Hentai Kamen: Abnormal Crisis is two hours of inventive, audacious, and riotous fun.
Hentai Kamen: Abnormal Crisis (HK 変態仮面 アブノーマル・クライシス) Synopsis
Three years after the events of the first movie, Kyosuke and Aiko are in college, with the awkward hunk still regularly transforming into Hentai Kamen to enforce justice. After Aiko reveals her desire for Kyosuke to be normal, Kyosuke returns Aiko’s stitched panty to her, also promising to never again transform into the twisted hero. Sadly, he soon breaks his promise, no thanks to Tokyo and the whole of Japan being threatened by another outrageous crisis. Worse, Kyosuke’s nemesis i.e. Ogane Tamao is back with a fresh set of conspiracies. This time, Ogane also has the help of Dynoson. Not even the ecchi powers of Hentai Kamen are a match for this many-legged, vicious kajiu foe.
Snappy Review
Previously, I grouched about how the first Hentai Kamen movie quickly became stale after I got over the main gag. The gag being that of an awkward high school student harnessing his inner perversion to become a scantily dressed superhero.
Yikes, it’s as if the masked one himself heard my complaint. Watching Abnormal Crisis a night later was an entirely different experience. While still reliant on the (WTF) theme of empowering oneself by embracing one’s perversion, part two spreads out like a wicked spider web, ensnarling whatever it could from Japanese hentai culture.
Note, awkward metaphor of spider web here not unintentional. I completely lost it during the Spider-Man 2 parody moments. Now that’s a web-slinger I would love to have in my neighbourhood!
Elsewhere, the movie gleefully parodies other pop culture hits too. Karate Kid, Dragonball, Mask Rider, they are all here. This package does occasionally come across as too bloated i.e. messy but thankfully, Suzuki Ryohei’s superb performance once again more than compensates.
Like the first movie, the hunk’s every whimper and strut is a glorious personification of the contradiction that Hentai Kamen is, this time, doubly enjoyable to watch too with Kyosuke also shouldering a Peter Parker dilemma.
Last but not least, supporting casts Yugira Yuya and Muro Tsuyoshi threw in equally splendid performances as the antagonists. To highlight, I much preferred Muro’s Ogane this time round. With a wilder premise to work with, Muro’s comedic talent truly shines and captivates.
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