On the rooftops of Shinjuku, Genichirou Izayoi fought against Levih Rah, a man who sold his soul to obtain demonic powers, and lost. Ten years later, Shinjuku remains a wasteland of demonic energy while the rest of Tokyo remains largely untouched.
One day, Genichirou's son, Kyouya, is watching the news when he sees that Japan's beloved prime minister has been attacked by demonic forces. While he lacks confidence in the Nempo powers he inherited from his father, Kyouya is the only one who stands between Levih Rah and the rest of the world. Along with the prime minister's daughter, Sayaka Rama, Kyouya journeys into Shinjuku to see if he can accomplish what his father could not.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
animegorey
Worst of the shorter OVAs from the 90's. Titles like BioHunter, Wicked City, Twilight of the Dark Master and Baoh put this one to shame. Action is weak and re-hashed. Story was boring and there was no part of it that stands out. Characters are really bad. The main villain looks ok, but rather uninspiring. Uninspired actually sums up this one quite nicely. There are a ton of better OVAs to watch, but if you must, download it for free and watch it when your REALLY bored. You will be disappointed.
Prede
I have a sneaking suspicion that Yoshiaki Kawajiri really likes John Carpenter movies. Because Demon City Shinjuku could be summed up as an OVA that mixes both Escape from New York and Escape From L.A. (despite being made after this OVA) together, has a little bit of Halloween thrown in there, and some has supernatural elements added for good measure. Good thing I'm a Carpenter fan then, right? In Cyber City Kawajiri lifted the basic premise of criminals having to do complicated missions for the state, with the chance of being pardoned (and with the risk of being blown up if they failed), justlike Escape from New York. Here Kawajiri instead takes the idea of having to rescue the President, deep within a city that has long been abandoned by decent people, and now overrun by crazy things, and turns that into an anime, with mixed results.
Demon City Shinjuku is and OVA from 1988, animated by Madhouse studios, and directed by none-other then Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Madhouse and Kawajiri have worked on countless other ultraviolent movies and OVAs over the years, and Urban Vision, CPM, and Manga Entertainment have released many of them here in the US, since he once had a huge following here. This movie-length OVA is very similar to his other works, perhaps too similar for it's own good. Anyway the OVA is about how the evil psychic Rebi Ra, deep within what's left of Shinjuku, Tokyo is attempting to complete a portal to hell. He is also a powerful swordsman, and seems to have sold his soul for all his powers. Once the portal to Hell is opened, demons will take over the entire planet. He must do this, because it is another price he has to pay for gaining all this power. The entire world seems to have become one single government, and it's hinted that the former countries have now become states or provinces, and that includes Japan. The World President is making a trip to Japan, when he ends up being captured by Rebi Ra in an attempt to destabilize the world, and send the world into chaos, and also prevent any counter measures against him. However he does not only kidnap the president, but his aid and spiritual adviser, Master Rai. Master Rai is well aware of who has kidnapped them and left them for dead, it is revealed that Rebi Ra is former student of his. Another student of his headed out to stop Rebi Ra many years earlier but failed and died in the process. Now all of mankind's hope rests with that man's son, a kid named Kyoya. Because only Kyoya and Master Rai have this hidden ability that could defeat Rebi Ra, and Rai must remain near the President's side or he will die and the world may fall into another dark age!
Kyoya gets contacted by Master Rai's spirit, and told he has to fight to save the earth. Kyoya explains that while it's true he learned some skills from his father, he only learned the basics before his father passed away. Master Rai pleads with him to try and save the president and defeat Rebi Ra anyway, because he doesn't, no one will. Kyoya's still not very eager to run off on some quest to save the world, and so he leaves his house and goes out for a walk. This is where he runs into the Presiden't daughter, Sayaka Rama, who tries to convince him to go with her to the city and save her father. He still refuses, and so she decides to try her luck on her own. When she gets there however she is attacked by some criminals hanging around the outskirts of the town, and Kyoya comes out of the shadows and saves her at the last second. Seems he can't let some innocent girl waltz right into the city of hell on her own. The rest of the OVA follows these two on their quest through the city, where they will meet some Escape from New York- esque allies and enemies, and finally save the day.
