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「出会い、幻と少女」 (Deai, Maboroshi to Shoujo)
“Meeting, Phantom and Girl”
The espers attack, because they’re a new race that’s superior to humans, so they must rule ov–and you know where this is going.
The Tablet, the Glowing Fish, & the Collector
While this show still reeks (for good or ill) of X-men in Tokyo, the way the espers get their powers is fundamentally different. Rather than a mutation, which frankly makes a lot more sense to me, they come from some mystical tablet that spawns the glowing fish, which are managed by the collector, that shark thing currently inhabiting Peggy. So there’s something more mystical going on here, a softer sci-fi/fantasy than X-men. Of those elements, only the collector interests me. That hints at something larger, not an incidental quirk of nature that leads to the espers, but a system with an enforcer of sorts to keep things in line. Peggy remains one of the characters I’m most interested in, because it’s the flying penguin who could most upset the villain’s plans by setting everything aright again. An odd situation when a bird is the most interesting character.
Illusions Are Bullshit
Tangent time! Azuma Hokusai (Kawahara Yoshihisa’s), AKA the Professor’s, ESP power is straight up, Grade A bullshit. Being able to fool not only sight, but touch, taste, smell, and hearing as well is ridiculously powerful. To be honest, I don’t like it. I’ve never liked illusion magic though, or mind control either.
It’s all fair and good when illusion magic fools one of the senses, usually sight. Then the characters have to use their other senses to best their enemy. Fair enough. When it can trick all of them though, it’s utterly terrifying. We perceive the world entirely through our senses, so if those are manipulated, our reality changes. It not only undermines the characters’ trust in the world, but it does the same for me. Ever since the Professor started playing his little games I found myself thinking “Is that an illusion? How about that? That?” I was questioning more than getting lost in the action, such that when Azuma got shot through the neck I was like “Probably an illusion”, and wasn’t shocked when I was right.
When someone can manipulate all five senses, how do you beat him? Wolverine Papa probably could via indiscriminate car-hurling of the surrounding environment. After all, you don’t have to see your enemy if you’re killing everything around you. Rinka should have a tough time of it, especially since he can apparently screw with people’s minds i.e. how he manipulated Kyoutarou’s teleportion ability, which is a whole new level of bullshit. A powerful villain is good, but I can’t say I’m looking forward to battles against this guy. I mostly hope Rinka ends up fighting Minami more often, because I’m more interested in her.
Flying Ship
Having already had their later plot spoiled for us with the first episode, the flying ship didn’t surprise me. Which is another mark against it – if they doesn’t surprise me now, what will? Though I was surprised he only asked for a special Esper zone. That seem’s awfully…modest. No ruling over the normals? Wuss.
Oh, and there was one other thing: Kyoutarou ripping his hand out to save Rinka. Youch!
But there’s not much else to say, because everything else made me think “It’s like X-men“. And I’m trying not to think that, but I’m sorry, when they have superpowers and they do the whole “Mutants Espers are superior” bullshit, I’m going to think X-men in a hurry. And that’s okay, as long as they’re doing something different…but right now this is more like a fairly standard X-men mini-series rather than a story which takes the essence of X-men and goes in a new direction. Maybe it’s because I’m from the West, and a Japanese audience wouldn’t immediately go to X-men because they didn’t grow up watching the cartoons, but I did. Aside from the origin of their powers and Rinka (and Peggy) being awesome, it’s more of the same so far.
Looking Ahead
When Tokyo ESP gets a little brutal, it can become interesting. Kyoutarou hurling himself after Rinka is one bastard of a cliffhanger, and that has me curious how he’s going to get them out of this one (or not) (unless his teleportation power works again, in which case it’s obvious). Other than that, I’m just waiting for us to get back to where we were in episode one, and maybe see what the police will do now that they know Rinka’s identity.
tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – The espers attack, with bullshit illusion man flying a tanker over Tokyo & demanding a special administrative zone. How mundane #東京ESP 05
Random thoughts:
- Yet another father appears, but no mothers. I wish we would see some mothers. Mothers can be protective matriarchs and/or crazed murder-happy psychopaths too! Wolverine Papa needs to stay a papa though. We can’t lose those muscles. Masato and Gou-chan will never allow it!
