is a

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by

Takashi Miike is a Japanese film director, film producer and screenwriter. He has directed over one hundred theatrical, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. His films run through a variety of different genres, and range from violent an ...

with a screenplay by Shogo Muto. It is the second film based on the manga ''

Crows The Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS) is a series of remote weapon stations used by the US military on its armored vehicles and ships. It allows weapon operators to engage targets without leaving the protection of their vehicle. T ...

'' by Hiroshi Takahashi, and a direct sequel to

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

's ''

Crows Zero , also known as ''Crows: Episode 0'', is a 2007 Japanese action film based on the manga ''Crows'' by Hiroshi Takahashi. The film was directed by Takashi Miike with a screenplay by Shōgo Mutō, and stars Shun Oguri, Kyōsuke Yabe, Meisa Kuroki, ...

''. The film stars much of the cast from the first film, including

Shun Oguri is a Japanese actor and voice actor, son of stage director Tetsuya Oguri, and the youngest of 3 siblings, including older brother Ryo, who is also an actor. He started in small roles as extra in the works in which his father and brother worked ...

, Kyōsuke Yabe,

Meisa Kuroki Satsuki Shimabukuro (Japanese: 島袋さつき, ''Shimabukuro Satsuki'', b. 28 May 1988 in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan), better known by her stage name Meisa Kuroki (Japanese: 黒木メイサ, ''Kuroki Meisa''), is a Japanese actress, model an ...

, and

Takayuki Yamada is a Japanese actor, singer, and producer. He is best known for his role as Sakutaro Matsumoto in TV drama ''Socrates in Love'' and as Densha Otoko in the 2005 film of the same name. Yamada gained international popularity through his portrayal ...

reprising their roles. It was released in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

on April 11, 2009.

Plot

Eight months after triumphing over Serizawa Tamao (

), Takiya Genji (

) still struggles to attain supremacy at Suzuran All-Boys High School. Following a decisive defeat at the hands of the legendary Rindaman, and on the verge of graduating without fulfilling his goal, Genji grows quietly desperate. He begins challenging Rindaman regularly, but consistently fails to beat him. His situation escalates when he unwittingly breaks a non-aggression pact between Suzuran and a rival school, Housen Academy, by coming to the aid of Kawanishi Noboru (

Shinnosuke Abe is a Japanese former professional baseball player who spent his entire 19-year career with Nippon Professional Baseball's Yomiuri Giants, serving as the team's captain from 2007 to 2014. He has twice been named the MVP of the Nippon Professional ...

) during a heated confrontation. Genji learns that the agreement between the two schools was established two years prior when, during a skirmish, Noboru violated a gang law and used a weapon to fatally wound Housen's former leader, Bitō Makio. Suzuran had subsequently sworn not to interfere with Housen's retribution upon Noboru's release from prison. Genji's protection of Kawanishi provokes Housen's current leader, Narumi Taiga (Nobuaki Kaneko), to declare war against Suzuran. Genji and his allies go on the defensive, engaging in several violent conflicts with Housen's "Army of Killers".

Cast

- Takiya Genji *

- Serizawa Tamao *

Kuroki Meisa Satsuki Shimabukuro (Japanese: 島袋さつき, ''Shimabukuro Satsuki'', b. 28 May 1988 in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan), better known by her stage name Meisa Kuroki (Japanese: 黒木メイサ, ''Kuroki Meisa''), is a Japanese actress, model and ...

- Aizawa Ruka * Kyōsuke Yabe - Katagiri Ken *

Kenta Kiritani is a Japanese actor and singer. He was born in Kita-ku, Osaka. Filmography Films TV series Internet series Dubbing *'' The Legend of Tarzan'', Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgård Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård (; born August 25, 1976) is ...

- Tatsukawa Tokio * Suzunosuke Tanaka - Tamura Chūta * Sōsuke Takaoka - Izaki Shun * Goro Kishitani - Takiya Hideo * Motoki Fukami - Rindaman / Hayashida Megumi *

Shunsuke Daitō is a Japanese actor, talent and fashion model. He was born in Sakai, Osaka, Japan. Currently, he is employed by the Top Coat subsidiary of Watanabe Productions. Since debuting in 2005's ''Nobuta wo Produce is a Japanese television drama pr ...

- Kirishima Hiromi * Tsutomu Takahashi - Makise Takashi *

Yusuke Kamiji is a Japanese actor, singer, and tarento. In the music world, he is known simply as . Biography Kamiji graduated from Yokohama Senior High School. He belonged to the baseball club while in school, and played catcher. He and Daisuke Matsuzak ...