The main problem with this anime is it's very by-the-book, standard and unoriginal. It's even very predictable at times. It's not a bad story, but it feels like we've seen it before. Now you have to forgive it a little bit, as the OVA probably predates many other shows we've seen that have this kind of plot, but still it's nothing groundbreaking either. That's not to say that this is a bad movie by any stretch, because it's not. It's just the plot is not as strong as it should have been. The best part of the story is the initial premise of people from the outside trying to rescue to President deep within the city, and going through hell to do it. And you know what, I credit Carpenter more for that, then Kawajiri. Still it plays out decently, and many of the Escape from New York characters show up, like your token double crosser and insider who helps the main characters out a bit. And these characters are all quite interesting, although they don't get enough screen time sadly. The main character, Kyoya is actually not that interesting of a person. He's sort of boring and 2 dimensional. He's not a bad character, but probably better fit for a side character, as he's not interesting enough to carry the weight of an entire OVA. His struggle with becoming stronger, and awakening his potential is well done however. Sayaka, the President's daughter is instead a very interesting character, perhaps she should have been the lead. She's not too tough ina fight, but she's a strong willed person, eager to help if she can, and shows that she's scared, but willing to press on despite that. She feels helpless at times, but tries to do whatever she can. She's a very strong character. Her romance with Kyoya towards the end seemed forced, There was no development there, and felt like the only reason they kiss is because she's a girl, and he's a dude. The two have very little chemistry and really don't seem to be hitting it off, so why do they seem to become a couple? Because the movie needs a little romance I guess. Another interesting character is Chibi, a midget (I think?) who helps the two, and gives them pointers and hints about the city. He saves them while they're fighting a monster, and guides them to where they want to go. He's not eager to get invovled with a fight, but he won't leave anyone to die either. He's an intriguing character who probably should have been a more important character. Master Rai is another compelling who doesn't get nearly enough time to develop, but he's very likeable. The themes the movie deals with are nothing special, and sort of generic. While no one would ever go into this film looking for something very deep, it reall doesn't help that the themes of innocents, love, and inner strenght are very generic and tossed around very lightly. Perhaps if they were more explored the OVA would be a bit better.
The fights in Demon City Shinjuku are less frequent then I had imagined. But when they do come up they are very well choreographed, and very fun to watch. The main character has to fight a few demons and monsters as the show goes on, and many others get involved as well. The tone may be a little dark, but it is not at all depressing. While not a light or funny show, it's not overbearing either. Another problem with the show however is its tendency to use expository dialogue. By that I mean characters backstories, the history of the city, and even the plot are revealed through way too much dialogue. Instead of showing us what happened, the characters oddly explain things, and some of these explanations go on way too long. While I would have no problem with one or two of these, four or five in one movie is a bit much. At times when they could have used a flashback or something, they go for the easy way out and have the characters explain things. This, mixed with some sloppy writing at times really hurts the overall show. The final fight scene is also very anticlimactic. I hate to keep criticizing this OVA, as it is a fun watch and I did enjoy it. But I can't leave out these these things either. I guess what I'm saying is despite these problems it's still a good anime.
Production values for this OVA are all over the place. The animation is sometimes as choppy as a bad Yogi Bear episode, while other times everything on screen flows incredibly well. Most of the fight scenes are impressive for 1988 (very fluid motion), but other parts can either look ugly, or pretty depending on the scene. The artwork is a great style, with a very nice color palette. The color palette is dark, but not gloomy, and looks quite nice at times. The character designs are pretty original looking, and very attractive, especially the President's daughter who looks very pretty. However the opening scene, and some scenes deep within the city look very odd, with a dated looking color palette that's very different from the rest of the movie. Everything will have a blue or red tint, and it looks very ugly. This was obviously done to either emphasis how this scene is in the past, or emphasis how close the gateway to hell, is getting to earth, but they just don't work very well at all. The make the OVA look more dated then it otherwise would, since this is a pre-Akira anime after all. But other then that the visuals are quite impressive, and those scenes are quite short. The music is very electronic and unimpressive. While the soundtrack is not exactly bad, it's very generic and mostly forgettable.
