Demon City Shinjuku is a not particularly interesting entry in the anime genre, with a derivative story. Modeled closely on the Star Wars paradigm, it follows the adventures of a young hero, teamed with a female sidekick / princess type and a holographic spiritual mentor, who must defeat an evil man with supernatural powers. Just remove the bizarre demons and punks out of a poor man's Akira, and add in space battles, and you have a George Lucas feature.
Aside from the unoriginal plot, the film suffers from being quite juvenile. It's not just that the violence and nudity are kept to a largely PG-13 level. The film's overall tone is juvenile, without any of the intelligent plotting of Akira or the philosophical themes of Ghost in the Shell. Moreover, the animation comes across as that of a rather grimy Saturday morning cartoon, with none of the beauty of artists such as Hayao Miyazaki.
Ultimately, one cannot escape the conclusion that this was a bargain basement anime thrown onto the American market to cash in on the success of better features like those named above. The only good I can see to this feature is that it would make a reasonably good introduction to more adult anime to teens who are growing out of the Dragonball Z stage.
Aside from the unoriginal plot, the film suffers from being quite juvenile. It's not just that the violence and nudity are kept to a largely PG-13 level. The film's overall tone is juvenile, without any of the intelligent plotting of Akira or the philosophical themes of Ghost in the Shell. Moreover, the animation comes across as that of a rather grimy Saturday morning cartoon, with none of the beauty of artists such as Hayao Miyazaki.
Ultimately, one cannot escape the conclusion that this was a bargain basement anime thrown onto the American market to cash in on the success of better features like those named above. The only good I can see to this feature is that it would make a reasonably good introduction to more adult anime to teens who are growing out of the Dragonball Z stage.