Demon City Shinjuku (1988) (2024)

Popular reviews

• Review by CinemaVoid 🏴‍☠️ ★★★ 3

  A hero journeys through hellish landscapes using his father’s wood as a weapon.

• Review by Christian Ryan ★★★½ 11

  Any of this sound familiar?

  An arrogant young man who carries around a glowing blue saber is visited by an old, grey-bearded wizard and urged to rescue a princess, avenge his dead father (who was killed by a dark lord), and save the galaxy. After a series of thrilling adventures and encounters with strange alien creatures, the young warrior (who is referred to as the light side’s “last hope”) arrives at the final confrontation, where he’s propositioned by the dark lord:

  “Aren’t the dark powers magnificent to behold? Join me, and possess true power!”

  Of course, our brave, but overconfident, hero refuses, charges headlong into battle, and is blasted by electric bolts of energy and cast into a deep chasm...

  Anyway, I don’t want to spoil what happens after Luke... er, Kyoya... finds the glowing green saber. You’ll just have to see for yourself!

• Review by Mandrakegray ★★★½ 5

  Saddled with an annoying english dub that has perhaps lowered it's status among U.S. viewers, Yoshiaki Kawajiri's beautifully rendered 4th full-length directorial effort is a marvel of late 80's/early 90's-era anime technique-wise.

  "Wicked City", "Ninja Scroll" and "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust" remains the director's most popular works...but his identifiable style is certainly well represented in this. All the animation tricks of the time are employed here, and while the fluidity of motion peaks during the action scenes, even the mostly static sequences benefit from rich colors, impressive shading, and (of course) Kawajiri's cool character and creature designs.

  Plot-wise, the film's hero vows to kill the powerful psychic who slayed his father years ago and unlocked a doorway to hell within…

• Review by 20oldboy03 ★★★ 9

  YouTube-Tage die Zwölf (12/2)

  
  Meines Vaters Schwert Dämonenklinge barst,
  Barst unter dem Gegenentwurf namens Rah.

  Unter dessen Kräften bar weltlichem,
  Öffneten sich Unterweltpforten,
  Und Tokio wurde gepalten mit scharfer Klinge.

  Gespalten blieb es eines Dämonenhort,
  Die Erde von dem Leben tilgend,
  Als die Zerstörung seines selbst.

  Gebündelte Kräfte vereinter Gesinnung,
  Kyoyas des Vaters Lenden, Shinyuku ihrer Mutters Schoss,
  Zwei Individuen geballten Willens,
  Des Sieges der Errettung aller Lebens.

  
  Kurzweilige Dämon/Monster-Action mit Figuren die sympathisch sind, Effekten die sichtlich nicht zu den großen Werken unter den Anime-Filmen zählen jedoch funktionieren, und einem Soundtrack der passt.

  
  Anime (Ghibli-Filme ausgenommen)-Ranking - boxd.it/emrv2

  Best of Anime-Ranking - boxd.it/emrTo

  Link - www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpU6diKqOd0&t=211s

• Review by Cinema_Strikes ★★½

  This saga of a swordsman trying to save the world in a demon-infested Shinjuku no-man's-land is about 80% less rapey than most Kawajiri films, so that’s a big plus, but it's also a lot more dull. The snake lady was a blast though, and briefly woke me up - you can always tell that body horror is Kawajiri's real jam.

• Review by Moresbi ★★½ 10

  #51 - Scuzz Anime of the 80’s & 90’s from 2024 Asian Cinema Challenge

  Progress: 40/52

  "Makai toshi: Shinjuku" aka "Demon City Shinjuku" was pretty "basic", mostly (for me) bland and I would go towards lacking, in several regards.

  Not a big fan of the story, which felt somewhat shallow, in several ways. Didn't really enjoy any particular character, though there were some interesting (lowly) villains.

  There's some neat visuals around.
  Not sure the progression was always "sound", which made things seem even longer than what they were.
  The latter stages were "eye-rolling".

