"Hentai Kamen: The Forbidden Hero" (2013)
"Hentai Kamen 2: The Abnormal Crisis" (2016)
Written and Directed by Yûichi Fukuda
Based on the manga by Keishû Andô
Starring Ryôhei Suzuki, Fumika Shimizu and Tsuyoshi Muro
Running times: 1 hour and 46 minutes (HK) and 1 hour and 59 minutes (HK2)
Unrated - contains Cartoon Violence, Repeated Instances of Teabagging, Panties as a Plot Device, Light Kinkshaming and Near-Constant Use of the Word Pervert As Both a Positive and a Negative
by Hunter Bush
I requested the screeners for both Hentai Kamen films completely accepting of the potential for there to be nothing about them worth writing about. And then the trailer for the new Batman dropped. Now gang, I’m not gonna crap all over the trailer for The Batman, though I am not wildly enthused by it for a variety of reasons because it isn’t The Batman’s fault - and in fact, what I have *heard* about the film is much more enticing than what I’ve now *seen* of it - it’s almost all superhero films. Even the Marvel movies - inarguably more colorful, fun, and just plain lively than most of DC’s output - have a tendency to get high on their own supply to a degree that I started to get seriously fatigued leading up to that final Avengers. A fatigue that persists, but has grown to encompass most superhero films.
And then, from the rubble of my shattered enthusiasm emerged... Hentai Kamen: The Forbidden Hero. Based on a Japanese comedic manga called Kyukyoku!! Hentai Kamen (literally Ultimate!! Pervert Mask) created by Keishû Andô in 1992, it is the story of a young man who, during a hostage situation involving a schoolmate he has a crush on, uses a found pair of panties as a disguise, inadvertently awakening his dormant “pervert DNA” and giving him super powers. It’s silly, smutty and absolutely laugh-out-loud hilarious at times.
The first film, released in 2013, follows what I know of the manga’s plot with Kyosuke (Ryôhei Suzuki) forced to disguise himself with a pair of panties found in a locker to rescue Aiko (Fumika Shimizu) from criminals who have kidnapped her and some other bystanders. Discovering his body is now filled with power, Kyosuke says “I can feel the magma rising inside me!” and then begins his rescue which mostly consists of posing like a Playboy centerfold and hooting like Ric Flair while aggressively teabagging enemies, rendering them unconscious. He can also just straight up snatch bullets from the air and, as a byproduct of his rockin’ bod, hyper-actualized sexuality and general air of confidence, take onlookers’ breath away.
Especially the breath of Aiko who quickly becomes smitten with HK while being irl best pals with Kyosuke, who of course will not admit to being HK for fear of Aiko thinking he is “a pervert”. In what I read as an interpretation of adolescents’ discomfort with their burgeoning sexuality, in the world of HK being seen as a “pervert'' is both the source of Kyosuke’s incredible powers but also something to be ashamed of. This dissonance returns slightly in the sequel (where it unfortunately makes less sense after, I thought, having been handled fairly well in the original) but in the original it’s treated as the keystone for the all but prerequisite identity crisis all young superheroes *must* go through in their debut films.
I should mention at this point that these movies are parodies of the Spider-Man films, from the opening credits of HK to the brief New York jaunt in HK2. I’m not sure if this is something baked into the original manga or if it’s just due to the hero’s panty-clad face resembling Spidey’s trademark big eyes. Either way, it’s just a part of these films’ DNA and when they occasionally lean a little extra heavily on those parodic elements, it always got a hearty laugh out of my group.
The humor in these films probably won’t appeal to everyone, because it requires an enjoyment of the truly left-field sight-gags and tropes of manga - like announcing your big moves before doing them. But when Kyosuke ropes up a villain with his magical (?) shibari ropes [inherited from his professional dominatrix mother (Nana Katase) and part of his origin, they just shoot out from his hands not unlike a certain webhead superhero’s trademark webs] and then announces “Pervert Inferno Attack!” (*) before sliding crotch first down the ropes into his victim’s face, I was dying. It’s juvenile but immensely satisfying because, as I remarked after hearing someone say the fate of the whole school was at risk: “The stakes are so low!”
(*): I’m paraphrasing. I apparently forgot to write these amazing attack names down. More the fool me.
The fact that all of the first HK works *despite* how goofily low the stakes are is a testament to how little the stakes in most superhero movies really matter. A fight is a fight is a fight, whether half of all life in the universe is threatened or some evil real estate developer (?) plans to dig up treasure buried under a school in Japan. That would be Tamao Ogane (Tsuyoshi Muro) who was the standout performance for me in both films.
Ogane is wealthy, influential and possibly some kind of super scientist (or else just a regular scientist in this obviously very crazy world) who graduates from having just a group of henchmen and assassins in the first film, to creating half-man, half-vacuum, half-crab monsters to terrorize the entire globe in HK2. He is also briefly not unlike Babyface from Toy Story. Muro’s performance, for reasons I cannot entirely explain, reminded me of Will Ferrell in the best ways? Something about his absolute commitment to playing such a self-possessed and unlikeable numbskull, perhaps. I loved it and hope I can find more films with Muro in them.
HK2: The Abnormal Crisis, at its best parts, reminds you of the original and at its worst is still really funny and enjoyable even while still spinning its wheels from time to time. In it, Kyosuke and Aiko have now gone on to college and are attempting to acclimate to their new lives there. For whatever reason, Kyosuke has promised to give up being Hentai Kamen in order to just be a full time student/pizza delivery man but keeps stopping crimes because he’s a good guy at heart and he does have the ability to do so, provided he has panties to put on his face. It becomes clear that Ogane has not only survived the finale of HK: The Forbidden Hero, and is harboring a major supervillain -level grudge, but he knows who Kyosuke is and that panties are the key to Kyosuke’s powers. His multi-pronged assault on Kyosuke/HK will eventually end with Aiko once again kidnapped (she spends a lot of time kidnapped, but in all fairness so do Spider-Man’s gal pals) and Kyosuke having to apprentice under the wise Perverted Hermit of the mountains (in a sequence that almost makes sense but just misses the mark for me) to learn how to channel his powers enough to battle that aforementioned crabmachineman (which is straight out of a Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers episode and I! AM! HERE for it!).
See y’all? I didn’t spend all my time thumbing my nose at The Batman, or anything else. I’m not even actively *against* any of them, I’m just tired of everything looking and feeling the same. To that end, the Hentai Kamen films are a breath of fresh air! They have a juvenile raunch to them that reminded me of Airplane! or the Naked Gun movies (high praise from me) and are directionlessly horny in the same way young people are; it’s just always there, a low level hum of hormones underneath every moment that informs probably too many decisions.
And y’know what? They’re a blast of big, dumb, fun, pure entertainment. Personally, I wish the films had just a tiny bit more substance - an obvious choice would be to lean on the sex positivity that’s just inherent in the subject matter - but I’m not mad at them for just being what they are. If these are ever readily available in a USA-friendly physical release, I’m buying them. I might not marathon then back-to-back again, but I *will* watch them. If you too are finding that you just can’t care about another dire-toned superhero flick, I recommend checking out the Hentai Kamen flicks. And remember to let yourself have a good time.
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This piece was written for Moviejawn where you can find tons of other excellent movie-centric writings, a shop where you can subscribe to the quarterly physical zine and also listen to the I Saw It In a Movie, Cinematic Crypt or Hate Watch / Great Watch podcasts!
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