ADV Films has set a release date of June 25 for Secret Service, the first DVD release of the anime action series City Hunter.  This is the first time the popular anime series has been available to American fans on DVD.  Based on the manga series by Tsukasa Hojo that debuted in Shonen Jump in 1985, City Hunter has spawned a 140-episode anime series as well as numerous TV specials (Secret Service from 1996 is one of the specials) and even a live action film that starred Jackie Chan in the lead role as the 'tough as nails' Shinjuku-based bodyguard.

 

In the feature length (90 minutes) Secret Service, Joe Saeba (Ryo in the original) and his sexy assistant Kaori help protect the life of the leader of a banana republic.  Like the manga series, which includes 55 volumes of adventures, the City Hunter anime is a long-running classic, and like Lupin III, the City Hunter franchise continues on Japanese TV thanks to occasional feature length films like Secret Service that revel in the adventures of the hardboiled hero.  Although the magnetic central character in the anime films doesn't have quite the luck with the ladies that his manga counterpart does, Secret Service is still rated for sale only to those who are 15 or older.