City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes, or City Hunter the Movie: Shinjuku Private Eyes (劇場版シティーハンター 〈新宿プライベート・アイズ), is a 2019 anime feature film produced by Aniplex and animated by Sunrise. Based off Tsukasa Hojo's City Hunter, it is the first animated work in said franchise in twenty years since Death of Vicious Criminal Ryo Saeba back in 1999, with the series' director Kenji Kodama returning. It was released theatrically in Japan and on digital and physical home video in other countries.
The legendary couple of sweepers (private eyes/hitmen/bodyguards) of Tokyo's Shinjuku district, Ryo Saeba and Kaori Makimura, are hired to protect Ai Shindo, the daughter of an engineer who died in a car accident. Ai turns out to be the key to unlocking a dangerous attack drones-controlling satellite system her father conceived, and a shady big tech CEO (and former school sweetheart of Kaori) and a terrorist/arms dealer are after it.
A sequel, City Hunter the Movie: Angel Dust, premiered September 8, 2023 in Japan, with a theatrical run for the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland set for sometime in 2024.
City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes provides examples of:
- Accidental Pervert: After one hard day of asskicking, Ryo wants to take a shower and undresses completely, and he doesn't notice Ai is already in the shower until the last second... Even though this time it's totally accidental coming from Ryo, it ends the same way as usual for him.
- Achilles' Heel: The flying drones are armored enough to withstand bullets, but Ryo finds out they can be taken down by shooting in their rotors. The drones then adapt for a while by bending enough so that Ryo's bullets hit their armored parts instead of the rotors.
- Adorable Evil Minions: The little spider tanks in the climax. One shot has a girl call them cute when they walk by a street.
- Apologetic Attacker: Rui Kisugi, after kicking a roof guard of the Big Bad in the face.Rui: Sorry to get rough. I'm still mad about my café getting wrecked.
- Attack Drone: The Mobius system allows the wearer of its headset to control combat drones. The drones come in three types: flying, mecha spiders on the ground, and the flying Steel Reaper.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Ryo rescues Ai towards the beginning when two thugs are about to attack her with a Static Stun Gun, effortlessly mopping the floor with them using just his legs (he keeps his hands in his pockets throughout) and introducing himself to her.
- Miki showing up with a Grenade Launcher to help Umibozu as he's being overwhelmed by the land drones.
- Bridal Carry: Miki lands in Umibozu's arms this way after being projected by an explosion in the climax.
- Chippendales Dancers: Ryo has the brilliant idea to bring Ai... to a chippendales club, with himself as the main attraction. Of course the poor girl gets to see everything and drinks to forget...
- Chivalrous Pervert: Ryo, as ever. He keeps lusting after poor Ai Shindo (and Kaori keeps hammering him as a result), but he's also the best guy there is to protect her and has some genuine moments without dirty thoughts towards her.
- Comic-Book Time: The film is recognizably set in the 2010s (all those smartphones with apps) despite none of the characters looking any older than they did in manga and animes set in The '80s and The '90s (and it's also true for the Cat's Eye characters).
- Crossover: The Kisugi sisters from Cat's Eye (the other famous Tsukasa Hojo manga) appear, for the first time in animation in decades.
- Deadly Dodging: One of the Steel Reaper missiles Ryo dodges during the Final Battle ends hitting the Big Bad's building.
- Disney Death: It looks like Umibozu's beloved Robot Buddy / Robot Maid gets permanently destroyed when the Cat's Eye café is targeted and riddled with bullets and RPG rockets, but it gets repaired and returned to him eventually.
- Dragon Ascendant: Mikuni is an interesting example. He thought he was the Big Bad, but when he botches his new weapon demonstration because he focuses more on his emotions than business, his mentor Vince Ingrad establishes himself as the Big Bad... All the henchmen obey him, he is about to put a bullet in Kaori's face to sever Mikuni's emotional ties and teach him a lesson, and Mikuni asserts himself as this by killing his mentor.
- Freudian Excuse: Mikuni, a stereotypical straight-A glasses-wearing kid, used to be bullied and was once saved by Kaori, which impressed him deeply. From there, he has no shortage of unresolved resentment towards Shinjuku, and he would grow up to fervently believe in Might Makes Right. This culminates in him getting completely fixated on killing Ryo, both as Kaori's partner and as the protector of Shinjuku, even though he should be thinking of the bigger picture, causing widespread panic through warfare. His mentor actually calls him out on this several times.
- Grenade Launcher: Miki helps Umibozu against the ground Attack Drones in the Final Battle using a grenade launcher, which is about as destructive as Umibozu's trademark bazooka.
- High-Pressure Emotion: After Umibozu saves her from a fall with a Bridal Carry in the climax, Miki embraces him and kisses him on the cheek, which causes his head to turn red and makes him exhale steam.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The Steel Reaper drone gets destroyed by Ryo when the latter shoots one of its missiles just after launch. If the explosion didn't destroy it, the collapsing of the rock tunnel surely did.
- Hyperspace Mallet: Once again, one wonders where Kaori can hide the massive mallets she uses to stop Ryo's pervert antics in most cartoonishly violent ways.
- Iconic Outfit:
- Ryo still wears a light blue blazer over a bordeaux tank top, and dark denim pants.
- Umibozu dons his green military uniform to fight the ground drones. And he always has his sunglasses on, even at night.
