Darker, meaner and sleazier than the live-action adaptations, Doomed Megalopolis stands firm on the tradition of simple carnage, relying on an overwhelming sense of terror to create its mood. Covering the same material as the first live-action film, this OVA greatly benefits from not being compressed into a two-hour runtime. It allows for a more in-depth exploration of its broader narrative. Granted, this is still the first third of a 10-book epic, mind you, so not everything is tied up as neatly as you’d like, and threads that seem essential can be left behind without a care. It can be confusing at times, as ithas a habit of introducing unwanted or unnecessary plot lines and characters, making it almost impossible to keep up with the storyline. However, that being said, the animation by long-time heavy hitters and personal favourites of mine, Studio Madhouse, is frequently excellent and genuinely unsettling at times. Shadows that creep into the corners of your mind, old Japanese-style theatre techniques and its use of old folk songs that crawl under your skin and chill you to the bone. They even bought back Kyusaku Shimada from the live-action films to play the role of Kato again, and he’s just as terrifying here. On the whole, Doomed Megalopolis offers up a steady balance of action and character interaction with a strong dose of disquieting supernatural horror.