- Minami’s rants about the city were dark. She’s way too cynical for one so young. Which I actually saw in some people back in high school, they just couldn’t do anything about it. it goes to show you: guns don’t kill people, superpowered teens with warped views on the comparative corruption and injustice of modern society versus the historical norm do. With guns.
- What I imagine Rinka is thinking: 10/10, would cuddle Peggy again.
- Well, at least they justified the matching plunging leather suits by making them sisters? I guess.
- So he’s Two Face. First X-men and now Batman!
- Peggy pushed that girl off the boat. Battle Penguin, fuck yeah!
- Another thing that surprised me: Minami’s dress. I wouldn’t have thought it would make a great battle outfit, but she makes it work.
- Was that a Ga-rei ad oh gods I can’t take this seriously anymore.
Check out my blog about storytelling and the novel I’m writing at stiltsoutloud.com. The last four posts: Different answers, Compromise, Control, and Temporally unfocused.
Full-length images: 28.
Preview
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You know, I’ve seen like a gazillion different iterations, reboots, retools, retcons, and conjobs that the X-Men comics have to offer since 1983. This is one of the better ones…
In my case, I can only think of a few: the 90’s cartoons (pretty good), the movie trilogy (went from good to absolute crap), and one of the newer movies (good again). So it ends out looking worse when my comparisons are mostly good. I honestly think that’s all an anime problem though, because the underlying story (from what I hear from manga readers) seems to have enough execution that the similarities wouldn’t bother me. Unfortunately it’s not coming through in the anime.
I know this has no relevance to Tokyo ESP. But I’m putting it here anyway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkN4apus2gA
Fingers crossed. Now, this is the kind of sci-fi we all want.
I’ll kick that…
I’d like to see kick starter of an anime with ENGLISH voices,
Similar to Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust.
That movie was a commercial disaster, but I regard it VERY highly as an animated film.
I just found my own error on the kickstarter page.
If you pay $50 or more, you can vote for a English voice talent of your liking,
but the actor has to be named on the pre-approved list.
“my error on kickstarter” sounds like I did something on the kickstarter page,
no, I meant I was thinking wrong about something
and I found it out only after seeing the kickstarter page.
What kickstarter are you referring to?
I just did a bit of shopping around, and I found the production costs of 1 episode of anime.
http://shingeki-kyojin.com/archives/31043432.html
http://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/qa/231546.html
http://nandemo-anime-seiyu-sokuho.doorblog.jp/archives/23969971.html
1 episode of One Piece =
10,000,000 Yen ($100,000 approx.)
1 episode of TV anime =
20,000,000 Yen ($200,000 approx.)
1 episode of Ghost in the Shell SAC =
30,000,000 Yen ($300,000 approx.)
Granted,
the preview material for “Under the Dog” is
making it look like it will be OVA quality,
so perhaps the 2x price of other anime can be justified.
——————————————————————————
But then, if you do the price breakdown of
a relatively cheap 11,000,000 yen ($110,000 approx.) episode,
this is what you should expect:
450,000 yen ($45,000) = Broadcasting fee, paid to TV station
550,000 yen ($55,000) = Actual anime production cost. Way, way too low, so DVD/BD sales is important
100,000 yen ($10,000) = Advertisement and marketing
——————–
11,000,000 yen ($110,000) Total
That means:
about 40% of the budget is for bandwidth/broadcasting and
about 9% of the budget is for advertising and
about 51% of the budget is for the actual animation.
Granted, this does not include pre-production costs,
so the budget should be somewhat higher for a single episode show.
———————————————————————————
Bandwidth cost is $0.18 per GB,
(I didn’t look for cheaper price because this was already cheap enough)
The lowest kicksktarter pledge that gives you digital download is $20,
meaning: at the suggested $580,000 minimum price point,
there will be maximum of 29,000 viewers (580,000 / 20 = 29,000)
A VERY high quality encoding of 24 minute anime for web download is 2GB.
(That is, if there are no grains.
If there are grains, it will be pushed up to 3GB ~ 4GB.)
Bandwidth cost will be = 29,000 viewers x 2 GB x $0.18 per GB = $10440.
Youtube doesn’t cost you anything for showing your own preview video.
