Home Channels Anime Get Wild! Netflix Debuts New Live Action “City Hunter” Trailer

Get Wild! Netflix Debuts New Live Action “City Hunter” Trailer

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Although City Hunter is a fairly obscure anime title to Western audiences, those who have seen the series know that it was one of Japan’s biggest hits of the 1980s. Unfortunately, it is probably because it came out well before the late 90s-early 00s anime boom that it failed to catch and already looked dated when ADV first licensed the series in 2000.

For those unfamiliar with the series, City Hunter is about mercenary Ryo Saeba who was an expert marksmen who took down the villain of the week every episode. Despite being a symbol of macho 80’s awesomeness, he also was a comedic goofball famous for his out of control attraction to the opposite sex and consistently getting whacked with a metal hammer when he misbehaves. The series had hardcore action, silly slapstick, and an overbearing 80s aesthetic. So how has the most 80s anime ever become relevant again in 2024? Netflix is going to do a live action film adaptation of it and has just released a trailer for it.

Judging by the trailer, this version of City Hunter appears to have a similar tone to the original with the live action actor, Ryohei Suzuki, playing Ryo Saeba as the goofy macho man he is in the source material. Also exciting for fans is that the 80stastic first opening song from the original “Get Wild” also appears in the trailer. We don’t get to see much of his partner from the anime, Kaori Makimura, played in this adaptation by Misato Morita, so we don’t know if she is going to hit Ryo with her iconic hammer anytime during the film. Rounding out the cast for the live action are Masanobo Ando as Hideyuki Makimura and Fumino Kumra, who will portray Saeko Nogami. The film is directed by Yuichi Sato.

“City Hunter” is coming to Netflix on April 25th.

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2 COMMENTS

  1. I remember City Hunter, and it does feel very “1980’s” in my memory. I think the line in the article about “by the time of the big Western embrace of Anime in the late 90’s/early 2000’s, City Hunter was dated”. I personally started watching Anime on VHS in the early 90’s (the “Streamline Pictures” type stuff).