In the year 199X, familiar animation was the likes of The Real Ghostbusters and Transformers. Bit of Trap Door and Count Duckula. Morph. A young 10-11-year-old was about to get his first dose first mind-blowing Japanese anime at a friend’s house. No idea where he got them from. Not your garden animation. Vampire Hunter D. A mature ultra-violent anime set against a gothic cyberpunk-esque post-apocalyptic world. D, A stoic diampyr roams the lands battling vampires of his ilk with a hand that talks and a sword longer than sense. Stunning fight scenes and grotesque creatures. No trial by fire, I was hooked! We must have watched Vampire Hunter D half a dozen times!
Soon after 1983s The Fist of North Star, essentially Mad Max. Characters explode from ninjitsu-inspired multi-hit strikes. mountainous enemies crumble in dazzling brutal gore fuelled combat. Discovering also Japanese series Dragonball. Saw possibly 6 episodes, no idea of the story aside from the bright visual action and knowing it was a take on the legend of Monkey. Young Goku sporting a tail and staff with a band of travellers, frenzy kinetic fight scenes. Over the following years was exposed to many more of the including the legendary Akira. No Akira, No The Matrix. Urotsukadoji came into my horizon, the legend of the Overfiend. Become something an urban myth between friends and foes, “Have you seen Urotsukadoji?” If their answer was no, you were caught somewhere between you are about to get your mind blown and you have to protect them by not letting them see this! They will never be the same!
Artists and directors let their imaginations go wild, many feature supernatural elements, demons and entities. Challenging moral dilemmas. Ultraviolence. Cyber City Oedo 808 saw on Channel 4 late, a tense cyberpunk thriller where prisoners with skills and cyber ware trade their life sentences for difficult bounty hunter missions.
The first demon death in Ninja Scroll is a beauty to behold, where a boomerang-like twin-headed giant blade that has caused countless destruction to a well-trained clan is confronted by Jubei. As the blade is sent into the environment spinning, a lock-step tight fought battle where our apparent hero is on the back foot. The blade comes back to strike the demon full in the forehead, splitting his head in two and the weighted weapon drags his head down towards the floor. Gravity deals with the damage. Leaves a lasting impression!
Tape trading was once the name of the game for watching all these fantastic films, but these days it is made somewhat difficult. Multiple streaming services and licensing rights have left many of the genres in limbo. Some not even getting DVD / blu ray releases as the mediums advance. So I created a list of the best I could recall, about 15 over the next few weeks going to be watching. Have done the searches, and found where they are available along with links online where they can be watched! Get straight into the action.
The first movie on the list is Wicked City.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8hc8ep
ANGEL COP – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuqdpyVs8u8 Episode 1-6
GENOCYBER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAvgAAtvXk4
Mad Bull 34: (1990-1992) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvoFMPYD9Kk
Black Magic M-66: (1987) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtlgMgConMw
Vampire Hunter D (1985) https://archive.org/details/vampire-hunter-d-english-dubbed-version
Vampire Hunter D bloodlust https://archive.org/details/vampire-hunter-d-bloodlust-english-dub (can also be found on ITVX streaming service).
Goku Midnight Eye https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eMSbxs-VCc
Cyber City Oedo 808 https://fantasyanime.com/anime/cyber-city-oedo
APOCALYPSE ZERO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoeUDMUfXLA
DEMON CITY SHINJUKU https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x66avyq
Legend Of The Overfiend – Urotsukadoji https://archive.org/details/urotsukidoji-legend-of-the-overfiend_202206
Urotsukadoji 2 Legend of the demon womb https://archive.org/details/wapwon.-com-urotsukidoji-legend-of-the-demon-womb
Essential watching includes Golgo 13 The Professional, Violence Jack, Devilman Rebirth, Crying Freeman, Akira, Battle Royale High School, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.
Followed by Ninja Scroll. Fist of the North Star. Urotsukadoji. Akira. Cyber City Oedo 808. Have compiled a list of 15, must-sees of those hand-drawn ultraviolent / cyberpunk animated UVAs that going to acquire/ watch online. Just don’t make them like they used to!
