Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend

Original Title: 超神伝説うろつき童子
Romanized: Choujin Densetsu Urotsukidouji
Literal: Legend of the Overlord: The Wandering Boy

Plot Synopsis

Note: This film is an adults-only production; while this review doesn't discuss anything overly explicit, if you're under 18 you should probably spend your time in another area of the site.

"Mankind... you are an ignorant race! How foolish it is to believe that your kind rules the Earth! Know now that you are not alone! There are unseen worlds which exist parallel to yours. These are the worlds of the Makai, a race of demons, and the Jyujinkai, those who are half-human and half-beast. There is an ancient legend, a prophecy, foretelling the appearance of a superbeing every 3000 years. He is called the CHOJIN, a god above all gods, the Overfiend. The Chojin will appear through the body of a human and, with his great power, he will unite the three worlds. He will create a new world, a world of peace and harmony. His time has now come. Ignorant humans--the truth shall now be revealed!"

Urotsukidoji is the story of Amano Jyaku from the world of the Jyujinkai and his three-hundred year quest to discover the Chojin. Accompanied by his sister Megumi and imp-servant Koroko he has searched the world of the Ninjinkai (humans) for centuries and now he believes he may have found what he has been looking for! But how can he be sure who the Chojin really is? And what will the Chojin's "perfect world" really be like? As Amano is tormented by doubts and uncertainties one truth rises to light--before creation there must first be destruction!

Quick Review

Rating: 4.5 / 5
Reviewer: Arcane
Review Date: 2001-11-01

Urotsukidoji is easily the most notorious anime ever made. Known to all anime fans with even limited knowledge, its name has become synonymous with sex and violence in anime. Renowned as the leading hardcore demonic horror series, the majority of anime fans avoid it. And this really is a shame, because without any doubt this film is excellent. Past the explicit content, it has a mature, brilliantly written and amazingly engaging plot--twisting, shifting, and multi-layered, it builds to a dark, devastating, awe-inspiring climax and gripping ending which left me desperate to watch the sequel, Legend of the Demon Womb. Although the animation shows its age, the old-school style is a primary factor in creating the mood--that extra edge of "unreality," not to mention plenty of juicy material for action-junkies. The dubbing is unexceptional, but the soundtrack is tense and mood amplifying.

Its easy to see why Urotsukidoji became a cult favourite; too mature for the mainstream, its excellent plot and action made it a winner with the more hardcore fans. Although now at least twelve years old, this still stands as a milestone in anime, the AKIRA of mature anime, pushing the idea of "anime for adults" to new, extreme levels.

US DVD Review

The DVD situation is very confusing, since as of this writing there are thee versions of this movie available on DVD:

There is the movie version, alone, on one DVD with few extras. It does include a Japanese language track... but no subtitles.

Then there's the Perfect Collection, which includes the "directors cut," actually the full three-episode OAV series the movie was edited together from. It also includes the two-episode OAV series used to make the movie's sequel. This version is subtitled only--no dub.

Finally, there's the Hell on Earth box set, which includes the entire series--the movie version, its sequel, and both later OAV series. That set is dual language without subtitles. Ugh.

As for the basic dub/raw Japanese version, it's an uneven but reasonably good production. There isn't much in the way of extras, and the lack of subtitles is odd and a major oversight, but there is a chapter index. At least the Japanese audio is included, and the transfer is fairly clean, although the English track is somewhat crisper. What really stood out was the video; the video transfer is surprisingly rich and as crisp as the original was intended to look. Although there's a little bit of film-style dirt on the print it was digitized from, it's also a very clean transfer, with almost no noise at all.

Content Guide

The film actually has an MPAA rating: NC-17. It's absolutely not suitable for anyone under 18--probably not a lot of people over 18, either.

Violence: 5 - Several rapes, as well as torn, mangled flesh, spilled guts--not excessive, but woah!

Nudity: 4 - With this many sex scenes (and Megumi)? Go figure.

Sex/Mature Themes: 5 - Don't let the kiddies watch this one. Stops just short of hentai.

Language: 4 - A lot of mature and vulgar language, but they don't use the really explicit words.

Notes and Trivia

Urotsukidouji is based on a comic by Toshio Maeda, who is credited as the creator of the entire tentacle genre with it--it was his creative idea for getting around Japan's odd censorship laws about showing sex acts.

It's a little confusing, but the "movie" version that is best known in the West is actually cut together from a three-episode OAV series. The film version is 108 minutes long and was released on 1989-03-18 under the same title.

The prototype adult horror anime, and the most renowned entry in the genre. It spawned one sequel movie and two sequel OAV series.

The "Urotsukidouji" of the title roughly translates as "wandering male child." Although "Choujin Densetsu" literally means something like "super-god legend," "Legend of the Overfiend" is not a bad translation in spirit. Early English releases of the film actually used the title "Wandering Kid."

Availability

Available in the US from Anime 18 in a confusing array of editions; the DVD editions include the movie version, which is bilingual but has no subtitles, the Perfect Collection, which has the full version of the series and its sequel and is subtitled-only, and there's also a "Hell on Earth" box set that includes the entire series dubbed in English and with some Japanese dialogue, but no subtitles. It was previously available in movie form (only) on dubbed VHS, as well as subtitled VHS as part of a "Perfect Collection."

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