#194: Urotsukidôji II: Legend of the Demon Womb (1990-1)

 

Director: Hideki Takayama

Screenplay: Noboru Aikawa

Based on the manga by Toshio Maeda

Voice Cast: Bick Balse as Dr Münchhausen; Jake Lacan as Takeaki; Lucy Morales as Megumi; Christopher Courage as Amano; Danny Bush as Nagumo; Pat McGroyn as Kohoki; Rebel Joy as Akemi/Mimi; Rose Palmer as Kuroko

Viewed in the English Dub, British release of the Feature Length Cut

 

With Legend of the Overfiend, the previous film and the most notorious of the pair Manga Entertainment released, I did feel the need to be cautious with the production in terms of how I reviewed the anime. All the exact concerns and problematic aspects are to be found in its sequel, effectively a side story set between the first and second of the original OVA episodes, or least before the third, which has canonical importance to the later narratives. It is still a work which, desiring to be transgressive, does falter with the problematic nature of a work, entirely about combining sex and death, does use sexual violence and rape in a way that is not defendable in terms of presentation, and will be a taboo for others even in mind to transgressive, an attitude which some viewers will not find defendable to even use. This review is going to soften however, as in spite of this misguided aspect, Urotsukidôji as a premise and production is a fascinating and actually compelling work to sit through, which really was emphasised with the sequel. How ironic it is Legend of the Demon Womb which wins me over: initially two OVA episodes that were composed together as a theatrical release cut, with additional touches, this once one of the worst films I had ever seen just based on the cut we got in the United Kingdom. A lot has changed to alter this opinion, even with that same cut.

Releasing this title, let alone the first Urotsukidôji in the United Kingdom is fascinating to consider with hindsight. This in itself exists from a different time in anime production itself where, even in a small part of the industry, a lot of these violent and adult works, usually straight-to-video, were created and many were picked up for Western audiences. There is such oddness, looking at a Manga Entertainment promo I had never seen before included on the disc, at time capsules of when it is meant to be edgy and cool as a hobby to watch anime, even with Project A-Ko (1986) among the releases, all set the instrumental opening to The Heart Beneath by Celtic Frost. They are a favourite band of mine, on an underrated album, hilariously even repeating lead singer/guitarist Tom G. Warrior's trademark grunt as part of the promo, but it is strange where anime distribution into the United Kingdom went from an underground and male targeted format to where it came to decades later, the time capsules found in this promo, scoring the DVD menu to the first two Urotsukidôji to dark techno music, or that this is was a viable franchise to sell.

This is worth bringing up as a prologue as, right into the sequel's own prologue, this narrative is definitely of its era. The prologue is set in 1944 in Germany, the Third Reich conducting a freakish sex magic experiment to raise a demonic lord of darkness only for it to backfire. The son of the scientist operating the machine, presided by Hitler himself, dies and his son Münchhausen II is able to come to the then-present day Japan with a second attempt, wishing to summon the dark lord and kill the Overfiend to rule. The thing that is notorious about this entry, and is worked around in the editing for the release, is that the machine itself, and this review will have warnings for the content being discussed of, involved taking women and strapping them to it, a giant mechanised machine that sexually penetrates them until their essence is literally sucked from the victims to raise the demonic target of choice. This, in a franchise which has always had the huge flaw of its gender discrimination in terms of how to depict transgression, is the thing even among the other graphic content which makes this entry particularly infamous. 

However, whilst this franchise was never equal opportunity in transgression should be, something in the sequel in tone makes even some of its questionable transgressive content feel more tonally appropriate. For starter, whilst with the potential bad taste of involving Nazis in the lore, depending on how this is thought of it is at least attempting something more meaningful. Openly admitting this take comes from Japanese pop culture commentator and author Patrick Macias¹, Legend of the Demon Womb feels less tasteless if you take a theory he had¹ based on Japan's very dicey history in how it talks of World War II and the Pacific War, in their military operations in Asian countries before, and their allegiance to Nazi Germany eventually. You have to take this with a pinch of salt, as it cannot be denied, sadly, part of Legend of the Demon Womb is meant to be scintillating to its audience in its transgressive content, which is undefendable, but trying to subconsciously depict this problematic history and dealing with the atrocities committed by both sides, even subconsciously, feels apt, even in a lurid horror-action work like this, the Nazis are depicted as inhumane figures now working with sex magic and horrifying violation piston machines. The Nazis themselves in real life were occultists in key areas, their use of the swastika a bastardisation of a symbol which was used in a variety of ways including divinity and spirituality in Hinduism and Buddhism. It is not something profound, before we dive off into pretension, but alongside this, it feels like the story even for pulp storytelling is trying a lot more in terms of what its story is about, even if just to shock and repulse.

