Tokyo ESP

It's been a big week for me in terms of show watching.  Me and my gang of ne'er-do-wells threw down on the first episodes of 8 different shows.  Most of them were on my list from last week, but a few snuck in there that I hadn't planned on watching.  However, rather than do a massive batch of mini-reviews, I'm going to spend time talking about each of them in detail.

So without further ado, let's start with Tokyo ESP.

Tokyo ESP is originally a manga by Hajime Segawa, and it's about--you guessed it--Espers, wielders of varying paranormal abilities.  It was animated by the people at Xebec studios and, to their credit, it looks MARVELOUS.

As I said in my preview post, this was the show I was most looking forward to, and I was not disappointed.

The episode starts off on Christmas Eve and the National Diet Building (Japan's House and Senate, for those who were thrown by the misleading name) comes floating over Tokyo, a radio broadcast from a terrorist organization announcing that the reign of Espers was beginning, and a shit-ton of baddies with really cool powers doing bad things.

So, yeah...you got me Tokyo ESP, I'm on board.  Now, a lot's going on, but we--the viewers--really aren't being told a whole hell of a lot about what's happening.  My theory is that we're experiencing a kind of flash-forward, that this is a sneak peek at events that will be unfolding around episode 6-10...or something.  Further evidence of this presents itself as everyone keeps talking about a "white haired girl" (Shiroi shoujo: lit. "white girl", lol) in the same way people talk about Batman or Superman.  That being said, I expect the next couple of episodes (the start of the series proper) are probably going to be a bit slow, and I couldn't be more excited for it.

So, the first episode winds down with a lot of carnage, shit comes to a head, the White Girl appears (sans pants), and the episode ends.  I am, DOWN with Tokyo ESP, hot damn!  I will say, part of what I love about it is that it's not afraid to have blood and violence, but doesn't feel obligated to be over-the-top like, oh, say, the latter episodes of Attack on Titan where people are being kicked into red mist or bitten in half without a second thought.

Consider this a hearty recommendation for Tokyo ESP which is getting into its second week of airing.  I plan to be following this show with religious fervor.  It was--

Damn.  Good.