Industry newcomer Urban Vision plans to make a name for itself by releasing (finally!) honest, unbutchered translations of the much-persecuted SCIENCE NINJA TEAM GATCHAMAN series. What next? At their Anime Expo debut last month, Urban Vision mentioned three other titles, as part of a strategic partnership with popular studio, Madhouse Entertainment. BIO HUNTER is the first of these co-productions, slated for September 1997 release.
Originally released in December 1995, BIO HUNTER is a one-shot OVA based on the Hosono Fujihiko manga of the same name and written, adapted, and directed by popular Madhouse director Kawajiri Yoshiaki. A new strain of DNA has entered the general populace, but this is not the kind of evolution that humanity wants. This new genetic code causes its hosts to transform into grotesque, demonic creatures that feed on the livers of human victims. The biological agent that causes this mutation has been dubbed the "demon virus," and two university scientists, Koshigaya and Komada, are racing to find an anti-virus. These are the BIO HUNTERs of the title, hunting for a cure, and hunting those afflicted with the demon virus in an effort to stop them from killing.
Naturally, it is almost impossible for a new company to survive without producing dubs. But, as the older companies overcame the hurdles of bad dubbing, it allowed the newer ones to avoid making those same mistakes. BIO HUNTER boasts a number of familiar Animaze talents, including Mark Miller (aka Tenchi) as Koshigaya and Sherry Lynn (aka Sasami) as Sayaka, requisite damsel-in-distress and Komada's prospective love interest. Viewers accustomed to the TENCHI MUYO! dub may be surprised to hear that Miller's Koshigaya is not nearly as nasal as Tenchi. Lynn, as well, does not sound anything like her TENCHI incarnation. Best recognized as an eight year old Jyurai princess, she demonstrates her range with a very mature Sayaka, the daughter of a famous psychic who tells the BIO HUNTERs that she must take them to meet her father.
Kawajiri is probably best known (at least in North America) as the director of WICKED CITY and JUBEI NINPUUCHO (NINJA SCROLL), and BIO HUNTER is in the same vein. But is it any good?
Let's put it this way. BIO HUNTER is the kind of title that ignorant US media critics (who never met an anime title they liked) unfairly single out as being representative of all of anime - and as most of us know, this is decidedly untrue. BIO HUNTER is therefore the standard Madhouse formula of graphic violence, gratuitous sex, hideous demonic monsters, and, in the words of this reviewer, "far too much red paint" - an approach that has won success for other Madhouse productions such as the previously mentioned Kawajiri titles. Fans of this horror-thriller genre will probably like this; even this reviewer, who wants nothing to do with the genre, found himself partially engaged by some of the plot revelations. But strictly speaking, fans who believe there is more to anime than wanton sex and violence would best treat BIO HUNTER like any other malignant virus.

BIO HUNTER ｩ1995 Hosono Fujihiko / Comic Burger / Toei / Goodhill Vision / BMG Japan English language version released in North America by Urban Vision. VHS, $19.95 60 minutes