ANI-MOVIES, *Wicked City

Darkside Blues creator Hideyuki Kikuchi had written a series of books called The Black Guard in the mid-80s. This urban fantasy(which was years before the actual term "urban fantasy" was even coined)gained enough popularity to get its own full-length movie in 1987 directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, who would later go on to do another anime movie based on Kikuchi's works, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. Madhouse studio did a masterful job of bringing this intense horror/espionage tale to the screen.

Set on an alternative version of our world, the Earth has crossovers with another dimension called the Black World filled with metamorphic beings that can take on a human appearance. To maintain a steady peace between both realms, an organization known as the Black Guard comprised of forces on both sides to keep the regular citizens of Earth completely unaware of the alien world's existence. Taki is a seemingly average studly salesman who really works for mankind's end of the gate keepers, and is partnered with Makie, a sexy female agent from the Black World and part-time model. The pair are assigned to watch over Mayart, a centuries old horny bastard who makes Happosai from Ranma 1/2 look like a dead pope. Mayart is supposed to set a peace treaty between both dimensions, so a Black World group known as the Radicals set out to assassinate him. Taki and Makie confront shapeshifting terrorists, each with their own unique superpowers. By the end of horrendous night's escapades, it's revealed that the whole thing was cooked up by the Black Guard to pair up two of their best agent to give birth to a messiah that would bring harmony to both worlds.

Making for what might influence titles like Men In Black and Sliders, Wicked City was a profoundly mature production, largely borderline on being labeled as a hentai with its morphing assassin hookers and plentiful scenes of sexual assault. Even though this is a hard R-rating, it has some intense action sequences with a noir detective motif, similar to The Matrix or Dark City. The anime was popular enough to gets its own lesser successful Japanese live-action movie. The original anime film was first released in dubbed English by Streamline Pictures, later on DVD Urban Vision, and then recently through Discotek Media, as well as being available on streaming video.