Tamura, inspired by the heroic figure of Yellow Kid in Iga Taro’s manga, decides to become a boxer and thus a hero himself. But the characters at the local gym are far from heroes; most are nothing more than petty thugs headed by aggressive punk kid Enomoto. When Taro decides to write a sequel to Yellow Kid he bases his character on Tamura, thus completing the cycle of influence and inspiration.
Tamura does his best to fit Taro’s new character whilst squaring up to the violent thugs at the gym and trying to fit into a repressive culture. Pushed too far by Enomoto and society as a whole, Tamura begins taking his comic book persona too seriously as he struggles to make sense of the world around him
A world of run down boxing clubs, violent loan sharks, grizzled coaches and one young boxer with a dream. You could be forgiven for thinking that you’ve seen this one before. Add a manga artist searching for a boxer on which to base his latest comic and outbursts of exaggerated violence and you have a recipe that is uniquely Japanese. Yellow Kid is an intense viewing, trading thick and fast comic book imagery with stark, kinetic cinematography that marks the very best of Japanese independent film.