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City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes Film Highlights Changes in Shinjuku Over 30 Years
posted on by Kim Morrissy
The City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes film, which first opened in Japan on February 8, is set in a modern-day version of Shinjuku. The film is inspired by the manga series by Tsukasa Hōjō, which first ran from 1985 to 1991, and thus reflects the changes in Shinjuku's landscape over the past 30 years.
One unnamed fan of the film, writing for travel site J-Town.net, said that fans should absolutely watch the film in Shinjuku. After they finished watching it, they walked out and immediately went on a pilgrimage to all the major sites depicted onscreen. They remarked that Shinjuku "almost feels like a different world now."
In particular, the writer pointed out that the station area looks very different nowadays. The Shinjuku Expressway Bus Terminal, which is featured prominently in the film, only opened in 2016. The film also shows the characters requesting help from the City Hunter by using AR technology inside the station, but this technology did not exist in the story's original setting.
In the 80s, there were also far less high-rise buildings. The only building that would have stood out at the time was the Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance building. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building was completed in 1991, while the now iconic NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building was completed in 2000. The Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower started construction in 2006. All of these buildings are depicted in City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes, but would not have existed in the original manga and TV anime series.
The film also showcases the Shinjuku Park, the Golden Gai, and the Godzilla statue on the TOHO CINEMAS in Kabukicho during action scenes. The latter in particular is a new sight, having opened in 2015.
The writer praised the film overall, and remarked that there was a great deal of significance in seeing how dramatically Shinjuku has changed over the past 30 years. "Seeing Ryo and the others living inside this evolved Shinjuku was a significant and emotional experience," they wrote.
City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes sold 180,000 tickets to earn 257 million yen (about US$2.32 million) and rank #4 in its opening weekend. The film will get 4DX screenings in Japan beginning on March 1. U.S. anime convention Anime Boston will host the film's staff in April.
Source: J-Town
