Zebraman (2004)'s comments

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OldBoyFTW

Takashi Miike at his best! LOL

11 years 9 months ago

nymets138

Currently streaming on Amazon Prime

1 year 6 months ago

Takashi Miike's love letter to the Japanese TV superhero tradition which we best know as Super Saiyan/Power Rangers/Ultraman, Zebraman is a strange hybrid of the mundane and the fantastical. Most of it is shot in cinema verité, as we follow an unassuming third-grade teacher who remembers and fanboys over a failed 1970s superhero show. But somewhere out there are aliens who turn into a green slime that can possess people, and the show turns out to be a kind of prophecy of things to come. Miike gives us a Super Saiyan pastiche (the show and the protagonist's dreams), and a more modern slick approach (but are these any more real?), but most of the film is in a bric-a-brac, made-my-costume-myself, loser narrative. Not that Miike feels any kind of need to parse out what's real and what isn't. It's all real, even when the realities contradict each other. It certainly doesn't shy away from the weird and the ridiculous - and certainly the cheap effects cooperate there - but still tells a human story about finding self-respect.

3 years 1 month ago