Reviews on series Cyber City Oedo 808 (7)

Anime consists of three short stories, united by the main characters. There are actually three of them. Criminals who have received several life sentences, they get a chance for rehabilitation. They are assigned police rights and sent to capture other dangerous criminals. For each caught they will be cut a year or two.
Each of the characters is an ambiguous personality. They have been running around the same cyber city of Edo and committed a variety of crimes, they have connections, past, character. All this is gradually revealed in the course of each story. Tellingly, these are still police stories about finding and catching criminals.

The stories themselves are interesting. Villains hide, hide behind other people's hands, masks. First you need to bring them to clean water, although catching it is still a task.
Anime is very beautiful, short and dynamic. Three interesting short stories, three cases. Although all three are engaged in them, for each story stands out its protagonist, who solves the case. Everything is very original and captivating.

You won’t regret watching.

There it is! These are the cartoons I wanted to see as a child! Something bright, interesting, not to see this gray reality of the sleeping area.
But alas and ah, only now and only in adulthood I was able to get acquainted with this product.

Triptych. There is such a thing as a triptych. This is a picture consisting of three elements, often connected by a common plot and complementing its parts.
So here: himself ' series' (and I understand that this is the pilot of the series, who did not shoot) is 3 for finished works, revealing in turn the three main characters.
Describing them is silly. You gotta watch this. The Japanese in the 80s/90s, those Sith in Star Wars, ' everything is raised to absolute' The 90s are as vivid as they have ever been in Western culture. On the other hand, it turns out a kind of squeezing, a standard of ' Chamber of Weights and Measures' which is nice to see.

The visual style is amazing. Colors are bright, colors are juicy. Blood. Not much of it, but it does.

Fantastic. Yes, this is futurism, which for us is already ' retro-futurism' (yes, yes, and not otherwise). A lot of elements borrowed from Western cinema and the aesthetics of cyber-punk.
Music. Thank you very much. And openings, and endings, and the soundtrack itself are sustained by a single thematic style, perfectly complementing the visual picture.

Story and script. There's a drawdown here. Alas and ah. But again, this is a typical action movie of the 80-90s, here it is even silly to cling to such ' trifles' as ' leaky' script.

P.S. The second film and its hero - Gogor (surprise!) is a reference to the Russian writer Gogol (well, there is no L sound in Japanese). And the character is good.

8 out of 10

Another work of the legendary Yoshiaki Kawajiri during the heyday of his career. Concurrently, the same stage was marked by a change in the vector of creativity in a more “adequate” side, after “City of Monsters” and “Shinjuku – City-Hell”. In fact, “Edo 808” is another indirect heir to “Akira”, which can be called almost any sai-fi and, sorry, cyberpunk anime. In this OVA, the maestro cemented his style, which is characterized by moderate brutality on the screen, stunning overall layout plans and rather trivial plots. But it must be said that Yoshiaki squeezes everything to the maximum from a set of cliché stories. No wonder his work became a classic.

City of Oedo, 2808. To combat cybercrime, authorities resort to voluntary coercive assistance from criminals who have already been caught, giving them a chance to shorten their sentences, which often exceed several hundred years. The story tells of three such prisoners: Sengoku, Gogul and Benten, each of whom sit for more than 300 years. They come under the leadership of cyber police chief Hasegawa. As a guarantor of loyalty, the newly-minted law enforcement officers have collars with explosives, which are remotely controlled by Hasegawa. Naturally, when you try to remove such a collar, it will detonate. The trio receive the most difficult and suicidal tasks that ordinary employees cannot cope with.

In the mini-series a large number of references to the history of Japan. From the very practice of calling criminals to the side of the law – Khomen, which took place in feudal Japan, to the very name of the city – Oedo – derived from Edo, the medieval name for Tokyo. Also, the heroes use jutte daggers, which were in service with the police during the same Edo period.
Two versions of the soundtrack were recorded: the original Japanese version by Hidemi Miura and Kazza Toyama, and the English version by Rory MacFarlane. Many viewers believe that the version for England was much more successful. Perhaps because it is much more elaborate than the five-track Japanese version. But I will leave the final verdict to you.

At one time, only the first pilot series about the capture of the building was distributed. Yes, and that initially saw it in black and white because of the bad TV signal, of course, it was impossible not to record on the cassette. However, I have already looked at the full color version.

I immediately remembered a style very similar to that of Gyver. Apparently, a popular drawing for the time when artists had already stuffed their hands and could afford excesses in drawing. This is not Disney, which saved on drawing the number of fingers.

That's how I moved from Disney to anime. From child to teenager, who was worried about completely different things: coolness, technique, determination.
In each series, one of the 3 heroes is revealed: Sengoku, Gogul and Benten, while the others are present and participate in events, but do not come to the fore.
Sometimes I am very happy for the commercial failures of works, because it saves them from excessive replication and rolling them into marketing slag.
Borrowing from anime can still be found, for example, the vertically repeated inscription KILL YOU.
The general plot tells about the use of criminals to prevent crimes, give them a second chance to correct themselves, use their skills in the right direction. This is not fiction, as is actually done, for example, once famous hacker Kevin Mitnick and his friends moved to work in corporate security services.

