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Introduction to City Hunter
Version 1.0 Jan 1991
Version 1.4 Jan 1992
Copy Right (C). January, 1992.
Chih-Ping Kuo, Internet kuo@sumax.seattleu.edu
You are free to pass this article around as long as
1. You do not make a profit for this article.
2. You do not alter this article.
You are not to rewrite this article for your own article or publishing
without permission.
Since most of my information are based from the manga, it might vary
slightly from what you see on the screen.
First some backgrounds on City Hunter:
"City Hunter" is drawn by Tsukasa Hojo on Shonen Jump weekly manga magazine,
the same artist who did "Cat's Eye" and "Splash". It is one of the top
manga/anime subject for both the male and female population in Japan, and
the number one comic in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Ryo Saeba, the lead
character, has been voted as the second most favor character ALL TIME on the
1990 Animage survey, only behind the mythical NAUSICAA. The voice actor who
does Saeba, Kamiya Akira, has been voted as the most favor male voice actor
on Animage ELEVEN of the last thirteen ballots, including the last four
years in a row. Of the two times he did not win the award he finished a
close second. FYI, he also plays Roy Fokker of Macross, Mendo Surtaro of
Urusei Yatsura, Kazamatsuri of Yawara, and Kenshiro of Fist of North Star.
As now (since Dec, 1991) the series is temporary suspended from Shonen Jump,
so Hojo can take a well deserved vacation. Whether he would resume the
series upon his return from Bermuda, or start a brand new series is anyone's
guess.
City Hunter the subject including the following:
City Hunter the manga series 35+ books 1985-
Tsukasa Hojo Illustration 1 book 1991
City Hunter TV Animation Perfect Mook 1 book 1991
TV Series:
Season I episode # 1 to 51 1987-1988
Season II episode # 52 to 114 1988-1989
Season III episode #115 to 127 1989-1990
Season IV episode #128 to 140 1991
City Hunter Original Movie
"A Magnum of Love's Destination" 87 mins, 1989
City Hunter Original Anime Videos
"Bay City Wars" 45 mins, 1990
"Plot of $1,000,000" 45 mins, 1990
**************************************************************************
Regular Characters Profile:
RYO SAEBA
Birthday Unknown/March 26th by the decree of Kaori
(The first day when Ryo met Kaori)
Sex Male
Height 191.4 cm
Weight 77.3 kg
Figures B105, W83, H91
Blood Type AB
Nationality Unknown
Birth Place Japan
Current Address Shinjuku, Tokyo
Special Talents a. Super shooting and fighting ability
b. 24 hrs sexual readiness
c. Well known and connected in the underworld.
Interests a. Solving predicament
b. Cabaret
Personal Goal Get a hold of every beautiful women in the world!
Favor Sports Shooting
Favor type of food What kind of woman are we talking about? :)
Nickname "City Hunter" by trade,
"Stud of Shinjuku" by night,
"#1 Pervert in Japan" by self declaration.
Way of contact Leave message at Shinjuku Eastgate terminal
bulletin board with code "XYZ"
Ryo is unlike the generic, blend, featureless leading male you find in
most other anime shows. He is definitely one with a character. As a 3
years old child he alone survived an airplane crash in Central America,
which probably killed both of his parents. Because of this he himself
does not know of his own birthday and nationality, or even his full name.
To survive he joined a village which belonged to the rebels in a country
in the midst of a civil war. He was trained to be a guerilla from the
youth and he became one of the best. After the civil war, which the
rebels lost, he and others were kicked out of the country to America.
There he started to work as a gun for hire. After a while he came back
to Japan. While pretend to be an apartment controller in Shinjuku,
Tokyo, he started his career as the "Sweeper" (From the original Japanese
translation, or literally means "the one who cleans up the street", or
"Street Cleaner". I prefer to call him a "Trouble Shooter".) Ryo likes
to work for beautiful women, mostly as bodyguard and/or finding missing
people, etc, while taking out a drug ring or gangster or two on the side.
