Midnight Eye: Gokû

OK, what, a dude that wears a suit and tie and no shirt, a stripper that is part motorcycle, an implant, and a story that doesn't make any sense at all.

Bionic eyes and anime nudity.

Yeah, I can't say that I enjoyed this.

Yoshiaki Kawajiri is so fun. You see, there are a lot of stereotypes about anime, labeling the genre as a shallow excuse to animate women being violated and blood spurting in every direction. Those stereotypes developed largely in response to the films of Yoshiaki Kawajiri. And if you can appreciate his movies for what they are, you'll have a blast watching them.

Goku: Midnight Eye is no different. It's an hour-long OVA set in a futuristic city where a sort of female peacock monster is causing police officers to kill themselves. Then it becomes sort of a dark superhero story when the lead character gets a bionic eye and a metal staff that can change to any length (he rams it through people and uses it to vault himself around like the old monk in Ninja Scroll). This is all handled in typical Kawajiri fashion, with well-designed monsters, gore, a cynical hero, frequently nude women, and a hissably evil supervillain.

If nothing else, the movie is a great little guilty pleasure, designed to make you wish you could do all the cool things that Goku does. Have fun with it, and be sure to watch it after midnight.

Some fans out there like to believe that anime is some higher art form, superior to the kiddy cartoons or Hollywood blockbusters in the states. As someone who is on constant lookout for new anime, I can confirm that's not the case. Plenty of anime play overused, immature tropes, and have little value beyond an occasional good time. Nor are older anime necessarily better than newer ones. Many new shows solely focus on being cute and "sexy"...but many 80s/90s examples are shallow, violent, crudely sexual, stereotypical pieces of trash. Yoshiaki Kawajiri is a master of this craft, director of such "classy" films as Wicked City, Demon City Shinjuku, and Ninja Scroll.

Goku Midnight Eye and its sequel show no more ambition. Once again we find ourselves in a dark, futuristic Tokyo. There may be no demons, but shady figures and their cybernetic henchmen rule from their skyscrapers. The action is violent, the characters are flat, and women only exist to be saved and provide fan service.

Yet GME is so outrageous, its attempts to be dark, thrilling, and mature are hilarious.

Peacock women? Swan-based WMDs? A Chinese man rollerskating down a glass building? What!? GME plays to absolutely every stereotype of the time, then goes the extra mile. If you're with friends, there is plenty to riff on, and never dead air. Bloodshed is never far away, and you won't go 5 minutes without being shocked at what's happening

In addition to its amazing camp, GME dodges banality because of Goku's powers. The abilities of his eye give him an endless plethora of options, to the point where its difficult to tell what he'll do next. With x-ray vision, access to the world's databases, control over most electronic equipment, and a surprisingly deadly staff, Goku is a unique hero in the bargain bin. He could honestly be in a great anime if anyone took him seriously. As is, he adds some spice to a generic plot.

I can only go so far before you need to experience the OVAs yourself. When you're in the mood, call some friends over for Bad Movie Night. Its everything wrong with the bad sci-fi anime of the time, and everything right for commentary.

One more thing - don't forget to listen to the English dub. Not only is it equally bad, but freaking Steven Blum, lead voice actor in Cowboy Bebop and The Big O, plays Goku!

Midnight Eye: Gokû (1989) is a two episode series that my daughter and I recently watched together on Prime. The storyline takes place in a futuristic society and follows a former detective turned private investigator. There has been a rash of police officers who have committed suicide. He follows the clues to a weapons dealer who has created some new technology that may be responsible for the suicides. After barely escaping being attacked by the weapons dealer, the PI is implanted with technology that allows him to see things with X-ray vision and tap into technology systems. He will use this new power to solve this and future cases...

This picture is directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Ninja Scroll) and has an absolutely amazing storyline, great soundtrack, interesting characters and takes place in a fascinating universe. I adored the animation which is classic 80s and a lot of fun. The suicide sequences were intense and the club scenes were excellent. They use a nice mix of nudity and technology to create cool characters like the motorcycle lady. The bugs in the first episode and the sewer dragon robots in the second episode were so good and the action scenes have nice gore and unpredictable elements. There's some nice twists in the storylines and the villains are over the top and worthwhile adversaries for our hero.

Overall, this is an underrated anime gem that I'd consider an absolute must see. I would score this an 8.5/10 and strongly recommend it.

Fast paced , great action, descent writing, cool Hard Boiled plot and a main protagonist with an eye for everything...Except fashion. Great old school Blue Anime. I loved it!