Well, it had to happen sooner or later…
You can’t explore the Anime of the 80s and 90s without eventually stumbling upon some of the far more extreme entries that make other, already fairly graphic titles, seem like Paw Patrol in comparison.
I am, of course, referring to the bizarre and notorious sub-genre of Japanese animation that is widely known as Hentai that deals fairly enthusiastically with perverse sexual acts, often degrading portrayals of women and acts of sexual assault often perpetrated by slimy, tentacled creatures who have an inexplicably high attraction to nubile, attractive, human women. Like most people of my generation who found themselves wandering cluelessly into the darker neighbourhoods of Anime, their first (and probably only) experience with the genre was almost certainly Hideki Takayama’s Urotsukidōji: Legend Of The Overfiend – but here’s the thing; while provocative to the point of offensive, Urotsukidōji also comes complete with lavish world building, cracking character design, an engrossing story and a powerfully apocalyptic tone that borders on tragic nihilism. I know this is going to be a tough sell – but hear me out… for all it’s issues, Urotsukidōji is actually pretty damn good.
As we humans sit snugly on our plane of existence, content in the knowledge of our superiority, there are other worlds that exist parallel to our own and you best believe our neighbours aren’t particularly nice. The more benevolent of the two is the world of the Jūjinkai and is populated by superpowered, barely clothed Man-Beasts, but the other is the Demon world of the Makai which seems to be in the grip of some endless, ghastly hell-orgy. However, when the denizens of either realm can manage to ignore their pulsing libidos for five minutes, they travel to our world to try and locate a god-like super-being named the Chōjin who is prophecised to emerge every three thousand years and unite the three worlds to create a existence of peace.
Extra obsessed with locating the Chōjin is the smug Jūjinkai, Amano Jaku and his pneumatic sister, Megumi, who each believe they’ve located the human form of the super-god, but the correct choice turns out to be Tatsuo Nagumo, a teenage pervert who isn’t beneath trying to grab cheap thrills by spying on the girl’s changing rooms. However, despite his overwhelmingly creepy past time, he manages to forge a relationship with his crush, Itou Akemi, after he and Amano Jaku save her from a violent sexual assault carrying out by Makai demon disguised as a teacher.
From here things gradually spiral out of control as grotesque, erotic, body horror flirts with typically insipid high school drama as the demon Suikaujū targets Nagumo with a variety of evil plots to stop the Chōjin from coming forth; but what if the prophecy that Amano Jaku devoutly believes isn’t as accurate as he thinks? Because if it isn’t, we’re all about to get fucked, both literally and figuratively.
So I understand that I’m going to have to tread reeeeeaaaally carefully when wording this review because of the wealth of questionable material Hideki Takayama crams into the thing without any regard for matters concerning taste or restraint. In fact, it’s still amazing that even over thirty years after I first viewed this thing, it’s still virtually impossible to endorse it without coming across like some sort of glaring red flag; which is a shame when you consider its more creative aspects.
That’s not to say we’re going to ignore or gloss over the more famously unsavoury parts of the original OVA (original video animation) as that virtually impossible to do, even in its censored version. However, while I’m usually not an advocate on censorship, that’s the version I’d probably suggest in order to help focus more on the actual plot and concept an less on the agonisingly long, inhuman sex scenes. The world-building is immense, drawing in different species and multiple realms which balloons the scale into something truly epic, yet is deceptively simple and, most importantly, intimate – no, not that sort of intimate! The teen romance between Nagumo and Akemi may not exactly be traditional – we meet our lead beating one off while indulging in some peeping tommery after all – but considering how out of control teenage hormones can be, it does actually make sense when taken in context. Similarly, Amano Jaku, Megumi and their nude little comedy sidekick buddy are typical anime archetypes as their supernatural powers and swaggering attitude make them fitting characters to lead us through this extraordinarily dark universe.
The strongest aspect of the film, however, is it’s dark, nihilistic tone that goes a surprisingly long way towards justifying it’s moments of shocking sexual violence and taken as a straight horror, Takayama manages to whip together the unspeakable, unnamable terrors of H.P. Lovecraft and then gives them the Stuart Gordon treatment by adding the same palpable sense of terrifying lust he added to such films as From Beyond. Similarly, what with all the giant, people absorbing penis-tentacles whipping around the place and the stark moments of horror that befall those caught in Nagumo and Akemi’s orbit also carry a sense of Clive Barker about them, especially in a subplot involving the character of Niki, who is seduced into becoming a creature to fight the Chōjin when the Makai convince him to murder his own parents and then castrate himself. It all comes to an impressive close when the ending goes about as down beat as it possibly can as a transformed Chōjin goes full Kaiju and brings all three works together only to destroy them entirely. It’s brutal, it’s tragic and it’s genuinely sad for a flick with so many repellent moments contained within, but it’s also uncompromising in the best way.
Of course, I can go on about accomplished world-building and phenomenal monster designs until the Chōjin comes home, but unfortunately that doesn’t erase the fact that Urotsukidōji plays incredibly rough incredibly often. If this sort of thing even remotely upsets you then by God do yourself a favour and give the Overfiend the widest birth possible because this sort of thing is about as counter-culture as Anime ever got and it’s best treated with absolute caution. While I’m not trying to justify some of Takayama’s choices, his merciless approach does result in many instances of truly haunting horror that a lot of live action movies can’t possibly hope to touch – after all, horror should horrify, right?
Impossible to recommend, yet impossible to forget, Urotsukidōji will undeniably be vastly different things to different people, but despite some glaring issues that unavoidably comes with the territory, if you can push through the the more hideously perverted moments there be gold scattered among the blood and other, more questionable bodily fluids.
Absolutely recommend – but, y’know, stay the fuck away if you know what’s good for you.
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