Kyosuke is a shy but kind teenager born of the union of a s&m loving mother and a masochist father (he was a police detective that was going to arrest her when they first met but she tied him up and he enjoyed the whipping she gave him!!). When a new female student Aiko joins his class at school, Kyosuke immediately starts to like her and they hit it off as friends. She in turn becomes the president of the school’s martial arts club that Kyosuke is a member (and not a very good one at that!). When Aiko is taken hostage at a bank by three gun wielding individuals, Kyosuke simply can’t stand by especially when they threaten to kill the girl he likes. He manages to get inside the building and thinks he must put on a mask if he wants to confront the hostage takers. He finds a pair of used panties and puts it on his face. Kyosuke finds a ‘pervert power’ (inherited from his mother’s side) from within which transforms him into Hentai Kamen (Masked Pervert). His bizarre look involves him wearing only white trainers, fishnet stockings, a pair of skimpy white underwear twisted into a mankini which barely hides his penis and testicles and used (they have to be used!) panties on his head! Nevertheless he manages to save the day and foil the bad guys. He vows to use his new superhero moniker for justice but there’s something that bothers him about his alter-ego and that is Aiko starts to like the perverted superhero. Kyosuke doesn’t want to admit that he is Hentai Kamen or she will think he’s a pervert. An evil karate club tries to take over Kyosuke’s school and whilst Hentai Kamen initially manages to defeat the individuals, the leader of the group sends in a mysterious teacher to aid him in his task by trying to steal Kyosuke’s beloved Aiko away from him as a fake masked pervert. Will Masked Pervert save the day?
This is a wacky and hilarious take on the superhero genre that only the Japanese could have invented – I mean where else but Japan could come up with a hero that wears practically next to nothing and who uses his genitals to combat the bad guys! I did think that this could have been one of those awful Japanese b-movies but thankfully it turned out to be funnier than I imagined it to be. It is also one of the most original superhero movies I’ve come across recently. It is based on a popular manga series from the early 90’s that I wasn’t really aware of. The description of the movie’s plot above should give you ample warning if you’re easily offended by this type of humour. The makers of the movie poke fun at Spiderman throughout the story from the mask used by Hentai Kamen to the bondage ropes that he uses to swing between buildings. I did a double take at the beginning when I thought I was going to see a familiar movie studio logo coming up but this is yet another joke directed at Marvel. The movie is a lot of fun to watch and I was giggling from start to finish.
This is more than just a comedy superhero movie, it’s also a coming of age story about a boy trying to win the heart of the girl he likes but finds out that she’s more interested in his perverted alter-ego so he has to keep it a secret because he is afraid of what she would think if she discovered that Hentai Kamen is him! The way that Hentai Kamen defeats the bad guys is unusual (but hilarious) to say the least by using a deadly combination of sexual poses and thrusting his crotch into their faces through some high kicking aerial karate move. The villains he faces are all OTT characters such as the camp evil karate club leader Ogane Tamao who goes around with twin pigtails in his hair. I don’t know how actor Muro Tsuyoshi who plays Ogane managed to complete one scene where he thinks he is kissing Aiko as a ploy to defeat our hero but is seen to be kissing Hentai Kamen’s genitals several times (covered up in his underwear thankfully) instead. Ogane sends in a series of colourful assassins to try and defeat Hentai Kamen: Gay Guy, Very Serious Guy, Extremely Slim Guy and Cool Guy! Our hero meets his match though in the fake Hentai Kamen (disguised as a school teacher) who loves lifting women’s skirts up and manages to strip away Kyosuke’s power to transform by claiming he isn’t really a pervert at all. It’s up to Kyosuke to overcome his insecurities as a person and rediscover the power that can change him back into Hentai Kamen once more.
Yuichi Fukuda does a great job in directing a fresh superhero comedy that should manage to raise more than a smile on people’s faces if they view the movie in the right frame of mind. I was surprised to hear that popular male idol Shun Oguri helped out on the script. I did think the comedy would begin to run out of steam during the second half but it still delivers on the laughs right until the end and never gets tiring. Ryohei Suzuki performs really well as Kyosuke/Hentai Kamen considering he has to switch between two different personalities in the movie – the awkward teenager and the loud brash superhero. The young man has an impressive physique as Hentai Kamen (it really is him and not some body double). It should please some female viewers!! Fumika Shimizu who played a supporting role in the Kamen Rider Fourze series and spin-off movies is suitably cute as Aiko.
I really liked this highly amusing movie. It made me laugh a lot and the bizarre story and ridiculous characters made it a winner in my eyes. The movie most of all is entertaining so if you’re open-minded and into perverse humour this will be right up your street.
Sadako’s Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Sadako's Movie Shack 