I just finished watching the fourth series. City Hunter '91. I think it took a while to grow on me because my expectations were that Ryo would be a badass with a goofy side rather than a goofball with a badass side. I think the first series drags a bit compared to the follow up three, which I much preferred. Although it's episodic, they do show other sides to Ryo's character as it goes along and some of his backstory is fleshed out which is good. Kaori also takes quite a while to realise she's in love with him. There's also some soft continuity with occasional episode material and characters reoccurring.
The basic gag of Ryo reacting to mokkori babes and then getting the hammer never got old for me. I like the style of how women are drawn in this show. It's a bit odd that Kaori is mistaken for a boy in some episodes and then characters will call her pretty in others. Tomboyish sure, but she always comes across as cute and obviously a girl to me, and her seething over Ryo never gets annoying because her voice actress is very endearing (Kazue Ikura). I guess the "looks like a boy" thing is a bit of comedic exaggeration at her expense.
Ryo being played by Akira Kamiya is also interesting because for a character who looks so much like Kenshiro from Hokuto no Ken, it's fun for him to have the same voice actor yet give such a drastically different performance as befits such a drastically different personality. It shows his talent.
My one real complaint about this show is similar to my one real complaint about the Space Adventure Cobra TV show; it's that although there are characters who are near equals and times when he seems seriously in danger, there isn't really anyone who gives enough doubt about whether Ryo will prevail. No one ever really gets hyped up even when there's a two parter either. I get that it's not that sort of show, because it's episodic and more light hearted, but the moments when it gets serious are very good precisely because of the contrast. I liked the face off with Robert Harrison, and the one with Umibozu in the cemetary. I really feel like the show could have used a consistent rival, in a soft continuity way. Umibozu occasionally dips into that role but overall he's on too good terms with Ryo and Kaori. A character like Kenshiro from Hokuto no Ken may be overpowered on paper, but because it was serialized, his villains got to have some build up and although he usually dispatched them easily, the few times he
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