May 21, 2016
* This is a review of the french adaptation of the City Hunter serie *
Twenty five years after it was showcased on the french television, Nicky Larson (City Hunter) remains one of the most famous japanese anime in France and Nicky (Ryo) and Laura (kaori) still hold a place in the heart of many of the young people who used to watch their adventures on TV.
While the japanese version of the serie's main quality was its characters and its wonderfull original soundtrack, the french team responsible for the adaptation wasn't allowed to translate all the "adult stuff" and the few gore scenes had to be
...
cut because the goal was to have young kids watch the serie. In the end what they achieved was to make it an even more enjoyable show for adults.
Several critical choices were made. The villains had slightly ridiculous voices and the adult vocabulary was changed. The guns didn't fire "bullets" anymore but "dumplings" and so on ... Moreover the villains would often repeat that they were "very bad guys" in a ridiculous way.
On the other hand the dub team choose a very manly yet classy voice for Nicky (Ryo) so that the serious aspect of his character was untouched. They also did a good job on the main characters such as Laura (Kaori), Mammouth (Umibozu), Helene (Saeko).
Speaking about the music, during the episodes the musics weren't changed but the opening and ending had a proper french version that was not a great great song but on the other hand was very rythmic, easy to remember and to sing (same thing could be said about lots of french opening at that time: Lady Oscar, Cat's eye, Saint Seiya ...)
In the end the french version of City Hunter became more famous in France than the original in Japan because it was able to keep the best parts of the japanese original and add something more. Kids liked it for the 1st degree comedy while adults became fond of it for the second degree comedy the team responsible for translation added.
Truly a great and funny show !
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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