Tokyo Majin: Second Act

I found this second season to be a bit more coherent and powerful than the previous season. It opens up with a bang, with a mysterious organization, some very interesting build-up, and delectable fights (the choreography and animation for Tatsuma's fights are always so graceful to watch). Although the story seems to progress too quickly (especially with the anime's fondness for never really showing how -anything- ends except with a few flashbacks in the following episode), at least it tries to tie together the various plot strings from both seasons as it heads towards its climax. We get new insights in characters' pasts as wellas character development. The middle half of the series wades neck-high through angst and more angst, before closing out with a rather sudden and unfulfilling ending -- at first glance. Nevertheless, I think the ending did a great job in closing out this seemingly unfinished story and leaving the viewer (at least, me) with a sense of closure and fulfillment, simply by focusing on the characters rather than the plot.

CONTAINS SLIGHT SPOILERS ASSUMES YOU'VE SEEN SEASON 1 AND TALKS ABOUT BOTH SEASONS HERE. I’m starting this review with a shocking revelation of sorts. I had downloaded a show called ‘Arigatou Tokyo Majin’ from the site where I usually get my stuff. Hadn’t read the synopsis. I thought it was going to be some really sweet ‘Haiyore! Nyaruko-san’ type show. Oh boy, was I wrong! Arigatou Tokyo Majin was not a comedy slice-of-life. Hell, the reason why my expectations were so wrong in the first place because the uploader had (apparently) put the anime up under a wrong name. That’s right, people. It’s actually called Tokyo ‘Majin Gakuen Kenpucho:Tou’. And, it’s not a single season show. It’s got two seasons of 14 episodes – unlike what was falsely advertised by the uploader. The second season is called pretty much the same thing: just add ‘Dai Ni Maku’ after Tou. I’ll be writing about both of them here. Now, I’m not here to rage at the uploader. Well, actually, I’m not mad at all. I have no reason to be. Tokyo Majin isn’t a bad show. It’s quite decent. Tokyo Majin starts out with a bang and lots of blood. I’m not joking. People die in like the first 6 minutes of the show. The first episode casually and very quickly introduces most of the characters with whole bag of action sprinkled with a pinch of confusing directing. You’ll be blown away by all booms and ka-pows but, at the end of it all, you’ll be very confused as to what is going. And that’s where most of the show’s faults lie. Sometimes it is too slow: sometimes too fast. A lot of things aren’t explained well and when explanations are given, they are done in such an uninteresting way that you’ll often question why they (the characters and writers) are even bothering in the first place. But, it’s too expected. Tokyo Majin is an adaptation of a manga based on a game that came out way back in 1998. Things like this are to be expected – especially when it comes to old games as sources. Tokyo Majin is largely an action show with a rather large emphasis on Chinese mythology and non-black-and-white matters. To be perfectly honest, the black-and-white thing really kills a good chunk of an otherwise good show. Pretty much all of the characters are sad or have deep ISSUES. Oh wow. A free pass for discussions on justice and whether to save or kill people. Oh geez. Almost all of the characters except for the main duo of Tatsuma and Kyouchi adhere to the whole ISSUES shtick. I mean, they have got their own problems too but at least they’re not whining all of the time. Seriously, the female characters cry so damn much. Daigo the wrestler also cries. A lot. Proper character development is almost non-existent for the non-duo characters. The few who do get it, develop so blandly that you’re left to ponder over matters like: ‘then why the fuck did he became an evil bitch in the first place?’ and ‘you were so happy and shit these last 18 episodes but one brief trip down memory lane later and now you’re acting like an old man gulping a bottle of Scotch mixed with your crush’s tears’. For an action show, it does a decent job. The first few fighting scenes are pretty sight to behold but, after that, the fighting scene quality really goes down with each consecutive bout. As the heroes and the villains become stronger, so does the need for actual engaging combat scenes. Animation is thrown out and replaced with dramatic stills. That’s sorta sad for an action show, ya know. It’s a personal thing so I’m not going to let it come in between. The overall animation is good for it’s time (2007). Smooth where it needs to be and detailed where it counts. An episode or two had rough animation so I guess there were release issues or something. No biggie. The music didn’t do anything for me. The Opening and Ending songs and visuals were… boring, to say the least. None of them clicked with me. The background music is heavy on sad violins playing. It’s not bad, I guess. It just doesn’t suit the show. You’ve got an action show here and you’re giving it music you’re most likely to see in a Korean tragedy drama. Utterly off-putting. Now, even though the characters are half-assed and the story requires one to be patient and be accepting of all the cliches in the cookbook of Japanese story-telling, the show is quite fun for what it is. An action show that is to be enjoyed at night when you’ve got nothing better or specific to enjoy your dinner with. Tokyo Majin Blah Blah Blah gets a 5 out of 10.

