Cyber City Oedo 808

Cyber City Oedo 808 (サイバーシティ OEDO 808) is a seminal Cyberpunk anime set in the year 2808 in the megalopolis of Oedo (Tokyo). It was directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri.

Plot
To combat computerised crime more effectively, the Cyber Police unit of the future Japanese city of Oedo has restarted the feudal practice of hōmen (放免), employing hardened criminals with a history of hi-tech offences and other crimes such as murder as officers themselves.

Three such criminals are Sengoku, Gogol and Benten who are serving their 300-or-more year sentences in an orbital penitentiary. For duty served, each criminal will receive a reduction in their prison time. Desperate to get away from the boredom and monotony of jail life, they half-heartedly agree to the deal. They answer to police chief Hasegawa who keeps them in check thanks to an explosive collar that each criminal wears around his neck. Hasegawa can blow this collar from a distance and it will also explode if they fail to complete their missions within an allocated time period.

Although there are no specifics to what kind of society the series is based in, it is presented as very high-tech but also with a very dystopian feel. In the first episode for example, a man under pressure confesses to a murder (which he did commit) and which is responsible for the present crisis. This is enough for Hasegawa to order Sengoku to kill the man there and then without so much as a trial. When Sengoku fails to do so his sentence is increased.

There are three episodes, each one serving to focus more on the personal exploits of one of the three-man team. The UK release had different titles for these episodes than other markets did.


 * Episode 1; "Virtual Death" (aka "Time Bomb" or "Memories Of The Past"): Sengoku is sent to save 50,000 people trapped in Oedo's largest skyscraper after its central computer is mysteriously taken over. Along the way, he finds that the only suspect is a dead man.


 * Episode 2; "Psychic Trooper" (aka "The Decoy" or "The Decoy Program"): Gogol's investigation of a murder pits him against an experimental military cyborg as he tries to rescue his ex-partner. Of note is that during this episode we see at least one other cyber-criminal trying to (unsuccessfully) remove his collar, so we know that there are more than our three anti-heroes being employed by the Cyber Police unit.


 * Episode 3; "Blood Lust" (aka "The Vampire" or "Crimson Media" ): The freak murder of three geneticists leads Benten to investigate one man's quest for immortality, as well as finding a young woman transformed into a psychic vampire because of this quest.

Characters

 * Shunsuke Sengoku (千石 旬介) is very anti-social and a renegade. He uses a high velocity .44 Magnum revolver as his weapon of choice and swears a lot. He is fond of teasing Benten for his effeminate looks. Seemingly contractually obligated to be followed everywhere by Varsus (see below), who monitors his behaviour, keeping him in line while occasionally helping Sengoku out of tight spots. Sengoku is serving a sentence of 375 years, with a 0.005% chance of parole.


 * Rikiya Gabimaru (蛾眉丸 力也), also known as Gogol (ゴーグル). A blinded ex-heavyweight boxer, the punk-like Gogol is a brilliant combination of brains and brawn, being a musclebound expert on many subjects ranging from computers to medicine. He has an electronic visor for eyes, and wears a mohawk hairstyle. He is infamous as an expert computer hacker who once used his talents to hack into government datasites and hold them for ransom. Gogol is more stoic with his lot: he realises that hunting down cyber criminals is better fare than rotting away in orbital prison. Gogol is serving a sentence of 310 years, with a 0.013% chance of parole.


 * Merill Yanagawa (メリル・柳川), also known as Benten (ベンテン), seemingly a person meticulous in his job, whose main weapon is a mono wire which can cut through anything. A man of androgynous appearance, he's also an expert gymnast and something of an astrologer: He is often found to be reading bad omens from the alignment (or misalignment) of the stars. Benten is serving a 295 year sentence, with a 0.008% chance of parole.


 * Juzo Hasegawa (長谷川 十蔵), the Cyber Police officer responsible for controlling the cyber criminals utilised by the police. He possesses a device that acts as a communicator between police and the three cyber criminals: a dual detonation/reset device for the explosive collars and cigarette lighter.


 * Kyoko Jonouchi (城之内 京子), Hasegawa's secretary, who assists the crooks-turned-cops in their investigations. She openly appreciates their talents and skills better than her boss. She appears to be romantically interested in Sengoku who also appears to care for her, though the fact that they come from different sides of the law makes him hesitant in going any further.


 * Varsus (ヴァーサス), the robotic liaison between the cyber criminals and the police. Often accompanies Sengoku (see above), to keep him in line, provide mission information and be on the receiving end of Sengoku's frustration and insults.

Influences

 * Oedo stands for Oriental Electric Darwinism Oasis; it is also derived from Edo, the pre-Meiji era name of Tokyo. 808 is a pun referring to the numbers of sections that 18th century Edo was divided into.


 * The weapon of the Cyber Police is often mistaken for a sai and is incorrectly referred to as a katana by Gogol in the episode "Blood Lust". It actually is a jutte, a weapon used by law enforcers during the Edo period. Note that the Cyber Police's jutte has a retractable blade which can also shoot. The jutte is not only a weapon but also the proof of its handler being part of the Cyber police. This is the reason why it is the only weapon common to all three protagonists.