The dub on this is pretty good for it's era. While I've heard better from this time, it's not at all bad. This is another one of the older Manga Video UK dubs, directed by Michael Bakewell and with mostly a British and Canadian cast. And most of the actors fit their roles very well. There is a tendency to use accents in this dub, and on the large this works quite well and gives the show a worldly sound. The President and his daughter have British accents, which is very fitting in my opinion as they seem to be Europeans, so this is a great way to emphasis that. Chibi (pronounced "Chippy" by the cast, although I'm not sure why? Perhaps that's a British thing?) has a Mexican accent which sounds a little stereotypical, but it does seem realistic and works for the character. Another character has a Spanish (Spain) accent, and this also comes off very well. Master Rai is played by George Little, and he gives the character a very authentic Indian accent, which fits since not only is his character from India, but very spiritual and he needs an accent to demonstrate this. The rest of the cast, including Brad Lavelle, who plays Kyoya, put on American accents and they seem real. The dub is mostly well acted, with all of the main cast doing a good job for the most part. Sadly it seems every major actor has an awkward line somewhere in this dub, but it's not that bad.
Brad Lavelle fits the lead very well, and has a great chemistry with George Little, specifically in the begining of the OVA. Sayaka, the President's Daughter is played by Teresa Gallagher, who gives the best performance of the dub. She has a very distinct voice, and her different sounding voice fits the character well. She puts on a British accents that some may find a little different then the norm, but she's a native Brit so you can be sure this is authentic, and personally I thought it sounded great. Chibi is played by Alan Sherman, who really fleshes out the character, with his Mexican accent, and adult way of talking. The Japanese dub made him seem more like a child, which I'm pretty sure he's not one. He plays off the two main characters very well. One problem with this however is some of Chibi's lines seem left out. Two or three times in the dub you will see his mouth move, but nothing come out. Switch the Japanese track for a second and you clearly hear dialogue (and it's tranlsated in the subtitles). I wonder what happened here? Some overlook or mistake perhaps? It's nothing major, but it's just very jarring to hear a character answer him when he doesn't say anything in the dub, or him answer someone with silence. Rebi Ra is played by Bob Sessions, and he is the weakest actor of the dub by far. Some of his lines in the opening scene are outright terrible, and really bring down the quality of the dub. By the ending of the anime he's much better, but still not good enough as he should be. While the casting of him as the character works because he fits Rebi Ra, the person casting should have thought about weather or not he could act, because from this my answer is "not really...". It's a good thing he doesn't have many lines. Some of the smaller roles are sort of bad, although no one sounds outright like an amateur. Other smaller roles sound really good, like the children who appear for a small scene, or the old short lady who wants money from the two leads. The script is the real problem of this dub though. At times it's very clumpy, cluttered and rough. At you can really hear the actors tripping over their lines. It's not that the actors are bad, most of them are at least decent, but you can tell the script needed some work. Cursing is frequently used in the dub as well. While I'm never against some good cursing in an anime, and in this OVA the content really does call for it, I must question the times and placement of the curses. Many times a curse just feels oddly placed here or there, and other times it feels like they could have used a curse word but didn't. The dub is sort of odd, and very different sounding. But I find it has more positives then negatives, and I like a lot of things about it. I just wish the script was a little better, then it would be more then enough. As it is it's quite all right, but Bakewell has done better.
Central Park Media has released this many times on VHS and later DVD. I have the 2004 DVD release, which was inlcuded with the Kawajiri Brick Pack which actually is quite nice to look at. The DVD includes an insert, which is a nice little postcard thing, although I like the ones inlcuded in the Birdy the Mighty and A Wind Named Amnesia DVDs a little more. But it's still very cool. I think I like the 2005 release cover artwork a little better then my DVD, but both are nice. The DVD menu however is very ugly, and looks quite cheap. I've made better DVD menus messing around with Media Center on my computer. Besides looking ugly it's also quite slow to load. This is quite a shame becuase it is my opinion that CPM has some of the best DVD menus out there, looking through my collection they have some of my favorites. The extras included are just "meet the cast" type extras. These are there to remind you who these characters are, by showing a small clip from the OVA focusing on them. Cool little extra, but no real content.
