City Hunter : Goodbye my sweetheart has Ryo Saeba having to save the while Shinjuku district from a bitter ex-elite soldier who stole his plans from Speed, maybe even Die Hard with a Vengeance (it's from 1997). They end up having a duel on a train which all gave me some Cowboy Bebop : The Movie flashes... And how dated the animation looked in City Hunter. There's some good fun in this one with Ryo and the sex industry, Kaori has cool black outfits but the writing really fizzled by the last act, I'm still unclear what the bad guy was motivated by. The whole look retains some 80's touches but 1997 is a long way from there and I think it's a detriment to the distinctiveness.
City Hunter : Million Dollar Conspiracy made in 1990 is very of its time however. It's only 46mn long but better plotted than Bay City Wars. A mysterious blonde woman from America hires City Hunter as rumors of a hired killer arriving from L.A. is setting sights on him. There's explosive miniature vehicles, aviator glasses, corny synths and some very light Fall of Berlin Wall tones (plus a James Bond homage). Somehow Kaori always manage to slip her personal trauma in to have their client grow as a person but that wasn't the best it's been on weaving the character drama stuff in. That particular OAV does a good job having the perverted side of Ryo lingering in the second half action though.
I think I'm left with the Death of Ryo Saeba from 1999 for what is offered on Netflix.