The original Urotsukidôji, which was initially set up as three short narratives, does feel more erratic for me nowadays, especially when censored and edited together, whilst the sequel feels far more precise at times, far more idiosyncratic in plot in place, and far more emotionally investable in that, for Münchhausen II's plans to work and in command of demonic forces, his eye turns to the male cousin of Tatsuo, called Takeaki, grounding the narrative to a tragedy. When Takeaki's plane is attacked by one of Münchhausen's demons, with his parents horrifically absorbed by the attackers, the cousin is the only survivor as a result, given Tatsuo's blood in a transfusion and on his way to transforming into a monster Münchhausen wants to sculpt to his uses. It is not complex, and there are still moments which are lurid and problematic with no justification, but even in mind to lowered expectations, Legend of the Demon Womb had much more to invest in. One such plot choice, which is not as well done as it could have been, is that a large part of the protagonist role goes Megumi, a beast woman who barely was in the first story, becoming romantically attacked to Takeaki and as a result embroiled in the tragedy of his downfall as his cousin is.

She is not completely depicted as one would hope, as a strong non-human figure, but a huge advantage of this sequel is that, based on a two part narrative focused on one story, almost all the content is progressing to something emotionally rich. Even the transgressions, the sexual violence even, feels narratively necessary barring at least one scene that is tasteless for the sake of it. Here you are dealing with figures driven by madness, and seeing his father die in a failed experiment, willing to destroy people to control all worlds, assisted by demons whose lusts are inhuman, and human beings (even those with demonic evil sides) trying to find humanity.

It is still hyper violent, and still with content that understandably would be viewed as sexist or even more depending on the viewer, especially with the surprise that this feels more explicitly in content even in its censored version for the British release. The one scene, however, that does feel indulgent for the sake of it, least in the censored cut, involves Kohoki, a demon under Münchhausen II's bidding who is fixated on Megumi, which in how it is depicted does return to the unfortunate nature that this was originally sold as animated pornography, which is very distasteful. That even Kohoki though has a moment later on, despite being a literal monster, refuses to work with Münchhausen on his final project, as Megumi is the planned central sacrifice, until he is brainwashed, shows however even this notorious title is going for more of worth in storytelling.

It is here, alongside Legend of the Overfiend, you have to bring up the screenwriter being Noboru "Shō" Aikawa. His eighties and nineties screenwriting includes so very notorious anime titles - Angel Cop (1989-94), Violence Jack (1986-90) - notorious in their own right, but he gained a reputation later on in Martian Successor Nadesico (1996) and Fullmetal Alchemist (2003). The later is of note as, in mind to the works where he was an episode writer or the main writer, Fullmetal Alchemist was when he was the main writer, a hit at the time but one readapted in another series more accurate to the original manga, as he took the already successful first television adaptation into a different direction with other writers, including an explicit metaphor in a fantasy world setting of the second Gulf War, with stand-ins for the United States and the Middle East which were not from memories as potentially offensive or dumb as metaphors as that could be. Knowing this, it is never simple for me to look at the younger Shō Aikawa, working behind such notorious anime narratives, and not wonder what was meant to be more to them. Seeing Legend of the Demon Womb nowadays, I can see more going on at least in terms of the drama.