Kickstarter and credit card companies will take less than 10% of the revenue.
————————————————————————————–
So if the $580,000 pledge goal is met,
$580,000
– 10,440 (bandwidth)
– 58,000 (10% of total budget = estimated fees and costs for kickstarter, credit cards, etc)
——————————————-
$511,560 Available for the creators.
Of course, the “merchandise and bonus items” does throw off the calculation.
But how much does it cost to print T-shirts, booklets, and CD?
To receive anything physically, you have to give $100 or more
and if everyone gave $100 to fill $580,000,
there will be maximum 5,800 backers
and 5,800 + 5,800 copies of the blu-ray and OST being sent out,
$5 (BD) + $5 (CD) + $10 (shipping) = $20 per backer,
$20 x 5,800 = $116,000
$511,560
-$116,000
———————————————–
$395,560 Available for the creators.
If most people pledged more than $100,
then fewer backers are needed to reach the $580,000 goal,
so there is less merchandise that has to be shipped out.
If most people pledged $20, there is a similar result,
there are only few people eligible to receive any merchandise.
If everyone pledged less than $19,
but there are enough of those people to meet the $580,000 goal,
that’s where things are the most profitable for the creator.
Nothing to host online for download, nothing to send out in the mail.
(with the expectation of unauthorized downloads using P2P)
It’s a win-win-win situation for the creator.
—————————————————————————-
But according to the budget explanation on “Under the Dog” kickstarter,
only 40% of the pledge will be used for the actual animation,
meaning:
$580,000 x 40% =
$232,000 (approx. 23,200,000 Yen)
…….which is really saying:
The budget is going to be about the same as any TV anime episode today.
The quality of the animation/frames won’t be groundbreaking,
the math just doesn’t work out that way,
if the creators are really going to use only 40% of the budget on actual animation.
So what you’re really paying for is
the creative freedom of the animators,
letting them avoid being harassed by the shareholders/sponsors.
Or if you want to look at this like a investor,
the animators will the be copyright holders of the anime, characters, and IP,
and the money for the production came from your pocket.
But you don’t own any copyright.
—————————————————————————
There are hints of allowing “creative input from backers pledging $50 or more”,
but at that price point I was hoping to receive a physical blu-ray disc too.
If you want a disc, you have to pledge at least $100.
Boooooo.
————————————————————————————-
What to expect:
The director for this show is the same guy for Hanasaku Iroha, and Stranger: Mukou Hadan.
So the show will be at least above average:
no awkward moments, no cringing scenes, satisfactory beginning and end.
But I can’t get rid of the feeling of suspicion
that I’m paying for more than what I’m being promised.
And that discrepancy will only grow larger when the total funding grows bigger.
Also, judging from the preview materials, this show is at least 30% done,
so the creators would want to release this show
with or without the successful securing of “huge funding”.
I don’t think this show should be backed by more than the initial goal of $580,000,
unless
the creators explain how the animation budget will increase
in the event of the funds reaching $1,160,000 or more.
(that is their requirement for 2 episode production)
I really doubt T-shirts, booklets, CD, and BD will cost another 30% from the increased budget.
Ah. Yeah that looks pretty good
You’re right as the Professor stood at the front of the flying tanker, the phrase ” I am Magneto Master of Magnetism” just kept going through my head hehe.
Funny…I thought of “Titanic” instead lol. ((o(>.<)o))
Why are you sorry, Stilts? This ís basically anime X-men. Only with a villain less interesting than Magneto. Though at least it has a badass penguin.
Also, Bullshit Illusion Two-Face Man sure is quick in trying to murder his adopted son. What, no, ‘we can rule together’ or stuff like that? And dude, if you’re gonna make a declaration to the world, do it in your pretty face. Charisma is everything. Now you may as well be freaking Skeletor asking people to submit. And give you a special zone, which is, uh, kinda at odds with you trying to drop a boat on a city. I mean, you could’ve avoided all this by just playing nice and going all smug politician or something on us. Could’ve possibly gotten you a zone without all the obvious villainy. It’s not like ESP racism is already widespread or anything (aside from the occasional ‘omg you’re a monster’ remark), you espers haven’t been around for long enough. Subtlety is your problem, man, subtlety.
