Japanese movies with a zero-to-hero story arc are many, with the template being “Water Boys,” Shinobu Yaguchi’s 2001 comedy about teenage boys who start a synchronized swimming team.
Similarly, Daigo Matsui’s“#Handball Strive” features a high school boys’ handball team, but the team is nothing more than a social media stunt aimed at garnering as many “likes” as possible — no athletic skill or effort required.
The film is not just a raucous satire on the falsity of the online world, though. A handball team of girls from the same high school is practicing hard to play in a national tournament and stands in sharp, sweaty contrast to the layabout boys.