I remember Doomed Megalopolis from my not-so-distant teenage years, when I would spend much time scrutinizing the limited selection of anime tapes inconveniently mixed into the “action” section at my local Blockbuster. I always saw the four volumes of Doomed Megalopolis, their covers featuring pentagrams and evil-looking military officers, but I never quite got around to renting any of them. Perhaps that was because the title made me think of some street prophet fecklessly shouting "DOOMED!" at passers-by, and there was no way I could spend three bucks just for that. Years later, ADV Films fished the OVA series, doom and all, from the old Streamline catalog and packed it into a two-disc DVD set, allowing me to find out what I was missing, and what I was better off not seeing.
Our story begins one night in the nascent Tokyo of 1916, at the grave of Taira no Masakado, a rebellious warlord executed during the 10th century. In the near-millennium since, Masakado has become the guardian spirit of Tokyo, watching over the city and striking down those who desecrate his resting place. One such desecrator is a gaunt military officer who arrives and attempts to resurrect the dead warrior with black magic. Driven off by the slumbering spirit, he finds only confusion and failure, but he clearly hasn't given up.
Time then passes to a sunny day in the city, where we meet a young woman named Yukari, her uptight brother Tatsumiya, and her bespectacled friend Narutaki. At a local shrine, Yukari suddenly has a harrowing vision of Tokyo tumbling to pieces amid fire and chaos, and it's soon revealed that the source of her premonition is the military magician, identified as Naval Lieutenant Yasunori Kato. Kato tries to use Yukari as a vehicle for reviving Masakado, yet he's initially thwarted by Narutaki and a team of monks led by the elderly and somewhat mothlike Master Hirai (Tatsumiya is strangely unconcerned, even though he seems to be caught up in a disturbing lust for Yukari). With a fearsome reserve of black magic at his disposal, Kato is able to spirit Yukari away and “plant his seed” within her, though he's ultimately not as successful in using her as a medium for Masakado.
Kato returns again, years later, to come after a girl named Yukiko, who's either the demonically conceived daughter of Kato and Yukari or the incestuously conceived daughter of Tatsumiya and Yukari. Slightly older and wiser, Narutaki and the students of Hirai return to combat Kato, and the eventual result is the Tokyo Earthquake of 1923. Years pass yet again and Kato comes back yet again, this time facing off against Keiko, a shrine maiden and the self-appointed protector of Yukiko and her family.
There's much in Doomed Megalopolis to unsettle viewers, from the grotesque creatures that Kato summons to the depictions of rape, incest, suicide, and psychosexual gore. Director Kazuyoshi Katayama (The Big O, Argentosoma) and supervisor Rin Taro (Metropolis, X) pull off gruesome battles and a number of suspenseful scenes, and the animation has enough of budget to support their vision, particularly in the graphic climax of the last episode. There's even an eerie sense of allegory to the production; Kato may very well represent the manipulative military aggression of pre-war Japan, while Keiko and Yukari could easily reflect the country's misused spiritual side.
Despite its visual panache, Doomed Megalopolis simply fails to interest on any level. Though scriptwriter Akinori Endo (Battle Angel, Cyber City Oedo 808) keeps things from getting too confusing, the characters lack the development needed to draw in viewers. Kato wants to destroy the city, but it's never explained why, and he remains a one-note villain until the end. Things are no deeper on the opposing side: Yukari is just a simple girl, Narutaki may or may not have a thing for her, Tatsumiya is a lunatic steadily going mad with desire for his own sister, and Keiko is a self-sacrificing, strong-willed woman intent on fending Kato off. Those are the limits of the cast, and there's never a reason to care about them or their circumstances, even if the characters are designed by Nobuteru Yuuki (Battle Angel, Escaflowne). And without that connection, the story spins off into a dull atmosphere where even slithering shadow-demons and sorcerer duels are tepid.
To tell the truth, Doomed Megalopolis is only intriguing in its use of actual historical events. The tale of Taira no Masakado is a verifiable piece of Japan's past, and proves more engrossing than anything that happens in the anime. The Tokyo Earthquake of 1923 was also quite real, even if its part in this production is disappointingly detached. Doomed Megalopolis even has a history of its own. It's based upon Hiroshi Aramata's popular novel Teito Monogatari, which has sparked a number of live-action adaptations.
A DVD set for Doomed Megalopolis might promise a more faithful version than it originally received from Streamline, but that isn't the case here. The DVD is little more than the old dubbed VHS version, with no subtitles or Japanese language track. The English script also sports Streamline's notorious “Additional English Dialogue” by the meddlesome Carl Macek. I can't tell what he changed or removed, though Doomed Megalopolis at least showcases Macek's habit of using competent voice actors. Dub fans will enjoy picking out the likes of Cam Clarke, Wendee Lee, and a younger “Lea” Sargent, even if none of them are in top form. It's sad that ADV didn't bother to snag the original Japanese voices (which Streamline didn't have the rights to) and subtitles, but I can't imagine either improving things.
With a fair budget and a few big names behind it, Doomed Megalopolis is a curious failure, for the high production values simply aren't enough to prop up a flat story. From the moment I glimpsed it on the shelf at Blockbuster, I expected Doomed Megalopolis to be bleak and littered with unnerving moments, but I never thought it would be so boring about it all.
C-
