Comments on: Is Big Man Japan Strange Enough to Make the Cut?

By: John

John — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 07:50:00 +0000

Yeah it was definitely kind of a let down for me :(

By: Dolphinwing55

Dolphinwing55 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 01:25:00 +0000

It was alright for the first half then it just kept getting stupider instead of weirder and I didn’t feel sorry for the main character because he was acting more and more like a douche as the movie went on. I didn’t feel bad for his character at all. I was pretty disappointed with it, especially the very end with the superhero guys, that was funny at first but then it dragged on too long and it seemed like they just put it in there cuz they didn’t know how to end the movie..

By: John

John — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:18:00 +0000

Thanks! We appreciate it. And I’ll definitely be sure to check out Symbol.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:56:00 +0000

No worries! It was a bit of a long-winded comment haha sorry about that. I read this site all the time but have never posted so thought i’d chime in. I recommend giving his other movies a chance :) But yeah… great site/articles! (Y)

By: John

John — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:33:00 +0000

Wow, thanks for this! I didn’t even think about that when watching the film. Thank you so much for commenting :D

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 02:38:00 +0000

Big Man Japan is full of political commentary on the global
role Japan plays in the modern world… but executed in a rad way with nods to
Kaiju monster films and Ultraman. The way I see the movie (spoilers ahead):
Where the old Big Man Japan was once a super-power in the ~1920s (much like the
country) he is now consumed by capitalism (his body is tattooed in commercials)
and is now non-threatening/a joke. All the monsters BMJ faces throughout the
film are from different areas of Japan, except the scary red monster who was
from an “unknown location”. This ‘red menace’ was from communist
North Korea, who is a serious threat to Japan in both reality (being
geographically close/claiming to have nuclear weapons etc) and in the monster
aspect of the film. When the red monster has to face the red/white/blue, Uncle
Sam-tophat-wearing Justice Team (The U.S) the monster is exposed as being weak
and not as strong as they claim to be. In fact the monster’s terrifying exterior
(North Korea’s political posturing) appears to be held up by a hollow interior
made of cardboard (The reality of North Korea’s poverty and weakness).
Meanwhile (big man) Japan is caught up in the middle and forced to side with
the forceful U.S even though they don’t care for their arrogance and forcefulness
(Earlier in the film BMJ says “I’m not anti-US. But…”). What choice does
poor Japan have?

TLDR version: BMJ = Japan. Red monster = North Korea. The Justice Team = The US. North Korea are scary assholes and the US are forceful
assholes. Japan is stuck in the middle.

Symbol is outrageously clever and hilarious. Its subject matter is very 2001
Space Odyssey and just as inventive/refreshing. Scabbard Samurai is a lot
of fun too. Matsumoto ruuuuuuuulz.