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NOTE: Wrote this review on Letterboxd on 9/29/2021

When I heard that Takao Saitou passed away, I had to revisit this film. Golgo 13: The Professional is still a great action movie in my opinion. Duke Togo aka Golgo 13 is one of my favorite anime and manga characters ever because he is a total badass. Golgo 13 is like combining James Bond and Django Reinhardt into one awesome macho character. I have seen people criticize Duke Togo for having no personality and I disagree with that. I love that Duke Togo is silent but deadly. It makes him even more awesome with the fascinating aura ... of mystery around the character. Duke Togo is a human grim reaper when he is on screen. When you make contact with him, you know that you're already dead. He never misses his target by killing them in a single shot. You know you're already dead when you make contact with him. He never misses a target since he kills them with one shot. Golgo 13 was killing people in one strike before Saitama made it cool.

Duke Togo is overflowing with testosterone. When you watch this movie, you will grow body hair and an extra set of testicles (an extra pair for men). Duke Togo is a lady's man who can chew bubblegum and kick-ass at the same time.I miss the days when we had action heroes like these (not just anime & manga). Except for John Wick and a few others, I believe that today's action heroes lack the fun and badass nature that older action heroes possessed. Every scene in Golgo 13: The Professional is brilliantly animated, and the animation is outstanding. When animating his films, Osamu Dezaki was known for his meticulous attention to detail.

When watching Golgo 13: The Professional, you can see every tiny bit of detail on the guns, clothes, backgrounds, etc. The animation is very stylistic with the characters looking more realistic than most anime do. The character designs don't look like most typical anime and manga characters in my opinion. Golgo 13: The Professional is known to be one of the first anime films to use CGI. You have a small scene of CGI that looks laughable by today's standers. Back in 1983, it was state of the art. You get plenty of testosterone-fueled action scenes and gory violence that are satisfying to watch. The jazzy soundtrack and the sleazy atmosphere adds more icing to the cake. Duke Togo is voiced by the legendary Tetsurô Sagawa (RIP) and his voice is perfect in my opinion. Even the dub from Streamline Pictures is solid, and it is probably one of their best dubs next to their dub for Wicked City (1987) in my opinion.

Golgo 13: The Professional has a dark, and mature story that deals with the obsession with revenge. You get to see how human misery affects everyone, not just the individual person. The primary villain, Leonard Dawson, begins to push his thirst for vengeance to the point where it backfires on him. You have a fun cast of supporting characters that, in my opinion, are memorable. Snake, Gold, and Silver have always impressed me as interesting villains. Duke Togo is pushed to the ground by the battle between those guys because it demonstrates that he is not invincible. Duke Togo is a very tough man, yet he is still a human being. He can still be killed in the same way that any other human would. It allows the film to place Duke Togo in a dangerous situation, leaving the audience to wonder how he will survive.

Overall, Golgo 13: The Professional is a great movie that I highly recommend checking it out. Even those who aren't fans of anime will likely enjoy it. Rating: 9/10

NOTE: This review was originally posted on my Letterboxd account on 3/1/2022

I only remember seeing this anime once on VHS when I was a kid, and I barely remember what happens. I went into this anime expecting it to be an underappreciated gem. To be honest, it's a decent film. Although the animation in Darkside Blues is excellent, the story is disappointing in my opinion. The animation is incredible, and I adore the film's dark tone. Despite his lack of involvement, it has the feel of a Yoshiaki Kawajiri film. It has lovely dark shading, and I like how dark colors are used. The ... backgrounds are extremely well-detailed, and the character movement is incredibly fluid. The soundtrack for the film is composed by Kazuhiko Toyama (Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII), and it is very well done in my opinion. The film's melancholy tone is perfectly captured by the music.

Darkside Blues has a great premise, but the characters ruined the movie for me. None of them piqued my interest, and I had trouble caring about what was going on. The DVD quality of the film has aged terribly, and an HD remaster is urgently required. When an HD remaster is released, I can see myself enjoying it even more with a better mindset. Also, the English dub for this film sucks. I was unable to find the Japanese version, so I was stuck watching the English dub instead. I recommend staying away from the English dub.

Overall, Darkside Blues is an average film that I only recommend if you're interested in seeing it. Rating: 6.5/10

NOTE: This review was originally posted on 12/29/2020. I plan to post all of my Letterboxd anime reviews on MAL.

It's been a while since I have seen Demon City Shinjuku and I recently bought the Discotek Blu-Ray from Right Stuf's Holiday Sale. Seeing that the year is almost over, I wanted to revisit this film soon. I have a lot of nostalgia for this anime because I used to watch anime on the Sci-Fi channel when I was a little kid. I was watching anime from a younger age than most Millennials around my age group did (People born in the late 80s and early ... 90s). I remember watching anime such as Demon City Shinjuku, My Neighbor Totoro (The Fox Home Video release), Venus Wars, Dominion Tank Police, etc before I even saw any of the Dragon Ball shows or anyone I knew talked about anime. Anyways, Demon City Shinjuku is not as good as the other anime from Yoshiaki Kawajiri in my opinion. However, it's still a fun movie nevertheless.

