Cert

Psychic Wars (Demons From Hell)

Surprisingly, and despite some of the blurb that has been put about lately by MEL, the cover copy is short, succinct and fairly accurate. That's if you ignore the odd "Demons From Hell" banner on the front cover and stick to what it says... perhaps MEL are learning! Now watch them prove me totally wrong...

What you gets for your money is an hour of OAV video concerning Ukyo (no relation to the spatula weilding martial artist and okonomiyaki specialist; this Ukyo is a surgeon!). Ukyo is called on to extract a growth from within a rather ancient patient who, shortly after he extracts this growth (which turns out to be a rather violent little demon) dies, bequeathing powers onto the surgeon. All connections with his profession are lost from that point as Ukyo rampages through time, occasionally accompanied by nurse and lover Fuyuko, killing demons to save the human race. If the story sounds amazingly similar to Monster City (Shinjuku) then don't worry. It isn't a retelling of that story.

The story attempts to introduce twists with alarming regularity, but much is lost in the translation as the major plot points seem to be telegraphed to the viewer in advance most of the time. The animation is bog-standard, not a lot different from such titles as Monster City or Wicked City though it still doesn't match those esteemed titles or indeed 3x3 Eyes which I would tend to recommend as a better title where demons are concerned, though I think I can stand this better than some of the Go Nagai stuff that leaks out on occasion. But then I get surprised occasionally. Dub is by the Cardiff posse, and is barely adequate but better than some of their recent outings. It isn't big on gore, it doesn't have great charas, it has no kawaii charas, but the story is vaguely interesting and there is a great bit in the middle where Ukyo discovers that demons can be disabled just as effectively as human males using the male non-maskable interrupt (to use a phrase recently employed by BOFH). Support material yes. Classic material? I'll get back to you!

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