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With it's interesting story, cool animation, and a good amount of sex and violence, this is a perfect film for those who like their coffee (or their anime) strong.

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Wicked City

Review by Matthew Anderson

1-Shot OVA

Company: Urban Vision

Running Time: 90 Minutes

Region: 1

Rating:NC-17 (Graphic violence, Sexual contents)

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW IS ONE OF AN ADULT NATURE. PARENTAL DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

EXTERNAL EXAM

There are two worlds: The Demon World and the Human world. Despite the desire to trade information and peacefully coexist with this other world, fights and battles have spilled over to our world. Several hundred years ago, the leaders of the two worlds came together to form a treaty. Every two hundred years, a new deal is worked out. Now, with the end of the 20th century on the horizon, it is time once again for the two worlds to sign a treaty.

By day, Taki Renzuburo is a electronics salesman. At night, he is a Black Guard, an elite operative assigned to stop any and all Demon World terrorist activity. One of the best, he never fails at an assignment.

For this mission, he has been partnered with Makie, a Black Guard from the opposite side. Her cover in this world is that of a supermodel. The two of them have been assigned to do a simple job, protect a man's life for 24 hours.

The man is Giuseppi Mayart, a powerful medium between the two worlds. After the last signing of the treaty, back in the 1800's, he disappeared. His return is absolutely vital for the peace process, and the radicals will do anything to stop him. Fending off constant attacks, from the terrorists and dealing with Mayart's sex drive, they have their work cut out for them.

Can two people from different worlds with different feelings work together to save Mayart and each other?

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: Not so good. The quality of the source is very poor. There are nicks and scratches all over the place. The image is worse than the Japanese VHS release. Some clean up is really needed. Otherwise, a good transfer. No pixels or color bleeding, but there are some wrinkles here and there.

AUDIO: Great sound on the 5.1 English Dub track. Using the Streamline Pictures theatrical dub, they remastered the sound, making sound richer and fuller. There is not a lot of surround sound, but the volume more than makes up for it.

The Japanese track is not so good. For the purists, it is the original mono hi-fi track. For the DVD savvy, the sound is "teeny" and lacks richness. It's lower in volume as well, which means you have to turn it up to hear it. A remaster on that soundtrack would have helped greatly. The VHS release sounds better.

EDITS: There is only one edit, the ending. Using the Streamline version, the ending has English credits with scenes from the movie. In the original Japanese VHS release, the ending credits show a panning view of Tokyo with the text in kanji.

EXTRAS: Plenty. An interview with the director, the original Japanese and English trailers, and character data. Their entire Urban Vision catalogue is also listed here. However, I have yet to see "The Professional" available on DVD.

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

STORY: Based off of the novel series by Hideyuki Kikuchi written by Kissei Choo and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Wicked City is a great bit of anime noir. The characters are believable, and the plot is quite possible, if shape changing monsters were real. It does have a lot of sex, probably the most in any Kawajiri film to date. This does not detract from the overall narrative.

ACTING: Quite good, on both ends. I have always enjoyed the Streamline Version, and was glad to see that the original English dub was left alone. I never really liked the re-dub for Manga's release of Castle of Caglistro. The Japanese language version is just as good. The Japanese actor for Taki is about as manly as they come, yet Makie sounds a little older than she looks.

I wish that they had listed the actors who played the characters. There were some great performances, but we don't know their names. Either way, you will enjoy the performance of these two sets of great voice actors.

FAN SERVICE: Plenty. Most of the movie has Makie in various states of undress. Taki's big bootiee gets some fan serv as well.

FINAL EXAM

Streamline Pictures brought forth this classic in English. Well received by many, it helped pave the way for adult related anime, as well as open the door for Yoshiaki Kawajiri (director of Ninja Scroll). Now Urban Vision has given us its somewhat triumphant return.

As far as the actual movie goes, it is visually stunning. The blues and blacks help set the dark tone. I like the way they use blue colors to make it appear that the world that Makie and Taki exist in is in perpetual twilight. The blacks are used to show that everyone exists in the shadows. The character designs are impressive, for both the humans and the demon's. It's overall visual style looks like an oversexed episode of "Men in Black"the animated series. Wicked City is a watershed moment for Yoshiaki Kawajiri and Madhouse studio, and will not be forgotten.

Despite its impressive style, it is a shame that the transfer to DVD did not go so well. Technicality, the DVD is fine. It is the source print, full of dots and garbage that makes it lest than impressive. The DVD format can really bring out the imperfections of older films, and so some digital clean up is a must. While I am not saying that they should go the route of AnimEigo's "Macross" release, they could have made an effort to strengthen the colors and remove some of the junk. Fortunately, there are more extras than you can find on other Urban Vision releases, so that helps lessen the sting a bit.

While there is a lot of sex in this film, it does serve a purpose. While I can't tell you why, (it would spoil the ending) the sex scenes are related to the plot, for the most part. There are a couple of scenes that really don't have anything to do but add some titillation. Compared to anime like "Wandering Kid", where the non stop rape and murder has no purpose other than to shock, it is quite tame. Still, this is not one for children under 17, so we urge parents to exercise control an not allow young children to watch the film. Trust me, this is not "Men In Black" the animated series.

Despite a poor transfer, Wicked City is one anime that you should get. With it's interesting story, cool animation, and a good amount of sex and violence, this is a perfect film for those who like their coffee (or their anime) strong.

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