Crows Zero / Kurozu zero

2007 Japanese movie that stars Shun Oguri as Takiya Genji - a guy who enrolls at Suzuran All-Boys High School with the sole intention of taking it over so as to accomplish the feat his Yakuza father could not back in his time.

Tamao Serizawa (Yamada Takayuki) is the current head or 'king' of the crows, but they have a mutual friend in Kenta Kiritani as Tokio Tatsukawa, an unseemingly straight-lace member of the scary gang of thugs who destroy their school while terrorizing everyone foolish enough to attend the beat-up, graffiti-laden, and burned-out shell of an 'academy'.

The director made attempts to show actual staff members at this hell-on-earth school, but that was only at the beginning - for the duration of the movie, it was thug - on - thug action that didn't stop until the very end, leaving me anxious to hit the shower so as to feel refreshed and clean once more.

It's a guy flick cram-packed with tough dudes wanting to beat the living shit out of each other until only one thug is left standing, and as a prissy girl, I don't get it.

HOWEVER ~ I will admit that a few of the scenes that showed how Genji goes about 'recruiting' were done rather elegantly while maintaining enough bad-ass to make me at least giggle, if not fawn.

It's also loosely based on yet, another manga series - which definitely helps to explain the far-fetched philosophy of the whole storyline.

Anyway - the gist of this, particular episode is about Genji's heartless attempt to become the king and form what is lovingly deemed the Genji Perfect Seiha Army whilst he proceeds to stomp all over reigning thug-master Serizawa's pride.

In the meantime, there is Tokio, who not only doesn't appear thug in the least but is also from a wealthy background and who has a medical condition which leads to his experiencing a cerebral aneurysm.

This situation, along with the kidnapping of Genji's nightclub singing girlfriend, leads to a furious rift between Genji and Serizawa, and soon the entire school and their in-house gangs begin to take sides, leading up to one, incredible battle that is meant to decide once and for all who will be the new leader of the academy.

This movie received so, much attention for so long, it forced me to give it a try even knowing what far-fetched brutality lay in store, and yet it managed to capture my interest, but not entirely for the same reason it captivated so, many others.

Ken (Kyosuke Yabe) was an annoying aside whose character made no sense to me whatsoever, and Takashi Makise (Tsutomu Takahashi) as the totally loyal, body-of-steel thug with the inability to keep steady was too creepy to be loved, much less rooted for.

and, What the hell was a guy like Tokio doing in a place like Suruzan, anyway??

To each his own, I guess.