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「白い少女」 (Shiroi Shoujo)
“White Girl”
It’s like X-men in Toyko, and the bad ESPers have the upper hand. Also, it’s bloodier.
Lots of ESPers
The first episode starts out introducing…well, a lot of people. I don’t rightly remember any of their names though, not based on this premiere. Which is an odd situation. Normally stories give us a point of view character early on, but this one forewent that in favor of third person omniscient. As a writer, that tells me that this is intended to be a large tale–it’s not about one person, but about many people, and the world at large. It’s tricky to start out like that though, because though I’m intellectually interested by what I’ve seen, they haven’t given us reason to be emotionally invested because we don’t know who any of these people are. A gutsy move, and not one I’m sure is working…though only so far.
Plenty of Powers
One thing I noticed was that, though they didn’t introduce the characters fairly well, they did introduce their powers, and by showing them rather than telling. Aside from psychometry girl (wiki!), they explained no powers, but I picked up what all of them can do. The leader villain uses illusions, his lieutenant is a teleporter (insert Nightcrawler reference here), tertiary villain uses balls/walls of air, megane onii-chan can apparently see the future, at least to a limited degree. Tokyo ESP takes risks, but it’s doing its job well in introducing us to the world, even if the bit players are still a shallow mystery.
Animation & Character Design
My first impression of the animation was…irrelevant, because I quickly realized that the animation is actually quite good. It’s the character designs that aren’t sitting well with me. They look like bargain bin SHAFT to me–not quite Nisekoi levels of phoning it in, but not the best I’ve seen either. The animation itself works though, with plenty of explosions and the combat done reasonably well. Once I acclimate to the art style, I don’t expect to have any problems–which I mostly have already.
World Gone To Hell
I hesitate to call this dystopian, because a first episode where everything is shitty doesn’t mean everything will stay shitty. Everything is certainly shitty right now though, as the Brotherhood of Mutants the antagonists have parliament suspended in the air, and they’re apparently planning on dropping it somewhere painful. Illusion man seems to have bad things planned…but honestly, the parallels to the X-Men are so strong that I can’t work myself up to caring about the ESPer’s plight just yet. If that’s even what this show will be about! Based on the anime only, we really don’t know yet.
For an episode that feels like the first half of a prologue, I almost feel it’s unfair to judge it too far. They’ve established the world and the first conflict, and established them well, but everything else is still a giant question mark. I can judge it a certain amount for not expounding on that–and I do–but past that, I’ll wait and see.
Looking Ahead – The Shiroi Shoujo
They did a good job of building up the Shiroi Shoujo before she appeared, so that, when she did, I was ready to see what she had up her sleeve–and cliffhanger, DAMN! As much as it feels like they didn’t give us enough this episode, they gave me enough to be interested. Well done, XEBEC. That’s not something I get to say often.
I don’t know if I’ll be blogging this, but I will be watching this, so if a post doesn’t appear next week, check in with me on twitter for more! And you might just find that we revisit this (and other un-blogged) shows in some manner or other…but I’ll leave you to wonder what I mean for now. Until next time!
tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – A premiere that feels like half a prologue, introducing the world & ESPer powers without getting into the characters much at all #東京ESP 01
Random thoughts:
- “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” Any anime that quotes Albert Einstein–and such an evocative quote to boot–has my attention.
Check out my blog about storytelling and the novel I’m writing at stiltsoutloud.com. The last four posts: Writer, author, full-time author, Disorganized ≠ creative, Don’t make customers regret their purchase, and Anchor.
I’m looking for an artist for some commission work. If you’re a talented illustrator, email me at stiltsoutloud(at)gmail(dot)com with some samples. If I like what I see, I’ll explain what the job entails. (Or if you’re just really curious.) And yes, this is a paying gig.
Full-length images: 06.
Preview
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This looks cool. Going to pick up. Hopefully, there will be some Yomi and Kagura later on.
frankly, they never made a cameo in the manga and shouldn’t at all. Tokyo ESP makes no sense in Ga-Rei universe. at all.
I think they’re trolling the first episode, just like what they did in Ga-Rei Zero’s pilot episode, making us think those orange jump-suits were the main characters Show Spoiler ▼
The music that started playing when the orange jumpsuits showed up was from Ga-rei too (Dark Side of the Light). I was like ‘wtf, are they gonna reuse music assets?”.
There seems to be some Tokyo ESP x Ga-Rei manga by the same mangaka:
http://comic-walker.com/contents/detail/KDCW_KS00000001010000_68/
For those wondering what this is in reference to: https://randomc.net/2008/10/06/ga-rei-zero-01/
oh, this show is a successor of Ga Rai. Same character design…
From this…
https://randomc.net/image/Tokyo%20ESP/Tokyo%20ESP%20-%2001%20-%2002.jpg
Was expecting this…
http://i.imgur.com/gjNMBrX.gif
We need more YomixKagura Pocky kissing 😀
I hope there are more Ga-Rei Zero cameos
I wonder if Stilts was even around the anime world for the whole Ga-Rei Zero first episode controversy?
