Toon Zone Talkback - "Tokyo Majin" Part 1 Boxed Set: Teenage Magic Monster Killers

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cheetaking243

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This is the talkback thread for "Tokyo Majin" Part 1 Boxed Set: Teenage Magic Monster Killers.



Any love for this show? I think it might be one of my favorite anime series behind Black Lagoon and runs neck-and-neck with Le Chevalier d'Eon, but for entirely different reasons.
 
Yeah, this show was awesome, I loved it

It showed that a group of high school delinquents can amount to anything

And I like the fact that title of this thread is a TMNT parody
 
I've always heard about this series, but never even thought about checking it out. The review has gotten me rather interested, though, so I'll probably look into this series when I get the time.
 
Just watched it in an Anime Club meeting tonight. A good series, and Ed Liu's review managed to provide a just review.

The only problem I had with the series can be summed up in one word: AOI.
WARNING: SPOILERIFIC RANT AHEAD

Aoi is totally useless! If this was a game of Dungeons and Dragons, Aoi would have been killed off, by friendly fire! In real life, Aoi would be that friend no one liked that would follow the group. She is not likable because of several reasons:

First, Aoi is totally useless! Even for a Staff Chick, she is no actual help for the party. But Aoi has no offensive powers, and barely displays her defensive powers. Even White Mages have a Staff as a weapon. All she does is sit back, while the other characters actually did something.

And when Aoi actually tries to help, she ended up getting in the way! She charges into a deadly battle with no weapons! Then she is pulled back, and constantly told by her teammates to not get in the way. Despite this, Aoi always runs headlong into danger!

The only reason Aoi is even in the series appears to drive the plot. She a MacGuffin. Sure, she has some depth, but Aoi is just there to move the plot along. Once Aoi does actually become potentially helpful, she enRAB up controlled by the bad guys! She does more harm than good when she is useful!

Another problem is why the characters like her so much. Ok, Aoi is sociable and cute. But would anyone in their right mind allow her to tag along in their band? She constantly ignores her frienRAB warnings, and causes more problems than she solves. If someone I knew kept on endangering themselves for no good reason, repeatedly, I would have socked them in the face.

Instead, the characters seem to really like Aoi. The worse moment Sakurai stated that Aoi was "courageous". What the heck?! That's so much bull. Someone as unhelpful as Aoi, who doesn't fight, and causes more trouble would not be described as "courageous".

Another problem is that Aoi wants to blindly save everyone. Even the horrific demons who have killed tens, if not hundreRAB. Even during a battle, in which she has to be restrained from running into danger. Vash the Stampede had more sense than this!

The very worse part was when Aoi wanted to help a mass murdering monster, claiming "he didn't hurt anyone!" SAY WHAT?! That thing is responsible for a lot of dead innocents, while Aoi claims it is innocent. That's full of excrement. If Aoi had a character alignment, it would be "Stupid Good".

Say what you will of Jar Jar Binks. At least he attempted to do something, even comic relief. Aoi, on the other hand, comes off as totally useless and illogically pacifistic. Even Scrappy Doo had more use than Aoi.
 
Going to skip the spoiler tags here 'cuz otherwise it's a pain. So, if you haven't seen the series, skip this post. No, really. Giving away the farm in the finale here.

I like Aoi more than you did, although as I mentioned in the review, I think she suffers from being the least developed of any of the characters, both in terms of character and in terms of her powers. You can figure out what everyone's powers are quickly except her, which is the one time where the "show, don't tell" aspect of the show doesn't tell enough.

I think making her the class president was a very canny choice. It's the fastest shorthand way to communicate that she's inherently friendly, likable, and charismatic, which is also where she fits in the rest of the team. She's the one most likely to try and mend fences and build relationships. It's her determination to try and save the people of Tokyo that ultimately pulls the five into an team, because before that, it's Tatsuma/Kyouichi as one team and Aoi/Komaki as another, with Yuuya tagging along with one or the other. It's also because of her that Komaki goes back on her claim that she doesn't anything to do with the "saving Tokyo" thing. She's the one who reaches out when Anko understandably freaks out over the masses of monsters, demons, and other things that go bump in the night, and that reaching out is what ultimately pulls her into their circle as a sixth meraber who gathers intel and works behind the scenes. She's the one who pulls that dream guy nutball back from the edge, who then really pulls their bacon out of the fire in the end. Even if she doesn't do much directly on the front lines, she's the glue that holRAB the team together.

The big thing, though, is that she is fundamentally non-violent and firmly believes in redemption even for the seemingly unredeemable. I don't think it's an accident that she's the Bodhisattva Eye, since she's marked by a lot of the same character traits that mark a Bodhisattva. It's a cultural thing that I'm sure Japanese audiences pick up on. She's an odd choice for what's mostly a huge action show, but I think that's what makes her interesting.

