This is actually a prequel to Young Thugs: Innocent Blood. It takes place when the main character of that film, Riichi, is around 10 and takes place in 1969 and '70. And this is, with little doubt, Miike's gentlest and sweetest film. The boys do get into fights, but all the violence happens offscreen. The kids will run into a battle and it will cut, and in the next scene they will have bloody lips and so forth. There's all of one scene where anybody gets hit on screen. It's actually quite a charming film. I did have some problems connecting events and characters (what did the strippers have to do with anything, for instance?). Coherency is Miike's major problem as a director. But I also have to admit that I had to split the film into two halves, and that the first half I watched while egregiously tired. I could also argue that this is Miike's most conventional film. It's shocking how unconventional it is within his own oeuvre, and it's tempting to like it more than one should for that reason alone. But there are many American movies that have done this type of thing just as well or much better, including Stand By Me and My Girl. The film even comes with a couple of doo-wop songs on the soundtrack (and they're in Japanese). Miike's direction is very good, of course, and if you are wondering about the director but can't take violence, this could be your best bet. Though there are a couple of bits that are direct references to Young Thugs: Innocent Blood, it would work as a stand-alone piece.
