City Hunter

The series ran in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1985's 13th issue until 1990.[3][4] The series was printed in 35 collected volumes by Shueisha under the Jump Comics range between January 15, 1986 and April 15, 1992.[5][6] In these volumes the series is grouped into 55 different stories or "episodes" instead of as their original individual chapters. Each story is centred on a different female character or "heroine".[7][8] The series was an 18 volume edition by Shueisha from June 18, 1996 to October 17, 1997.[9][10] A third edition of 32 volumes was published by Tokuma Shoten from December 16, 2003 to April 15, 2005.[11][12] To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the series, a fourth edition City Hunter XYZ edition is being published by Tokuma Shoten across Twelve volumes.[13] The first volume was published on July 18, 2015.[14] The eighth volume was published on October 20, 2015.[15]

Takehiko Inoue was an assistant on the series.[16]

Attempts were made to license the series for the American comic market during the 1980s; however, Hojo insisted the manga should be released in the right-to-left format. In 2002 Coamix created an American subsidiary, Gutsoon! Entertainment. City Hunter was a flagship title in their Raijin Comics Anthology. Raijin switched from a weekly format to a monthly format before being cancelled after 46 issues.[17]

The series is currently available to read in Japanese as an iPhone application by Rainbow Apps.[18]

In 2001, Hojo started a spin-off series titled Angel Heart. The series takes place in a universe parallel to City Hunter, where the character of Kaori Makimura is killed and her heart transplanted into Xiang-Ying, Angel Heart's protagonist.

A spin-off manga titled Kyō Kara City Hunter was launched July 25, 2017 in Tokuma Shoten's Monthly Comic Zenon magazine. It is centered around a 40-year-old unmarried woman who is a fan of Ryō Saeba and the City Hunter manga, and suddenly dies in a train accident and is reincarnated into the world of City Hunter.[1]

The series was adapted into an anime series produced by Sunrise, directed by Kanetsugu Kodama and broadcast by Yomiuri Television.[19] City Hunter was broadcast for 51 episodes between April 6, 1987 and March 28, 1988 and released on 10 VHS cassettes between December 1987 and July 1988.[20][21] City Hunter 2 was broadcast for 63 episodes between April 8 and July 14 and released on 10 VHS cassettes between August 1988 and March 1990.[20][21] City Hunter 3 was broadcast for 13 episodes from October 15, 1989 to January 21, 1990 and released on 6 VHS cassettes between November 1990 and April 1991.[20][21] City Hunter '91 was broadcast between April 28 and October 10, 1991 and released on 6 VHS cassettes between February and July 1992.[20][21] The series was later reissued as 20 video compilations.[19]

A 32-disc DVD boxset, City Hunter Complete, was published by Aniplex and released in Japan on August 31, 2005. The set contained all four series, the TV specials and animated movies as well as an art book and figures of Ryo and Kaori.[22] 26 of the discs comprising the four series were then released individually between December 19, 2007 and August 27, 2008.[23] 30,000 box sets were sold, grossing ¥3 billion ($38 million), in Japan.[24]

The series was licensed by ADV Films for release in North America. The first City Hunter series was released on the ADV Fansubs label in March 2000. The aim of this label was to provide cheaper subtitled-only VHS releases at a faster pace than usual.[25] The series was scheduled for 13 tapes, consisting of four episodes each. The tapes could be ordered individually or as a subscription service.[26]

ADV later released the series on DVD. The first series was released as two boxsets of 5 discs on July 29, 2003.[27][28] City Hunter 2 was released as another two boxsets of five discs on October 28, and November 18, 2003.[29][30] City Hunter 3 was released as a single boxset on December 2, 2003 and City Hunter '91 was released on December 16, 2003.[31][32]

For the 30th anniversary of the original manga, buyers of all 12 volumes of City Hunter XYZ edition were entitled receive a "motion graphic anime" DVD. The DVDe adapted a special Angel Heart chapter entitled Ryo's proposal and was voiced by the original City Hunter cast.[33] On April 20, 2019, Discotek Media announced that they have licensed the entire City Hunter animated franchise, including the 2019 movie, Shinjuku Private Eyes.[34] The first 26 episodes will be released February 25, 2020.[35]

Three theatrical movies were released in 1989 and 1990: .357 Magnum was released on June 17, 1989, Bay City Wars was released on August 25, 1990 and Million Dollar Conspiracy was released on August 25, 1990.[20]

ADV Films released a DVD containing Bay City Wars and Million Dollar Conspiracy as well as a bonus television episode on June 3, 2003.[36]

A new theatrical movie produced by Aniplex that is set in present-day Shinjuku titled City Hunter the Movie: Shinjuku Private Eyes premiered in Japan on February 8, 2019, after Sunrise and Kenji Kodama returned to animate and direct the film, respectively.[37] The Kisugi sisters of Cat's Eye appeared in the film as a crossover.[38] Teruo Satoh and Takahiko Kyōgoku served as episode directors, while Kumiko Takahashi designed the characters and Taku Iwasaki composed the music.[39] The film debuted #4 at the Japanese box office,[40] where it has grossed ¥1,404,747,320 ($12.16 million) as of 17 March 2019.[41] The film earned ¥1,502,665,440 ($13,608,142) by April 15, 2019, in two months since its release, becoming the third top-grossing Japanese anime film of 2019 up until then,[42] and it had grossed ¥1.53 billion ($14 million) in Japan by the end of 2019.[43] Shinjuku Private Eyes was released in France on 13 June 2019. Philippe Lacheau, the director and star of the French live-action film adaptation Nicky Larson et le Parfum de Cupidon, was involved with the French distribution of Shinjuku Private Eyes.[44] Discotek Media premiered the English dub of the movie at Otakon 2019.[45]

