Applause! Stop. Bow. Sit.
Katei High School maybe the perfect place for Teiichi Akaba’s (Masaki Suda – Assassination Classroom) obsessive political aspirations. When he was younger all he wanted to do was play the piano. Idiot! Now he has traded that for his father’s political ambition and wants to become Prime Minister. But first, he will start with rising to the top at part of the Student Council at a High School where everyone is almost as obsessed as he is about political power.
Teiichi is not shy about his goal of having his own empire some day. There’s no low he won’t stoop to, no shoes he’s not willing to lick. He’ll lie, cheat, steal and become everyone’s lap dog. Standing in his way is his lifetime rival Kikuma Togo (Shushei Nomura). The only one not taking the whole thing seriously is easy going but popular Dan Otaka (Ryoma Takeuchi), who just wants to chill with everyone but is drawn into the political mayhem anyways.
As Teiichi and Kikuma find themselves backing their respective candidates for Student Body President, political machinations run amuck. Fortunately on his side, is tech-savvy Komei Sakakibara (Jun Shison) who keeps spying on everyone (and may have a thing for Teiichi himself). Pushed to the side is Teiichi’s childhood sweetheart Mimiko Shiratori (Mei Nagano) who barely gets to be in the story except to deliver a kick to Kikuma’s face.
Director Akira Nagai (If Cats Disappeared From The World) has created a universe where we can laugh at politics again, or at least at the corrupted, campy and backstab-by version we see on screen. Masaki Suda’s Teiichi is single minded on his objective but someone you want on your side (as Dan succinctly states in the movie).
Ridiculously recommended if you want to laugh at politics again. It’s over the top campy comedy, but not quite a fit for the family or kids. Which only one female character who’s barely in the movie, it’s not really going to pass the Bechdel-Wallace test anytime soon. Yes, Komei’s character is campy but the entire cast acts extra campy as hell so I can hardly single him out. Definitely a movie for the Fantasia crowd, which you’re welcome to join anytime.
That will do for now.
Never Think Impossible 