As soon as I saw the people in orange jumpsuits I started panicking and muttering incoherent things that sounded like “I hope cool motorcycle woman doesn’t die”.
It’s hard for me to disassociate the two shows now. Just keep the more interesting characters alive, please.
I’ve never seen Ga-Rei, so nope, had no idea. I was thinking that one of those two first characters were the Shiroi Shoujo’s alter ego or something, but I guess not.
I was thinking of the same scenes in Ga-Rei Zero when I saw that Episode 1 of Tokyo ESP. It was a surprise to see an anime would parody another one to such an extent, even though both were produced by the same company.
This line summarizes my feelings on the first episode too. I like the fact that you don’t remember any of the characters’ names either, lol (^o^)! Thank you for the coverage (^.^).
I actually did remember a few of them, but since they didn’t get more than token development/introduction, they get filed under the might-be-a-minor-character,-names-not-important folder until further notice, lol
This has to be one of the most disappointing first episodes I’ve ever seen.
If I hadn’t read the manga already it probably wouldn’t matter. I guess the powers
that be thought that the first ep. needed to be flashy…..so we’ll just borrow from
chapters about halfway in, with no context for the viewer to latch onto. This is shame
since its such a good manga. Maybe we’ll get the true start next week.
I hate to agree, but I do. As a manga reader, this was annoying as hell to me. It’s a GREAT manga that doesn’t need a gimmicky start to tell the story. Save “in medias res” for things like the Iliad. Don’t use it on one of my favorite mangas, dangit.
Here’s hoping they get it right next week. (Looks like they will from the title, which makes episode 1 even more of a “WTF?” kind of thing.)
I wouldn’t call it disappointing, more confusing. If this episode was positioned, say, 11 weeks in there wouldn’t be the problems being outlined here and noted by both manga readers and us anime-only viewers. If the sole job was to attract attention I’d say ESP accomplished it.
The only question is how well this adaptation will fill in the massive missing preceding plot in the following episodes.
it’s not like it hasn’t been done before, where they put the climax on the first episode and then backtrack to the real beginning of the story and get through it normally. it’s a gimmick, and if done right it’s great.
i do think this was a bad decision though. without a proper understanding of any of the characters, i have nothing to go on but what i understand of the story, and just based off of that this episode only gives me an impression that it’s an x-men knockoff. i don’t understand why they wouldn’t do it normally and introduce the characters, or if they really needed to, tease the climax with like a 5 minute intro sequence. an entire premiere episode of just this doesn’t work.
@Pancakes
It did draw my attention, and that’s good, but the problem is permanence–namely, without firm character or settings hooks to set the events in the viewer’s mind, everything just dissolves away shortly after it happens.
I liken this to the little 5-minute prologue teasers that Nitro referenced. Mahouka had one at the start of its run, and I can’t remember for the life of me what happened because I had no frame of reference to hang all the events on. Later stuff? Sure, I remember it well enough. This is an entire episode like that prologues, and unless they flesh things out properly (and retread some of what happened), it’ll remain largely forgettable.
tl;dr – Prologues should begin introducing the characters while still giving some kind of hook to draw the reader in. Filling it with flash and noise may seem like a good idea, but without a basis it will dribble out of the mind.
Exactly, Stilts. I have no problem with a 5-7 minute, “Hey, this is what you’re signing up for” kind of exposition with some action from later in the series, because I know the first few episodes of set-up can be dull sometimes… but in this case, they tried to do way too much, got Ga-Rei in my ESP, and just made a mess of things.
Also, what was up with Rinka’s hair? Is that supposed to be dirt, lighting, or did they just get the color wrong because reasons?
@s.w Her hair is still white as you can see in the photos of her on ppl’s camera’s. Her hair is suppose to be completely white with slightly red tips so her hair was reflecting the light that was hitting it, making it look brownish. I would actually be surprised if the animators really thought about that when putting together this ep cuz that’s what id call attention to detail
They did exactly the same thing with Ga-Rei Zero, another manga by the same artist – so it was probably his request.
As a non-manga reader I thought it was a GREAT first episode – drew me in, very exciting and interesting, with one of the best episode openings this season.
As a manga reader this episode was good… but confusing. Not the traditional style to start a series, but I liked it nonetheless. Still, for non-readers it screamed of “read the manga!”, which is a bit annoying.
This episode was full of easter eggs, and the series itself has a lot of pop-culture references. Just in the opening scenes I saw GTA poster and blue butterflies from the Persona series.
I kind of felt the same way since I only read the first chapter and after watching this episode, I felt terribly confused but at the same time very curious to how the events led to that point.
What’s funny is that I also thought of X-Men when watching this since they share some common goals and behavior.
I didnt mind too much that the anime essentially started from the near-climax of the first arc of the manga..still for a premiere ep i thought it was off to a decent start…dont fail me now tokyo ESP…it’s almost as if your trying to aim really high and im down with that as long as you get it right. The fact that this ep didnt try to explain everything to the audience is a good start
On them not trying to explain everything, I agree. On them not trying to explain anything (character-wise), though…
Hopefully it’ll improve from here.