So far this is the weakest Kawajiri anime I've seen. But weak Kawajiri, is still pretty good in my book. This is worth seeing a few times, but there are better titles in the genre.
- Review copied (and edited) from my personal blog
- Original Review posted here: http://predeanimereview.blogspot.com/2010/01/demon-city-shinjuku.html#comments
Filidecht
Contrary to my overall score (which is brutally honest), I absolutely adore this. I think the reason I enjoy this so much is down to Nostalgia, more than anything else - I used to watch it a lot with my Step-Dad before he died. Still, I do enjoy it after all these years, though I can agree with some of the criticisms, like the anti-climactic ending, poor over-dub and generic story arc and characters that're typical of most Anime. I love the music though - It's a combination of being really, really shit, and really, really endearing - One song in particular is just so, solush, during a point which is also fairly melancholic, which still holds up to this day.
It's worth a watch, but considering it's over 20 years old and superior Anime has since been released using the same story elements, don't expect anything new.
Except for that song. I'd probably just recommend listening to the OST, but it's nowhere to be found, so.... yeah.
tarunnihariya
I didn't like Wicked City because it was nothing more than sleazy porn, a visual representation of someone's weird rape fetish, which had no point except to fulfill people's disgusting inner fantasies (hey, it's not harmful unless it hurts anyone). It had great visuals, creature designs, and decent action, but the over-the-top sexual exploitation of our main heroine did not gel well with me. Kawajiri would do it again in his more famous work Ninja Scroll, but that one at least seemed to be making a point out of it rather than simply trying to give people boners. Demon City, fortunately, does not have that"special" hentai element that the weebs love, but, unfortunately, that's not the only thing it lacks. Kawajiri, intentionally or unintentionally, failed with the most basic element of filmmaking, the story. Demon City does not have one. It has template characters, the strong, brash, and grey yet overconfident main guy; his beautiful and caring love interest; the cool, mysterious, and overpowered side guy; the generic, evil, and one-note villain; and the McGuffin thing or person that the party has to save (the Jesus figure, father of our heroine, in this case). And if it were funny, witty, or smart it would've worked great as a satire, but again, it's none of those things except dreadfully boring.
They had edgy monster designs and concepts of fight scenes, but everything else around those, the characters and the plot, were rushed or made to act as mere carriers for those setpieces. It backfires, as not only does this lack of focus on those crucial aspects make the film dull, but it also deprives the viewers of superior engagement with those setpieces (more investment in characters = more stacks). This film feels like the skeleton for future Kawajiri works, it's nice to observe this stepping stone, but it's not fun to play with it.
barcaman101
The evil Rebi Rah is about to open the portals to hell in exchange for immense power that was bestowed upon him by the demonic underworld.Kyoya Izayoi a young man and a practitioner of the art of Nempo one day encounters a spiritual medium called Master Rai .Master Rai tells Kyoya about Rebi Rah plans and how his father tried to stop him ten years ago but was killed.Master Rai implores Kyoya to go to the city of shinjuku, at the heart of Tokyo where Rebi Rah intends to open the portal and defeat him before he destroys the world. Firstly if you like deep plots,dislikethe horror genre or think once an anime doesn't stimulate you mentally it isn't good then you should avoid this title.This is certainly not an anime for Moe loving,Emo cutesy anime fans.It is a dark title filled with vulgarity and violence.
I really enjoyed the characters in this show,even though due to it being a short ova the characters were relatively few ,but they were still very convincing and authentic in their demeanor without coming across as strange or pretentious unlike most modern anime.
Theres Mephisto, the mysterious individual who although aids Kyoya , it is still unsure which side he is on.
