Name(s): Demon City Shinjuku / Makai Toshi Shinjuku / Monster City Shinjuku / 魔界都市〈新宿〉
Format: Original video animation [OVA] (1 episode)
Studio(s): Madhouse

Another Yoshiaki Kawajiri thing. Fuckin’ yawn, for once. I didn’t get a kick out of any part of this. It’s not hyper-stylized, the characters aren’t memorable, and it crawls along at a snail’s pace. The action is really what suffers here. No complicated choreography or cool powers, and the rare fight scenes are settled so fast between aimlessly wandering around the Demon City Shinjuku.

The greatest endorsement I can give this OVA is that it has a heavy Escape from New York vibe—but if it wasn’t any fun. Well anyway, a kendo-instructing high schooler is suddenly told his father died when trying to battle the hidden dark powers of the demon world and he needs to pick up the slack before an evil guy turns the whole world into a demon playground. This too-cool-for-supernatural-battles teen declines saving the world from certain doom until a cute girl gets involved. And the rest is history. I’m getting bored just writing this. I’d say skip it, no matter who you are.