I personally think that this anime was undeniably epic in some moments and terribly boring at some other moments. The first season kept me clinging on because of the characters and the interesting build-up of suspense left for the second season to unfold. However, this season didn't do such a great job filling up the gaps and answering questions, not only because it doesn't answer some questions, but also because some answers are not satisfactory, and some just confused me even more. But overall, it's not a big deal because our main focus still lies on what is going on. The story is typical, action-packed, and hassome interesting character developments and psychological matters (especially Kaosu's and Hiyuu's). Nevertheless, I find that the numerous flashbacks on the characters' past and backstory is being repeated too often, and sometimes it just pisses the viewers off because we already know and understand. On the other hand, some characters' past wasn't even shown much. I didn't hate the fact that each episode started a bit more later than from where the previous one ended. But I disliked it for the last episode because they just completely cut off the "epic" part, making me think that the animators were probably too lazy to even end the main battle properly. No worries though, you'll still see some parts, but not in the best way. These are the things I'd complain about anyways. Otherwise, the characters have really interesting development (especially secondary characters) and I would have liked to see more about them. We don't need to talk about the art, it's good enough, and the cast is too. I enjoyed the action scenes, and I had moments where I felt like I had to know what was going on next. My overall will stay at 8 because I didn't feel too good with a 7. If I could be more precise, I'd go for somewhere between 7.5 and 8.

Well truth to be told, if you are reading this.. then you've probably watched season one and anxious to see what season two is about. Well season one is started out pretty good. Starting with a fighting scene on the very first episode really hooks you in. However that is how this entire franchise is going to be like. I can see how it's very allure to watch this anime with all the suspense they give you and the mystery provided. Like how at the end of season one, many mystery has not yet been solve, which cause many more question. Season one was prettygood is the aspect of sequence of events and moments of suspense. This anime is very short anime with very very short arcs. Season one was the longest where we get to see every character and then near the end focused on one character which is "Misato Aoi" Season two however is full of confusion and just plain terrible. But at the very least the producer tried to fix it. Here's why.... I will say this season two contains a better story, more mystery and increased in suspense but the procedure or the events weren't executed to reach the satisfactory point. The first 5 episode arc was about this Justice assassination organization. If was an pretty good intro to the mastermind of the destruction and is gave us what should we expect to see in the next few eps. However it wasn't executed properly. The characters weren't properly introduced, the producer tried to deepen our knowledge of the character but not to the full therefore leaving us back to square one. A lot more characters true identity ore motives came to light but it had no connection to the story at all. Like the second arc, Stars of Fate, the four guardians were even given a reasonable amount of screen time for us to get to know them as the guardian. I know it's suppose to be unknown but they shouldn't at least gave us a hint that they have met before or at least encounter.(talking about the Alan Claude). The most terrible thing about this anime is that they completely ignore the strong point of the anime is the fluid fighting scenes. I actually looked forward to the fighting scenes but instead they made the enemy way to powerful and that somehow instead of close combat it's more like a one hit KO or a super powerful beam. The last episode of season two is even more despicable!! The ending of 23 was awesome, very strong, very powerful but they complete ignore the fight and went back to the aftermath or the ending of the show instead of slowly guiding us through it. People want to see the fight but they didn't show us what we want. It's like trying to watch a movie but half way through at the FREAKEN CLIMAX they cut us off and show us the ending. The worst part is they realize what they've done and just added a small cut scene of it. The last two episode of season two is a sort of a bonus for us to get a better feel of the characters and a little more of the aftermath, but honestly disappoint me because I'm pretty sure it could've been inserted somewhere in the actual season as a part of an arc instead of a bonus, for more effect. It's like they are trying to fix things up. The music and art i have no complaint about, they were both drawn and inserted very nicely, characters personality very much suit how the character are drawn. Honestly if you were going to watch this season and hoping that the mysteries from the first season were going to be solved and unravel then you are looking at disappointment!! SERIOUSLY!! However if your just looking at anime just to kill some time and like action and suspense mainly appealing to shounen viewers then this may be the one for you but don't expect to much from this! --Later