Shuten Douji (TV Mini Series) Shuten Doji: The Star Hand Kid (1989) User Reviews

Typical anime

[acetylcholinenjoyer · 1/10 · 25 September 2010]

This movie was so boring. It was your typical anime boring crap, filled with satanism, female nudity (But almost nothing of Male nudity, that's why it sucks) ugly designs, a stupid plot and boring and bland characters.

This show was so stupid and boring, that it was completely worthless.

There wasn't any single good thing about this, everything about this show sucked.

This movie is pretty lame, even for anime standards. Unless you are an anime fan, don't waste your time seeing this crap.

What a stupid movie, and what a waste of time. This sucks hard.

Really cool anime that might not appeal to everyone.

[Envy2071 · 10/10 · 17 December 2005]

I picked up the first DVD of this series without knowing anything about the original manga or the creator. The first half of this series is really impressive, however (I have yet to locate the second volume). The characters are deep and interesting and leaves one wishing that the producers had made this into a full-length series instead of a four-episode OVA. The plot, revolving around a 15 year old kid finding himself in the middle of a massive demonic conflict over the future of Earth, is cool and really keeps one's attention. Stick with the Japanese soundtrack with English subtitles, because the voice casting for the English soundtrack is rather mediocre at times. A word of warning about content, however. This isn't anime for kids. The violence isn't overly graphic (not up to the gory standard of the likes of Akira) but there is plentiful female nudity, especially in the first episode. I highly recommend this anime fans and anyone with a taste for the supernatural.

Dated but enjoyable

[GavinNelson178 · 10 May 2004]

The people of He'ankyo witness a battle between a group of Oni, one of whom carries a baby in its mouth. The scene cuts to deep space where the battle between the Oni causes ships to explode. Another cut takes us to the modern day where a young newlywed couple, Kyoko and Ryuichiro, are visiting a temple. The battling Oni appear, and the one carrying the child is victorious. He presents the child to the couple and asks them to raise him. "I shall return for him in 15 years" says the demon and disappears. Kyoko and Ryuichiro name the boy Jiro Shutendo (referencing an ancient legend). The story then cuts to 15 years later when Jiro is at high school.

Jiro exhibits strange powers but is plagued by nightmares. When he is run over, Jiro is forced to come to terms with who he is. Other oni, led by Kitani the conjuror, pursue him but other forces intervene to protect Jiro. Using his classmate, Miyuki Shiratori as bait, the "bad" oni lure Jiro into a trap . .

Entitled Hyoki, this tape is the first of (according to Helen McCarthy's Anime Movie Guide) four OVAs. I'm not a great fan of Go Nagai, so I approached Shuten Doji with some trepidation. Although having a number of "etchi" scenes, Shuten Doji is no Urotsukidoji. It is story-driven, with the mystery of Jiro as it's focus. Of course, being the first part of a longer story the plot is incomplete, many of the mysteries of "hyoki" remain unexplained and are carried forward into later episodes.

Made in 1989, the animation and character designs are noticeably dated, though most backgrounds are nicely illustrated. When placed alongside more modern OVAs, most of which rely on "eye-candy" to catch and maintain their audience, Shuten Doji has a tough time. It doesn't have the most original plot in the world, and though watchable. could never be described as brilliant. It comes as no surprise that Shuten Doji has never attained the following of Nagai's other work (like Devilman or Cutey Honey).

Nasty

[Rectangular_businessman · 9 January 2013]

Like most of the works done by Go Nagai (The creator of Mazinger Z, Devilman, Cutey Honey Star Fleet/ X Bomber and Violence Jack)Shuten Doji is filled with lots of crazy stuff, combining in the same story mythological and science-fiction elements. There are plenty of violence, nudity and sexual content, with some scenes which are way too nasty (and gratuitous) for my taste, but if I am completely honest, there were some a couple of good elements in this anime: First of all, it had a very good atmosphere, which fitted perfectly well with the tone of the story.

Second, I liked the character designs. It might be a bit dated for modern standards, but I think that, at least aesthetically speaking, this anime was reasonably well done.

With, in what concerns to the plot, I have some doubts about it. This first episode starts in a decent way, despite all the similarities with "Devilman", but then it turns way too nasty and gratuitous (and also incredibly cheesy) the following episodes (which are a bit less nasty) were cheesier and had more bizarre plots, but somehow were a bit more enjoyable (In the same way in which a B-movie could be "enjoyable")

I guess that this is mostly a guilty pleasure, which I can't recommend seriously, but which personally I don't hate, despite all the flaws it had.