  The ending was quicker than expected lol

  Overall, this one didn't do much for me, though I'm assuming I'm probably spoiled from more recent productions... I'm pretty sure this was/felt far better around its release time, which is why I'm slightly upticking it. For its length, I think it lacked a lot of things, to be honest.

• Review by Scott R ★★★ 11

  Hooptober XI: Grisly Ghouls and Occult Occurrences 🧟‍♂️(1/31)
  Criteria: Country 1/6 -Japan 🇯🇵

  “And now, most revered Lord of the Underworld, be ready to receive this sacrifice!”

  Let’s go my ghouls and ghosts! The chilled air blows and the demons are comin’ out… It’sHooptober Time!👻💀

  Thought for the Japan prompt I’d get us going with a bit of horror anime. This one gives you exactly what you want in a horror anime right away. A demon warrior with a cursed blade ranting about the power of the demon realm city, a young warrior training to harness his chi from a great floating glowing master. Right away- yup this is a horrific anime vibe, even if it’s not clear wtf is…

• Review by maskull ★★★

  Anime Marches On 2019: 3 of 5 80’s anime

  Really dig the design of the demons and the apocalyptic feel of the city of Shinjuku, but that ending is about as anti-climactic as you can get. On the other hand, apocalyptic city, gore, magical sword battles, and cool demons, it's still pretty darn watchable.

• Review by jasmin 🌙 ★★★

  Well, hi there.
  Okay, so after taking it a bit chill during the weekend I need to continue my anime challenge before it bites me in the butt - here we are.

  Izayoi Genichiro dies, trying to stop the sorcerer Rebi Ra - as a result Shinjuku becomes a playground for demons, hence the name. Now, 10 years later, Rebi Ra finally plans to complete his ritual so that he can plunge the rest of the world into chaos and it's up to Genichiro's useless son to defeat the evil sorcerer.

  So, if you were like me tricked into thinking the hero of the story is the girl on the poster and not the boy who *is* in the centre…

• Review by Graham ★★½ 4

  # Q: What's brown and sticky?

  15 minutes in and so far we've had a Dolly Parton-esque southern drawl, English home counties posh girl, and a dude that swears like a trooper in a Keanu Reeves slur. Nope, the English dub for this is bloody awful and feels like it was put together by an illiterate Goomba. If you're going to watch this, do yourself a favour and find the subtitled version.

  Aaanyway, so vengeful son of slain hero and helpless daughter of the world premier are destined to rid the dark from the light, vanquish the demons yadda yadda yadda. Again, I struggled with the tone of this Japanese 'horror' animation so read a few reviews, one of which…

• Review by DBC ★★★★

  The Anime Marches On! 2020 Challenge (19/32)
  Five anime films from the 80s (4/5)
  --
  Sure Tokyo's been taken over by demons and the World President is being held captive by evil plants, but if you look beyond that you'll see that Demon City Shinjuku is pretty standard Hero's Journey fare: young protagonist rejects the call to adventure until he sees what's at stake, and then reluctantly travels into an unknown world of danger and magic.

  So what makes this film rise above others which have used that familiar formula? Great visual sense, for one. There's an opening battle among the rooftops of the city skyline, and its shadowy, strikingly dark, but still clear to behold even through the smokey…

• Review by threepenny ★★★½

  The story never matters, it's all about the setting - a demon-ravaged district of Tokyo. Our heroes, one with a wooden sword and the other with her compassion, wander its wasteland streets through a series of vignettes - A boy with jet roller-skates, a spider ogre hunched atop a subway car, an enigmatic frenemy named Mephisto who romances and fights a Rokurokubi (a long-necked, long-limbed Yokai), and all the ghosts of the ruined district Shinjuku manifested in a little girl looking for her mother, and not finding her, lashing out in inchoate rage. Energy blades, even wooden ones, tear people apart and rip open the city to its foundations. Look one way at all the Star Wars parallels, look another…