People learn billiards for many reasons: recreational enjoyment, social connections, love of competition, skills development. For expert marksman and underground private eye Ryo Saeba, the protagonist of the anime series City Hunter, the answer is simple: to score some ass.
Sure, in the 1988 episode “Mokkori Is the Best Medicine: A Pool Shot to a Pretty Hustler’s Heart” there’s the nobler underlying cause of helping Yuri protect her family’s pool bar, The Stardust, from being taken over by the gangster Ginji. But deep down, for Ryo, whose mind bugs out and eyes bulge out around beautiful women, it’s always about one thing: Mokkori!
Mokkori is a Japanese phrase akin to the English cartoonish noise “Boi-oing!” to describe an erection. For horndog Ryo, it can refer to boobs, butt, legs; if you can ogle it, it’s Mokkori time. Some crime fighters (Batman) are led by their vow for justice, others (Superman) by their moral compass. Ryo is led by the cue stick in his pants.
Even skeevier, it’s not just the case of a Peeping Ryo; this guy can’t help acting on his lecherous libido. He literally engineers situations where he can attempt to grope women, peer under their dresses, or stare at their cleavage.
If this all sounds a little WTFish, consider that City Hunter is no niche softcore, fly-by-night brainchild of some horny pervert who watched too much late-night Skinemax. To the contrary, City Hunter is the brainchild of writer and illustrator Tsukasa Hojo, who first introduced the famous Japanese detective in a manga magazine in 1985. The magazine has since sold more than 50 million copies, appealing to both men and women.
It also spawned the anime series that ran from 1987-1991, around the same time that Baywatch was globally swiveling heads and turning the wearers of red bathing suits into international eye candy as part of a cultural zeitgeist.
In fact, the CIty Hunter series was so popular that it was subsequently adapted in 1993 into a Hong Kong thriller with Jackie Chan, then remade into a 2018 French film, and just this year, released on Netflix as a Japanese action film.
All of which is to say analyzing the premise and popularity of City Hunter may leave the uninitiated scratching their heads. I’ve read online that it’s precisely because Ryo’s objectifying antics always fail, and he is further punished by his partner Kari, who clobbers him with her famous 100-ton hammer, that his appeal has endured. He operates in the world of over-the-top harmlessness.
Consider the “Mokkori Is the Best Medicine” episode, which opens with a booby-trapped billiards table maiming the Stardust Pool Bar owner after he attempts to make a difficult bank shot. Ryo initially refuses to take the case, claiming that pool halls lack “girls in high cut bathing suits” (perhaps confusing pool with a swimming pool), but quickly pivots when his partner convinces him some women will be topless by the pool.
While there are no topless women present, Ryo goes gaga when he spies the owner’s daughter Yuri, who is the “ultimate Mokkori hustler babe.” He accepts the case under the condition Yuri will teach him billiards, which is Ryu’s way of sneaking peeks while she demonstrates breaks, masse, and other assorted shots. Fortunately, Yuri is no tenderfoot, and she quickly neuters Ryo’s carnal instincts with some well placed cue jabs and ricochet shots.
Once Ryu’s game is officially rebuffed, “Mokkori Is the Best Medicine” turns into a more traditional billiards episode of the unassuming woman competing against the evil gangster to save her pool hall and her family’s reputation. Think of this as the anime version of Second Chance or Wandering Ginza Butterfly.
After the gangster’s scare tactics fail to intimidate Yuri into giving up the bar, he challenges her to a 20-rack match of 8-ball. Unbeknownst to Yuri, the table is electromagnetically rigged, which allows for the cue ball’s speed and direction to be remotely controlled by the gangster’s lackey. But, such cheating is no match for Ryo’s watchful eye, deductive prowess, and fists of fury. And, in a real twist ending, he not only foils the gangster’s plan, but motivates Yuri to make the high-pressure winning shot by squeezing her ass and promising her some post-match Mokkori.
I couldn’t make this up if I tried.
“Mokkori Is the Best Medicine” is available to rent on CrunchyRoll.
