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PS2
Sakigaki!! Kuromati Koukou
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Starting life on the manga proving grounds of Weekly
Shonen Jump, Sakigake! Kuromati Koukou captured the
attention of its audience with a cast of high school
delinquents whose aspirations in life were to hang out,
discuss inane subjects and act like a bunch of bad asses.
Lovable bad asses. After
amassing a critical audience on the pages of Shonen Jump, Kuromati Koukou made the
transition from paper to celluloid when Production I.G.
worked the manga into animation form and TV Tokyo
started airing episodes last year.
Set in the high
school wasteland of Kuromati High School, Japanese
toughs, slackers, good-for-nothings and other ne'er do
wells are all shuffled into one steaming pot of male
testosterone. The top
clique in Kuromati consists of protagonist Takashi
Kamiyama and head honcho Hayashida Shinjirou. Around
them, the core crew consists the slow-witted Akira Maeda, the metallic Mechazawa Shinichi, Gorilla, and Freddy Mercury. Yes, he
of the aptly named rock band Queen and Gorilla is an
actual gorilla. Noboru Yamaguchi and his gang
appear from time to time as foil against the boys.
In one episode, Hayashida decides that he wants to play
baseball and the boys debate about finding enough
players to field the diamond. After a while, only seven
players are rustled up - two of them being Gorilla and
the robot Mechazawa. Maeda soon realizes he's the eighth
member and his mom shows up as the ninth. All set. In their
outing, they get themselves stranded in a forest
clearing and fear for their lives as helplessness sets
in. Hayashida saves
the day when he disappears for a few hours and returns to camp with
packages of instant
ramen which he hauls from a nearby convenience store. Unfortunately, he
forgets the hot water to sauce the ramen and a
squabble breaks out. They're eventually rescued by a
female gorilla who saves their whiny hides by leading
them to bright lights in a big city.
Similar to the manga and animated
series, everyday situations with an outlandish bent pop
up in PS2 Sakigaki!! Kuromati Koukou and players contribute to the
conversations and situations to move the story along. Along with the interaction sequences
where the Kuromati crew make their way through each
day, there's a group of mini games to play including
slots and a primitive fighting challenge where players
attempt to defeat a larger than life Freddy with a stick.
While we doubt many even know about this series in the USA, it's
one of our favorites from the 2003 season with it's
witty deadpan commentary on the Japanese obsession with
all things cute (Pooh-tan), high school life, brusque
male bravado, and human
nature in general. The boys singing "Happy Birthday" to
one of their own is a lesson in maintaining the macho
image even in times of supposed joy. Since the series is
so unknown, we'll probably sell 2 units over the next 3
years but we had to bring it in just for our own
satisfaction and peace of mind. |
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