Also, wtf was up with the random Ga-Rei Zero ad placement? I mean, all you’re doing is reminding me of a way better show.
Assume the things you’re objecting to in your second paragraph were done deliberately, rather than because “gee this guy’s an idiot” or “gee the author wrote this guy to be a stereotypically evil villain.” Just assume it for a moment: the professor deliberately did things that run counter to his stated cause. What does that tell you?
I’m not really sorry, lol. Just a turn of phrase.
Generally, I don’t assume characters are acting stupidly until a track record is given. I don’t think the professor’s actions were dumb, just…well, as Wanderer said. It’s something to think about.
Well, I wouldn’t say he’s completely stupid, and I can kinda guess his real purpose from Wanderer’s remark…but still. With his kind of powers, you’d think he can be far more insidious in achieving his goal rather than brute forcing it in this kind of way. Especially with a name like ‘the Professor’.
David Xanatos he is not.
To accomplish what he thinks he wants, he actually needs to be as blatant and attention-grabbing as possible.
And he’s called the professor because he is one.
^And besides that,maybe he dislikes politics and prefers a more direct approach 😀
I can’t see the preview screenshots or thumbnails:
https://randomc.net/image/Tokyo%20ESP/Tokyo%20ESP%20-%2005%20-%20Large%20Preview%2001.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Tokyo%20ESP/Tokyo%20ESP%20-%2005%20-%20Large%20Preview%2002.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Tokyo%20ESP/Tokyo%20ESP%20-%2005%20-%20Large%20Preview%2003.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Tokyo%20ESP/Tokyo%20ESP%20-%2005%20-%20Preview%2002.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Tokyo%20ESP/Tokyo%20ESP%20-%2005%20-%20Preview%2003.jpg
Got it. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll fix it shortly.
EDIT: Fixed. Seems like just forgot to remove some of the HTML.
Thanks for the catch, and Zephy for the fix. Forgot to check that. <3
They introduced Kobushi’s sister earlier than in the manga, and so they skipped a more in-depth look on Black Fist’s family. Not that it matters anymore. They don’t have time for it. (Why do I even try…)
Anyway, I can only say that the Professor has a lot of motives. As to his decision to show force rather than negotiate, I think he wants to speed things up rather than wait for long-standing debates among people in the govt. (No, this wasn’t explained in the manga. It’s just what I think.)
Didn’t notice the Ga-Rei ad. lol Err…Honestly.
I agree.
NOTE: The following is my own opinion and quite possibly inaccurate.
Plus, if you give the normal people enough time, they might capture espers and do all sorts of horrible things to them. Which would totally work, seeing as the espers would be panicked, isolated individuals. Once effective countermeasures are developed, espers would be screwed (e.g. X-Men).
Through a show of force, he’s able to create a special ESP zone, where espers can live without fear of prosecution. And they WILL be prosecuted, because espers just DROPPED A TANKER ON THE CITY. So he’s forcing espers to have no choice but to join him.
On the other hand, normal people can’t gang up on espers anymore, because they’re no longer panicked and isolated; they have a leader. And by flocking to him, espers become a real threat that have to be dealt with carefully (or a one-sided war could break out).
So in one move, he’s managed to check Japan on social, political and military fronts. While gathering his forces. And established a city-state where he can train them. And use as leverage to BLACKMAIL THE WORLD. Either espers take over the world, or normal people must co-exist with them. Win-Win for espers.
And he didn’t even have to go through government for that to happen. Which could take decades, because politicians. They only move efficiently when they want to resist change. Which the Professor doesn’t want. So first episode, he took Parliament House.
This is only pure speculation, though. So don’t take it too seriously.
For a Harvey Two-Face the Professor sure lacks some of the charismatic charm, but I guess he makes up for it with
OP as f*ckunique powers. ESP is without a doubt X-Men in Japan no matter how much anyone wants to argue otherwise, but it’s not a bad thing, the show is set up in a similar vein to the ubiquitous comic story (i.e. fast paced, over the top, and absolutist in terms of moral differentiation). Not to mention ESP has a few interesting lines to explore (the tablet and the Collector among others).ESP won’t be breaking any boundaries, but as a popcorn flick it suits the task pretty well. Turn off that annoying brain, look in awe at the pretty explosions/fight scenes, and everything will be awesome 😛
Professor is such a spin off Professor X… if he were only slightly evil, less ambitious, and more flamboyantly retarded.
