Wrestling Fans, Dig The Teaser Trailer for 'Tiger Mask'

If you thought American fans of professional wrestling..er, excuse me, "sports entertainment" were a crazed bunch, believe me when I say we've got nothing on the Japanese. Wrestling is a crucial part of their culture, and they take it extremely seriously. The competitors are treated like royalty, which is why so many of our stars are more than willing to head there. The level of respect shown to pro wrestling mirrors Japan's greater reverence for animated movies. It's just a totally different scene, one that was captured beautifully in Ikki Kajiwara's 1960s manga, Tiger Mask, which follows a masked grappler who battles an evil wrestling organization in the ring. A live-action film was put in the works a couple of years ago, and now the first teaser trailer has arrived, and it's challenging for the title.

Singer Eiji Wentz  plays Naoto Date, the alter ego of the wrestling hero, whose suit transforms him into Tiger Mask, granting increased strength and agility. Much of the story will delve into Date's evil past, before he turned his back on his old bosses and vowed to fight against them. The teaser is little more than a cool introduction to the character, but it does reveal his transformation and some stark changes to the character design to look more like an American superhero and less like a guy in tights. Obviously, there will be a lot more going on in the ring than just suplexes and body slams. Expect there to be some incredible powers thrown around, as well.

The character has been adapted for the big screen a couple of times already, and had an anime series that ran for a few seasons in the early 70s. He's also been a fixture in numerous pro wrestling video games. In fact, that's where I first ran across Tiger Mask, while playing Virtual Pro Wrestling 64, which featured both Japanese wrestlers and WCW/NWO stars.

Tiger Mask hits theaters in Japan this November.