By: Jeff Brown

Translations: Kyosuke Nomura

On Valentine’s Day at the Cinema Rosa in Ikebukuro there was a screening of the science fiction film “Time Machine Girl” that co-stars ACT alongside many of the AWG roster. The evening also included a Q&A with AWG talent, and props from the film were on display in the lobby.

It’s a quirky film involving a young office lady, Koka Hoshino (played by Aoi Uta), who gains the ability to go back a short period of time every time she is frightened or shocked, referred to as a “Time Slip.” Throughout the movie, her friend Chizuru (portrayed by Takatsuru Momoha of the idol group kimitomirusora) keeps scaring her, and the two go on quite the adventure together.

The film prominently features Actwres girl’Z, from the posters of Mari and an ACTwrestling at Korakuen Hall show in Kako’s bedroom to the AWG shirt Kako sleeps in. In addition, there is footage of matches at the Diana dojo, aka Post Di Amistad. ACT plays a masked wrestler (Masked Thunder Kid) that Kako idolizes as well as a second role as Akari, a higher-up in her office. Many of the AWG roster have cameos either as wrestlers (Nagisa, Mari, and Marino) or as fans in the crowd. Natsuki is a gawking passerby when the experiment is about to go sideways, which gives Kako the ability to time slip.

After the screening, RESURA had a chance to interview both the director, Akiyoshi Koba, and ACT about the film and its connections with pro wrestling.

Koba has directed a number of independent feature-length and short films (including Esper X Private Detective Agency—Searching For Good-Bye), which is a route he chose because “when I was young I was working hard to become a film director and even attended film school; however, the opportunity to enter the industry never opened up. So I saved up some of my own money and made short films, some of which won awards at film festivals. But even that didn’t get me through the industry. I was on the verge of giving up, but I had a strong passion for filmmaking. Now with crowdfunding and even borrowing money from time to time, I have been able to continue making films.” 

The plot of the film is a unique take on the common sci-fi theme of time travel, which Koba said came about because “I wanted to make a film that has the element of time travel. I’ve had a lot of these ideas come up in my notebook, and one word that keeps coming up is “Time Machine Girl.” From there I started to experiment with the idea of a girl becoming a Time Machine. The premise would be that whenever she gets shocked or surprised, she will slightly go back in time. Some works that influenced this idea are “Be Kind Rewind,” “Butterfly Effect,” “Doraemon,” and mangas by Fujiko F. Fujio.”

For many readers and fans in general, the pro wrestling connection will be a reason to check this movie out. The film features scenes of actual wrestling matches, which ACT said required a different mindset to performing live at an ACTwrestling event. “I had to do the same moves over and over in front of a camera, which was a new experience for me. Also having to taunt not to the crowd but towards the camera gave me a similar feeling to when I wrestled in America.”

According to Koba, the involvement of ACT and AWG happened because “I met ACT when she wanted to shoot a pro wrestling scene for a film and had a meeting with a representative from Actwres Girls. We talked about a lot of topics; there I learned about her acting career, and she had a nice personality, so I decided to work with her.” 

There are a lot of comparisons to be made with acting and pro wrestling; in the case of AWG, the overlap is basically a prerequisite to being a roster member, and as ACT points out, “Most of the girls in Actwres girl’Z are actresses, and as we are also wrestlers, a film about pro wrestling is something in our field since we do this regularly.” Koba’s take was, “I think something both wrestling and acting have in common is self-expression. Making yourself look strong, making yourself look evil, making yourself look heroic. The biggest intersection between the two is making an audience entertained.” 

ACT portrays two roles, which for many people would be difficult, but for an Actwrestler such as herself, “It wasn’t challenging at all to be honest. Me and the wrestlers, this is our daily life. I’m experienced with being an authority figure and a masked wrestler, so I didn’t have any difficulties. If I were to name one though, when I was playing the higher up Akari. I had my hair red, so it was a pain spraying it to black.”

Koba points out the character Mask Thunder Kid has a distinct mask and color design, partly to serve the storyline (particularly one shock into Time Slip that utilizes wrestling merchandise). “I really liked masked wrestlers like Jushin Thunder Liger and Super Strong Machine, so I decided to make a mask that resembles the two. In the film, I needed the keychain of the character to resemble a cockroach; therefore, the black aspect of the mask was born.”

When pondering the idea of what they would do if they had the ability to Time Slip each had a very different answer. ACT got almost philosophical. “The power of going back and forward 40 minutes in time is quite a gamble, isn’t it? I’m pretty easy to get shocked, so I think I’m gonna be spending time thinking about the implications of time traveling rather than just doing it. To be honest, if I were to just think about it, maybe I don’t need the power to time travel. We only have one chance at life, and that’s why it’s fun. Thank you.”

While Koba’s was befitting of a wildly creative but self-motivated promoter of off-kilter cinema, “I want to redo the advertising of this film.”

Follow ACT on X for updates on appearances in AWG and on stage, and follow Koba on X for news of the film’s streaming and home release. Follow AWG on X and check out their fun videos on TikTok.