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NightWalker

Rating:
"Often borders on interesting, but too uneven and unoriginal to distinguish itself."

Summary Information

US Release:
US Manga Corps

Genre: Drama
(Investigative Vampire Action)

Suggested Age/Content Guide:
13-up / V3 N2 M2 L2

Series Type: TV Series

Length:
12 25-minute episodes

Production Date:
1998-07-08 to 1998-09-23

What's In It

Categories:
Vampires
Mages and Magic
Swordswinging
School Days

Look for:
Fistfights
Beasties
Demons n' Devils
Tragedy

Plot Synopsis

Shido is a P.I. with a caseload like Magnum never dreamed: when the police come up with an X-file that defies normal investigation, they turn to the one vampire who can make things right (for a bit of cash, of course). With the help of Yayoi, a cop who deals with the special cases, and his high school intern Riho, Shido stalks the creatures that stalk the night. Only one problem: what might happen when an ancient vampire from Shido's past comes to visit his old "friend"?

Quick Review

> Quick Review < Full Review

Rating: 2 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2004-10-16

Though the idea of a friendly vampire detective sounds like it has potential, in the end Night Walker is yet another dark, angst-ridden vampire drama. The relatively light early episodes and generally non-noir visual style provides an odd contrast for the darker later part of the series, and on the whole it doesn't go where I would have expected, but the individual (and mostly self-contained) episodes are predictable, lacking in originality, and not much fun, either, and it doesn't even look stylish enough to forgive the generic vampiric angst. Aside from the concept it fails to take advantage of, it's biggest strengths are probably the cool funky soundtrack and solid cast from the leads down through a variety of single-episode appearances.

Grabbing chunks wholesale from a variety of anime and live action vampire stories, NightWalker serves up a few good parts and quirky characters, but is for the most part too derivative, too scattered, and too angsty to distinguish itself from its kin, and not even stylish enough to feel at home with them.

US DVD Review

The two DVD volumes are relatively standard USM fare, featuring a standard hybrid presentation with a decent selection of bonus features: storyboards, trailers, plus an art gallery and scripts if you have a properly equipped computer. The discs were re-released at a lower price. There is also a newer 2-disc budget-priced set of the whole series that is dub-only for some bizarre reason, which seems a rather insulting development for a medium where a dual-language disc costs the same as a dub-only disc to produce.

Content Guide

Though rated 13-up by US Manga Corps, it could legitimately be rated 16-up for a variety of mature themes, graphic violence, and a small amount of nudity.

Violence: 3 - It isn't gory, but there is a fair amount of violence and blood.

Nudity: 2 - Very brief bits in a couple of spots.

Sex/Mature Themes: 2 - A variety of innuendo, a bit of semi-implied hanky-panky, and some more direct mature themes.

Language: 2 - Some profanity.

Notes and Trivia

The series is apparently an original concept, not based on any manga.

Original Japanese Cast

Tatsuhiko Shido: Takumi Yamazaki
Yayoi Matsunaga: Emi Shinohara
Riho Yamazaki: Maaya Sakamoto
Guni: Ikue Otani
Cain: Hideyuki Tanaka

Episode 1
Gimel: Kazuko Yao
Police Inspector: Taiki Nakamura
Police Officer: Hidetaka Takeda
Man: Ryoichi Hino
Other Voices: Kyosei Tsukui, Shigenori Souya

Episode 2
Yukie Tsukimura: Yuko Kobayashi
Manager: Ryoichi Hino
Yoko Asahina: Takako Kikuchi
Director: Naoki Bando
Young Actress: Shiho Kawaragi
TV Reporter: Hidenari Ugaki

Episode 3
Ryuichi Taki: Tetsuya Iwanaga
Megumi: Maya Okamoto
Doctor: Naoki Bando
Stall Keeper: Shigenori Souya
Criminal: Koichi Sakaguchi
Person A: Ryoichi Hino

Episode 4
Megumi: Maya Okamoto
Furano: Naoki Bando
Anonymous Man: Koichi Sakaguchi
NOS Member: Hidetaka Takeda
Female Students: Mikako Takahashi, Tomoko Kotani

