Zebraman

Zebraman (ゼブラーマン, Zeburāman) is a 2004 Japanese tokusatsuactioncomedysuperhero film directed by Takashi Miike, written by Kankurō Kudō and stars Shō Aikawa as the main character, a superhero named "Zebraman".

In the film, a teacher feels frustrated with the failures of his career and his family life. He decides to assume the identity of the fictional superhero Zebraman, who he fondly remembers from his childhood. He exhibits actual superpowers, and learns that he has to face an alien invasion. He defies his new persona's predestined fate, as the original Zebraman story ended in the hero's death. The film was shot using a Panavision camera system based on the HDCAM camcorder HDW-F900.^[2]

A 2010 sequel, titled Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City, featured the addition of Masahiro Inoue of Kamen Rider Decade to the cast.^[3]

It is 2010. A failure as a 3rd grade teacher and a family man, Shinichi Ichikawa lives with his cheating wife, his teenage daughter who dates older men, and his son who is bullied because of his father's presence in the school. Escaping from everyday life, Shinichi secretly dresses up nightly as "Zebraman", the title character from an unpopular 1970s tokusatsu TV series which he watched as a child before it was canceled after the seventh episode.

As a result of meeting a wheelchair-using transfer student named Shinpei Asano, also a fan of Zebraman, Shinichi not only regains his love for teaching but also develops feelings for the boy's mother. At the same time, a rash of strange crimes and murders have been occurring around the school at which Shinichi teaches. On his way to Shinpei's house in his costume to give him a surprise, Shinichi fights a crab-masked serial killer whom he defeats when he starts exhibiting actual superpowers.

Confronting more criminals who are possessed by a strange slime-based alien force, Shinichi learns that the Zebraman series was actually a cautionary prophecy of an actual alien invasion written by the school's principal, revealed to be an alien who refused to go through with the invasion and attempted to keep his kind from getting out from below the school before they kill him off and attack in full fury.

Aunque sabe cómo termina la serie (con la muerte de Zebraman y la victoria de los villanos), Shinichi desafía su destino, pues es el único capaz de impedir que los alienígenas conquisten la Tierra. Por ello, cuando los alienígenas emergen de la tierra, el gobierno informa a Estados Unidos, que lanza un ataque aéreo contra ellos. Al darse cuenta de esto, Shinichi descubre sus poderes y derrota a los alienígenas.

• Mostrar a Aikawa como Shinichi Ichikawa/Zebraman
• Kyōka Suzuki como Kana Asano/Enfermera cebra
• Naoki Yasukochi como Shinpei Asano
• Atsuro Watabe como Oikawa
• Koen Kondo como Segawa
• Makiko Watanabe como Yukiyo Ichikawa
• Yui Ichikawa como Midori Ichikawa
• Yoshimasa Mishima como Kazuki Ichikawa
• Ren Osugi como Kuniharu Kuroda
• Teruyoshi Uchimura como Ippongi
• Akira Emoto como Kitahara, el hombre cangrejo.
• Ryo Iwamatsu como Kanda
• Yu Tokui como pirómano
• Yoji Boba Tanaka
• Arata Furuta - Vendedor de berenjenas
• Kumiko Asō como empleada
• Yoshihiko Hakamada
• Miyako Kawahara
• Hideki Sone
• Masayuki Fukushima
• El novio de Satoru Hamaguchi Midori.
• Hiroshi Watari - Zebraman 1978

• Producido por
  • Shigeyuki Endo - planificador
  • Kumi Fukuchi - planificador
  • Akio Hattori - productor
  • Takashi Hirano - productor ejecutivo: TBS
  • Mitsuru Kurosawa - productor ejecutivo: Toei/Tôei
  • Makoto Okada - productor
• Diseño de producción: Akira Sakamoto
• Departamento de sonido: Yoshiya Obara - sonido
• Productora de CGI: Misako Saka
• Director de iluminación: Seiichirô Mieno

El guion de la película fue adaptado a un manga de cinco volúmenes por Reiji Yamada . El manga narra su propia historia, centrándose en la relación del protagonista con sus dos hijos. A diferencia de la película, Zebraman nunca adquiere poderes; es simplemente un hombre disfrazado.

En el sitio web agregador de reseñas Rotten Tomatoes , el 57% de las reseñas de 14 críticos son positivas. ^{[ 4 ]}

• Zebraman en Metacritic
• Zebraman en IMDb
• Películas GOO