Agreed; My take was that this was meant to be a 22 minute cold opening to the series so i didnt need to be emotionally invested in the characters. I am of the mindset that this ep could have used a bit more polish with the story-telling but it ended up being a modest effort regardless. Whether this type of opening will pay off depends on future eps. It is as you said, im intellectually interested with what ive seen.
Frankly I’m not the slightest bit mad they started the show off this way. It’s a cool way to make the situation really come off as dire and troubling.
It’s definitely not the traditional way for 1st episodes to go..don’t care. Of course it’s more than likely just a ploy to keep peoples interest, but as long as the episodes in the future are orchestrated properly then the ends will justify the means.
It’s different to see an episode where 0 character names are properly introduced.
I look forward to episode 2
ooookaaayyy, so to shed some light, no offense stilts but you do realize that some of the Characters shown were from the series Ga-Rei Zero. So the character you weren’t impressed with in the cap was Yomi, and that series has been around yeeeears ago. In fact, this is addressing anyone who is not won over by the first episode. Just really give it the three ep rule. Because this if anything, applies to this show. Because both Ga-Rei Zero and Tokyo ESP were made by the same person and the starting episode of Ga-Rei Zero was like this, jumping right into the conflict without any exposition(which explains the Ga-Rei cameos). Afterwards….for those who watched it, they switch the entire cast due to…ahem…reasons, which of course confused everyone. The third episode and so-forthwere all in the past, the events leading up to the initial pilot episode, and then near the end it goes to that point and works off from it. So giving it the benefit of the doubt, ESP will most likely follow suit and actually back-track in the 2nd or 3rd ep and show the events the lead up to this pilot episode in the next few eps, and then when it catches up, will show what happens after the fact.
If they don’t do that and honestly just start the show from this point and go on to the end, then its totally understandable if people drop it, but if this show does pull a Ga-Rei and show the events before the episode as the series continues….then so-to-say, I told you so (and Ga-Rei was pretty good IMO) and that the director knew what they were doing.
But seriously people, if you didn’t get what I just said (because its kind of jumbled) just watch the first 3-eps of Ga-Rei Zero (written by the same person) and you’ll understand the direction they decided to take with ESP’s pilot. Surprised some of the manga readers haven’t heard or watched Ga-Rei….things would be so easier to explain
to remind you, Ga-Rei was written by the same person but the prequel, Ga-Rei zero, was not necessarily (can’t tell with just the wiki and whatnot but I don’t see any clear statements of such)
yeah, I considered that. But my explanation was moreover to show the similarities in the pilot episodes on why it jumped right into the action. Since its to my knowledge that ESP and Ga-Rei have nothing to do with each other (or they might, IDK), but the directional take on the series starts are similar enough to warrant an explanation to why ESP turned out this way.
@SDFGS: Not sure I agree with you here.
First, Ga-Rei and Tokyo ESP manga have are written by the same mangaka, but he’s certainly not directing either anime. In fact, according to MAL, Ga-Rei Zero and Tokyo ESP have both different directors and production studios. Certainly possible that the Tokyo ESP director decided to copy Ga-Rei Zero’s style of introduction, but I don’t see the direct link you seem to suggest (e.g. one naturally following the same adaptation pattern as the other).
— if this show does pull a Ga-Rei and show the events before the episode as the series continues….then so-to-say, I told you so (and Ga-Rei was pretty good IMO) and that the director knew what they were doing.
O.o… huh? You state for Ga-Rei Zero: “Afterwards….for those who watched it, they switch the entire cast due to… ahem… reasons, which of course confused everyone.” That doesn’t strike me as “knowing what they were doing.” That fact that it may have worked out in the end seems to me like they managed to salvage a sub-par start. Granted JMO, but I thought Ga-Rei Zero was above average, but inferior to Ga-Rei manga. Anyway, assuming we get the “Ga-Rei Zero treatment” for Tokyo ESP, I still wouldn’t consider it “knowing what they were doing” if things are confusing and disjointed in early episodes. Like I posted below, IMO following the manga’s introduction would have been markedly better than what the anime gave us.
As for Stilts’ comment, he stated that he didn’t like the character designs with Yomi as an example (“It’s the character designs that aren’t sitting well with me.”). I don’t see how Yomi’s cameo being a Ga-Rei and/or Ga-Rei Zero shout-out is relevant to that. If Stilts doesn’t like the character designs, he doesn’t like the character designs. That’s his personal preference. I’ve had the same issue with other anime.
— Just really give it the three ep rule.”
That I agree with. Still, the anime adaptation didn’t do itself any favors with sub-par (IMO) start.
@SDFGS
Why would I be offended? I wouldn’t have known I should have been offended by anything you said if you hadn’t told me. But now that I know…nope, still not offended. Hm.
