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Home | Film Reviews | Asian Reviews | Film Review: Legend of the Overfiend (aka Urotsukidôji) (1989)

Film Review: Legend of the Overfiend (aka Urotsukidôji) (1989)

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SYNOPSIS:

When Overfiend is found and born in a human, he will remake the world to something more of his liking! Ripping the boundaries of the three universes (worlds) apart, it’s clear that little can stand in his way! While the other worlds are hoping to find the Overfiend to control the creation of this new World we call Earth.

REVIEW:

some of review from wikipedia:
Urotsukidoji was created by Toshio Maeda, in 1986, and was a huge departure from his earlier works in that it mixed erotica with humor, and the supernatural. He was commissioned to do the series for Wani Magazine, a seinen manga magazine that deals mostly with avant garde stories. Maeda was picked because of his artistic style which paid incredible attention to detail and for his ability to tell rather good stories with complex plots, unlike most erotic mangaka at the time.

Although the manga would grow a cult following; it was the anime which became notorious. Hideki Takayama took great artistic liberties with the Urotsukidoji story, mixing elements of horror, violence, and sadistic scenes of rape not present in the original work. Maeda himself stated in an issue of Playboy Japan that he found the anime to be repugnant, cruel and sadistic, yet brilliant, he also said he admires Takayama’s take on his vision.

The anime series is most famous for being the first in the tentacle rape genre, though only one scene in the first OAV actually contains any tentacle rape. Tentacle rape was not present in the Urotsukidoji manga but was featured in a series that he would publish years later called Demon Beast Invasion. Takayama was incredibly influenced by this work of Maeda’s but thought that the Urotsukidoji story was stronger.

In an interview as to why Hideki Takayama chose to tell such a violent and sadistic story he said “There is nothing that arouses a stronger response in human beings than either sex or violence. A mixture of the two is very powerful indeed.” Today Urotsukidoji, as well as its later sequels, are infamous, not just in Japan, but in the rest of the world as well. According to The Erotic Anime Movie Guide, it is the most recognized adult anime in the world.

Legend of the Overfiend is considered by many one of the most violent of Horror anime style films. We begin with the demon of hell plotting to uncover the overfiend which has laid dormant on earth with out a word for 3000 years. A few of the half breed demons roam the earth in search of uncovering this diabolical beast. When demons attack, fight or reveal there is usually plenty of organic metamorphosis combined with sever chaos. The visuals are dynamic, vicious and absurd all rolled into one. Battles usually involved dismemberment, plenty of blood and lots of demon weirdness that often has human forms evolving into huge monsters of various origins. The full tale is divided into 3 episodes:

“Birth of the Overfiend” (January 21, 1987)
“Curse of the Overfiend” (March 21, 1988)
“Final Inferno” (April 10, 1989)
These three episodes where adapted from the original manga but skip over much of humorous sub stories and sub plots and instead shift the focus to the apocalypse and the battle between Suikakuju and Amano.

The three OVAs were later edited into a western theatrical version known as Urotsukidoji I: Legend of the Overfiend, with much of the more explicit material being removed (continued in the UK and Australia by the BBFC and OFLC who also removed some of the more ‘shocking’ material). New animation was also added to help with the edits and some of the older animation was cleaned up. Despite the censorship, it still earned an NC-17 rating in the United States.

Planet Earth is not all it seems. It is revealed that humans are not alone and that there are unseen realms running parallel to our own: the realms of the Demons (Makai) and the Man-Beasts (Jyujinkai). To further that, there is a 3000-year-old legend that foretells the coming of the Overfiend (Chojin)—a being of unimaginable power that will unite all three realms into a land of eternity.

The story follows the exploits of the protagonists —man-beast Amano Jyaku, his nympho sister Megumi and their companion Kuroko—as their 300 year search for the Overfiend takes them to a high school in Osaka, Japan. Their discoveries lead them to two students: shy, lecherous Nagumo Tatsuo and school ideal Akemi Ito. But as the film plunges deeper into the dark and macabre, Amano discovers that the Legend of the Overfiend is not what it seems and that the future of the three realms maybe strikingly different from what he is led to believe…

Legend of the Overfiend is one of the better “horror anime” titles available. Fans who love the chaos, combined with some sex, lots of blood and monster battles with really enjoy this film.

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