Sengoku

As mentioned in my last Ani May article Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s work as a director includes some of the most well known anime ever created, like Ninja Scroll and Wicked City.  The target of this review is every bit as under-appreciated as Goku Midnight Eye and yet it wears its cyberpunk influences even more overtly.  The hint is in the title.

Cyber City Oedo 808 is unlike many OVAs given that it has no manga source material to draw on and seems to be an original work created by the writers and the director himself.  As someone who once sampled more than his fair share of Shadowrun and GURPS Cyberpunk back in the day I can report that it is an enjoyable exploration of the genre, albeit from a very Japanese perspective.

The setting is, of course, a Tokyo of the future, though curiously it is no longer referred to as such, having reverted to the ‘Edo’ (Oedo) of the namesake period of Japanese history.  There is a mixture of high technology/dystopian elements along with nods to the authoritarianism of the Edo period, best symbolized by the jitte that all Cyber Police carry, exactly as the police of old.  The 808 in the title refers to the depicted year 2808 AD, though if that number has any deeper significance I can’t say.  Crime is apparently rampant and the three subjects of anime are typical examples of “cyber-criminals” that the state keep cooped up in high-security orbital prisons.

The OVA is divided into three episodes of approximately 40-45 minutes in length.  Each episode’s plot is a complete story centred on the exploits of one of the trio of protagonists.  The opening to the first briefly introduces the premise and we are shown our “heroes” being offered a deal.  A chance to reduce their hefty (approximately 300 year) sentences is dependent on agreeing to work within the Cyber Police unit; each successful arrest will see a pre-determined number of years credited.  As if the usual risks of apprehending criminals is not enough, their obedience is guaranteed by the use of collars, which can not only be used for tracking and communication but to explode if the bearers fail to obey orders or complete their assignments in a timely fashion.  Dour and demanding police chief Hasegawa calls the shots and despite their acceptance of the terms of service, all three newly sanctioned cops chafe against their ‘restraints’.

The focus of the lead episode is Sengoku, a perpetual wise-ass who, even among a group of criminals, stands out for his disdain of authority and complete lack of manners.  Usually armed with his trademark magnum revolver, he has a shock of black hair and wears a red jacket that looks like it was stolen from the wardrobe department on the set of Designing Women.  Fortunately, for much of this tale he’s dressed in the more interesting-looking Cyber Police armour suits.  He’s tasked with discovering who is responsible for high-jacking the computers of an unfathomably tall Cyber City skyscraper and freeing the citizens trapped inside.  An unknown enemy is turning the building’s security systems against the rescuers and attempting to murder an engineer stuck hundreds of floors up the tower.  Much as he would like, Sengoku won’t be able to solve the case with brute force alone.

Gogol

The middle chapter belongs to Gogol, a character with some curious design choices.  One the one hand, he’s a hugely muscled physical specimen with a punk mohawk, reminiscent of ‘Birdie’ from Street Fighter.  On the other, he’s a supremely talented hacker, a tech expert and is blind without his cybernetic visor.  When he’s not manning a computer terminal, he seems to prefer heavy weapons that pack as much wallop as his fists.  In the process of trying to assist his old partner-in-crime, who has been duped into stealing some military secrets, Gogol is pitted against an experimental cyborg in a battle to ensure the Cyber Police unit’s continued existence.  In defending the honour of the department against a potential usurper, he’s “encouraged” not so subtlety by Hasegawa who gets a brief opportunity to be a bad-ass himself here (and actually leave the confines of his office).  Probably the bloodiest of the episodes, Gogol shows he’s no desk jockey and can both dish out and take quite a beating.

In the final section, Benten takes centre stage, and given his silvery-white glam-rock styling he almost looks as though he’s stepped right off one.  While he’s unashamedly androgynous and is a frequent target of jokes from his teammates for the feminine aspects of his appearance, Benten is equally deadly as he is graceful.  His athletic prowess is unmatched and his skill with his weapon of choice, a monofilament wire/whip inspires terror in more than one opponent.  He also seems to have a keen interest in the supernatural, quipping at times during the series that the stars are revealing a bad omen.  Fittingly, Benten’s story does take an otherworldly turn from the start, when an investigation into the murders of several bio-geneticists seems to point to a vampire villain.  Featuring a mysterious girl, an ageless antagonist, sabre-toothed cyber-cats with mouth-lasers (seriously what is it with Kawajiri and mouth-lasers???) and a plot hole a mile wide, this episode is quite different in tone to the first two, but still an enjoyable conclusion.

The only other recurring characters of note include Kyoko, a police officer assigned to assist the team.  She’s vaguely hinted to have romantic feelings for Sengoku though this is never well justified as he treats her only marginally better than most.  Lastly there is Varsus, a robot helper in the vein of Claptrap, but sorely lacking in any genuine contributions to comic relief.  When he’s not getting verbally abused by Sengoku he assists with information remotely and tirelessly reminds the unit’s members when they stray outside the acceptable bounds of police behaviour.

Benten

The art is of the high standard one sees in most Kawajiri films and OVAs, another great early 90’s (1990 to be exact) example of anime.  At the risk of spoilers, one can see future glimpses of the style of Kawajiri’s later film, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust during Benten’s section.  While the background music is inoffensive and somewhat unmemorable, the opening and closing songs leave an impression.  The upbeat “Burning World” accompanies the intro sequence and contains lyrics so puzzling you’ll struggle to make any connection to what you’re about to watch.  It almost feels as though it was used by mistake.  Even more jarring is the closing song, a heartfelt ballad that succeeds in making the credits feel even more inscrutable than the intro.  With only the third episode containing anything even resembling romantic overtones, you’ll be left shaking your head like I was.

I need to point out that the English language dub of this OVA is nothing but wall-to-wall profanity.  I’ve seen some potty-mouth anime in my time but this one just about takes the cake.  It may well be that the original Japanese script contained less cursing but as I’ve said before, whenever I have a choice, I don’t do subtitles.  I’ll leave it for experts far more discerning than me to decide what the definitive version of the dialogue for this anime is.

When I first rented Cyber City Oedo 808 many years ago I had only managed to get my  hands on the opening episode – in fact it was many years later that I discovered it was only the first of three.  I was pleasantly surprised that the complete arc was quite good and I’d even go so far as to say that I’m disappointed that more weren’t more made.  Like so many of the anime that I look back fondly on, it came and went and I hear very little about any longer.  Do yourself a favour, and give it a look.  If you like action and anything related to the cyberpunk genre, you won’t be disappointed.  You’ll also find it much easier to find than my last recommendation and with even a cursory check on eBay I can see some Region 4 and Region 1 DVD’s on offer.  This ends my contributions to Ani May here on Enthusiacs.com for now, but I’ve enjoyed the writing and reviewing process and I may return to this topic again in future – next May or sooner.  Enjoy!