Jigoku Kôshien

Seeing this piece was definitely something I did on impulse. In my humble opinion low budget Japanese movies tend to be quite interesting and original, sometimes containing really odd ideas for the story and scenery. I suppose "Jigoku kôshien" never had any element that I really found interesting when first reading about the film, but now I've seen it and I was quite in a split when trying to draw a conclusion. The film do have a few really good moments where I was having a big smile and a bit of a laugh but as another other user here at the IMDb boards wrote, quoting "low budget ultimately hurts it too much" - something I'd definitely back up. But if you are into Japanese movies and are just looking for some good time-killing, perhaps this one would do the trick.

From director Yudia Yamaguchi, the same mind behind the insane Meatball Machine, Yakuza Weapon, and equally insane, Chromartie High The Movie, comes something like you've never seen before. The over-rated, but likeable Tak Sakaguchi stars in this insane, wacky and totally messed up adaptation of a popular manga, where schools (of adults) face each other in deadly games of baseball. With exploding balls, brutal weapons, and opponents that are zombies, the film starts the insanity from the get-go and doesn't let up for its full running time!

Remade in 2011 as Deadball, with Tak back in the same role, this low-budget insanity is filled with ridiculously bad dialogue, over-the-top acting, silly fight scenes, and wild FX that go from looking great to looking so bad its funny. Produced by Versus director, Ryuhei Kitamura, of which Tak was first introduced to the world, Battlefield Baseball offers musical numbers, violence, martial arts, daft plot twists, and insane characters. Its as if Kitamura told Chow Sing Chi, Wong Jing and Jeff Lau that there was a $1000 budget, and to give him some ideas for a sports themed film. Its just plain mental. But alas, I have seen some pages from the original manga, and to be honest, its even more insane.

There's just far too much going on to try and put into words, but I can't deny that it is a lot of fun, incredibly silly, but highly entertaining for the most of its running time!

Not to be taken seriously by any means...

Overall: It makes Shaolin Soccer seem almost like a serious drama. Has to be seen to be believed!

Battlefield Baseball (2003) is a fine adaptation of a Japanese manga comic. The movie is very close to the original source. It's filled with cheesy sentiment, cartoon violence, music and over exaggerated slapstick humor. A high school baseball team's manager wants to take his team to the next level. But he's been plagued by a re-occurring nightmare. A team of zombie players has crushed and killed his team in brutal fashion. One day his worse fears come true when he looks into the paper and finds his team playing against the undead brutal team from Gedo. The manage and school officials know that the team doesn't stand a chance against this team. Unless he can convince the new transfer student to play for his school's baseball team. Will the new kid play for the team? Do they have a chance against the undead ball team? Find out when you watch Battlefield Baseball!!

Not a classic film but it's highly entertaining. It's a total manga film so be prepared for cheesy melodrama, exaggerated violence, adult humor and musical numbers!!

Highly recommended.

I watched this movie not knowing much about it, but after watching it, I can truly say this is one of the most absurd movies I have ever seen. The Japanese love to mix genres, and with this one it is comedy, action, zombie film and musical all rolled into one big laugh fest. The wackiness starts off with a baseball team trying to make it to the finals but facing their first opponents the Gedo team, which consists of zombie/demons kills almost the entire team.

A rogue ex-player joins the high school and is recruited to the failed team in hopes that they can defeat them. The recruitment leads to the films first of 3 (that I can remember) comedic musical numbers giving background information on the characters.

The wide array of characters blends well for the film, and lends to the ridiculous scenes with the team facing off against the Gedo zombie team, who have their own rules for baseball, which doesnt even contain the actual game of baseball, but just attacking the other team attempting to kill them all. A movie that has to be seen to be believed. Theres no way this strange humor would work in America, so if you like off the wall comedies, try to get a copy of this movie and see for yourself.

...it would probably look a lot like this; because like Monty Pythion, this movie deliberately goes out of its way to be as ridicules as possible. The story involves a high school baseball team, who's opponents happen to be a vicious gang of superhuman, green-faced monsters; the monster team enjoys horribly mutilating the players on the opposing team (sorry to disappoint you sports fans, but there is very little baseball is actually played). Anyhow, the high school's last hope is to try and recruit a new student with incredibly powerful baseball skills; unfortunately he has vowed never to play baseball again, after one of his pitches ends up killing his father; are you following this so far? There's a bit more to the story then that, but its not that important, sense the whole movie is really just an excuse to show us some of the most insane gags ever brought to the screen. Recommended for those with a abnormal sense of humor.