 * Promotional pictures of Cyber City often show the three protagonists with cherry blossoms (sakura) floating in the air. As it symbolized the ephemerality of life, that flower was often associated with both samurai and kamikaze. The symbol is reprised in Cyber City, because Sengoku, Gogol and Benten can die at any moment. Yet, they are not facing deadly danger out of duty (giri) but to selfishly save their lives and regain their freedom.


 * Gogol fights the MOLCOS, a "psychic trooper", on a tower that looks much like Tokyo Tower, a popular location for many Japanese monster movies (kaiju).


 * Creative designers Yoshiaki Kawajiri & Masao Maruyama cite the films of John Woo and Star Wars as main influences on the design of the 3 features.


 * The police practice of hiring imprisoned criminals to capture criminals was originally practiced in Feudal Japan, its hired hands known as homen (放免).

Game

 * 1991.03.15: CYBER CITY OEDO 808 獣の属性 (Nippon Computer System, PC-Engine CD-Rom) 🇯🇵

The game is clearly quite rare, at least in the West, although there is video of it available on Youtube showing that it does not follow the story line of the OVA and instead the creators of the game opted for an all new story seemingly keeping the main characters. There is no change in the violence quotient. It was released only in Japan with no English localization.

Voices
The English version was dubbed by British actors, putting on American accents. Sean Barrett and Daniel Flynn stuck to plain English accents for the release of the anime version of The Heroic Legend of Arslan set in a world of sword-and-sorcery.

, Bruce Martin (English)
 * Sengoku

, Sean Barrett (English)
 * Gogol

, Daniel Flynn (English)
 * Benten

, Bob Sherman (English)
 * Hasegawa


 * Varsus

Audio
The original British VHS release (also televised on Channel 4 circa 1995) features a more rock-centric 23 track score composed by Rory McFarlane not present on the US or Japanese versions, his score combined rock, electronica and ambient styles as the samples below demonstrate, it has been out of print for years and as such is very rare to find on CD but it is known to be available on the internet. Because of the more charged nature of the music in the UK edition score it is considered to be better suited to the ultra violent, dark and stylish atmosphere of the anime than the original, more pop like, Japanese score. Due to Manga Entertainment, UK losing the rights to the Cyber City series this edition of the score is unavailable on western DVD releases and remains available only on the old VHS versions from the mid nineties.

Track listing

 * 1) Space prison (2:40)
 * 2) Kill you (1:25)
 * 3) Car chase (2:07)
 * 4) Elevator (1:59)
 * 5) Murder (3:10)
 * 6) Amachi (1:32)
 * 7) Amachi dies (1:00)
 * 8) Diving (1:05)
 * 9) Gogol (0:56)
 * 10) Trucking (2:03)
 * 11) Arena (2:16)
 * 12) Body snatchers (0:36)
 * 13) Body vault (1:22)
 * 14) Top secret (1:16)
 * 15) Sarah (1:05)
 * 16) Duel (2:32)
 * 17) Molcos dies (2:39)
 * 18) Stars (2:37)
 * 19) Search (1:44)
 * 20) Cryogenics (1:22)
 * 21) Big cats (3:47)
 * 22) Vampire (4:30)
 * 23) Closing theme (3:13)

Reception
When it was released it was a very popular and influential cyber punk manga series and that has not changed with DVD re-releases being very popular and being given good reviews, such as from Animeworld.com it also has a score of  by 196 votes on Imdb as well as these quotes from sites below: "... a solid cyberpunk thriller/horror feature with enough action and characterization to satisfy." - T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews "This is a really good Mad House quality OVA show" - Anime on DVD ''"Oedo bears Kawajiri's signature proudly. Action fans will enjoy this show immensely."-The Anime Review

Trivia

 * In beginning of the anime Gabimaru Rikiya was reading Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment (title in prereformed Russian old orthography).
 * The end of File 1, Virtual Death, had Sengoku poised to murder Hasegawa. The first episode was intended to be a one off before success meant another two episodes and an inconvenient plot hole. The U.S. release, however, was changed to reflect this, instead showing two Chinese criminals.
 * Certain VHS copies in the UK were sold with "data cards" with the three main characters' vital statistics included on them.
 * Since its debut in 1990, creators Yoshiaki Kawajiri and Masao Maruyama are still unhappy that the opening title shot that spells "Oedo" does not evenly line up.
 * The original concept of Oedo was to be similar to the comedic "Lupin the III", but as the project developed the films took on a much darker tone.
 * All of the extensive computer graphics used in each episode were actually hand drawn since the production was made before the age of digital media.
 * The series was also sold as a part of Manga's "Cyberpunk Collection" along with AD Police and Genocyber.
 * MTA Records artist Nero used a re-edited version of Episode 3 for the video to their track "Innocence".