Manga Review: City Hunter Omnibus Edition 01 by Tsukasa Hojo
Shunichi Ogino is an up-and-coming young boxer who’s got a title shot coming up. He’d previously been hit and run by a car, and during his recovery fallen in love with his physical therapist, Dr. Megumi Iwasaki. They’re planning to marry after the big fight. But there’s been some threatening phone calls lately. When Shunichi is shot during his early morning run, he tells Megumi exactly who it was. But Megumi can’t wait for the justice system to take down the criminal, so she doesn’t tell the police. This is a job for the City Hunter!
This action-comedy manga started in 1985 after the end of Tsukasa Hojo’s successful Cats Eye series. It also did well, inspiring a four-season anime, several animated and live-action movies (one starring Jackie Chan!) and an alternate history “sequel”, Angel Heart.
The City Hunter of the title is Ryo Saeba, who works as a “sweeper” (combination private detective/bodyguard/assassin) in 1980s Shinjuku, Tokyo. He’s an expert shot with multiple types of firearms, darn good with personal combat, and can take a lot of punishment. He also has a variety of other useful talents, including being a skilled vocal mimic. And somehow he’s able to operate freely, despite ownership and use of highly illegal guns and, you know, killing people every so often.
On the downside, he’s a horndog, very attracted to pretty women, and not shy in the least about making that attraction known. This often manifests as sexual harassment, and even when he’s trying to be restrained, the mokkori bulge in his pants gives away his real thoughts. (It will be revealed later that his awesome combat abilities are fueled by his libido.)
In the early chapters, Ryo’s partner is Hideyuki Makimura, a former police officer who scouts the clients to make sure they’re legitimate requests. He’s a world-weary type, cynical but devoted to his little sister Kaori (who Ryo has never met.)
After the introductory chapter about the boxer, the City Hunter team takes on a serial rapist and murderer who becomes known as the “BMW Devil.” Then Ryo is investigating a series of disappearances believed to be tied to sex trafficking. Coincidentally, he sees a young person being hassled by an aggressive prostitute despite the target’s clear distaste. It turns out the “young man” is actually a young woman whose tomboyish appearance and butch fashion sense causes her to be misgendered on a regular basis.
To “help” her out, Ryo tricks her into being the bait in a trap for the sex traffickers. Only afterward does he learn that she’s actually Kaori Makimura, his partner’s sister. Oops.
The next story introduces Union Teope, an organized crime ring specializing in drug running, that is trying to take over the Japanese underworld. They want to either hire the City Hunter to help eliminate the local Yakuza, or kill them as a possible threat. They use “Angel Dust”, an urban legend version of PCP, to turn minions into “super soldiers.”
One of these kills Hideyuki, but not before the ex-cop is able to pass the information to Ryo. Now Union Teope is after both Ryo and Kaori (so as not to leave survivors that might come back for revenge) so Kaori volunteers to become Ryo’s new partner at least partially to protect herself. She makes a lot of rookie mistakes, but at least seems to help female clients feel a bit less threatened by Ryo. We also get a hint at Ryo’s past as he’s very familiar with Union Teope and their operational methods despite them being new to Japan.
After dealing with some Union Teope sub-bosses, the crime organization backs off temporarily, and the City Hunter team becomes involved in bodyguarding a Yakuza boss’ daughter from a biker gang. This is more lighthearted than it sounds due to the actual nature of the bikers. As a result, high schooler Sayaka gets a crush on the much older Ryo.
So she inserts herself into Ryo and Kaori’s next assignment, helping a man fake his own death for the second time to get out from under a corrupt politician’s thumb and be able to see his abandoned daughter.
Next up, Ryo becomes a bodyguard for Yumiko Sato, an eccentric but very attractive actress. It seems there’s been a suspicious number of near-fatal accidents during the shooting of her new movie, a crime thriller. But who’s responsible? Her manager, the one who hired Ryo? Her playboy co-star? His jealous ex-mistress? The much put upon director? Or someone else entirely?
The volume ends on a cliffhanger as Ryo learns who the attempted killer is, and realizes that he might actually have to work for a win.
There’s some very good art, and Hojo does know how to draw the female figure nicely. Various details of weaponry and machinery come off well, and the action is exciting.
On the other hand, the comedy shifts are sometimes jarring, and sexual harassment isn’t as funny as it used to be. Also, the girl of the week characters tend to suffer from “same face”. As someone who’s seen most of the anime, I know that some of the comedic elements are tied into Ryo’s tragic backstory so if you can put up with them in the meantime, there’s some satisfying payoff.
Content notice: Quite a lot of murder, including by the main character, sometimes a bit gory, plus some lesser violence both slapstick and realistic. Sexual harassment by the lead, though his actual extramarital sex is all off camera and very much consensual. Mention of rape and sex trafficking. Drug abuse. Full frontal female nudity (in Shounen Jump! The Eighties were a different time.) A bunch of dick jokes. Misgendering as a running gag. Older teens should be okay, adult guardians might want to screen it for younger teens to see if they’re ready.
Despite some of the humor aging badly, this is a well-drawn, exciting series. Recommended to fans of Eighties action movies.
