This series starts so eighties it's almost on par with Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. From the animation style to the outfits to the music, it's totally dated and I love it.
Ryo's introduction is a little weak. It focuses too much on the fact he's a pervert and not enough on how badass he is. The part mid-episode where he shoots through his palm to slow down a bullet should have been at the front of the episode. That was so cool and ridiculous that based entirely on that single scene I can't wait to see what other ridiculous action this series can cook up.
What I got from this first episode is twenty-some minutes of entertaining action and silly comedy. It felt like Jackie Chan, self-deprecating and fairly sexual but the main hero is entirely likeable even if he's too badass to be believable and too sexually mischievous to be likeable under normal circumstances. It's just a playfulness that wouldn't be looked at quite as comedically in today's culture.
I feel like this is going to be the injection of anime I need to maintain my love for the medium. I've been quitting shows left and right lately and barely anything has given me a moderate thrill or any form of entertainment. I've said for years that either the medium is going to places I won't be able to follow it or I'm growing out of anime and finding different outlets for my entertainment viewing. Shows like this are what made me love anime in the first place. It's a B-movie made into a series.
Even if it is pretty shallow and mindless, City Hunter promises to be a hell of a ride.