With his powers, he could easily convince governments already in power in a bloodless coup. It’d actually be more sinister to do so, but of course since this is a show he wants to be a drama queen about it.
Real politicians have no values or ethics except to stay in power. That level of illusion is nearly complete mind control. If all means of perception are replaced, then reality for the perceived is too. Take it a step further, and there’s no need to flying show-boat except to fulfill his own ego.
Special zone? Laaaaaaame. That could’ve easily been put into law via his mental domination of others. Just a few suggestions here and there, and voila, society changes with much less effort as he ignites the engine of change with social values enacted and defended by law and motivation.
Honestly Professor X could’ve done similarly, but he was not willing to do what it takes (and the writers wouldn’t have a story without his powers bound by personal ethics). So too does this Professor fail to achieve his own supposed goals (that we know of) by being bound by egomania rather than utility.
“Perception is reality”
Telepathic illusion is effectively bending reality. It really, really, wouldn’t take much convincing with all perceptions leading toward, “Hey this idea is in my favor”. If those in power, and those around those in power all perceive the esper agenda favor their own, reality is bended. Everyone else would have to follow suit, or lose their own place in society.
Said powers could easily wield him unlimited economic power, on top of political (let alone all the military options that comes form information control).
Professor Two-Face is a clown. He doesn’t want real power. He just wants to dance around with his act flailing about rather than building economic and political control and influence enacted into law over the world.
Is true. But such tactics would be unstoppable, which is why stories rarely give credence to them. What great struggle is there to tell when the villain’s victory is inevitable? Only the ones who have the potential to fail are allowed to attempt such things.
the Professor’s powers are just like Jason Wyngarde aka Mastermind from the Hellfire Club, but he certainly has that Magneto vibe, even though Papa Logan is the magnetic one. All he needs to do now is announce he’s naming his new group the Brotherhood of Evil mu…ESPers!
also a Piano no Mori reference.
https://randomc.net/image/Tokyo%20ESP/Tokyo%20ESP%20-%2005%20-%20Large%2020.jpg
If i hear a “WELCOME TO DIE!” reference from The Professor that might just floor me.
Overall I’m not finding much of anything to give the show credit for anymore. I suppose it’s entertaining but the fact I’ve seen the subject matter so many times before really just does nothing for me. Originality may be dead but i believe one should at least be creative in using tired ideas adding one’s own special charm to the issue to make it refreshing. But i feel like the narrative is just going through the motions as if it has nothing special to offer.
At this point the only thing i can see defeating the professor is our super powered penguin since I’d assume his illusions wouldn’t work on it?
Professor’s power is definitely a letdown how ridiculously strong it is. It didn’t strike as such at first, because the stuff he was doing was so ridiculous; Giant robotic version of himself? I would call that distinct style.
But the second half, which was more serious, had me mostly going “yeah, that’s probably illusion. Or maybe not.” about pretty much everything. I have a feeling that’s not what the creators had in mind.
Also, illusion arrow to the neck as greeting? Daddy seems to have some issues.
Really tried to like this show. Its such a pity it isn’t for me. I’m done with it.
@Stilts: An odd situation when a bird is the most interesting character.
IDK if Peggy’s the most interesting character (though I agree that the “collector” is one of the more intriguing mysteries about the show), but I do like Peggy more in the anime than in the manga. I think it’s the added comedy aspect when he’s in the “background”. LOL’d at Peggy’s antics here and when brushing his… beak? Nothing major, but certainly a plus IMO if there are a few extra LOL moments (the good kind) per episode.
— Illusions Are Bullshit
I agree that fooling all five senses is an overwhelming power. But as something that literally blurs the lines of reality (at least perceived reality), stories need to ensure they are at least being consistent with application. Certainly covering all 5 senses helps considerably toward that end, but it’s when illusions have physical effects beyond what psychological trauma might inflict or as a result of a person’s reactions to an illusion that I start to question things.