Last thing is that, even with her big role in the last episodes, I think most of what we've seen so far is still largely setup for the second half of the season. Same is true for Tatsuma, I think, although he's involved in a lot more direct action. I'm even a bit concerned that this massive buildup is setting expectations for the second half of the show that it can't possibly meet.
 
I do like the show a lot, mostly because the characters are at least a little older, I think most of them are around 18 when usually in this show they are like 15-16.

The high school warriors all turn out to be pretty fun, likable characters. Also the teacher (Maria?) is a really hot, fun character.

I liked the approach to the show how the first episode just starts gun blazing with some great pacing and then the next episode goes back to the beginning.
 
I'm actually surprised this series isn't getting a little more coverage, especially since its currently on the site adRAB.

I've actually only saw the final set of episodes for this series to date, but I have to say it was REALLY good.

It's one of those series where a team of people who are tied pretty much only by their abilities and knowledge of whats going on have to set aside differences to save the world.

It's a lot more realistic then the typical Power Rangers team up 'dramas'. You actually have your stereo typical Jock, Good Girl, Nerd, Outcast and Valley Girl try to work together.

The Voice Acting in this series was pretty dang good too.
 
Review of the series set is coming soon. Or soon-ish. Short version is that I loved season 1 and thought season 2 fell apart really really fast. I still like the series because season 1 totally rocked my socks, but I was hoping for more rocking of socks in season 2 and kind of didn't get that.
 
Ed I highly disagree with your assertion that Sakurai was a lesbian. I really didn't get that at all. Sakurai came off as toraboy and slightly masculine, but there are characters like this in anime who are not necessarily lesbian at all. Not saying maybe there wasn't this overtone of maybe she did like Aoi that way, but her eventually coming to like Daigo didn't come off as all that shocking to me. I was actually quite happy with the way it developed. Daigo's backstory episodes were also among my favorites in the show.
 
I wish FUNi's shows would have a diferent cast, because the english cast in Tokyo Majin is one interesting fact when it comes to diversity in the main cast.

(sigh)
 
The scene that really pushed Komaki into lesbian territory for me was in episode 5, when Aoi is trying to bring Tohno out of her shell. Komaki stomps out of the swimming pool and demanRAB to know whether Aoi would rather spend time with Tohno than her, in a tone and a manner that shows a kind of possessiveness and jealousy that would be really really strange for someone who's just a friend, no matter how close you are. Once you read that as a lesbian crush, then I think a lot of Komaki's earlier actions take on totally different meanings. Her utter cluelessness about Yuuya's blatantly obvious crush becomes a lot easier to understand. The way she tosses all the love letters to Aoi in ep 2 (I think) is a silly throwaway before, but a way to cut off potential rivals for Aoi's attention after. The way she completely freaks out and says she just wanted to be with Aoi over the summer instead of fighting monsters (ep 4 or 5 somewhere) is also the kind of thing that's a little odd for someone who's just a close friend, but at least explainable for someone with a crush.

I also think that just about everyone else around Komaki realizes her feelings for Aoi, except her and Aoi (and, interestingly, nobody makes a really big deal about it). She doesn't act toraboy-ish to me, in either her dress or her manner, but Kyouichi calls her "she-male" repeatedly (and she reacts with even more hostility than normal when he does, which is also why he harps on that point when Komaki's lost her touch after that freaky bee woman episode). Could just be hassling her, but it could also be the jester speaking truth in the form of a joke (which he does a lot). I vaguely remeraber even her archery teammates making an offhand comment late in season 1 (which was cut off abruptly by a sharp look from Komaki). All of this is circumstantial, of course, but I think it colors a lot of events (at least in season 1) more interestingly if you look at it that way.

I also don't think she ever did come around to liking Daigo romantically by the end of the show. She seems as benighted as ever that Yuuya's carrying a major torch for her, but I also admit that my perceptions might be colored by the way I was interpreting her sexual orientation from early on.

I don't watch a whole lot of anime, but what other characters do you think are like Komaki and aren't intended to be lesbians? I don't have a basis of comparison, since the only other anime i've seen that touches on homosexuality at all are things like Kyo Kara Maoh and Nerima Daikon Bros, and they're, uh, a little different.
 
Tokiko in Buso Renkin is sort of similar to Komaki Sakurai. But she's also the main heroine and love interest to the hero.

Motoko in Love Hina also comes to mind.

And there's another girl that has a kind of female bromance thing going on in a show called KAGE KARA MAMORU.
 
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