| Bagi, the Monster of Mighty Nature | |
|---|---|
| |
| Japanese | 大自然の魔獣 バギ |
| Alternative | Daishizen no Majuu: Bagi |
| Date | Aug 19, 1984 |
| Duration | 1 hr. 30 min. |
| Genres | Action, Sci-Fi |
Plot[]
The film opens in Monica, South America with a young adult hunter named Ryosuke "Ryo" Ishigami embarking on his hunt for the monster known as Bagi whom is said by the villagers to be causing disaster attacking villages at random. He is accompanied by a boy named Chico.
Years ago, Ryo had been a delinquent often hanging out with the Hell House biker gang. One night, they spot a drifter woman on a bridge and almost accost her when she suddenly fights back with claws and superhuman speeds injuring the bikers. Only Ryosuke was unharmed who watched as she bolted away into the night. Back home, his life is hard when his mother is absent and his father working as a detective.
The next day, Ryo and the bikers find the woman's hideaway. The gang search through the day and night until she attacks possibly killing the gang leader and his cronies. When Ryo meets the assailant, she introduces herself as Bagi, a human-like puma. Ryosuke escapes back to his house in fright, but Bagi follows him home.
Ryo remembers when he first met Bagi in his younger days when she was a kitten learning human traits such as reading picture books, standing on her back feet, dancing to aerobic shows and writing her name; This results in humans being afraid of her so she fled and searched for her own kind while in disguise.
The two embark on a journey to find out about Bagi's true origins. At a 7-Eleven convenience store, Ryosuke learns that a number of animals like Bagi escaped a lab that was conducting experiments and were killed out of fear of becoming monsters.
Making their way to the SuperLife Center where Ryo's mother works, they make it past the laser defense grid and Bagi uses her tail to breach the window. Inside the lab, both her and Ryo are disgusted by the usage of animals as test subjects, even mice heads attached to cyborg bodies. In the greenhouse, plants within suddenly come to life and attack Ryo forcing Bagi to come to his aid. After eluding security, Bagi and Ryo make it to the dwarf-like chief's office demanding to know the truth about Bagi's origins.
The chief informs Ryo and the disguised Bagi that the former's mother left for South America by invitation in the fictitious Republic of Monica. He also speaks of how the SuperLife Center has been conducting gene transfer experiments in secrecy. Nine years prior, Ryo's mother Yoko was a scholar in genetics practicing the transfer of genes into other animals. But suddenly, an earthquake caused the quarantine doors of Level P-4 to fail and multiple enclosures were opened allowing fifteen animals to escape their confines. Out of fear their escape will have disastrous results, Yoko ordered the escaped animals shot dead including Bagi's mother.
Only Bagi survived who reacts with anguish over her birth before daring the Chief to try and kill her believing by right she wants to live. Shortly after revealing Yoko's whereabouts in Monica, the Chief tries to gun down Bagi but is hypnotized by her into arranging flight transport to Monica.
On the plane, Bagi is attacked by a mutant cactus with hands and almost torn apart when Ryo comes to her aid. A black suited agent reveals he was ordered by the chief to plant the monstrous cactus and ejects Ryo and Bagi from the plane; Though they narrowly survive with a makeshift parachute and the two jump into the river, Ryo suffers a serious injury to his shoulder.
For untold days, Bagi tends to Ryo by licking his wound to keep him from bleeding out until he suddenly recovers. Close to the Monican border, Bagi goes to hunt for food though a snake steals the fish. Bagi cooks the snake for her and Ryo to have as their lunch and Ryo explains his plan; If they can talk Professor Yoko down from her experiments and persuade her to come home and be a proper family, Ryo can also include Bagi as part of that family. Eagerly, Bagi puts on a dress made from leaves and dances for Ryo remembering when she watched the aerobics shows.
The next day, Ryo and Bagi hitch a ride in a circus transport truck only to pulled over by a patrol led by Colonel Sado.