Kenji, Ota, and Asakura are a trio of high school misfits. While they are fearless enough to consider confronting students from a nearby school, they return unsatisfied when they fail to locate the school. One of the trio, Kenji, has a bass guitar and asks his buddies to form a band with him named Kobujutsu (classical martial arts). They think the name seems strangely familiar, and then realize that the school already has a folk trio called Kobijutsu (classical arts); the former plays wild, primitive rock while the latter plays soft folk music. Impressed by Kobujutsu’s sound, Morita, the leader of the folk trio, suggests they join a rock festival.

Director Iwaisawa spent seven years working on the hand-drawn animation for Kenji, a film with minimalistic description of the characters via simple lines and expressionless faces on delicate watercolor and pastel-toned backgrounds. The ambitious use of rotoscoping invigorates the music sequences. Audiences will surely be amused by the dry humor and cheer the riotous music in this indie-spirited, high-school music film. (Ellen Y. D. KIM)