For example, perhaps I’m mistaken (in which case… well, sorry, and I guess just ignore the rest of this paragraph >_>;), but I thought this was an illusion. If that’s the case, then how can an illusion do this? Kobushi may think the white snake took the rock, but that’s not the same as it actually physically grasping the rock and taking it from her by force. She didn’t throw the rock in response to an illusion so… Again, if the giant white demon/ogre… snake thing wasn’t an illusion (i.e. some other “esper” conjured up a “real” one somehow), then the question is moot. But if it was an illusion, I don’t understand how that scene played out as it did.
— When someone can manipulate all five senses, how do you beat him?”
Could always go with the standard “nuke ’em”. Or fire! Yeah! Kill it with fire! That usually works. (jk here :P)
— Though I was surprised he only asked for a special Esper zone. That seem’s awfully…modest. No ruling over the normals? Wuss.
LOL!
— Oh, and there was one other thing: Kyoutarou ripping his hand out to save Rinka. Youch!
Couple things. First, was I the only one thinking why the hell is Rinka trying to pull out the sword when she could just grab his hand and use her power to “pass it through” the sword. She can apply her power to other people by touching them, and her powers did work once during that scene. Let me guess… illusion issues.
So, the sword isn’t an illusion (I think), but then couldn’t Professor
Xjust layer an illusion on top of it so that Kyoutarou believed he couldn’t rip out his hand and thus remained “stuck”, unable to escape and presumably save Rinka? That means the Prof. let Kyoutarou go on purpose, or just didn’t think about it, or… Yeah… illusions are kind of bullshit.I agree with your agreeing with my points. Good additional point on the demon-god illusion(?) snake thing. When suddenly you’re questioning everything, it stops being fun because you spend the whole time questioning! After having just watched the Garupan Anzio OVA, I was reminded of that lesson all the more. Tokyo ESP is having trouble sweeping me away like even a relatively silly battle there did.
@Stilts: I agree with your agreeing with my points.
… Not sure how I should take that. LOL
— After having just watched the Garupan Anzio OVA, I was reminded of that lesson all the more. Tokyo ESP is having trouble sweeping me away like even a relatively silly battle there did.
Yeah, the Anzio OVA was a fun ride, but the battle was kind of silly IMO, at least compared to the other matches and definitely the manga version. Manga version is all business. Curious to see what the GuP movie’s tone/atmosphere is like. JMO, but I hope it’s more like the anime (TV) than the OVA.
The illusion didn’t take the rock. The professor conjured the illusion. Then he calmly walked up to her, took the rock away while making her see the snakes grabbing it, and walked back and handed it to Minami. Just because you don’t see the professor in a scene doesn’t mean he’s not there. And vice-versa: just because you do see the professor in a scene, that doesn’t mean that it’s really him, or that the real him is even visible.
BTW: his power can be countered, it’s just that nobody in our group of heroes is currently capable of doing it. He’s supposed to seem intimidating, and give you a “how the hell are we supposed to fight that” impression right now. You don’t discover the Big Bad’s weaknesses right when they show up in the midpoint of the story, after all. Stilts, you know the tropes: well, so does this author, and he uses them and parodies them, and subverts them and sometimes plays them straight, and so on. Know the tools an author uses to make a story, and you can often determine why a certain choice was made.
…That was supposed to be a response to Daikama. I was sure I clicked there…
Aye, I know the tropes and I know the tools. My objection is that full-blown illusions like this are so utterly broken that it begins to defy sense how they can be defeated if implemented intelligently. So often characters like this do big, flashy things, but what if they were more subtle? Like Drasca said above, implemented differently, the Professor’s victory would be inevitable.
Yes, he can be beat. I mentioned that Wolverine Papa could probably manage it through sheer destruction, and through realizing things like the snakes can’t touch the rock, but the Professor can. But what if he made someone else invisible, someone innocent he was threatening. It becomes
The enemies I like seem extremely powerful, but not unstoppable. There the ones where you have a tool, it just seems woefully inadequate to the job (a rookie Jedi in Luke Skywalker, for instance). When he effortlessly neutralizes teleportation, invisibility, and phase shift, their main tools start looking pretty useless. Maybe Murasaki-chan will be more useful.
Though to be perfectly honest, a lot of it stems from my hatred for mind control magic. That and time travel abused are just aggravating. Done well though, and you get Steins;Gate. I’m just not seeing this as one that’ll break that mold (in the anime, at least) so far.
