HK: Hentai Kamen
Director: Yûichi Fukuda
Writer: Yûichi Fukuda, Shun Oguri
Based on: Keishū Ando’s manga Kyūkyoku!! Hentai Kamen
Cast: Ryôhei Suzuki, Fumika Shimizu, Ken Yasuda
Part of: /slash Filmfestival (special screening)
Seen on: 9.9.2016
[Here’s my first review.]

Plot:
Kyōsuke Shikijō (Ryôhei Suzuki) is a high school student with a strong sense of justice, but unfortunately nothing to back that up with. So when he stands up against bullies, he regularly gets beat up. When Aiko Himeno (Fumika Shimizu) comes to his school, he immediately falls in love. Then Aiko is taken hostage during a bank robbery and Kyōsuke wants to save her. To not be recognized, he wants to pull on a mask, but pulls on a panty by mistake. But through that mistake his superpowers are released and Kyōsuke becomes Hentai Kamen – Pervert Mask.

When I first saw Hentai Kamen, I already loved it and I’m happy to say that it definitely holds up to re-watching it. It again had me laughing more often than not.

I think the thing that stood out to me the most this time round was how much Kyōsuke struggles with his own identity, with being “perverted.” His lack of acceptance of that part of him got maybe a little tiring. It definitely had me hoping that he will be able to fully accept himself and his perversion in the second film. But then again, that seems to be a good representation of the ambivalent relationship that Japanese media seems to have with sexuality and kinkiness (to put it in a grossly generalized way).

And while we’re on wishes for the sequel: I also wouldn’t mind if Aiko got a bit of a more active role in the second film. She’s being damselled pretty hard in this one.

But despite that and the few lengths there were throughout the middle part of the film, I really enjoyed myself again watching Kyōsuke’s ascension as Hentai Kamen (that they showed the special Hentai Kamen cinema etiquette announcement beforehand was another added bonus).

And while it may be mostly silly, it’s still a highly fascinating mix of gender and sexuality politics that you really don’t get to see every day. (I’m still up to write a paper about it, if somebody wants to pay me for a research project… I’ll even include the sequel.) And it’s an excellent way to really, really make you laugh.

Summarizing: Still awesome.