‘Blazing Transfer Students’ Is Wonderfully Weird As You Expect A Live-Action Anime To Be

There’s a lot of really weird stuff on Netflix, and from Pompidou to Neo Yokio, I’ve covered a most of it. However, I don’t think anything could have prepared me for the over-the-top insanity that is Blazing Transfer Students.

The series is based off of the manga series Honō no Tenkōsei, which ran in the manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday for two years in the ’80s. The series follows seven students, all named Kakeru, who have transferred to a new school. But this being an anime, this isn’t any normal school. It’s an academy that trains students how to fight in the hopes of sending them to other high schools so they can blend in and reform those schools. Oh also, all the Kakerus have special powers, weird gimmicks, and have to fight each other in a pro wrestling match. It’s completely insane, but do you know what’s even more insane? It kinda works.

Blazing Transfer Students isn’t just another anime-inspired show. It’s aggressively about anime. Every element of the series, from the blonde, long-haired Kakeru obsessed with his beauty to and an entire student body trained in the art of fighting, is an anime trope. It just all happens to exist in a live action universe, and as a result, it’s one of the most ridiculous and absurd comedies on Netflix.

Live action adaptions of anime and manga are always a minefield. If the property is loved enough, you run the risk of drawing ire from fans, which is what partially led to Ghost in the Shell‘s massive failure. Also, a lot of elements in anime are strange in a way that makes them nearly impossible to adapt. Adam Wingard‘s take on a live action version of Death Note‘s Ryuk was met with mixed praise, and that was one of the better adaptation examples. There are just some things that look better in animation than they do with half-hearted CGI. Blazing Transfer Students seems to know that, but that doesn’t stop the series from being as utterly ridiculous as possible.

Netflix’s newest near-anime won’t win any awards, and I doubt it’ll gain a massive audience. Anime fans can tolerate weird stuff, but the show threatens to test even the more extreme limits. However, if you’re looking for something utterly absurd to laugh at late at night or you want some truly spectacular no-context screenshots, Blazing Transfer Students has your back.

Stream Blazing Transfer Students on Netflix