"Legend of the Overfiend" is a B-movie taken to the Nth degree, with a surprising level of success.
Its demons, in addition to being evil killers, are also nymphomaniacs, seizing any and every opportunity to have
sex - more often than not, with unwilling partners (hence the evil part).
The level of debauchery reaches overkill within the opening moments. It's readily obvious at this point that
Maeda and company will use any excuse, no matter how flimsy, to exploit sex or death (or both at the same time) for
its full entertainment value. Still, though perhaps drowned in them, the underlying story does rely on violence and
sex to make its point. So what's the point?
Nagumo, the prototypical reluctant hero, who involves himself in the unfolding drama with the greatest
trepidation, represents the fickle, dangerous future, changing unpredictably against his own wishes. Akemi, the
quiet unassuming companion, a tattered image of the past, is a microcosm of humanity. Victimized repeatedly by
superior forces, she refuses to surrender hope and ultimately becomes the literal curator of paradise. Amano and
Megumi are the present. Impatient with the flaws around them, they rush impetuously through life, forever looking
for the key to change, to progress and to the future.
All must discover that only through pain and sacrifice can mankind achieve peace and harmony. All must suffer,
if not die, in order to get to heaven. In essence, good can only be created by evil.
It's a point made repeatedly. Nagumo meets Akemi only after witnessing her rape at the hands of a demon and Amano
realizes the truth only after nearly being killed. Society can only be saved by being annihilated in a cruel, vicious
bloodbath.
Unfortunately, there's never any justification for "why." Maeda introduces the concept but leaves the question
starving for a follow-up explanation. It's not enough to simply state that in creating paradise a lot of "innocents"
first have to go through hell. At least, it's not enough for an American audience for whom the answer to "why" is
paramount.
In the end, Maeda's failure to acknowledge the relative, plebeian nature of his paradise - the paradoxical
creation of a future heaven and a hell in the present - keeps the film from reaching true canonical status.
Nevertheless, "Overfiend's" philosophical fencing - carried with richly fluid animation and determined, fatally
tragic characters - makes for a daring example of just what anime is capable of in the hands of a master.
*Note: "Overfiend" was originally done as a five part OVA series (the Perfect Collection). It was so popular
that they cut two features films from the footage and released them theatrically in Japan ("Legend of the Overfiend"
and "Legend of the Demon Womb"). They were marketed in the US as two separate films. The Perfect Collection was
marketed as the original OVA series. It contains about an hour of footage total that is not in the two feature films.
