How do the characters of Blue Spring annually elect the leaders for their class? Forgoing a democratic vote, the candidates climb to the top of the school, overstep the railing and stand on the ledge in alignment over a daunting several story drop onto cold, hard pavement. They play a clapping game, where each participant lets go of the railing, claps to a certain number while tipping back and catches the railing again— a single handslip away from a deadly plummet. Blue Spring begins with this process, as a new senior class is ushered in and Kujo, a quiet guy in the gang, wins with an unprecedented record. As the group slowly descends the stairs in stylish slow motion, punk sounds from Thee Michelle Gun Elephant wail in the background and a new leadership begins.
With this manga adaptation, Toshiaki Toyoda takes the helm in another Japanese exploration of violent youth culture and social systems as he depicts the lives of a few students without ever leaving the school grounds. The school is actually the students’ sanctuary, their hideout from the real world— where teachers simply drone on in the classroom without caring for their students, and the students do anything but schoolwork. The teachers are helpless, minor characters, the walls are covered in graffiti, and brutal violence frequently occurs on school grounds. The students rule the school with their own power structure, where the weak are bullied by the strong and friendships often turn into bitter rivalries over a disagreement. In this insular world, power and leadership are the highly coveted prizes.
However, rather than going wild with his power, Kujo spends most of his days perched up on the railing, staring out into the world and contemplating. The focus never leaves the school because the students never want to grow out of their teenage periods and leave. One character utterly freezes when he is asked about his pursuits beyond school, but he does not hesitate to scream about his desire to complete his exams. One terminally ill character continues coming to school and sprints to the gorgeous cherry blossom trees every moment he gets, in order to go about some odd tasks. When Kujo is asked about him, he answers that he hates the kid. Why? Because the cherry blossom kid knows what he wants to do with the rest of his short life.
When the kids are trapped in a corner, forced to figure out their lives, they resort to another power-based hierarchy: the yakuza. One character that must abandon his lifelong dream, succumbs to the pressure and joins a local gang. The school power structure emphasizes a universal example for our crippling dependency on these hierarchies once we enter the “real world.”
However, for the film’s thematic worth and social commentary, Toyoda crafts Blue Spring with a slim eighty-three minute running time that consistently keeps the viewer entertained and a cool vibe with slow-motion and punk touches that simultaneously glorify and mock its main characters. Sure, they are the cool, powerful kids at school, but what does that actually mean?
The acting is superb as well from the young cast—especially Ryuhei Matsuda, who excels in his calm, ponderous and confident persona. The script provides a collection of memorable side characters as well, but it takes its biggest misstep with Kujo’s best friend Aoki. Hirofumi Arai wonderfully transforms from the close friend into a tough bully out to get Kujo, but the tight screenplay hardly allows for their relationship to build into something meaningful. While Toyoda presents a number of interesting characters, they remain a little too aloof and disconnected from the viewer. It’s hard to care for them and their dire fates at all, however interesting they may be to watch.
Reviewed by Tarun
