| City Hunter | |
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![]() City Hunter manga, volume 1 (English release by Gutsoon! Entertainment) |
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| シティーハンター (Shitī Hantā) |
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| Genre | Action, Comedy, Crime fiction |
| Manga | |
| Author | Tsukasa Hojo |
| Publisher | Shueisha |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Magazine | Weekly Shōnen Jump |
| Original run | 1985 – 1991 |
| Volumes | 35 |
| TV anime | |
| Director | Kenji Kodama |
| Studio | Sunrise |
| Network | Yomiuri TV, Animax |
| Original run | April 6, 1987 – March 28, 1988 |
| Episodes | 51 |
| TV anime | |
| City Hunter 2 | |
| Director | Kanetsugu Kodama |
| Studio | Sunrise |
| Network | Yomiuri TV, Animax |
| Original run | April 2, 1988 – July 14, 1989 |
| Episodes | 63 |
| Anime film | |
| .357 Magnum | |
| Director | Kenji Kodama |
| Producer | Yomiuri Television, Japan Victor |
| Studio | Sunrise |
| Released | 1989-06-17 |
| Runtime | 87 minutes |
| TV anime | |
| City Hunter 3 | |
| Director | Kenji Kodama |
| Studio | Sunrise |
| Network | Yomiuri TV, Animax |
| Original run | October 15, 1989 – January 21, 1990 |
| Episodes | 13 |
| Original video animation | |
| Bay City Wars | |
| Director | Kenji Kodama |
| Studio | Sunrise |
| Released | 1990-08-25 |
| Runtime | 45 minutes |
| Episodes | 1 |
| Original video animation | |
| Million Dollar Conspiracy | |
| Director | Kenji Kodama |
| Studio | Sunrise |
| Released | 1990-08-25 |
| Runtime | 45 minutes |
| Episodes | 1 |
| TV anime | |
| City Hunter '91 | |
| Director | Kiyoshi Egami |
| Studio | Sunrise |
| Network | Yomiuri TV, Animax |
| Original run | April 28, 1991 – October 10, 1991 |
| Episodes | 13 |
| TV film anime | |
| The Secret Service | |
| Director | Kenji Kodama |
| Studio | Sunrise |
| Network | NTV |
| Released | 1996-01-05 |
| Runtime | 79 minutes |
| TV film anime | |
| The Motion Picture | |
| Director | Kazuo Yamazaki |
| Studio | Sunrise |
| Network | NTV |
| Released | 1997-04-25 |
| Runtime | 91 minutes |
| TV film anime | |
| Death of the Vicious Criminal Ryo Saeba | |
| Director | Masaharu Okuwaki |
| Studio | Sunrise |
| Network | NTV |
| Released | 1999-04-23 |
City Hunter (シティーハンター Shitī Hantā) is a hardboiled manga series written and illustrated by Tsukasa Hojo, published by Shueisha in the Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1985 to 1991. The manga was adapted into an animated television series by Sunrise Studios in 1987. The City Hunter franchise spans four animated television series, three television specials, two original video animations, an animated feature film and a live-action Hong Kong film starring Jackie Chan. In 2001, Tsukasa Hojo started the Angel Heart, a City Hunter spin-off.
Contents |
The series follows the exploits of Ryo Saeba, a "sweeper" or private detective who works to rid Tokyo of crime, and Kaori Makimura, a tomboyish girl who manages Ryo's business affairs. Their "City Hunter" business is an underground jack-of-all-trades operation, contacted by writing the letters "XYZ" on a blackboard at Shinjuku Station.
The protagonist of City Hunter. He was brought up from infancy in a civil war-torn Central American village. As a result, he has little information regarding his true identity. After the war, Ryo made his way to the United States, before moving to Tokyo. In Japan, he forms "City Hunter" team with Kaori's brother, Hideyuki Makimura.
The most frequent running gag about Ryo's character is that he is quite lecherous. His clients are most exclusively pretty young ladies, and he gets his share of black eyes (and more) either from them or his assistant Kaori, who secretly loves him. He is known widely in the town as a "swinger," based on the fact that he is frequently seen with different women by locals.
Voiced by: Akira Kamiya
Ryo Saeba's partner. She is primarily responsible for getting clients, and other managerial tasks. She is in love with Ryo, but he apparently ignores her for the rest of the series, and his skirt-chasing rouses her ire more than once. Her favorite weapon is a bazooka (or a Hammer to punish Ryo after his womanizing escapades).
Voiced by: Kazue Ikura
Hideyuki was Ryo's partner before his death. His final request was for Ryo to take care of Kaori.
Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka
"Umibōzu"' is another "sweeper". He and Ryo have a history dating back to the civil war in Central America. He goes by the professional name Falcon and his real name is Hayato Ijuin (伊集院隼人).
Voiced by: Tessho Genda
She is a Tokyo police detective who often uses the City Hunter team to do her job for her. Saeko is the daughter of the chief of police. She was once closely related to Kaori's brother, Hideyuki.
