La città delle bestie incantatrici

I feel this film is more about the atmosphere than the story.

Story wise it's nothing complex or new, but it creates with it's visual design and dark theme an intense experience which kept me interested throughout.

Also, I've seen the English dubbed version and it's surprisingly good, something that's not always the case.

The characters are nothing spectacular in terms of design, but their personalities (specially the male main) are well defined The guy reminds me a lot of George Clooney in the times of From Dusk Till Dawn, even though the anime is older.. Specially with the English cheeky way of talking!

The gore is quite heavy, in pretty twisted sexual ways.. The action is really good, as expected from the director.

Overall it's a very dak anime, very particular, definitely one of the classics from the 80s you don't want to miss!

Wicked City is a strange Japanese film that follows many of the same tropes of a standard issue biopunk anime. However, it's warped, graphic and unapologetically sexual, almost crossing the line into hentai territory. Many of the characters are contrived and stereotypical anime archetypes and the story is hardly memorable but the film itself has enough clever animation and action to make it watchable.

It was definitely a good time killer, especially since I knew nothing about it beforehand. If you've seen Akira and want something in that vain, you'll find this digestible. If you don't like things like that, stay far away.

B-

I wouldn't profess to be an anime "fan". I certainly watch it, and own a few British released videos, but I don't go to conventions or run down to Forbidden Planet every week looking for the latest import. The reason? Cultural differences mean a lot of high-end anime is perhaps confusing and a little boring for us westerners (see Akira and Ghost in the Shell). But not Wicked City. Just like Ninja Scroll, this dispenses with theological and spiritual issues in favour of gore, guns and shagging. Written and directed by the same guy, this is similar to Ninja Scroll, with the same superhuman themes and forbidden love interest. And I love it. Call me shallow, but I've been brought up on a diet of in-yer-face culture, and the Japanese prevalence to dwell on life and self-worth don't interest me in the slightest, at least not when I watch videos. Wicked City has the meanest gun IN THE WORLD, an amusing old man (a trademark of the director I fear) and people in smart black suits. O.K, the final battle is classically confusing, but not a day goes by when I don't yell "Fu**ing monsters!" at the top of my voice. An utterly enjoyable romp, and one that's always a pleasure to watch on the Sci-Fi Channel.

And the best part is the gun was before Men in Black and the Noisy cricket!!!! Eat that America!!!!! This is an awesome anime full of a rich plot, action,nudity, and an awesome gun!!!! Personally it had a little bit to much nudity and sexual situations for me but that gun made up for it. Seriously, it is a great anime worthy of being added to any anime collection. It kinda reminded me of BioHunter + The X-Files + Some other stuff. I got this DVD at a pawn shop for a few bucks maybe $5 but even at $20 it would be a bargain. This gun in the movie had to be fired backed against a wall because of the force of the blast, and even then it would crack a concrete wall.

Wicked City is one of my favorite anime movies of all time, and here's why: if this movie didn't have a solid plot, it'd be hentai. As it is, it's borderline hentai. But what makes it so radically different is that the adult content is weaved in with the plot - there's only one scene of sex that has no pertinence to the story. This movie was ingeniously done. Solid story, great eye candy.