Kid, the no- nonsense midget with the two headed dog.
Sayaka Rama,a gentle soul albeit supremely naive to the point of stupidity.
The animation is gorgeous far surpassing most of today titles.Everything is drawn with great detail and the vibrant dark colour really complemented the mood and feel of the anime.There wasn't any real music in this title with the exception of the upbeat closing theme.The fight scenes are choreographed quite well and is on par with the likes of the Ninja Scroll.
Overall nothing groundbreaking,but an enjoyable title that stays true to its genre
gknight
Just an awful movie, non sensical character development, no rational story, characters come and go from scenes with no rational explanations, relationships are done badly, bad convey of world and atmosphere, weak character motivations, I was only suffering through this, sorry I watched it!
ggultra2764
Demon City Shinjuku is a horror-action anime that focuses on the district of Shinjuku falling prey to demons, with the villainous Levih Rah having made a contract with them for ultimate power and to open up a gateway from hell to allow the demons to take over Earth. A young ninpo master named Kyouya Izayoi, whose father was slain by Levih years earlier, is given the task of stopping Levih’s plans, under motivation from the pleas of the young daughter of the world’s president, Sayaka Rama. As far as plot and characters go with Demon City Shinjuku, they’re as paper-thin and cliched as you can getfor an anime. Whatever there is for plot exists to press the characters forward with going through more of Shinjuku as Kyouya slays more demons while going through the district to locate Levih’s whereabouts, with the pacing for the film going by fairly quickly. The characters in the OVA aren’t much better off as they are completely defined by whatever two-dimensional character types they personify with Kyouya the unwilling chosen one, Sayaka the naive and kind damsel in distress, and Levih the power-hungry and merciless villain. In essence, nothing with this film’s story and characters strongly stick out enough for you to give a hoot over what’s going on.
The only highlight for Demon City Shinjuku is its animation. Sporting nicely drawn and well-designed character designs and scenery, human characters are drawn quite believably in proportions and the designs of demons look horrific in how they are drawn. The frequent action scenes seen throughout the OVA are nicely animated with fluid movement depicted throughout its length, with the highlight being the opening scene depicting the fight between Levih Rah and Kyouya’s father.
Visuals aside though, Demon City Shinjuku doesn’t have much else that gives it rewatchability with how forgettable its premise and characters are. You’d be better off trying to track down other horror titles of the era like Vampire Princess Miyu or Lily C.A.T. that offer more to explore with their premises.
matthigh
Have you seen "Escape From New York?" Yeah? Well, then you pretty much have already seen Demon City Shinjuku in spirit. They're not exactly the same, but enough that you can almost feel like you're wandering through the prison city of New York. Plus demons. Maybe a better comparison would be to compare Demon City Shinjuku to an old-style person-to-person fighter game. Where you have special powers and moves, and you face off against mid-level bossman #1, then mis-level-bossman #2, then mid-level bossman #3, then Big Bad Guy at the end. Overall theartwork and the animation are not bad at all, you can tell where they really blew their wad on a particular scene. Some of the characters can be annoying, like the forever-naive ingenue-in-danger character, or Snarky Mr. Hot Wheels. Or some characters are just plain why-the-hell-are-they-there, like Mephisto.
Do not expect much out of the plot or the story, because it's not going to deliver. This is purely a B-grade popcorn flick, and as long as you set your expectations as such, you'll do fine.
SELFAN
Bad movie, easily Kawajiri's worst. Stopped reading the subtitles after like 20 minutes and mostly just posted on discord for the rest of the film. Uh... the main girl is pretty hot. She has nice legs and feet and there were a few solid upskirt shots which bumped my rating up a point or two. The scene near the end during which her arms and legs were bound was pretty hot too. That's all I have to say. Thanks for reading my review. Huh... I guess I have to write a longer review than that to submit it... umm... Watch Haibane Renmei, it's really goodunlike this.
