Project Dreams: How to Build Mazinger Z’s Hangar — 2020’s Best Science Fiction Film You’ve Never Heard Of
It’s difficult to talk about film releases in 2020 when being able to watch a movie in theaters is, at best, a privilege, or at worst, a health risk. Thankfully, there’s online streaming (via the Japanese Film Festival), and the optimism of Project Dreams: How to Build Mazinger Z’s Hangar provides a welcome reprieve.
There’s a brand of science fiction that focuses on engineering and competence, such as how to survive in an unhospitable planet or how to construct a space station, usually with people’s lives hanging in the balance. Since Project Dreams is a comedy, it upends that premise. This is a story about the marketing team of Maeda, a construction company, endeavoring to publish engineering plans — complete with a realistic cost estimate — for the hangar of the super robot Mazinger Z. This might seem like an outlandish concept, but there’s a level of pragmatism too. The reason they don’t aim to recreate the giant robot itself is because there are other companies that are interested in that job. Maeda is a company known for building dams, so constructing a fantasy fortress is their perfect niche.
At first glance, it seems like nothing is on the line. No one will die if they fail. Money won’t even be lost because they’re not given a budget and the project must be done during their free time. One of the more poignant moments is when the marketing head wonders if their train ride can be considered a business expense. But like any good story, the stakes are actually high. The story isn’t just about solving physics problems, although that is one of the movie’s highlights. It’s about the characters — especially the staff at Maeda — and discovering what’s important to them. On a macro scale, it’s about giving hope to a Japanese company that’s known for building dams when no new dams are needed. But on a personal level, it’s about finding the courage to discard your cynicism and allowing yourself to dream. It’s a cheesy premise but the movie sells it with the actor’s performances.
The premise might sound silly, but the film tackles this head on. One of the two central antagonists of the story are the skeptics, the management that thinks the entire endeavor is doomed to fail and would result in bringing shame to the company. The other antagonist is, of course, physics itself: when your source material is a cartoon from the 70’s, there’s bound to be inconsistence and unrealistic design choices. There’s no shortage of obstacles in recreating Mazinger Z’s hangar, both internally and externally.
Project Dreams is, at the end of the day, a film, and it is carried by the talent of its cast. It’s probably fair to say that this is an ensemble movie and there’s no single, central protagonist. The film is divided into five parts and each section allows specific characters to shine. Hiroaki Ogi, who plays the marketing team’s head Asagawa, delivers an over the top performance that convinces you that he is worthy of his title. And it’s a tricky role to play because Asagawa isn’t someone who’s trying to sell you a defective product: his passion is genuine, even if his ideas are unconventional. Another tricky performance is Yusuke Uechi who plays Bessho, an engineer who’s disillusioned but is eventually won over.
Headlining the film is Mahiro Takasugi who plays Doi, an aimless employee at Maeda. As someone who’s been following Takasugi’s career, my initial puzzlement wasn’t whether Takasugi was up to the task, but whether his full range would be utilized. For example, as Mitsuzane in Kamen Rider Gaim, we got to see a variety of emotions — some subtle, some overt — from the actor. And while I enjoyed Kakegurui, his role there as Ryota Suzui reduced him to comedy relief. In Project Dreams, while it doesn’t showcase the actor’s full repertoire, there’s enough subtlety in Doi that makes me appreciate Takasugi’s performance. Even in the first part of the film, you sense both his passion and apathy towards the project. He’s not quite the central hero, but a lot of the weight, especially towards the end, is viewed from his perspective.
That’s not to say Project Dreams is not without its flaws. Yukino Kishii as Emoto seems to have been underutilized and limited to the role of token female employee that discovers romance. The Mazinger Z fan service is also a tricky thing to balance, and while for the most part they get it right, there are also moments where I felt it was unnecessary.
Despite that though, the strengths of Project Dreams: How to Build Mazinger Z’s Hangar more than overcomes any of its flaws. It’s a love letter not just to Mazinger Z, or science fiction in general, but to finding purpose in our work and coping in a new, unexpected environment. Sometimes, the cure we’re seeking is to unabashedly shout “Rocket Punch” and defeat the Mycenae Empire.