He seems very unstoppable indeed, but I’m looking forward to how Rinka tries to stop him. If she gets to learn how, well…^^
Only if what he was actually trying to do could be done through subtlety.
Also, Drasca’s example is worded poorly anyway. Altering what people perceive isn’t going to alter their beliefs. He can make people see, hear, and touch things that they’ll think are real (at least until they know there’s an illusionist nearby), but he can’t make them belive “Oh espers are all our new gods, we should all step down from our offices and spend the rest of our lives worshipping at the feet of our glorious esper overlords.” People who fear espers aren’t going to change their minds because of his illusions, and he doesn’t want them to anyway. Like I pointed out above if he actually wanted people to accept espers, he wouldn’t be doing what he’s doing.
It’s fairly clear that his goals aren’t that subtle. So consider this a tangent, talking about the possibilities of his broken powers more than how this particular character is going to use them.
Let me direct you to a page of Strong Female Protagonist, which is a very good comic I might add. In it, a mind reader cops to never having mind control, despite it being widely believed he does. He says:
That character is using inside information to control a person’s actions. The Professor could use manipulate external stimuli to change people’s beliefs and control anyone he wants. It could be as outrageous as putting an important public figure through an ordeal where Espers save them, or as subtle as making all non-espers look slightly uglier and all espers slightly more attractive, subtly shading their opinions without the victim ever knowing.
Yes, there will be some people who cannot be manipulated, just as there are undoubtedly many people the mind reader could not control. They are the exceptions though. When you know everything about someone, or can control everything they sense in the world, if you can’t get them to do what you want, that really says more about you than anything else.
And seeing a character with such broken powers use them in such an unsubtle way is subpar. Probably. You need not reply! I’m talking in the abstract; until I know more about the Professor’s goals, I’ll refrain from this conversation from here on. We risk going in circles, if we’re not already.
@Wanderer: Ah. Thanks for clarifying. Oddly, I didn’t question it (or maybe pay close enough attention) reading the manga, but then watching the anime did. O.o I swear I wasn’t drinking (much) LOL. Seriously though, appreciate the clarification. Much rather have some plausible reason for what happened.
Did anyone notice his beard/mouth colour here? How did they mess that up!
Hm, this episode was okay but yeah The Professor just felt way too overpowered. Hopefully our characters will find his weakness or just let ‘The Collector’ penguin take him out 🙂
Hmmm, I’m not too sure why, but whenever I sit down with Tokyo ESP, what comes to mind is more about how, instead of relying almost 100% on their powers, these folks use them in conjuncture with martial arts and other relatively-everyday means of fighting (like the use of firearms and such). Not so much “Ahhh. LOL X-Men”.
It could be that my only exposure to X-Men so far is the 1990s animated series and a couple of the movies, so I might be less inclined to associate this with that franchise =3
Besides the usual bits & pieces from the manga that were cut out,I’m going to say that is where the anime shines more which,if you think about it,is natural when it comes to some intense action sequence assuming they’re done well enough or at least decent. This is probably also because there was no need for things to slow down here,making the faster pace of the anime work in it’s favor this time. As a result,the episode felt pretty intense,something which reading the corresponding chapter in the manga couldn’t deliver as well.
^Now that’s for the 2nd part of the episode but I found the rest to be handled nicely as well. That glimpse of Kyoutarou & Minami’s past was rearranged & shown to us through her reminiscing instead of his like it was in the manga but it was handled just as well. The same applies for what follows,when Rinka & Kyoutarou have their little conversation on the rooftop,followed by her thoughts about him. Maybe it’s just me,but it felt like the anime also knew when to slow down a bit this time.
The “meh” part was probably that they cut out the conversation between Rinka & Kobushi at her workplace where
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Another,much longer part was skipped where it show’s why exactly did the police come to question Rinka. Basically,
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I wouldn’t even put these events in spoiler tags but did it just in case the anime decides to show them later. But I don’t think there’s much chance of that because they’d be pretty hard to rearrange given what was already shown so I’d kind of encourage people to read them.
Not knowing about these events didn’t really bother me,but learning about them did enrich my experience,which seems to be the trend for me with Tokyo ESP.