City Hunter 3

XYZ, do these 3 letters mean anything to you? No, they’re not for censoring swear words… Honestly, it’s obvious you don’t buy the Star Comics manga… SHAME ON YOU! There, that’s it, I can’t write a review for people like this, I’m leaving… OK, I’m done, I’ll be a serious person (?) (you, serious? Don’t make me laugh! Tribal’s note). So, as few of you probably know, XYZ are the 3 magic little letters you have to write on the blackboard at Shinjuku station to get at your service TA-DAAA!!! CITY HUNTER!, that is, the best sweeper in town.

First of all, I should point out that by “sweeper” we don’t quite mean a street sweeper (pardon, sanitation engineer), but someone who takes care, on behalf of third parties, of all those jobs like murders, tailing, bodyguarding and lots of other fun stuff. What sets the “hunter” Ryo Saeba apart from the other sweepers is his formidable aim and his sad reputation as a sex maniac. If it were up to him, in fact, he would only work for attractive young ladies willing to pay him in kind, but unfortunately for him he has to deal with Kaori Makimura, his hammer-happy assistant (lately she uses electroshock too – Goku’s note). In fact, in the vast majority of the manga’s panels, Ryo finds himself in the unfortunate position of being unable to have an erection (yes, exactly) without being splattered against the wall by a hammer weighing several tons, wielded by the very jealous Kaori. The manga, however, doesn’t present itself only as a comic version of the typical American cop story, but deals, thanks to the extraordinary skill of the author Tsukasa Hojo (also the author of Cat’s Eye), with touches of extraordinary poetry, with the relationship between the two colleagues and Ryo’s dark past. In short, to cut it short, a Masterpiece with a capital M (can you tell I like it a lot?).

In Japan, unlike what is happening in Italy, the manga was a huge success, which generated 4 TV series, a few animated films and a live-action film with Jackie “Rumble in the Bronx” Chan. While in our fair peninsula the first two series were butchered by the usual Valeri Manera and her fearsome “Cut-and-Sew-Ken”, Ryo Saeba found justice in the third series, released only on videocassette by Dynamic Italia (same planet, whole other world)(Stay tuned – Pelo’s note), which I’m now going to talk about.

Although the anime is more modest than the manga (Ryo’s erections are gone, in fact), the personalities of the two protagonists are rendered in all their facets: it’s a riot watching Ryo do everything he can to get the hapless client into bed and Kaori beating him up every single time. But what is certainly more interesting is the last part of the series, where the relationship between Ryo and Kaori becomes more intense, showing a side of the sweeper that stayed hidden for the most part (pardon the wordplay)(repetition, maybe? Pelo’s note) of the stories. From a technical standpoint, it can be said that the low number of episodes (13) allowed Sunrise’s big money to be used to obtain fluid animation and very high graphic quality for a TV series. But the greatest praise goes to Dynamic, which did a fantastic dubbing: Ryo Saeba is voiced by Massimo Rossi (Terence in Candy Candy, André in Lady Oscar)(Char Aznable or Red Comet or Edwin Mass or Quattro Bajeena, but on his birth certificate Casval Rem Deikun in Gundam – Pelo’s note), and Kaori Makimura is voiced by Chiara Colizzi; at first the voices seem unsuitable, but once you get used to them they seem made for those characters (Oh, nothing gets past you, does it? – Tribal’s note)(This man is starting to get on my nerves… – Ryo’s note). All in all, if you want a good series with shootouts and lots of fun, you’ve found what you were looking for. Right, I’m off… Kaoriiiii!