City Hunter

Title:City Hunter
シティーハンター
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - SUNRISE
GENDA Tesshou
HOJO Tsukasa
IKURA Kazue
KAMIYA Akira
R1 License - ADV (Renamed)
Ryo Saeba is what's known as a "sweeper"--part private detective, part bodyguard, and in general a troubleshooter for hire. He's a crack shot, a first-class streetfighter and completely fearless. His only weakness is that when it comes to beautiful women, he's also a complete pervert!

51 TV Episodes (in City Hunter 1, dated 1987-88).
63 TV Episodes (in City Hunter 2, dated 1988-89).
13 TV Episodes (in City Hunter 3, dated 1989-90).


[edit] The ↗City Hunter Franchise:

Original Story: Parallel universe remake (same characters): Alternate version: Alternate version:
Episode Details 
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67, 68, 69, 500, 998, 999
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch 7 6 7 5 5 5 Ggultra2764 [series:562#1552]
Note: This only covers my thoughts of the first TV series.

City Hunter is about what I expected from the series given what I had heard of its various TV seasons and seen from Shinjuku Private Eyes a few years ago with Ryo perving on girls and knowing when to be serious in life or death situations. This series appears to largely run in an episodic format with Ryo taking on various cases, attempting to hit on girls, and Kaori having to knock sense into him. The second part being the running gag of the series gets old rather quickly and did annoy fairly often with Ryo's character. An oddity I noticed with City Hunter was that its first several episodes were more focused on serious hard-boiled crime-action with Ryo not hesitant to kill enemies with his trademark Colt Python and having a more serious tone, this notably shown with the death of Ryo's original partner whom Kaori later fills in for. Probably would have preferred this sort of direction for the series, alongside whatever developments the series usually focuses on with Ryo and Kaori, as the episodic format and hammering the running gag of Ryo's perversion does wear out its welcome pretty quickly with how repetitive the story formula for it can get. Iffy on whether or not I'll touch later installments of the franchise given my indifference to this series.

Last updated Wednesday, October 04 2023. Created Wednesday, October 04 2023.
Buy 7 7 10 10 9 Big Fire [series:562#2441]
I have watched this like a million times already, but to my suprise i did not have a review...whoa!!! so maybe it is time to add a few words...I love city hunter...actually for a while i just had city hunter the movie on VHS...haha...but i finally saddled up and went through the whole thing...if you need a job done, just write "XYZ" on the bulletin board at Shinjuku Station. That is the signal you want to hire City Hunter...City hunter the TV is cool in a sense that you don't have to start from like episode 1 to enjoy a show...i mean ryo is cool one minute and perved out the next, but it is the total light switch approach in why i guess it is popular... my favorite episodes deal with Saeko...although she is not always in them, when she is, it is usually a +++ for me...all in all, city hunter is a must have for all you gun action perv types...even if the anime is alittle dated...it is fun all the time...

Last updated Monday, January 07 2008. Created Monday, January 07 2008.
Buy Forbin [series:562#1573]
Drama : Med
Comedy : High
Action : High
SciFi : None
Ecchi : Low / High (Depends on the Episode - But it's 99% just underwear).

All Episodes watched (It took over 4 months!)

Wow this anime is so all over the place. At over 100 episodes (and a 30 disk set from ADV), this is one of the longest running series I have watched to date straight. First off, the TV is subbed, the Movies are dubbed. The subbing is mostly good except thanks to this series I am learning a few things such as sometimes the subbers drop words off and that in Japan Ecchi is worse than Hentai. (Reverse in America).

Why is it a buy? Because there is NO WAY you can rent this and enjoy it fully :)

First off to Stretch, Damn you Stretch! I haven't had a peaceful lunch in the last 3 months because of this series! I take my player and watch 1-2 episodes every chance I get while eating a pizza or some snack. :)

This is a great series. Ryo is constantly chasing skirts while his partner Makimura (It changes in the series) is trying to line up the next job. Each Episode stands alone (Almost) and usually involves Ryo using his talents in some way. But the real part is each episode does not always require his gun. Ryo actually seems to have more talent than just a skill with the gun and each episode tries to explore a different talent he has. Some episodes are buy, some are rent, and a few are watch but all in all this one is a keeper.

You get to meet quite a few women (and a couple of men) but Ryo tries to follow this rule. He will work for Women only and will only hit on them if they are 18+. Also this series is very Episodic but you do get to meet a few stayers like Makimura, Kaori, Saeko, Umibozu, and to a lesser extent Miki, Reita, and Kasumi.

If you liked Lupin or just a minor pervert who doesn't mind the 80's style animation, get this.