Motokogummi
Well, to keep it very short. The story is bare minimum you don't get much of an exposition, nor high stakes ultra violence for which Kawaijiri is known for. But don't fret, the art style is what you are after. And this delivers plenty. Characters are not much explored, however to not spoil much, Sayaka is a beautiful young girl with a heart just like her, Kyoya is of course the hero of the story, he has a bit of personality of being into women but unfortunately the show is too clinical so not much explored. Likes of Wicked City. Rest of the characters are mysteriousas it gets, just like his other works like Ninja Scroll, I'd not advise to learn about everything and then watch, just go blind.
As for Sound tracks, the pure retro style hits perfectly during the moments when it shows up.
Overall one of his weakest works. But still way better than any of the digital art, it's pure cel shaded masterpiece which you don't get nowadays. So just simply grab a cool drink, relax and let it do it's job.
nullgolem
I watched an overdub version Visually ok for it's age. Not consistent, some shots are better than others. Fighting scenes and certain action shots should have looked better. (there arent that many) colors are nice. To me it felt a bit lazy at times and made more apparent by its flaws (such as demons not really looking that cool or standing out when they show up) The overall look is probably the only highlight here and its merely 'okay' Music/Sound is not notable, and rather low quality (could have been the rip but its very subdued compared to the voices/overdub which was okay so i'm guessingthat's not the case)
this has the worst translation i've yet to see. Nothing in it makes any sense and it gives the whole thing a surely unintended comedic effect. (For the first 15 minutes I was laughing so much it was hard to see, by the last 15 i was falling asleep)
Unfrotuately the story is really weak to begin with, the source material might have been better but from what is presented here I make no plans to ever investigate. Progression of the story is just plain goofy at times as well as other aspects of it.
With the exception of a sort of 'Guide' to Demon City, these characters are as bad as it gets. several static, unrealistic boring and unlikable characters, demon city should have made the demons of demon city a bit more interesting, unique, or had some kind of dramatic introduction to the ones encountered... or at the very least this crap could have made the demons not have such god awful voices/voice acting consisting of guttural groans and grunts, they shouldn't be funny/hokey. the artists definitely could have made them look better by spending more time on them too. Another thing that was really bad was when minor character s fulfill their role, they are grabbed by ethereal hands and pulled through the floor or wall into another dimension without warning.
Even with bad characters dialogue and slipshod story I would have liked this more if demon city was actually about a city full of demons that were interesting or had clever problem solving to overcome them. Instead this is a bit of a wonky story and premise, truly made horrible by it's overdub, I thought it bad enough to never read manga or even seek another version (hardsubbed or something)
Awoo4U
I was trying to look for so bad its good anime to watch with a friend, so that we can rip on it. We came across this movie. Since the story is not too long, all the characters do not have much development. The characters were super generic and unmemorable, especially the main villan whose goal was FOR POWER or FOR THE EVILZ. I believe the worst sin a movie can commit is to be boring, this movie is a great example of that. At least with bad movies, you can laugh at it if you are not frustrated. I was not frustrated or didI laugh at this movie, I was indifferent for the most part. Overall, super middle of the road anime. I would rather watch Wicked City if you want a better, so bad its good anime. The most amusing thing about the whole movie was the main character's choice of weapon, I thought it would be a sword, but it was a magical stick
unimportantuser
Demon City Shinjuku is an old school anime film animated by studio Madhouse & Directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri of Ninja Scroll & Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust fame. This is actually gonna be a 2 (potentially 3) part review series of Demon City, Wicked City, & if I’m up for it, Ninja Scroll. Aside from Kawajiri directing Wicked & Demon City, along with both of them being novel’s originally, they aren’t related to my knowledge. Lets go Story: 4/10 The story in Demon City is kinda bad. The plot itself on paper isn’t too bad. It’s merely about this guy trying to save the world from being consumedby Rah, who’s power grows from human suffering. Not too bad, but the problems arrive from how bare bones the plot it. This plot is underdeveloped. Rah’s motivations are stated but not elaborated upon. What made him want to become more powerful? For example. Stuff like that isn’t explained or elaborated upon in the movie. The way Kyoya decides to go fight Rah is pretty forced. He meets Sayaka randomly as he’s biking home, & once she runs off to save her dad he just decides ‘damnit..” & goes off to Demon City to help her. The plot barely happens through most of the movie. It’s largely a backdrop just for the setting, which I’ll get to later. Overall, the story in Demon City is bad, but not awful.