And when the transgressive works, even if it still offends it reviles and captivates at the same time. It cannot be said to be progressive nor feminist, but I think of a scene where a female demon, briefly disguised as Megumi, literally screws Takeaki into becoming the Dark One, turning into a monstrosity in the work's binding of body horror and eroticism where it does work. If the franchise had found a way to deal with both the erotica and its horrifying content better would have helped considerably, as even the dark eroticism would have worked if more care had been taken. Even the more light hearted moments, when the comedy felt tonally out of place before, work a lot better, such as Tatsuo trying to help his cousin out by being a pervert and taking him to an erotic stage show. Even the moments which are shock for the sake of it, such as attack proving why you should never ask for head whilst driven, teeth clenching, feel more provocative than just discomforting to know existed.

The fact however, in spite of the prequel being more ambitious in scope, that I find myself drawn more to the sequel is a surprise. There is, however, the obvious advantage that this does not feel like multiple episodes, but one story told. Not a lot was edited out from the two original episodes, and whilst content has to be censored for the release, this feels a lot franker in content than before. The English dub is still bad; there are a couple of moments where, in context of this era of dubs to lurid anime, which are good, but one of the biggest hindrances that would be overcome would be to have these titles recut in their original Japanese dubs. Here as well I fully appreciated too the production, where after some inappropriately chintzy musical cues in the prequel, a few here by composer Masamichi Amano are incredibly evocative, whilst the animation and production design, for this urban-set dark fantasy narrative, does grow and add a lot to this narrative's uncomfortable but idiosyncratic content.

Looking at the first two Urotsukidôji films in the contemporary times, when the anime has moved on and Manga Entertainment was bought out by Funimation in 2019, does stand out more as a result looking back at the pair decades after their heyday of notoriety. Anime has not moved on as people would think, as the violence is gone but the eroticism stayed, but these are the kind of title not likely to get re-released in the modern day due to the paradox that, preferring uncensored boutique titles, this would still be censored. This franchise is more likely to thrive in the United States, even if trying to preserve high definition versions of the OVA episodic versions may be impossible to. This title, returning to it and specifically Legend of the Demon Womb over its prequel, feels of the era, with all the baggage of these notorious adult anime of yore. It however also won me over, never expecting the final scene in this film, with the perfect musical cue, to overcome a questionable English dub and some undefendable adult content, to actually be as evocative and emotionally hitting as it turned out to be when, for all the violence and sexual violence, the tragedy of Tatsuo and Megumi likely having to kill Takeaki before he slays Tatsuo is likely.

Even with reservations, to Urotsukidôji as a franchise of dark, bleak fantasy, here you see that, alongside the script, the productions were trying their best. The aspect that made this series as much as its notoriety, the lore and style, is thankfully one of its greatest virtues, and if this feels such a lighter review for a work still nasty, still violent, and still with issues of questionable content, such as its use of rape, that is because in context a lot more of this feels more precise. It feels intentional when it does something provocative, then at times with the first story being undercut by problematic long scenes which were excised in the British cut. It makes the entire saga after this more compelling as, whilst this exists in the middle of Legend of the Overfiend narratively, it makes sense as a true sequel.

Since the apocalypse stopped us from having stories after a certain part of the timeline, here what is a side story eventually builds to what would actually become important in the lore, including knowledge of the sequels that came afterwards. Manga Entertainment did not release parts three (Return of the Overfiend (1992–1993)) and four (Inferno Road (1993–1995)), but Kiseki Films (under Revelation Films) did. Infamously, to anyone aware of this, two of the three episodes of part four when not allowed on the DVD by the British censors, and there is a lot to mention, as they are set in the post-apocalypse, of alternative endings and one unfinished project ‎Urotsukidoji V: The Final Chapter (1996), which got one episode finished and is said to not even be fully finished in animation from what was made available. It fascinates me, rather than scares me, to wonder what happens next now, especially as Legend of the Demon Womb still paints the inevitable Armageddon which turns the world into the post-apocalypse the future sequels would deal with, all whilst has this narrative which finally won me over.

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1) Very early in the podcast Anime World Order, who started in 2005/6 and are still going into the 2020s, Patrick Macias was interviewed between Episodes 5 to 8, which I will link to HERE for the first episode of these interviews. One of them has a tasteless title, but is an exact dialogue quotation from an obscure erotic anime's English dub called Gonad the Barbarian & Search for Uranus (1986). In that itself, you get however a reminder of how bad this genre can be.