But yes, like daikama said, I was talking about the character designs. As someone who hasn’t seen any version of Ga-Rei, I didn’t realize those were cameos, and I will continue to not care unless they’re plot important here. Or if I go back and watch Ga-Rei sometime, obviously.
Interesting way to start a series, give half of the ending fight in the first episode. While providing a good dose of eye candy, it never really contributed to understanding just wtf is going on. Personally I was really wondering where the hell “girl given esper powers” in the preview description comes into play halfway through AH-1S gunships being blown up and Type 10 MBTs being Hulk thrown across the street; hopefully next week can rectify the problem.
Nevertheless ESP still looks interesting and indeed a Japanese version of X-Men. Considering how good the latest X-Men movie was I’m up for some more
mutantesper shenanigans 😛so, that was a weird start. first episode’s the middle of the plot. also, those cameo of Ga-Rei (zero) characters, as much as I like them, make absolutely no sense (if you read both, you should know the two can’t be the same world given the events in Tokyo ESP).
the whole episode was littered with anime-only scenes as far as I can recall, too and I can’t say I really like it, with the indiscriminate and meaningless terrorizing (especially with the group’s goals). and those suits and accessories were as far as I can remember are also new and very awkward…
not sure how the coming episodes are gonna turn out but this 1st episode’s a bit of a turn off
Just treat that as a Clampish style use of characters and you won’t meed to stress about it 🙂
doesn’t help that the cameo fight he specifically says “it’s so much easier to fight when you can see” or something along those lines, thus referencing Spirits.
So far, I’m not really sure how I’m meant to be taking this episode 😐 ! It felt like we were thrown right into the climax of a story for the entire episode. I was expecting a shift to the beginning half way through or something but it never happened. Still, I am interested in knowing who white girl is :P! Also, appreciated the shout out to Yomi and Kagura right at the beginning :)!
What’s Rukia doing showing up at the end there?
I thought I was watching Tokyo ESP, but it turned out to be Ga-Rei Zero
Having read both Tokyo ESP manga (recently and Ga-Rei manga (long time ago), I would not call this a good opening – especially for anime only viewers. I guess if you just want some battle-action/”eye-candy” it was fine, but throwing people into the middle of a story isn’t best method of story-telling IMO. Meh.
So as manga reader (albeit a recent one), this was a disappointing adaptation opening, and yes, IMO the manga’s introduction is better than this. The manga’s good for its genre, so why are you mucking with it? There’s plenty of action throughout, and I see no need to amp that up/add anime only scenes at the expense of world-building, character introduction, etc. :/
I had hoped this would turn out to be a pretty faithful adaptation (including presentation order), but so much for that if EP 01 is any indication. Off the “will watch” list and onto the “3 EP Rule” list.
Sorry, but as a non-manga reader it worked GREAT for me, moving it off the “probably not” list and into the “wow, I want to see more.”
I didn’t make the connection to Ga Rei Zero right away, but once I did, that was also neat. (Although the Ga Rei manga wasn’t impressive, the anime was very good.)
@DP: Fair enough – to each his or her own as the saying goes. Opinion seems to be a bit split on the opening. Lets see what EP 02 brings to the table.
Holy shit. Yomi and Kagura actually made a cameo appearance. Sorry, but having thoroughly enjoyed Ga-Rei Zero, that made the episode for me.
Heh, same here. Never thought I’d see them again, and something that made clear at a glance that the same people (or at least, some of them) were working on this show. That’s one way to get me watching.
As for the episode, I figure they’re going to pull a Ga-Rei Zero with that one as well. That show also started out with all hell breaking loose, and subsequently backpedaled to show how the characters got themselves into that mess. The execution here isn’t as good as it was in that show, admittedly, and the characters didn’t grab me right away either. Still, ’twas entertaining and they at least established the bad guys and their powers pretty well.
I want to see where it’s going next episode, anyway, so they’ve gotten me watching it. Whether it’ll actually live up to its illustrious spiritual predecessor, I don’t know, but I’m certainly going to find out.
Being a fan of both Ga-Rei and Tokyo ESP, I also enjoyed it thoroughly.
I loved this episode because it so crazy.
I thought I was watching an ova of Ga-Rei:Zero for a moment there. Kagura and Yomi? What the hell were they doing there? Is it a Christmas special? Then I saw the fish (from Tokyo ESP, the butterflies are from Ga-Rei) and thought, “Oh, this must be a cameo!”.
Once I saw the floating Parliament House, I was quite surprised that they chose this arc to start the anime with. And it was the climax of the arc too. That was really confusing. The scenes they showed seemed to be somewhat different to the manga, too.
Then, I saw even more Ga-Rei:Zero characters:
Show Spoiler ▼
Even the BGM was the same!
So I thought, “Wait, aren’t they having too much action? That’s not on the level of cameos anymore then, is it!? Taking into account that the anime deviates from the manga quite a bit, does this mean the anime will be a crossover between Ga-Rei and Tokyo ESP!? Awesome!”
