Makai Toshi Shinjuku

On the rooftops of Shinjuku, Genichirou Izayoi fought against Levih Rah, a man who sold his soul to obtain demonic powers, and lost. Ten years later, Shinjuku remains a wasteland of demonic energy while the rest of Tokyo remains largely untouched.

One day, Genichirou's son, Kyouya, is watching the news when he sees that Japan's beloved prime minister has been attacked by demonic forces. While he lacks confidence in the Nempo powers he inherited from his father, Kyouya is the only one who stands between Levih Rah and the rest of the world. Along with the prime minister's daughter, Sayaka Rama, Kyouya journeys into Shinjuku to see if he can accomplish what his father could not.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Izayoi, Kyouya Main

Hori, Hideyuki Japanese

Rama, Sayaka Main

Tsuru, Hiromi Japanese

Rah, Levih Main

Kobayashi, Kiyoshi Japanese

Mephisto Supporting

Yara, Yuusaku Japanese

Izayoi, Genichirou Supporting

Ginga, Banjou Japanese

Old Woman Supporting

Aono, Takeshi Japanese

Kid Supporting

Tonguu, Kyouko Japanese

Aguni, Rai Supporting

Nagai, Ichiro Japanese

Kawajiri, Yoshiaki Director, Character Design

Mima, Masafumi Sound Director

Maruyama, Masao Setting

Hamasaki, Hiroshi Key Animation

Reviews

Sep 29, 2024

AniNexus_Reviews

Recommended

I'd like to take a brief moment of your time to request the following of you: Stop reading reviews for Demon City Shinjuku, and discard everything that you have read about it thus far. Then, go watch the anime. I don't care if you read any further, but I will justify my plea with the following statement: The appeal of an anime like DCS is driven by its gorgeous visuals, and co-piloted by its sound design. Because of this fact, and partially also because of a particular sense of aesthetic creativity which dominates the set, the experience of watching DCS almost feels more like watching ... a timeless music video (ie: Michael Jackson's "Thriller") than an anime. In other words, "The Rule of Cool" rules in Demon City Shinjuku. As a result, no single writer-- no matter how pretentious-- is ever going to be able to properly capture 100% of the appeal of this show, using words alone. This is simply impossible an impossible task, and one which I would liken to the idea of trying to teach somebody how to fix a car, without a physical car ever coming into the picture. A writer can only subtract from it, by highlighting its faults.

But, it is not enough just to say that. DCS's visuals are among the best of its era. On that basis alone, attempting to describe them is already a poor use of one's time... It doesn't make sense, and the problem can simply be deferred back to you, using the phrase, "Required viewing." What makes this problem even worse for words, specifically with Demon City Shinjuku, is that its visuals are perfectly married with sound, in order to create a specific, highly niche, aesthetic experience. Therefore, even if one were to pedantically go through, and try to describe the visual elements of this show individually... It could only ever be harmful to do so, because you would be removing the parts from their summary whole, which made them greater. This level of mastery is killed by description. You need to experience them for yourself, within their context of a complete, audio-visual package, rather than read about them, to even have a comprehension of what I'm talking about. I could go on and on, pointing at little details that would be missed by the average (re)viewer... The only thing I would do, in describing these things ahead of your seeing them, is to pre-emptively disappoint you with the show, while making word salad.

What I can comment on, is that the shows many visual elements, ranging from the use of color, including the stylistic interplay between light and darkness, as well as the perfectly-stylized anatomical and set details, etc... necessarily contribute to an aesthetic experience, dominated by its visuals, which was both iconic for its time, and which would serve well a person making the case today that style is, in fact, substance. Demon City Shinjuku is a visual treat, which should not be missed by any serious fan of anime.

Finally, in the interest of objecting to the usual kinds of criticism that visuals-driven, or aesthetics-driven shows tend to experience, I will make some critical, commonsense observations. Chief among others, is that "the plot is nothing special." You are not watching anything profound, but that isn't the point of this anime. In visuals-driven anime, a simple, functional plot won't kill you... Rather than an "appetizer," per se it is more like the restaurant's branding, which eventually serves as your basis to be served a delicious main course. It is what gets you in the door, and nothing more. Likewise, the music of DCS, while good, does not stand on its own. Again, it is simple, serviceable, and appropriate to the show's era-centric aesthetics. This may all sound somewhat damning, and you may be wondering, "It's really just visuals?" Yes, it's just visuals. However, as already stated, the simple plot, and the 80's-era jams are driven by the show's visuals. What that really means, is that the harmony between these ingredients is so excellent, that you will be left not seriously wanting to change any of them, individually. This really is a case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and I must therefore advise again that you go and watch this show, rather than continue to read reviews.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 2, 2023

No-LifeKing_26

Mixed Feelings

Demon City Shinjuku was in that era of anime where dubbed ruled, profanity was everywhere, and anime was making its appearance.

I loved drawing style of Yoshitaki Amano. He was the character designer for Vampire Hunter D (1985) and Hellsing (2001). Both series which favor this dark and gritty design with cyberpunk aesthetics which are also similar to Akira.

The dubbed version of this was horrible. If you watch to closely you'll notice that there were multiple scenes where Chibi will be speaking but there will not be a English dub to voice his words. The waitress that appears at around the 5 minute mark sounded like ... a country lady from Mississippi or Kentucky.

The plot itself was simple and easy to follow. The battle scenes and the settings of the Demon City were adequate. They didn't reveal much of the city itself so you can actually submerge yourself into the actual ruin of Shinjuku.

The animation was great in my opinion and I noticed that were not too many still frames in this OVA. The fight scenes were enjoyable but depressingly short. The ending/final battle was anti-climatic and rushed. I wish they put more effort into capitalizing on the final battle and making the animation aspect of that particular scene more enjoyable. It was over in minutes.

The idea and mysteriousness of the Demon City kept the plot very entertaining. The fact that we don't necessarily know why or how this happening and also the fact that we are thrown into the middle of a plot begs you to ask questions. This is the good and bad of this OVA.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jun 18, 2023

tarunnihariya

Not Recommended

I didn't like Wicked City because it was nothing more than sleazy porn, a visual representation of someone's weird rape fetish, which had no point except to fulfill people's disgusting inner fantasies (hey, it's not harmful unless it hurts anyone). It had great visuals, creature designs, and decent action, but the over-the-top sexual exploitation of our main heroine did not gel well with me. Kawajiri would do it again in his more famous work Ninja Scroll, but that one at least seemed to be making a point out of it rather than simply trying to give people boners.

Demon City, fortunately, does not have that ... "special" hentai element that the weebs love, but, unfortunately, that's not the only thing it lacks. Kawajiri, intentionally or unintentionally, failed with the most basic element of filmmaking, the story. Demon City does not have one. It has template characters, the strong, brash, and grey yet overconfident main guy; his beautiful and caring love interest; the cool, mysterious, and overpowered side guy; the generic, evil, and one-note villain; and the McGuffin thing or person that the party has to save (the Jesus figure, father of our heroine, in this case). And if it were funny, witty, or smart it would've worked great as a satire, but again, it's none of those things except dreadfully boring.

They had edgy monster designs and concepts of fight scenes, but everything else around those, the characters and the plot, were rushed or made to act as mere carriers for those setpieces. It backfires, as not only does this lack of focus on those crucial aspects make the film dull, but it also deprives the viewers of superior engagement with those setpieces (more investment in characters = more stacks). This film feels like the skeleton for future Kawajiri works, it's nice to observe this stepping stone, but it's not fun to play with it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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