Viral Hit, the new Japanese series on Netflix, shows a bullied teen taking a very 2020s way to get back at his tormentors: He creates a viral livestreaming channel where he stands up to and fights bullies, where he can make some much-needed cash along the way.
VIRAL HIT: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: On a TV, we see a man in a rooster mask say, “Do you want to be stronger? Become stronger and you can change your world.”
The Gist: Kota Shimura (Oji Suzuka) is a high school student who is having a rough time. His family doesn’t have a lot of money, and he currently lives on his own because his mother, Miyuki (Mieko Harada), is in the hospital getting cancer treatment. He is constantly bullied by a classmate named Hamaken (Takuro Osada), who uses him to create viral videos that get hundreds of thousands of views. In one example, he has someone give him a kabuki makeover. He promises Shimura 1,000 yen but then he and his cronies go back on the deal while they kick him in the hallway.
Part of the group following Hamaken is Kanegon (Araki Sugou), who essentially sucks up to the group in order to stay in their good graces. He somehow manages to bully Shimura into letting him use his computer and his mom’s credit card in order to get some of his own money playing video games. But when Shimura accidentally trips over the monitor’s plug and spills a pot full of soup on Kanegon, Kanegon starts kicking him. But when Kanegon mentions Shimura’s mom, Shimura fights back for the first time in his life.
But neither Shimura or Kanegon realize until the next day that the computer wasn’t unplugged, and it was recording the fight the entire time. Only after Shimura turned off the power strip and the life video stop did it get uploaded to Kanegon’s video channel. And the video of the awkward fight is going viral.
When Hamaken sees the video, he literally pushes Kanegon out of the friend group. This gives Kanegon an idea: Post a new video exposing Hamaken for the thug he is and collect on the money made by donations from viewers. Of course, this means that Shimura is going to have to get beaten up again, but given how much his mother owes for her medical care, he needs to submit to get the money. The video ends up going viral, making Hamaken a bit of an outcast and very, very angry.
The pair doesn’t make as much money off the video as they’d hope because it was too short. But it inspires Kanegon to propose to Shimura that their channel should be all street fights. And it leads to Shimura following the aforementioned rooster-masked martial arts expert, TOU-KEI (Haruto Sakuraba), in order to learn how to fight better.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Viral Hit — based on a hit South Korean webtoon, and directed by Hideki Takeuchi, and written by Yuichi Tokunaga — has a definite Cobra Kai vibe to it, mixed with the recent Korean series Teach You A Lesson.
Our Take: Viral Hit is both hopeful and bleak at the same time. It’s hopeful because we get to see Shimura, who seemed content to be a punching bag for bullies like Hamaken and others, learn how to fight back and watch the popularity of his Viral Hit streetfighting channel change both his financial and social fortunes. But it’s also pretty bleak because on the way to that rise in fortunes, Shimura — and to a lesser extent, Kanegon — is going to have the crap beat out of him over and over again.
Sure, there’s going to be that sweet moment of triumph that will be satisfying to watch, but if the aforementioned Cobra Kai is any guide to a show like this, Shimura and his group are going to have a lot of ups and downs until that ultimate victory happens.
We didn’t mention two other people who will be teaming with Shimura an Kanegon: Aki Yahio (Ai Mikami), a girl in the same grade as Shimura who also gets bullied, and Kaho Asamiya (Meru Nukumi), a girl Shimura works with at a diner on whom he has a huge crush. There’s also Tatsuya Ougi (Noritaka Hamao), another student who is an up-and-coming MMA fighter. We’re not sure what part he’ll play in this, but we definitely know he’s not a bully like Hamaken.
Performance Worth Watching: Oji Suzuka’s Shimura is a very convincing patsy-turned fighter. We also like the fact that Shimura may be miserable, but he’s pushing through for both his mother’s sake and his own pride.
Sex And Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Shimura thinks about TOU-KEI’s teachings as he picks himself up after a savage beating by Hamaken, viewed by the entire school. He puts up his fists and tells Hamaken, “Come at me, you piece of shit.”
Sleeper Star: We’ll give this to Haruto Sakuraba as TOU-KEI, who has to do his entire role in a rooster mask.
Most Pilot-y Line: “A wimp challenging a bully is buzz-worthy!” Kanegon says to Shimura about his idea for a livestreaming fight channel.
Our Call: STREAM IT. While we’re in for the hero’s redemption arc in Viral Hit, it’s so tough watching someone get bullied, that we just hope that the tide for him turns sooner rather than later.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
