Eiga Reviews (2010-2019): School-Live! The Movie (2019)

Since I do listen to idol music and follow numerous idol groups, suffice to say I am biased. But again, if you like idols and Last Idol, you’ll be entertained by “School-Live! The Movie”. But if you are looking for violent, dark zombie horror, this film may be too tame for you.

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TITLE: School-Live! The Movie (がっこうぐらし!)

FILM RELEASE: 2019

DURATION: 102 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: Sentai Filmworks

RATED: TV14 V

Release Date: July 20, 2021

Based on the manga series by Kaiho Norimitsu and Chiba Sadoru

Directed by Shibata Issei

Screenwriter: Shibata Issei

Starring:

Nagatsuki Midori as Takeya Yuki

Abe Nanami as Ebisuzawa Kurumi

Wakana Majima as Wakasa Yuri

Ono Nonoka as Sakura Megumi (Megu-nee)

Kaneko Daichi as Katsuragi Tsumugi.

Yuki and her friends Kurumi, Yuri, and Miki all love their high school so much that they actually live there! Of course, the reason Yuki’s friends love it is because it’s one of the few places where they can hide from the rampaging zombies that have taken over the world. Where they once hit the books, ate in the cafeteria, and ran laps in the gym is over. Their new curriculum focuses on scavenging for supplies and fighting off flesh-eating fiends with improvised weapons! Between doing their best to keep themselves alive and their brains inside their skulls, the girls also have to keep themselves sane… and not all of them are succeeding. Get ready as high school drama and cannibalistic classroom carnage collide in the spectacular live action feature-film version of SCHOOL-LIVE!

In 2012, Nitropkus mangaka Kaiho Norimitsu and illustrator Chiba Sadoru would create the manga series “Gakko Gurashi!” (School-Live!).

Serialized from May 2012 to November 2019 courtesy of Houbunsha’s “Manga Time Kirara Forward”, an anime adaptation from Lerche aired from July to September 2015. And a live-action film was released in January 2019.

The series revolves around high school students who are members of the School Living Club.

Ebisuzawa Kurumi (portrayed by Abe Nanami) is a member who likes a classmate. Often she asks the club’s advisor, teacher Sakura Megumi (portrayed by Ono Nonoka), who the members call her “Megu-nee” for advice to the chagrin of her happy classmate Takeya Yuki (portrayed by Nagatsuki Midori), who is always curious and inquisitive.

The club is led by Wakasa Yuuri (portrayed by Majima Wakana) who helps assist the students with how to manage the vegetables on the school’s rooftops, the electricity and more.

And all seems happy with the students and as Yuuri, Kurumi and Yuki have their vegetables and plan to bring it to their club room and then they watch as Yuki goes to show her classmates the vegetables, with Kurumi and Yuki with a concerned face, telling her they have to go. When we see Yuki, there are no students in the room but curtains stained with blood.

Is then learned that the three students are among the human survivors, while everyone else have become zombies for some unknown reason.

What we do know is that the surviving students have been living on their vegetables and have been trying to grab supplies throughout the school, knowing they are in danger. While Yuki, she suffered a mental breakdown during the zombie outbreak and she lives in a delusional world that everything is normal, the students are enjoying themselves and how lucky they are to be together in school, which offers everything they need.

While looking for supplies, they rescue another student who survived the zombie outbreak, Naoki Miki (portrayed by Kiyohara Rio). Miki doesn’t like how Yuuri and Kurumi go on about feeding into Yuki’s delusions and pretending in front of her that everything is OK. But Naoki can’t stand staying the school any longer and tries to find a way to escape by herself.

But it’s a tale of survival and will the students survive the outbreak and is there any help coming to them?

For the most part, “School-Live!” is a live film adaptation that may not follow the original animation closely, but the film does well in combining idol group with zombies.

We saw AKB48 do it for a video game and for the film adaptation of “School-Live!”, it was no doubt a platform for the idol group Last Idol. We see LaLuce member Abe Nanami, former LaLuce and Choux Cream Rockets Nagatsuki Midori, Someday Elsewhere’s Wakana Majima,

And while an adaptation, for those not familiar with idol films, they tend to not be too scary and I can easily say that “School-Live!”, while a zombie film and yes, you have curtains with blood, the extent of the violence are the girls using shovels, crowbar, a baseball bat to wack the zombies in the head, but nothing grotesque is really shown.

Again, this is not a 100% adaptation of the manga. Everything happens around the school setting, no malls and no Taromaru, the shiba inu puppy that is shown in the manga and anime series. There is no reasoning of why the zombie infestations happened, nor is there a cure. The live film adaptation focuses more on the survival of teenagers stuck in their highschool with their high school classmates who have become zombies, roaming the school and parking lot and having to find ways of survival, which means having to go to areas where a lot of the zombies are located.

As a zombie film, those looking for scary horror will probably will not find it in “School-Live!” but for those who do like idol groups in a zombie setting, may enjoy the sugary, sweet moments, the emotional moments and the basic action sequences. I’ve seen many idol films to say that I was entertained by this one. But I watched enough zombie films to know that this may be too happy, too hopeful and not enough violence for some.

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