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Be a man! That's the motto of Otokojuku, the all-boys high school for those who wish to temper their inner samurai. It is also, of course, the motto of this irreverent 2008 film that seemingly reveres and at the same time parodies a genre that's unique to Japan. No, not samurai films—the juvenile delinquent genre, or whatever the hell it's called. There's a subsection of Japanese fiction that's dedicated to the conquest of high schools overrun by bad seeds, a very popular but often overused formula in Japanese comic serials. This one is based on Akira Miyashita's 1985 manga, which you can tell from the outdated "respect" attitude (something even recent Japanese gangland stories like to avoid), as well as one character's blazing pompadour, a relic of 80's Japanese culture.

Samurai School starts out as one of these stories, with the cliched premise of the freshman entering the school and, through sheer impressive fighting skills, commands the respect of his seniors. However, it quickly becomes an over-the-top live-action cartoon that involves death trap detentions and lava arena deathmatches. In Otokojuku, all the teachers are drill sergeants who, should he catch you with anything remotely cutesy and not uber-manly, will give you a punishment that tempts death, such as sitting naked in a wok of boiling oil. In each instance, a mysterious narrator absurdly interrupts the movie to tell us the long history of these Edo-period punishments (I have no idea if they are true or not, but it's probably a no).

Though it has the usual brotherhood stories and spirited lessons of how to be a man (don't be effeminate; be hyper-masculine and headstrong), the movie really kicks into high gear with a plot introduced halfway into it, in which a former Otokojuku student who was expelled years ago returns with a band of dangerous warriors from his new school to invade and take over his old treading ground (seriously, how does that even work?), thus inciting a three-against-three battle to the death; apparently a tradition of the school.

Something key to note here is that this is Tak Sakaguchi's directorial debut. Sakaguchi, a (sort of) actor who first hit the scene with Ryuhei Kitamura's breakout zombie-samurai-yakuza film Versus, has become an instant cult icon in the past decade, playing the same one-faced cool tough guy in every one of his movies. Then again, to call him an actor would be somewhat misleading. Sakaguchi was discovered by Kitamura when the latter saw the former kicking ass in a street fight and immediately cast him as the main character in Versus, whose role required him to, at most, do cool poses with a samurai sword. He's not so much an actor as he is a model in motion. Sakaguchi also cast himself as the movie's big hero (of course) and doesn't leave his comfort zone as his fighting style is once again a combination of sloppy swordfighting and street boxing; but as always, he makes it work with his street-tough-pretty-boy look. Behind the camera, Sakaguchi obviously took his cues from Kitamura, making the same kind of movie Kitamura would've were he to direct this movie. A major difference from Kitamura's films, perhaps, is that Sakaguchi's tends to emphasize on humor more than action. Not enough to make fun of himself, though, as his own character is still a flawlessly cool badass.

Completing the circle, Sakaguchi threw in a nod to fans by casting his frequent co-star Hideo Sakaki, who has previously fought Sakaguchi to the death in Versus, Alive and Battlefield Baseball (but they're friends in Aragami!) as the expelled student, thus presenting another round of Sakaguchi vs. Sakaki. There's even a direct nod to Versus when, whilst engaging in a pre-fight stare down, they recreate their former poses, with Sakaguchi assuming his two-bladed pose. Be a Man! Samurai School is a must for Sakaguchi fans, but it's also a riotous entry as another one of Japan's anything-goes action B-movie.