It was a bit of a challenge to see this movie as it did not play in that many theaters and only few cinema chains. But my wife and I were lucky it did play in a cinema which even though located not very close to our home but not that far either. It was in a mall that was only a year old and still have lot of vacant places, making it a convenient place to wait before the movie starts, if you are into that kind of spot. Anyway I'll just get into the film now.
Brief Story Line
A famous detective (aka "sweeper') based in Shinjuku named Ryo Saeba (Akira Kamiya) was hired by a new client named Ai Shindo (Marie Iitoyo) who felt her life was threatened. Together wih his partner Kaori (Kazue Ikura), Ryo tried his best to find out the reason for Ai being in danger.
As usual, Ryo would also be helped by his friends Umibozu (Tessho Genda) and Miki (Mami Koyama) plus the police detective Saeko (Yōko Asagami). When Ai's boss named Shinji Mikuni (Kôichi Yamadera) came into the picture, it made Ryo & Kaori's life became further complicated.
So could Ryo solve the case and save the client? Find them all in this fun and entertaining pervert but really capable detective.
As usual, Ryo would also be helped by his friends Umibozu (Tessho Genda) and Miki (Mami Koyama) plus the police detective Saeko (Yōko Asagami). When Ai's boss named Shinji Mikuni (Kôichi Yamadera) came into the picture, it made Ryo & Kaori's life became further complicated.
So could Ryo solve the case and save the client? Find them all in this fun and entertaining pervert but really capable detective.
End of Brief Story Line
It's funny that I never once watched the anime series of this hugely popular manga. I remember knowing about this in the 1990s where it was spoken among my friends. I also remembered watching a Hong Kong movie adaptation with Jackie Chan as Ryo Saeba aka City Hunter. The one thing that I remember the most about this character was he was such a pervert detective and he had a very funny lady partner who always hit his head using a huge hammer that could appear out of nowhere whenever Ryo would start to show his perversion.
So when this anime movie was promoted in few cinema chains I was definitely intrigued to see it. Lucky for me I still got the chance to do so yesterday with my wife who was quite a big fan and loved the manga due to its hilarious characters. And when we saw this movie, we indeed had a lot of fun and laughed quite a lot throughout at least two third of the movie.
However, when the movie was about to reach its climax, it was apparent that the actions were a bit too much and unrealistically done and could only happen in the cartoon world. But the hand to hand fight scenes were done pretty good to my surprise. They looked quite realistic. Now what I was a bit surprised was the fact that the original main charaters of Ryo, Kaori, Miki, Saedo and few other cameo of people who fans of the series could recognize, still maintained their 80s appearance & hairdos which were a bit of contrast when we see other new characters who looked really modern. It should not come as a surprise since the manga series was written and illustrated by Tsukasa Hojo between 1985-1991 which would explain those 80s strong presence.
Btw, the animation of certain parts were also done seriously, especially the Shinjuku sceneries which made me and my wife enthusiastic to try this location when we visit Japan next time in the near future. There was even a hint of the popular store that my wife loved to visit in Tokyo and other cities. Oh I mentioned above that we saw this in rather brand new cinema and I was really satisfied with it as the pictures were really bright and clear plus the sound system was good for a standard Dolby Surround 7.1 which enhanced the sound effect, especially whenever there were songs played. My favorite one was during the closing credit as there was the original song from the series that was nice. And there was a post end credit scene which was quite amusing to see if you wait till the very end.
Overall this was an entertaining and fun movie if you like this kind of genre. A movie based on the popular manga which would be fantastic for fans of the series. But if you are not comfortable looking at the main lead who is a real pervert and with an overly ambitious action sequence which made them a bit unrealistic, then this one might not suit you at all. And this one's definitely not suitable for kids. For me and my wife though, we loved watching this kind of movie without overthinking it and certainly we enjoyed it.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
So when this anime movie was promoted in few cinema chains I was definitely intrigued to see it. Lucky for me I still got the chance to do so yesterday with my wife who was quite a big fan and loved the manga due to its hilarious characters. And when we saw this movie, we indeed had a lot of fun and laughed quite a lot throughout at least two third of the movie.
However, when the movie was about to reach its climax, it was apparent that the actions were a bit too much and unrealistically done and could only happen in the cartoon world. But the hand to hand fight scenes were done pretty good to my surprise. They looked quite realistic. Now what I was a bit surprised was the fact that the original main charaters of Ryo, Kaori, Miki, Saedo and few other cameo of people who fans of the series could recognize, still maintained their 80s appearance & hairdos which were a bit of contrast when we see other new characters who looked really modern. It should not come as a surprise since the manga series was written and illustrated by Tsukasa Hojo between 1985-1991 which would explain those 80s strong presence.
Btw, the animation of certain parts were also done seriously, especially the Shinjuku sceneries which made me and my wife enthusiastic to try this location when we visit Japan next time in the near future. There was even a hint of the popular store that my wife loved to visit in Tokyo and other cities. Oh I mentioned above that we saw this in rather brand new cinema and I was really satisfied with it as the pictures were really bright and clear plus the sound system was good for a standard Dolby Surround 7.1 which enhanced the sound effect, especially whenever there were songs played. My favorite one was during the closing credit as there was the original song from the series that was nice. And there was a post end credit scene which was quite amusing to see if you wait till the very end.
Overall this was an entertaining and fun movie if you like this kind of genre. A movie based on the popular manga which would be fantastic for fans of the series. But if you are not comfortable looking at the main lead who is a real pervert and with an overly ambitious action sequence which made them a bit unrealistic, then this one might not suit you at all. And this one's definitely not suitable for kids. For me and my wife though, we loved watching this kind of movie without overthinking it and certainly we enjoyed it.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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