Even if the anime hasn’t really followed the original storyline that closely, I feel it’s quite faithful to the author. I mean… how do I explain it? The author uses so many shout-outs to other works (and that’s putting it very mildly). The anime is doing the same thing, right? And while the events happen somewhat differently, there’s still the same sort of crazy events happening.
tl;dr: Quite different from what I expected, but in a fun way.
I agree with Stilts that the character art isn’t that great. It’s not bad, but at times it seems a bit off.
This was not at all what I expected and I´m greatly pleased by that! It felt a bit like the first episode of Ga-Rei Zero where everything goes to hell before the episode has finished. It truly feels like a work created by Segawa Hajime, even when they are espers and Ga-Rei is all spirits you can feel the same vibe.
For the most part, this felt like a pretty solid episode as far as worldbuilding goes. Having read the manga and kept up with it to its current arc, I can echo what most of you are saying – it was fairly confusing starting at this point, but hey, it could end up being a good thing. We’ll just have to see where episode two ends up taking us.
I did enjoy seeing Kagura and Yomi…despite that fact that they really shouldn’t be there. As for the rest of the characters, it felt a little disconnected and even having read the manga I didn’t find myself overly thrilled by how it was all presented.
Here’s hoping it all works out and we still get ourselves the fun ride that Tokyo ESP is supposed to be! 😀
Maybe if I hadn’t read the manga prior I would’ve liked this opening more. But as it stands I dont, and from the title of the second episode, there’s going to be a huge mood whiplash. Why they didn’t just let it build up to the climax escapes me.
It’s like the anime producers are saying, I don’t think your manga starts off in a way that would capture the audience, so let’s just start at around the end of the first big thing.
Dammit, I came for some lighthearted phasing through stuff mixed with a super happy male protag’s intro… Instead I got people getting their hands cut-off and explosions literally every 2 minutes.
Speaking as a storyteller myself, there is a desire to frontload a bunch of the fun stuff to suck people in. It’s hard because you often need to start off slow to establish the story well, but if it’s too slow people may drop it, and then where are you?
I think the best idea is to not worry at all. Tell the best story you can, and if some people wander off, so be it. I understand the worry though.
Having read some of the manga, I thought this opening was good because it was unpredictable and even as a fan of the manga already – it definitely drew me in. It leaves you wondering when they’re finally going to introduce Rinka =)
On the other hand, I watched this with Div and I can see how non-manga viewers can be totally left in the dark. It’s confusing and I think it’s meant to be, but sometimes that’s not the route you want to take for a premiere. In that sense, I wish they did just kick off the season with the proper first chapter.
Next episode seems to be the actual first chapter of the manga. I like the animation so far so no complaints there ^^ I like how they animated Rinka as well, although she’s not as albino as I’d imagined. Still great to see her in action though.
I have to agree with you there; i didnt think this ep was disappointing for making its first ep the near-climax of the first arc of the manga. Heck, Baccano is considered to a be a top tier anime and its first episode was the climax of the series so i dont see what the problem is. As far as the ep goes, i was kept intrigued by how the show decided to go about its more darker momemnts. If this is how its going to be done, im not complaining whatsoever. My minor gripes with the ep had to do with some dialogue bits and somce scene transitions but other than that, i thought this ep was a good start. Ill really get a feel for the direction of this series by the next ep. If it can continue this story-telling momentum then i would have considered this adaptation a success. As i stated above, it seems this adaptation is trying to aim high (and give us a more serious adaptation) and i have no problems with that as long as its done competently
Berserk anime did something very similar (considering second episode will start from the beginning). first episode was into the plot, then comes ep #02 which started from the beginning of the story (leave manga aside for now, it’s a bit different and more complicated especially in comparison to TV series/movies which only adapted golden age and eclipse arcs).
there are pros and cons for doing this. as you said, manga reader are surprised and know what to expect in the climax moments and it excites them. while non manga readers are kinda left in the dark. still, if episode #02 really starts from the very beginning, I think non-manga readers can know what to expect having watched into the plot.
in Tokyo ESP case, well I think it’s quite understandable what’s going on more or less (quite like X-men isn’t it?). sure, more details and be coherent would be great. but sometimes, drawing the audience straight into the story is much more exciting, instead of the normal start of “this event triggers this and this”. and I think it can and actually did work this case. we’ll have to see how they did next episodes and other events.
Hey, was anyone else have a flashback from the X-Men Days of Future Past movie? Because I sure was and I Loved it.
Finally, the Tokyo Trio is complete! “Ghouls with ESP spread Terror in Tokyo!!” XD
Anyway, it’s interesting to note that Tokyo ESP’s first episode was like a Mythology Gag (trope!) from the first episode of Ga-Rei: Zero. Complete with cameos of Yomi and Kagura, which means the series also runs in the same universe as Ga-Rei. Not only that, they also started the first episode in medias res (trope!) just like in Ga-Rei: Zero!
It’s rather average for a first episode, especially since we’re not properly introduced to the characters and instead we’re being shown off their powers, but that in itself is interesting as we can see action right off the bat, and in fact it’s one of the most action-packed 1st episodes I’ve seen this season.
