Why don't Japanese audiences turn up in big numbers for Hollywood superhero movies? The rare success in Japan of the Spider-Man series suggests one answer: Japanese like superheroes just fine, as long as they're flawed humans as well as heroic fighters for justice.
Another case in point is "Hero Mania," Keisuke Toyoshima's black comedy about everyday heroes who are not just flawed, but also damaged and strange. And though they may have superior fighting skills, they are not super-powered.
Based on Shigeyuki Fukumitsu's alternative manga "Seikatsu" ("Life"), the film is funny in smart off-kilter ways, while making astute observations about Japanese society in particular and human nature in general. Also, though produced by the major Japanese film companies — Nikkatsu and Toei — "Hero Mania" has an indie, even anarchic sensibility. It may look like a typical genre entertainment, action-comedy division, but it plays freely with the conventions. Instead of going from zero to hero, with the usual setbacks, the characters arrive at various destinations, not all of which are predictable — or perhaps even legal.