Devil Hunter Yohko / Mamono Hunter Yohko
Genres: action, comedy, horror, magic, supernatural
Themes: fanservice, magical girl
Objectionable content: Intense
Number of episodes: 6
Vintage: 1990 to 1995Plot Summary: Yohko Mono is a regular girl making her way through high school–until she learns that she is the 108th successor to a line of warriors charged with defending the earth against demons. Eventually she must fight her ultimate battle against the demon who started it all.
Devil Hunter Yohko is an anime series created by Madhouse, produced by Toho, and published in North America by ADV Films. Devil Hunter Yohko was ADV Films’ (then A.D. Vision) first VHS release. ADV co-founder, Matt Greenfield, said the reason Yohko was chosen as the first release was because “we wanted something that was really very unique, that people were going to say ‘Whoa! What was that?’, because at the time no one in the US had seen anything like this.”
Press and Review Excerpts:
Extras:
Mirroring what was on the previous two editions, there’s a good mix of extras, but some won’t be for everyone as we mentioned earlier. Included is a good retrospective of artwork for the show that has some really interesting pieces. There’s a music video as well and the various trailers used to promote it. The big extra, at least to me, is the Historical commentary by Matt Greenfield, David Williams and Janice Williams that runs along the original version of the OVA. The track has the three talking about the origins of ADV with the start of the company, acquisition of Yohko and the trials getting it to market (blue tabs!) as well as a number of other topics. For those who’ve followed things about the studios with any interest over the years will be interested in it. Amusing tidbits such as learning that their first closet-office is now a “gentleman’s club” will surely spark some interesting comments.One of the things that I’ll consider an extra but isn’t actually listed as such as during the discs opening sequence. When the ADV logo comes on, we get treated to all the logos they’ve used over the years from their first release to their 10th anniversary one. Talk about bringing back memories of that logo starting up during late night sessions of tape watching many moons ago.
In Summary:
With ADV Films pushing this release out again after several years, I was rather interested in checking it out again. This series was one of my earliest purchases on VHS way back in the day and there’s a certain fondness for going back to the well with it. The show is one that is certainly an early example of how many series would be made over the years but also an example of much of what ADV Films would license as well for quite some time. I can’t really say whether it holds up well or not after all this time because it is so familiar to me and I’m simply too close to it to be able to tell. What I can say is that this is a fun show, one that has a nice blend of comedy, sexy humor and action. It’s a classic for a number of reasons and one that I like going back to in order to explore some of my anime fan roots.