Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2010

There are films which seem to have potential but are just a little misguided, and then there are others which are truly frustrating. This work falls into the latter category. Director Tetsuya Mariko made this as a graduation project at the Tokyo University of the Arts, taking Richard F. Outcault’s eponymous 19th century comic as his inspiration. Mind you, the story here has little to do with that historical document: set in the present day, it revolves around successful manga artist Hattori (Ryo Iwase), who wants to do a follow-up to his biggest-selling comic, Yellow Kid, about champion boxer Mikuni (Kazuki Namioka). He chooses another boxer who trains at Mikuni’s gym: Tamura (Kaname Endo), a young, angry pugilist who happens to be involved with Hattori’s ex-girlfriend, Mana (Mari Machida). Up to this point, the film is a gritty, well-observed portrait of the four characters’ unglamorous lives, but then it suddenly switches gears and starts mixing reality with comicbook fantasy, superheroes and all. The plot quickly becomes incoherent and any trace of dramatic power is lost. Mariko throws in alternate endings and deconstructionist shots just to confuse matters even more. Exasperating. (106 min)