Chôjin densetsu 2: Chôjin jusatsu hen (1988) (V)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Hideki Takayama

Writers:

Shô Aikawa (writer)
Michael Lawrence (writer)

Release Date:

21 March 1988 (Japan)

Genre:

Animation | Fantasy | Horror

Plot Keywords:

Blood | Splatter | Rape Scene | Death | Gore

Also Known As:

Curse of the Overfiend (International: English title) (informal title)
Urotsukidôji Legend of the Overfiend Part Two: Curse of the Overfiend (International: English title) (long title)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Cheerleader Autopsy (2003) (V)

The classic "Oh c**p, the Demon world is taking over!" anime

I saw this "movie" twice... the first time was a two-hour English dubbed version that packed the first three or four episodes into one full-on demonic assault. Never has Tokyo been destroyed so well... I was thoroughly confused but seriously into it. The immense amount of violence, and strong sexual content (and that's putting it lightly), are, at times, unnecessary, but not too offensive. The plot is pretty deep and involved (especially for an anime of this nature), and at times it gets downright cool! The dubbed version ends with a rather huge cliffhanger, and I was left hanging and jonesing for another installment in the worst way...

So I promptly went out in search of the rest of the saga... and that's how I came across the entire series in Japanese with English subtitles... and that's where everything went to hell. I watched the first four episodes (essentially the unedited version of the dubbed copy) and became wary. Every part that had been cut out involved violent sexual scenarios of the more disturbing ilk... nothing all that ground breaking, mind you, just pretty dammed disturbing. Nevertheless I watched the first four episodes and wasn't all that unhappy... the plot was a little more comprehensive, and, as everyone knows, the anime was much better in the original Japanese... the parts that had been cut for the English were more or less unnecessary, but, as I said, not too nauseating. Then I watched the rest of the series...

I probably missed something vital in the sensory onslaught but as far as I could tell, they had thrown the plot pretty much completely in the trash and moved on to hard-core anime porn. By the sixth or seventh episode I wasn't even watching the movie... I was too busy calculating the average number of male genitals used in the rape of every single girl that happened to walk on screen (I think the number was around eight). And to make matters worse there was still no real conclusion at the end of the horrific thing... the cliffhanger was even exactly the same!

Legend of The Overfiend is the only anime I have ever seen that is better, nay required, when seen in the dubbed version... don't bother with the Japanese, you're not missing anything.