“Tokyo ESP” isn’t the most innovative anime or anything and borrows more than a few ideas from the likes of “X-Men” but it’s still an incredibly fun and entertaining one-off series with some great voice work on both the Japanese and English sides while the animation, albeit basic, is still fairly nice to look at.
“Tokyo ESP”: The Complete Series
(2014)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Anime, Science Fiction, Fantasy
FUNimation | TVMA – 300 min. – $64.98 | February 23, 2016
Date Published: 04/14/2016 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE – 4.0/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Rinka (IBUKI KIDO/SARAH WIEDENHEFT) is a normal Tokyo high-schooler with big dreams and a small income. She works part-time job to support her and her single dad (TETSU INADA/BRYAN MASSEY), but she yearms for the day she’ll get to loosen the strings on her pocketbook. Her ordinary life takes a turn for the extraordinary when she witnesses a penguin and a school of fish flying through the air, a sight she and another young man, Kyotaro (KEISUKE KOURNOTO/ADAM DAHLBERG), can see. After these fish seems to pass through her, she wakes up in her apartment building with no clothes on and no memory of the strange phenomenon save for a mysterious ability to pass through solid objects.
With her newfound powers, and the guidance of Kyotara who has teleportation powers, Rinka is about to learn just how transparent the world can be when they team up to fight against others with powers, known as espers, who will use it for evil intent, led by a ruthless man named Azuma aka The Professor (YOSHIHISA KAWARHARA/JEFFREY SCHMIDT). Quick Hit Review: “Tokyo ESP”, even though is obviously influenced by the X-Men comic book and movie adaptations (and based on the Manga series created by Hajime Segawa), is incredibly engaging with a compelling story and a great set of core characters led by Rinka as voiced by Ibuki Kido (Japanese) and Sarah Wiedenheft (English). I was gripped from the start between some great animations that, in part anyway, reminded me of the work done on the “Ghost in the Shell” series.
The writing, however, is not the best but I easily could overlook it if only that it kept me entertained. The characters, and to go along with that, the voice casting, are well rounded and charming, and that includes the villains as well. It’s a shame it only lasted one season… I may not be the biggest anime fan, but I would gladly recommend this series, especially if you’re a novice in the genre. Episodes:
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SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.0/5 |
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This 4-disc set (2 BDs, 2 DVDs) comes housed in an HD Keep Case and a semi-matted slip cover. Episode Commentaries – ‘Girl Meets Boy’: Tyler Walker (ADR Director), Adam Dahlberg (Actor), Sarah Wiedenheft (Actor); ‘Meeting, Phantom and Girl’: Walker, Jenny Ledel (Actor), Jeffrey Schmidt (Actor), Mallorie Rodak (Actor) Next up are Textless Songs for the opening ‘Tokyo Zero Hearts’ (1:32), Closing ‘Kyuusei Apyupoc’ (1:32) and ‘Lasting Memories’ (1:31). Also included are some DVD/BD Spots (0:34; HD), a Commercial (0:17; HD) and U.S. Trailer (0:49; HD). |
VIDEO – 4.25/5 |
| “Tokyo ESP” teleports onto Blu-ray through FUNimation presented in its original televised 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. The picture is nice and bright throughout the series’ 12 episode run but also shows some nice black starkness in the darker shots. Now, there were some banding in some of the transition shots so it’s not entirely perfect but still, all in all, a relatively impressive transfer. |
AUDIO – 4.0/5 |
| As with some of the other releases by FUNimation, the “Tokyo ESP” allows the option of either an English 5.1 or Japanese 2.0 Dolby TrueHD track and although I normally prefer the original language version, the English dubbing actually isn’t half bad as the voice talent seemed to be giving full effort and trying different things. Obviously the English version is a tad more robust yet despite being only 2 channels, the Japanese option still provides some OK depth along with clear dialogue levels. |
OVERALL – 4.0/5 |
| Overall, “Tokyo ESP” isn’t the most innovative anime or anything and borrows more than a few ideas from the likes of “X-Men” but it’s still an incredibly fun and entertaining one-off series with some great voice work on both the Japanese and English sides while the animation, albeit basic, is still fairly nice to look at. The Blu-ray released through FUNimation offers thin bonus material but the audio/video transfers are both well done. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.