Check It Out, Yo!

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[edit] Profile

Movie: Check It Out, Yo!
Romaji: Chekeraccho!!
Japanese: チェケラッチョ!!
Director: Rieko Miyamoto
Writer: Takehiko Hata
Producer:
Cinemotagraphy:
Release Date: 2006
Runtime: 117 min
Movie Studio: Fuji TV
Language: Japanese
Country: Japan

[edit] Intro

Okinawa Prefecture, an emerging music hub in Japan, is where this youth-pumping movie is born out. The story is refreshing, touching, and filled with energetic vibes. Secret love, inferior complex against peers, heartbreaking goodbyes and departure upon graduation. High school students, who've spent their whole life so far in the prefecture, meet music and find nice buddies. They fumble for words that can best express their innocent feelings, and they start to let out these sentiments in their own way... The movie's title "Check it out, Yo!" comes from the rap music phrase.

Toru, Akira, and Tetsuo are ordinary high school students. Yui likes Toru, but she cannot confess. A sprawling blue sky and crystal sea are nothing new to them. One day they go to a concert of the popular hip-hop band "Workaholic". The boys get moved and start their own band. They name the band "098," the area phone code for Okinawa Prefecture. The band gets a chance to perform an opening act in Workaholic's concert. But they find out rap music is not so easy to master. They have hard times learning how to play instruments and coming up with their own rhymes. Adding to their never-ending list of troubles are some bittersweet romances. Music kicks boredom off the boys' days and their life starts to get brighter little by little. Can the boys make their stage a big success? As they dash through their hectic school days, they begin to realize what means most to them...

[edit] Plot

Check It Out, Yo!

Toru, Yui, Akira, and Tetsuo are senior high school students in Okinawa, Japan's southernmost prefecture. A sprawling blue sky and crystal sea are common sights in this prefecture known for its breathtaking scenery. The four have nothing to be passionate about, just spending days complaining about their boring school life.

One day at an aquarium, Toru meets a hot lady, Nagisa, and gets infatuated on the spot.

The guys go out to see a concert of Workaholic, an up-and-coming hip-hop band that's taking the prefecture by storm. At the concert, one of the band members, Ryota, shows a great MC, livening up and hyping the crowd with flowing rhymes and flashy performance. Toru sees Nagisa again there, but it's not a chance encounter Toru hoped for. He has no idea at this point that she is Ryota's girlfriend. Toru and his buddies wake up to the thrill of rap music, and start their own band. They name the band "098," the area phone code for Okinawa Prefecture. Things take an unexpected turn, and the band gets a chance to perform an opening act in Workaholic's concert. What's more for Toru, he is picked to do the MC.

But can they really pull it off? They are no good at instruments, let alone performing rap music. They secretly borrow instruments from the school. They even try Japan's traditional instrument shamisen to hone their music skills. The boys find their savior in the husband of Yui's elder sister. This mysterious man, called Andy, is a native English speaker. He teaches the guys how to ride on the grooving beat of rap music. Even though they try their best in preparing for the show, their performance on the day ends up a complete flop.

Some time later, Toru hears about Nagisa and Ryota going out together. But Nagisa snaps, "we are over now... I will return to Tokyo." Yui is holding tender feelings toward Toru. Knowing he has a crush on Nagisa, Yui's smile dims with the tinge of uneasiness. Tetsuo says he is thinking about going to a university in Tokyo.

The friendship that has been binding them tight together shows signs of fraying. That's when the boys decided to hit the stage just one more time, for Nagisa and... for themselves.

Can they put up a big and cool stage this time around? How does the romance between Toru and Yui turn out in the end?