Product Details

• Actors: Takayuki Yamada, Chiaki Kuriyama, Gaku Hamada, Sei Ashina, Takuya Ishida
• Directors: Katsuhide Motoki
• Writers: Manabu Makime, Maruo Kyozuka
• Producers: Chiaki Noji, Takashi Yajima
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Japanese
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Viz Pictures
• DVD Release Date: July 6, 2010
• Run Time: 113 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B003F3NDYE
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #191,336 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Battle League Horumo" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Based on the best-selling fantasy novel by Manabu Makime, Battle League HORUMO is a combat action comedy that will take you into a world with the breathtaking backdrop of Kyoto and bizarre legend of “Horumo.” Directed by Katsuhide Motoki (Kitaro and the Millennium Curse, 10 Promises to My Dog), starring Takayuki Yamada (Train Man, Crows Episode 0), Chiaki Kuriyama (Battle Royale, Kill Bill Vol. 1), and Sei Ashina (Silk, Kamui). After failing the entrance exam and enduring 2 years of cram school, Akira Abe (Takayuki Yamada) finally gets accepted to the prestigious Kyoto University. One day on his way home with a friend, they meet a senior who invites them to a welcome party hosted by his club “Azure Dragon.” With nothing to lose, they decide to go for the free food, and there, Abe meets Kyoko Sawara, the girl with the perfect nose, and falls head over heels for her. Abe drags his friend Takamura to join the club with him in hopes that he can get closer to the girl of his dreams. At first, the club appears to be an ordinary social club but the new members soon find out about the 1000 year-old tradition upheld by the four universities of Kyoto and the “Horumo” battle. The battle is fought between 10 players from each team with the players manipulating an army of 100 spirits (referred to as Oni) to fight the opponent. The members go through a rigorous training achieving the fluency of the Oni language as well as the indefinable gestures required to go along with it. Let the battles begin!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fierce Oni Battle! Fight!, April 12, 2010

By 

Zack Davisson "japanreviewed" (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Battle League Horumo (DVD)

"Battle League Horumo" ("Kamogawa horumo" or "Duck River Horumo") is just a brilliant little film. Based on the popular fantasy novel of the same name, the film combines the bizarre, outrageous antics and high energy that I love in Japanese comedy with authentic folklore and solid acting with an all-star cast.

Anyone who has spent some time in Japan has encountered some strange festival in the summer, with people in period costumes performing some millennium-old dance-ritual in order to gain the blessings of the kami spirits. "Battle League Horumo" asks the question, "What if those gods were real, but you just couldn't see them?"

The story begins when freshmen student Akira Abe (Takayuki Yamada, known the world over as Train Man) begins his first year at the prestigious Kyoto University. Abe has been studying hard at cram school for two years, but has finally made it. He soon finds himself recruited by a club, the Azure Dragons, who protest a little too much that they are just a "normal club doing normal things." The club president Makoto Sugawara (YoshiYoshi Arakawa from Ping Pong, Kamikaze Girls) soon reveals that there is nothing "normal" about the Azure Dragons at all. They are, in fact, a secret club that participates in a thousand-year old ritual known as Horumo, where each member controls an army of "oni" spirits that battle with other spirits in order to please the gods with the spectacle.

Abe's finds it hard to take this seriously, and would quit the club if it were not for the presence of Kyoko Sawara (Sei Ashina, "Kamui"), a girl with a perfect nose who infatuates Abe immediately. So blinded by Sawara is Abe that he cannot see the rivalry of Alpha-male clubmate Mitsuru Ashiya (Takuya Ishida, The Samurai I Loved) or the attentions of nerd girl Fumi Kusunoki (Chiaki Kuriyama, Gogo Yubari from Kill Bill - Volume One). Finding himself sucked into the club, Abe trains in earnest with his oni army yet he fights more to impress Sawara than to please the gods, something that will lead to devastating consequences. The gods of Japan are not pleased when their pleasures are interrupted by petty mortal concerns.

Aside from the story, a big part of the draw of "Battle League Horumo" is going to be the "oni" themselves. While far from the traditional oni of Japanese folklore, these little spirits have more in common with the Mogwai from Gremlins. They are fully 3D rendered animation, done by Studio Gonzo who is well known for their CGI work on series like Last Exile and Blue Submarine, No. 6. They aren't the most realistic computer animated characters ever, but they aren't supposed to be and their cuteness is just right for the tone of the film. The oni battles themselves are hilarious, as the members of the clubs control the oni through a series of commands in the "oni language" combined with a sequence of gestures and hip-thrusts.

Another draw for this flick is the cast, and there are so many familiar faces and a lot of them playing against type. Chiaki Kuriyama in particular is usually positioned as a total sex symbol in tight-fitting costumes like in The Great Yokai War, but instead she is dressed in boy's clothes with square-rimmed glasses and a big wig that makes her look like 80s sitcom actor Ouki Bondo. Takayuki Yamada is still a lovable loser like he was in "Train Man," but he gets to be a little cooler here even though he is clearly not top dog.

