Makai toshi (Shinjuku)

I watched this a long time ago in the days of VHS and I loved it because it told a great story and the characters were interesting. And this is among the favourites of Yosiaki Kawajiri's works I seen.

Also the music was nothing short of great even fantastic in places.

The animation was top notch as well as the fights and character development in this good piece of old school anime.

Also we had a fearsome antagonist in Levi Rah and a brief explanation of what made him become what he became which always suits any kind of anime or manga.

Also I liked the English dub and Brad Lavelle did a great job in voicing the main character Kyoya Izayoi and Bob Sessions was great in voicing the main villain Levi Rah.

So this is an enjoyable anime made in the late 1980's.

Demon City Shinjuku (1988) is a Japanese animated movie currently available on Amazon Prime. The storyline follows a man named Rebi Ra who has opened a gate to hell after killing a martial arts expert who tried to stop him. As various demons and beasts emerge from hell the deceased martial artist's son picks up his fathers sacred sword and sets out to stop Rebi Ra and close the gate.

This movie is directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Animatrix) and contains the voices of Hiromi Tsuru (Trigun), Kiyoshi Kobayashi (Lupin the 3rd), Yûsaku Yara (Ninja Scroll), Takeshi Aono (Metal Gear Solid) and Kôji Totani (Wicked City).

I love the animation style which is classic late 80s/early 90s. The narrator could have been better selected but the settings, characters and universe are well portrayed. The characters are fascinating and the dialogue is very good. The final 7 minutes of this film is epic and the concluding battle gives you everything you want to see from this film.

This movie is far from perfect but is a worthwhile viewing. I would score this a 7/10 and recommend seeing it once.

This film is considered some sort of sequel of the 1987 Wicked City anime because of the demons, and the director.

It certainly doesn't have the darkness, sexuality and violence of the former, but it's a decent anime.

The story, I'd even say it holds better than Wicked City, the setting and atmosphere is very interesting and plays a big part, but the character designs are not that interesting, not bad, but not at the level of Vampire Hunter D or Ninja Scroll, from the same director, two of my all time favourite animes.

The first scene and the main villain, I think, shows a lot of influence from Highlander (1986), I really enjoyed it!

The action is also ok, but not as good and intense as the previously mentioned, or as dark and sexual as Wicked City.

The strongest flaw for me was the underwhelming final fight, everything is ready for some badass action and it suddenly ends. Very disappointing!

Still, it has some good moments, even some moving scene involving a "lost child".. Overall I enjoyed the film, I wouldn't recommend it as an introduction to Yoshiaki Kawajiri films, but definitely worth watching if you want more from him.

Demon City Shinjuku is just so weird, you have to love it. Sure, it's not the best anime out there, but it's not bad at all either. The character designs are appealing, the story solid, the English dub is awful, however, and the animation is good. It's directed by Kawajiri Yoshiaki, director of Ninja Scroll and the X TV series. In all, it's cool. An 8/10.

Not Bad. Actually better than a lot of anime's out there. Usual storyline. Demons trying to take over tokyo thus the world. Father tries to stop the villain but fails, 10 years later comes the prodigal son and wham-bam blah blah & so on....Good action, english dubbing is Ok. Needed a little bit more insight on the storyline and the characters lacked some depth. If you follow Kawajiri's work you can c glimpses of his genious. But fans who r looking for Kawajiri's mastery wont find a lot of it in this one.