Ryo is VERY GOOD at what he is doing. He is able to handle just about
any weapons he can get his hands on. His favor and trademark weapon is a
custom adjusted Colt Python 357 Magnum with a 4" barrel, which he is able
to do just about anything he wants to. (like, shot 6 bullets through one
hole inside 15 meters/@50 feet)
What makes Ryo special is that he is more lecherous than Ataru Moroboshi
of Urusei Yatsura. The difference is Ryo has the "tool" to back up what
he wants to do. That is why he got the nickname of "Stud of Shinjuku"
and he likes to call himself "the #1 pervert in Japan". He certainly
prefers a night with his beautiful client rather than money payment.
Night raid (or shower raid) on the client who lives in his apartment is
to be expected. His unbelievable sexual energy and wildness are probably
what makes him so good at doing his job. His "greatness" had been known
to crack wall, penetrate bullet proof window, and broke the roof beam of a
house. Once he even left up a block weighted 100 kg (around 225 lbs)
with his "tool"! You probably would not find all those on the TV screen
as they would be censored out from the drawing board. (The screen tended
not to let Ryo to "express" himself.) That is one big reason to check out
the manga, which IMHO, is much funnier than the TV series.
Ryo's lecherous is not his only weakness. He is also afraid of flying,
probably because of his childhood airplane crash he was in. (In the TV
series, there were some earlier episodes which Ryo did some flying. That
was before the manga came out with Ryo's phobia. The TV series also
rewrote the story of Ryo's phobia in Season IV so it doesn't exist on
screen.) He is also a good cook. He has a photographic memory for
anything happen in the last ten years. His memory is especially good
when it is about beautiful woman's face. (his memory only fails to serve
the occasional comedy situation) Like all handsome young men in the
Japanese manga, he has a tremendous facial recovery power from injury.
(for example, check out Mendo Surtaro of Urusei Yatsura) He can imitate
just about anyone's voice once he hears it over. He drives around in a
red Austin Mini that is deceivingly quick for a little car.
Ryo LOVES Kaori Makimura, but he refrains from express his love for her
simply because it will put her(or any other woman) under danger in the
line of work he is doing. Instead he covers it up and Kaori becomes the
only woman who can not get Ryo excited (on the appearance). Once he said
"Woman can fall in love for the rest of her life, I can only fall in love
once a while".
Some comments on Ryo: He is probably the ideal man in Japanese standard.
Tall, handsome (but not to the point of sissy), strong, (but not to the
point of grossness) One with great sexual prowess and a soft heart.
Sensitive to others and sometime act really out of character (say, part
of the lecherous) so he won't hurt their feeling. Just about all the
women on the show were repelled by his lecherous in the beginning, but
after knowing him better, turn to love him by the end. Most of the
Japanese females would probably describe him as a man's man, and that
would probably be the highest complement any Japanese male would want.
HEDIYUKI MAKIMURA
A former policeman and Ryo's first partner in Japan. He acted as the
middleman between Ryo and the client. Quite capable in using his snub
nose 357 Magnum revolver or throwing knifes. However, he is one of
peaceful nature and probably the more reasonable, conservative one on the
show. He was killed early on by a drug cartel when he refused to bow to
their pressure in joining that organization with Ryo. Upon his death in
Ryo's arms, he asked Ryo to take care of his little sister.
KAORI MAKIMURA
Birthday March 31st, 1967
Sex Female
Height 168.9 cm (before Kaori stop having her measurement
taking at 9th grade)
Weight ? :)
Figures B87, W59, H86
Blood Type O
Nationality Japan
Birthplace Japan
Current Address Shinjuku, Tokyo
Special Talent a. The boggy trap setting skills learned from Umibozu
b. Use of giant hammer in taking care of hentai
c. Cooking
Interests a. Visiting orphanage
b. Taking care of pervert
c. shooting practice
Personal Goal Success in works
Favor Sports a. Jazz dancing
b. Aerobic exercise
Favor type of food Buffet
HediYuki Makimura's dad, a policeman, one day returned home with an
infant baby. He picked up the baby after the baby's father, a murderer
on the run, was killed in a shootout.
That baby was Kaori Makimura.
Kaori is a tomboy, short hair, actives. Her biggest frustration is being
looked at as a man, or going down the street without a guy looking at her
direction, or with other girl having a better figure than she does, or
with girls chasing after her all over the place thinking she is a
guy.....(or even after knowing she is a girl. She is quite famous for
her popularity among the female students in high school. :)
You get the idea.
