In Japan, after befriending a student who claims to be the victim of teacher abuse, a seriously introverted, OCD-suffering foreign language teacher taps into the power of his samurai alter ego to overcome his own childhood trauma and to help the student take revenge.

SYNOPSIS:

Andy Bennett is seriously messed up. As a child, he suffered bullying and abuse. But instead of medication or therapy, he has created an alter ego to help him cope with his trauma. Enter his hero, Mishima Yukio – a right wing Japanese author of the postwar era, who failed a military coup to reinstate the emperor and later committed seppuku (suicide by disembowelment). Andy carries his Mishima uniform with him to Japan, where he has a job as an English language assistant in an all-boys high school. There, he meets Kenji, a 16-year-old Japanese student who wants to be Andy’s friend.

They first meet when Andy witnesses Kenji being slammed up against a wall. The perpetrator appears to be Koga-sensei, the school’s English teacher. Kenji tells Andy that he is also being bullied by students. One day, Andy sees Koga drag Kenji out from a crowd of senior boys who appear to have just beaten him up. Andy and Kenji form a special bond. Kenji introduces Andy to Japanese culture. They share stories of their bruises. They start to dress the same.

In the school, Koga prefers to work alone. This suits Andy because Koga reminds him too much of his own abusive father. But Kenji convinces Andy to turn up to class so he can see for himself just how pathetic Koga is. Kenji incites Andy to expose Koga’s poor English skills. It backfires when Andy worries that Koga is mad at him and runs from the classroom. Kenji is disappointed with Andy. He pushes him to become more like Mishima so he can be strong enough to stand up to Koga. Kenji adopts the role of Mishima’s suicide partner and the head of his private militia, Morita. They work out together, building muscular bodies. They study together, ingesting Mishima’s ideas about honorable violence.

It turns out Koga is Kenji’s father. They have a tense father-son relationship. Koga notices that Andy wears his son’s clothes. He discovers Kenji reading a Mishima Yukio book. He sees his son drawing a love heart around Andy’s name. He snaps, leading to an incident of violence by Koga against Kenji that Andy witnesses. Andy is later almost beaten to death. Kenji saves him and tells him that Koga is to blame.

Kenji reveals to Andy his plan to kill Koga. Andy has a choice – go along with this plan or lose his friendship with Kenji. When Kenji goes missing, Andy completely loses his power and becomes once again an OCD, borderline agoraphobic mess. So, he chooses the path of becoming Mishima. He sticks to this path even after discovering that Kenji is not the innocent boy that he has made himself out to be. Andy dons his Mishima uniform. He takes his samurai swords. He waits for Koga on the school roof where the final battle takes place in front of hundreds of neatly uniformed students below and Kenji far in the distance.