And now for something completely different: Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City.
"What the hell?!?! Now this is a Takashi Miike film." That is what I was uttering only 10 minutes into Zebraman 2. Even from the trailer you should be able to tell that this movie is a lot...stranger than its predecessor. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. Unless it is, as is the case with this movie.
Don't get me wrong. There were a lot of things I liked about this movie, and the fact that it was almost too strange was a relief after watching 5 or 6 Miike films that were almost normal. Just shy of being ridiculous is where his movies belong.
So, how do we get from the first Zebraman to the strange fever dream of a Japanese pervert that is shown in the trailer above? After the events of the first film we find that our protagonist (his name doesn't really matter at this point) was never able to figure out how to change into Zebraman again. He is captured and tortured by someone, we find out later by who and why. The next thing we see is that he awakens 15 years in the future with total amnesia and white hair. He is now in Zebra City, as Tokyo has been renamed by its new mayor. He awakens at a very bad time; he awakens at Zebra Time. For 5 minutes a day, twice a day, there is a strange mixture of martial law and no law. During Zebra Time you can commit any crime you want, and get away scot-free, as long as the Zebra Police (also called the Mini Skirt Police) don't kill you. You see, the police can also do whatever they want during Zebra Time.
One other important character of note is Yui the Zebra Queen. She is basically a petulant brat pop star, daughter of the mayor, and we get a couple of pseudo music videos starring her during the film. She seems to have some strange link to Zebraman, and he says at one point that whenever he hears her sing he feels weaker. What is their connection? Who captured Zebraman and for what purpose? Will he regain his memories and his powers? That I will leave up to you to find out for yourself, if you choose to watch it. I'm only giving Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City **(*) somewhere between 2 and 3 stars.
Stylistically I really liked it. The movie just kind of fell apart in the last 15 minutes or so. As for the title of this post, there was an interesting moment where two characters had to - how shall I put it - combine their powers. After they do so, Zebraman drops a box on the ground that says Love Love and has a drawing of bananas on it. I only know that this is a pack of condoms because I have seen this same box in other Japanese films. I'm assuming Love Love may be an actual brand of condom over there since in most movies where I have seen them the filmmakers don't go out of their way to show you what is in the box. Anyway, after he drops the box on the ground there is a big message plastered up on the screen: Stop AIDS! Yes Miike-san, we will do our part.
I leave you with this:
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