Crazy 88: Difference between revisions

The Crazy 88 are a fictional gang from Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" Vol. 1. They were led by former assassin O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu). Bill backed O-Ren 'financially and philosophically' in her bid for control of the Tokyo underworld and after a bloody struggle, she and the Crazy 88 emerged victorious. They ruled the streets of Tokyo for several years until the Bride (Uma Thurman), an assassin and former colleague of O-Ren, killed or seriously maimed all of them in a bid for revenge against O-Ren. Various real-life copycat gangs have sprung up, notably in Hong Kong and Okinawa plus various parts of Asia and the USA.

All of the gang members wore black Kato masks. Most of the members used samurai swords, some used throwing axes, but the leader of the Crazy 88, Johnny Mo, used a pair of short swords. He was a more proficient fighter than the rest of the gang, managing to hold his own against the Bride for several seconds before she cuts his leg off at the knee. Once the battle has concluded, the Bride tells the surviving members to depart, but to leave the limbs they have lost behind, as they 'belong to her now'. Only two members of the Crazy 88 survived without losing a limb - one lost an eye and the other (a teenager) was spared by the Bride when he dropped his sword and surrendered. She spanked him with her sword and told him to go home to his mother.

Notably, there were not 88 of them -- According to (Bill, they thought 'it sounded cool'. It has also been noted by Quentin Tarantino in an interview that the Crazy 88 were not all Japanese. This may stem from the fact that their leader, O-Ren, was half Chinese and half Japanese.