Tokyo Vice

Original Title: トウキョウバイス
Romanized: Tokyo Vice
Literal:

Plot Synopsis

In the Tokyo of the future the hotshots Akira and Junpei have dealt with the weak job market by forming a freelance detective agency. Joined by Junpei's sister Kumiko and the team's well-connected resident tech, Keiko, no case is too tough for them. Nor day job, for that matter: Akira moonlights as a rock singer and Junpei is an unassuming college student in his free time.

Things get interesting when some poor fool walks into one of Akira's concerts and dies in Junpei's arms. Of course, as dying engineers are apt to do, he gives Junpei a disk to deliver. Though the rest of the team would rather just hand it over to the police, Junpei is determined to deal with the matter himself. Unfortunately for him, there just happens to be one of those big, scary corporations after the disk, too. This particular one is into heavy robotics, and that's a bad thing when you have something they want. After they do a number on Junpei and kidnap his sister, it's up to the remaining two team members to deal with them. But when things get really ugly (what better way to test that shiny new assault bot than on some unsuspecting intruders?), will the battered Junpei be able to save the day?

Quick Review

Rating: 1.5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2006-07-22

Tokyo Vice is too-classic '80s anime. The story is as cliche as it is tried and true, and it stands out only in how little there is to distinguish it. It's got old-school action, decent '80s J-rock, formula drama, a recognizable cast of characters--the cool guy, the rebellious kid, the cute girl to get kidnapped--a mysterious disk, and an evil corporation with an astoundingly incompetent experimental military robot. It repeatedly corners a hero, then points its gatling gun menacingly at him for several minutes while an important conversation goes on. The only significant deviations from the norm are how little setup there is of the team and characters, and that Akira the rock star/P.I. is a little more human than most. Keiko is the stock mature '80s woman, but also has just enough personality to be likable.

In all, Tokyo Vice is exactly what you'd expect from an older cyberpunk action flick: Average '80s animation, average '80s art, a tried and true plot, and nothing more. If you can't get enough of old-school cyberpunk like Bubblegum Crisis or really like '80s action movies, then you might well enjoy it. As for the rest of us, it'll be a mildly entertaining diversion for the unintentional humor at best, and more likely a complete waste of time.

US DVD Review

Media Blasters' DVD (oddly retitled "The Tokyo Project") includes both English and Japanese soundtracks, but lists no extras.

Content Guide

Not much unsuitable for the younger viewer, other than some pretty serious (but not terribly graphic) violence. Maybe 13-up on account of the violence, if not 10-up.

Violence: 3 - Several gunfights, but a low body count and not a lot of blood.

Nudity: 0 - Nothing much.

Sex/Mature Themes: 0 - Nada.

Language: 1 - Again, not worth mentioning.

Notes and Trivia

Though originally released by Media Blasters on VHS under the original title (one of their first releases), it has since been re-released on DVD under the alternate title "The Tokyo Project" for some inexplicable reason.

A little bit of weirdness: If you have sharp eyes, you may notice flashes of what looked like text onscreen every once in a while. If you bother to freeze-frame it and have too much time on your hands, you'll see that your eyes weren't playing tricks on you. They appear to be questions about the story, thrown onscreen for one frame during an explosion or something. The last one, for example, asks something about the hero's big gun. I haven't been able to find out what they're doing there, but it was probably a contest or something similar when the video was originally released in Japan.

Availability

Available in the US from Media Blasters on Hybrid DVD (retitled "The Tokyo Project"). Was also available on subtitled VHS under the original title.

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