Cult Cinema: Hentai Kamen

A perverted superhero? Yes.

"It's not how it looks, okay."

If you're bored with the glut of superhero films flooding the cinemas as of late, don’t get your panties into a wad. Japan has a new (barely) costumed hero in town and his name is Hentai Kamen! Are you tired of those same old origin stories and dreary powers? Do toxic spills, aliens, and radioactive insects make you yawn in boredom? Hentai Kamen gets his powers from wearing women’s used underwear over his face as a mask. Seriously. His lingerie-adorned visage is what fuels his lust for justice and honor. Oh, by the way, he fights crime in just his tighty-whities and sneakers. I love Japan.

Ridiculous premise aside, Hentai Kamen is one of the best superhero films I have seen come out of Japan in recent memory. Based on Keishū Ando’s serialized manga from Weekly Shōnen Jump, this film is a rollercoaster ride of incredibly bizarre imagery and hilarious fights. Hentai Kamen is played by the very muscular Ryohei Suzuki (Gatchaman), who does a great job playing the dual role of both a super perverted crime fighter and his innocent alter ego Kyosuke. His love interest Aiko Himeno (Fumika Shimizu) is less fleshed out and the weakest character in the film. It’s not a deal-breaker, but I wish they had given her a little more motivation—she seems to be there just to get into trouble and further the story along.

Obviously, if you have a superhero that is powered by perversion, there is going to be some sexual connotations and innuendos. Every single special move Hentai Kamen does somehow ends up with him rubbing his large crotch bulge onto the criminal’s faces. It’s amazing to see “tea-bagging” used so efficiently in a fighting style.  It’s completely ludicrous and insane, but it somehow works within the universe of the film. I have never laughed so much at a film in my life. The writing is witty and there are lots of visual gags.

Japanese films take the most impractical concepts they can dream up and turn the dial up to eleven. Most people will either love this film to its depraved core or hate it with every fiber of their being. There can be no in-between. You are either down with a half-naked dude wearing panties on his face or don’t have room for that kind of thing in your life. For the people who are in on the joke, Henati Kamen will probably make them cry from laughter. The film takes the premise seriously, and plays it completely straight-faced—which makes it even more hysterical.

"Please wear protection when
fighting superheroes oral style."

Hentai Kamen was originally supposed to be a direct-to-DVD release, so the special effects aren’t high budget. It doesn’t look bad, per se, and it adds to the cheese factor and fun. The fight scenes are choreographed well and Hentai Kamen has many over-the-top special attacks that add visual flair. The soundtrack is serviceable, save for an earnestly sung ending theme (about the power of underwear, no less) but it’s non-obtrusive and fits the action. It looks like a live-action anime and everyone has the over-exaggerated body movements and reactions that are characteristic of the genre. This can be annoying if you aren’t accustomed to that style, but I found it endearing.

This movie is about a semi-nude Japanese man who fights crime with skivvies on his face. That description alone will suffice to either attract or repel potential viewers. Anyone who is brave enough to give it a go might be pleasantly surprised how much of a good time they have watching a guy wag his package around.

-Michelle Kisner