Short of the localization of foreign-made games (especially those from Japan), Western developers are not really expected to produce games that are anime-inspired - much less games that tout hand-to-hand combat as a core game mechanic.
Oni, one of the last games Bungie Software made before being acquired by Microsoft, was supposed to be the ground-breaker of sorts. However, despite its creation having been allegedly inspired by famous Japanese IPs with deep under-leanings like Ghost in the Shell and Akira, a few setbacks in its production values prevented it from being any more than a good imitation.
The game places the player in the shoes of Konoko, who is a police operative involved in the order-maintaining efforts of the macro-government, the World Coalition. She sure has her hands full, as the world and society itself have regressed into a dystopian state with the Earth in a polluted, unhealthy mess to boot. What began as just yet another mission for an individual whose existence would be meaningless if not for her job, quickly became a quest to right some wrongs as are to be expected from such a backstory. There is also the tried-and-true plot tool of previously hidden/suppressed powers and a murky past.
The story aside, the game appears to offer something more substantial in the form of its graphics; Oni is a good-looking game for its time. There are some setbacks, such as the lack of any facial animations whatsoever on both the in-game models and the portraits used to show who's currently talking, but everything else was plenty top-notch for its time. Characters are well animated (despite the game appearing to use only two major sets of animations, one for either gender). Textures are then-crisp and the artwork that went into the game's levels sure is more than decent.
The design of the in-game models for the game is generally good, especially those of enemies and allies, who often sport detailed suits of armor and signature close combat moves unique to their particular model. Just about every model also has a taunting animation that is fun to look at (but not to listen to). Unfortunately, Konoko's model and one other heavily anime-inspired one don't really look good (which detracts from the anime theme).
Audio is just as good as graphics, but similarly it has raw spots that sorely needed refinement. All sounds associated with hand-to-hand combat are gratifying (especially the more brutal, one-hit-kill ones). Gunfire noises are decent, but not too weak relative to said close combat sounds. Voice-acting, however, seems to lack the effort that went into the rest of the audio design. Bungie appears to have hired voice actors & actresses whose skills are average at best, thus giving the game the same voice-over quality of simply-dubbed anime.
The gameplay of the game, like its audio and graphics, is a mixed bag as well. As mentioned before, the game has really good hand-to-hand combat; the inclusion of graphical indications of enemies' remaining health (without resorting to clumsy health bars) certainly aid this aspect of the game. With every completed level, Konoko learns more moves, including a few that are effective throughout the whole game. The rest are highly situational, but very useful in the moments that their use is recommended. Konoko is not the only one with close combat prowess; many enemies in the game, especially the later, more distinct-looking ones, have devastating moves if the player is caught off-guard. That said, some of them are terrifically difficult to defeat without resorting to certain guns.
Gunplay, on the other hand, is underwhelming in comparison (despite the prominence of firearms on the box-arts). Most of the weapons are dull and very difficult to use against enemies, who can always pull off a leaping attack that is difficult to stop with gunfire and likely to cause Konoko to drop her gun when the attack connects. The only effective weapons are otherwise more than a little overpowered, such as the Mercury Bow and the Rocket Launcher (thus, the player may be inclined to reserve the game's universal ammo reloads for these guns). Likewise, enemies with such weapons are very difficult to get close to, no thanks to their really good accuracy. Konoko can perform a disarming move to relieve them of their weapons, but sometimes doing so actually makes them more dangerous if they are known to be terrifying close combatants, for the the game disables much of their close combat AI scripts when they are toting a gun. (In addition, enemies can be easily goaded into picking up an empty gun that the player dropped so that it can be reloaded with their infinite reserves of spare ammo.)
Some slight stealth-oriented gameplay has been infused into the game, though it is limited to removing enemies who have been placed into the level with their backs initially facing Konoko. Sneaking around enemies is completely impossible, no thanks to the lack of cover for Konoko to skulk behind with and how enemies that have been alerted to Konoko's presence knows exactly where she has gone to even if she goes out of the logical line of sight of enemies. (The stealthy kills are however very brutal and amusing to look at - especially if the victim is one of the more troublesome enemies in the game.)
The "hidden powers" alluded to earlier are often activated via overuse of 'hypos', which are items that Konoko can keep (a few at any one time) for the purpose of replenishing health later. Considering how difficult the game can get sometimes, the game is not exactly generous in doling them out, so the close combat bonuses obtained via overuse of hypos aren't really worth the expenditure. A careful player can still get by using the hypos dropped by defeated enemies, found in areas off the main path or obtained from non-combatants (who will often have to be protected from enemies), however. There are also a few other power-ups, but their durations are so short that they tend to be inconsequential.
Perhaps the worst aspect of gameplay is the use of checkpoints instead of a proper game-saving feature to track the player's progress. This game is technically a port of its PS2 version, and thus suffered from the limitations of the latter. The game has many scenarios where cheap deaths can occur from poorly timed jumps across platforms. Couple this with the generally tough battles that Konoko has to prevail with enough health for the next ones, some frustration is inevitable.
It is sad that the multiplayer portion of this game has to be removed, purportedly due to networking issues. It would have added much needed replay value to the game otherwise.
In conclusion, Oni could have set the trend for games that are anime-inspired and incorporate effective hand-to-hand combat among Western developers, but flaws in its making very much sent it into the closet of good but otherwise unremarkable games.