|
|
|
|
|
WICKED
CITY |
| REVIEW |
STORE |
GALLERY |
| Release Year:
1987 |
|
| Runtime:
90 min. |
| Directed by:
Yoshiaki Kawajiri |
| Story by:
Hideyuki Kikuchi |
| Distributed by:
Urban Vision Entertainment |
|
| |
|
| Parental
Warning: Graphic sex
and violence involving demons and magic and such.
You may want to think twice before showing it to anyone
under 17. |
| Rating: Solid |
Review
by: Mark
Capitelli |
| Along
with classics like Akira
and Fist
of the Northstar, Wicked City was
groundbreaking and helped set a new tone for
anime. This tone of sex and violence mixed with
dynamic fighting scenes set to action packed techno
tracks. |
| The
plot revolves around two agents from two different
worlds, the human and the demon, coming together to
protect a mutual interest. The interest is a
lecherous old man who holds the key for peace between
these worlds. Along the way, the two agents fall
in love and find that they might have been destined for
each other.
The plot of the film is solid enough for anime and
the filmmakers took some much appreciated artistic
liberties in regards to the demons and their fighting
styles. The real downfall of this film is the
overindulgence in sex, particularly in using sex as a
weapon. This overindulgence in graphic sex has
many people considering Wicked City as hentai
(pornographic anime).
|
|
| Personally
I do not consider Wicked City to be hentai, but I
don't particularly care for the overuse of violent
sex. Putting the film within its time frame, I
realize that the medium was experimenting with different
filmmaking styles and was working to be shocking and avant-garde
for it's time. Nevertheless, It doesn't hold up
over time. Although there are a lot of reasons to
like this film, some folks will find themselves embarrassed
to be watching it. If you can look past it, then Wicked
City is definitely a film worth seeing.
I am a fan of Yoshiaki Kawajiri's work, particularly Vampire
Hunter D: Bloodlust, Ninja
Scroll, and Cyber
City Oedo 808 and can therefore appreciate this
film. I do recommend that any real anime fan check
it out, but I cannot recommend it to anyone else.
|
|
What do
you think about that? 
|
|
|
|
Back to Top |
| |
|
