Demon City Shinjuku is a 1988 anime film directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri. The film follows a young sword =man and the daughter of a powerful politician that go into a demon ravaged city to stop the man that killed the man’s father from opening a portal to the demon world. Demon City Shinjuku is a fun over the top anime film that any fan of 80s anime should watch.
The direction in the film is good. The film begins with a classic anime opening with the guy battling the villain as the film has an epic anime feel. The film is full of anime superpowers and an over-the-top anime style. The film also has a very 80s feeling with epic over the top anime fight scenes. The film also mixes in body horror very well with some great direction such as a cool match cut wee the villain kills the hero and the ground opens. The film has great post-apocalyptic imagery to it but the film switches between this and a slice of lifestyle anime with the protagonist. There is some real tension in some parts of the film combined with body horror as the bouquet a girl gives a guy is alive and wraps around him killing him. There is lots of typical Japanese imagery in the film with Kyoya the film protagonist being a sword instructor, the film also has elements of mysticism to it Kyoya having force like powers. Kyoya is trained by an old powerful mystic guy and shows of telekinesis and other such anime like powers. The character of Rama in the film acts as Kyoya’s love interest as well as the emotional core of the film with an idea of destiny being one of the main themes in the film. The film has an ethereal otherworldly feel to it with tension in the demon world. The film has a seedy sleazy feel to it were everyone’s in it for themselves. The film has a good sense of normality intercut with the tension of the demons as cool little details added like a character living underground. The film is the epitome of 90s anime with classic anime looking characters and gory bloody scenes. The protagonist ends up fighting a monster on a train in a very anime-esc scene were the monster ploughs through the train interjecting elements of body horror into the story leading to an epic over the top anime death. The film is full of real tension and dread as the film has weird surreal fight scenes combined with elements of mysticism. The film has crazy body horror fight scenes combined with very classic anime moments with a classic anime looking doctor called Mephisto. A succubus demon then attacks Mepisto and he kills her by mixing her acid blood with alcohol again showing the weird surreal body horror of the film as these anime fight scenes feels like fight scenes in video games. The film is full of gothic horror imagery as well as surreal dream likely imagery and duality to certain scenes in the film shown against a dark reality. When Rama and Yin go into the demon realm it looks like hell on earth as the film has creepy imagery witch in combined with an explanation of the entities of the demon realm. The demon world is shown in a surreal other wordy style with great imagery of a pink electric wall of souls. In an emotional scene it is shown that the souls of people are absorbed in an epic feeling climax. At the climax of the film, they face Rebi and Rama is captured in a dramatic climatic battle. Energy then shoots out of Reno’s sword as Kyoya slits his energy beam in two as he drives his sword though him, but it is not enough as his sword is destroyed, and he is blasted away. Kyoya then awakens in the afterlife where he finds his father’s sword accepting his destiny as he battles Rebi. They then fight in a crazy over the top anime style as they shoot lasers out of there swords, as Kyoya slices with blue energy lightning cutting Rebi in half as he explodes. The film neds with them having saved the world as they say goodbye to their friends in the demon realm before embracing and kiss.
The writing in the film is good. The film starts with a guy fighting the villain with anime superpowers as they destroy buildings. The opening is an epic over the top anime fight were the villain kills the hero. The film then skips forwards ten years later to show the protagonist Kyoya a delinquent. The film contains great body horror scenes were a bouquet the girl gives the guy is alive and wraps around him killing him, the film is also full of lots of typical Japanese imagery with Kyoya being a sword instructor. There is a good element of mysticism in the film with Kyoya having force powers with an old powerful mystic guy that trains them. The film has a cool use of telekinetic anime powers there is also good backstories between the hero’s dad and the villain as they were rivals, but the villain got jealous and there went bad. Kyoya ends up refusing the villains offer as Rama wants him to save her father who is his love interest in the film. The old guy tries to save his subordinates as destiny is a big theme in the film. The demon world is shown to be post-apocalyptic as full of dark elements such as Kyoya saves Sayaka from being gang raped. They end up chasing down a woman to get info out of her as a portal opens and a demon comes out. They end up getting help from a guy living underground and escape through a manhole as they protagonist ends up fighting a monster on a train which is very anime. Through body horror the monster morphs through the train, the monster is then seemly killed in a fight but survives as Kyoya uses his anime sword powers to defeat the demon as Yin finishes it off with a grenade. The film has epic over the top anime deaths as there is a good chemistry between Kyoya and Rama. The