DVD release - Battle League HORUMO (VIZ Pictures) available on 7/6/2010
Posted by Kevin Ouellette on Friday, May 7, 2010 EST at 7:25pm
Filed under: Comedy, Fantasy, DVD/Blu-ray releases
US distributor VIZ Pictures will be releasing Katsuhide Motoki's Battle League HORUMO on region 1 DVD in July. The film got its North American premiere at Fantasia 2009 and has subsequently been screened at Fantastic Fest, the Hawaii International Film Festival, and San Francisco's VIZ Cinema.
Plot: After spending two long years cramming for his entrance exam, Akira Abe (Takayuki Yamada) finally gets accepted to Kyoto University. One day, he and his friend Takamura (Gaku Hamada) get invited to a party hosted by a club called "The Azure Dragons". They agree to attend for the free food, but it's at the party where Abe meets Kyoko Sawara (Sei Ashina) and instantly falls in love. Determined to get closer to Sawara, he decides to join the Dragons and convinces Kawamura to tag along.
What initially seems to be a typical university social club turns out to be part of a 1,000-year tradition in which the four universities of Kyoto compete against one another in "Horumo" battles. During matches, 10 players from each team attempt to control an army of 100 Oni (spirits). In keeping with Horumo tradition, each new club member must endure a rigorous training camp in which they learn the delicate art of controlling oni, from an entire oni language to the bizarre gestures used during matches.
Specs: Region 1, NTSC. Japanese audio with English subtitles. Special features TBA.
Available at the following retailer(s) on July 6, 2010:
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Tags: akira shinomiya, battle league horumo, chiaki kuriyama, eiko otani, gaku hamada, gota watabe, katsuhide motoki, keita saitou, maki okamoto, megumi sato, papaiya suzuki, renji ishibashi, ryota umebayashi, sei ashina, shinichi takamatsu, shota saito, sora toma, takayo mimura, takayuki yamada, takuya ishida, tamiyasu cho, tsuruko shofukutei, viz pictures, wada masato, yoshiyoshi arakawa
Comments
@Oli: I don’t understand why that would matter. True, it was one of the 4 posters used to market the film in Asian markets, but they did something different for the Japanese DVD release to better reflect the manga on which it’s based:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/鴨川ホルモー-DVD-本木克英/dp/B002D11UBM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1273847119&sr=8-2
Takayuki Yamada is a well-known commodity in Japan and a DVD cover or poster of him screaming might sell tickets. But in North America, the only recognizable and marketable face in the film belongs to Chiaki-chan, who won a best actress audience award for the role at Fantastic Fest this year. Viz isn’t constrained by the Japanese marketing—in fact, it’s in their best interest to repackage the box to better reflect the R1 market. To my eye, this package doesn’t do that. “Play the game for god’s sake”? It’s a shame, because this movie was a scream and it should find a decent audience in the US & Canada.
I should just keep quiet though, because I’ll buy it no matter how it’s packaged…
I hope that’s not the cover art they’re going with—hideous!