In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Monday 20 July 2015

Wicked City (1987)

Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust) directs this lush animated feature based on the first book in the Wicked City series. The story involves a treaty to be negotiated between the human and demon worlds. Two secret agents, one from each side must join forces to keep inter-dimensional peace till a settlement is reached. Everything from the beautiful old school animation style to the frightening monster designs to the excessive violence is a real treat for the adult anime fan. It should be stressed that the eroticism present in the film is extremely adult, bordering on pornographic. Though decent action is present, the plot is weak in the third act, leaving one indifferent to the conclusion.

3½ DNA samples out of 5

2 comments:

Dr Faustus said...

It’s been about fifteen years since I last seen Wicked City. 0_0

It’s from the era when most of the anime I was able to get my hands on (it wasn’t so easy to attain here as it was in the US) felt like it had tons of plot missing but still made enough sense to be enjoyable. I liked this one.

There was a live action version made in 1992. I've not seen it, but I'm guessing they'd have been required to tone it down quite a bit.

Borderline said...

I have a copy of the live-action version. I'll get around to watching it one day.