So after seeing a preview for this on some other DVD from ADV films that we were watching, Mayama and I decided to get our hands on a copy of a relatively new series (which is different from our current trend), Tokyo Majin.  It looked interesting.  I mean, it's got a lot of the stuff we look for in a "dark" anime...dessicated zombies coming back to attack their loved ones, ghost dogs, evil spirits sealed in a school, Greg Ayres.  What's that? Ghost Stories?  No.  This one takes itself seriously, and although the dub cast is amazingly good (if not complete unknowns), this certainly isn't an ADV "fandub". Let's talk about this series.

So here's the basic premise.  A wave of mysterious deaths has struck Tokyo.  A mysterious tattooed man and a girl seem to be behind it all, but to what end? Determining that, and combating the supernatural menaces, falls to a loose group of six teenagers who have suddenly gained supernatural powers themselves: the delinquent melee combatant Kyouichi, the quiet, monkish transfer student Tatsuma, wrestling captain Daigo, archery captain Komaki, student council president Aoi, and Kisaragi, an assistant to Aoi's wealthy father. While they attempt to sort out what is happening and what they should be doing, student investigative journalist Anko tries to find out why an utterly disparate group of fellow students are now associating with each other.  And it's fairly well done.  I mean, the characters fall prey to the same sort of pigeonholed diverse backgrounds that characters in pretty much all series of this type fall into, but they WORK in this series.  And by work, I mean they understand that.  They work together when they have to, and they're mercilessly mean to one another the rest of the time.  Especially delinquent Kyouichi and wealthy student council president Aoi.  Well...Kyouichi pretty much fights with everyone except for Tatsuma....but that's because Tatsuma's the first one that he ever couldn't beat easily.  Regardless, I think that (at least in the English dub) the characters are incredibly well played.  I sing the praises especially of Brandon Hearnsberger who plays Tatsuma Hiyu.  He delivers his lines so perfectly that it REALLY added to my enjoyment of the series.  A lot of lines that might not have been as entertaining if they weren't delivered properly were downright perfect the way he played them.  Astounding voice acting on his part, especially for a relative newcomer to the scene.

A few things about this show make it really stand out.....and I haven't decided if they're in good ways or bad ways.  The first is that the episodes (especially the first and third episodes) are really disjointed and jump from scene to scene to scene with little to no warning.  It sometimes makes things a bit difficult to follow.  One interesting thing is that the series seems like it *might* be arranged into story arcs....though I've only watched the first DVD, so I'm not sure yet.  In either case, what happens is we see a lot of stuff happening (that seems to get resolved) in the first episode, and then we jump back in time two months and learn how the characters all ended up working together.  Then, in episode three, we jump back to immediately AFTER the first episode...though it took me until halfway through episode 3 to figure that out, since episode 3 does some time jumping of its own.  It's not too terribly hard to figure out, but it does get a bit distracting.  The second thing I noticed (and ultimately decided I like) is the art.  The character design is just a bit.......weird.  A bit like Noein, though not nearly to the extreme.  The point I'm going for here is that the characters always seem to stand out a bit against the background....as if they've been somehow superimposed on top of it.  And the characters are a bit fuzzy and washed out at all times. Not enough that they're indistinguishable.....just....a little.  I think I like it actually, but maybe some people won't.  The third thing is the "camera" work.  It switches angles quite a bit...especially in the beginning sequence of the first episode.  It gives the series a unique feel actually, and it's really quite stylistic and a bit mature in a way.  It CAN get distracting, but ultimately I like it.

The characters, as I said before, fit nicely into their archetypes.  Juvenile delinquent Kyouichi Houraji is the bad boy with the bokken who cuts class and picks fights with everyone.  Mysterious transfer student Tatsuma Hiyu plays the straight man to Kyouichi's delinquent, and delivers a few jabs and one-liners of his own while still managing to be mysterious, calm, and amazing.  The two girls, the captain of the archery club, Komaki Sakurai, and the rich girl student council president Aoi Misato have their own set of issues.  The girls are really close (to the point where all the boys, and some of the girls, refer to Aoi as Sakurai's 'girlfriend'), and Sakurai doesn't want the obviously weak Misato to fight.  Misato has her own reasons for fighting, and she's got a pure heart and really wants to protect everyone.  She's the voice of reason in an otherwise chaotic society.....but no one is listening to her.  Then there's the musclehead captain of the wrestling team Daigo who has a crush on Sakurai and does very little else. Also involved are the very dark, aloof, cold, and mysterious "antique dealer" Hisui Kisaragi (who reminds me a LOT of a certain other Kisaragi....even if Mayama does disagree)  who seems to be their adviser on the 'demon slaying' front, and the rabid glasses wearing journalist who gets mixed up in everything while trying to get a story, Kyouko "Anko" Tohno.

I should briefly mention the music.  The opening and ending themes, while a bit odd in the grand scheme of music perhaps, set the tone of the show at least kind of well.  They're sung by the band ACID who's vocal sounds like the lead vocals from the Babystars but isn't.  But of more interest is the in-show music, which often features very nice, sometimes frenetic violins and strings.  It's nice to listen to, really.  I like it a lot.

At the very least, Tokyo Majin is worth watching.  I'm not sure I'll purchase it as it comes out, but I'll definitely keep renting it.  And if someday, ADV (or FUNimation the way things are now) decides to put out a cheap-ish thinpak....I'll consider picking it up.  I'm definitely looking forward to watching more of this series.

Score after 1 disc:  B+

posted by Yukino@11:43PM 09.19.08