“City Hunter: Private Eyes” whose original title is “City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes” is the second animated film linked to Ryo Saeba and his business partner Kaori Makimura. In Italy the film was broadcast in cinemas at the beginning of September. Unfortunately, the culture of Japanese animated films fails to make its way into Italian cinemas, forcing fans to fit all the vision into those single three days a year. Fortunately, Netflix recently brought us this little gem of animation and laughter, allowing many to retrieve it.
Synopsis
From the point of view of the plot of the film, there are no major surprises that have not already been revealed during the promotion phase of the film. Ryo and Kaori are hired by a medical student who has survived several attacks on her person. The well-known duo appears just in time to get the young girl out of the troubles she has gotten into and, from that moment on, falls under the protection of the well-known "Hunter" (name by which he was known in the Italian dub).
Always the same City Hunter but with a different awareness
The film seems to be a great tribute to the stories created by the master Tsukasa Hojo, also author of the famous manga "Cat's Eyes", although he re-reads some releases and erotic references with the modern awareness of the 2000s, rather than that of the 80s. it does not mean that Ryo has stopped chasing panties and bras but that, from the beginning of the film, he is pointed out as “We are no longer in the 80s and that he needs to update himself”. In this sort of message lies everything we need to keep in mind about the film “We are watching a story, created in 2019, of a character from the 80's”. So it doesn't take a genius to grasp the fact that many things we will see can easily pass for harassment nowadays, but at the time they were part of the City Hunter comic repertoire and as such should be seen.
Another of the elements that make this film a tribute to Tsukasa Hojo is the presence of Rui, Hitomi and Ai Kisuki, marking the great return of the fearsome “Cat's Eyes” on the big screen.
Technical aspect
Japanese fans were rewarded with the return of the original cast of the animated series, which brought a wave of nostalgia to theaters. As for the Italian scene, we have the return of Guido Cavalleri to Ryo, which for me is already enough to justify watching the film.
From the directing point of view, incredibly, we have the return of Kenji Kodama, a director who needs no introduction after his works on "Cat's Eyes", "City Hunter", "Lupine III" and some "Detective" films. Conan ".
The rhythm of the story is in a continuous crescendo, typical of Ryo Saeba's stories, and music and bullets perfectly frame the narrative, leading to twists that are not particularly unpredictable but capable of snatching a few smiles.
