Ep. 26: Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend

It might not get more incredibly strange than this one. A late entry into our first annual Ani-May, Legend of the Overfiend is the original animated video nasty, the first animated film to ever receive an NC-17 rating from the MPAA...and that was the American cut. On today's episode we're tackling the entire original uncut triple-OVA version of the film, a 2:26 tentacle hentai apocalyptic epic that features wall-to-wall horrors that cannot be unseen.

We're actually posting this one with a trigger warning - it's impossible to discuss Legend of the Overfiend without talking about its rampant sexual assault and rape, much of which is committed by tentacles.

But we're also trying our best to understand what makes this film and its entire subgenre tick. We'll discuss the origins of Japanese tentacle porn (it was created for perhaps the most ironic reason imaginable), and Ryan does his best to dig deep into what the tentacles could possibly mean on a thematic level and how the film occasionally channels great Italian neorealist filmmakers, while Cassie firmly disagrees that this is anything more than shock cinema at best. We're also joined by our friend, cinematographer Ryan Kroboth, who talks to us about what he thinks makes for great anime cinematography.

Every 3000 years, a demon god known as The Overfiend is awakened and judges the three realms - man, beast, and demon. If they are found to be beyond saving, The Overfiend destroys them and creates them anew. But before it can do that, it must incubate inside a human for a while, during which time the human becomes a sex maniac. This is, perhaps, the craziest movie any of us have ever seen.

Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend
Directed by Hideki Takayama
1989, Japan

Additional music credits
"In Your Dreams Tonight" by Rocket Cafe Music and "Disco Funk" by Creator's Toolbox

Incredibly Strange Video is produced and edited by Ryan Quinn and Cassie Kay. Follow us on Bluesky @isvpodcast.bsky.social for updates on the newest episodes!

Theme music:
The End by EVA
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0

All excerpts from the films discussed are used for educational and critical purposes only.