"Go get em!"

Quinoa1984

Zebraman is at its best when Takashi Miike kicks back and lets his mania go at its most fun. This isn't your typical ultra-violent or taboo smashing fare from the director; if anything, it's Miike at his most playful- if you can call a man in a zebra costume fighting little green men from outer space in Power Rangers style as playful- and actually hearkens to his mode of nostalgia that happens in his work, that the characters have for past events that have shaped them, or let them slip by.

Sho Aikawa, in his funniest performance in a Miike movie, plays a man who is hapless school-teacher by day, and Zebraman by night. He's inspired by a TV show from when he was a kid (which in turn was inspired by real programs like these in the 70s), and to see flashbacks to this show, with Zebraman fighting a crab man and other nefarious figures, is unequivocally hilarious, and exciting in the same way that Power Rangers could be in the cheesiest ways possible as a kid. There's also government agents tracking down alien presences, of which there are many, a secretive principle at the school, and most importantly the teacher's good friend, a 3rd grade student bound to a wheelchair, who is also a huge zebraman fan, and who's interest is heightened when seeing his hero out and about in the city streets at night.

The first half of Zebraman, needless to say, is vintage Miike, and save for the one government agent who has his own crab problem (and not from a man in a costume, which is hysterical in its own right) and a couple of curse words could be appealing to some youth round the world. What Miike has in mind as a kid's movie, however, is also greatly accessible to adults, and to see both the scenes of the 'present-day' (err, 2010) Zebraman fighting against his opponents, saying his moves before doing them, as well as the usual lot of scenes where Miike just lets the camera stay still on the characters in an interesting position as some development goes on, is to see a filmmaker at the peak of his own powers.

Although it starts to a lag a little in the second half- I didn't care too much for the conspiracy let out about the principle and the script and the whole flying thing, albeit the end result of zebraman learning to fly is a truly mouth-gaping moment- Miike doesn't let up for the wildness that comes out of the climax, and how Aikawa, probably taking a bit of a cue from his DOA days, is all game for whatever comes next, even if it means literally turning into a flying zebra!

There's little-to-huge visual gags (Zebraman falling out of a tree, the alien-possessed kids going ape over a guy and his eggplant stand, simply watching the suit tear up on the first tries to just put the suit on, the first battles), and little dumb gags as well, but they all build up. It really provides a level of enjoyment that can be equated with the wackiest superhero adventures of childhood, and with a level of innocence to the proceedings, while also a good bet for avid fans of the director. You want something a little more 'different' from this madman of Japanese cinema, here you go.

score 8/10

Quinoa1984 30 June 2007

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1684074/