Three television movies were produced: Secret Service was broadcast on January 5, 1996 which was followed by Goodbye My Sweetheart on April 25, 1997 and The Death of Vicious Criminal Saeba Ryo on April 23, 1999.[20]

ADV Films released Goodbye, My Sweetheart as City Hunter: The Motion Picture in North America as their first release from the franchise.[46]

In 1993, a live-action Hong Kong theatrical adaptation of the series was released. The film was directed by Wong Jing and starred Jackie Chan as Ryo Saeba, Wang Zuxian as Kaori, and Japanese idol Kumiko Goto.[19][47] During filming of the movie, Chan dislocated his shoulder.[48] The movie has been criticised by Chan.[49] Fortune Star and 20th Century Fox later released it on R1 DVD along with other budget classic HK films.

Saviour of the Soul (九一神鵰俠侶 Gauyat sandiu haplui) is a live-action Hong Kong film from 1991 that uses the characters from City Hunter but changes the plot.[49] In 1996, Mr. Mumble kept the concept of City Hunter but changed the characters' names.[49]

A new Chinese film based on City Hunter is also in development. It was announced in 2016 that it would be directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Stanley Tong and is set to star Chinese actor Huang Xiaoming as Ryo Saeba.[50][51]

A separate French action-comedy film Nicky Larson et le Parfum de Cupidon (lit. "Nicky Larson and Cupid's Perfume") was released in France on February 6, 2019.[52] The French adaptation has Philippe Lacheau as director as well as the star, playing the title character Nicky Larson (as Ryo Saeba is known in the French dubs of the anime series). Elodie Fontan appears beside Lacheau as Laura Marconi (Kaori Makimura), while Tarek Boudali, Julien Arruti, and Didier Bourdon also appear in the film as per its initial promotional material.[53][54][55] Pamela Anderson also appears in the film.[56]

A planned live-action television series of City Hunter was announced in 2008, to be produced and distributed by Fox Television Studios and South Korean media company SSD.[57] Jung Woo-sung, was scheduled to play Ryo alongside Hollywood-based stars, with location filming in Seoul and Tokyo.[58] In 2011, the series was adapted into a Korean television series of the same name by SBS, starring Lee Min-ho and Park Min-young.[59] The series is available to watch with English subtitles on the streaming service Hulu.[60]

In 2014, there was a Chinese television series based on City Hunter, with the title 城市猎人 (Cheng Shi Lie Ren).[61] In 2015, the spin-off manga Angel Heart received its own live-action Japanese TV drama adaptation. GMA 7 city hunter starring alden richards maricel soriano at cesar montano upcoming drama 2021

City Hunter was released by Sunsoft for the PC Engine in March 1990.[62]

Ryo appears as a playable character in the fighting game Jump Force.[63]

By 2016, the City Hunter manga series had sold over 50 million tankobon volumes worldwide.[51] In addition, the series was circulated in an estimated 900 million copies of Weekly Shōnen Jump manga magazine between 1985 and 1991, with those Jump issues generating an estimated $2 billion.[lower-alpha 1] The series was voted the 19th "Most Powerful" series to have featured in Shonen Jump.[64]

In Manga: The Complete Guide, Jason Thompson described the manga stories as "well told and entertaining".[65] Writing for Mania.com, Eduardo M. Chavez describes the series as "funny, sexy, action packed and at times just plain whacked" and praises the mix of action and comedy.[66] Patrick King of Animefringe described the series as "not the most intellectually stimulating piece of fiction I've experienced lately" but called it "a blast to read".[67]

In a 2005 poll held by TV Asahi, City Hunter was voted #66 out of the 100 most popular animated TV series, as voted by TV viewers. A TV Asahi web-poll put City Hunter at #65.[68][69]

The characters Ryo and Kaori proved popular with fans. In the reader voted Animage Anime Grand Prix Saeba Ryo was voted second in the Best Male Character section in 1988.[70] In 1989, 1990 and 1991 he was first place.[71][72][73] In 1992 he was voted sixth place.[74] Kaori Makamura was voted fifteenth in the best Female Character category in 1988 before climbing to eighth in 1989.[70][71] Kaori then placed fifth in 1990 before falling to sixth and eleventh in 1991 and 1992 respectively.[72][73][74]

The Motion Picture has been praised for the quality of its English dub but criticised for changing the characters names.[75]

The first anime ending theme, "Get Wild" by TM Network, and a later 1989 remix, sold a combined 515,010 singles in Japan.[76] The anime series was also popular in France, where it was dubbed as Nicky Larson and 140 episodes aired in the early 1990s.[77]