THERE are four episodes in the UROTSUKIDOJI III series and each one is confusing, crammed with copious amounts of sexual deviance and a cacophony of explosions, battles and bloody deaths. The storyline has become a far cry from the original UROTSUKIDOJI series; all the bones of the Legend of the Overfiend have been dressed in a meagre fashion by a follow-up series that could have been so much better. Still, it’s been passable for all that, only really breaking up in episode three when it cut into a battle sequence with an overlong ten minutes of brutal torture and rape.

The final part begins badly by repeating the majority of this sequence, which the voiceover would have us believe occurs only to ‘bait’ Caesar out of hiding. Naturally he doesn’t show himself until it’s all over. He then engages the jyujinkai (man-beasts) responsible in a ferocious, bloodthirsty battle which, apart from his rather fantastic transformation - made even more fantastic by the fact he seems to withstand a hail of machine gun fire without taking a hit - is quite possibly some of the most pathetically animated nonsense ever to grace your screen.

Robbed of power, body, mind and daughter, Caesar now scurries around a pitiful wheelchaired invalid while Buju, a character with which it’s impossible to empathise right from the first scene, seeks him out to finish the job the rebels started. Despite this, there’s surprisingly little action. Each fight is short, even to the point of blink and you’ll miss it, and is followed swiftly by pointless milling about. And where the hell is Amano Jyaku - Isn’t he meant to be the hero of this series? The voice of Kyo-o (or is that Himi or the Lord of Chaos? – The characters have so many names you need to start creating your own file of aliases for them!), heard for the very first time in this episode, is dubbed in English with a wheedling voice that will make you cringe.

My reaction to most of this episode was ‘What the hell is going on?’ and this is from someone who has seen all the other eps in the series cut, uncut or knocked together as a film. After watching it three or four times now, it still is little more than an exercise in bewilderment, taken up with trivial skirmishes which have nothing to do with the meat of the plot (bringing Kyo-o and the Chojin together for the final confrontation). Caesar fights the Jyujinkai, the Jyujinkai attack Caesar’s female army officer, an android fights the Jyujinkai, the Jyuinkai fight each other, the Jyujinkai fight Caesar, Buju fights Caesar…and so on. Coming up to an hour or so in duration, it’s rather like watching someone else play Mortal Kombat on a retro computer and twice as boring. This is because there’s simply no change in scenery – everything takes place in the ruins of Caesar’s mansion, usually half-shrouded in darkness. Still, with the artwork being so pitiful throughout this episode, this is probably less of a disadvantage than it sounds.

Lots of battles then but what about the regular UROTSUKIDOJI fix of sex? Episode three, aside from the rape repeated in this episode, pulled itself into being recommended not just by having lots of frantic battling in the sky over Osaka but also with a simultaneous bright, thumping and explosive burst of sexual activity veiled in the thin excuse it would ‘help’ the battle come to a successful conclusion. This time though, there’s no attempt to connect sex to a plot. Caesar’s helpless army officer is simply abused in fifteen minutes of degradation that should notify any viewers enjoying it that the time has come to seek professional help. (As with the earlier rape, the scene is cut from the UK version and the movie version.) After such senseless pornography, there is very little the episode can do to win its viewer back. And the constant f-words do it no merit either.

In a nutshell, UROTSUKIDOJI III Episode 4 is awful. It’s one of the worst Japanese animation films you could ever see and it probably knows it. Compare it with the first episode of the first series and it’s enough to bring tears to your eyes. That masterpiece of modern animation is thoroughly degraded in this shambles of a conclusion and its inadequacies re dubbing, artwork, plot, characterisation, script, eroticism and violence are staggering. It fashions very little out of its excesses and does little more than pimp off the UROTSUKIDOJI name. Even if you’ve bought Eps 1, 2 and 3 and would like to know how the saga ends, I couldn’t advise watching the boring little farce.


Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age