Cyber City Oedo 808

Yoshiaki Kawajiri once again takes the helm and delivers one of the best Anime series of it's kind.

Kawajiri is no stranger to anime, having directed the fantastic Ninja Scroll and Vampire Hunter D he knows how to make them good.

As with the other films it's quality all round. Meticulous detail has gone into the artwork and animation to create a truly atmospheric cyber futuristic setting which looks amazing.

As with many others I saw this in the UK on it's first broadcast on Channel 4 and having been somewhat of a stranger to anime back then, having only seen parts of Akira, needless to say I was completely blow away by it. Something just struck a chord from the fantastic artwork, the rich and colourful characters to the incredible soundtrack by Rory McFarlane (One of the first things to grab me!)

I cannot stress enough the importance of this now discontinued UK edition of the series. The voice acting is exceptionally well done (rare for an anime!) and the music is a stunning 80's prog/synth metal charger in the vein of Vince Dicolas Transformers (1986)

In Martial Arts films I prefer subtitles, but in anime, due to the vast amount of visual work on screen I prefer dubbing as looking away to read subs takes some of the enjoyment away.

It is such a shame they only ever made 3 episodes. For ages (Pre internet) I searched for more episodes only to discover there were none, but in a way this only adds to the vintage that is Cyber city!

Thrilling, epic, action packed and brilliant!

Get it!

I'll try not to repeat what previous reviewers have already stated but I agree strongly with much of their content. This is absolute classic anime and is not surprising given that it's made by the same guy who did Lensman, Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter Bloodlust.

It looks great and there's some great animation even though it perhaps looks slightly dated compared to modern day anime (it was made in 1990!!!). The stories are very sci-fi and you can see a lot of influences from 80s sci-fi cinema in there.

There are some great sci-fi ideas in there as well some very imaginative fight scenes(eat your heart out Jackie Chan).

If someone asked me to cite a definition of a classic Japanese anime, then this would be right up there.

I watched the dubbed English version which, whilst slightly over the top, is probably better than watching the subtitled version by all accounts.

It's a shame that there isn't more anime like this as I feel there is a lot of anime that isn't worth a second look.

If you're vaguely into this sort of thing, then it's definitely worth a look. Have fun!

Cyber City Oedo (CCO) probably isn't taking up too much space on the Blockbuster videoshelves just lately, in fact you'd be pushed to find it in any major retailing store.

But if you like Sci Fi (Blade Runner in particular) and also know about the world of Japanese Manga & Anime (Akira) then you're in luck because CCO is just such a film that you really must try to hunt down.

CCO comes in three 50 minute episodes following the fortunes of three prison convicts, who have being allowed to reduce their life terms if they carry out dangerous police detective work for the city of Oedo (formerly Tokyo).

All three episodes are surprisingly rich in character development & storyline coupled with some truly excellent cell-animation. Don't be put off into thinking that because its animated its nothing more than a 50 minute cheap cartoon! A lot of work & attention to detail has been put in to make the episodes as real & compelling as possible.

The real bonus is the wonderfully haunting soundtrack at the end each chapter and that the dubbing into English (so often a big let down with most Japanese conversions) is really well done.

Try and track the series down, it will be well worth it.

****/*****

A piece of antiquity in my eyes, brutal, blunt and abrasive, generally, a classic piece of 'lads cinema' - just as fun today as when I was twelve.

The glory of Manga's cyberpunk collection, Cyber City is three episodes surrounding the collar-wearing criminal police force of a future 'neo-tokyo'.

Full of classical clichés; the quick snapping hard man sporting a mullet and a snazzy red trench coat. The enormous, goggle garbed somehow Japanese- Italian- American computer hacker and oddly, a long haired transsexual - Bentin, with his flashy pedicure and exceptionally effective cheese knife.

But, the wonder of Cyber City is its' shameless tough man aesthetics, (the sort of characters that say 'yeah I gotta a mullet/Mohawk or a nice pretty dress! What of it!) Simply striving off the spine-tingling, dramatic action that every fella is ashamed to love, knows he does but just doesn't know why. Cyber City is a show for the boys whatever age so long as the ladies aren't home, its just one of these boys' animations that the girls just cannot understand nor will they ever care to.

So for a few tins, a blast from animation past, f'in, blinding, beating, killing and great cheesy action, it's a show and a half!

The series is about 3 cons who are working as cops to stop criminals in cases normal cops don't usually take to lower their prison sentence. The main character is in for 370 years.

All 3 episodes in the movie have a strong sci-fi and almost X-Files feel to them. The X-Files piece pushed to an extreme. A little bit of detective work, connecting the dots and action.

The series if full of some pretty colorful characters, but it lacked a main focus. It follows the 3 former cons as they hunt down baddies... but there's no main baddie. No big boss or organization. Maybe one would have come into focus in the later episodes if they made more, but no big baddie.

So it was short, sweet and worth the $4.99 in the discount bin.