Now, going back to this anime, you can use his find again. Restriction of freedom. The fact is that every criminal has a collar (as in the Battle Royal), it is both a means of communication and an incentive to submit. In case of disobedience, their leader can give the wards an electric discharge, and if the situation gets out of control, rip their heads off.
Currently, I am interested in works that mention motivation, which motivates a person to activity. All standard motivational stimuli were useless and in their case did not work. You might think that something is broken, but it turns out, on the contrary, everything works perfectly, only the incentives should be the opposite: instead of promising a reward, a restriction on reward, instead of activity, a restriction on activity.

Back in 2808. The action takes place in the futuristic city of EDO.

Hanamura, the head of the cyber prison, offers three criminals to reduce their sentences by serving in the cyber police. For each criminal class 'A' their term is reduced by a couple of years, when they need to sit for several centuries.
In 2 hours we are shown the city of EDO from beginning to end. From the ruined slum block to the space station. Criminals, both dangerous and 'spanu', rotten selfish officials, cyborgs.
And the most important thing is that the artists managed to correctly submit it. Most of the events occur at night, all performed in simultaneously bright, but at the same time in ' lifeless' tones.
Of the pluses, it is also worth noting an excellent soundtrack, which fits perfectly under the events.

And the drawing, which of course lame compared to the new examples, but I personally can not imagine EDO in another. It's a perfect match.

However, it was not without disadvantages.

That drawing. Yes, it's good, but in action scenes it's not always clear what's going on. Although the main scenes do not suffer from this, after the first file scene in the first series, I thought for a long time ' What just happened?'

Sometimes there are scenes of landscapes that go by 5 seconds. Sometimes it's infuriating.

For me personally, the minuses are terribly banal titles. An ideal example is the same 'Cyber Police' or 'Super Elite'.

Bottom line:

9 out of 10

I would refer this work rather to post-cyberpunk, but the famous expression 'Hight tech, low life' observed in full.
To view necessarily not only fans of the genre, but also the ordinary viewer.

I love the old-school anime! The incomparable, classic style of sketching of the late 80s and 90s still looks fresh and colorful. Succulent, lively, and dynamic colors made the audience believe that the painted characters beat a living heart, and the veins, instead of ink, flow real blood. And then, as you know, came the “smooth and perfect” computer graphics, and made its “red revolution”.
While some directors dutifully accepted the citizenship of digital domination, and some cunningly pursued a policy of double standards ("Mamoru Oshii"), there were also non-criminal warriors on the battlefield, such as Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Without changing the pen with ink, his style, like good wine, became better over the years. And, perhaps, the culmination of his stylistic delights falls on the “full-length” about the adventures of the Japanese Blade – “Vampire Hunter Dee: Thirst for Blood” (2000).
But gradually, the enemy troops began to penetrate into his non-criminal fortress, and the old samurai was forced to negotiate. His most recent work, Highlander: In Search of Revenge (2007), did not do without the services of "ones and zeros." But, thank the Buddha, they only sometimes served as a back, while the characters remained as juicy and the eyes of the heroines unforgettable. So, this concession, nevertheless, I do not want to consider as a sign of "betrayal."
“Cyber City Edo 808” was not particularly successful at the time of its release, but over time, managed to acquire a cult status as an anime classic cyberpunk. However, this is not a classic cyberpunk. The creators of the film did not want to limit themselves in the “cybernetic” clutches of the genre, and were not afraid to make an injection of “mystical substance”. Here we have not only shootouts of cyborgs with humans, cyborgs with cyborgs, people with semi-cyborgs, semi-hyborgs with their kind, but also a tragic story of vampire love. But don't be afraid! The dose of “snot” is moderate, and we do not have to miss at all. In the picture, we are waiting for as many as 3 protagonists who differ from each other, not only in their image (and some makeup), but also in their life principles. They are united by only 2 two things: a criminal past and an incredible ability to kick ass bad fights.
Sengoku - rude, impudent, and stubborn. Although beautiful, but special gallantry to women does not show. He prefers the classic revolver 44 Magnum, instead of lasers. Despite the burly nature, he, unlike his associates, never violates subordination.
Benten is an exquisite metrosexual. Perhaps the most romantic of the protagonists. Managed to fall in love with a vampire, and naturally earn adventure on your head, as a bonus. But you can't call him a mattress. He's as smart as hell, cunning, and he handles enemies as gracefully as he does women. In his free time he does yoga to support the figure.
Gogul is a healthy pumped cyborg with red mohawk. But don't think of him as a stupid bully. His brains are pumped, no less than muscles, and the brilliant hacker from him is the same as the superhero from Superman. He is not without determination or dedication. In his spare time he reads Dostoevsky.

Perhaps this is not the most gloomy work of the director and not at all burdened with philosophical reflections. You can relax, look at an interesting, but not intricate plot, enjoy good action scenes, and admire charismatic heroes. Good to see you!

7 out of 10