- Tsutsumoto Shōji * Yusuke Izaki - Mikami Manabu * Hisato Izaki - Mikami Takeshi * Ryō Hashizume - Honjō Toshiaki * Yu Koyanagi - Sugihara Makoto * Kaname Endō - Tokaji Yūji * Shinnosuke Abe - Kawanishi Noboru * Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi - Bitō Makio *

Nobuaki Kaneko is a Japanese drummer and actor. He is nicknamed and N.K. He is a member of the rock band Rize. He is represented with Itoh Company and his label is Illchill. He graduated from Horikoshi High School. Kaneko's father was Johnny Yoshinaga who w ...

- Narumi Taiga *

Kengo Ohkuchi is a former Japanese actor born in Kagoshima Prefecture. He is 180 cm tall and weighs 62 kg. He specializes in Shorinji Kempo. Ohkuchi is best known for playing Emperor Z, the main villain of the Tokusatsu series '' Ressha Sentai ToQg ...

- Kumagiri Rikiya *

Tomoya Warabino is a Japanese actor who is represented by the talent agency, A-Team. Biography Warabino graduated from Miyazaki Prefectural Miyakonojō Technical High School.HERO VISION vol56「マッスルルームへようこそ」P81より。 He debuted in ...

- Shibayama Hayato *

Gō Ayano is a Japanese actor. Career Ayano was featured in several roles beginning in 2003. In 2009, he appeared in Takashi Miike's '' Crows Zero 2''. His role in the film was described by Mark Schilling of ''The Japan Times'' as "a tall, pale-faced, del ...

- Urushibara Ryō *

Kazuki Namioka is a Japanese actor. He made his acting debut in the television series ''Pride''. He appeared in Hiroshi Shinagawa's 2009 debut film ''Drop''. He also co-starred with Kōji Yakusho in Takashi Miike's '' 13 Assassins''. Filmography Films * ''Bre ...

- Washio Gōta *

Haruma Miura was a Japanese actor and singer. He made his acting debut in the television drama ''Agri'' (1997) and rose to popularity after starring in the film '' Koizora'' (2007), winning Newcomer of the Year at the 31st Japan Academy Prize. In the foll ...

- Bitō Tatsuya

Release

The film was released in Japan on April 11, 2009. It was also screened internationally in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

throughout

, and in the United States at the

Santa Barbara International Film Festival The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) is an eleven-day film festival held in Santa Barbara, California since 1986. The festival boasts screenings of over 200 feature films and shorts from different countries and regions. SBIFF al ...

on February 6, 2010.

Reception

Box office

The film grossed US$29,893,636 worldwide.

Critical reception

Reviews of the film were generally positive. Niels Matthijs of ''

Twitch Film Screen Anarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films, ...

'' gave it a positive review, saying, "Visually ''Crows Zero II'' is still looking incredibly slick. Maybe not as many landmark shots, but the dense and graffiti-laden backgrounds make for a tasty looking film alright. The fighting scenes are still a blast to behold too, with strong, intense and action-driven camera work and some tight editing to keep the adrenaline flowing." Likewise, Mark Schilling of ''

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'' gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, saying, "Miike directs with an energy, velocity and cheeky bravado that are pure punk. He also understands why his Suzuran toughs fight as easily as they breathe - it’s not just a release for their raging hormones, but a way of being with their friends and telling the world they exist."

Sequels & adaptations

The film was followed by a sequel, ''

Crows Explode is a 2014 Japanese action film directed by Toshiaki Toyoda. It is the third film based on the manga ''Crows'' by Hiroshi Takahashi. It is the sequel to 2009's ''Crows Zero 2''. It features new characters and an almost entirely new cast, includin ...

'', in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

. It was also adapted into a

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

entitled ''Crows Zero II: Suzuran x Housen'', illustrated by Hirakawa Tetsuhiro (writer of ''

Clover Clover or trefoil are common names for plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (from Latin ''tres'' 'three' + ''folium'' 'leaf'), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume or pea family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus ...

'') and published in '' Bessatsu Shōnen Champion'' magazine.

References

External links

* * {{Takashi Miike 2009 films Films about school violence Live-action films based on manga Films directed by Takashi Miike 2000s Japanese-language films Japanese sequel films 2000s gang films 2000s high school films Japanese high school films 2000s Japanese films