The Urotsukidoji Saga
Notorious is a very apt word to describe this erotic anime masterpiece. Make no mistake, Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend really is the daddy of 'em all. A kind of hybrid Anime/Hentai based on an equally perverse manga by Toshio Maeda. This one really is a dirty, smutty, demonic rape-fest, with humping demons, multi-breasted demonic fuck-machines, masturbating teenagers, demonic lesbian teachers, penis-tentacles, and rape. Oh, the rape. Why, oh why are the Japanese obsessed with rape? And tentacles. And tentacled rape.
"I'm gonna come again"!
The story? Nagumo is an ordinary Japanese high-school boy going through priapic puberty. He fancies Akemi, the beautiful high school idol whom everybody loves and desires.
Akemi is then violently raped by a lesbian demonic teacher, and it transpires that the entire world is filled with penis-tenticled demons who enjoy raping and killing! Yes, it must be Japanese. This must be a different kind of world... The sleaze-packed world of Urotsukidoji! Grange Hill was never like this.
So, the Overfiend is a God of all Gods who -after 3,000 years- is about to be revived and most likely wreak havoc upon this human world, and quite possibly the beast world and the demon world to boot! This means that all beasts & demons are after the Overfiend in order to save their own asses!
Nagumo is then 'killed' (getting hit by a car whilst day-dreaming about vaginas). Post-Mortem, whilst his lifeless body is laying on a Hospital bed, Nagumo revives as the Overfiend, and celebrates his awakening by immediately raping a nurse to death! As you do! Urotsukidoji: Really not for kids!
Naturally, complete and utter chaos ensues. Japanese style.
Which version?
When I was at film school, me and my mates all saw 2 movie versions on VHS. One was called Legend of the Overfiend, and the other Legend of the Demon Womb. We were shocked at the mad, graphic nature of both films, and they became in-house classics, not to mention cult classics among the growing number of fans of Anime.
Some years later, I discovered that these movie versions were actually edited from the original 1987 Japanese Original Video Animations (OVA), which were released straight-to-video in 5 separate parts. OVA Parts 1-3 were cut down to make the movie version of Overfiend, and OVA Parts 4 & 5 were cobbled together to form the movie version of Demon Womb. On top of that, most of the rape scenes and explicit sex scenes were also cut out during the making (read: butchering) of these 2 movie versions. Added to that the British film censor (the demonic BBFC) had further butchered these editions released in the UK. Dirty rotters!
Around the same time (1993), an American company released the 2-disc Urotsukidoji Perfect Collection, which included an uncut, yet still slightly censored Overfiend in its original 3 part OVA format. Note that the censorship is slight fogging of genitalia, which is consistent with Japanese laws. That said, this OVA version is ABSOLUTELY MENTAL, and doesn't try very hard to hide the explicit sex & rape scenes. In fact, it goes balls out to shock, and succeeds absolutely. Wow. When I first saw the Perfect Collection, It was like watching it all over again. I had to shower afterwards.
The Urotsukidoji Perfect Collection Disc 1 Episodes are:
OVA Episode 1: The Birth of the Overfiend
OVA Episode 2: The Curse of the Overfiend
OVA Episode 3: Final Inferno
What's equally depressing about the truncated movie version of Overfiend, is that -aside from all the naughty bits- large portions of the story were cut out as well! Around 30 minutes of additional story was cut, which means this Perfect Collection makes a lot more sense. OVA episode 2 seems most affected by the cuts, especially the scenes where Nagumo & Akemi are actually told that he is the Overfiend, and they visit the demon realm to find out more information about his powers. Kinda crucial that.
All this means that the original movie version is cut to all hell. And so is the American Blu-ray release, which -adding insult to injury- also shows the film in the incorrect aspect ratio! Yet the DVD is the correct ratio! Kitty media really fucked up with that botched release, and it should be avoided at all costs.
"After I destroy you, I'll fuck her in half"!
Disc 2 in the Perfect Collection contains these 2 episodes:
OVA Part 4: Legend of the Demon Womb
OVA Part 5: Battle at Shinjuku Skyscrapers
These 2 episodes were cut together to form the movie version of Demon Womb. And it gets more complicated! These 2 OVA episodes are uncut, but are actually censored; Once again because of the Japanese laws on showing genitalia. The story of Demon Womb actually returns everything to normal, as Nagumo & Akemi are back at school, and the Earth world is as it was... No demons here... But wait! A mad Green-haired Nazi punk doctor Munhi Hausen (oh come on, is that the best you could you?? REALLY??) Wants to summon the Lord of Chaos, who pre-dates the Overfiend. Whatever. More chaos ensues, but with less graphic sex, nudity and rape. Still not for kids, though!
The story may be different, but the main characters remain the same. Demon Womb certainly has less shock value, and does tend to concentrate on story rather that going off on rape-filled tangents like its predecessor did. In a sense, that's a good thing, and in a another sense... It is not. There's also a toned down feel to Demon Womb. It's still outrageous (it's called Demon Womb, fer cryin' out loud!) But has an altogether different vibe. Also, the Perfect Collection version is uncut, yet censored, whilst the edited-together movie version of Demon Womb that's included on the Hell On Earth (HOE) DVD set is actually Uncensored, with all the naughty bits not fogged out! Unfortunately, there are no subtitles on any of the HOE discs, just English & Japanese dubs, which is weird, as both the Perfect Collection & HOE sets were released by the same fucking company!
