City Hunter '91

Aired: 1991

The fourth and final TV series in Sunrise's adaptation of Tsukasa Hojo's hardboiled action-comedy manga, broadcast on Yomiuri TV and the Nippon Television network. Sweeper Ryo Saeba and his partner Kaori Makimura continue to operate out of Shinjuku, accepting cases from troubled women clients that swing between gritty action, sly humor, and bittersweet emotion. Though shorter than its predecessors, the series preserves the franchise's signature blend of urban-cool atmosphere, jazz-tinted underscoring, and trademark closing-tag scenes, providing an elegant capstone to the show's run. GWINKO's opening Down Town Game and AURA's ending Smile & Smile bring a sleek, adult contemporary sound emblematic of the early-90s Japanese pop scene.