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November 23, 2005

Urotsukidoji and Beast City reviewed, with tentacles.

These two Hentai sci-fi/fantasy delights serve up creepy creatures mingling with adorable schoolgirlish heroines. And plenty of tentacle sex.

In the imaginative, violent, and far out Beast City, demon Sex King Lord Karma turns the citizens of Tokyo into beast slaves who seduce and screw people, stealing their endorphins for him. It's up to Mina, the Vampire Madonna (voiced by Tuesday Knight) and her Draculon sisters Aine and Annie (Ruby Seedless) to stop them.

In Urotsukidoji*, Amano-Jaku and his sister Megumi are half-man, half-beast characters seeking a "promised one," the fabled Cho-Jin, who will rise up, destroy the evil Makai, and make everything peaceful on Earth. They set their attentions on goofball-hero Magumo whose budding romance with the innocent Akemi serves as the sexual centerpiece in the story of his struggle to realize his Cho-Jin destiny.

The different approaches to plot serve as a nice metaphor for the types of Hentai each anime represents. Urotsukidoji's story has very little to do with sex - it's a solid, end-of-the-world variety sci-fi. The script takes its time developing, and with some of the violent fight and disaster scenes, it's easy to lose track of what's happening, but the story is the axis, with the sexual tension between Magumo and Akemi key. Their abbreviated sex scenes cut off early and end badly: Akemi and Magumo often kiss, but that's almost all we get. In one mean-spirited teaser, a nude Akemi thanks Magumo for saving her, but we don't get to see the thank-you-sex. Instead, we are escorted to more mandatory fight scenes and plot development. I never got to get-off to any prolonged, steamy Magumo-on-Akemi hard-core action although I certainly wanted and expected to.

In Beast City, however, the irresistible Draculon sisters get it on in a wet and vivid shower scene, reminiscent of Kondom's Bondage Fairies. One of the villains (in The Beast II: Awakening of the Beast, the second episode on the same DVD), sexy transfer student Seia is a hose-and-gartered dominatrix Sex Demon with schoolgirl sisters. And there's a sweet little masturbation scene where we get a glimpse deep... inside, fingers pulsing against a swollen g-spot - you just can't get that quality of interior close-up in live-action porn.

And the plot, with its clever and thorough weaving of sexual concepts and backdrops (rope-bondaged, live-babe furniture in the Sex Demon's palace, for example), devises penetration opportunities aplenty. Meanwhile, in Urotsukidoji we really don't get to see much that you could call hard-core: no close ups of penetration, no concentration on sexual bounce and body rhythms. Instead we get to see a brawny basketball star's tongue repeatedly on Magumo's cheek, a promise for hot boy-on-boy action that never delivers.

But be warned that even the naughtiest fetish scenes in Beast City can turn disturbing on you without warning. Just when you think it's getting really good - wet panties, bondage, discipline, sticky-tape torture, and lines like, "If the pain becomes pleasure you can come as much as you want" - the sexy characters are apt to turn into tentacle-throat beasts. In fact, the Makai in Urotsukidoji are very similar to the phallic-tentacle-out-of- throat-creatures as the sex demons of Beast City, but that's about all they have in common.

Pick up Beast City for sex-packed action and Urotsukidoji for heavy sci-fi sprinkled with sexual tension.

*For a full breakdown of all Urotsukidoji episodes available via Video-on-Demand, please see Anime 18 Hentai: Video-on-Demand and More Hentai on Demand!