kid then betrays them as the demon traps them in a void and attacks them with duplicates until he finds the real one and defeats it by seemly drowning until Sayaka tries to rescue him. A demon head then attacks and tries to kill Kyoya as the film is very anime with a stylised looking doctor called Mephisto that helps them. There is a theme throughout the film that humans and demons are not that different, a succubus demon then attacks Mephisto and kills her by mixing her acid blood with alcohol. There is then an epic final show down between the good guy and the bad guy as Kyoya is transported into a dream like vison of the real world as Rama and Yin also go into the demon realm to save him. Rama then finds a little girl, but she turns out to be a demon as Kyoya’s mind is trapped in the demon world. There is a great used of purple lighting helping with the hell imagery of screaming faces as Kyoya is engulfed in it as they attack Sayaka as she walks into it as the souls are absorbed. Ra then summons the demons from the never realm as the city is being destroyed. At the climax of the film, they face Rebi as Rama is captured in a dramatic climatic battle. Energy shoots out of Rama’s sword as Kyoya splits his energy beam in two as he drives his sword through him but it’s not enough as the sword is destroyed and his blasted backwards. Kyoya awakens in the afterlife he finds his father’s sword and accepts his destiny. He then battles Rebi in a crazy over the top anime fight wee they shoot lasers out of swords as Kyoya slices him with blue energy lightning cutting Rebi in half as he explodes. The film ends with them saving the world and saying goodbye to their friends in the demon realm as Kyoya and Sayaka embrace and kiss.
The acting in the film is good. Hideyuki Hori does a good job as Kyoya the protagonist of the film. Hiromi Tsuru does a good job as Sayaka Kyoya’s love interest in the film. Kiyoshi Kobayashi does a good job as Rebi Ra the main villain of the film. Kyoko Tongu does a good job as Chibi a kid giving in the demon world that helps them out. Yusaku Yara does a good job as Mephisto a mysterious character that helps the main characters. Ichiro Nagai does a good job as Rai an old master that trains Kyoya. Osamu Saka does a good job as Rama the old master that trains Kyoya. Banjo Ginga does a good job as Genichiro, Takeshi Aono does a god job as the Hag that betrays them.
The cinematography in the film is good. The film has a good use of both blue lighting and red lighting that gives the film a unique ecstatic. The film has good camera movements with wide zooms and cool imagery such as budlings getting cut in half. The film is full of intense close ups and great apocalyptic imagery. There is very cool imagery such as one of the guys being strung up like his on the cross and a cool use of shadows in the film. there is also a cool use of red and blue lighting as well as cool camera zooms as they zoom into a black void. There is a cool dream like look in certain shots and a good use of white in the film. The demon realm is shown with a cool purple look, there is also cool purple explosion lightning as the souls are absorbed. There is also a cool use of electric purple lightning and explosions and a red background being shown against the souls.
The animation in the film is good and has a cool classic 90s anime style. The film has good anime style animation especially with the use of blue colour animation. There is a cool use of slash and flashing effects. There is. Very cool imagery was the city moves apart creating different levels as well as when the building gets cut in half there is cool animation. There is cool 80s style anime effects with the power ups as this ends up in an epic over the top anime fight. The film is a cool body horror film with classic bloody anime scenes. The film great apocalyptic imagery, the film also has good body horror scenes as the bouquet the girl gives the guy is alive and wraps around him killing him. There is very cool imagery such as the old guy meditating with a bunch of wires around him as one of his subordinates is strung up like Jesus on the cross, another cool image is the demon world which is shown be a post-apocalyptic version of the real world. The film is a staple of 90s horror anime animation and is gory and bloody. There is cool body horror imagery were a monster morphs through a train with epic over the top anime deaths. The film has cool red and blue animation and lighting which is shown to be a bright electric blue. There is cool surreal shutter effect animation with a monster swing rapped edits and its of cool red imagery. There is animation showing duplation, explosions and bleu lighting. There is cool imagery such as when a demon head fires a one-eyed star fish from its head attacking them. The succubus demon in the film creates cool body horror imagery as well as a good use of shadows in the film. There are cool animation sequences such as Rebi Ra transforming into a bat and scenes were the animation goes all white. There is cool animation in the demon realm which is purple with another worldly hell like landscape as well cool explosions of purple light once the demons are released. There is cool animation as the little girl’s corpse fades awa as her soul is absorbed as well as cool imagery with electric purple lightning and explosions. The animation has an epic feeling to it with electric bleu effects, as well as cool imagery with a red background against the souls.
Demon City Shinjuku is a fun entraining film is 80s over the top volent anime that has a good crazy element of insanity that really works with the film.