Now that it is done. I wish the last season was done better. It just ends on the 13th episode without any conclusion that the other 3 seasons did (Usually something involving Ryo and Karoi's relationship). It looks like everyone just gave up at that point and just decided to make the movies. The storyline was getting a bit weak, heck they brought in Robert's Fiancee and in Robert's Episode he said he DOESN'T like the kind of girl that she is (Long Hair, Blond, Big Chested. That's Ryo's type). And so they have brought in at least 4 different storylines about Ryo's ex partners (Robert, Rosemarie, Kenneth, and Makimura). Damn he goes through a lot of Partners.

It's still a good show, whenever I get free time I'll update my favorite episodes (There are about 20 of them out of the 100+). It's still a buy, there is no way you can rent this and get enough enjoyment out of a week.

Last updated Thursday, May 05 2005. Created Tuesday, March 22 2005.
Rent 8 8 9 8 0 8 Stretch [series:562#628]
Long after I had finished watching this series, I felt like watching something different than the usual shows, and my dusty box set of City Hunter 2 caught my eye. I loaded it and began watching. Even though this was a rerun, and I vaguely remembered the course that the story would take, I found myself laughing more than usual. I realized that it was largely the clever visual gags which were amusing me--for instance, while Ryo is driving a car a mention is made of a frog, and his car immediately takes on a life of it's own and starts "hopping" along the highway. We don't see this sort of clever stuff anymore, I realized!

Back to my original review. It's Ryo's ability to transform instantaneously between his two personalities--the cool, courageous ace gunman, and the drooling, idiotic girl chaser--that is the backbone of this series. He has been compared to Ataru from Urusei Yatsura, except there are no aliens here, this is a real-world action-comedy, and, when he's in the right mode, Ryo is the very definition of "cool". I can't think of any better way to reveal the sort of hilariously absurd situations this places him in than to list the titles of a few individual episodes: #2 "Please Kill Me! Crosshairs Don't Become a Pretty Girl"; #13 "She's Getting Married at Age Sixteen! A Hot Kiss with a Pop Idol"; #16 "One Frisky Stewardess--Ryo: Instructor in Self Defense"; and #23 "Buzz, Buzz Go the Killer Bees! The Bride Who Fell Out of the Sky". The one thing which keeps Ryo in line is his partner Kaori, who is liable to whack him over the head with a gigantic mallet if she feels he is behaving shamefully. Perhaps it's his blatant flaw which makes Ryo far more interesting and likeable than a too-good-to-be-true tough guy. His skill with firearms might seem too incredible to believe if it were not counterbalanced by an equally incredible shortcoming. This does not really qualify as Ecchi, since Ryo never seems to get beyond first base (this was originally a TV series, after all). In a way, Ryo is like Vash the Stampede, in that he generally uses his uncanny skill with firearms to save lives. Very few people actually get killed in this show. This show is very episodic in nature, each one generally dealing with how a particular case is resolved. As such, it can get somewhat repetitive at times, but the really good episodes are true gems. It's the chemistry between Ryo and kaori which I like, and the comedy in general--the action is, shall we say, adequate. I especially like the first season opening theme song; a different one that was adopted for the second season is good too. Oh, and Kaori, I know you have more than once been mistaken for a man, but I think you're pretty cute.

So why do I like City Hunter? No doubt I'll touch this up later, but here are a few conclusions I've drawn:

1. The most humorous and touching episodes of City Hunter are ones in which Ryo doesn't employ his gun (at least not as much as usual).
2. Ryo is at his best when he toys with the bad guys, doesn't take them seriously, because he's always one step ahead of them already.
3. One unique advantage of City Hunter is that Ryo is basically two characters rolled into one--the super cool ace gunman and the drooling girl chaser. A lot of fun can be had with the transformations he undergoes between his two modes, especially if they happen when the viewer least expects them.

Apparently there are at least 152 episodes of City Hunter out there somewhere (going by the names of City Hunter, City Hunter 2, City Hunter 3, and City Hunter '91). These have never been dubbed and are only available in subtitled form. There are also five R1 licensed (and dubbed) "Movies" (though all but one are actually OVAs or TV movies). One more, City Hunter: Death Of The Evil Ryo Saeba was never picked up by ADV for some reason, and is only available as a fansub. Then there's the live-action movie. And, finally, don't miss the recent revival, Angel Heart.

My favorite line:
"Now I feel horny--I mean, I have fighting spirit!" --Ryo

Catch Kaori's montage at the Cute Girls with Guns page!

Last updated Wednesday, December 08 2010. Created Saturday, May 03 2003.

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