Movie Review: Zebraman (2009) directed by Takashi Miike
Strange things are afoot in Yokohama, possibly involving aliens. Defense Agency workers Oikawa (Atsuro Watabe) and Segawa (Koen Kondo) are assigned to go undercover and investigate. But they aren’t the protagonists of this story.
Instead, the focus is on third-grade teacher Shin’ichi Ichikawa (Sho Aikawa), who is not good at his job. He’s unpopular with the students, who take it out on his son in bullying. Ichikawa’s wife is probably cheating on him, and his teenaged daughter Midori (Yui Ichikawa) is stepping out with an older man. His one joy is secretly cosplaying as his favorite childhood superhero, Zebraman. He’s shocked but happy when new transfer student Shinpei Asano (Naoki Yasukochi) turns out to also be a fan of the obscure (it was cancelled after seven episodes) show, and it does not hurt that Shinpei’s mother Kana Asano (Kyoka Suzuki) is an attractive widow who works as a nurse.
Things take a turn for the weird when Ichikawa decides to show his recently completed costume to Shinpei one night, gets lost, and runs into the Crab Killer (Akira Emoto). This nutter wears a rubber crab on his head and uses scissors to attack women and pesky witnesses. To Ichikawa’s complete surprise, as soon as he’s attacked, he suddenly has the skills to defend himself, just as though he actually is Zebraman!
Ichikawa soon learns that somehow, he is in fact Zebraman and the old show was a prediction of the future. He gets into the role, but there’s a catch. The final unaired episode ends with Zebraman dying and the world falling under alien domination!
This movie is an affectionate parody of Japanese tokusatsu superhero shows, but also is a good example of the subgenre. Fortean Times magazine is treated as though it’s a respectable scientific journal, a cheesy kids’ show from the 1960s predicts the future, the military’s go-to response to the alien threat is a nuke, and a Bush is still in the White House in 2010. In particular, there’s never any explanation of Ishikawa’s developing superpowers. Fate says there must be a Zebraman, so there is a Zebraman.
The cinematography shifts to match different eras of Japanese superhero shows as well as “modern” film.
The acting is…okay. The characters are largely “types”, especially those that have become possessed by aliens.
Content notes: As expected from a Miike movie, there’s a bit of body horror and over the top violence. Some male nudity in a non-sexual context. Oikawa insists on holding hands with Segawa in public as part of their cover story of being a gay couple, and one of Ishikawa’s fellow teachers is transphobic. Underage sex is implied but not shown. The English dub has more swearing.
Overall, a fun movie for fans of Japanese superheroes, which should also be enjoyable by American superhero fans.