Kaori never did get a chance to know about her true parentage. HediYuki
was suppose to tell her about it on her 20th birthday, but that was also
the day he was murdered by the drug ring. He never did make it to the
birthday dinner that night. Afterward Ryo considered the feeling between
Kaori and her brother, never did have the heart to tell her. Later on Kaori
meet her true big sister but choose to stay ignorant in order to be with
Ryo.
Kaori moved into Ryo's apartment complex and took over his brother job
after he died. She basically does the same thing as HediYuki, setting up
appointment and acts as the middleman for Ryo and his client. However,
she does one more thing than her brother, and that is to act as the
protective buffer between Ryo and his beautiful clients. Thanks to Kaori
all of Ryo's advances fails miserly.
Kaori uses a Colt 357 Magnum Lawman MK III with a 2.5" barrel. It is the
same gun her brother used before his death. Her shooting skill is some
what less than desire. That is because to avoid and prevent Kaori from
killing someone, Ryo had secretly adjusted the gun so there is no way any
shot from that gun will get anywhere close to the target. Ryo also
placed a tracker/listener button on her shirt to insure her safety.
After Kaori discovered the gun was adjusted Ryo explained to her his
intention to keep Kaori's hands clean and prepare her eventually to leave
his world for a normal life one day. However, Kaori chose to accept the
gun (now fixed) and to stay on as Ryo's partner instead.
You can also find other things in her purse such as mace, whip, grenade,
morning star, electroshock rod, etc. (You start to wonder how she can fit
all those things in a hand bag :)
However, Kaori's favor weapon is her "Super Magic Hammer", a giant hammer
she can produce at anywhere and any time. There is usually writing on the
side to indicate the tonnage of the hammer. So far it has ranged from 10 kg
to 10 to the 88th power metric tons! Kaori usually sticks with the 100 tons
and the 250 tons hammer, with some other rare one reserves for the special
occasion. She is also known to throw giant spike ball once a while. There
is probably nothing Ryo fears more than the sight of Kaori coming his way
with a hammer.
Kaori in the manga drives a Honda Civic CRX, in the series she drives a
green Fiat.
Kaori LOVES Ryo Saeba. However, shy as she is and with Ryo's acting she
never comes out and say the magic words to Ryo. Instead they spent most
of the time fighting between each others. However, when thing is on the
line they show complete trust to each other even if it is the difference
between life and death.
Comments on Kaori: One can best describe her as Tendo Akane of the show
Ranma 1/2. They are not perfect, but there is something about them that
people like Ryo or Ranma just can not ignore. Cuteness is in the eye of
beholder.
SAEKO NOGAMI
Saeko is the eldest of the Nogami sisters and a beautiful woman detective
of the Tokyo police. She is able to shoot the bull's eye out of the
target board with her S&W 38 special, however, prefers the 16 throwing
knifes she carries on her stocking as her weapons.
Saeko on the screen drives a red Porsche 930 turbo. There are a lot of
leeways she has in doing police works, since her father is the chief of
police of Tokyo city. (who is consistently introduces her to new male
partner in hope of a marriage. Saeko, in turn, sends all of them to the
hospital after those men fail her "test"! She does not want to marry
to a guy who is weaker than she is :)
On many occasions Saeko will come to Ryo for aids, while promises to go to
bed "one time" (ippatsu) with Ryo after the thing is done. But she always
manages to wriggle out of it at the end. That is why Ryo keeps a running
track of how many "times" Saeko owes him. She is one woman who knows how to
use men with her beauty to achieve her end.
However, there is more to Saeko and Ryo than meet the eyes. There was a
time when both Ryo and HediYuki, the former partner of Saeko, were in love
with her, and Saeko also loved both of them. She was going to make a
decision between them when HediYuki was killed. Afterward Saeko could not
even think about it for a long time. While Ryo, thinking about HediYuki and
with the addition of Kaori, sort of back off from the relationship. Still,
their feelings toward each other are deeper than appearances.
REIKA NOGAMI
Reika is the second of the Nogami sister and a former policewoman
herself. She quits the force to become a private detective after her
partner was framed and killed by a corrupted policeman. With the help of
Ryo she was able to get to the guilty party and clean up her partner's
name. Instead of return to the force Reika opt to stay in the private
sector to pursue Ryo's love.
