Color, 1981, 89 mins. 22 secs.
Directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi
Starring Hiroko Yakushimaru, Ryoichi Takayanagi, Tôru Minegishi, Masami Hasegawa, Macoto Tezuka
Cult Epics (Blu-ray) (US RA HD), Third Window Films (Blu-ray) (UK RB HD), Kadokawa (Blu-ray) (Japan RA HD) / WS (1.85:1) (16:9)
After dabbling in romantic dramas and quirky murder 
mysteries for a few years, director Nobuhiko Obayashi returned to the psychedelic, 
optical-heavy style of his 1977 cult classic House with another fantasia geared to younger viewers: School in the Crosshairs, sometimes referred to as The Aimed Classroom. Also pointing the way to his popular The Girl Who Leapt Through Time two years later, the film is a genre-twisting rollercoaster nearly operating on dream logic with cosmic mayhem and multiple telepathic teens bouncing off of kendo tournaments and outdoor dance numbers. There's really nothing else out there quite like it.
Cast here on the cusp of her breakthrough role in Sailor Suit and Machine Gun, pop singer and actress Hiroko Yakushimaru stars as Yuka, a seemingly normal teen whose school year starts with a bang when she telekinetically prevents a terrible crosswalk tragedy involving a small child. While her peers are distracted with choosing class reps and winning kendo matches, Yuka feels something ominous is afoot -- especially when the students start behaving weirdly and a spooky, sparkly-eyed new transfer student, Takamizawa (Hasegawa), whose disciplinarian tactics start to 
rub off on everyone else. Enter Kyogoku (Minegishi), a frizzy-haired caped intergalactic visitor with domination plans that 
only Yuka may be able to stop...
As with much of the director's other work, there's a strong bucking against conformity and fascist ideology running throughout the entire story with the high-pressure school setting making the message impossible to ignore. The approach is far from preachy though since it's outfitted with some of Obayashi's craziest visual conceits including a 20-minute showdown comprised entirely of the cut-out style designs that give it an endearing pop-out book aesthetic. That technique is scattered throughout the rest of the film as well including a striking main title sequence (set to an insidiously catchy theme song) with Yuka's bedroom floating through a snowy dreamscape.
One of the earliest films in the director's tenure at idol-driven studio Kadokawa, School in the Crosshairs has been regularly available on home video in Japan including a Blu-ray release that wasn't English friendly. That 2K restoration looked fine at the time and consistent with the look of '80s Japanese film stock, later ported over for its first English-friendly debut in any format as a U.K. Blu-ray in 2022 from Third Window Films as part of a four-title Nobuhiko Obayashi 's 80s Kadokawa Years set along with His Motorbike Her Island, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and The Island Closest to Heaven. A separate disc was issued in 2024, featuring the same presentation including a DTS-HD MA 5.1 Japanese track with 
optional English subtitles, a selected audio commentary (27m5s) by Aaron Gerow that's really more of an interview featurette with clips overlaid during his chat, a video interview 
by Gerow with the director's daughter Chigumi Obayashi (27m24s), a 9m23s translation notes trivia track elaborating on aspects like that theme song's creation, and a theatrical trailer.
In 2025, Cult Epics debuted the film on U.S. home video as the second in its line of Obayashi titles. The transfer here is identical to the U.K. one (and the subtitles are mostly the same down to the British spelling of a few words), with the Japanese 5.1 DTS-HD MA track included. In a welcome touch, the original theatrical mono audio is also here and sounds more authentic to the period with no reverb added and a stronger overall presence. A new commentary by Max Robinson, who's working on a book about the filmmaker, hits all the essential points including Kadokawa's background, the state of the director's career at the time, the handcrafted nature of the special effects, and the career of its main star. There are a lot of lengthy silent gaps here though, so be ready to fast forward accordingly. In the visual essay "Sailor Suits and Sound" (17m3s), Phillip Jeffries hones in on Yakushimaru's career and personal life including the ups and downs of her recording career, the evolution of J-pop and synths in the '80s, and her overall cultural importance including the current popularity of films like this. Also included are an Obayashi poster gallery (2m37s) and the usual four Obayashi trailers, while the first pressing also includes a Japanese booklet reproduction and direct online orders come with reversible slipcase art by Sam Smith and a Japanese theatrical postcard.
Cult Epics (Blu-ray)
Third Window (Blu-ray)
Reviewed on October 26, 2025
