Bam! Biff! Pow! In the manner of Hollywood's recent spoof-remakes of old TV shows such as Starsky & Hutch, 21 Jump Street and Dark Shadows, filmmaker Noboru Iguchi presents this over-the-top campy take on a genre that would seem to be beyond parody: the live-action sci-fi karate-action superheroes of yesteryear's Japanese children's television. The neglected son of a scientist, martial-artist Yutaka Daimon (Yasuhisa Furuhara) fights evil with his motorcycle, which converts into Zaborgar—a kung-fu robot. With the corrupt Japanese Prime Minister being kidnapped (repeatedly) by an evil, wheelchair-bound mad scientist in a floating castle, Yutaka and Zaborgar find themselves fighting many villains, including a number of scantily-clad cyborg girls who can launch missiles (and occasional dragons) from their breasts. Also thrown into the mix are an acid-spewing Diarrhea Robot and an unplanned cyborg pregnancy. Even viewers unfamiliar with the anime references and cultural roots of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers kitsch should get some big laughs here. And yes, there was a real Zaborgar series, on Fuji TV in the 1970s; its zany non-digital highlight footage unreels over the closing credits here. Recommended. (C. Cassady)
Karate-Robo Zaborgar
Well Go USA, 114 min., in Japanese w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $19.98, Blu-ray: $24.98 Volume 27, Issue 6
Karate-Robo Zaborgar
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