Crying Freeman

クライングフリーマン

Aired: 1988

An OVA series based on the manga written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami. It follows Freeman, an assassin brainwashed by the Chinese crime syndicate the 108 Dragons, who weeps each time he eliminates a target on assignment, and depicts the storm-tossed romances with the women who love him, all rendered in robust animation faithful to Ikegami's gekiga touch. Released over a long span from the late 1980s into the early 1990s and highly regarded overseas, it stands as a representative adult-oriented OVA of its era.