow with interest, whose films I simply have to watch. I may not like the films, I may love them, but they never bore me. Every Third Window Films release that I have reviewed has been interesting, has been something that I have never seen before, and as a reviewer it's those cinema experiences that I cherish the most. So when Third Window Films announced Underwater Love: A Pink Musical, I didn't hesitate in requesting a review copy, even if it meant stepping out of my comfort zone once more. Besides this isn't the first time they've challenged my preconceptions, although Dasepo Naughty Girls didn't turn out to be as saucy as I expected. Underwater Love will meet those expectations though.

A kappa is a Japanese mythical creature, a water sprite that has a beak, a turtle shell on the back, and a bony plate on the head that it needs to keep wet. It likes eating cucumbers, and challenging unsuspecting passers-by to sumo wrestling matches… Factory worker Asuka wasn't expecting to meet a kappa. She's happy in her job, and looking forward to marrying her boss Hajime. But one day, rescuing a wayward fish not quite ready to be processed, she ran into a kappa, a kappa named Aoki, the reincarnation of her high school crush Aoki. She takes Aoki home with her, which only complicates her relationship with Hajime. It only gets worse when Aoki starts work in the factory as well, and he meets fellow worker Reiko. But the kappa isn't just there to rekindle a high school romance.

Picture
Underwater Love gets a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer, a very pleasant Film-PAL conversion, rich in detail and colour. You can see that it's a low budget film; indeed the film was shot in just 5½ days with a one-take ethos. But the naturalistic lighting, the variety of locations, and the way the final film looks is very organic and involving. There is that slight push towards greens and blues that I find typical of Japanese film, while there is a constant level of film grain throughout. Other than some shimmer on the finest of detail, the transfer is free of compression artefacts.

Sound
You get a very nice DD 5.1 Japanese audio track, with optional English subtitles. Given the music of the film and the songs, the surround track is very welcome, and it does enhance the ambience of the film as well. Otherwise it's really a simplistic, dialogue-focussed piece that stays pretty much front and centre of the soundstage. The subtitles are legible and well timed throughout. The one-take ethos means that there is a fair bit of ADR in the film, and lip sync isn't a priority, especially during the songs. It's easy to get used to though. The only flaw in the disc is a very ill placed layer-change, right in the middle of a song.

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