Sumo Do, Sumo Don't is a Japanese version of an American sports movie. It is based around a sumo wrestling club at an eastern Japanese university. This club is on the verge of being shut down because nobody wants to be sumo wrestlers anymore, but a professor blackmails a student to join. With this student is a 8th year student who has remain in the uni to keep the club open. He has always wanted to be a sumo wrestler, but he is so scared that he always forfeits his fights. Then there is a fat kid who is coerced into joining, the student's brother, and an English exchange student who only wrestles because he signed a contract.
This movie is so typical of those American types, and the plot is so predictable. We know that the club starts off bad and in the end they become good and beat everybody. As such, there is little to set this movie apart from its American counterparts. Even then, a movie wouldn't be as interesting if the participants could not overcome incredible odds.
I guess what sets this movie apart is that it takes a traditional Japanese sport rather than an American sport. Even then, it becomes more like Karate Kid or a similar Kung-fu movie. What makes it interesting is that they work to mix American hype into the traditional sport. The classic thing is how they introduced cheerleading to sumo-wrestling.
I guess the thing about this movie is how the characters overcame their own struggles to win. One was scared and kept on looking away, another was too confident, while Smiley, the exchange student, could not fight without pants. Another interesting thing is how a fat woman became involved with one of the characters. Generally they are all skinny and pretty, but this character not only became involved, she played an important part in the movie. It was because she was able to pass as a man in the ring, especially how it is shameful for a woman to step into the ring.
That is interesting, there are two forms of code, one brings shame while the other is simply illegal. Shame works much better because it strikes people's sense of pride. If one is shamed then one is not only shunned by others, but they are shunned by themselves. Even so, the threat of losing shame doesn't necessarily stop them.
This movie is so typical of those American types, and the plot is so predictable. We know that the club starts off bad and in the end they become good and beat everybody. As such, there is little to set this movie apart from its American counterparts. Even then, a movie wouldn't be as interesting if the participants could not overcome incredible odds.
I guess what sets this movie apart is that it takes a traditional Japanese sport rather than an American sport. Even then, it becomes more like Karate Kid or a similar Kung-fu movie. What makes it interesting is that they work to mix American hype into the traditional sport. The classic thing is how they introduced cheerleading to sumo-wrestling.
I guess the thing about this movie is how the characters overcame their own struggles to win. One was scared and kept on looking away, another was too confident, while Smiley, the exchange student, could not fight without pants. Another interesting thing is how a fat woman became involved with one of the characters. Generally they are all skinny and pretty, but this character not only became involved, she played an important part in the movie. It was because she was able to pass as a man in the ring, especially how it is shameful for a woman to step into the ring.
That is interesting, there are two forms of code, one brings shame while the other is simply illegal. Shame works much better because it strikes people's sense of pride. If one is shamed then one is not only shunned by others, but they are shunned by themselves. Even so, the threat of losing shame doesn't necessarily stop them.