US Title: Big Man Japan
Japanese Title: 大日本人 (lit. “Big Japanese Person”)

If I have to pick one word to describe Big Man Japan, its “weird.”  Another would be “funny”.  Yet another would be “AWESOME!”

I guess you could say this is kinda-sorta the Japanese version of “Hancock.”  Although without the crappy attitude and Wil Smith (or Charlize!)  There was just something about Hancock that put me off, and let me say that Big Man Japan is everything Hancock should (and could) have been.

Masaru Daisato (Hitoshi Matsumoto) is a depressed, manic, near-bum.  He’s also “Big Man Japan,” a super-hero called upon to defend Tokyo and the rest of Japan against random Godzilla-style huge monsters.  He visits local electric plants to “shock” himself to super-size, and proceeds to fight said monsters, usually destroying whatever neighborhood he’s in in the process.

But the fights aren’t really the funniest part of the movie.  Don’t get me wrong, they’re awesomely funny, especially the “flower monsters” in Shinjuku sequence. The real fun is in the “documentary” style segments between, where he’s being interviewed and followed by the camera man.  Totally brilliant stuff.  Matsumoto’s deadpan is just completely hilarious.

Oh, and don’t even get me started on the whole “grandpa big man” thing.  That’s just icing on the cake.  See, his grandfather (and his father) were also “big men”, and his grandfather was in fact a war hero because of it.  Failing to live up to that stature, Masaru is ridiculed and reviled by the population.

Then there’s the ending.  Like I’ve said a couple of times before, for whatever reason, a lot of Japanese movies will just completely throw you at the ending.  Big Man Japan is certainly no exception.  In fact I’d say its the poster child for this sort of thing.

He winds up fighting the Akuma monster, but suddenly the scenery changes and he finds himself on the set of a crappy “Power Rangers” style TV show, being upstaged by an over the top “Ultraman” style family.   This whole sequence, while completely funny, just doesn’t make any sense to me!  In fact it continues right on through the credits, as the gang sits down to dinner.  WTF?  Some sort of statement on the condition of TV in Japan? On superheroes? I don’t know.

Hilarious to a fault, yet confusing at the end, Big Man Japan shouldn’t be missed.  OK, so the special effects aren’t all that.  But the rendering of the neighborhoods, particularly Akihabara and Shinjuku are amazing, and dead on.

You can view the whole thing via Amazon’s Video on Demand if you’re so inclined

Amazon (VOD): Big Man Japan (Video on Demand)
Amazon (DVD): Big Man Japan (DVD)
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0997147/

Here’s the trailer.  すごーーーい！！