Been Marathoning "City Hunter" on Crunchyroll All Weekend

This won't be a long post.  Heck, I pretty much decided not to update the blog for this entire Memorial Day weekend just to have a sense what it's like to have a day off again.  However, now that the weekend is over I figured I would write about what I've been spending the vast majority of my time watching: "City Hunter."  One of the essential Blockbuster anime's from the late 80's/early 90's, "City Hunter" is basically Japan's answer to James Bond (only with everyone acknowledging what a pervert the main protagonist is).  Chances are most people reading this haven't seen the show in years though, seeing how the license lapsed years ago and the series has been out of print since.  Some of the old ADV DVD's go for outrageous amounts of money.  I should know: I bought a few of them myself!  And I did that because I honestly felt like the show would never come back to the states. 

It's too old, this generation has too many simulcasts to worry about a fossil of a show, is no longer considered "appropriate" in the #MeToo era...whatever, I just never thought it would happen.  Well, Discotek Media came along and saved it.  They were also the company that saved the Lupin III franchise in America (and may be looking to do the same for "Case Closed").  On the side they rescue a LOT of vintage anime titles and put them on BluRay combo packs.  I love this company and certainly buy from them when I can.  Anyway, they made a deal with Crunchyroll to stream the entirety of "City Hunter" (and the movies) on the app.  As a result, I have been doing a classic anime marathon the series on and off all weekend (the kind I used to do when I was 14 years old).  I've gotten to episode 16 as of this writing.  I have no idea if I'll watch the whole thing since it's not a show that demands I see every episode (it's not know for its overarching story). 

Having said that, watching the series has been both fun and enlightening.  I didn't realize that I would be spending most of the weekend revisiting this show after I re-uploaded an old review of the manga to this blog last week.  I'm not even sure why I selected that review to revive (other than the fact that it was readable).  Somehow, fate aligned so that after I uploaded a review of a series I thought for sure was never going to be legally accessible in America again, I would have access to the whole thing with a tap of a button!  Having revisited a small portion of the series, I can confidently say that my manga review was pretty spot on (crusty to read in spots though it was).  "City Hunter" is a fairly routine show where an overly skilled 'sweeper' (sort of like a hit man for hire whose main job it is to protect you) takes on case after case.  He singles out female clients and is obsessed with doing perverted things. 

While he's certainly not a politically correct character in this day and age (which means I won't be surprised if uninformed social justice warriors try to have the show 'cancelled' at one point), he is a memorable one, and the series has enough action and comedy to provide hours of entertainment despite the formula.  From this point on I'll probably just watch a few episodes here and there due to the nature of the episodic format, but it was fun catching up with an old favorite and finding it still has a lot of entertainment value more than 30 years later (such a quality is far rarer these days than many of us would like to commit).  I'll also buy the series on BluRay from Discotek whenever I have the chance (I certainly want to support them buying releasing more classic titles on BluRay)!

Your Comic Book Guy - Kevin