Demon City Shinjuku

Title:Demon City Shinjuku
Makai Toshi Shinjuku
魔界都市〈新宿〉
Overall:Watch
Keywords: , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - Madhouse
HORI Hideyuki
R1 License - Discotek
TSURU Hiromi
YARA Yuusaku

Genichiro Izayoi is fighting Levy Rah to prevent him from turning district outside of downtown Tokyo into Demon Central. He loses. Now ten years later, Shinjuki is known as "Demon City" and no one goes there for obvious reasons - it is full of demons. However it is time for phase two of Rah's plan where he turns Earth into a place for demons to live.

Rai-sama must convince Genichiro's teen-aged son Kyoya, armed only with a wooden sword, to take up the fight against Rah. Joined by the teen-aged daughter of the world president, Sayaka, the duo must enter Shinjuku to prevent Rah from finishing what he has started.

OVA, ~82 minutes

OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent Stretch [series:597#628]
I had heard of this anime long ago but had never actually watched it. Then I stumbled upon a fansub of the 32-year old title and downloaded it. My expectations were low, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I think what I liked best was the way this movie-length anime can easily be watched in a single sitting and its plot doesn't waste time and moves rapidly forward to a dramatic climax. Most of the anime I watch are TV series that are at least 12 episodes long and I often must strain my brain to remember what happened in the last one which was watched a week or more ago. I had almost forgotten that sharply focused anime like DCS even existed. Basically, what happens here is that a cool guy learns that he is the only person who can save the world and time is of the essence, so he gets moving and does just that--no more and no less. The fights against bizarre opponents are exciting and original. The girl, Sayaka, isn't exactly a martial artist but makes herself useful. What I got turned out to be the English dubbed version, which helped the story move rapidly forward and was sort of amusing (the F-word was used plentifully). I used it too--at one point I caught myself saying "This is fuckin' cool" to myself. I was giggling repeatedly as I greatly enjoyed Demon City Shinjuku.

Last updated Tuesday, November 24 2020. Created Tuesday, November 24 2020.
Avoid 8 8 8 5 4 Ggultra2764 [series:597#1552]
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 get for 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.

Last updated Saturday, May 09 2020. Created Saturday, March 30 2019.
Rent 7 8 8 6 7 AstroNerdBoy [series:597#436]
I'm not into horror, but I checked this out when a co-worker brought it in. Fortunately, there are no rapes or nudity in this movie and very little gore either. For me, this is a good thing but your tastes may vary.

This is a standard "demons take over the world" anime and pretty much plays by the book as far as plot. Some things are so obviously telegraphed that even a child would pick up on it. Still, I have to say that I did enjoy watching this movie.

Problems? Besides being a tad bit predictable, Rah is your standard villian who is power-hungry and will do anything to get it, including destroying the world. That has been played to death in my opinion. Also, getting to understand the power that Kyoya has would have been nice. While he may look like he's in his early 20's, he supposedly is still in high school. So let's say he's 17. That means that when his father died, he was 7. I just had a hard time buying that he trained himself to do the things his father could do, including the power to make a wooden sword cut like an energy sword. Plus I couldn't help but think of Kyoya as a more mature Kuno Tatewaki with all of that wooden sword business. :-)

Bottom line: There are a lot of flaws, but I still enjoyed this title. Note that the video quality on the DVD looks little better than a VHS Rip which is unfortunate. However, this title is worth a rent I think.

Last updated Tuesday, September 23 2003. Created Monday, June 23 2003.

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