This article is part of a web-original series
Marco Cian (Hyogo)
Nothing ages quite like avant-garde. So the saying goes. And it’s true. This may be shocking, but there was once a time when your parents tried to look cool. Not saying they necessarily succeeded, but there are old pictures of your parents stashed somewhere in a photo album where they’re dressed in the latest fashions of the time. Yet to our modern eyes, they always look just a little bit silly, because what was avant-garde and fashionable twenty or thirty years ago looks dated and odd today.
The early 90s, meanwhile, will forever be defined by Grunge. As soon as Nirvana released “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, everybody wanted to be 2 kool 4 skool and violently edgy. At the time it was hip and trendy. But these days… well, let’s just say time has allowed us to separate the wheat from the chaff.
And what of Cyber City Oedo 808? Perhaps the quintessential edgy 90s cyberpunk anime? I mean, it’s directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri for crying out loud! The man who gave us Wicked City, Biohunter, Ninja Scroll, and countless others. If there’s some edgy 90s anime you’ve seen or are familiar with, chances are it was made by this dude. So surely he’s wheaty enough to make this series worth it, right? Well, let’s find out.
Cyber City Oedo 808
In a prison up in space, three hardened criminals are serving 300-plus-year sentences. Sengoku, with his black-haired pompadour, Gogul, with his bright red mohawk, and Benten, with his snow-white mullet. At 300-plus-years, freedom seems like a pretty impossible dream. But out of the kindness of their hearts, the police have offered our boys a chance at reducing their sentences. Simply take up the jitte of a police inspector, help the cops put away even more crooks, and with each successful case, the boys will get some years off their sentence. Who knows? If they don’t die in the line of duty first, they might even earn their complete freedom. In the meantime though, they’ll have to contend with some of the baddest motherfuckers the city of Oedo has to offer.
This is a work that I was already at least vaguely familiar with due to the meme-worthy line concerning vampires biting one on the dick. However, I think that rather creates an underwhelming expectation of the show, which is actually much deeper than expected.
I mean, not that much deeper, to be honest. But still far deeper than I expected.
First of all, the series is something I’ve never seen before and had never really conceived of, but which, I realize now, is an amazing and novel concept: not just a cyberpunk, but a cyberpunk torimonocho.
Torimonocho, for those of you unaware, was Japan’s first attempt during the Taisho and Showa periods to create their own homegrown mystery literature, instead of simply importing translations of Doyle and the like. What made it unique was that the thing torimonocho writers found just as important as the mysteries was the nostalgic view of the past. As such, torimonocho are equal parts mystery and period piece, using the idea of an Edo that Never Really Was but which exists in the popular imagination to examine our (at the time) modern day. If you want more info on the subject, check out the article I wrote on it.
Cyber City takes this idea and, instead of looking to a Tokyo that Never Really Was in Edo, it looks to a Tokyo that May Someday Be in O-Edo, while still having our inspector characters carry around old jitte as batons and badges. And, of course, since it’s 90s cyberpunk, instead of some commoners trying to make some extra dough by doing the beastly business of investigating crimes (how beneath us nobles!), we’ve got three cybercriminals serving several-century-long sentences in space prison, who are given the chance of commuting their sentences in exchange for their services, all while wearing explosive collars like in Suicide Squad.
Given this premise, and the fact that this is directed by that Kawajiri bloke, you’d expect our trio of protagonists to be edgy 90s anti-heroes. But, uh, actually, this is where the show first demonstrates its more surprising qualities. Despite the fact that they must have done something to warrant their prison sentences, our heroes are actually quite kind, polite, and emotionally mature. They’re nice boys, really. And their desk jockey sidekick is a sweet girl, too. Sure, the plots of each of the three episodes aren’t anything special. They’re mostly there to show super sick cyberpunk action. But our boys are nice enough that you actually care about them.
The thing is, I don’t actually know if this kindness is part of their original characterization, or part of the infamous vampire dick dub. There are certainly loads of lines where the English dubbers made things much more profane than in the original Japanese, but there are also just as many lines where the characters’ faces clearly don’t match their voices’ tones. Sometimes this is funny, akin to “I implore you to reconsider.” But sometimes it results in the boys having mature conversations about their feelings. And other times it results in K9-D2 (he has another name, but I call him that and when you see him you’ll know why) saying in his K9-y voice “You keep telling me to fuck off, but I have no genitalia.” Or “Insufficient data.”
Also, one of the more interesting features is how megacorporations menacing folks never really feature in the show. The first episode villain is a megacorp person, but the conflict stems from an old business rival he screwed over wanting revenge. The second episode villain is the military. And the third episode villain is an old money family trying to become immortal vampires.
Overall, this is a show with a lot of gore, but also a lot of heart. I mean, it’s gotta have heart to pump all that blood that gets splattered everywhere, but seriously, I had a surprisingly great time with this.
Now then
Is this a Cyberpunk?
Cyberpunk is about the little people – Yes and no. Our protagonists are all little people who have been given the dirty work of big people, so it focuses on plots within the seats of power while our protagonists don’t really have the ability to influence that power.
Cyberpunk is pessimistic – Actually… no! Edgy? Yes. Bittersweet? Maybe. But never is it pessimistic. Indeed, two of the episodes revolve around our heroes having to do what is morally right, as opposed to what is expected of them as officers of the law, and how they can get away with that without activating their collars. Like a lot of torimonocho, this is about justice winning in the end, regardless of whether or not justice and the law are the same.
Cyberpunk isn’t about changing the world – Yepyep. Our heroes are just trying to get by in this shitty system that’s made them slaves of the law, and trying to do some good where and when they can.
Cyberpunk is set in today, turned up to 11 – Oh indeed. I was honestly surprised to learn that this predated Nirvana, since it is SO painfully 90s. Even more 90s than Bubblegum Crisis was 80s. The soundtrack of the dub was even remade from scratch just to sound even more like grungy hard rock.
Cyberpunk wants to look cool – More than any other show I’ve covered thus far. However, this paradoxically makes it look less cool than the other shows I’ve covered thus far. It’s so 90s, it’s farcical, just like your parents in those old pictures. It’s so cheesy and campy in its unapolagetic edginess and 90s stylings. But y’know what? It’s still a good time.
Anyways, now that we’ve been doing this for a while, I think you can probably see the pattern these reviews are taking. In which case, you can guess what work I’ll be covering next.