Demon City Shinjuku

In the pivotal battle for the fate of the world, Genichiro Izayoi failed to defeat his former friend, Rebi Ra, who used this victory to decimate Shinjuku and turn it into Ground Zero for an impending Demonic invasion.  Ten Years Later, the time has come for Rebi Ra to complete his deal with the forces that gave him his powers and open Earths doors to the apocalypse.  Only one young man stands in his way.  Summoned by a beautiful maiden for an important mission, Kyoya Izayoi must finish the fight his father started.  The city of Demons, Shinjuku, awaits.  But few who venture in seldom return to tell the tale.  Will Kyoya be one of them?

In his directorial follow-up to Wicked City, Yoshiyaki Kawajiri is given the chance to deliver Escape from New York with an abundance of Demons, swords and mystical powers.  It’s too bad that, unfortunately, this feels like it backfired completely.  Not only does Demon City Shinjuku not do nearly enough with its premise, it’s also boring, doesn’t have a lot of stand out fight scenes and feels like a step backwards for Kawajiri after the stylish but underwhelming Wicked City.  I like a lot of this directors work (I’ll never stop hyping the heck out of Ninja Scroll), so it really stings to say that this movie isn’t very good, heck it might even be the weakest I’ve seen of Kawajiri’s filmography.
 
Demon City Shinjuku’s main problem is that even though its supposed to be an all out action flick, it’s a movie that’s about 75% repetitive exposition.  I get needing to establish a world and conflict quickly in and under 90min movie but it just feels like characters are rehashing the same information about Shinjuku and Rebi Ra’s plans over and over and over again with very little alterations.  And when that nonsense isn’t being spouted for the unteenth time, we have to contend with Kyoya, who is such a dull lead I wonder why he was even chosen beyond his lineages connection to Rebi Ra.  It doesn’t help that the English Dub for this movie is pretty bad and Kyoya arguably sounds the worst of any character (even those who have accents when their characters clearly shouldn’t).  Kyoya is just some dude bro who swears a lot and thinks he’s the top of the mountain when it comes to Demon slaying…which he isn’t, he’s a poser and hardly the hero this movie deserves.
 
No the honor of “hero” should go to the incredibly underutilized bad ass Mephisto.  We don’t know what his story is or even what he is.  But Mephisto has everything Kyoya lacks as a hero or a good protagonist: mystery, skill, cunning and a likeable personality.  While much of the bombastic action scenes fail to impress, it’s a smaller one involving Mephisto and a beautiful Demon assassin that’s the highlight of Demon City Shinjuku and that’s largely thanks to the creative way Mephisto defeats his foe.  Really, Mephisto feels like a test run for another lead character in another Kawajiri film we’ll get to later this month but he should have been the main focus of this one…granted this movie would’ve been over in five minutes.  I should also say that despite her Damsel in Distress role, Sayaka is still a different Kawajiri heroine compared to others I’ve seen like Wicked City’s Makie or Ninja Scroll’s Kagero.  She doesn’t have any combat skills and she’s hardly a bad ass.  Instead, Sayaka is a gentle soul who tries to appeal to the good in anyone.  The scene where she tries to appeal to the Demonic lost soul of a dead child stood out because even though the kid lashed out and Sayaka took a beating, she never gave up on getting through.  Granted that kind of kindness wouldn’t work on any other monster in this movie but still, cudos to Kawajiri for breaking his heroine mold a bit.  If nothing else it makes Sayaka more memorable than Kyoya.
 
If you’ve come to Demon City Shinjuku expecting Yoshiyaki Kawajiri’s stylish and sharp action sequences, theyre here but they aren’t that great.  The opening battle between Kyoya’s father and Rebi Ra is probably the closest you get to a typically awesome Kawajiri fight scene.  Anything else afterward lacks the polish and creative choreography that Kawajiri perfected in Ninja Scroll.  And theyre over too quickly and very forgettable.  By the time Kyoya lucks his way into another “successful” win, I’d already forgotten the entire bout.  Like I said, Mephisto’s one battle was the only likeable fight scene I can think of but even that’s over before you know it.  Believe it or not, I’d say it’s all style and no substance but Demon City Shinjuku seems to lack both in abundance, a disappointment for a film from a master of Action Anime Cinema like Kawajiri.
 
Demon City Shinjuku isn’t the successful follow up Yoshiyaki Kawaji probably wanted it to be after Wicked City (which was passable but still lackluster).  The lack of any memorable action, a dull lead and the need to repeat plot exposition after every fight scene hampers a premise that has potential and has a couple of good characters that could carry the film and make it ten times better.  As it is, this movie is a letdown from a Director whose works I enjoy the heck out of.  If you’re ever doing a Yoshiyaki Kawajiri marathon, start with Wicked City…then skip this and go right to Ninja Scroll.  Truthfully, youre not missing much.
 
3/10
 
Next time, Tokyo is under siege yet again, not by Demons this time but Espers.  A month of bloody horror Anime continues Next Monday with the movie adaptation of X, right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.  See ya then.