Although it is billed as an Action/Comedy, the emphasis is far more on the comedy than the action. Much of the antics are typical Japanese over-the-top physical comedy, like all the boys getting naked and performing a choreographed pop routine at the shrine in order to gain the god's favor, or when league member Koichi Takamura is forced to wear a giant samurai topknot as punishment for his cowardice in the oni battle.

The Abe/Sawara/Ashiya love triangle could have come straight from a John Hughs film, with the rich macho jerk mistreating his beautiful girlfriend, only to get comeuppance when a poor but sensitive guy steals her away. However, that isn't quite the way things resolve here much to my surprise and delight.

All in all a fantastic film that I completely enjoyed. Highly recommended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious, fun and entertaining!, August 17, 2010

By 

Dennis A. Amith (kndy) (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Battle League Horumo (DVD)

From Katsuhide Motoko (director of "Gegege no Kitaro and the 2000-2002 "Tsuribaka Nisshi" films) comes his latest film "Battle Horumo League" which stars Takayuki Yamada ("Ikigami the Final Limit", "Densha Otoko") and Chiaki Kuriyama ("Battle Royale", "Azumi 2', "Kill Bill Vol. 1') and an adaptation by a novel by Manabu Makime.


VIDEO:

"Battle Horumo League" is presented in 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen. With the film shot outdoors in many sequences, the film does showcase a lot of the vibrant color from the film. Some people may find the CG of the Oni a bit unusual for the film or expected something a bit more menacing, but overall picture quality for the film is very good and I wouldn't be surprised if someday in the future, this film will be released in the US on Blu-ray.

AUDIO:

"Battle Horumo League" is presented in Dolby Digital Japanese with English subtitles. The dialogue is clear and understandable, the sound of the taiko drums come very nicely through the front channels but you also get the crowd ambiance and the swishing of weapons during the battles as the effects come clearly through the surround channels. So, you do get an active soundtrack.

Overall, "Battle Horumo League" features a pretty good Dolby Digital soundtrack and would even be better via HD lossless if released on Blu-ray.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"Battle Horumo League" comes with the following special features:

* Japanese Original Trailers - (1:40) Theatrical trailer for "Battle Horumo League".
* Japanese TV Spots - (:32) The original Japanese TV commercial for "Battle Horumo League"
* Viz Pictures Presents - Trailers for upcoming or currently available Viz Pictures films on DVD.

JUDGMENT CALL:

"Battle Horumo Leauge" is a fun, hilarious and entertaining film from director Katsuhide Motoki.

If anything, the first thing that came to my mind while watching this film is that it's like a live action version of anime or a strategy tactical-based RPG video game. It was interesting to see the various characters really dedicate themselves to the club to learn the various offensive and defensive techniques and in some ways, because of the supernatural element to the film, you get quite a bit of CG special effects as well.

While the film is essentially a combat action comedy and does focus on two battles, the film is pretty much a relationship film. We see how Akira Abe is with his best friend (especially when things go downhill), a good part of the film features Akira's love for Kyoko, Akira's awkward friendship with Kusunoki and essentially his relationship to his club members and seeing him become a bit more determined when he discovers who his true friends are.

Takayuki Yamada does a great job of playing the lovesick Akira Abe. Capturing his innocent yet goofy characteristics and also that little perverted side of him as he sniffs his bed after Kyoko slept on it for the night.

Actress Chiaki Kuriyama plays a much different role compared to her previous bad girl roles on "Kill Bill Vol. 1' and "Battle Royale". With her bobbed hair and glasses, her role as Fumi Kusunoki is pretty much as the nerdy tomboy. But as she starts to fall for Akira, we start to slowly see her feminine side.

But the most interesting character would have to go to Gaku Hamada's Koichi Takamura. The friend of Akira who loves being part of the club, but is a weak man that during battle, he is seen frozen and wetting himself. But the humiliation by peers changes him to become a different man, even shaving his head with the hair on top similar to a feudal era samurai. Needless to say, Koichi is the comedy-driven character of the film as his weakness is exploited but we also start to see the character starting to redeem himself.

As a fan of Japanese strategic/tactical video games and also enjoying quirky Japanese stories, it was a given that I would enjoy this film. Although at first, the CG oni's did make my interest in the film wane a little, I suppose the cuteness of the little oni starts to grow on you and essentially it becomes quite interesting to see how these little characters come into play during battle.

Overall, "Battle Horumo League" is a fun, hilarious and entertaining film, especially for those who have an interest in Japanese pop culture especially anime or JRPG/tactics style video games will find themselves enjoying the film even more.

Definitely recommended!