The Hell On Earth (HOE) DVD Collection
As mentioned, the 4 disc HOE set has the movie versions of Overfiend (the heavily truncated version, but is sourced from a better quality print that the one used for the Perfect Collection) and Demon Womb (completely uncut & uncensored). It also includes the two further sequels in the Urotsukidoji saga, which tend to be derided by fans of the original Overfiend OVA's due to weaker stories, characterizations & animation. Here's my brief opinion on those sequels:-
Disc 3: Return of the OverfiendEpisode 1: 49m
Episode 2: 53m
Episode 3: 40m
Episode 4: 42m
The overlong, overbearing rape-fest that is Return of the Overfiend has some moments of enjoyability, but at around 3 hours 10 minutes in duration, it's far, far, far too long. Episode 3 has practically no story, just tons of rape, and Episode 4 is especially tedious, as it seemingly forgets everything that has happened before it, and is too desperate to set up the story for the next sequel Inferno Road.
Return of the Overfiend is very clearly exploitation, which results in sloppy storytelling, poor characterisations, and animation much much weaker than the original Urotsukidoji series. There are occasional good moments, but the story/rape/story/rape/story/rape construction is just too much. An overly convoluted plot doesn't help either, and the misogyny throughout is a bit too nasty. (This one does include incest, which is yet another notch on the grubby Urotsukidoji smut-o-meter).
No subtitles again, and the US dubbing is -at times- laughably bad. I've read that the cast were actually actors from the adult entertainment industry, but that could be urban myth. I'd also have preferred the 4 episodes to be spread over 2 discs to avoid compression artifacts.
I believe this version is uncut, but is censored Japanese style, with fogging of genitalia. Return of the Overfiend is strictly for hardcore fans, or fans of hardcore.
Disc 4: Inferno Road
Episode 1: The secret garden - 41m25s
Episode 2: The long road to God - 43m35s
Episode 3: The end of the journey - 43m48s
Mercifully shorter than the Return of the Overfiend, Inferno Road attempts to end the Urotsukidoji saga in a reasonable manner. In other words, with rape, tentacles, and the universal destruction of everything ever. Or could it?
At the end of Return of the Overfiend, a gang of misfits were attempting to get to Osaka to find out just what the hell all of this is about. Instead, they stumble across a ruined city in an enormous sink hole where adults are ruled over by children! Madness! Child twins Ellis & Fallis (Phallus?) are in charge of this weird world, and the children rule over the adults by using kooky psychic powers. The problem is, that when the children turn into adults, they lose their powers: Cue lots of scenes of adults fucking like wild pigs! Inferno Road plays like Pasolini's version of village of the damned.
I must say that I enjoyed Inferno Road more than Return of the Overfiend, but that's not really saying a lot. The animation is still weak, and The U.S dubbing is okayyyyy, but not great. Episode 2 is actually quite tame by Urotsukidoji standards, and -bizarrely- episode 3 has much, much better production standards: The characterizations are good again, and it's presented in an aspect ratio of 14:9 LB. How odd!
The very explicit scenes are censored Japanese-style, and I'm led to believe that this Hell On Earth presentation of Inferno Road is also cut, perhaps to chop out a scene of a potentially under-age girl getting sexually abused. We are still a long, long way off the overall quality of the original Urotsukidoji OVA's though, but Inferno Road 'might' please some die-hard fans of the Urotsukidoji saga. Might.
There was an actual Part V: The final chapter, which I think was only ever released in Japan. Perhaps some fans were disgruntled by the ending of Inferno Road? Maybe it's a kind of after-birth of the Overfiend? Hey! I think I have an idea...
Conclusion
Well, The 3 Overfiend OVA's on the Perfect Collection really is a perfect presentation of one of the Anime classics. Top 10 easily. But the explicit nature means that it won't be to everybody's taste (wherever you look, opinion is completely divided). Plus, the ending reeks of Akira.
There is no doubt that Toshio Maeda's Urotsukidoji helped create the Hentai ('pervert') sub-genre of Manga/Anime, and all that tentacle-rape nonsense that is popular in Japan is all down to him, the dirty maniac!
At present the Perfect Collection is the best source for uncut, English-friendly Overfiend, and the Hell on Earth set, the best for Demon Womb, but I'm sure most people would be happy with the Perfect Collection. Both sets are long out of print, and sometimes fetch large prices on eBay & Amazon (.com) 3rd party sellers (I saw one just last week going for $50, which is an agreeable price, whilst another is up for sale at $500)!
Urotsukidoji is a notorious classic that deserves to be seen in Hi-Definition/4K/8K and beyond (and in the correct aspect ratio Kitty Media!) And seen Uncut, and painstakingly remastered in all of its mad, uncensored hentai glory.
As it stands right now (August 2015), the Urotsukidoji Perfect Collection is still essential. An almost perfect presentation of a perfectly perverted classic.