Voiced by: Yōko Asagami
Reika Nogami
She is a younger sister of Saeko, and is introduced halfway through the manga, and appears sporadically thereafter. She runs the "RN Detective Agency" (RN being her initials), right next to Ryo's apartment.
Miki
An Ex-Mercenary female commando, she was raised as a orphan by Umibozu in the battlefield and falls in love with him. She runs a Coffee shop named "Cat's Eye" (homage to Tsukasa's previous manga) along with Umibozu. She is battle hardened and also is a master of hypnosis.
Professor/Doc
Ex-medic at the Mercenary camp that Ryo was stationed in during the Civil war, he is the source of much of Ryo's underground information. He's just as much of a pervert as Ryo is. Does not appear in the Anime.
Kazue Nattori
A former scientist who's unintended acquaintance with Ryo resulted in her falling in love with him. She eventually becomes an assistant to the Professor in his lab, hoping she will have the opportunity to win his heart.
Kasumi Asou
A member of a proud clan of noble Robin Hood-like thieves, she initially meets with Ryo early on in the manga before returning to him halfway through the manga. She eventually falls in love with Ryo and makes brief appearances thereafter as a part-time employee at Cat's Eye.
Mick Angel
A former partner of Ryo during his stay in the United States, he is an equal to Ryo in terms of both skills and his womanizing nature. Introduced 3/4th of the way throughout the manga, he plays a big role in major story arcs thereafter. Does not appear in the Anime.
In Japan, the City Hunter manga ran for six years in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine from Issue 13 of 1985 to Issue 50 of 1991. The first compiled City Hunter collections were published under the Jump Comics imprint from 1985 to 1992, and totaled 35 volumes. The second edition was from Shueisha Editions, who published an 18 book version between 1996 and 1997. Bunch World published a 39 volume edition between 2001 and 2002. Most recently, Tokuma Comics published a "Complete Edition" of 32 books, each with bonus material between 2004 and early 2005.
The North American version of the manga, published by Gutsoon! Entertainment and serialized in Raijin Comics, is only available up to volume 5. The series has also been translated into Chinese, French, German, Italian, Vietnamese, Spanish, and Indonesian.
In 2001, Hojo started a follow-up series titled Angel Heart manga. The series takes place in a universe parallel to City Hunter, where the character of Kaori Makimura is killed and her heart transplanted into Li Xiang Ying, Angel Heart's protagonist.
The manga was adapted into an animated television series by Sunrise Studios in 1987. The first series lasted for 51 episodes, followed by two further seasons; City Hunter 2, which had 63 episodes; and City Hunter 3, which had 13 episodes. A fourth television series, City Hunter '91, premiered on November 28, 1991 and lasted 13 episodes.
Along with the four television series, the City Hunter animated franchise spans three television specials, two original video animations and one feature film.
1 Film:
2 OVAs:
3 specials:
ADV initially had the rights to most of the series, with the exception of the last film. However, it went out of print quickly, and, possibly due to a lack of popularity, has not yet been re-released.
In 1993, Golden Harvest produced a live action City Hunter (城市獵人) film directed by Wong Jing and starring Jackie Chan. Fortune Star and 20th Century Fox later released it on R1 dvd along with other budget classic HK films. Jackie was not fond of the work, and allegedly criticized it in one of his books.
Mr. Mumble (孟波 Meng bo) is another live action version of City Hunter. Despite the fact the names have been changed, this 1996 movie is considered to be a bit more faithful to the original material than the earlier film. Michael Chow plays Maang Boh (Mr. Mumble, the Cantonese version of Ryo) who takes on a job to guard Sharon (Pauline Suen), the daughter of a mafioso. The film also stars Francoise Yip as Yachi (Saeko), Jessica Hester Hsuan as Lao Tang (Kaori) and Eric Kei as Chi (Umibozu).
Saviour of the Soul (九一神鵰俠侶 Gauyat sandiu haplui) is a Hong Kong film from 1991 that takes elements from City Hunter. Although the plot has little in common with City Hunter, the characters of Ryo, Saeko, Makimura, Kaori, and Silver Fox appear.
A new live-action version of City Hunter has recently been announced, to be produced and distributed by Fox Television Studios and South Korean media company SSD[1]. Jung Woo-sung has been cast as Ryo, and that other Hollywood-based stars will be cast alongside, with filming being done in Seoul and Tokyo[2].
In a 2005 poll held by TV Asahi, City Hunter was voted #66 out of the 100 most popular animated TV series, as voted by TV viewers. A TV Asahi web-poll put City Hunter at #65.[3][4]
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| City Hunter | |
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| Developer(s) | Sunsoft |
| Publisher(s) | NEC |
| Release date | PC-Engine: March 2, 1990 (JP) |
| Genre | Run and Gun |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Age rating(s) | N/A PC-Engine |
| Platform(s) | PC-Engine |
| Media | HuCard PC-Engine |
| Input | Turbo Pad |
| Credits | Soundtrack | Codes | Walkthrough | |
City Hunter is a game released for the PC-Engine and is based off of the manga of the same name.
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