Finally, some Japanese animation that lives up to its hype. Overfiend has been making the rounds of the Japanimation underground for a year or two now and has only recently secured a U.S. distributor able to make it available to stateside theaters. Hardly surprising, given the fact that the film has more hardcore sex and violence than any animated film in history. Imagine the early work of Traci Lords mixed with Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy, and you’ll have a handle on this bloodbath. Plotwise, Overfiend hurtles along with the usual Japanese pacing; that is, sex, violence, confused exposition, etc. Sibling shapeshifters Negumo and Megumi are hanging around modern-day Yokahama waiting for the arrival of the Overfiend, a superbeing who appears once every 3,000 years to unite the earth and its parallel worlds, those of the Demons and the Shapeshifters. Into their search walks love-struck high school students Amano and the virginal Akemi, who eventually end up conceiving the Overfiend with their first sexual union. Too late, Negumo realizes that this Lovecraftian savior may not be all he’s cracked up to be when it comes to inter-world unity. Takayama’s two-hour film is actually a highly edited version of his Wandering Kid series, of which the first three episodes make up Urotsukidoji, and, while the film version includes nearly all of the ultra-violence of the original series, quite a lot of the triple-X sexcapades have been deleted in favor (presumably) of bloodier high jinks. At times indecipherable and occasionally flat-looking, Overfiend nevertheless manages to entertain on a grand (-Guignol) scale. Certainly, this particular piece of Japanimation is not for kids of any age — its NC-17 rating should make that clear. If, however, the notion of rape by demons and endlessly apocalyptic disembowlings sound like fun, this nightmare’s right up your alley.
This article appears in June 11 • 1993 (Cover).