As a kid, I was obsessed with comic books. While I’d often get told in school that the real superheroes were doctors or firefighters, I knew that they had to exist somewhere in the world. Years later, I’d learn that Japan has a long history of local heroes who are characters created to represent different cities and prefectures throughout the country. These heroes have existed in Japan as far back as the rebuilding era after World War II but boomed in the early 2000s.
These heroes wear suits inspired by superhero tokusatsu — a style of storytelling popularized with Western audiences in 1993 with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers — which often features a hero, or team of heroes, with special abilities and superpowered suits who combat world-ending threats.
Although both types of hero are primarily aimed at younger audiences, local heroes are often used as tools to teach children how to become model members of their community and impart important lessons about safety. While many have made television appearances or had their own shows, very few have had standalone films and those that do fully embrace the larger-than-life aspect of the genre. One film that spectacularly breaks that mold is 2019’s Rise – Dharuriser, which maintains a balance between being a character study and a traditional superhero tokusatsu story, using both pieces to propel the story forward.
The movie tells the story of Akihiro Tachi (Takeaki Wachi), a failed actor living in Tokyo with his wife, Mio (Momona). When she reveals that they’ll soon have a child, he makes the choice to return to his hometown of Shirakawa, Fukushima to live with his parents. Here he comes face to face with a father who considers him a failure of a man for not following in his footsteps and running his company.
Akihiro decides to put his own dreams on hold and finds a job as a mall security guard. As time goes by and his wife’s belly grows, he begins to lose himself in the mundanity of the work, becoming resigned to a stable, but unhappy, path.
When it seems as if Akihiro is at his lowest, he chances upon the flyer for a local character contest in the mall and decides to enter. He creates the character Dharma-man, inspired by the city’s Daruma doll and the teachings of dharma. Mio then makes his first suit and offers him the much cooler name Dharuriser.
As the character’s popularity grows he stumbles upon the mysterious organization Dice, who plan to bring a new era of prosperity to Shirakawa by controlling the minds of the citizens using a machine powered by the mind of Halu (Miyuki Sato), the now-dead lover of Dice’s leader.
While both seek to make the city prosperous again their methods are in complete opposition. Dice seeks total control over the city and the lives of everyone who lives there, and Akihiro wants everyone to work hard and make a name for the town together. Because of this clash of ideals, it becomes a race against time for him to put a stop to their plans and save the city before the birth of his child.
Over the course of the film, we see both Dharuriser and Akihiro take steps toward becoming a hero through selflessness, and with support from the people around them. Dharuriser’s path is the more straightforward of the two, beginning as many local heroes do with picking up garbage and performing stage shows for the community. Within a few days, the character has a meteoric rise in fame, even appearing on local television with the mayor after chasing down some Dice members stealing from a factory. This is immediately soured during his second encounter with Dice when he’s left beaten in the streets. The community turns on him because they don’t want a violent hero as a role model.
Though the community is no longer behind the character, he vows to save the city anyway with the knowledge that it may be a tough road ahead, but the individuality that makes Shirakawa special will remain intact. When the final showdown for the city’s fate occurs, Akihiro’s martial arts teacher comes to the aid of Dharuriser, proving that at least some parts of the community continue to believe in him.
On the other hand, Akihiro’s journey begins more subtly, first when he takes a job as a security guard to help pay for the child’s expenses. When one of his coworkers, under the control of Dice’s technology, attacks a woman and disappears, he immediately hopes for his safety. Later when Dharuriser’s reputation is at its lowest, he returns to his security job, apologizing for missing so many days and getting back to work.
During this same period, he goes to apologize to Mio for causing trouble, but she tells him that there is no need. If he truly believes he’s doing the right thing, then it’s okay to fight for the things you want to protect. Once he learns the truth behind the brainwashing system, one of the scientists who helped create it vows to Akihiro that he’ll destroy the broadcasting tower and turn off the control signal because of the altruism he displayed listening to Halu’s calls for help when everyone else ignored her. It’s here that their journeys merge with Dharuriser wanting to protect the city and Akihiro wanting to make the world safe for his child.
When the film finally reaches its climactic moment and Dharuriser goes to destroy the brainwashing machine and save Shirakawa, Akihiro puts the character aside and removes the mask. In its hero-defining moment, Dharuriser goes to destroy the brainwashing device and save Shirakawa but sees the look on the face of Dice’s leader as he’s about to lose the woman he loves and stops. Removing the mask, Akihiro asks Halu to broadcast a message to the citizens and tells them that everything in the world has a purpose and he will continue to fight for them and the town because every life is precious. He then leaves the villain and Halu there together, knowing that he won’t turn the machine on again, and returns home to his wife and newborn son.
Rise – Dharuriser at times feels more like a drama than a traditional superhero tokusatsu story, because of the way it strays away from the genre’s tropes and grounds the story at a local level. Unlike other tokusatsu protagonists, Akihiro has no special lineage or powers and often gets hurt in his attempts to protect the city using the Dharuriser persona. He’s also allowed to fail and, through that lens, we see his character grow and lose the selfishness his father saw within him.
His suit, one of the most important aspects of the character, is not special either. His wife makes it in the small bedroom they’ve taken over at his parent’s house as a show of support when she sees him excited about something again. After being beaten by Dice and giving up on Dharuriser, she goes about sewing a second “upgraded” suit with padding to keep him safe because she knows he’ll try again.
Instead of an evil organization bent on taking over the world, the threat consists of local businessmen and officials, and we’re given no indication that they ever plan to expand their reach outside of Shirakawa, Fukushima. By stripping these elements from the story, we’re able to see what makes Dharuriser a true local hero — caring about others.
The film tells us that anybody could have saved the city if they had taken the time to listen. What made Akihiro different was the resolve to get back up and keep fighting in the face of insurmountable odds. No matter the scale of the conflict or how afraid you are, all it takes to make a difference is the willingness to make a positive change. After all, Dharuriser is just a character, the real hero is the person behind the mask.
