Cyber City Oedo 808 (サイバーシティ OEDO 808) is a 1990 original video anime series directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri and produced by studio Madhouse. Staff credits also include writer Akinori Endo and music composer Kazz Toyama. The three episode OVA series was released in Japan between June 1990 and October 1991.
Background:
“The year is 2808. The place: Oedo, a cybernetic megalopolis of the future where the dreams of a brighter tomorrow are drowning in a tide of violence, vice and villainy. Driven to breaking point, the forces of law and order are left with no choice but to use the very criminals they capture to help hunt their own kind.
Enter hardened cyber criminals Sengoku, Gogul, and Benten. Presented by police chief Hasegawa with a stark choice, they must decide to either rot in jail for the rest of their lives, or join a special force of the Cyber Police and possibly get one more chance at freedom.
With their less than subtle blend of extreme violence and excessive swearing, some hard justice is coming to Oedo. With each criminal apprehended and each successful mission completed, the state will agree to reduce their sentences. But with each of them serving a 300-year stretch, and Hasegawa keeping them in line with explosive collars, will they survive long enough to be free men once again?”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, January 2021
It’s deja vu! It was just a few years ago where I received the collector’s edition Blu-ray release for Cyber City Oedo 808 from Anime Limited. It was a nice packaged set, but fans discovered that the video quality was not very good and it’s an upscale rather than a HD remaster like Kawajiri’s other works.
Then not long after that release, AnimEigo’s Robert Woodhead discovered a vault in Japan that contained dozens of anime masters that had been considered lost for decades. He only found this when he was looking for material to sort out his Blu-ray release of MADOX-01 so it was a shock to everyone that titles like Angel Cop, Appleseed, Iria: Zeiram the Animation, Project A-Ko, Violence Jack and A Wind Named Amnesia were all together in this location. Since that discovery, Discotek Media was able to release those titles I mentioned on Blu-ray in North America with HD masters which also included Cyber City Oedo 808, re-released as a steelbook to differentiate itself from the original release.
Meanwhile, Anime Limited were pretty much silent this whole time about the series, likely because of the frustration of finding out the original materials had been discovered which meant that the work in creating the show’s first Blu-ray release was outdated immediately, including its documentary which used footage from that upscaled master. Regardless, the collector’s set did go out of print not long after its release and there was no re-release i.e. standard edition at that point. Eventually they revealed plans to bring the HD remaster into the UK by including the release as part of their early bird line-up for their 12 Days of Christmas 2022 sale.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Because Cyber City Oedo 808 had already received a collector’s edition release, Anime Limited’s limited edition is toned down in terms of content but you still get the nice artwork and packaging. This release is presented with a rigid box containing a Amaray case to house the Blu-ray disc, as well as 6 Art Cards.
The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The limited edition Blu-ray has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £39.99, and is expected to receive a standard edition Blu-ray release later down the line.
I pre-ordered the series during the Anime Limited 12 Days of Christmas 2022 event where a special discount offer was provided for those who ordered directly through their online store for their original release (therefore the price was £19.99 instead of the £24.99 early bird offer.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Amaray packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- 6 Art Cards
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 17th April 2023
The limited edition release for Cyber City Oedo 808 contains all three OVA episodes on a single Blu-ray disc, with the encode & authoring done by Discotek Media & MediaOCD. While Anime Limited released the series first on Blu-ray with MediaOCD producing the disc, it was Discotek Media who released the HD remaster first so Anime Limited is essentially re-using their disc.
The audio options included in the previous collector’s release is kept in-tact for the re-release, which includes Japanese with English subtitles, the classic Manga Entertainment UK English dub that utilises Rory McFarlane’s soundtrack and the Central Park Media (US Manga Corp.) US English dub using the original Japanese soundtrack by Kazz Toyama (this audio option covers both signs and lyrics for the subtitles as well).
The white subtitles are unlockable during playback, and the regions are locked to B for Blu-ray. The documentary that Anime Limited made is still included despite re-using the old Blu-ray footage. I do feel it’s worth a watch regardless as it explores the UK licensing history for the series including its music.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English (UK) DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 English (US) DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 1.33:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 1 BD-50 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
- Episodes 1 & 2 Japanese Commentary with Masao Maruyama (Producer) & Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Director)
- Inside Cyber City Oedo Documentary
- Manga Entertainment UK VHS Trailer
- Central Park Media US DVD Trailers
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Cyber City Oedo 808 is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom. The limited edition Blu-ray can be purchased through Amazon UK, Anime Limited’s online store, MVM’s Anime-on-Line, and United Publications.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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