scheevers-50200 Shinobu Yaguchi deliver's another comedic gem, which is probably his masterpiece. As much as I love Waterboys and Wood Job, I think Swing Girls just tops them both for just a joyous feel good comedy, something Hollywood should be looking at. Every character is memorable, from the great Juri Ueno as the group's de facto leader, to Shihori Kanjiya as the popular girl, Yuika Motokariya as the quiet geeky girl, Yukari Toyoshima as the drummer trying to lose weight. Also a big shout out to Yuta Hiraoka as the token male Takuo, a fantastically loveable loser. Aside from Juri Ueno, its a shame none of the other cast member's have gone on to bigger things. As everyone delivers a top notch performance. The comedy can range from the Spinal Tap to the Monty Python to Farrelly Brothers to even Richard Curtis. The film has a ton of heart, and has one of the greatest comedic scenes I've seen with the Forest scene with a boar Also the training montage and the two love sick Punk boyfriend's are other standout scenes. Plus anything involving Naoto Takenaka as a teacher hiding a secret is must see.But the film is stolen by Juri Ueno as Tomoko. She was only 18 when she did this role, and she delivers a comedic masterclass. No wonder she went on to have a success career in Japan, it's a star making performance. I still think this is her greatest performance although she's done good work since.Also the film gets a extra mark for the fact all the actresses and token guy learned how to play their instruments, go onto YouTube and you'll see footage of them playing Live on TV and at a one off gig. They aren't bad at all for the amount of time they had to train. Also the ending of the film will have you jumping for joy and leave you with a big smile. On a side note: Could any DVD or blu ray companyplease give this fantastic film a Region 2 release. Such a shame this gem of a film isn't out there to buy for a decent price.

morris vescovi A group of teenage girls in a summer math make up class accidentally cause the food poisoning of the entire brass band. They decide to take the member's places to play in the next ball game, but is's really an excuse to get out of math class. When the members quickly recover and they have to turn over the instruments back over, they discover that they have actually learned to love jazz music.The misadventures the girls go through to earn money for their instruments are hilarious. They flood the supermarket they go to work for, and when they try collecting mushrooms in the forest they run into the biggest most vicious boar you have ever seen. Then they have a problem finding a place to practice because the're new and not very good yet. Eventually they have a chance to preform at an annual concert and the final fifteen minutes is jazz heaven. The girls really play their own instruments. The music is not dubbed.This is a great, funny and very touching film with some well defined characters and fine acting.it's about teenagers who aren't really bad but just lazy who accidentally discover something they love and about their math teacher and his two secret loves - jazz music and the school's music teacher. A person of any age will enjoy this film.Humor usually doesn't travel well from one country or culture to another but that is not the case here as all or almost all of the humor comes through, even the verbal humor. The subtitles are also quite good. This deserves a regular release in this country

bloggerguy This is the best japanase comedy i ve ever watched! without a doubt u will fall in love with this Japanese school jazz band!prepare to enjoy an extraordinary movie! you will laugh a lot!it is important to highlight that even when you are gonna have fun, you will have the opportunity to learn at the same time about the social problems that the jap. public high school students have to face in modern japan. (family disintegration, school dropouts, the high consumption of brands - cartier, armani,etc- among jap. adolescents, mediocre professors, etc)if we become extremely critical this movie will get 8/10 or 9/10 on the worst scenario. but because i enjoyed it so much and all of my friends loved it too, so we think this movie deserve 10/10!

vivichan46 Set in a country high school, Swing Girls is the story of a group of female students absorbed in playing and learning the pleasure of music. Tomoko is a typical high school student who along with her classmates one summer day delivers lunch to members of the brass band playing at a baseball tournament. But because the food has been out in the summer heat, the band members get food poisoning and Tomoko and her friends have to substitute for bed-ridden brass band. The girls start practicing instruments and at first aren't very serious about it but they gradually come to enjoy themselves and their lives are changed. In this process, they get together and learn friendship and love and the audience has the chance to watch them grow.This director is of the film is Fumiharu Yaguchi, who most famous work is the popular Water Boys, a film about male high school students who start a synchronized swimming team. So, Swing Girls and Water Boys are alike in that ordinary students succeed in the end. The cast of Swing Girls consists of 16 girls and 1 boy lead ably by Juri Ueno in the role of Tomoko. One of Japan more popular actors, Naoto Takenaka, does another fine job playing the part of the powerless teacher.One of the best things about Swing Girls is that the cast really play their own instruments. Most had no experience playing, so they practiced very hard for three months. These authentic performances help convey the pleasure of simply played music. It seems the instruments used in the film sold at very high prices after this movie was released.On the negative side, there are some scenes that seem impossible. For example, some students suddenly are able to play their instrument very well without any practice. In the scene in which the students are chased by a wild boar, no one is ever caught or injured. If these scenes were made more realistic, I think this movie could be any even more wonderful work.