- The Kisugi sisters don their trademark catsuits (dark blue for Hitomi, purple for Rui and orange for Ai) when they set out to help Kaori infiltrate the building of Mikuni in the climax.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: The drones never ever land a hit on either Ryo or Umibozu despite being armed with miniguns and shooting constantly. Also, Ryo's just that good at dodging and combat rolling.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Ryo, who else? Just with his good old Colt Python he manages to shoot a RPG rocket mid-flight, blasts guns out of enemies' hands left and right and destroys the Steel Reaper Attack Drone by shooting one of its rockets as it's launched.
- It's Raining Men: Or women in that case. The Kisugi sisters help Kaori get into Mikuni's building by parachuting on its helicopter bay roof from a Cessna plane. Kaori is strapped to Ai for the jump.
- Kick Chick: Hitomi and Rui Kisugi deliver impressive kicks on the helicopter roof guards when the Cat's Eye crew helps Kaori to infiltrate the Big Bad's building.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When the Kisugi sisters come at Umibozu and Miki, the dialogue alludes to both the time gap since the Kisugi sisters' left Japan In-Universe and the fact that they haven't been seen in animation since 1985.Hitomi: It's been a while you too.
Umibozu: It-it's been a very long time! - Man Versus Machine: In the climax, there's Ryo vs the flying drones and the Steel Reaper, and Umibozu (and Miki) against the ground drones. The humans win, much to Mikuni's frustration (he had too much faith in the drones), especially Ryo and his unmatched agility, Improbable Aiming Skills and quick thinking.
- Monumental Damage: Prevented at the last second. A loose RPG rocket fired by the men chasing Ai at the beginning heads towards the Godzilla head
of Shinjuku district, and Ryo prevents it destruction by shooting the rocket with his Colt Python. - Oh, Crap!:
- Umibozu and Miki almost shit in their pants when the Kisugi sisters come back at the Cat's Eye café, since it's now in ruins because of an attack by Mikuni's men, and Umibozu has the utmost reverence for the sisters (they are his bosses, after all). Thankfully, the sisters understand well that it's no fault of either Umibozu or Miki.
- Umibozu has a few such moments when the ground drones keep coming in droves or when one that got overturned on its back manages to get back on its feet.
- One-Handed Shotgun Pump: When fighting off the drones in the climax, Ryo reloads his lever-action Sawed-Off Shotgun by spinning it with his fingers Terminator 2-style.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. There's two girls named Ai in there, Ai Shindo and Ai Kisugi, but the latter doesn't appear long enough to spread confusion.
- The Peeping Tom: Ryo tries to use a Surveillance Drone to spy on the ladies' changing room at the model photoshooting building. Kaori stops him with her usual method.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Shinji Mikuni has vibes of this. He still has a lot of unresolved issues from childhood, feeding into his hatred of Shinjuku and his desire for power. Even before undergoing Motive Decay, he still marks his town for destruction for his weapon demonstration and to prove his thesis, but once Laura's partner Ryo comes into play, the mask cracks progressively. Vince ends up nearly calling him the trope before attempting to take over.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Mikuni ends on the receiving end of two of these.
- First from Vince Ingrad, his mentor, when the Steel Reaper is destroyed: Mikuni simply had to cause indiscriminate slaughter in Shinjuku to cause long-lasting fear of warfare and feed his business model, but instead chose to focus on killing Ryo out of purely personal and emotional reasons, ignoring both Vince's advice, and several hints that he was severely Underestimating Badassery. Vince lays this out in simple terms: he can not trust any longer a man who fumbles because he focuses on his emotions at the most critical moment.
- Then from Kaori when he is about to kill her, as he tries to impress on her that Might Makes Right. Kaori simply points his misunderstanding in simple terms: to her, Right Makes Might.
- Revenge: The three Kisugi sisters (Hitomi, Rui and Ai) help Kaori to get into the Big Bad's building through the roof to get revenge for the destruction of the Cat's Eye café.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: Think Ryo's good old Colt Python can't do anything against modern Attack Drones? Think again.
- Running Gag: As always, Kaori keeping Ryo's manchild lust at bay by the might of her Hyperspace Mallet or other means.
- Shower of Awkward: After one hard day of kicking the ass of the men sent after Ai, Ryo wants to take a shower and undresses completely, and he doesn't notice Ai is already in the shower until the last second... Even though this time it's absolutely accidental coming from Ryo, it ends the same painful way as usual for him, courtesy of a furious Kaori.
- Superman Stays Out of Gotham: The Kisugi sisters help Kaori to get into the Big Bad's building through the roof to get revenge for the destruction of the Cat's Eye café, but probably because this isn't marketed as a Crisis Crossover with Cat's Eye and the story would end way faster with their sheer number and She-Fu skills, once Kaori is in the building they just stay outside and watch.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Ryo attempts to use a drone-mounted camera to peep inside the models' changing room, only for it to be immediately noticed because of its propellers' noise.
- Underestimating Badassery: Saying Shinji Mikuni underestimates how badass Ryo can be is an understatement.
- War for Fun and Profit: Vince Ingrad, Shinji Mikuni and the whole bunch of arms dealers. They are literally drooling at the prospect from Mikuni's thesis: that racial conflict, civil war or territory disputes are not needed to spark conflict and sell arms, you just need to impress strong enough permanent fear in the population, and they will buy weapons in droves to protect themselves. As Vince Ingrad puts it, "This is a good opportunity for this country to learn that safety comes at a price."
- With My Hands Tied: The first time he meets Ai, Ryo effortlessly opens a can of whoopass on the thugs who are after her by simply using his legs while keeping his hands in his pockets throughout the fight.