Episode 5
Shunichi: Akira Ishida
Mikako: Makiko Omoto
Girl Students: Asako Shirakura, Yumiko Kobayashi
Driver: Ryoichi Hino

Episode 6
Bait: Toshihiko Seki
Girl: Nariko Fujieda
Woman (Recollection): Sanae Miyuki
Girl (Recollection): Shiho Kawaragi

Episode 7
Shinji: Satomi Korogi
Yoko: Rumiko Ukai
Woman: Tomoko Kotani

Episode 8
Asami: Ai Uchikawa
Shuzo: Eiji Maruyama
Koichi: Koichi Sakaguchi
Miharu: Ayumi Kida
Man: Ryoichi Hino

Episode 10-12
Truck Driver: Hidetaka Takeda
Schoolboy: Hisayoshi Izaki
Little Yayoi: Hiromi Nakamura
Witch: Masako Katsuki
Yuki: Chiemi Chiba
Mother: Masami Toyoshima
Father: Keiichi Sonobe
Breeds: Naoki Bando, Morikubo Shotaro

English Dub Cast

Tatsuhiko Shido: Vincent Hatcher
Yayoi Matsunaga: Jane Alan
Riho Yamazaki: Dorothy Melendrez
Guni: Sandy Fox
Cain: Lex Lang

Episode 1
SWAT Officer: Bob Bobson
Episode 2
Mariel/Yukie Tsukimura: Sonja S. Fox
Yoko Asahina: Wendee Lee
Director: Steve Kramer

Episode 3
Ryuichi Taki: John Smallberries
Megumi: Ellen Wilkinson
Doctor: Simon Isaacson
Perpetrator/Student A: Terrence Stone Breed/Student B: David Umansky
Episode 4
Megumi: Ellen Wilkinson
Furano: John Smallberries
NOS Agent: Francis Cherry

Episode 5
Shunichi: Lex Lang
Mikako: Lia Sargent
Manami: Georgette Rose Truck Driver: Terrence Stone

Episode 6
Bait: David Mallow

Episode 7
Shinji: Jane Alan
Yoko: Mona Marshall

Episode 8
Asami: Melissa Charles
Monique: Melissa Charles
Shuzo: Abe Lasser
Koichi: David Umansky
Miharu: Melora Harte

Episode 10-12
Kasumi: Jane Alan
Little Kasumi: Mona Marshall
Truck Driver: Francis Cherry
Schoolboy: Joshua Freedman
Little Yayoi: Wendee Lee
Witch: Mary Elizabeth McGlynn
Yuki: Georgette Rose
Mother: Ellen Wilkinson
Father: Chuck Farley
Breeds: Chuck Farley, Steve Cannon

Crew

Director: Kiyori Sasano, Yutaka Kagawa
Planner: Ryota Yamaguchi
Screenplay: Ryota Yamaguchi (1-6), Genki Yoshimura (7), Toji Gobu (8)
Animation Director: Hiroshi Ishiodori (1-4), Toru Yamada (5,8), Takahiro Takigami (6,11), Takashi Kobayashi (7), Tadao Matsu (9), Takuya Nonaka (10), Kiyori Sasano (12)
Storyboards: Yutaka Kagawa (1), Sei Ikeda (2), Kunihisa Sugishima (3-4), Kiyori Sasano (5), Takahiro Takigami (6), Nobuhiro Kondo (7), Toru Yamada (8)
Character Designers: Miho Shimokasa, Satoshi Isono
Art Directors: Shigemi Ikeda, Hitoshi Nagao
Music: Akifumi Tada

Animation: AIC

Opening Theme: "Tsuki Sekai" ("Moon World")
Performance: Buck Tick
Mercury Music Entertainment

End Theme: "Mirai Kouro" ("Future Course")
Performance: La'Cryma Christi
Polydor

Availability

Available in the US from US Manga Corps on 2 bilingual DVDs (later re-released at a lower price). Was also available on three dubbed VHS volumes, as well as a 2-disc set of dub-only DVDs.

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