Midnight Eye: Gokuu II (original) (raw)

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS.

SUMMARY: Goku Midnight Eye 2 starts out just as goofy and fun as the first part, but devolves into a way more grim and frankly unpleasant watch that was not my cup of tea. If you like 80s style anime gore without a deep story or characters, and just like the action as animated by Madhouse, this is the OVA for you. If you want something in the vein of the fun and goofy action from the first OVA, you will be very disappointed, as this one contains way less (unintentional?) comedy and way more questionable drama.

Goku Midnight Eye 2 starts... off with what's basically a "cold open", a sequence completely unrelated to the main story. Here, we get a stakeout in an exclusive rooftop club, and soon enough a hilarious chase sequence ensues where our protagonist and the sleazebag mafia man he's after slide around on rooftops. It's directly in the tone of the previous movie, and I really like it.

However, if you are like me and you came for the 80s OVA goofiness, then you should seriously stop watching after this sequence and just pretend it was a short. What follows is a main story that really wasn't what I expected or hoped for, and ended up being a serious buzzkill. As so often, your mileage may vary, but in my opinion Part 2 of Goku Midnight Eye isn't nearly as enjoyable as Part 1.

Part 2's tone quickly shifts to a far more grim and dark one. While Part 1 had a good balance in my opinion to keep things fun, Part 2 goes for a proper overtuned noir story with more gore, a darker backstory and more graphic violence against women in particular. The plotline follows a woman asking Goku's help to save her brother, who turns out to have been subjected to intense brainwashing and medical experiments. He's a complete killer machine, and the amount of gore and violence has gone up as a result. Later on, a prostitute is basically raped to death. 'Nuff said.

The movie's animation has also changed as a result - We see way less of the colorful, moody Cyberpunk aesthetic and more drab backgrounds and colors. The action is toned down in its fun romp-like quality and gets way more serious and gorey. The plot is still nonsense, but instead of being made to enable a goofy, fun time like the first OVA, it feels more as a very basic setup to excuse more brutal scenes. Absolutely not my cup of tea. I don't need every story to be deep, but gore for the sake of gore is not for me.

BOTTOM LINE: I personally cannot recommend this part of Goku Midnight Eye. The dreary art, the way harsher tone and the excess of violence and gore for the sake of it really didn't do it for me. I found some of the scenes outright appalling. The story makes no well executed attempts to justify its brutality - It feels like a proper exploitation movie, and that's not my thing.

CONTENT WARNINGS: Plenty of gore, brainwashing and medical torture, explicit portrayals of rape and murder, more sexism than the first OVA too.