It is hard to find someone like Takashi Miike, who has dabbled in all genres in the world of cinema. Comedy, thriller, horror - Takashi Miike doesn’t stay with a specific genre, frequently strays from the genre rules and incorporates his own style to create own unique vision. Zebraman mixes the special effects of Japanese cinema and Hollywood heroism to create Takashi Miike’s vision. Returning as the lead is Sho Aikawa, who was wonderful in Dead or Alive, also directed by Miike. This is Sho Aikawa’s 100th film. Yokohama, 2010. The government is hard at work preventing the invasion of an alien force. An elementary school teacher named Ichigawa is obsessed with a show called Zebraman that he saw when he was a child. So obsessed that he has made a replica costume and tries it on every night. One day, on his way to visit a former student, Ichigawa runs into a serial killer and gets into a fight. Here he learns of his hidden powers, the origins of which are slowly revealed. 34 years ago, a UFO crash-landed in Yokohama, and in order to warn the people of Earth, the alien had written the Zebraman scenario. All the records of the invasion had been incorporated into the show of the same name. The notion of a weak character that is dismissed by society, his wife, and daughter is common in superhero films, but after realizing his powers, Ichigawa is still the weak character that is oppressed by those around him. Like all of Miike’s films, Zebraman breaks the conventions of a typical genre film. Although the film achieves perfection through unconventional means, the last Hollywood-esque boss fight is a sight to behold that surpasses the imagination. Sho Aikawa, Atsuro Watabe, and Kyouka Suzuki’s energetic acting shows the power of Japanese cinema. (KIM Bong-suk)