 In late 2004, Yamaguchi was one of the directors of Takashi Shimizu's comedy-horror TV series .As with "Battlefield Baseball", his next feature, "Cromartie High - The Movie" from July 2005, was based on a manga series (Cromartie High School).This episodic comedy, which made its New York premiere at the 2006 New York Asian Film Festival, revolves around the hapless Cromartie High with a student body composed of thugs, yakuza look-alikes, a giant, a gorilla and an obnoxious robot.