ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joseph Perry writes for the film websites Gruesome Magazine, The Scariest Things, Horror Fuel, The Good, the Bad and the Verdict and Diabolique Magazine; for the film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope and Drive-In Asylum; and for the pop culture websites When It Was Cool and Uphill Both Ways. He is also one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast and can occasionally be heard as a cohost on Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast.

Official synopsis: We’ve seen them fight, we’ve seen them chill, but in BABY ASSASSINS 3, we see Chisato (Akari Takaishi) and Mahiro (Saori Izawa) at the apex of their skills as they take on a brutally nihilistic freelance killer who aims to take their place atop the assassin food chain. Director Sakamoto Yugo and action director Sonomura Kensuke are back with the most exciting and dangerous chapter in the Baby Assassins saga to date. This time, it’s a fight for their lives.

The Baby Assassins films rawk mightily, with loads of incredible, beautifully choreographed martial arts set pieces and terrific performances by the two leads,  Akari Takaishi as the highly extroverted Chisato and Saori Izawa as the more reticent Mahiro, both working together as a duo of professional killers. Obviously the third entry in the series, Baby Assassins 3 (though formerly titled Baby Assassins: Nice Days) finds writer/director Yugo Sakamoto delivering what may arguably be the most accessible of the trilogy. This is due in part to toning down the more annoying aspects of the characters’ personalities a bit — they are often more sullen and hot-tempered in the previous films — and some of the zaniness that goes along with that. But hey, the series wouldn’t have made it to a third entry if viewers didn’t love their chemistry. 

Though this is certainly the darkest film in the trilogy, not to worry, as plenty of comedy is still in the mix to balance out the proceedings quite effectively. Sôsuke Ikematsu co-stars as unhinged freelance killer-for-hire Kaede Fuyumura, whose target for his 150th kill is the same as the girls’ next assigned job. 

Action director Kensuke Sonomura delivers jaw-dropping fight choreography, including frenetic, mesmerizing set pieces, from close-quarters martial arts inside a tight hallway to wide-open gunplay sequences involving chases down multiple floors. Baby Assassins 3 is worth watching for its action alone, but the performances from Takaishi, Izawa, Ikematsu, and the fine supporting players are all highly commendable as well, and Sakamoto invests the relationship between Chisato and Mahiro with impressive dramatic weight. 

Baby Assassins 3 is an absolute blast. Whereas in many action sequels we can expect the protagonists to survive whatever is thrown their way, making viewers less invested in fight scenes because of predictable outcomes, Sakamoto delivers tension multiple times in this entry as to whether either young woman will live to see Mahiro’s quickly upcoming 21st birthday. Action film devotees, action comedy fans, and Japanese comedy aficionados should consider Baby Assassins 3 a must-see viewing. 

Baby Assassins 3, from Well Go USA, debuts on Digital and Blu-ray on August 26, 2025.