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Demon City Shinjuku

Author: Shogun of The Dark
Date review submitted: October 19, 2000

In the very near future, Tokyo lies cracked and crumbling under the weight of an oppressive evil. One man, the tyrannical Levih Rah, has created this Demon City in Shinjuku, the heart of Tokyo. Rah's mission is to destroy the entire planet - and there are only three days left until his plans come to fruition! For years, no one has dared to cross the foul moat which Rah and his band of street punks, monsters and other fugitives have built around the Demon City. Desperate to rescue her father, who has been taken captive by Rah and his monstrous minions, the young, beautiful Sayaka Rama enlists the help of Kyoya, a streetwise Tokyo teenager.

The two bravely venture into the Demon City, where they encounter the fascinating. mystical character Mephisto, whose spiritual healing powers could save them from annihilation. -- But can this team of teenagers and an aged, cynical mystic actually overcome Rah's army of thugs and demons?

Technically, this is a great film. The drawings are highly detailed and well-planned, with coordinated colors designed to instill an emotional sense in the viewer (which can vary depending on the mood of a particular scene). The animation is fluid, and character designs are very realistic - a style that usually works in horror anime, where the audience needs to connect with the characters in a very real way to feel their fear. Music and sound also contribute well to the mood and are selected perfectly.

Unfortunately, the script is simply not up to the task. The characters are lifeless and wooden - the evil villain Levi Rah only gets about 2 minutes of screen time, and protagonists Sayaka and Kyoya have obvious pasts that are never explored (and should be) and a budding romance that is barely developed. It's impossible to care about any of these alleged people, and it's even difficult to hate the villain without any specific action against someone the audience might care about - while his evil is obviously great and powerful, it's in a much more general sense than would be necessary to sustain fear or hatred amongst the viewing audience.

What you end up with is a technical masterpiece with a very lightweight plot and characterizations. Demon City Shinjuku has some fairly good individual scenes, and the mood and tone are occasionally just right, but without anyone to care about or any truly compelling action, there's just not enough here to make this title worthwhile.

I give this anime a 7.5 simply because it HAD great potential and the enviroment and storyline were intriguing, if not quite to length. The animation and sound was good, I think this a rating that the movie deserves.

Overall Rating: 7.5