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Karate-Robo Zaborgar
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Karate-Robo Zaborgar
Released by: Well Go USA
Released on: September 11, 2012.
Director: Noboru Iguchi
Cast: Itsuji Itao, Asami, Akira Emoto, Yasuhisa Furuhara
Year: 2011
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The Movie:
While best known for splatter fests like Machine Girl, Noboru Iguchi tires something different with 2011's Karate-Robo Zaborgar, an inspired slice of cinematic lunacy that somehow managers to pay loving tribute to the Japanese live action movies and TV shows of the seventies while at the same time lampooning them with varying degrees of effectiveness.
The storyline introduces us to a young man named Daimon (Yasuhisa Furuhara), alone in this world since his father was killed by an evil scientist named Dr. Akunomiya (Akira Emoto), the man in charge of an equally evil organization known as Sigma. Thankfully before his father shuffled off this mortal coil, he left Daimon with his most fantastic creation, a super robot named Zaborgar (part motorcycle, part karate expert - ALL ROBOT!), who has the ability to transform form a motorcycle to a battle ready robot at the drop of a hat. Daimon and Zaborgar team up to stop Akunomiya from doing all sorts of horrible bad guy things until Akunomiya outsmarts them both by creating Miss Borg (Mami Yamasaki), who Daimon soon falls for despite the fact that she's not really human and has tentacles that come out of her breasts. This all ends poorly when Zaborgar gets jealous and kills himself.
A few decades later, Daimon (now played by Itsuji Itao) is all grown up but is completely unsure what to do with himself. This is no longer the world that needed a hero that he once knew, and yet Akunomiya and his cronies are able to do whatever they want. When Daimon is reuninted with the daughter that Miss Borg gave him, he decides he'll become a hero again, whether the world wants him to or not… even if that means 'getting the band back together' and reuniting with Zaborgar.
Iguchi obviously has a love of the types of shows and movies that inspired Zaborgar, as he really manages to do a very good job of recreating the style of effects and costumes and props that were used in well of material that he's obviously pulling from here. This being an Iguchi film, however, it stands to reason that it's all delivered through his seriously skewed vision, so what would have been a kid friendly entertainment in the decades when this type of material was popular now lives again as a seriously twisted reimagining. There's sexual innuendos all over the place in this movie, some subtle and some anything but, and on top of that the violence can get pretty over the top (though it falls short of the insane carnage of some of the movies that Iguchi and his Sushi Typhoon crew are known for).
Somehow it all manages to work, however. Though the movie has some pacing issues in the later half, for the most part this two hour movie doesn't overstay its welcome even if some more judicious editing could have helped here and there. The cast are all obviously game and the effects work stands out as well, intentionally clunky and underdone with a refreshingly genuine retro feel to them.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Zaborgar was shot on high definition video and the AVC encoded 2.35.1 widescreen 1080p presentation showcases the movie in its original aspect ratio. The image is as clean as you'd expect though it has a very artificial look at times, no thanks to the goofy effects work that is used throughout the movie - but that's part of the fun of the Sushi Typhoon movies, really. This actually works in the context of the world where the film takes place, however - the movie isn't going for realism, it doesn't want or need to, it is instead a fun throwback to old Japanese sci-fi material. There aren't any problems with compression artifacts to note, and black levels are generally strong and deep. Contrast is properly set and detail is generally really good here as is color reproduction - the reds in particular. Overall this is a very nice looking image.
Audio options are supplied in Japanese language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio and Japanese language Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with optional subtitles available in English only. The lossless track is a decent one with lots of great surround activity and strong bass throughout the presentation. The levels are well balanced and the score used throughout the movie has some nice and impressive clarity to it. Arterial spray always sounds cool in lossless clarity, doesn't it? This movie has a lot of it. The English subs are free of any obvious typos and are easy to read.
The main extras on the disc are a collection of Zaborgar Go! short films, most of which are played more for laughs than anything else. There's nineteen minutes worth of material here and it's fun to see once, if not all that substantial. Aside from that we get a trailer for the feature and trailers for a few other Well Go USA titles, menus and chapter stops.
The Final Word:
Fans of shows like Ultraman and Kikaida will appreciate this more than most, but Noboru Iguchi has done a pretty respectable job paying homage to the live action Japanese series' which were obviously an influence on him. If the movie isn't subtle, it isn't trying to be - it plays well with tongue placed firmly in cheek, delivering equal parts action and humor loaded with retro style. Well Go USA's Blu-ray looks and sounds good and while it isn't stacked with extras, the included shorts are amusing enough in their own right. A fun release.
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