City Hunter: The Motion Picture

Original Title: City Hunter スペシャル 「グッド・バイ・マイ・スイート・ハート」
Romanized: City Hunter Supesharu - Guddo Bai Mai Suiito Haato
Literal: City Hunter Special - Goodbye My Sweetheart

Plot Synopsis

Ryo Saeba--the City Hunter--is the best man for any job in Tokyo as long as it involves an appropriate amount of danger... and women to ogle. (Good thing he has Kaori, one of his sidekicks, to violently keep him in line.) When Amy, a famous actor, hires Ryo and friends to help her find her long lost brother, it looks like an easy mission. Well, it would be if "Professor", an infamous assassin, hadn't just arrived in town... and not by coincidence. When Professor puts his plan to hold the city hostage in motion, the police are helpless, the girl's in trouble, and it'll be up to the City Hunter and a few of his multi-talented friends to unravel the mystery and save the day.

Quick Review

Rating: 4 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2005-01-29

Those not already familiar with City Hunter may be surprised at The Motion Picture's weird mix of standard anime pervert humor and standard very serious mad-bomber drama. Weirder still is that this odd-couple pairing works very well, producing a good, tense thriller that doesn't take itself too seriously and so never gets overwhelmed by the weight of its own drama. With sharp, realistic visuals, a solid, well written plot worthy of any live-action thriller, serious characters with plenty of personality and unserious ones with plenty of laughs, and a side-dish of realistic action, this is a movie with everything on it.

Fun, interesting, and dramatic all at the same time, City Hunter: The Motion Picture is a thoroughly enjoyable ride. Existing fans are pretty much guaranteed to like it, but don't be put off if you haven't seen the rest of the series--it's fine on its own.

US DVD Review

The DVD features English and Japanese stereo audio and English subtitles; the movie was 4:3 to begin with, so the DVD isn't widescreen. Extras include a credit-free opening and closing, the original Japanese TV ads, and character bios.

Content Guide

A lot of mature humor and some serious violence, but nothing extreme. ADV's 13-up rating is probably appropriate, though it might rank higher if you're strict.

Violence: 3 - Not gory, but with realistic violence in some scenes and very unrealistic humorous violence in others--some parents may object to this mix of "funny" violence and serious fare.

Nudity: 2 - Little actual nudity, but a couple of close scenes.

Sex/Mature Themes: 2 - A lot of raunchy humor.

Language: 2 - Some occasional strong language, but surprisingly little overall.

Notes and Trivia

This is actually a 10th anniversary special to commemorate the long-running City Hunter series of comics and animation, most of which is available in English now, though it wasn't when ADV first released this movie on video.

Availability

Available from ADV on hybrid DVD. Was originally available on subtitled and dubbed VHS.

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