Rolling Bomber Special

It is a common trope, especially in media for boys, to have the main character as a young outcast, unsure of the world or himself, but who happens to arrive into a great power—a mass of hidden potential that marks him as special or unique, capable of great things.

This is the mark of the hero, and learning and mastering this power to achieve greatness is the gist of the story arc. Rolling Bomber Special is a clever film and tweaks that formula from within one of the most cliche-driven genres, the Japanese super sentai show (think Power Rangers). Instead of discovering a hidden power and determining to do good, our protagonist is told he has great power and must be defeated before he destroys the world!

Katori Shintarou is that protagonist, and as played by J-Pop superstar Katori Shingo, he is a character familiar to most anime fans. A high schooler who suffers from existential crisis, Katori  masks it by affecting a blasé, world-weary air. He reacts rather calmly in the beginning of the film to the appearance of the sentai team who attempt to do battle with him, and his matter-of-fact reactions to the escalating ridiculousness is a central source of hilarity in the 7 minute film.

The film was created for a DVD of short films starring the music/acting supergroup SMAP, to which Katori belongs. The irony of a super sentai spoof is more apparent with that tidbit of knowledge.

Rolling Bomber is simply great entertainment. I was busted up on multiple occasions while watching it, and I’ve rewatched it numerous times. I have an affinity to Japanese culture which might have something to do with it, but Nakashima Tetsuya deserves a lion’s share of credit. Japan’s greatest unknown film director, I don’t think that his surprise Oscar nomination this past year for the stellar revenge drama Confessions, even made a dent in that anonymity. For more on Nakashima I’ll direct you to a Slate article by Asian media expert extraordinaire Grady Hendrix.

Nakashima has a truly master’s grasp of genre entertainment and the editing and comedic beats in this film are just perfect. Get some friends together, have some beers and watch this together. You can thank me in the comments.