Asian Home Cinema: Crows Zero Special 2 Disc Edition

Japan’s most prolific director, Takashi Miike is back to shaking your home cinema experience with his latest and the biggest box office hit ever, the manga adaptation “Crows: Episode 0” (Crows Zero). Unlike his previous jobs which kind of more celebrated, controversial and arty such in “Ichi the Killer”, “Sukiyaki Western Django”, and “One Missed Call”, “Crows” is decisively Miike’s commercial mode, and he handles his source material exceptionally well, carrying a wellness blend of edgy comedy and crowd-pleasing comic book roughhousing. The whole movie is about in one simple line: a group of high school guys rough it out to become the ultimate gang leader, within many feuds, betrayals and heated arguments along the way, Miike did not forget to include his stylized violence too. The plot of Takahashi Hiroshi's bestselling manga also takes Miike to his familiar territory and he cuts through the subject matter at high-octane speed for a stylized, action-packed, and entertaining schoolyard brawl of a movie. “Crows Zero″ turns out to be one of the better manga adapted live action movies made to date. Miike definitely had his wild stamp placed in the movie, while his other stamp which is the ability to defy categorization is just as evident.

Delving into the hyper-stylized world of feuding high school gangs, “Crows Zero” actually takes place before the events of the manga (hence the title), setting up the origins and rivalries of the iconic characters.
Genji (Shun Oguri) is a new transfer student at the infamous Suzuran High aka the School of Crows, the roughest of rough high schools in Japan. With that kind of reputation, it’s apparent that Genji didn’t transfer to Suzuran to obtain a better education. Somewhat, his father Hideo assured Genji that he could succeed him as the crime boss of the Ryuseikai Yakuza gang if he is able to take leadership over Suzuran High. Thus Genji begins enrollment at Suzuran High with one goal in mind: to become the school’s undisputed leader.The reigning king of Suzuran High is Tamao Serizawa (Takayuki Yamada) and his group the Serizawa gang. Tamao notices Genji immediately, when Genji beats up members of a rival yakuza gang that came to school to settle a beef with Tamao. A new rival to Tamao indeed has landed at the School of Crows. Unfortunately for Genji, what he has in fighting skills is offset by his lack of diplomatic skills or the ability to lead. Individually he can take out the best of them, but at Suzuran High numbers are just as important. Thus to challenge the Serizawa gang, Genji must unite rival factions to make any serious challenge to the Serizawa gang. Genji then turns to Ken, one of the low-level yakuza members that came to school on his first day at school, for advice on uniting the different factions. Although Ken is a bumbling low-level Yakuza member, he was a former student of Suzuran High and is able to provide the minimum guidance necessary for Genji to challenge the Serizawa gang. Now a showdown for the ages is set to occur at Suzuran High.

Showdown Score: 8 stars out of 10

Product Information:
Product Title: Crows Episode 0 (Taiwan Version DVD / 2-Disc Edition)
Director: Takashi Miike
Casts: Shun Oguri, Takayuki Yamada, Motoki Fukami, Meisa Kuroki, Dai Watanabe
Region Code: 3 - South East Asia (including Hong Kong, S. Korea and Taiwan)
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: Traditional Chinese, English
Picture Format: NTSC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78 : 1
Sound Information: Dolby Digital 5.1
Disc Format(s): DVD-9, DVD
Duration: 130 (mins)
Release Date: 2008-08-08 (Order the DVD)