Reika is also a beautiful woman who knows how to use men just like her
sister. As it turns out just about all of her clients are men, exactly
the opposite from Ryo. She is also quite a good shot. She uses many
different guns but always carry a C.O.P. 357 magnum 4 shots derringer,
which is very easy to conceal with its small size.
Reika LOVES Ryo.
YUKA NOGAMI (manga only)
Yuka is the third of the Nogami sisters. She is a high school student who
is also a best seller author of detective story. She gets her inspiration
from rewritten the real story of her elder sisters, which of course gets her
in some hot water! So she turns to Ryo instead for more materials. She is
very imaginative and can be just as 'good' as her elder sisters in using
people. Yuka is one of the few people who sees through Ryo's disguise. She
understands the feelings between Ryo and Kaori and respects Ryo for the kind
of person he is.
** From the story of Yuka it is revealed that the Nogami family has 2 more 7
years old twin sisters! Not to mention that Mrs. Nogami is pregnant again,
and all the girls share the same characteristics of using people. Ryo gets
dizzy just thinking about this... :)
HAYATO IZYUIN
English name: Falcon
Street Name: Umibozu
This awesome specimen, like Ryo, is also a former mercenary. When Ryo was
still in central America he and Ryo were on the opposite side of the
battlefield, where his eyes were injured by Ryo during a battle. After the
war, like Ryo, he also went to Japan and work in the same line of job. He
is one of the best in the business, even Ryo admits that. Once he said "I
am probably the only one capable of killing Ryo!" His strength is
approaching legendary proportion, his back had been known to deflect 38 cal
bullets, his skill in explosive and setting boggy trap are unparalleled.
His favor side arm is a S&W 44 Magnum with a 6" barrel. However, most of
the time he will solve his problem with a bazooka in one hand and an
automatic machine-gun in another. He is the kind of person who likes to do
thing in a big way. He drives various car such as the BMW 633i or the Ford
Bronco, but most of the time he likes to drive a Toyota Jeep around. As
expected he has a big stomach and drinks whisky straight from the bottle.
Even thought he and Ryo were former enemy, they never hold any animosity
toward each other as what happened on the battlefield were business.
After they both moved to Tokyo Umibozu had helped Ryo in some certain
cases, while Ryo had helped Umibozu in some personal cases which he is
too embarrassed (yes!) to handle. They sort of become best friends, even
thought they will never admit that to anyone. They are really much more
alike to each others. Whenever one is in need of help the other will
show up without ask, and they will go ahead to finish the job without a
single thank you being said.
Umibozu's weakness is that he is afraid of cat, the sound of meowing is
enough to get his attention. He is also very shy and easy to embarrassment
as he does not like to show his feeling. He is absolutely witless with
women.
Umibozu prefers the nickname of Umibozu (bold headed monk) to his real
name. Hayato Izyuin is a very formal name, one which does not fit Umibozu's
look/image at all, and the name had become a running joke of City Hunter
whenever anyone mentions it.
Umibozu LOVES Miki, but originally he stayed away from her because he was
afraid for her safety, and he did not want Miki to get into the line of work
he is doing. He will show up at Miki's coffee house to help around. That
will probably be the only time he will wear an apron in front of people :)
MIKI
Birthday January 15th, 1960
Miki was an 8 years old orphan on the battlefield when Umibozu adopted
her. Umibozu raised her with him on the battlefield while at the same
time taught her everything he knew for her protection. However, when
Miki grew up to 14 years old and asked to joined the mercenary with him
Umibozu refused. He did not want her to spend the rest of her life as a
killer. So he lied to her, telling her that he was quitting the force
and asked her to come with him. Upon her arrival at the airport she
receive a note from Umibozu telling her "Goodbye forever." Umibozu had
not come and shipped out with the mercenary on the same day.
However, Miki did not give up. She tracked him all the way to Japan.
Upon finding him she asked Umibozu to marry her as a partner for life.
Umibozu, while worry about her safety, putting out one final condition
for the marriage, (he himself would never have the heart to refuse her,
for he loves her just as much as she does) the condition is that she has
to have the ability to kill Ryo, or she is not good enough to be his
partner. After some dramatic moments, with the help of Ryo, they were
finally married to each other.