Characters: 4/10
The characters are uninteresting. They only have 1 personality trait & nothing else. Kyoya is the hero of the story. He starts off refusing to go to Demon City, which might make him a somewhat interesting character, but this is for naught, as he just becomes the hero of the story once he meets Sayaka anyway. Sayaka is the girl, the useless girl that is. To be fair, Sayaka does do 2 things that somewhat progress the plot. One of which stopping a demon child, the other being giving the ring to “Kid” (yes that’s his name) so that her & Kyoya can sleep in a certain room/progress past him. Other than that she’s absolutely useless & is basically dead weight throughout the entire movie. Right on cue, we have Kid, a brat. Nothing more, just a brat. Then we have Rah, evil for evils sake with lackadaisical motivations & a non-existent personality. As I’ve beaten into the ground by now. The characters all suffer from being 1 dimensional & lacking a personality.
Art: 9/10
Demon City is beautiful. The setting of Demon City is lush & creepy. The colors & atmosphere really seel the creepy & evil vibe of the city. The animation is fluid & flows seamlessly. Rather they be action scenes or smaller scenes with not as action-packed movement. The action sequences contain this same flow & are really well directed, staged, structured, they’re not as good as the action scenes in something like Wicked City, but they’re still pretty damn good. Character designs are also pretty solid even if Rah looks like a generic evil villain. The designs sell these characters pretty well & they look great against the backdrops. The art is definitely the strongest part about Demon City Shinjuku without a doubt in my mind.
Sound: 7/10
The sound in this movie was good. The voice acting is nothing special but it’s pretty solid. Some decent line delivery, good acting, It’s all there. The sound mixing for the voice acting is pretty quiet on the other hand, which is rather unfortunate. The sound design is also pretty solid, the ambience helps to sell the creepy vibe & visuals of the city. Explosions also have that nice crunch to them on top of looking really good to begin with. The music is also pretty kick ass (whenever the odd tune does play anyway). It’s got a nice 80s rock with some elements of metal & disco (albeit minor elements of disco) thrown in there for good measure.
Overall: 6/10
Demon City isn’t a good movie. But I liked it for the aesthetics and atmosphere. The story is pretty bad with lackadaisical progression, barely being there in the first place, & underdeveloped in several areas. The characters are also completely uninteresting & lacking in personality. But, the setting & atmosphere of this movie are really good. The visuals & atmosphere are the sole reason I’m giving this one a 6/10. I’ll be honest, I value aesthetics quite a lot of the the anime I watch. I love it when the visuals themselves can sell me on a setting, & I think Demon City does a pretty good job at doing that. The atmosphere & vibe is also really good, as the ambiguity in the sound design helps to sell the creepy nature of a destroyed city overran by demons. All in all, unless you’re an aesthetic nut/want to see some really good visuals, decent action sequences, & here some pretty good music (every once in awhile at least) then I wouldn’t recommend this movie due to the bad plot & lackadaisical characters. As a history lesson It’s okay & worth the watch, for anything else aside from aesthetics, this movie isn’t it, & I would recommend you steer clear from this one.
No-LifeKing_26
Demon City Shinjuku was in that era of anime where dubbed ruled, profanity was everywhere, and anime was making its appearance. I loved drawing style of Yoshitaki Amano. He was the character designer for Vampire Hunter D (1985) and Hellsing (2001). Both series which favor this dark and gritty design with cyberpunk aesthetics which are also similar to Akira. The dubbed version of this was horrible. If you watch to closely you'll notice that there were multiple scenes where Chibi will be speaking but there will not be a English dub to voice his words. The waitress that appears at around the 5 minute mark sounded likea country lady from Mississippi or Kentucky.
