FIF#132-Doomed Megalopolis

As the Imperial Capital City of Tokyo rises to prominence, there is one who would see it burned to the ground.  That someone is Yasuori Kato, an Oni with a powerful mastery of mystic arts who seeks to fulfill the grudges of his ancestors.  As a new century dawns, Kato begins his dark and deadly plans for Tokyo, leaving a trail of bodies and rivers of blood in his wake.  Few stand to oppose Kato, including a beautiful psychic who is essential to his plans.  Darkness falls over the Doomed Megalopolis and the battle that will ravage its streets will change the history of Tokyo forever.

When I was growing up with Anime in the Mid-Late 90s, there was always this stigma that it was a style of animation meant only for adults.  Sure there were kid offerings like Pokemon, Sailor Moon and yes, Dragon Ball Z.  But titles like Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Ninja Scroll were always locked behind that “mature wall” for me and when one glimpses even a few moments of Doomed Megalopolis, I can see why.  While a more respected artform today, Doomed Megalopolis seems to show off exactly what people though of Anime a couple decades ago: extreme Animation with gore filled action, explicit sexual sequences and this hard edge that made it as far different from family friendly Disney fare as you can get.

The only bits of Doomed Megalopolis I glimpsed at Otakon 2021 were the tail end of the first episode and maybe 1/4 -1/2 of the second episode of this 4 episode OVA.  Not sure if I would have found all the nightmarish imagery unfolding on screen as cool or terrifying as it looks. This is a horror action Anime through and through complete with a highly OP Villain who seems virtually unstoppable and capable of basically wiping everything off the face of the Earth in highly grotesque fashion.  I’m sure I’m missing vital pieces of information pertaining to his targeting a beautiful psychic maiden but…besides the unholy acts he clearly wants to do to her: why does Kato need anyone to fulfill his plans to destroy Tokyo?  With his overabundance of demonic psychic energy and a look that basically makes him look like he’s cosplaying M.Bison from Street Fighter, he could end virtually any fight with a snap of his fingers.  I know, I need more intel and it’s clear Kato’s going to be playing the long game as there is a several year skip during the second episode switching the focus from Kato’s initial maiden target, Yukari, to her daughter, Yukiko.  No matter who the object of his vengeance, sexual imagery and buckets of blood will be provided in full.

Doomed Megalopolis is a hard title to find nowadays but if I could tack it down at a con or rare video store (maybe eBay?), I’d love to do a full review of it, maybe as part of a look back at Anime of this particular nature.  Grostesque action sequences, sex scenes straight out of a Hentai and an air so ominous you’d wonder if there’s any kind of happy ending involved…yeah, this is the kind of Anime Akira definitely inspired (X comes to mind when thinking of some of those elements actually).  While Anime is more socially acceptable for all audiences nowadays, Doomed Megalopolis is a title of its time: when Anime was for those who wanted an extreme thrill not unlike America’s 1980’s cult classic Heavy Metal…man what a time to learn about it and still get a bit of a kick out of it long after its heyday.