妖獣都市

YOUJUU TOSHI

MOVIE

MOVIE
Dubbed
SOURCE
OTHER
RELEASE
April 25, 1987
LENGTH
82 min

DESCRIPTION

Beyond the boundaries of our ordinary existence lies a dreadful parallel world where demons dwell and humans dare not tread. For centuries, peace has existed between our world and theirs. To preserve that fragile balance and to ensure the survival of humankind, a new deal must be brokered, but dark and powerful forces lust to destroy the accord. When a militant group rises from the shadows, two elite agents are mobilized to counter the destructive forces and preserve the balance of our universe.

(Source: Sentai Filmworks)

CAST

Makie
Toshiko Fujita
Taki Renzaburo
Yuusaku Yara
Giuseppe Mayart
Ichirou Nagai
Kumo Onna
Mari Yokoo
Soap Jou
Arisa Andou
Mr. Kage
Takeshi Aono
Airport Demon 1
Ginzou Matsuo
Hotel no Shujin
Tamio Ooki
Jin
Kouji Totani
Byoin-chou
Kazuhiko Kishino
Airport Demon 2
Bin Shimada
Shachou
Yasuo Muramatsu
Narrator
Yuusaku Yara
Co-Worker
Seiko Nakano
Co-Worker
Kenichi Ogata
Secretary
Naoko Watanabe
Baten
Ikuya Sawaki

REVIEWS

unimportantuser
60/100
More or less on-par with Demon City Shinjuku
After lazing about for 9 days, I’m back to write my review on Wicked City & finish this duology. In my last review, I went over how Demon City, although a bad movie, was a movie I rather enjoyed due to its atmosphere & visual design. I’m hoping this will be the same case for Wicked City.

Story: 5/10

The story in Wicked City is just as lackluster as it was in Demon City, however I give the nod to Wicked City because it somewhat tries to do more with its plot, there’s more going on this film, more to digest, more to think about. The plot about this movie is that a bodyguard from the human world, & a bodyguard from the demon world have to team up with each other in order to protect this guy from getting killed by a faction of the demon world that doesn’t want this peace treaty to be signed. Unlike Demon City, the plot is actually somewhat thought-out, & it has a potentially engaging narrative at its fingertips. Of course, this doesn’t really amount to too much. This movie just doesn’t explore how the treaty would effect either side, we’re largely confined to the human world, rarely, if ever getting to have a look inside the demon world. The plot is largely underplayed for this one, largely serving more as backdrop/an excuse for the action scenes to happen.

Characters: 5/10

The characters in this one are also lacking, like in Demon City, however I think they’yre slightly more charismatic & have just a pinch more of a personality than the characters from Demon City do. That being said, they’re still 1-dimensional ultimately, with the slight exception being Mayart, but him becoming the protector, someone actually competent on some level, from a pervert at the start of the movie is rather sudden, & nothing foreshadows that he’s more than what he may seem. The characters are ok overall, like the plot, they primarily serve to drive the action sequences, but credit where it’s due, they’re more memorable than they were in Demon City. The various Demons that Taki & Makie fight are completely 1-dimensional & uninteresting. They’re only personality trait is “I’ll kill you” & nothing more. Even their powers aren’t much to write about.

Art: 9/10

Without a doubt the strongest part of this film is the art. Wicked City is aesthetically gorgeous, it’s character designs are slick, the color design is (pardon the pun) wicked. It’s an all around strong effort. The animation is also fluid & flows very well. The action scenes are staged, choreographed, & directed well, & leave an impact. Some of the storyboarding & shot structure is also pretty cool. I remember a shot about 50 minutes into the movie that served as a transitional segment for an action segment. The minimalistic color design of this shot is what made it so memorable to me.

Sound: 7/10

The sound is about on par with Demon City, the mixing can be rather quiet & hard to hear some of the time, the voice acting is a solid effort, & the rest of the sound design, relying sometimes on ambiguity, sometimes on crunch, all sell the tone & atmosphere of the individual scenes about as well as Demon City did, so not too much more to comment on with this one.

Overall: 6/10

Wicked City is more-or-less on par with Demon City. Although I slightly prefer Wicked City because the plot & characters are somewhat more engaging in this one than they were in Demon City. Otherwise though they’re equally worth watching. The plot is underutilized, the characters aren’t super interesting, the art, atmosphere, & setting are fantastic, the animation is also fantastic. The sound is solid. It’s an ok movie, enjoyable schlock if you will. I’m giving this one a 6/10.
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Sonatina
40/100
La sexualidad en Wicked City
Review cargada de información relevante para comprender el anime. Leela a discreción, teniendo en cuenta que contiene spoilers - This review contains major spoilers and discusses important plot details. Read at your own discretion.
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Wicked City es una película que se desarrolla en un mundo que trata la unión del mundo humano y el mundo demoníaco, y en dónde los protagonistas van a jugar un rol clave en cerrar el trato. Su propuesta más interesante es cómo aborda la sexualidad, y la aborda bajo una perspectiva religiosa bastante marcada.

Los demonios, representación de la lujuría. La película trata constantemente cómo el impulso sexual juega un rol importantísimo en el desarrollo de la trama. En esto, gran parte de los demonios se ven sumergidos por la tentación, o sus formas grotescas se enfocan en los órganos sexuales. Para el protagonista significa una amenaza de la que resguardarse; el deseo es utilizado para manipular y controlar las tentaciones del hombre.

Maki, víctima. Este mismo problema ocurre con Maki, que, aunque es aliada del protagonista, también es un personaje usado como recurso de alguien a quien controlar sexualmente. Pareciera que gran parte del film se enfoca en cómo la mayoría de escenas están orientadas a poseer sexualmente a Maki. Esto se hace evidente constantemente: las dos oportunidades que tuvieron los demonios de cancelar el tratado, las ignoran para abusar sexualmente de la protagonista. La primera vez que esto ocurre no tiene algún tipo de relevancia en el desarrollo; es meramente abuso sexual retratado para servir al espectáculo. Después, se ignora casi en su totalidad la oportunidad de darle algún desarrollo, y se la sigue utilizando, ahora con fines reproductivos para cerrar el trato de humanos y demonios. Esto hace que la protagonista fuera meramente algo a conveniencia de la narrativa, la despoja de una opinión real que pueda tener el personaje y la utiliza meramente como algo que poseer o desear, y que se apremia por hacerlo.

Esto es especialmente problemático. La película tiene un claro enfoque religioso. No es aleatorio que la escena final ocurra en una iglesia, que simboliza la unión de dos personas con fines reproductivos. Pero he aquí la cuestión: hay una gran parte ignorada sobre el consentimiento. En su intento por dar un mensaje moralizante, ignora el hecho de que hay una disonancia entre el mensaje simbólico religioso y lo que ocurre en la narrativa: la unión es usada para sellar el tratado de los demonios y humanos. Acá no hay sutilezas ni interpretación que valga, el casamiento es una herramienta, no algo que selle el amor de dos personas, aunque de todos modos ocurra.

Tratándose de esto lo más sensible que trata el film, Wicked City da una propuesta sobre el impulso sexual utilizado como peligro, lo soluciona de manera que el amor en la unión de dos personas sirva como control, y falla dando escenas de violencia sexual sin peso narrativo, y un mensaje incongruente. Porque, en definitiva, la película intenta dar una especie de respuesta al pecado en la redención del matrimonio, pero se olvida que realmente nunca existe voluntad en el personaje de Maki, ni en las escenas de abuso, ni cuando es usada como medio para solucionar un conflicto. El final no plantea una resolución al problema de alguien utilizado como herramienta, solo lo enmascara como mensaje religioso.
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