Keep it coming Tokyo ESP!
You’re reading too much into this.
I don’t think Ga-Rei is in the same universe as this show just because both series are by Segawa. One is about demon slaying, the other involves espers. I find it hard to incorporate these very separate genres in the same universe unless you do an Index.
I’d like to see Kagura and Yomi’s cameo as just that, an Easter Egg for the fans.
Lemme reevaluate what I’ve said earlier then. This seems to be an ‘alternative universe’ where they are now, if going by what you’ve said about like Yomi, Kagura and the ops team. That pretty much makes more sense.
The opening almost made me cry. Made me remember that baleful blue butterfly boy of a bastard. Yomiiiiii!
Right in the feels T^T. I feel like a lot of people who were watching this thought it was coming from another series (nudge nudge) Side note:Im just hoping it picks up the gear for the next episode.
Oh ha, I get it. “Psy-kick”. Cause they’re espers.
I’m really liking the design of the teleport girl. Super pretty and that red coat looks great on her. I also really like the smoky “fooomph” effect when she teleports and how it blends all the colors like a nice smudge of charcoal. It’s like it’s sucking the drawing into the air or something.
I can’t help but say “fooomph” every time she teleports on screen. It’s strangely satisfying.
Great, now I’m going to be saying “fooomph” every time too! But I agree, the animation when she teleports is cool. Plus I’ve always had a soft spot for teleporters because they too are always super cool :3
The future-sight guy and psychometre girl are easily the best pair of the season (after Barakamon duo), as they’re excellent observers that provide much insight and perspective to the audience and actually capable of doing something, despite lacking raw power to do much of anything.
another edgy anime
picked up =^)
Not only does Kagura and Yomi get a cameo in this “X-Men in Tokyo” premise, even the entire “false cast” of Ga-Rei Zero that got killed off in episode 1 appeared, and this time they live!
I so miss Ga-Rei, when are they gonna do the Ga-Rei series proper now that the manga has ended?
I came when i saw Yomi <3
This was not the quirky sci-fi-action-comedy I was lead to believe it would be. Maybe I was crazy to think that’s what it was going to be. I certainly enjoyed it a whole lot though, those fights were pretty damn kickass.
This series was off my radar but RC piqued my curiosity.
The opening scenes really caught my attention. Kagura-Yomi-stick biscuit goodness! I had to check to see if I was watching Ga-Rei or Tokyo ESP.
Watching the episode progress along, I was hoping that they’d reappear but we got the “fateful” team. Hope they’re spared from what happened in Ga Rei Zero.
That said, is Tokyo ESP in the same timeline as Ga Rei or in another time line?
El Psy Congroo
If going by what echygr implied in his comment, it’s probably an alternate universe.
Picked up the manga a few hour ago.
The manga version of Tokyo ESP has no link to Ga-Rei at all, unfortunately.
The author didn’t leave a hint in the manga as to how the two stories are connected actually.
Well, that was great. The first episode definitely made me crave for more. Can’t wait to see more of Rinka and her powers.
I just decide to read the manga today and this episode is around chapter 22+ of the manga.
Don’t know why they start with this chapter. But if the 2nd episode’s name means what I think, they might went back to the 1st chapter next week.
Don’t know why they started like this, the manga is really fun chronologically.
Easy, they try to catch us with Action, Big Bada bums and such. And then they could use “what happen before..” Episodes, to tell the Background story in the pace we know. Flashback well played
Vividred Operation, stared also like this. We saw a Girl prepared to go in a final fight, then the other episodes explain it, who it come to this. after catching up, they gone into a full blown finale….
i do not see anything false here
That is one bad example you used there.
Even though I didn’t watch the whole series, I know the part you describe only lasted 40 seconds of the first episode of Vividred Operation and really tell you nothing (and as someone who haven’t finished watching it, I have no clue that scene is from the last episode, it might as well be there chronologically. The scene means nothing, really).
But here we have 22 minutes and 5 of those minutes made me think I’m watching the wrong anime and 17 minute of WTF-is-going-on-plus-explosion-everywhere and have to go look at source material to understand what is what.
I Guess I will just hypnotize myself into believing that the anime start airing next week.
Well, as an Anime only fan (well ep 1 so far), i am curious to know why they got into that much trouble to lure the White Girl out? and this “love” of this Blade Dust chick for her
Perhaps they will explain it
30 seconds in into the episode: This fucking snow looks like it’s 15 fps (frames per second). And I tried it out frame by frame and it really is moving every other frame. It looks so fake and distracting. The CG (computer generated) stuff so far is horrible.
2 minutes in: The fishes are also 15 fps but they are interchanging with the falling snow so ever frame there is movement so it masks the fact that it’s only half the required framerates. Also the move the “camera” to additionally mask the fact it’s 15 fps.
4 minutes in: The guy with the scar that is talking is really pissing me off. Blah blah blah. Wait, wait, wait, wait… what? The password is a 4 digit number? A pin code? Nice security for such a important place lol. It looks like they could have easily broken through the door so was there any real need to do this beside to showcase psychometry?