The plot itself was simple and easy to follow. The battle scenes and the settings of the Demon City were adequate. They didn't reveal much of the city itself so you can actually submerge yourself into the actual ruin of Shinjuku.
The animation was great in my opinion and I noticed that were not too many still frames in this OVA. The fight scenes were enjoyable but depressingly short. The ending/final battle was anti-climatic and rushed. I wish they put more effort into capitalizing on the final battle and making the animation aspect of that particular scene more enjoyable. It was over in minutes.
The idea and mysteriousness of the Demon City kept the plot very entertaining. The fact that we don't necessarily know why or how this happening and also the fact that we are thrown into the middle of a plot begs you to ask questions. This is the good and bad of this OVA.
Starfleeting
What a shame coming from the director of Ninja Scroll. The animation had good moments and the idea itself isn't bad but the characters, writing, and English dub were just abysmal. I was so bored during this movie I actually started doing other things while watching it. It barely held my interest at all aside from a few well-animated fight scenes. Even Wicked City with all its flaws (and believe me, there are many), was still entertaining and the two leads compelling enough for me to be invested in. Demon City is just straight-up not a good time. The male lead was just mediocre at bestand I don't know if it was the dub's fault or not but it seems like he has to talk himself out of raping the lead female at one point (what the actual fuck). The lead female just feels so flat and devoid of character to where I didn't care what happened to her. And everyone else is just annoying or not on screen long enough for me to get invested.
Also what the fuck was up with the random-ass accents in the dub??? Again, this was just not a good watch at all.
Hellspawn28
NOTE: This review was originally posted on 12/29/2020. I plan to post all of my Letterboxd anime reviews on MAL. It's been a while since I have seen Demon City Shinjuku and I recently bought the Discotek Blu-Ray from Right Stuf's Holiday Sale. Seeing that the year is almost over, I wanted to revisit this film soon. I have a lot of nostalgia for this anime because I used to watch anime on the Sci-Fi channel when I was a little kid. I was watching anime from a younger age than most Millennials around my age group did (People born in the late 80s and early90s). I remember watching anime such as Demon City Shinjuku, My Neighbor Totoro (The Fox Home Video release), Venus Wars, Dominion Tank Police, etc before I even saw any of the Dragon Ball shows or anyone I knew talked about anime. Anyways, Demon City Shinjuku is not as good as the other anime from Yoshiaki Kawajiri in my opinion. However, it's still a fun movie nevertheless.
I owned many editions of Demon City Shinjuku and other anime from Yoshiaki Kawajiri over the years. The Blu-Ray is a great upgrade and it makes the movie look 100X better in my opinion. I always love Yoshiaki Kawajiri's art direction because he draws really cool characters and creates colorful backgrounds. The attention to detail in the surroundings and character designs is astounding. You get plenty of cool-looking monster designs that feel inspired by the demons from Go Nagai's work and Dungeons & Dragons. The film has a fantastic dark atmosphere and the spooky tone helps creates a feeling of death around the corner. You can sense that demons and other evil spirits are lurking in Shinjuku just waiting for the perfect time to strike.
The music in this film is super catchy and it always reminds me of music that you would find in a movie from Lucio Fulci or any other Italian grindhouse movie. The action sequences are a lot of fun and you get plenty of fight scenes that are very nicely animated. The weakest thing about Demon CIty Shinjuku is the writing. The story does have some plot holes that are very noticeable. The main characters could have better character development and the romance is pretty weak. However, I do like how Demon City Shinjuku does not take itself too seriously by keeping the plot nice and simple. Watching Demon City Shinjuku is almost like playing a video game on the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). The protagonist sets out on a journey to save a girl from an evil demon wizard. I could easily see this film getting a Legend of Zelda style clone on the NES back in the day. The English dubbing for this film is bad due to poor dialogue and translation issues. If you decide to see this film, I suggest seeing it in subtitled form.
Overall, Demon City Shinjuku is a flawed movie and I still recommend checking it out if you've got time to spare. Rating: 7.5/10
