City Hunter

Ryo Saeba calls himself a "sweeper". When you have trouble that needs to be cleaned up, when you need an "equalizer" you can hire the City Hunter by writing "XYZ" on a certain bulletin board in the rough part of town. Ryo will do "hits" or he can provide bodyguard services. He is an expert marksman and is proficient at hand-to-hand combat. His only weakness: pretty girls. Ryo is his own worst enemy when it comes to women. He can't help but act like a playboy. Luckily his partner Kaori is around to keep his lust in check. The series is mostly serious but is broken up by Ryo's inappropriate actions towards females. In situations like that Kaori pulls a giant hammer out of nowhere and smashes Ryo flat. I assume that recurring gag means that she is actually punching him in the face. On rare occasions Ryo did get to meet a pretty woman who wouldn't run away.

This classic was shown at a local anime club and the first TV series is available in the US from ADV. Don't forget to look for the yearly specials that came after the TV show ended. Also check out the live-action Jackie Chan version.

For anyone who has seen the American TV series "The Equalizer", this series will be quite familiar. The plot is simple. As with The Equalizer, a former assassin has retired to a city apartment where he rents out his services to people in dire trouble who can't help themselves, usually without receiving any payment for his efforts.

Where City Hunter differs is the addition of absurd humour. Kaori Makimura, assistant to Ryo Saeba (aka City Hunter), acts out her jealousy by producing 100 tonne hammers out of thin air, and using them on Ryo when his libido gets out of control. Considering that Ryo will only take on female clients, that's always.

City Hunter is one of the few anime series that can be enjoyed equally by male and female viewers. Like any series, it has its weak episodes. But when it's good, there's nothing better.

Yup, this series has aged pretty badly. It used to be huge in the country where I live (Italy) when I was a middle school kid to the point that schoolmates of mine used to proudly mimick the antics of Ryo Saeba trying to be 100% him in all regards, pervyness included. And, as of now, like it happened with other series popular in the same span of years in the same place (I'm talking in particular about Tsurikichi Sanpei), it has aged awfully in its original, fansubbed form that I've recently watched because of the presence of a Seiyuu I'm a fan of in the cast (Rika Fukami), meaning that what this series amounts is nothing more than a badly done clone of the third and fourth seasons of Rupan Sansei Part II, which I guess were extremely popular when this was made but of which I'm not a particular fan of barring some acceptably written/interesting episodes like the one with the gang of Rupan Sansei running away from Moscow where Fujiko Mine steals the show. And not only it's a badly done clone but, worst of all, it's a boring ASF clone with cheap copies of the most beloved Rupan Sansei characters minus what made them interesting or relevant in the first place (in particular, the cloned Fujiko Mine by the name of Saeko is simply ridicolous in comparison to the original Rupan Sansei eternal, worship-worthy love Goddess and master thief) and storylines repeated over and over and over with the hope that the music and the sex stuff - once again, like Kimagure Orange Road, removed from the equation thanks to the kiddifying censorships in the west. Again, how this series ever survived in the first place?! - alone would have made up for the complete lack of ideas from the production team, which it didn't. Boring, unfunny on the longer run, with a mediocre chara where almost all the men for some reason look like the protagonist, how this spawned three seasons total and one spinoff (Angel's Heart) when already at the incredible amount of twenty episodes this whole IP had already lost all its reasons to be is completely beyond me. As a person who had fond memories of this, I can't recommend enough to avoid it with no remorse whatsoever, even if you're a fan of the Seiyuu cast involved.

Ryô Saeba (Nicky Larson in the French version), AKA City Hunter, a great killer, detective, bodyguard, and so on. In one word, a great sweeper. But he's not the perfect hero, he has faults too, and I like that. Kaori (Laura Marconi), Ryô's partner, with his big hammer which stops Ryô when he "attacks" a woman. Saeko Nogami (Hélène), a beautiful police inspector. Umibozu (l'Eléphant, Mammouth), a sweeper, Ryô's friend, they always fight against each other. To sum up, some great characters for a fantastic story ! First, it's a great comic by the wonderful Tsukasa Hojo (Cat's Eye, Family Compo, Angel Heart, ...), the best author of manga ever. The anime is good, but a bit censored in the French version (it takes place in a children's TV program). It's a pity...

I love this show. It has many aspects, that make it to a pretty good show. Of course on the one hand, the main character nails it, but on the other hand this show is just super entertaining and just fun to watch.