Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Blistering performances.

A man dresses as his favorite childhood superhero, Zebraman, from a television show that was canceled after only a few episodes. His love of Zebraman is shared by a third-grade student in his class of which he is an unsuccessful teacher, and that student turns out to have the admiration and warmth the man can't get from his family. As he runs around the night in his suit, trying to remain harmlessly escapist and yet still romantically fantasized, he starts running into the enemies from the television show. Seems the 30 year old defunct television show was actually a prophecy, and since it was canceled, Zebraman himself doesn't know how it will end. Now if only he could figure out how to fly...This warm and nostalgia-laced movie by Takashi Miike is one of his later features, and Miike has sort of slowed down a bit. He no longer cuts corners like he used to, and in this case he doesn't feel the need (nor is there) to throw anything truly disturbing in there. Still, I've heard some people call this movie a children's show, and of course there's some very adult themes speckled throughout. However, once again Miike surprises by playing with audience expectations.Zebraman is a superhero movie, but the moments of action and frenetic stylizations are actually quite rare and reserved. The bigger bulk of Zebraman is actually a focus on the characters, especially Zebraman and his ten-year-old side-kick as they figure out just what a superhero is supposed to do after he dons the outfit. And what an outfit! Sure to be a new staple Halloween costume for film geeks for years to come, Zebraman's costume is its own character, first because of its hilariously ironic black-and-white style and also in the way it slowly falls apart throughout the film.Miike is also not strictly a "filmmaker", in that he throws any visual media into his stories as he desires. A love of video and television-quality kitsch is present here in the contrasts between back-alley battles and open-field fights that recall Power Rangers. The Big Boss battle becomes what literally looks like a inter-video graphic from a video game like Final Fantasy VII. But it is all fun and mostly games as the audience gets to delight in a person whose only delight is a lost (non-existent) show that for one reason or another, he unapologetically loved.--PolarisDiB

Zebraman: yes, it's a superhero movie nipping at the heels of a glut of recent superhero movies. And yes, it conforms to every trope of the superhero movie genre: loser gets superpowers, triumphs over an unstoppably evil menace, gains love and admiration, etc. And yet, Zebraman has a quality which is more endearing than any other superhero movie of recent memory (even Tobey McGuire's Spiderman, God love him, doesn't elicit as much sympathy as Zebraman).This may be due to Sho Aikawa's affably inept hero: even in grislier Miike films, Aikawa's quirky sputterings and perpetually buggy expression are hard not to like. But even more relevant to Zebraman's success is its director, Takashi Miike.Of course Miike made his reputation as director of the most unbelievably violent films ever put to screen, but the truth is there are plenty of slasher flicks out there gorier and more depraved than even Ichi the Killer (hard to believe, right?). What makes Miike's work so enduring (and the rest dusty bargain-bin items) is something which underlies all the shooting and stabbing and torture: a palpable human thread which somehow pierces right to the heart. Miike's philosophy seems like that of a war-film director: humanity is more sharply noticeable when contrasted against inhumanity.But in Zebraman, we have a new entity for Miike, or at least an entity he only occasionally trots out: a film which goes straight to the humanity in lieu of the usual bloodletting. What violence there is tends toward the comic, and rivals the worst in a PG-13 movie.Needless to say, Ichi-junkies will find Zebraman too tame for words. The arterial-spurt crowd should stick with Fudoh or Gozu for their freaky horror fill. But for the crowd that found Ichi hard to stomach, give Zebraman a try: it's much more palatable.On the negative side, the film does run overlong, and slows down considerably toward the end. But don't despair: Zebraman's ending is well worth the wait. Black and White Ecstacy!

With ZEBRAMAN Takashi Miike proves he can do anything. This film is quite possibly the best feel good movie I have seen in 10 years, and this from a director best known for graphic violence, moral ambiguity and razor-booted kung fu kicking crybaby psychos. The movie has a simple and universal message: you can make a difference if you believe in yourself. It's sweet, poignant and Hilarious(The scene with the Sentai show Shinichi is watching on TV had me laughing so hard I almost choked on my cup of tea). The final scene with Shinichi transforming into a "real" hero is amazing and had me cheering more than any movie I watched as a kid. If that scene fails to stir you then I guess you're dead inside. Miike produces more solid gold cult classics in one year than Hollywood makes in five - he's the king in my eyes: long may his reign continue.

If you're familiar with the genre that's spawned Hakaider, Guyver, Kamen Rider and many a movie based on the TV show harking back to the seventies then a Dirt-bike riding Zebra judo-chopping aliens won't seem quite out of the ordinary.The story approaches the genre in the uniquely Miike fashion, and like a good editor he knows which parts of the story to emphasize.The story starts off with a socially impotent father figure who seems to be failing as a role model to his children, spouse, and community...he gets no respect from anybody. He makes up for it by dressing up as a cosplay geek reliving his childhood by taking on the role of his idol of manly virtue, Zebraman. His costume is crude and fragile, his martial arts pantomime only causes personal injury...When suddenly we learn that the school where he teaches has become an alien epicenter for green jellybeans hellbent on corrupting the youth of today into untameable savages. What is at stake is the total degeneration of Japanese society as we know it, after everyone over ten dies of some kind of jelly bean intestinal disorder. There's a secret gay agent unrequited love subplot that doesn't pan out, and a chaste love story involving our protagonist and a single mom who provide the family oriented support Zebraman needs to attain his destined power.I felt sympathetic for our clutzy protagonist all the way through, i laughed at his foolish behavior and empathized with his despair. The "destroy alien invaders" genre-plot did not get in the way of the characters expressing themselves, and gave structure and conflicts where needed. Even so, the human condition shone through as a worthless feeling man redeems him self in the eyes of everyone he cares about, claim his right to basic human happiness.Actually, the whole cosplay transition to costumed hero thing gets more believable (er, suspension of disbelief that is,) as the story progresses. The action is excellent and over the top as usual, but still family oriented you could say (ichi the killer was NOT a good first date movie). I could accept that Zebraman got his powers from pretty much out of the blue (and because it was fated to him) the same way I can except Godzilla without knowing where he came from (other than the sea of Japan) Die Green Jellies! Watch This Movie.