City Hunter Private Eyes the Movie" - A sense of happiness brought about by the perfect balance between "nostalgia" and "the present" [Dogs, too, can hit anime when they walk. No.45]

We want to meet more and more anime that excite our hearts, anime that will cheer us up tomorrow, and anime that we will always love!　Our anime writers will introduce you to anime that are hot at the moment, regardless of whether they are new releases or long-term favorites.

This time we will be featuring "City Hunter the Movie <Shinjuku Private Eyes>" which is currently in theaters.

The film opened on Friday, February 8, 2019, and its box-office revenue was announced to have surpassed 1 billion yen by Sunday, February 24, 17 days after its release. A new 4D version of the film will be screened, and a "blockbuster "Mokkori" Kakegoe Cheering Screening" has also been scheduled.

Why is the new "City Hunter," one of the most popular "City Hunter" movies of the early 1990s, being received by a wide range of generations?　The author, who can't stop reminiscing about "Get Wild," introduces the charm of this work that attracts both old and new fans.

Is it "nostalgic" even for the Heisei generation?　The revived Haruka Saeba

After watching the trailer, I went to the theater because I missed TM NETWORK's "Get Wild," which was played over the action scenes of Akira. The audience was younger than the author.

My expectations were confirmed, and I enjoyed the entire film, pleasantly carried along by the nostalgia and the same old charm. A woman in her twenties, on her way to the exit, was talking passionately with her companion about the appeal of Saeba Ryou.

It seemed strange to me that not only the generation that enjoyed "City Hunter" in real time but also new fans were enjoying the show together in the same space. What kind of magic is this?

The original comic series was serialized from 1985 to 1991, with a total of 35 published volumes; the TV anime began in 1987 and has been made into a series four times, with three specials aired, and three movie versions released.

Animations broadcast in 1987 included "Red Light Bullet Girion," "Kikou Senki Dragner," "Anime San Musketeers," "Mr. Ajikko," and "Kimagure Orange Road. The previous year, in 1986, the blockbuster hit "Saint Seiya" began to be broadcast. You can see that the age group that enjoyed the show in real time was reasonably high.

The last TV special was broadcast in 1999. Twenty years have passed since then.

However, even among the generation that has never seen the "City Hunter" anime, there are probably many who have heard of the title of the work.

It is also very popular overseas, and in addition to the 1993 Hong Kong film version starring Jackie Chan, a French version, "Nicky Larson," was just released this year around the same time as this film. The film has been very popular, drawing over 1 million viewers in its first two weeks of release. A live-action film adaptation is also underway in China (scheduled for release in 2018 or later).

Read the times!" shouts Shang.

City Hunter" is a rare example of a shōnen manga in which the adult male protagonist is a comical and hard-boiled action hero in the real-life city of Shinjuku, and it is full of universal appeal that transcends time and borders.

However, this is the "#MeToo" era, the last year of the Heisei Era. Will the sexual harasser "Mokkori," as he calls himself, really be allowed to exist?　No, no, no, the discovery-riddled Akira Saeba is like a dried-up fish that has lost all of its charm. I was also curious about what on earth they were going to do with it .......

As if to answer the audience's question, Kaori's screams explode with the well-known "100-ton hammer" as soon as the movie starts as she sexually harasses her client, a beautiful woman.

You've got to get with the times!

That's right, that's right!　With a thumping laugh, the audience realizes, "Yes, you should laugh there. Yes, that's right, you can laugh there!

This line is meta-interesting, as if Shang knew that he had time-traveled from 30 years ago to the "present" and said it.

As if to take advantage of the loosened atmosphere, Shang's sexual harassment accelerates and goes out of control. To put it bluntly, it is quite terrible. But once the atmosphere warms up, it is forgivable. Yes, "City Hunter" was like that, and "City Hunter" must be like this.

And perhaps the people who are familiar with "City Hunter" will also understand. This is the kind of work this is. The outbursts of the "mokkori" Chan are always stopped by Shang and sublimated into laughter, never hurting anyone and never making anyone truly uncomfortable. No one is hurt and no one is truly offended.

Lumine Est Shinjuku, Basta Shinjuku, and the Shinjuku of the "present" ......

The Shinjuku area where the film takes place is the real Shinjuku of today, as anyone who has been there will know. The film features a number of spots that did not exist in the "City Hunter" world, including Godzilla at the TOHO Cinemas Shinjuku in Kabukicho (since 2015), Lumine Est Shinjuku at the East Exit (since 2006), and Basta Shinjuku, an express bus terminal (since 2016).

The same goes for items. Smartphones are used, of course, and flying drones play an active role in everyday scenes. At first, there is a gap between the two, but it quickly fades away.

On the other hand, in a small store in an alley in Shinjuku, business continues much as it did in the past. The owner of the store, a familiar face, lends a hand in a crisis and takes in a client as a thank-you for resolving the day-to-day problems.

In this way, the present-day Shinjuku and the "Shinjuku" of "City Hunter" are connected.

The film jumps back in time 30 years to the present day Shinjuku, where the hard-boiled and wildly active Akira and Kaibo in their prime are on full display.

The original cast and the theme song, which is full of great songs, make this a happy "reunion. It's like a happy "reunion.

Do heroes really age with the passage of time?

In "Angel Heart," which is said to be a parallel universe of "City Hunter," about 10 years have passed since "City Hunter," and he has lost Shang and is beginning to feel his own decline. I was happy to see "them after that," but I was also sad to see an older version of 獠.

This is one of the reasons why I felt a strange sense of elation.

The setting is unmistakably "the present," but time has stood still for the characters. They have not lost anything, and they are exactly as they were on that day.

This inherently improbable setting makes those of us who have actually passed through 30 years of time feel nostalgic and excited.

It is also good that the original cast was assembled without changing the cast to younger voice actors. The appearance of the three Raisei sisters from "Cat's Eye" was also a nice present (Yoshiko Fujita, who played the incapacitating role of Raisei, passed away in December 2018 before the recording, so Keiko Toda, who played Hitomi, took over for her and played the role of the incapacitating character).

The songs played during the show were hit songs such as "Get Wild" and Kahoru Obirimaki's "City Hunter: Ai yo nai nai nai ka" (Love, Don't Disappear).

Yes, I know. This feeling of happiness is like a happy "class reunion.

At first, you may feel nervous, but soon the atmosphere of those days will come back, and everyone remains exactly the same.

The first person in the play who is close to the audience's point of view is Ai Shindo, the client in this case. Ai's reaction to Jyu's sexual harassment, which is more dismayed than angry, is typical of a modern child.

The entire film is very detailed so that the audience can understand the setting, the relationships among the characters, and their personalities, and I can safely recommend it to first-time viewers who are unfamiliar with the world (good job to Shang for making a comment about the "work clothes" of Cat's Eye, the thief!) ).

) Nowadays, with the successive remakes and adaptations of such old works as "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure," "Saint Seiya," and "Dororo," it can no longer be said that "the original works are boring for people today because they were made in the old days.

And "theaters" are becoming "a space where everyone can enjoy anime together" outside of their own rooms or homes.

I hope that a wide range of people will see this nostalgic and happy work in theaters for various reasons, as entertainment with a wide frontage that can be enjoyed by people of all generations, men and women alike.

(Text by YAMAYU)

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