Yesterday, after finishing binge-watching the second season of Black Lagoon, I decided to take a break for a while. My goal for this month is to watch anime that's longer than 20 episodes, so I opted to lay low for a while in this community. However, now and then, I would share some reviews, and for today, I'm going to share something about a live-action adaptation of an old anime. Honestly, I really don't know that this movie was based on an anime if not for this community. I read year ago a review about its anime, and of course, I immediately recognized that it already has a live action adaptation.
I already watched more than a couple times its live action adaptation with Jackie Chan portraying the main character, and it's one of the movies I enjoyed because he's so comic and at the same time cool. It's one of those movies that kept on getting aired on our local TV, and every time they air it, I still watch it. I'm particularly fond of the girl with the girl with big hammer because even though she's clumsy most of the time, her luck in escaping doesn't run out. Enough with my memory galore, let's now plunge into the pervy action-filled world of Ryo Saeba as he takes on difficult requests as the renowned City Hunter!
About the Movie
City Hunter is a 2024 live-action adaptation of the 1987 City Hunter anime. This is an hour and forty-two-minute movie directed by Yûichi Fukuda and was first released last April 25, 2024. So the story follows a pervy yet badass Ryo Saeba who takes on the request of a woman to find his missing sister. After taking the request, he and his partner—Makimura, go on to search for Kurumi—a famous cosplayer and the missing sister of the woman who asked for help. However, little did they know that as they took that request, they also had fallen into a trap where they couldn't climb back.
On the other hand, aside from the mysterious disappearances of mostly younger people, violent incidents and killings have grown rampant in their city. The police department has been working diligently to uncover the mystery, but to no avail; they still find no strong leads about it. Not until tragedy happened when Makimura was killed during their investigation—a certain lead surfaced. And upon witnessing his brother's death, Kaori was determined to uncover the truth behind the root cause of it, but of 'course she can't do that without Ryo's help. Opposed to the idea of her being his new partner yet obliged to protect her, Ryo reluctantly formed an alliance with Kaori on uncovering and later on avenging his late partner's death.
No stones will be left unturned as the City Hunter and his new partner stormed across Shinjuku to find and protect Kurumi, their only lead in the dangerous and brutal game of tag.
The thing about this movie is that it seems more character accurate compared to the first City Hunter adaptation I've watched before. Jackie Chan's version was entertaining, but the way he portrayed Ryo Saeba was more like goofy and naughty plus I don't feel the pervy vibes from him. But upon looking up into the source material, I saw why Ryo Saeba was labeled as a badass pervert because he does look like one. Although he's a proud pervert, you can't deny how dependable and cool he is, and I think Ryohei Suzuki managed to portray the pervy and cool persona of the MC.
Since I'm not fully familiar with the source material, I can't say if the lore of the characters in the movie is the same as the anime. But anyway, the way the story progressed was definitely friendly to those who aren't familiar with the source material. The introduction was quite lengthy, but it's enough to give you a gist of what the characters are like. Its plot may not be something that unique, but you'll definitely be hooked on it, especially if you don't know what will happen next. The mystery was definitely there, and I like how the revelations started to unfold as soon as the tragedy happened.
Also, I like how cool the opening credits with it portraying the sceneries of the modern day Shinjuku (though it's filmed in Tokyo). The action scenes were something that amazed me because they're so well-choreographed, and the way Suzuki does his stunts and scenes was just something else. It's apparent that they made this live action to match the coolness of anime action. The cinematography of this movie was also astounding as it evidently grasps the fast pace and even quirky action scenes. That pervy Aladdin scene got me laughing, and if Makimura didn't point out that he's Aladdin, I would have thought he's Santa flying out the window haha.
Further, what I like about this adaptation is how it portrays the cosplay event! Despite that it's based on an old anime, they still chose to make it relatable, especially to the otaku who are watching this movie. Although it's just a brief part of the movie, I really enjoyed it even more than the resolution part. Those parts were just purely entertaining for me, and I'm glad that they decided to include that cosplay event. Ok, ok—enough with that, I undeniably enjoyed almost the entirety of this movie, and I do look forward to seeing more action comedy movies like this one.
To sum it up, this one is an entertaining movie to watch, but like any other movies, it has its fair share of flaws as well. I don't know but I kinda expected the villain organization to be filled with atrocious people, I mean their name strongly implies that they're many, but the strong ones in them are two at most. The villains were a kind of letdown for me, but if they're tough and strong, then the story would be longer, lengthy and most possibly dragging to watch. But anyway—despite those flaws, that didn't significantly affected my watching experience and I would love to rewatch it some other time. So if you're in for some quirky, funny and action-packed movie of a perverted dependent and badass "sweeper" of Shinjuku, then you ought to give City Hunter a try!
Before I end this review, I'll share with you its trailer, so—
Have you watched this live adaptation already? Or is this your first time seeing it? If you have something to share, then feel free to share them in the comments. That's all for now, minna-san! I hope you enjoyed reading my review.
The pictures that didn't have source were screenshots from the movie while the first picture was edited in Canva.