INTRODUCTION

            “Sakigake!! Otokojuku” is a long time selling best-seller comic book series that conquered Japan in the 1980s.  It went on to establish the “Sakigake” age in the world of Manga.  It has been used as a textbook for young Japanese men.  The story is infused with dreams, friendship, and love has been translated as a live action film.

                        With the comedic elements from the original comic book in mind, director Tak Sakaguchi adds his own aesthetics to construct a narrative of cool men who dance both beautifully in life as they do in death battles.

 

SYNOPSIS

Otokojuku is a private boys school where student are transformed into true men.  .  What awaits first year students is intense training by the Drill Master Onihige.  One first year Momotaro is a natural in both academics and martial arts.  Hidemaro is a puny coward.  300 push-ups, boiling oil bath punishment, twin cells are just a few examples of what awaits the newcomer’s experience.  With blood and sweat, Momotaro and Hidemaro live through the Otokojuku days, during which time they become true blood brothers as we as build friendship with their other classmates.

Meanwhile, Omito Date, a former Otokojuku 1st-year student leader, carries a grudge against the school.  Now he leads the evil army of  the Kanto Gogakuren School and is ready for some payback.  He conspires to take over Otokojuku and sets out to their school ground.  The Otokojuku principal, Heihachi Edajima, intercedes and states that “no personal vendetta is allowed on the grounds of Otokojuku, but it’s a different story elsewhere.”  Because of this a battle is decided Otokojuku versus Kanto Gogakuren.  The winner will be the victor of the Amazing Triple Death Battles; first fought more than 350 years ago.

Time: high noon, seven days later.

Place: Takan-ga-hara at the foot of the sacred Mt.Fuji.

            Three warriors, chosen from both sides, gather at Hogokuin Temple. The rest of the Otokojuku students, though anxious, are not permitted to be at the battle sites.  They are only allowed to watch the outcome of fights using the Life Candles, one designated to each warrior.

            The first battle is fought in a cave, which begins to crumble the moment the warriors set foot in it.  Toramaru, an expert of the Fierce Tiger style martial arts, fights against the 120-kilo heavy weight, Gekko.  The second battle is fought in mid-air with the warriors tied to a rope hanging from a 150-meter high cliff.  It is a battle between Togashi’s grit and Hien’s crane beach style martial arts.  The final battle is fought between 1st-year leader Momotaro Tsurugi and Kanto Gogakuren’s leader Omito Date on top of Mt.Fuji in a hexagonal ring surrounded by bubbling magma.  It is, indeed, a battle of clashing titans.