The All-Out Nine
-Field of Nightmares-

At last, an entertaining and moving youth comedy that succeeds in capturing the expressive world of Japanese manga!

Think Shaolin Soccer meets Dodgeball meets The Bad News Bears,
but with a distinctly Japanese humor!

INTRODUCTION
“Adversity” refers to a state of misfortune or when things don’t happen as planned. And adversity is what faces underdog high school baseball team captain Fukutsu Toshi and his eight teammates who face team termination and a succession of other seemingly insurmountable obstacles. But overcoming such challenges are par for the course for the popular genre of high school sports manga and anime, where the dramatic adventures of hot-blooded teen athletes are portrayed with the gravity of epic sagas. The All-Out Nine –Field of Nightmares (original title Gyakkyo Nine) boldly visualizes—and spoofs—this brand of comics and cartoons that turn the unthinkable into reality as it tells the story of super-positive-minded youths who give an all-out effort no matter how preposterous a situation they find themselves in. Based on SHIMAMOTO Kazuhiko’s legendary manga of the same title and directed by HASUMI Eiichiro, whose directorial debut Umizaru was a huge box office success in 2004, The All-Out Nine takes advantage of over 330 shots featuring visual effects, successfully adapting the original comic's over-the-top hilarity to live-action. The result is the most ridiculously funny yet moving sports movie in recent memory!

Lead character Fukutsu Toshi is played by TAMAYAMA Tetsuji, whose credits include Heaven's Bookstore and the upcoming production Nana, also an adaptation of a best-selling manga. Although he had not played baseball before the production, through his natural athletic talent and sense of humor, TAMAYAMA gives a superb comedic performance. The team’s female staff member—and heroine—Tsukita Akiko is played by HORIKITA Maki, whose credits include Hinokio and Yogen. The All-Out Nine is her debut in a leading role. Team manager Sakakibara Go is played by the famous TV comedian TANAKA Naoki, who is known to be a big fan of the original manga. The School Principal is played by FUJIOKA Hiroshi, a cult favorite from his internationally renowned title role in the original Masked Rider (aka Kamen Rider) series and the starring role in Ghost Warrior (aka Swordkill, '84).

Because most of the actors cast through auditions—including the opponent players—had never played baseball previously, they stayed on location together for several months as if attending a real baseball training camp, practicing the game from early morning to late at night up through the completion of the shoot.

SYNOPSIS
ADVERSITY IS...
Welcome to All-Out High School, where the school motto is: “Go All Out or Die!”
The tumbleweed rolls and the dust kicks up... Something is about to happen. “I’m terminating the baseball team!” the principal shouts to FUKUTSU Toshi, captain of the winless baseball team, an embarrassment for a school that prides itself in all-out effort—and winning. But FUKUTSU’s name literally means “indomitable fighting spirit” and, true to his name, he recklessly promises the principal that the team will earn a trip to the coveted national tournament. To demonstrate that this is no pipe dream, FUKUTSU challenges the defending national champs, Sunrise High, to a practice game.

ADVERSITY, INDEED
FUKUTSU’s teammates and its sole female staff member TSUKITA are incredulous over his bullish promise to the principal, but are soon persuaded by his super-positive attitude and his far-fetched fantasies. The team begins intense training in preparation for the scrimmage with Sunrise High, but the players suffer a rash of injuries and problems preventing them from playing on game day. What’s more, on the eve of the game, FUKUTSU, who is the team’s starting pitcher, injures his right arm, their only hope for victory. In a stroke of divine intervention, however, heavy rain forces Sunrise High’s captain KANZAKI to prioritize his team’s health and to forfeit the practice game. But a win is a win, and the All-Out team celebrates as if they had just won a hard-fought championship game. The school papers announce “All-Out High Crushes Sunrise High!” much to the chagrin of KANZAKI.

ADVERSITY… OR YOUR OWN FAULT?
One day, a mysterious man appears before the All-Out players. His name is SAKAKIBARA Go, the new history teacher, who also claims to be the team’s new manager. “I don’t know baseball,” he insists, “but I do know life,” which FUKUTSU finds irresponsible yet oddly persuasive. Little does he know that this is another obstacle dispatched from the principal to see how FUKUTSU and his teammates will respond to the adversity of an utterly amateur manager. To make matters worse, with only a week before the first round of the regionals, the team learns that should any of them fail their mid-term exam, the mandatory supplementary lesson takes place the same day as the first round game. FUKUTSU realizes that he hasn’t studied for the exam at all: a fat chance of passing the exam! Is this adversity? No. This is his nothing but his own fault!