I owned many editions of Demon City Shinjuku and other anime from Yoshiaki Kawajiri over the years. The Blu-Ray is a great upgrade and it makes the movie look 100X better in my opinion. I always love Yoshiaki Kawajiri's art direction because he draws really cool characters and creates colorful backgrounds. The attention to detail in the surroundings and character designs is astounding. You get plenty of cool-looking monster designs that feel inspired by the demons from Go Nagai's work and Dungeons & Dragons. The film has a fantastic dark atmosphere and the spooky tone helps creates a feeling of death around the corner. You can sense that demons and other evil spirits are lurking in Shinjuku just waiting for the perfect time to strike.

The music in this film is super catchy and it always reminds me of music that you would find in a movie from Lucio Fulci or any other Italian grindhouse movie. The action sequences are a lot of fun and you get plenty of fight scenes that are very nicely animated. The weakest thing about Demon CIty Shinjuku is the writing. The story does have some plot holes that are very noticeable. The main characters could have better character development and the romance is pretty weak. However, I do like how Demon City Shinjuku does not take itself too seriously by keeping the plot nice and simple. Watching Demon City Shinjuku is almost like playing a video game on the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). The protagonist sets out on a journey to save a girl from an evil demon wizard. I could easily see this film getting a Legend of Zelda style clone on the NES back in the day. The English dubbing for this film is bad due to poor dialogue and translation issues. If you decide to see this film, I suggest seeing it in subtitled form.

Overall, Demon City Shinjuku is a flawed movie and I still recommend checking it out if you've got time to spare. Rating: 7.5/10

NOTE: Another review that I wrote on Letterboxd on 3/6/2022

This is one of those anime films that I remember renting on VHS when I was a kid, over 20 years ago. Tokyo Vice aka The Tokyo Project was first released in Japan in 1988, but it was not released in the United States until 13 years later by Media Blasters. I decided to revisit it because I wanted to see if my opinion on it has changed or not. When I was 10, I thought Tokyo Vice was a decent anime, not the worst thing ever, as some people claim. I can see why so ... many people disliked it now that I've seen it again as an adult. Tokyo Vice is a dull and uninspiring anime. The characters are uninteresting, and the plot is incredibly boring. The writing is filled with bad action movie clichés and clumsy plot devices. I wanted to turn off this anime so badly because I had no interest in what was going on.

Tokyo Vice is a 53-minute film that felt like it took an eternity to finish. The English dub is, in my opinion, one of the worst I've ever seen for an anime. It's not one of those amusing bad dubs found in hentai titles like Bible Black or older OVA titles like Angel Cop. I felt like splinters were coming out of my hands because the English voice acting was so wooden. When it came to dubbing for this anime, it felt like none of the voice actors gave a damn. The only redeeming feature of Tokyo Vice is the animation. They spent more time creating cool mecha designs than they did writing a good script.

Overall, Tokyo Vice is a terrible anime, and there is plenty of better 80s sci-fi anime to watch instead. Don't even watch it for free because it's not worth it. Rating: 1.5/10

NOTE: I originally wrote this review on Letterboxd on 1/12/2022

I haven't seen Cyber City Oedo 808 in a long time, and I recently received the Discotek Blu-ray as a Christmas present. So I decided that today would be a good day to rewatch it. Cyber City Oedo 808 is just as awesome as I remembered. This anime is excellent in every way. You have a fantastic cast of characters who are both memorable and awesome. I like how each of the three gang members has their own distinct personality. Sengoku is a complete badass who is both funny and arrogant.

The plot is essentially a ... cyberpunk version of Escape from New York (1981) with a dash of Blade Runder (1982) thrown in for good measure. There are also some elements of horror incorporated into it. Yoshiaki Kawajiri (the director) did an excellent job directing three episodes that are packed with action and compelling stories. The animation is also incredible, with beautiful shading and incredible attention to detail in the backgrounds. There's plenty of dark colorful lighting that is stunning to look at. I've always admired how Yoshiaki Kawajiri's anime, such as Wicked City (1987) and Ninja Scroll (1992), uses dark blue colors. His signature style is absolutely stunning, and I wish more anime today used the same color palettes as he did.

Both the Japanese and UK versions' soundtracks are awesome and entertaining to listen to. I adore Kazuhiko Toyama's (Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII) score, but I can't help but prefer Rory McFarlane's UK score. I'm not a big fan of replacement music scores (as demonstrated by Funimation's DBZ dub), but this is one of the few times I prefer the replacement score to the original. Rory McFarlane's music blends in perfectly with the anime's tone.

The English dub is a bit of a mixed bag, with some decent voice work. Stuart Milligan (Wonder Woman 1984) did an excellent job as Sengoku's voice actor, perfectly capturing his cocky demeanor. However, some other voices are bad, and the dialogue is a little too goofy. Instead, I would suggest watching this anime with subtitles. If Cyber City Oedo 808 had more episodes, I would give it a higher rating. If it were a six or thirteen-episode series, this would easily be a 9/10 anime.

Overall, Cyber City Oedo 808 is a great anime that I highly recommend. Rating: 8.5/10