Darkside Blues

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: ダークサイド・ブルース

Information

Type: Movie

Episodes: 1

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Oct 8, 1994

Producers: Akita Shoten

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: J.C.Staff

Source: Manga

Genres: Horror, Mystery, Psychological, Sci-Fi

Duration: 1 hr. 23 min.

Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Statistics

Score: 6.13¹ (scored by 3,370 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #7399²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #5079

Members: 7,553

Favorites: 23

6.13

Ranked #7399Popularity #5079Members 7,553

MovieJ.C.Staff

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Episodes: /1

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Synopsis

The Persona Century Corporation has purchased nearly every parcel of land on earth. Dissension is not tolerated within the corporation's borders and those who oppose Persona are dealt with swiftly. Of those few places not yet under Persona's control is the free town of Kabuki-cho, also known as "The Dark Side of Tokyo". Within the town, under the leadership of a woman named Mai, is a small resistance group called Messiah. Into this world steps a man who takes the sobriquet of Kabuki-cho: Darkside. Sealed up in another dimension eighteen years ago by Persona Century, Darkside now returns to aid Messiah using his unique mystic power of renewal.

(Source: ANN)

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Background

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Related Anime

Adaptation:

Darkside Blues

More characters
Characters & Voice Actors

Darkside

Main

Ou, Natsuki
Japanese

Kenzo

Main

Ootsuka, Akio
Japanese

Mai

Main

Mitsuishi, Kotono
Japanese

Katari

Supporting

Sasaki, Nozomu
Japanese

Hozuki, Tamaki

Supporting

Katsuki, Masako
Japanese

Enji

Supporting

Yamadera, Kouichi
Japanese

Hozuki, Guren

Supporting

Hori, Hideyuki
Japanese

Old Woman

Supporting

Chris

Supporting

Miki, Shinichiro
Japanese

Jingo

Supporting

Yanaka, Hiroshi
Japanese

More staff
Staff

Kogawa, Yoriyasu

Director

Fujiyama, Fusanobu

Sound Director

Sekijima, Mayori

Script

Ou, Natsuki

Theme Song Performance

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Edit Ending Theme

"Paradise Lost" by Natsuki Ou

More reviewsReviews

Jun 24, 2010

1 of 1 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

BlackMagic (All reviews)

27 people found this review helpful

If you are a fan of 90s anime, then I'd recommend taking a look at Darkside Blues. If you haven't seen many anime from this time period, then this is a fairly good example of the visual styles of the 90s. However, most people will probably find the story somewhat mediocre and maybe even confusing.

Darkside Blues is a nice little gem from the 90s based on a manga by Hideyuki Kikucho who is one of the most respected horror writers in Japan. Often called the Stephen King of Japan, many of Hideyuki's novels have been adapted to anime such as Vampire Hunter D, Wicked City, read more

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May 15, 2010

1 of 1 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

Jaloyoloti (All reviews)

15 people found this review helpful

True to the manga, Darkside Blues is a little gem for the mid-90s with older looking art but it really goes well with the atmosphere of the story. There's a particular part my friend had pointed out to me during a fight scene when one of the men has a lit cigarette and as he's moving around there's a streak of red following the cigarette's movement. Sounds nerdy, I know, but it's things like that that makes good movies and anime REALLY good. If you like mysterious sexy men riding a horse-drawn carriage check this one out.

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Oct 13, 2019

1 of 1 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 6

megafat (All reviews)

3 people found this review helpful

The Persona Century Corporation has purchased nearly every inch of land on earth available. Dissension is not tolerated within the corporation's borders and those who oppose Persona are dealt with swiftly. Of those few places not yet under Persona's control is the free town of Kabuki-cho, also known as "The Dark Side of Tokyo". Within the town, under the leadership of a woman named Mai, is a small resistance group called Messiah. Into this world steps a man who takes the sobriquet of Kabuki-cho: Darkside. Sealed up in another dimension eighteen years ago by Persona Century, Darkside now returns to aid Messiah using his unique mystic power of renewal.

That description is probably the only time that you will ever see something coherent about Darkside Blues plot. The whole film's plot just moves from one thing to another without much of a proper transition, and without much of an explanation or reason either. And yet, strangely enough, I don't feel like it's too much of a detriment to the movie.

Darkside Blues has this weird dream like quality to it, much like a David Lynch film, and that extends to most of it's plot. Much like things happening in a dream, the plot, along with characters and their actions, either appear or happen with little to no logic, sometimes to completely disappear. For example, the titular character, Darkside, is introduced by horse and carriage, coming through a painting from another dimension. Yes, it's that kind of anime.

Sure, there is some explanation as to what's going, as few and far between as it is, but it's more about fitting with the mood of the whole thing rather than everything making sense. Everything that happens fits with the tone and mood that the movie is clearly going for, and nothing about the plot is outright incomprehensible, even if it's plot feels a bit muddled and a lot less polished than a David Lynch film.

With the plot so disjointed, I actually went back and read the manga to see if they had left anything out or had maybe changed something about the plot to fit into the budget. Well, I can definitely say that the anime is pretty accurate to the manga sans a few minor details, so it being like this is intentional.

The original manga was written by Hideyuki Kikuchi, who also wrote the Vampire Hunter D and Wicked City series, and his writing style does come across to some degree in Darkside Blues in that, like those other works, Darkside Blues has a similar moody tone and is very atmospheric, much in the same as the Vampire Hunter D and Wicked City adaptations.

Darkside Blues is is a difficult recommendation. On one hand, it's very atmospheric and has a nice slow moody pace to it. On the other, it's borderline incomprehensible plot is going to turn a lot of people away from it. If you're the type of person who loves a good David Lynch film, enjoyed the adaptations of Vampire Hunter D and Wicked City, or just really enjoy a moody atmospheric aesthetic and don't mind a plot that is a tad less coherent than something you'd normally watch, then this might have something that you like.

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Aug 13, 2013

1 of 1 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 4

bedheadred (All reviews)

8 people found this review helpful

The evil Persona corporation dominates most of the earth with their iron fist, excepting small resistance movements, one of which is located in the free town of Kabuki-cho, also known as “The Dark Side of Tokyo”. Here a group of juvenile delinquents known as Messiah dwell. For a fee, they shelter and assist a terrorist who opposes Persona.

I really wanted to like this movie because it was based on a manga by Hideyuki Kikucho who also wrote Vampire Hunter D. You can see the similarities in the animation (which is superb for its time,) supernatural themes and mysterious, romanticized character of read more

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