Wicked City

Sex, demons & noir.

Hello fellow readers, following the latest trend our team is having (you know the 80's OVA craze) we continue our pursue of happiness with the greatest OVA ever made in the greatest OVA decade of all times: the 1980's! Previously we got our hands into Midnight Eye Goku, a two part OVA for those into noir. Today we continue in the noir genre with another great piece made by the great Kawajiri (Yes, we know we haven't reviewed Ninja Scroll yet but we'll do it some time in the future) 

Wicked City (妖獣都市 Yōjū Toshi) is a 1987 Japanese OVA horror neo-noir film directed by legendary Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Unlike most of the OVAs around, this piece is not based upon any Manga but on Hideyuki Kikuchi's novel of the same name.

The story takes place towards the end of the 20th century and explores the idea that the human world secretly coexists with the demon world with a secret police force known as the Black Guard protecting the boundary.

 

Fast cars.

Hot shots.

Director Yoshiaki Kawajiri had just completed his work directing the very dark and gritty segment The Running Man from portmanteau anime Meikyu Monogatari (1987) and was asked to direct a 35 minute short on Hideyuki Kikuchis novel. Kawajiri completed the short and after Japan Home Video saw a screening of it, they wished him to make it feature length. The producers Kenji Kurata and Makoto Seya expressed their opinion that the director shouldn’t extend it unless he wanted to. Kawajiri was such a fan of the world, he saw it as an opportunity to explore more characterization and created more animation for the start, the middle and the end. The project was completed in under a year.

The film was released in Japan on April 19, 1987 by Japan Home Video (JHV) and received a western release dubbed by Streamline Pictures under the name Wicked City on August 20, 1993. After Streamline Pictures lost the distribution rights, it was licensed and distributed by Urban Vision. A censored version of the film was distributed by Manga Entertainment in the UK with a different dub. 

Seductive women.

Nymphomaniac demons.

Both the Streamline and Manga UK dubs were released in Australia, with the Manga UK dub being released on VHS in 1994. In 1995, Manga Video released in Australia a bundle VHS consisting of Wicked City and Monster City, this version containing the Streamline dub. In 1997 when Madman Entertainment was named distributor for Manga in Australia, the Streamline dub was released on a single tape, and the Manga UK version was phased out.

What is Wicked City about?

The existence of the "Black World" is known to very few people. For centuries, a pact between the Black World and the world of humans has been observed to maintain peace, and terms must be negotiated and renewed every few hundred years to continue relative harmony. A militant faction of radicals from the Black World stops at nothing to prevent the signing of a new treaty.

Naked women.

Jizzed boobs.

Two agents of the Black Guard, an organisation designed to protect the relations of both worlds in secret, are charged with insuring the success of the treaty: The human Renzaburō Taki is an electronics salesman by day, and a Black Guard agent when needed; his partner Makie, who masquerades as a model, is a beautiful and skilled woman from the Black World. Their mission is to protect Giuseppi Mayart, a two-hundred-year-old man with fantastic spiritual power, whose presence at the peace treaty signing in Tokyo is critical. The Radicals intend to kill Mayart to upset the peace between both worlds.

Attacks on Makie, Taki and Mayart begin even before the three meet, and the situation does not improve, despite taking shelter in a Hibiya hotel that supposedly has strong spiritual barriers to keep people of the Black World away; on top of this, Mayart sneaks out after a skirmish at the hotel. Makie and Taki find him at a soapland in the grip of a Black World woman who has sapped his health, prompting a frantic trip to a spiritual hospital under Black Guard protection.

a new level in penetration.

Demons like to fuck too.

Halfway there, Makie is taken prisoner by a tentacle to be punished for her "crimes" against the Black World by being repeatedly raped, and Taki is forced to leave her behind, but as soon as he knows Mayart is safe in the hospital, he rushes to where his partner is being held, despite the threat that he will be thrown out of the Black Guard.

Taki is led to a dilapidated building far from the hospital, where he finds Makie being gang-raped. While Taki is successful in freeing Makie after eliminating a succubus and other demon agents, they are relieved of their Black Guard duties and are captured by a spider-like woman Taki has encountered before; both are knocked unconscious, but they wake up alone in a church (as the Spider Woman was killed), and the two share a romantic night of copulation, impregnating Makie.

Are women in Japan this stunning?

Too much jizz within.

One last attack by the Radicals comes and is partially deflected by a surprisingly healthy Mayart, who reveals he was protecting his bodyguards, not the other way around as they had been led to believe. Mayart and Taki almost succeed in defeating Mr. Shadow, but the final blow comes from Makie, who suddenly displays an overwhelming power, a gift from her joining with Taki. Mayart explains that the two are essential to forming a new peace treaty, he tells Taki that Makie will be the first woman to give birth to a half human and half black world child and will soon make more children , thus ushering in a new race and hopefully ensuring everlasting peace between the two worlds.

Taki is reinstated in the Black Guard, uncertain about his feelings for Makie and what is expected of them, but is optimistic about the future he will help protect as child grows inside Makie's body.

The hero's reward.

Aw yeah, God be with us.

Overall, Wicked City is perhaps one of the best OVA/Animé in which Mr. Kawajiri was involved during his career. The whole noir vibe plus the graphic violence and fan service may not suit everyone but then again this OVA was never made for an all audiences censorship label. A funny thing I learned from watching many OVAs is that every Japanese woman has a tendency for shaving their pussies (LOL) also, they're truly gorgeous! I mean if they're like they're drawn here, hell! we should all be moving to Japan! (not to mention how these women are easily attracted to casual sex, LOL) Anyways, this OVA along our previous reviews do represent la creme de la creme of a decade of creative quality, and for that reason alone, you should give it a try.

Here's Wicked City (with the English dub) for your viewing pleasure: