Saibâ shiti Ôedo 808

The series is about 3 cons who are working as cops to stop criminals in cases normal cops don't usually take to lower their prison sentence. The main character is in for 370 years.

All 3 episodes in the movie have a strong sci-fi and almost X-Files feel to them. The X-Files piece pushed to an extreme. A little bit of detective work, connecting the dots and action.

The series if full of some pretty colorful characters, but it lacked a main focus. It follows the 3 former cons as they hunt down baddies... but there's no main baddie. No big boss or organization. Maybe one would have come into focus in the later episodes if they made more, but no big baddie.

So it was short, sweet and worth the $4.99 in the discount bin.

Cyber City Oedo (CCO) probably isn't taking up too much space on the Blockbuster videoshelves just lately, in fact you'd be pushed to find it in any major retailing store.

But if you like Sci Fi (Blade Runner in particular) and also know about the world of Japanese Manga & Anime (Akira) then you're in luck because CCO is just such a film that you really must try to hunt down.

CCO comes in three 50 minute episodes following the fortunes of three prison convicts, who have being allowed to reduce their life terms if they carry out dangerous police detective work for the city of Oedo (formerly Tokyo).

All three episodes are surprisingly rich in character development & storyline coupled with some truly excellent cell-animation. Don't be put off into thinking that because its animated its nothing more than a 50 minute cheap cartoon! A lot of work & attention to detail has been put in to make the episodes as real & compelling as possible.

The real bonus is the wonderfully haunting soundtrack at the end each chapter and that the dubbing into English (so often a big let down with most Japanese conversions) is really well done.

Try and track the series down, it will be well worth it.

****/*****

Having never been a Manga fan, I saw this on a late-night Channel 4 run early 90's, as there was absolutely nothing else on BBC 1,2 or ITV worth watching at that time of night. There was no cable or Sky TV in my household back then. Luckily, C4 put all 3 episodes on back-to-back, as I was gripped from the opening few moments. I still don't consider myself a Manga fan, but truly believe this transcends the art form. The story of the 3 criminals being used as utterly expendable assets, barely registering as people by the Oedo police force, is dark, humorous and very compelling. Give it a watch if you can find it whether a Manga fan or not - it thoroughly deserves full marks in my opinion.

I'll try not to repeat what previous reviewers have already stated but I agree strongly with much of their content. This is absolute classic anime and is not surprising given that it's made by the same guy who did Lensman, Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter Bloodlust.

It looks great and there's some great animation even though it perhaps looks slightly dated compared to modern day anime (it was made in 1990!!!). The stories are very sci-fi and you can see a lot of influences from 80s sci-fi cinema in there.

There are some great sci-fi ideas in there as well some very imaginative fight scenes(eat your heart out Jackie Chan).

If someone asked me to cite a definition of a classic Japanese anime, then this would be right up there.

I watched the dubbed English version which, whilst slightly over the top, is probably better than watching the subtitled version by all accounts.

It's a shame that there isn't more anime like this as I feel there is a lot of anime that isn't worth a second look.

If you're vaguely into this sort of thing, then it's definitely worth a look. Have fun!

Welcome to Cyber City Oedo.

Cyber City is pretty good. The story is that three Cyber criminals decide on taking high risk jobs with the police or stay in prison. They take the job in hopes that they can one day be free again. That is just the intro to the series.

The three episodes rely mostly on one of our heroes for their time to shine and character development, if little development at all. The plots for each episode are clearly sci-fi. The heroes are pretty likable and have some serious attitude.(They are criminals after all). This only went on for three episodes that I know of. For what it's worth, the three episodes are fun to watch and are a little longer than I thought.

The voice acting: The Japanese acting is terrible. With all do respect, they sound awful. It's as if they are merely just reading their lines without a care at all. The English voice acting is awesome. Like watching a good movie good. Plus the English dialog is much better than the original dialog that is boring and dull, the new dialog is strong, gritty, vulgar, and up in your face!

The animation: Superior. For 1990, they set the standard here. The animation is very close to flawless as anime can get. A little dated now but still good looking.

The Last Word: Nice. Not to much to say here though. This only lasted three episodes. Did not get a chance to shine. Shame. This wasn't bad. I liked this.