Blue Spring (青い春, Aoi haru) is a 2001 Japanese youth drama film, written and directed by Toshiaki Toyoda[1] and based on Taiyō Matsumoto's manga of same title. It tells a tale of apathetic school students at a run-down Tokyo high school for boys. It was released on September 10, 2001.[1]

Blue Spring
DVD cover
Directed byToshiaki Toyoda
Written byToshiaki Toyoda
Taiyō Matsumoto
Based onBlue Spring
by Taiyō Matsumoto
Produced byDai Miyazaki
StarringRyuhei Matsuda
Hirofumi Arai
Sosuke Takaoka
CinematographyNorimichi Kasamatsu
Edited byMototaka Kusakabe
Distributed byArts Magic
Release date
  • September 10, 2001 (2001-09-10)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

The film title can be understood as "inexperienced years" or teenage years, but it also can be understood as "fresh start". According to manga artist Taiyō Matsumoto, the title is intended as a play on irony.

Plot

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At Asashi High, a run-down high school for boys, Kujo, Aoki, Yukio, Yoshimura, and Ota are a gang of school friends lost in apathy and dissatisfaction. They are aware their future offers limited options. Even most teachers have already written them off as a lost cause.

Kujo's gang is part of the school's illegal society, which is controlled through a rooftop game as a test of courage: the Clapping Game. Whoever wins the game gets to be the society's leader, and rules all gangs throughout Asahi High. No teacher can stand up to this society.

After a round of the Clapping Game, Kujo wins the leadership role, which excites his best friend Aoki, who wants Kujo to dominate the school through the use of casual violence. However, Kujo passively resists doing this.

Aoki eventually realizes his best friend only took part in the Clapping Game to pass the time, and that Kujo never wanted to be the school's leader. Devastated, he challenges Kujo for his leadership, and loses.

As Aoki becomes disillusioned, alienated and hostile toward Kujo, friends around them slowly fall apart, bringing their school to a series of mini violent climaxes.

Cast

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Soundtrack

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The Blue Spring original soundtrack rose to #24 on Oricon Albums Chart Top 30 shortly after the film release and Drop, a track from the soundtrack, rose to #13 on Oricon Singles Chart Top 30 in July 2002.

Track Translated Artist Notes
"September Punk Children" セプテンバー・パンク・チルドレン Thee Michelle Gun Elephant
"Akage no Kelly" Red-haired Kelly Thee Michelle Gun Elephant from the 2001 album Rodeo Tandem Beat Specter. The opening scene.
"News" analers
"Black Limousine" The Blondie Plastic Wagon later appears on the 2004 album, Bitches Blue
"Raspberry Dance" The Blondie Plastic Wagon later appears on the 2004 album, Bitches Blue
"Beautiful Dreamer" Stephen Foster Yukio (Sôsuke Takaoka) strums this piece on his guitar
"Beat Specter Garcia" Thee Michelle Gun Elephant from the 2001 album Rodeo Tandem Beat Specter.
"Boogie" Thee Michelle Gun Elephant during the sequence of baseball player Kimura (Oshiba Yusuke)'s departure.
"Benjo" Toilet analers The word "benjo" is slang for "toilet".
"Glory"
"Mona Lisa" Thee Michelle Gun Elephant from the 2001 album Rodeo Tandem Beat Specter.
"Beat Specter Buchanan" Thee Michelle Gun Elephant from the 2001 album Rodeo Tandem Beat Specter.
"My Name Is Bob" analers
"Drop" Thee Michelle Gun Elephant Aoki (Hirofumi Arai)'s rooftop scene.
"Drop" (live) Thee Michelle Gun Elephant During the closing credits.

Released under Artsmagic in 2004, the DVD features extras including two interviews with Toyoda, biographies and filmographies of the main actors and a feature-length commentary by Tom Mes, who edits Midnight Eye, an online English-language magazine of Japanese cinema.

Reception

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On Midnight Eye, Tom Mes said the film was "magnificent but much overlooked".[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Blue Spring (2001) - Release Info - IMDb". IMDB.
  2. ^ Tom Mes (September 4, 2003). "9 Souls". Midnight Eye. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
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