How was the City Hunter anime made?

Sunrise made City Hunter, for Yomiuri Television, and the man who steered it was director Kanetsugu Kodama. Four series across four years: City Hunter (51 episodes, April 6, 1987 to March 28, 1988), City Hunter 2 (63 episodes, 1988 to 1989), City Hunter 3 (13 episodes, 1989 to 1990) and City Hunter ’91 (13 episodes, 1991). One hundred and forty episodes of television, before the films and specials are counted.

The voices are the institution. Akira Kamiya is Ryo Saeba: he has voiced the role across four decades, series, films, games and anniversary specials, and in Japan the character and the voice are inseparable. Kazue Ikura is Kaori, hammer and all. The production even borrowed from its own cast: Ryo’s partner Hideyuki Makimura got his first name from his voice actor, Hideyuki Tanaka, with Hojo’s approval.

The anime’s scale showed in 2005, when Aniplex released the Complete DVD box: 32 discs gathering every series, special and film, with an art book and figures. Some 30,000 sets sold, grossing around ¥3 billion (about $38 million): a box set performing like a hit product in its own right.