HiGH&LOW THE WORST EPISODE.0 (2019)

Introduction à The Worst…

High&Low: The Worst Episode.O ressemble à une longue introduction de la nouvelle génération tout en appâtant pour le film suivant du même titre.

Pour être honnête, j'avais quelques aprioris. Bien que ma prudence m'a permis de mieux appréhender ce drama, j'en ressors sur une note légèrement mitigée. Cette nouvelle génération, prometteuse, ne tient pas totalement ses promesses. On délaisse les valeurs communes pour de l'individualisme. Est-ce mauvais ? Absolument pas. C'est seulement différent.

Ces six épisodes donnent de la profondeur aux nouveaux personnages principaux en développant une partie de leur passé. En revanche, il creuse davantage Murayama (Yamada Yuki), le leader du lycée Oya depuis le premier épisode de la première génération. Tous les acteurs sont très bons : Yoshino Hokuto (Takajo Tsukasa) est ravissant dans ce style détaché. Fukuyama Kohei (Kisuke) amuse en poule mouillée. Ou encore Sato Ryuji et Uekiya Satoshi qui frôlent les portes de la folie.

L'action sur les combats est bonne, avec des chorégraphies bien exécutées, bien que brouillonnes. L'action n'atteint pas son plus haut niveau. Cependant, j'imagine que le film le sera davantage.

La bande-son, bien que sympathique, manque de punch. Si j'apprécie une majorité des titres de THE RAMPAGE from EXILE TRIBE, leur musique me semble trop douce pour l'univers de High&Low. D'ailleurs, lorsque le thème principal (de la première génération) est utilisé, l'atmosphère change complètement.

En bref, High&Low: The Worst Episode.O est une invitation à découvrir cette nouvelle génération. Ce n'est pas mon projet favori de la franchise, mais il me laisse curieuse pour la suite.

Read More

Who's it gonna be - Oya's full-time Leader!

In the six episodes we are following the storyline in the Oya High School. The series begin with the introduction of new first year characters that admire to steal the position from Todoroki's hands, and become the school's leader for the full time students. This incident takes place, after the fight containers of the High & Low movie and during the Kuryu groups casino plan.

At the meantime, while the full-time first year students are trying to prove themselves, Murayama's group are betting who is gonna be this year's leader for the full-time students. Will someone win over Todoroki and be the next leader? Who has the highest changes of become the one to rule over the full-time students?

Todoroki (Maeda Goki) is in a position that he has to defend his position, from the people who want to take it, with every available tool. Nakagoshi (Kamio Fuju) is a first year who declares that he would become the new leader of Oya high school; while Yasushi (Sato Ryuji) and Kiyoshi (Uekiya Satoshi) are not only threatening that they would take the leader's position, but they also invited the potential candidates for the position to a fight. One of the people who are invited in this fight is Tsukasa (Yoshino Hokuto), however, this second-year student, has no interest in the position.

Even though, in general the plot is rather fast-forward, I have to admit that there were a lot of flashbacks from the main story. I do realise that we needed to establish the same timeframe between this series and the parent story, but we don't need to be introduced every time what SWORD is and is the current story.

I am not going to analyse their acting, as there are too many characters; I will say only two words: amazing acting. For the whole franchise, people with good acting skills and ability to express themselves through their emotions, were picked.

I know that I might be biased, as I said that I was not going to analyse their acting; but I have to point out how amazing Yamada Yuki was. In my humble opinion, he was the best actor in the series, as he was able to execute the peculiar character of Murayama and his questionable sanity. Hands down to his acting skills.

Read More