Waking Dead

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!

When I was a younger man and just getting into anime, one of the few films we got over in the UK at the time was an 18-rated hard-boiled thriller called Golgo 13. The story followed a ruthless hitman caught up in a struggle for his life after the father of the man he assassinated uses every asset at his disposal to track him down.

It was violent, offensive, sexist, and a whole lot of fun. When I heard that they were making a series some 15 years on, I was worried that the content would be watered down to fit the modern anime viewer. God, was I wrong about that.

Duke Tougou is still a supreme bad-ass, finding the time in four hours to get busted out of prison, buy a sniper rifle, have said sniper rifle modified for the shot he needs to make, have sex with a prostitute, get into a firefight in the hotel, fly out to the airport, cap the bad guy, then fly back home. All the while looking like a square-jawed 80s action hero with constipation.

Look, its Godawful, truly, but if you grew up in the decade before fansubs were the primary means of distribution and emo people were called goths, you just might find a place in your sick little heart for this show. It doesn’t promise to be any more than it is, and the animation is cheaper than a Lime Street hooker, but it has its own certain charm.

And seriously, how could you not root for a guy described as having an “amazing penis”?