♥ MIKERU ON JAPAN TODAY ♥

Rookies the Movie: Graduation works overtime to please, and the film's blockbuster status indicates that fans were indeed satisfied. Non-fans, however, may only be partially convinced. The sequel to a popular 2008 TV drama that was based on a popular manga, Rookies continues the story of the Futakotamagawa High baseball team, a group of thuggish delinquents who were once suspended for getting into a massive on-field brawl. However, as related in the TV drama, the team learned to trust their new coach Koichi Kawato (Ryuta Sato of Gachi Boy) and resolved to make it all the way to Koshien Stadium, the home of Japan's yearly high school championship. Along the way they learned about life and love, plus overacted and got all teary while talking about their dreams. Yep, just like every other J-Drama about reformed delinquents. Tough high school thugs who cry with their teachers - it's practically its own genre.

In keeping with that, Rookies presents a cinematic continuation of the television drama - minus the "cinematic" part. Sure, the movie is shot on film and features the moments where a film camera moves. However, presentation here is only slightly better than normal television, with everything rendered in an obvious and self-indulgent way. Characters don't converse in Rookies - they explain, and everybody seemingly has the infinite patience to hang around and listen. The film also relates its pet themes in constantly repeated dialogue, with characters frequently talking about pursuing their dreams, hoping to see their dreams come true, and likely the dreams they had yesterday as they were having a dream about pursuing their dream. Every time a character talks to another character about their dreams or their respect for someone else's dreams, the music swells unbearably, and sometimes this can happen two or three times within the span of five minutes! As an accomplished piece of cinema, Rookies lacks.