Karate-Robo Zaborgar (2011)

A young man with a motorcycle that has the ability to transform into a karate-fighting robot hunts down a gang of evil cyborgs to avenge the death of his father.

Director:

Noboru Iguchi

Writer:

Noboru Iguchi (screenplay)

Stars:

Itsuji Itao, Asami, Akira Emoto

Cast

Credited cast:
Itsuji Itao	...	Yutaka Daimon
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Asami	...	Red Rugby Robot
Akira Emoto	...	Dr. Akunomiya
Yasuhisa Furuhara	...	The Younger Daimon
Yûya Ishikawa
Cay Izumi
Takurô Kodama
Yuya Miyashita	...	(as Yûya Miyashita)
Hiroaki Murakami
Yui Murata
Sakichi Sato
Aimi Satsukawa
Kentarô Shimazu
Naoto Takenaka	...	Daimon's father
Demo Tanaka

Storyline

A young man with a motorcycle that has the ability to transform into a karate-fighting robot hunts down a gang of evil cyborgs to avenge the death of his father.

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Plot Keywords:

non comic book superhero | robot | motorcycle | japan | japanese | 

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Taglines:

In 2011, A Robo Legend Will Rise Again

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film is a remake of the 1970s show Denjin Zaborger.

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Connections

Features Denjin Zaborger (1974)

User Reviews

This was quite something unique...

Naturally you'd find something as bizarre and weird as "Denjin Zabôgâ" (aka "Karate-robo Zaborgar") to originate from Japan. Where else?

I sat down to watch this 2011 movie without any prior knowledge about what I was getting myself into. Sure, I had seen the robot depicted on the cover before as toys when I lived in Hong Kong, but I had never seen anything on movies, cartoons or anything else with it. So I was expecting to be in for something as horrible as "Power Rangers". But still, I sat down to watch it.

Turns out that "Denjin Zabôgâ" was actually a rather wholesome and enjoyable movie. As stupid, silly, over-the-top and wonderfully strange as only the Japanese can muster. I mean, the movie is so outrageous and silly that it actually made for some very fine entertainment.

The movie had a very simplistic storyline, which was easy to follow and very much straight forward. Yet, writer and director Noboru Iguchi manages to throw in some good changes to the storyline that you didn't expect - unless familiar with this particular franchise, I suppose. And the ending of the movie was just priceless. I will not spoil it, because it is something you have to experience for yourself after having sat through the entire course of this odd movie.

The characters in the movie were goofy and campy, for sure. But it was all done in such a manner that it was comical and very cartoonish. And it really worked out well in favor of the movie. The movie also comes with wonderful costumes to match the equally wonderful - and odd - characters. So that went hand in hand.

As for the special effects in the movie. Well, they had an abundance of special effects, most of which were actually made in a comical way so that they added a nice humorous aspect to the movie. You just sit there with a goofy grin on your lips throughout most of the movie.

"Denjin Zabôgâ" is the type of hidden gem that you might not actually take the time to watch, which is a shame, because I was more than adequately entertained by this movie, and wouldn't have sat down to watch it if I didn't have this big fascination with Asian cinema as I do.

I am rating "Denjin Zabôgâ" a very solid six out of ten stars. Definitely worth taking the time to sit down and watch this movie, especially if you enjoy movies that are a bit extraordinary.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

15 October 2011 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Karate-Robo Zaborgar

Filming Locations:

Maebashi, Gunma, Japan

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$162,288

Company Credits

Production Co:

Denjin Zaborger Film Partners, King Records, Nikkatsu

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1