#Crows zero movie series

Being the son of a yakuza obviously helps his drive, daddy dearest having promised him succession in his criminal empire if he tames the school. That is until Genji Takiya (Shun Ogori) transfers to the school, spies the graffiti stating Serizawa to be “The King of Suzuran”, and fast makes it his mission to wrench the reins of power from him and rise to the top. Reigning monarch so to speak is Tamao Serizawa (Takayuki Yamada – Thirteen Assassins), though even he has failed to truly gain total control, many believing it is impossible to entirely unite the hoodlums under one pubescent godfather figure. Think Scum without the social commentary or inventive use of a sock. If you want more, go and rent Atonement or something, because Miike makes no excuses for what he's bringing to the screen here, if anything this is his comfort ground, nobody brings two-dimensional violently charismatic figures to the screen with such aplomb.Īt its core Crows Zero is pure young gangsters, the narrative is essentially a power struggle for control of the school and the rights to proclaim yourself as the daddy. Crows Zero doesn't try to reinvent anything, find hidden depths or challenge its audience, it can be summed up in a simple sentence: Youths fight. If it's sounding like a cliché that's because to some extent it is. Punks stand around looking mean in their oh-so-carefully picked out boyband-esque tough guy ensemble, funny haircuts and prominent jewellery and all, oh and don't forget, nobody in comic-land gets lung cancer so smoking is still very much a sign of coolness.

It's exactly what you'd expect of a comic-book breeding ground of anarchic discontent graffiti as far as the eye can see, petty vandalism, heavy gates and barbed wire you suspect to keep the trouble makers in in terms of educational facilities it sure ain't Eton.

It's a story of nihilistic young delinquent students, who form gangs and battle for supremacy in the infamous Suzuran high school, known to many as the School of Crows. His latest offering is an adaptation of the Hiroshi Takahashi's Crows manga, or more specifically a tie-in story set before the 26 volume printed work's narrative begins. So, it's fair to say he's bounced around the cinematic spectrum a bit, but with the latter two remakes he has proved concretely once and for all that the studied atmosphere of such works as Audition was certainly not a fluke.

#Crows zero movie series

He's a force of nature, happy to helm adaptations of anything he sees fit, be it a fondly remembered anime ( Yatterman), a videogame (he's adapted both Sega's Yakuza series as well as the DS comic courtroom detective story Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney) or even slices of classic cinema you'd think any sane director would steer clear of, as was the case with his remakes of Kinji Fukasaku's Graveyard of Honour and more recently Masaki Kobayashi's Hara-Kiri and Eiichi Kudo's tale of the Thirteen Assassins. From the tense sadism of Ichi The Killer to the candy coloured, occasionally pervy Yatterman, I can think of no one else who spans such a chasm from wanton bloodshed and extreme violence to oddball high-jinx. If there's a director with a more eclectic canon of work to his name I’d be surprised. Any film adaptation, from whatever source, bearing the name Takashi Miike demands you pay attention.