City Hunter | Nefarious Reviews

No woman is safe from Ryo Saeba. Whether ally, villain, or stranger, he will flirt them into submission. This gun for hire only takes on the hottest of female clients. After all, the best ladies deserve the best gunslinger in the land to solve their dangerous problems. But who protects the ladies from Ryo? His partner Kaori and her trusty giant hammer, of course.

Angel Heart, a spin-off of City Hunter, was one of my first anime reviews and I noted that after the initial serious 13 episodes, that anime suddenly shifted to an episodic structure with a focus on goofs and gaffs. I thought that odd. Having completed City Hunter, now I see why Angel Heart made the shift, matching the tone of original series.

Each episode or two has Ryo take on a new client, always female and always in life-threatening danger. This follows the standard episodic structure, going from case to case, helping people and taking out gangsters, blue-collar crooks, and creeps (look who’s talking) with gunfights and explosion abound.

One job has him acting as his favourite actress’s manager to protect her from someone trying to kill her on set. He keeps yelling “Cut!” whenever her co-star goes to kiss her or do a love scene. The director grows so fed-up with the interruptions that he just lets the camera roll and incorporates Ryo’s antics during action scenes into the film. I love it. Ryo is such a great character. He makes the series and is the core reason to watch. If you don’t enjoy him, then I wouldn’t bother with City Hunter.

He’s an expert marksman to a ludicrous degree. He hits insane shots, including down the barrel of a villain’s gun and shooting the exact same spot a dozen times at range. You have to suspend disbelief, but it works thanks to the humour.

Not everything is comedy, mind you. There are moments of emotion, and while not heavy enough to break your heart, they are an effective change of pace thanks for Ryo’s voice actor. Akira Kamiya (also of “Omae wa mou shindeiru” fame) is great at switching between goofy and serious instantly, almost as if they swapped actors. It’s impressive.

As a side note, City Hunter has received more adaptations than seemingly any other anime. Last month, I watched the Korean drama of City Hunter and none of it was familiar. Korean Ryo was some serious Robin Hood figure, didn’t chase the ladies once, and the goofs were missing. I was so confused that I had to go back to the original City Hunter anime to check of the K-drama fit in any way. It didn’t.

I can easily see City Hunter becoming a comfort anime to some. Because it doesn’t require much attention or emotional investment, it is a stress-free experience. It’s entirely adult cast also provides something different from modern offerings.

However, if you don’t feel like 140 episodes, I leave you with this amazing clip from the Chinese City Hunter movie starring Jackie Chan.

Art – Medium

The art is classic 80s, especially the women who look fine, but the animation feels stretched to cover the numerous episodes.

Sound – Medium

Ryo’s actor is perfect for the role and the women have the right mature sexiness. The music is classic 80s anime, much like the art.

Story – Medium

A womanising gun for hire only takes on female clients. Using his unmatched skill, he protects them with his life and he could perhaps seal the deal in the process, if not for his partner with a ten-ton hammer. Fun episodically, light on story in the long run, City Hunter is best taken in small doses over a year.

Overall Quality – Medium

Recommendation: For old anime fans. City Hunter doesn’t have much in the way of overall plot or a reason to keep watching beyond your fondness for the characters. As such, if you do find yourself liking Ryo’s antics, prepare to settle in for a long and comfortable cruise.

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Awards: (hover over each award to see descriptions; click award for more recipients)

Positive: None

Negative: None

Japanese Title: Angel Heart

Related: City Hunter (main series)

Noir

Watched in: Japanese

Genre: Action Comedy

Length: 50 Episodes

Positives:

Has a good sense of humour, particularly involving City Hunter.
City Hunter is a great character with an equally good voice actor.
Haunting music enhances the sombre moments.
Starts strong, but…

Negatives:

…the plot wanes after thirteen episodes and goes on too long.
Start isn’t indicative of the remainder of the series.
The few supernatural elements are vague.

Ever watched a show that starts about one thing, only to change direction part way in? Angel Heart is one such show.

Angel Heart starts regarding an accelerated growth fourteen-year-old assassin, codename Glass Heart, who has a sudden moral crisis after killing a little girl’s father. Glass Heart kills herself by leaping off a tall building. However, the organisation she worked for revives her using advanced medical technology and transplanting a new heart into her. This heart belonged to recent accident victim, Kaori, and causes problems for Glass Heart, as she recalls memories and emotions of its original owner.

Glass Heart and inner personality, Kaori.

We are plunged into two minds: the killer instinct of Glass Heart and the kind mercy of Kaori. As Kaori’s thoughts seek out her fiancé, City Hunter – a former assassin turned good guy for hire – police officer Saeko investigates the theft of the donor heart alongside City Hunter, who swears to kill whoever has it. Memories flash through Glass Heart’s mind, conflicting opinions of what she feels for people, and which sentiments are truly hers.

Thirteen episodes in, all this changes as the psychological conflict is no more, the serious tone dropped for a lighter-hearted atmosphere, and the show loses any central plot. It becomes a case-by-case serial where City Hunter takes on various clients. For the most part these individual cases are interesting in their own few-episode stories, but with no overarching plot, there’s nothing to keep me going. Unless it’s a comedy or a near movie-length detective serial (think Poirot), one simply can’t follow this format – yes, one could have a few individual stories peppered throughout, just not as a basis for the show. The arcs themselves also linger for an episode after resolution. The intricate web of X is related to Y, but Y works for Z, while Z wants to kill X, however, A is spying on Y, yet A isn’t what he seems, etc. from the first arc is swept away.

There are a few other minor story related problems; the occasional supernatural elements are poorly explained or vague. The blind barman for example, can know who people are by simply being near them. In fact, this show has that whole ridiculous ‘sense someone’s aura’ to know what sort of a person they are – assassins identify each other this way. Fortunately, this doesn’t amount to much as no conflict is solved through this, meaning it could be removed without effect. There is also that common action trope where bullets seem incapable of hitting a target when convenient, despite being surrounded.

It’s all a real shame, as the characters are quite good: Glass Heart with her dual mind, Mochi the sissy son of a Yakuza boss who has to do whatever people can rope him into, and the blind barman who knocks sense into City Hunter when needed. City Hunter himself is the strongest of the lot, equal parts comedic perv and action man; he’s a good character with plenty of diversity to him. His voice actor does an exceptional job of transitioning from his serious tone to his comedic idiolect. The humour of this show is well executed, even during its occasional presence in the first thirteen episodes, yet it still isn’t enough to carry like in other anime – FMP: Fumoffu, Trigun, etc.

Angel Heart could have been a great show if it had stuck to its original idea of exploring the morality of an assassin. Instead, we are left with many tacked on episodes. It should have been no more than thirteen to sixteen episodes like the original series, City Hunter ’91.

Ryo a.k.a. City Hunter. A dull day on the job.

Art – Medium

The art matches the tone of the show’s first thirteen episodes with a mature style found in films such as Perfect Blue and Ghost in the Shell. There is some creative psychedelic imagery at the start, but along with the tone change, such creativity is lost, leaving the unimaginative behind.

Sound – High

The acting is great, even for side characters, and I was pleased to see use of other languages (Chinese, Korean) not just Japanese – in anime, everyone tends to speak Japanese as a first language regardless of what country they hail from. The music is good, ranging from mystery to pop to electro.

Story – Medium

Strong start with the story of a conflicted assassin that unfortunately wanes too soon and stretches too far.