Nicky Larson has never seemed as popular as at the start of 2024. In January, City Hunter: Angel Dust, a new dedicated animated film, was released in our theaters with the desire to reconnect with Ryo’s first missions Saeba, even if it means changing the story a little. This April, Nicky Larson is released on Netflix with the desire to recall Ryo Saeba’s first mission, even if it means changing the story.
The small difference is that this new adaptation is live action. Yes, with flesh and blood actors. Yes, like the version by and with Philippe Lacheau – the one we always advise you to watch -, or the very old version with Jackie Chan – the one which was already horribly bad apart from its Street Fighter scene.
For a while, we would have already cringed at the idea of seeing the streaming platform embark on this adaptation. But since then, the SVoD service seems to have learned from its mistakes by providing us with imperfect, but much more respectful, works. Proof of this is One Piece, Yu Yu Hakusho or even Avatar, the last airbender to leave Japanese territory. From then on, the proposition of seeing the Shinjuku Stallion come to life again in real guise suddenly became much more interesting. If we hide a detail that we will come back to.
The screenplay by Nicky Larson was entrusted to Tatsuro Mishima, who is not in his first live-action manga adaptation since he already owes Yu Yu Hakusho on Netflix. The film intends to retrace, in its own way, the beginning of Tsukasa Hôjô’s manga where Nicky Larson goes to investigate the death of his teammate in the company of Laura, the latter’s sister. A case linked to the development of a new drug in the streets of Shinjuku, Angel Dust, a substance which increases the abilities of its user, but whose effects end up being fatal.
There is no point in arguing, obviously the story does not respect Hôjô’s work to the letter and takes certain liberties. It is the very nature of adaptation not to transpose stricto sensu, especially since there would be little interest in revisiting what we already knew (you might as well read the manga); as for the neophyte, suffice to say that the subject has not reached the table of debates. No, all we ask of this Nicky Larson, as a connoisseur, is that he understands the spirit of his original material, and, as a spectator, to simply have a film that holds up.
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Concerning the most City Hunter part of the feature film, it must be recognized that we find all the constituent elements of the Ryo Saeba universe. Especially since this is the first time that a major dedicated production really dives into the heart of its action district, Shinjuku. From the announcement board to the hostess bars, including the nightlife establishments, the decor has a real reason to exist in the plot and we enjoy discovering both the tourist side and its hidden secrets.
As for Ryo, sorry, Nicky, Ryohei Suzuki perfectly embodies the cleaner whose taste for partying and pretty women we find, as much as he is immediately credible in the action scenes. As nonchalant as he is lethal, this flesh-and-blood Ryo has nothing to envy of his paper version. You just have to see him reloading his weapons to appreciate the care taken in demonstrating his almost superhuman abilities. We also take great pleasure in seeing that this adaptation has fun with its hero as much as the manga in showcasing his talents. The sequence where Saeba protects his target from evil photographers seems straight from the mind of Hôjô himself.
Speaking of obscenities, the feature film does not hide the inclinations of its vigilante, without dwelling on it too long. A film for all audiences – and also for the sake of realism – this Nicky will never cross the line as his equivalent could do much more easily. That doesn’t stop him from being a true free spirit as soon as a pretty girl passes under his gaze. But as always Nicky is doomed to failure, like the eternally helpless pervert that he is.
In the role of Laura / Kaori, Misato Morita surprisingly has the lion’s share with a much more emotional segment. Far from treating the character as Ryo’s future relational target fairly quickly recovered from the death of his brother, his loss is at the heart of the story until a heartbreaking climax. The duo thus carries the film on equal shoulders, each bringing something unique within them, allowing the footage to remain in balance.
A Netflix production
Yes, there is nothing shameful about this Nicky Larson as soon as he invokes his heritage and he proves to be quite clean both on his comedic side and when he turns to action. We have a good time, we have fun and we get a little thrill when Get Wild finally sounds. But.
But the feature film nonetheless remains a Netflix production with what that implies in terms of flaws for years. A dull, generic photograph; a clean production, but before which we will not remember any striking shot, the scenes succeeding one another with the same energy.
As usual, we feel the mold of the productions of the SVoD service which does not wash away its baby with the bath water, but which does not particularly take the time to dry it. We feel that this Nicky Larson is there to attract fans, bring in a few curious people, not shock either of them, please both, and be forgotten by both. All the ingredients are there to make this work the reference adaptation for fans of City Hunter, but it lacks the eternal spark, this desire for cinema. To be more than an adaptation responsible for filling a catalog. The proof is that as we write these words just a few days after a viewing that left us with a good impression, we already feel that it won’t be long before we forget that this film exists.
Nicky Larson? Really ?
Finally, we could not conclude this opinion without making a slight digression not on the film, but on Netflix France’s strategy precisely (for which the said film has nothing to do with it). When it arrived at Club Dorothée, more than thirty years ago, the cartoon became cult for its freewheeling French dubbing. At this time, and like almost all imports from these dark times, the original first names were translated to fit the country. Ryo becomes Nicky, Kaori becomes Laura, Saeko becomes Hélène and Hideyuki Makimura becomes Tony Marconi. The characters all have the same face, we are young, it doesn’t shock anyone that Tony Marconi is Japanese and not Italian.
Except that the decades have passed and the French public has been able, little by little, to discover the true identities of these heroes until the latest dedicated works, including the recent animated film Nicky Larson – City Hunter: Angel Dust, no longer pretend to recall a past that no longer exists except in the title, just in case. Only Lacheau retained the French names for his adaptation. But with an action taking place in France and openly paying homage to the Club Dorothée; It could not be otherwise.
If we talk about all this, it’s because what can still be seen, ultimately, in an animated film or in a French adaptation, becomes completely ridiculous once the events and the casting are geographically marked. A Japanese man named Tony Marconi? Seriously ? Especially since all the secondary characters keep their Japanese names, which then gives lunar dialogues where “Nicky” and “Laura” find themselves surrounded by “Akitaka” or “Kunio”. Not to mention the original subtitled version where you will clearly hear “Saebaaaaaa” shouted and read “Larsoooooon”.
From there, we strongly question the bias of Netflix France. Because if you don’t know City Hunter, the fact that the character is called Ryo Saeba will not shock you in any way. The choice to position itself in France on Nicky Larson is therefore solely to attract the fan. The fan who has long since gotten to know Ryo Saeba and is not blind enough or nostalgic enough to ignore the Tony Marconi walking around Shinjuku. This may only seem like a detail, but this detail will have had too much of a tendency to attract our attention in the wrong sense of the word on our side. Give us back our Ryo!
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