BOX! ~ 4.5/5

When the bell sounds, the fight begins. Two competitors square off in the ring, using their fists as weapons to bring each other down.

Kabu (Hayato Ichihara) possesses natural talent in boxing but he is brash and egoistical. One day, he happens to bump into a group of hooligans bullying a teacher and her student in the subway train. He stands up for them and gets rid of the hooligans. The student is actually Yuki (Kengo Kora), his long lost childhood friend. Yuki is a mild-mannered and timid teenager who is often bullied when young.

Kabu invites him to join the school’s boxing club. Coached by Sawaki (Toshio Kakei), Yuki maintains a high level of discipline during training and very soon, he rises the ranks to box in the featherweight class. Meanwhile, Kabu’s impulsive behaviour causes him to suffer a heavy defeat under the hands of rival Inamura (Suwa Masashi) in an inter-school competition. The following year, the friendship of Kabu and Yuki is put on the line when they are drawn to face each other in the ring. Can the friendship of Kabu and Yuki withstand the rigours of this boxing bout?

The plot is typical of sports-themed films where the protagonist encounters obstacles before triumphing them at the climax. The storyline is unsurprising but there is nary a bored moment in this film. This can be attributed to the clever development of the plot. The infusion of the friendship element gives this film more depth and it succeeds in connecting with non-fans of boxing.

Admittedly, the boxing scenes are not top-rated. They feature simple moves that will leave amateurs unfazed. Fortunately, the cinematography and editing more than compensate for it. The effective use of split-screens and extreme close-ups apparently raise the stakes and excitement of the boxing bouts.

Hayato Ichihara aces the role of Kabu. His varied expressions to convey the rollercoaster of emotions, from the height of cockiness and steely determination to the depths of despair and hopelessness, are excellent. The coach of the boxing club, played by Toshio Kakei, catches my attention too. He does not have a dominating role in the film, but his gloomy demeanour hides a dark secret that will be eventually revealed.

Ultimately, the theme of friendship strikes a more powerful chord with me than the boxing itself. Kabu and Yuki are the kind of friends that everybody will like to have.