Legend of the Overfiend

This is rightly considered the greatest of all Hentai movies. Even anti-hentai Anime fans have praised it as revolutionary. But there are some elements of Urotsukidoji should have been dropped altogether. The pointless scenes of rape for one thing. And that schmaltzy scene at the end is badly done. But for all it's extremities, this has the kind of mind-blowing action, plot and animation which could have put it up there with Akira. Behind the sex and violence, director Hideki Takayama and writer Toshio Maeda have nonetheless managed to give us an acute observation of teenage sexual anxiety which has wrongly been interpreted as violent porn. Let's face it, we've all been like Nagumo at some point, hopelessly in love with Akemi but without a chance of catching her. It's both intelligent, observational, with touches of humour and outbursts of outrageousness. In short, it's anime fantasy at it's most humanist level. Very well done.

Wow, if you're reading this review; you've probably heard all the hype and controversy surrounding this movie and to tell the truth it deserves it. From the first 10 minutes of a female teacher turning into a demon and raping a student, to orgies to sodomy to some graphic depictions of violence; this film is an endurance test for a movie-going novice. I enjoyed this first segment in the series, I think the 2nd one (Legend of the Demon Womb) was slightly better, but they are both better than any other in the series including RETURN OF THE OVERFIEND or INFERNO ROAD. The later in the series, the more confusing and stupid it gets. Don't say you weren't warned!

The main problem with this film is it tries so hard to offend that everything else (plot, character, good dialogue) gets thrown out of the window. The graphic scenes of sex and violence wouldn't really worry me too much if they were relevant to the plot but alas, the initially intriguing sci-fi premise is soon ditched in favour of a "let's see which one of us can do the sickest and most disturbing scene in the film" between the animators. Such a shame, if they actually put a bit of effort into developing the plot and less time testing the audiences morality then we might have something interesting here. Oh yeah, and what was the point in dubbing all the original Japanese voicework with completely out of place American accents? (which have to be squeaky of course, to suit the films Tokyo setting.) Couldn't they just have kept the film the way it was and added sub-titles at the end? Oh sorry I forgot, the studio thinks the average Yank doesn't have the patience to read them AND watch the film at the same time... Cheers for that vote of confidence there, dudes. In conclusion, this film is like that foul-mouthed child you stick in the corner for using bad-language: They try to get your attention by trying to shock you as much as possible, but really all they succeed in doing is make you realize just how sad and desperate they are.

Many people see this as nothing else but another stupid hentai title with cute little girls being raped and killed for no good reason. Well, with such way of thinking, Neon Genesis Evangelion would be nothing more but stupid big robots fighting for entertainment that little boys can watch. Well, that of course isn't the case, is it? Such an opinion is a serious understatement.

First of all unlike other hentai titles I've come across, this series is strongly plot driven. In fact, (almost) all of the sex scenes serve the storyline and drive the story forward in some way, let it be consensual or not.

As for the characters, this movie is unique already in the fact that it's one of the very few films that actually has made me feel something for the characters. Like the character of Niki for instance, or the doomed love of Nagumo and Akemi...I wanted to shed a tear or two for them.

To sum it up simply, Urotsukidoji is very much worth of watching, if you can take the content, that is. If demons with multiple penises raping schoolgirls (which actually happens quite a little, in the first series at least) and the excessive violence doesn't disturb you, I highly recommend this one. As a hentai title, it's 5 out of five. As a movie among others...3 1/2 out of 5.

One of the earliest 'hentais' to make it state side, this helped spark the uber obsession America's geeks have with anime. Featuring graphic violence, explicit sex and an adult-themed apocalypse story, this is one of anime's best offerings.

The world, it seems, is divided in to 3 parts. The human world, the beast world and the demon world. Demons being evil, beast being good, and humans caught in the middle. An ancient prophecy speaks of a creature, called the Overfiend, which will be born of man and will bring either peace or destruction to the three realms. The race is on to find it's vessel on Earth and harness it's potential power.

The story has more than it's fare share of fantasy and horror, it seeks to balance the two elements and does a nice job of it. But the main reason most people will watch this is the same reason I did: anime-sex. For inexplicable reasons that stuff is just plain hot, probably because they do things in the medium one would never see in a live action film.

The sored acts include all manners of regular sexual activity all the way up to tentacle rape. Yes, I said tentacle rape. However, unlike most other products of it's kind the sex doesn't feel like cheap excess nor does it come off as the only viewing point. Graphic (often fully explicit) though it may be, it serves a purpose with in the larger story. Rather than a stopping point it furthers the action.

Horror purists will be happy to know that mixed in with the sex and fantasy elements is a healthy dose of horror, J-pop style. Dr. Suess-inspired underworlds, great creature designs, and gobs of spilt hemoglobin. The ultimate conclusion is a little hard to get past at first (as with many J-horror films), but it still wraps up nicely.

Anime fans, horror geeks, and the rain-coat crowd should definitely seeks this one out.

9/10