Cyber City Oedo 808 (what a mouthful!) is low-brow alright. But its quite close to being so campy its legitimately good. Its got some cool sci-fi elements, with one of the trashiest dubs I've seen. The dialog wasn't just translated, but saturated with swears and even rewritten to suit a raunchier script. Thank God that happened, because they made some of the most awful, awesome lines in history, period! Its perfect for a show focused on guts and scrap metal over plot.Heck, the stories aren't that bad. In fact, they may even be too serious for this kind of show. Each episode focuses on a different member of the force, and display a unique aspect of this cyberpunk world. There are attempts to add more sympathetic characters than our trash-talking, violent ex-criminals, but they have too little time to make an impact.The worst part about the series? Honestly, its that there's only three episodes. You only scratch the surface of these characters and their explosive adventures. There's no over-arching plot in the OVAs, and no conclusion. I feel like I've watched three episodes from a TV series instead of a direct-to-video one. Where can I see the further adventurers of Sengoku, Gogol, and Benten? :c Ah well. Overall, its the exact junk food you want to watch occasionally. Its a 5 out of 10, but it doesn't get that rating for being boring, typical, or unwatchable. Definitely watch the English dub, preferably the U.K. edition if you want some kickin' synth rock.

Yoshiaki Kawajiri once again takes the helm and delivers one of the best Anime series of it's kind.Kawajiri is no stranger to anime, having directed the fantastic Ninja Scroll and Vampire Hunter D he knows how to make them good.As with the other films it's quality all round. Meticulous detail has gone into the artwork and animation to create a truly atmospheric cyber futuristic setting which looks amazing.As with many others I saw this in the UK on it's first broadcast on Channel 4 and having been somewhat of a stranger to anime back then, having only seen parts of Akira, needless to say I was completely blow away by it. Something just struck a chord from the fantastic artwork, the rich and colourful characters to the incredible soundtrack by Rory McFarlane (One of the first things to grab me!)I cannot stress enough the importance of this now discontinued UK edition of the series. The voice acting is exceptionally well done (rare for an anime!) and the music is a stunning 80's prog/synth metal charger in the vein of Vince Dicolas Transformers (1986)In Martial Arts films I prefer subtitles, but in anime, due to the vast amount of visual work on screen I prefer dubbing as looking away to read subs takes some of the enjoyment away.It is such a shame they only ever made 3 episodes. For ages (Pre internet) I searched for more episodes only to discover there were none, but in a way this only adds to the vintage that is Cyber city!Thrilling, epic, action packed and brilliant!Get it!

The plot might seem simple and well worn, three criminals offered a reprieve if they take the cases for the Police that no-one else will take, but the development has been truly awesome. Indeed, I have brought the series several times, only to have people who were friends be prepared to become enemies, just for a chance to run off with my copy. Curiously, I loathe most Manga with its convoluted and contrived stories and gross out monsters ravaging innocent little girls, yet this avoids all that junk and deeply appeals, even to me. Each f the tales is told in the style of the three, highly imaginative characters: Sengoku, a sort of Sam Spade of the 28th Century: Gogul, a monstrous thug who is also a grandmaster at computer-hacking and Bensen, a transvestite who, despite all his shinny nail varnish, is an expert assassin.Sadly, the series has one, monumental drawback, THEY ONLY EVER MADE THREE. Why, I have no idea. I even phoned the studio in frustration when I discovered this, yet was blandly assured that the project simply ran for three episodes and then they moved onto something else. It's like breaking the home-run record for a season and then quitting baseball before you've picked up the trophy. Now that was a TRUE CRIME ...worthy of Senguku.

You Know, without Lee Marvin the Dirty Dozen just wouldn't have worked. But here I think he would probably be surplus to requirements.This is a very enjoyable fillm/series, however the version I witnessed suffered from a very irritating affectation of dubbing companys - that of inserting expletives every few words. This is normally done in an attempt to gain a higher classification and raise the films status in some way.The film itself is rather enjoyable, several convicts recruited to fight crime etc.. etc.. the plot makes more sense than some other 'concatonated-series' films as everything has been left in and new plot clinching characters are not neglected untill the final reel.Hours of fun. (well, just)