AllMovie

Following a decade of economic doldrums and a series of freak crimes, Japan during the early '00s saw a number of bitter, self-lacerating films such as Battle Royale and Harmful Insects that seems to attack society at its very core. As another entry into this growing genre, Aoi Haru creates a brutally Hobbesian vision of high school -- each student against all in a bruising battle for social dominance. Director Toyoda aptly evokes this tone with an intensity and the detail of a survivor. Yet the film as a whole is an oddly bifurcated affair. During the film's first half, Toyoda keeps the plot loose, allowing room for moments of quiet lyricism and insightful observations of a band of thoroughly dislikable teens. In the second half, the film coarsens into a melodrama, which never quite gets off the ground because the film's diffuse first half never creates the necessary emotional investment in the characters. By the film's frenetic climax, Aoi's emotional impact vaporizes into an overwrought montage of camera trickery.