A solid movie, but do we suggest this for tokusatsu fans? Absolutely, yes.
For those who are normal, you may be asking “What the hell is a Zebraman?” and that’s a good question. I barely knew the answer until watching the movie. Zebraman is a tokusatsu love letter in itself. It’s a movie about a middle aged man named Shinichi Ichikawa living out his fantasies. But, before I dive into the plot…
How did Zebraman come to be?
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find much on the internet pertaining to Zebraman’s production other than actors, directors, writer, producers, etc. Written by Kankuro Kudo and directed by Takashi Miike, Zebraman released in theaters in 2004 under Toei Productions.
How well did it do?
Zebraman scored 3.1 million dollars in the box office. I don’t know how much it cost to produce so I have no reference if it made a net positive or negative. Though it did get a sequel years later and Sho Akaiwa- best known in the Toku world for guest starring in some episodes of Garo- got nominated for best actor at the Japanese Academy Awards in his role as Ichikawa. Takashi Miike also got awarded Best Asian Movie at the Mad Movies Awards for directing this movie.
What is Zebraman about?
The movie starts at a bathhouse where some random bald guy is seen sitting next to a Zebra. There’s no explanation to this at all.
In Shinichi’s childhood, Zebraman was a tokusatsu superhero show, similar to Kamen Rider and Super Sentai. It was cancelled after only 7 episodes. Now in the near future of 2010, Shinichi has a family that doesn’t love him, coworkers and students that don’t respect him and generally just nothing going on. He’s in his mid life crisis. The Zebraman cosplay that he works on in private seems to be the only thing that’s keeping him going.
That is until we’re introduced to Shunpei and his mother, Kana. Shunpei found out about Zebraman through the internet and started obsessing over the superhero which, yeah, same lil’ buddy. Through the bonds Ichikawa and Shunpei made as teacher and student, Ichikawa sparked a new passion for Zebraman and his life as a whole.
As Ichikawa decides to surprise Shunpei with his own Zebraman cosplay, he runs into a serial killer with unnaturally good scissor throwing skills. Deciding to fight, Ichikawa finds out that he has superpowers. He also finds himself in the middle of an alien conspiracy and he might be the only one who can stop the extraterrestrial foes.
Before I start gushing about the story, let me get to
How it looks
Zebraman was made in the mid 2000s and it shows. Even then, it has a deep understanding of the medium it’s trying to be and it makes it work. For those who aren’t in the know, Takashi Miike has directed several horror/thriller movies before this. He knows what the hell he’s doing and, for moments in the movie, those horror/thriller roots show, but it works because this is an original property, it doesn’t really feel jarring compared to the rest of the movie.
The Zebraman costumes are pretty damn good. The cosplay version of the costume gets worn out and torn throughout the movie, like it’s actually being worn. It’s a very nice detail. The final version triumphantly appearing was probably the best moment of the final battle.
Throughout the movie, we get little bits of the in-universe TV Show, Zebraman, and they look like they’re ripped from an actual Showa-era Toei Tokusatsu. They look so authentic that if I didn’t know the show was fake, I’d be trying desperately to find any trace of it online. They even lower the camera quality and aspect ratio to make it feel like it’s actually a Showa era toku.
One thing, though, that hasn’t aged well is the CGI. I joke with my friends about there being CGI monstrosities in toku all the time, but this is a little ridiculous. Admittedly, the CGI was done well for the time. You have to remember this was 2004 and what was shown was probably the best work the animators could’ve done with the technology back then. Even then, these things are just… Flubber.
Now, onto
The stuff I really love
This is the highly opinionated area of the review where I will be spoiling things. If you want to watch this movie, go check it out right now. I’m pretty sure it’s on Tubi for free and on YouTube for rent. Or if you need to, you can find it pretty easily on the seven seas. I won’t judge you.
Let’s start with Ichikawa as a protagonist. This man is just all tokustatsu fans, or at least the vast majority, rolled up into one guy. He’s a man who grew up on this stuff and still indulges in tokusatsu regularly. He embraces the toku spirit like all of us do. He’s ailed by society to keep his passion a secret but he grows into someone who isn’t afraid to show his passion to the masses. He’s a great insert for the movie.
On that note, the themes and how they relate to toku are amazing. Right now the whole “using toku tropes as a plot” is kinda being used too much for my liking but Zebraman is one of the first instances of that happening at all. Zebraman isn’t afraid of showing its stripes (heh) and being campy. Zebraman won’t change for anyone’s sake because of that. The movie is unapologetically itself.
There’s also the music itself. Zebraman’s theme song is reminiscent of Showa era toku themes which I know can be hit or miss for some people, me included. Though I’ll tell you, when the singer goes “Zeb-er-a! Zeb-er-a!”, you know stuff’s about to get hype. The credits also have a calming song backed with an acoustic guitar. Said song got a tear from me, I’ll be honest.
While the lack of fighting and more focus on character might be offputting to some, I think it works in this kind of movie. At the end of the day, these are people just mixed up in the plot. This would otherwise be very slice of life without said plot happening. The acting does a lot to pull this off and Sho Akaiwa puts in a ton of work in this movie. He’s both immensely funny and deeply relatable as Ichikawa.
There’s also the other characters. While the rest of the cast doesn’t get as much development as Ichikawa, everyone was likeable to me and the ones who weren’t likeable got funny comeuppance, so it’s not like I can complain very much.
There’s also the underlying sense of dread from this movie. I’ve admittedly never seen any other Takashi Miike movie in full, just clips here and there from his movies. Though he really sells the dread of this impending alien invasion, he also shows the hope Zebraman brings to this otherwise downright depressing situation. He balances both his own style of dread and tokusatsu’s general message of hope so well.
Why should you watch Zebraman?
Zebraman, as stated before, is a love letter to tokusatsu. It has so much love to share for the genre and its fans that hey, it inspired me to write this whole article. Note, at the time of writing this, I had just finished the movie only a few hours ago. If you have any love in your heart for toku, this movie is for you.
If you’ve seen Zebraman, what are your thoughts? Would you like us to cover “Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City”- which yes, is the actual title of the movie. Comment below or @ us on social media. For now, see ya later Zebros.