EVEN FALLING IN LOVE CAN BE ADVERSITY
FUKUTSU manages to pass the exam and to play in the first round game against So So High School. TSUKITA accidentally orders some disastrously bad lunch for the opponents, and the So So High players are stricken with a sudden bout of diarrhea. FUKUTSU’s sense of guilt prevents him from going all-out, but just when he appears ready to succumb to this adversity, the manager SAKAKIBARA appears to impart some words of wisdom: “That’s that, and this is this!” FUKUTSU sheds his guilt just in time to win the game.

Later that day, however, FUKUTSU falls in love with TSUKITA, seeing her at her most innocent and vulnerable as she apologizes for her earlier mistake. Hopelessly distracted, FUKUTSU skips the second round game to be with TSUKITA. Seeing FUKUTSU lovesick, the manager SAKAKIBARA demands that he choose either “baseball” or “the love of his life.”

THE MOTHER OF ALL ADVERSITIES
The final game of the regional tournament begins, but FUKUTSU is nowhere to be found. The opponent, the KANZAKI-led Sunrise High, wage full-scale war on All-Out High to exact revenge for the previous embarrassment. Sunrise High quickly runs up a 23 to 0 lead. Just when the All-Out are about to forfeit the game, FUKUTSU returns to the mound, having chosen “baseball” over “the love of his life”—only to be knocked out cold on the first pitch by a line drive. By the time he regains consciousness, he awakens to the most unbelievable sight: a score of 112 - 0 in the ninth inning, with all of his teammates already crushed to the ground. Yet in the face of his biggest adversity ever, FUKUTSU’s indomitable spirit is rekindled. He sets about on the impossible task of overcoming a 112 - 0 deficit in the bottom of the ninth all by himself, the crowd witnessing a miracle in the making...

HASUMI Eiichiro (Director)
Born March 29, 1967, Chiba prefecture. Worked as assistant director for the hit TV drama series Bayside Shakedown (Odoru Dai-Sosasen) and Bayside Shakedown: The Movie (1998) as well as on all of MOTOHIRO Katsuyuki’s films. He made his directorial feature film debut with Umizaru (2004), which was a huge box office success.

Interview with the Director (excerpt)
Q What did you like most about the original comic book?
A: When I read the original comic book Gyakkyo Nine, I was working as assistant director and making my own independent film at the same time. Making an independent film is indeed a succession of adversities, like when you park a car on a street, only to find it towed away just a few minutes later, and things like that. [laughing] Whenever I’d face these, I’d cry out, “This is adversity!” just like the character in the comic. This cheered me up, even when I’m on edge. I always wished I could share this feeling with somebody. But at the time, I never dreamt of making this into a movie.

Q: Before making this film, I hear you spent quite some time working on the screenplay.
A: Mr. Shimamoto, the author of the original, told me that as he worked on Gyakkyo Nine, he threw away any idea if it was predictable. So for every episode, he’d set up something that he himself couldn’t even predict for the next, then he’d begin thinking about ideas for the next episode. So the storyline goes all over the place, sometimes completely straying from the main plot. After I’d read all six volumes of the comic book series, I had to think about how I can condense the story into a 2-hour feature. I wanted to keep the side plots, but the story had to be simple. In the original, there are many characters and far more than nine members of the baseball team. So I thought I should limit the characters. In the original, there’s an episode of them actually playing in the national tournament, but after thinking about what to do with that, I decided to focus on the story of how they get to the nationals. After that, I wrote a synopsis, then a screenplay. After several drafts, I wanted to insert some emotional elements, so I added the part about the baseball kid being bullied by soccer kids.
　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
Cast and Staff

TAMAYAMA Tetsuji as FUKUTSU Toshi
HORIKITA Maki as TSUKITA Akiko
TANAKA Naoki 　　　　as SAKAKIBARA Go
FUJIOKA Hiroshi as the Principal

Directed by： HASUMI Eiichiro
Original Story： Gyakkyo Nine (Shogakukan Sunday GX Comics) by
SHIMAMOTO Kazuhiko
Screenplay by： FUKUDA Yuichi
Music by： SATO Naoki
Theme song : “Yume o Akiramenaide”
performed by：OKAMURA Takako
Re-mastered Version
Original Soundtrack BMG FUNHOUSE
Executive Producers： HIRAI Fumihiro ／ABE Shuji
Produced by： OKUDA Seiji／HORIBE Toru
Producers： KADOYA Daisuke ／YAMAGIWA Shinpei
Cinematographer： MURANO Shigeki
Lighting： SHIBUYA Ryo
Sound Recording： MASUKO Hiroaki
Production Designer： KITAYA Takeyuki
Planning & Production： ROBOT
Production Companies： NIPPON TELEVISION／ROBOT／SHOGAKUKAN／YOMIURI TELEVISION／VAP／ASMIK ACE ENTERTAINMENT

Domestic Distribution： ASMIK ACE ENTERTAINMENT INC.

Running Time: 115 minutes 7 Reels, 3,247m, 1:2.35 DTS Stereo
© 2005 NRSYVA