'High & Low: The Worst' Is Fire

At last.   A year after I got into High & Low, I finally got to watch the film whose trailer enticed me to check out this awesome franchise in the first place – High & Low: The Worst.  And, as anticipated, I relished it.

Technically a crossover between High & Low and the Crows and Worst manga series by Hiroshi Takahashi, the movie features a clash between Oya High School and Housen Academy – the former being the “O” in S.W.O.R.D., which is the five main gangs of High & Low; and the latter being the most prominent rival of Suzuran High School, the central gang in Crows and Worst.  And as usual with these crossovers, after the two parties engage in the obligatory battle, they eventually team up during the third act to take on the true bad guys of the story.

It’s possible to enjoy High & Low: The Worst without knowing anything about the featured properties.  Nonetheless, I think the movie is significantly more rewarding to those who have already seen the previous High & Low films and the TV show, and thus, have prior familiarity and fondness for its world and conceits.  High & Low knowledge is also necessary to appreciate the brief, gratuitous cameos of some secondary non-Oya High characters.  On the other hand, it totally doesn’t matter whether you have read the Crows and Worst manga or not prior to watching this movie.  All the Housen Academy characters are original for this movie anyway.  Thus, one may treat Housen as simply another new gang joining the High & Low universe.

There is also apparently a prequel mini-series, which I haven’t watched since I don’t have access to it.  I don’t think it’s that important to watch, though.  However, it’s possible that, if I did watch it, it would have made more sense to me why the spotlight of the movie had to be on a bunch of new characters instead of the established ones (more on this later).

The plot is simplistic and ludicrous – which is typically the case with these High & Low movies/TV seasons.  However, the strength of High & Low anyway is its tremendous swagger, which is brought about by a cool premise, charismatic characters, banger music, and exhilarating fight scenes.  And this is also true with High & Low: The Worst.

There are two major battles in this movie – the Oya vs. Housen rumble, and the climactic final battle, wherein they join forces against their common enemy.  I don’t know if this is just a case of recency bias, but those two are among the best set pieces I’ve ever seen from High & Low – up there with the memorable, epic final battles of the first and second movies.  The buildup leading to the fight between Oya and Housen is amazingly done, and the fight itself is pretty hyped.  Meanwhile, the setup for the final battle partly gives off that badass The Raid: Redemption vibes, as it involves Oya and Housen attacking the enemy’s base – an abandoned, dilapidated apartment complex.  The whole thing is somewhat similar to the time Sannoh Rengokai raided the Oya High School building back in season one, but grander and more stimulating.  Moreover, the duel between Yoshiki Murayama and Yosuke Todoroki near the beginning is just as thrilling as their first mano-a-mano in season two.

As a High & Low production, High & Low: The Worst is as terrific as it could ever be.

A decision that I didn’t understand, however, is that, instead of already existing High & Low characters, a couple of new characters are put front and center of the story.  While it’s something that doesn’t necessarily ruin the movie for me, I definitely would have preferred it if the story revolved around someone like Todoroki, since: a.) he’s an established character; and b.) he’s simply one of the coolest characters in High & Low.  Besides, if it isn’t Murayama, the leader, the logical choice to serve as the face of Oya is Todoroki, who’s been previously built up as Murayama’s potential successor.  But instead of doing that, the filmmakers had to make new student Fujio Hanaoka as the face of Oya High in this movie.  More than that, it’s implied that he’s going to be the new top dog in Oya after Murayama, not Todoroki, who’s now seemingly demoted to a subordinate role

Murayama (mild SPOILER), by the way, opts to graduate from Oya at the end of the movie.  What will be the implications of this to the status quo of the larger High & Low universe?  Does this mean Todoroki or Fujio will now lead Oya and take his seat at the table in S.W.O.R.D.?  Does this mean Murayama’s finally going to join Sannoh Rengokai and be Cobra’s subordinate (as what was hinted at in the first High & Low movie)?

Furthermore, it’s foreshadowed that Suzuran High School, the central gang in Crows and Worst, will be in High & Low: The Worst 2 – or whatever title the sequel ends up having.

With all these intriguing stuff in store for the future, I’m really excited to see what’s next for this franchise.  Hopefully, a  new installment – whether that be a movie or a third season – comes sooner than later.