The Law of Ueki - The Battle Commencement (Vol. 1)
In the broadcast seriesThe Law of Ueki(2005), the fate of the world rests on battles fought by junior high students with bizarre abilities. Each of the 100 candidates for Celestial King endows a kid with a talent; Mr. Kobayashi selects Kosuke Ueki for his "righteousness" and gives him the ability to turn trash into trees. If Ueki loses, he returns to normal life, but if he wins the competition, he's granted any talent he desires. Ueki's grim dedication enables him to defeat candidates who turn fire into water and cotton into stakes. The competition and off-beat martial arts combat suggest the filmmakers were trying for a combination ofHunter X HunterandRanma 1/2, butLaw of Uekiis too absurd to take seriously, yet not silly enough to work as a comedy. If TV Tokyo, Dentsu, and Studio Deen had carried their premise to its logical conclusion and turned their facilities over to talented junior high students, they probably would have gotten a better series. (Rated 13 and older: violence, alcohol use, minor gross/toilet humor)--Charles Solomon