Synopsis:

The world it seems is divided into two halves or dimensions. One of light and the other of dark. The dark worlds (Black World) dwellers are supernatural in nature with shape shifting abilities not too mention superhuman strength and agility. While the Light world is steeped in normal humanity. For centuries a truce has remained between the two worlds regarding involvement in either realm. Now, that truce is being broken. Beings intent on destroying the delicate balance have crossed over to the light world in hopes of killing the emissary of peace who is one of their own. Agents from an elite organization of peacekeepers on the light side are dispatched to protect the emissary and insure his successful mediation of the coming peace talks. Nothing will stop either side from fulfilling their roles, which could mean the total and absolute destruction of one of these dimensions.

Audio/Video:

The disc boasts both Japanese and an English language track. The English track is in 5.1 with the Japanese track in 2.0. The 5.1 isn't really a true 5.1 in that the surround effect is merely the fronts and center in the rears. No real aural effects to speak of. The English language track is as usual not on target with the subtitled Japanese version but it does a fairly good job in explaining the film. Sadly, I found the Japanese 2.0 to be very soft. So much so that I really had to crank up the audio to even hear the dialogue. Needless to say, with the 2.0 there was no surround effect but the LFE seemed to kick in every now and then.

The video was full frame and had a lot of transfer errors. The biggest offender was the number of scratches that were evident all over the print. The colors seemed a bit washed out in certain places but were vibrant in others. This is an old title so perhaps a lot of this can be attributed to age. In any event, the scratches and color issues made for an annoying viewing.

Dubbing

The dubbing for Wicked City/Supernatural Beast City was OK. It still had some of the wooden elements that plague all Dubbed anime titles but in all, it wasn't that bad of a track to listen to.

Extras:

The extras on the disc are: The English and Japanese trailers for the film as well as 13 other trailers for Urban Vision Entertainment anime titles. Including Gatchaman! (Battle of the Planets in America) One page character bios and an interview with the director regarding his spin on the writer's concepts and ideas. The interview played rather long and was patently uninteresting. While his insights were interesting, they made for pretty lousy viewing. Lastly, a weblink and password are provided for anyone looking to hook up with Urban Vision Entertainment online.

Overall:

I bought this title on VHS at an anime convention many years ago. The only version available then was a straight Japanese title with no subs and in it's original title which is Supernatural Beast City. Watching it then, I had no idea what was going on. Now, I fully get what was happening and was able to enjoy it…relatively speaking. This title is extremely sexually explicit and borders on hentai(X-rated anime). I don't enjoy watching anyone get raped and certainly not by supernatural demons for lack of a better term and Wicked city is full of that. Though not nearly as gruesome as Legend of the Overfiend, Wicked City is definitely not for children and not really for adults either. The fight scenes were well done and the visuals were generally nicely done as well. In all though, I'd be uncomfortable recommending this title to anyone. If you are into anime and like very dark/demonic/hardcore entertainment, this has your name written all over it. However, if you are like me and your tastes are more in line with Macross, Gatchman and the Wings of Honneamise, then this is definitely not your bag. Skip it