AKA: Shuutendouji

Genre: Trademark Go Nagai action

Length: OAV series, 4 episodes, 30 minutes each

Distributor: VHS from ADV Films

Content Rating: 16+ (violence, nudity, adult situations, intensity, brutality)

Related Series: N/A

Also Recommended: New Cutey Honey, The Devil Lady

Notes:

Rating:

Shuten Doji: The Star Hand Kid

Synopsis

Okay, there's this kid with wild hair who's actually the Shuten Doji (whatever that means), and he has a girlfriend who gets kidnapped and stripped of all her clothes (of course). He uses his mega-cool powers (beating the crap out of demons) to save her. Then he wanders around Japan beating the crap out of more demons.

Review

Wow. This anime really sucks! It only took two OAVs for me to give up on this thing as a stupid rehash of everything Go Nagai has done before. Really, what should I have expected from this?

Even the box cover reeks of exploitation. Naked chick held back by tentacles, while shirtless half-demon guy waves his sword or whatever around and purees demons. Yay. Exciting. And exactly what happens during the course of this anime. (At least you can't blame them of false advertising, 'cause it ain't.)

If you're expecting a coherent, cerebral plot, you're renting the wrong tape. Shuten Doji, for all I've seen, has no plot to speak of, unless you count the Star Hand Kid (it means even less translated!) saving his girlfriend from fiends and Cthulhu and such. And if I had a dollar for every time a teacher in a Go Nagai OAV turned out to be some sort of sado-masochist, I wouldn't need a day job.

The characters, too, aren't worth a rat's behind. Maybe if there were such a thing as characterization in this show, I wouldn't be so critical, but it relies on the Go Nagai cliche of the strongest, reckless, dark-hearted "hero" and the weak, always-victimized "heroine". BAH! At least Cutey Honey reverses the roles and actually has a sense of humor. All this title has is a sense of the macabre.

If you've read this far, you probably have figured out that this anime isn't even worth considering renting. After all, if you've seen Devilman, The Abashiri Family, or any other work of their ilk, then Shuten Doji is redundant and pointless to attempt. If you actually want more of this sort of thing - then by all means feel free to have it, because I certainly won't!

Go Nagai? Go away! No, really. — Carlos/Giancarla Ross

Recommended Audience: Gratuitous violence, gratuitous nudity, abuse, attempted rape, demonic possession - well, this should be an obvious indicator of what to avoid if you're a concerned parent. Believe me, anime does get better than this!