Keen swimmer and misfit Suzuki dreams of the adoration that the athletes at his school enjoy, but realizes that his own abilities are a severe restriction to his ambitions. The opportunity to try something different emerges when a new teacher arrives in the school eager to start a boys' synchronized swimming team and, due to her undoubted beauty, finds a horde of salivating pupils desperate to join the team. While time and the subsequent absence of the newcomer due to pregnancy leave mean that the planned synchronized swimming classes dwindle, Suzuki remains loyal to the concept. Alongside him are four fellow students and together they encounter all manner of derisory abuse from the rest of the school. Even when the swimming pool is made 'out-of-bounds' for Suzuki et al, they show the initiative to use their summer holiday to train by the sea. Under the tutelage of a crazed trainer at the local Sea World centre, the quintet prepare for the big school festival while still avoiding the mockery of all those close to them.

'Waterboys' is a riotous concoction of wildly infectious comedy and the old 'show must go on' edict, a tremendous fusion that nudges its predictability to one side and concentrates on making its popular concept work. Key to any such ambitions is having an effective ensemble of characters and, like 'Swing Girls', 'Waterboys' has a whole array of endearing players to warm to. Shinobu Yaguchi clearly knows how to turn clichés to his advantage and takes his team of lovable losers on a thoroughly entertaining series of misadventures.

Much of the hilarity of 'Waterboys' derives from the foibles of its hopeless heroes, the ludicrous situations they face and the character interactions throughout. Though much of these elements verge on the surreal, the director ensures that there are common features that any audience can relate to. The constant alienation that Suzuki and his friends encounter is a popular conceit for teen dramas, but 'Waterboys' has enough genuine pathos to direct our affections towards the protagonists rather than allow our natural cynicism to creep in.

Shinobu Yaguchi perfected the template set out in 'Waterboys' with the superior 'Swing Girls'. Nonetheless, despite an unsteady start, this is a energetic comedy that grows in confidence as it progresses. Featuring a number of laugh-out-loud moments that undoubtedly transcend traditional language barriers, this is a heart-warming production that squeezes every last drop of entertainment value from its concept. Yaguchi blends some good comic performances with his own natural eye for the absurd and leaves viewers with something that should appeal to all ages and nationalities.

Like most films in the “underdog sports” genre, Waterboys follows a reject, Suzuki (Satoshi Tsumabuki), from being the only member of a swim team that, through a series of successes, disappointments, and cross dressers, wins the hearts and applause of a large audience and garners national attention. At the start of the film, Suzuki is the lone member of his school’s swim team. The pool for the team is a wreck – filled with debris and unquestionably unsuited for anyone to swim in. When Suzuki’s school brings in a beautiful new swimming instructor, Sakuma (Kaori Manabe), the team is instantly filled with volunteers. Most are those who disgracefully quit there normal sports and, when the instructer lets the team know she intends not to tech them ‘manly’ swimming, but synchronized swimming, most leave the swim team as well. The team is left with 5 – Suzuki, former basketball player Sato (Hiroshi Tamaki), a humorously thin, bodybuilding hopeful Oota (Akifumi Miura), the mathematical geek Kanazawa (Koen Kondo) learning to swim for the first time, and the always crying homosexual Saotome (Takatoshi Kaneko). During the 5-boy team’s first practice, Sakuma discovers that she is eight months pregnant and must leave the team. She has to take a maternity leave, but the boys promise to keep working and do “synchro” at the festival. Along the way, they are forced to overcome some absurd obstacles, the most disturbing of which involves selling tickets at a club owned by cross dressers, and Suzuki meets a cute, strong, karate-trained girl named Shizuko (Aya Hirayama). The journey is filled with hillarus moments and portrays suburban Japanese high school life in a touching way.

The direction by Shinobu Yaguchi is for the most part plain. During a few instances he provides some variety and complements action with well planned camera movements or placement, but never is it stylistic. However, he does use the screen well and keeps it filled and constantly balanced. Yaguchi also wrote the script, and whatever he lacks as a director, it is made up for in his writing. All the main characters have some compelling feature to them, and though the story is, when looked at broadly, about as cliché as it gets, the film has a feeling of originality and freshness.

The acting, as in most Japanese comedies, particularly of this type, is over the top. Many have compared this film to Anime because of the largeness of the film’s characters and their reactions to things. This style of acting makes for some heartily funny moments while making the characters more vulnerable to us and, because of that, making us more sympathetic towards them. Satoshi Tsumabuki plays his roll of a typical high school boy well, and his reactions to and about Shizuko are, if not realistic, understandable. Hiroshi Tamaki is the most larger-than-life member of the cast. Whether he’s joking with Suzuki, leaping for joy after a “full panty sighting” through binoculars, or running around with his afro on fire, Tamaki injects Sato with a charisma and character that makes his character very likeable. The rest of the actors add heart and soul to their stereotyped characters, and it’s that heart and soul that really puts the film above all others of the genre.

No single thing is really great about Waterboys, except perhaps the overwhelming cuteness of Kaori Manabe and Aya Hirayama. It is instead a mix of humor, growth, regrets, and risks that make Waterboys meaningful and enjoyable to anyone viewing it with an open mind. If you’re in the mood for a crazy comedy that will brighten your day, and don’t mind relaxing instead of following every detail in order to figure out some wonderfully complex ending, Waterboys is a great choice.