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City Hunter
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is a manga series written and illustrated by Tsukasa Hojo, published in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump from 1985 to 1991.
The series follows the exploits of Ryo Saeba, a "sweeper" who works to rid Tokyo of crime, and Kaori Makimura, a tomboyish girl who manages Ryo's business affairs. Their "City Hunter" business is an underground jack-of-all-trades operation, contacted by writing the letters "XYZ" on a blackboard at Shinjuku Station.
The manga was adapted into an animated television series by Sunrise Studios in 1987.
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Encyclopedia
is a manga series written and illustrated by Tsukasa Hojo, published in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump from 1985 to 1991.
The series follows the exploits of Ryo Saeba, a "sweeper" who works to rid Tokyo of crime, and Kaori Makimura, a tomboyish girl who manages Ryo's business affairs. Their "City Hunter" business is an underground jack-of-all-trades operation, contacted by writing the letters "XYZ" on a blackboard at Shinjuku Station.
The manga was adapted into an animated television series by Sunrise Studios in 1987. This first series was followed by three further series lasting a combined 140 episodes.
The City Hunter franchise spans four animated television series, three television specials, two original video animations, an animated feature film and a live-action Hong Kong film starring Jackie Chan. In 2001, Tsukasa Hojo started the Angel Heart, a City Hunter spin-off.
Plot
Media
Manga
In Japan, the City Hunter manga ran for eight years in Shueisha's Shonen Jump magazine from Issue 13 of 1985 to Issue 50 of 1991. The first compiled City Hunter collections were published under the Jump Comics imprint from 1985 to 1992, and totaled 35 volumes. The second edition was from Shueisha Editions, who published an 18 book version between 1996 and 1997. Bunch World published a 39 volume edition between 2001 & 2002. Most recently, Tokuma Comics published a "Complete Edition" of 32 books, each with bonus material between 2004 and early 2005.
The North American version of the manga, published by Gutsoon! Entertainment and serialized in Raijin Comics, is only available up to volume 5. The series has also been translated into Chinese, French, German, Italian, Vietnamese, and Spanish.
Spin-off
In 2001, Hojo started a follow-up series titled Angel Heart manga. The series takes place in a universe parallel to City Hunter, where the character of Kaori Makimura is killed and her heart transplanted into Li Xiang Ying, Angel Hearts protagonist.
Anime
The manga was adapted into an animated television series by Sunrise Studios in 1987. The first series lasted for 51 episodes, followed by two further seasons; City Hunter 2, which had 63 episodes; and City Hunter 3, which had 13 episodes. A fourth television series, City Hunter '91, premiered on november 28, 1991 and lasted 13 episodes.
Along with the four television series, the City Hunter animated franchise spans three television specials, two original video animations and one feature film.
1 Film:
- 357 Magnum a.k.a A Magnum of Love's Destination, A Magnum of Love and Fate.
2 OVAs:
- Bay City Wars
- Million Dollar Conspiracy a.k.a. Plot of a $1,000,000.
3 specials:
- Secret Service.
- The Motion Picture a.k.a. Goodbye, My Sweetheart.
- Death of the Vicious Criminal Ryo Saeba a.k.a. Death of Evil Ryo Saeba.
ADV initially had the rights to most of the series, with the exception of the last film. However, it went out of print quickly, and, possibly due to a lack of popularity, has not yet been re-released.
Live action
In 1993, Golden Harvest produced a live action City Hunter film directed by Wong Jing and starring Jackie Chan. Fortune Star and 20th Century FOX later released it on R1 dvd along with other budget classic HK films. Jackie was not fond of the work, and allegedly criticized it in one of his books.
(?? Meng bo) is another live action version of City Hunter. Despite the fact the names have been changed, this 1996 movie is considered to be a bit more faithful to the original material than the earlier film. Michael Chow plays Maang Boh (Mr. Mumble, the Cantonese version of Ryo) who takes on a job to guard Sharon (Pauline Suen), the daughter of a mafioso. The film also stars Francoise Yip as Yachi (Saeko), Jessica Hester Hsuan as Lao Tang (Kaori) and Eric Kei as Chi (Umibozu).
(?????? Gauyat sandiu haplui) is a Hong Kong film from 1991 that takes elements from City Hunter. Although the plot has little in common with City Hunter, the characters of Ryo, Saeko, Makimura, Kaori, and Silver Fox appear.
A new live-action version of City Hunter has recently been announced, to be produced and distributed by Fox Television Studios and South Korean media company SSD. Jung Woo-sung has been cast as Ryo, and that other Hollywood-based stars will be cast alongside, with filming being done in Seoul and Tokyo.
Characters
The protagonist of City Hunter. He was brought up from infancy in a civil war-torn Central American village. As a result, he has little information regarding his true identity. After the war, Ryo made his way to the United States, before moving to Tokyo. In Japan, he forms "City Hunter" team with Kaori's brother, Hideyuki Makimura.
Ryo Saeba's partner. She is primarily responsible for getting clients, and other managerial tasks.
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Hideyuki was Ryo's partner before his death. His final request was for Ryo to take care of Kaori.
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"Umibozu"' is another "sweeper". He and Ryo have a history dating back to the civil war in Central America.
She is a Tokyo police detective who often uses the City Hunter team to do her job for her. Saeko is the daughter of the chief of police.
Media
- City Hunter TV Animation Perfect Mook. Guide to the animated series. Published by Shueisha in 1991.
- City Hunter. Novel. Published by Shueisha in 1993.
- City Hunter Special: The Secret Service. Novel. Published by Shueisha in 1995
- City Hunter 2. Novel. Published by Shueisha in 1997.
- City Hunter Special: Live on stage. Novel. Published by Shueisha in 1999.
Reception
In a 2005 poll held by TV Asahi, City Hunter was voted #66 out of the 100 most popular animated TV series, as voted by TV viewers. A TV Asahi web-poll put City Hunter at #65.
External links
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