7 min 30 sec: That lady is into bowling.
At this point I am skipping through and only see glimpses. Overall nothing that excites or interests me. Boring. =P
Well, they can not go there an blow all the Budget for the Season just in Episode 1. They must have an Eye for it, the Budget must hold them until they finish their Job.
https://randomc.net/image/Tokyo%20ESP/Tokyo%20ESP%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2003.jpg
Btw, in the beginning This Peoples in the back are CGI or 1 person.. I only noticed it now in this screen shot. While in motion it do not noticed it at all
Inu x Boku SS blew half of it’s budget in the first episode on a single animation (I am over-exaggerating but it’s true that later on afaik (haven’t seen the whole anime) the animation never reaches the levels displayed in the first one). That is a tactic that you could use but I don’t really like so yeah it’s good that this seems to pace it’s spending better.
No offense to people that like the anime. I just think it’s ugly visuals/weird premise /boring episode.
On another note, its good to hear Yousei Teikoku back into singing songs for anime soundtracks. Hopefully this is the actually end song and not an insert song.
No worries, that’s the real ED. Not sure about the ED animation though.
I guess animators don’t study physics, because them trains and planes and buses don’t break, crash or crumple like they should.
So is natsuki and the guy with her in motorcycle scene really in the manga? Or are they just another cameo from ga rei zero? Ugh so confusing, so if the two chicks at the start were just cameos.. Whats the point of having them here?
Just fanservice for Ga-Rei fans. As someone who hasn’t read or seen Ga-Rei, they contributed nothing to the episode for me.
I only came to see if anyone else was talking about Ga-Rei ESP… 😛
As a reader of both series, I can’t see this episode as anything other than a disaster, given that it starts right in the middle of the climax of the first superarc. I’ll watch to see where it goes, but right now, I have a giant question mark floating above my head.
That said, it was nice to see the Ga-Rei/Zero characters again, and Dark Side of Light is still an awesome song.
Wow the summer season is looking STRONG! I really enjoyed this Episode!! I am disappointed this show might not get blogged on a regular basis (I see it has not been added on the list for this season). Anyways, I am a sucker for special powers. So I had already been looking forward to this series and the 1st episode did not disappoint.
Should have went with an anime original story like Ga Rei Zero instead of adapting the manga cos Segawa can’t write for shit even if his life depended on it. That was why AIC and asread didn’t bother adapting Ga Rei.
I dont like Rinka’s design 🙁
other then that, i liked the first ep. As a mangareader this makes me curious on how they are goint to expand the way of using this part as the first episode of the series.
Now that i’ve seen all the series on my initial watchlist i’m glad to say that this is going to be a great season for me 🙂
It’s starting in medias res?
Well I hope it has a better story than Ga Rei Zero. Seems like it will be a lot larger in scale at least.
Can you guys just say what you’re going to do about these series that you might revisit? If it’s a podcast then I don’t care because I don’t have time for podcasts and I don’t like jumping around a podcast trying to find discussion of a specific series. If it’s something to do with video then I would definitely watch that. Fuck.
You’ll see, you’ll see. I’m not talking about the podcasts though. It’ll be in a written form : )
Yes! “X-men in Tokyo” is exactly how I was thinking too.
Which thrills me since I was a huge X-men fan back in the old cartoon days. Very enjoyable. I like that the cast of characters thus far has a varied age.
I do wonder if the first episode was influenced by that crossover manga special called “Shadow Walker”.
It suggests that Rinka and Kagura know each other and that their universes are shared, but I’m inclined to think that it’s an AU.
Thinking that this is a Ga Rei:Zero AU. I really liked Ga Rei:Zero , so at the very least this’ll be treated to the three-episode rule.
On a random side note , the thing that confused me the most were the fish. Why were there random fish floating through Tokyo?!
If the future episodes will adhere with the manga’s storyline, then the next episode shall answer it for you
Oh damn,Yomi & Kagura,as well as other characters from Ga Rei Zero? That sure bring’s back nostalgia(I loved that show!). I take that it’s doing the same thing that series did at the beginning.
I remember I really wanted to see the Ga Rei manga animated,even if I didn’t consider it exactly great,I just wanted to see more of that world & it’s characters. Nevertheless,seeing another show set in the same universe is a pleasant surprise for me.
I also felt the Ga-Rei Zero cameos were a nice touch! It was very nostalgic. I’m really glad they didn’t kill off Division 4 though. If they did that it would be a bit too much of a copy of Ga-Rei Zero. I do wonder how closely the two universes are related though. I’m guessing it’s just a cameo and we won’t see any more of them from now on though.
Also did anyone else get Ryougi Shiki vibes from that teleporter girl? They have the same color scheme, use similar weapons, close in super fast to get to their enemies, wear similar clothes, and have the same hair style! XD
Yay, I can finally watch anime again after three days of mad hype and tears! And boy, what a thing to come back to. This episode totally took me by surprise.