Miki is the owner of the coffee house "Cat's Eye". The shop sort of
becomes the meeting place of all the gangs from City Hunter. She, likes
just about all other characters of the series, is well versed with all
weapons. Her personal weapon is a Colt King Cobra 357 Magnum with a 4"
barrel. She is perhaps one of the most unique female character on the
show simply because she never loved Ryo in any way. She is totally
devoted to Umibozu.
KASUMI ASOH
Birthday January 15th, 1969
Kasumi is a beautiful master thief who came from a clan with a long
tradition in the trade of steal for hire. Kasumi is one of the best. She
was given the nickname "Thief 305" by the unknown public while she was still
in high school. A very agile, nimble person, Kasumi usually wears a leotard
when she is "working" and carries no weapons except the tools a thief
usually uses. She is able to jump from building to building, and that is
why she got the nickname "The Flying Buttock" from Ryo in their initial
encounter.
Kasumi had asked Ryo to help her in two cases. The first one was to
fulfill the last wish of a dying gardener. In the second case Ryo helped
Kasumi to avoid an undesired marriage within the clan. (Kasumi's family
had the tradition to marry at the age of 20 within the clan, or marry one
with good thief understudy that is worthy of the clan.) Afterward it was
obvious to the old grandma of the house (and the leader of the Asoh clan)
that Kasumi's heart had been stolen by Ryo. She forbade Kasumi from
coming back to the family until she has stolen her heart back together
with Ryo's. Kasumi thus starts working as a waitress for the coffee
house Cat's Eye and becomes one of the regular cast of the story.
Kasumi LOVES Ryo.
ROSEMARY MOSES
Nickname Bloody Mary
Ryo's second partner in America. She is a very good operator and also a
very beautiful fashion model. Ryo had helped her to save her lover Eric
from an old enemy of theirs.
Mary knew quite a bit of Ryo's early history because Ryo's first partner
is her father. Her father knew Ryo since the days of the Central America
civil war, and withdrawn to U.S. with Ryo to set up their first business.
She got her nickname from, of course, always orders Bloody Mary for her
drink. The name of the drink does justice for the kind of operator she
is.
DOC
This mystery old man who Ryo stated as the master of the world in
information gathering is also the one who get Ryo started in the line of
work he is doing now. He is also the teacher of lecherous for Ryo and
still "active" at his age. In his house one can find a large weapon
cache, a fine laboratory, and many computer terminals which are linked to
other main frames all over the world. Doc in the series acts as the
missing father to many characters on the show, not the less Ryo and
Kaori.
Doc also knows quite a bit of Ryo's past history, since he was the medical
doctor for the rebels during the civil war.
KAZUE NATORI
Kazue is a beautiful lab researcher who was a former research professor of
Tokyo University. Kazue throw all of her life away for revenge when her
lover was killed over an objection for a poison he developed. A poison
which is to be transmitted by bees and so deadly one will die after ten
minutes from the initial sting. Her lover was killed while trying to
develop an antidote for it. Kazue was willing to risk a fake marriage to
get her hands on the bees in order to develop the complete antidote. With
Ryo's help (which he is more than willing to lend for some particular side
effect the half completed antidote has....:) she was able to develop the
complete antidote and destroyed the labs. Thus she prevented the bees
from reaching the international biological weapon market. Afterward she
stays on as the assistant to Doc and appears sparingly over the episodes.
Kazue LOVES Ryo, but later on she starts to fall in love with.....
MICK ANGEL (manga only)
Ryo's best friend in America. He is truly Ryo's equal in both combat skill
and sexual lecherous. Mick's trademark behavior is before he kills any man,
he would try to take that man's lover away from him, this way the female
would suffer no grief over the death of the man he kills.
Mick's personal weapon is the Desert Eagle 44 Magnum.
One day, he came to Japan, because he had accepted the job of killing Ryo
from.....
KAIBARA SHEN (manga only)
As the leader of the rebels Shen is the one who trained Ryo everything he
knew about combat and survival. He treats Ryo as his own son and Ryo loves
him as his father.
