City Hunter 3
XYZ, do these 3 letters mean anything to you? No, they don't serve to censor swear words... In short, it's clear that you don't buy the Star Comics comic... SHAME! That's enough, I can't do a review for some people, I'm leaving...
OK, I'm done, I'm being serious! So, as I think few of you know, XYZ are the 3 magical letters that you have to write on the blackboard of the Shinjuku station to have Ryo Saeba at your service!!! CITY HUNTER! or the best sweeper in the square.
First of all, it must be specified that "sweeper" does not really mean a killer, but the one who deals on behalf of third parties with all those practices such as murders, tailings, protections and lots of other nice stuff. What differentiates the "Hunter" Ryo Saeba from other sweepers are the formidable aim and the sad reputation of a sex maniac. In fact, if it were up to him, he would only work for attractive young ladies willing to pay him in kind, but unfortunately for him he has to deal with Kaori Makimura, his assistant with an easy hammer.
In the majority of comic strips, Ryo finds himself in the unfortunate position of not being able to get an erection (that's right) without being splatted on the wall by a hammer of several tons, operated by the very jealous Kaori. The manga, however, is not only proposed as a comic version of the typical American detective story, but tackles, thanks to the extraordinary skill of the author Tsukasa Hojo (former author of Cat's Eyes), with touches of extraordinary poetry, the relationship of the two colleagues and Ryo's dark past.
In short, a Masterpiece with a capital M.
In Japan the comic had enormous success and generated 4 television series, some animated films and a live film with Jackie "Earthquake in the Bronx" Chan. If in Italy Ryo Saeba has found justice in the third series, published originally only in videotape by Dynamic Italia, that is the version I'm going to talk about now.
Although the anime is more modest than the comic, the personalities of the two protagonists are taken up in all their facets: it's fun to see Ryo doing everything to get the unfortunate customer and Kaori to bed who beats him up on time. But what is certainly more interesting is the last part of the series, where the relationship between Ryo and Kaori becomes more intense, showing a part of the sweeper that has remained hidden up to know.
From a technical point of view, it can be said that the low number of episodes (13) made it possible to use Sunrise's money to obtain fluid animations and very high graphic quality for a television series. But the biggest applause goes to Dynamic, who did a fantastic dubbing: Ryo Saeba is voiced by Massimo Rossi and Kaori Makimura is voiced by Chiara Colizzi; at first the voices seem not suitable, but once you get the ear they seem made for those characters.
Ultimately, if you want a good series with shooting and lots of fun, you have found what you were looking for.
Well, I'm going... Kaoriiiii!