I mean, if anyone actually bothered to read my tl;dr post in the season preview they’d know I was expecting a troll episode to start things out but I was totally not expecting so many Ga-Rei Zero cameos and shout-outs. (Could’ve did without the blue butterflies at the beginning though. Those can just straight up screw off.)
I wouldn’t really call it a troll episode though. It sort of did a bit of a mix of Ga-Rei Zero’s first two episodes with completely irrelevant stuff (orange jumpsuit team) and basically showing future events that every episode forthcoming will lead up to. It’s clearly a homage to Ga-Rei Zero’s beginning episodes.
If I had to guess why they started it like this, it’s more that the manga’s beginning is pretty generic and by throwing you in to the story right at the climax of the arc, it gives you something to immediately look forward to in future episodes. It’s not exactly what I’d call a good thing to do, but it’ll probably leave more of an impression than next week’s episode (which will reset back to the beginning going by the title) will.
SN: Dat Yousei Teikoku ending. Total eargasm.
Okay, could someone tell me if this anime is actually worth watching? I’m pretty disappointed with the end product, especially with how well animated it is. After hearing all the hype about the manga (which I haven’t started), I’m beginning to think that it would be a better idea to read. I just really can’t help but wonder why it was written so badly. Unlike Fairy Tail and Magi, the animation budget makes it pretty clear that they’re not out to simply milk Tokyo ESP for it’s popularity.
With just One Episode out, there is no one that can say it.
Do it like the most here, give it the first three Episode try.
Stick it out for a few episodes. The manga is awesome. If they stick to the manga after this and stop doing weird crap, then it should be awesome as well. Great source doesn’t always mean great anime, but in this case, it’d be really hard to mess it up.
https://randomc.net/image/Tokyo%20ESP/Tokyo%20ESP%20-%2001%20-%2002.jpg Now I gotta finish watching/reading Ga-Rei Zero/Ga-Rei, god dammmit! The Backlog! It burrrrnnnns! T-T
This show didn’t catch my attention in the previews so I went into this with no preconceptions whatsoever. So imagine my surprise when the first two characters to come out were Kagura and Yomi from the Ga-Rei:Zero anime. I rubbed my eyes, re-checked the title of the episode I’m watching, all the while feeling flummoxed as hell. Sadly, after watching the episode and reading this post do I find out that the manga is by the same mangaka as Ga-Rei but there were no real ties between the two works in the manga, being probably just a very huge Easter egg for the fans of that work. Still, it was good to see all these cameos from Ga-Rei:Zero, from the mob guys in Paranormal Disaster Countermeasure Headquarters Division 1, to the eccentric but more powerful guys of Division 4. Especially Natsuki and her awesome motorcycle, although she didn’t get to show off her motorcycle-fu much. Also loled when Natsuki was sad that Tooru sacrificed her bike to try and defeat the teleporter girl.
On to the actual story though, I can’t say yet whether I like it or not. All these bad espers rebelling and trying to take control over normal humans while another band of good espers try to protect them just screams X-men to me, and all the Ga-Rei:Zero cameos and ‘starting the series by showing its climax before going back’ narrative device feels like they’re just trying to ride on the coattails of that anime. Still, although the story was a mess and we’re still clueless on how things got to this stage, this episode did manage to entertain and I guess succeeded in hooking my interest to find out how things happened the way it did.
P.S: Anyone else thought how weird and very high-pitched Kagura’s voice was? I didn’t remember her voice being like that, although I felt like I’ve heard a character that sounded like that. When I checked MAL, I searched the other roles of Chihara Minori, and finally pinpointed Coopa from the Tower of Druaga as the one. Wonder if there’s anything there or am i just being paranoid? lol
With no offense to other Ga-Rei fans (I’m one myself, of both anime and manga), I’m not impressed with their cameos here.
Not so much with Kagura and Yomi, since they give way pretty quickly to the main story, but more with Division 4 who contribute nothing while wasting time which should have been allocated to the real cast of the show, especially the SERIES’ HEROINE who was given, what, only seconds for her own debut?! Surely you jest! D=
I hope this doesn’t happen any more in the other series. All it does is to highlight a lack of focus and direction =/
*in the other episodes*
All cameos are easter eggs and i am pretty sure they are going to remain at that. Just so fans of his previous works would get nostalgic. Good episode with questions everywhere ,but i am sure they are going to answer them as the anime goes along. Same thing happened with Ga-Rei Zero they pretty much explained how all the events lead to the 1st episode. Character was ok but i can live with it.
Ep 02:
Toyko ESP. How it all begins… As predict, we get now “how it all began”. It is not a Bad thing, i say.
Episode is divided in two parts. First Part is so lala, 2nd is Action better. But lala, too
Toyko ESP in a Nutshell?
You all know the Marvel Superheros from Stan lee an so? Strip it down to the core, erase X-men and Superman and so on, only the powers left. And you get the gist here
My advice: If you want to see Tokyo Superheros with Powers of Marvel Comics, thats the show for you here
If you are am X-Men Fan, you see the same Superpower somewhere of our MC here 🙂