Shen is also the one who develops the drug PCP (Angel Dust) in trying to
create an invincible army to win the long losing civil wars. He tested the
drug on Ryo and it is a success. However, after the drug's potential danger
is realized by all Kaibara and Ryo were forced to leave. Kaibara became a
drug lord by using PCP to create invincible killers for his use. His
organization is responsible for the death of HediYuki, Kaori's brother.
Five years after Ryo defeated his attempt to create a foothold in Japan, he
comes to Japan personally for a second try........
Shen's personal weapon is a 6" Colt Anaconda 44 Magnum.
(this is the same Kaibara in the Cat's Eye manga)
ROBERTO HARRISON (anime only)
The counter part of Mick Angel in the TV series. Roberto is Ryo's best
friend and partner in America. He saved Ryo's life once. He uses a Walther
P-38 9mm. Like Mick, he comes to Japan to face Ryo in City Hunter II
(episodes 82 and 83). Ryo suffers great grief when he kills Roberto in the
duel.
SOPHIA SILVERMAN (anime only)
Nickname Silver Leopard
Roberto's lover. She comes to Japan to seek revenge for Roberto in the
final story of City Hunter III (episodes 126 and 127).
**************************************************************************
In a typical City Hunter episode a beautiful woman will be in trouble and
in search of Ryo's help. Ryo will make his advances (mokkoris) and Kaori
will come in with her hammer. The client begins to regret her decision
but then she will start to see little points of Ryo's true character. In
between usually the client and/or Kaori will get kidnapped. In the end
Ryo will come through and take out the bad guys with his superman effort.
Ryo will act either very gentleman like in parting or very lecherous so
the woman will go away thinking how low Ryo is, not realize that is Ryo's
way of a softer no to a further relationship. But in the end she will
see through it all and loves Ryo just the same.
The TV series mostly were based from manga, but did offer some excellent
episodes that were not from the original story. Some episodes to look
out for are:
Episode 5 "Good bye Makimura. The night of raining tears"
In this episode we have the death of HediYuki, and the beginning of Ryo and
Kaori's partnership.
Episode 37, 38 "The prevailing of justice in Shinjuku! Old fashion clothed
beauty willing to be student"
This is the story of Kikunosuke following Ryo around town calling him
sensai.....
Episode 50, 51 "The strongest enemy in history!! Ryo and Kaori's last
match."
The climatic ending to season I, Lots of good actions of the whole gangs
against the Mafia family.
Episode 71 "Kaori lost her memory!!"
In this episode Ryo for the first time, tells Kaori he loves her,
but......
Episode 82, 83 "Sayonara friend...The sound of the first gun shot echo in
two hearts"
The story of Roberto is told here.
Episode 92, 93 "Ryo's heart and the super psychic girl"
The story of Sarah the psychic girl from manga is presented here.
Episode 100, 101 "Sayonara hard boiled city"
These two are voted number one as the most favor City Hunter
episodes/story by the Japanese voters, and it is simple to see why.
There is a nuclear bomb in the middle of Tokyo city! But that is not the
big story here. The big story is in episode 101, we have the first kiss
between Ryo and Kaori, but Kaori.... The final dramatic moment with the
song "Get Wild" playing in the background has to be the best moment of
the TV series, period.
City Hunter Special Episode
In this episodes we have interview from Mr. Hojo. Just about all the
main voice actor/actress show up for a brief talk. All the opening and
ending songs up to that episode are reviewed. Some of the highlights
from previous episodes are shown, and lot's of promo clips for the movie.
Episode 126, 127 "Good bye city. The gift of sayonara"
The final two episodes of season III, and the story of Sophia's revenge for
Roberto.
Episode 135, 136 "The revenge of a pretty girl!"
The story of Sonia Field from manga is presented here, and the duel between
Ryo and Umibozu in episode 136 is something not to be missed.
*************************************************************************
That does it! This just about covered all the characters who appeared in
more than one story from the manga. One can enjoy City Hunter in many
ways. Especially when you read/watch the story I want to remind you to
notice the art-work and figure proportion of the characters. Mr. Hojo is
one of the best in creating the right proportion for people with pretty
face that is unmatched in the world of manga. In his art work you felt
the people as adults, not as some high school students in most other
manga. A story that is more adult oriented and can be enjoyed by both
sex, City Hunter is going to stay hot for sometimes to come.
-end of text-
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(Last Revised 3/20/97)
