TOKYO UNDERGROUND – THE PROMISE (VOLUME 3)
February 6th 2009 23:10
Category: Videos
Based on the original manga by Akinobu Uraku
Director: Hayato Date
Producers: Fukashi Azuma, Taihei Yamanishi & Ken Hagino
Starring: Brad Swaile (Rumina), Rebecca Shoicet (Chelsea), Gabe Khouth (Ginosuke), Tabitha St Germain (Shiel), & Chantal Strand (Ruri).
Produced by: TV Tokyo, dentsu & Studio Pierrot
Released by: Tokyo Night Train
Running Time: 100 minutes Rating: PG
You have to wonder where the whole idea of underground cultures and societies living apart from those on the surface first began to make an appearance in fiction, perhaps it began with Jules Verne and his ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’ or HG Wells and the Morlocks subterranean society in ‘The Time Machine’ or Edgar Rice Burroughs. Or maybe it stems from the ancient myths of the Underworld, the realm of Hades and the river Styx. Regardless of the precise origins in time and space of this particular literary trope it still makes an interesting setting even in this world of Generation X, iPods, iPhones and Blue ray discs. Here in this particular anime we are exposed to a hidden society dwelling beneath the highways and byways of metropolitan Tokyo. Thus the series title is very literal in its intent, we are not talking about a metropolitan mass transit system here, we’re talking about a world existing beneath the surface and inhabited by those who have a distinct beef against surface society.
Running the show in this unique culture is the Company, an organisation who maintains the peace and provides security and stability for this subterranean world. As far as most of the inhabitants of the underground are concerned the Company is a benevolent entity, concerned with their well being and prosperity, the reality though is somewhat different from their propaganda. As with such entities the Company has a rather sinister agenda, nothing really new there, although the nature of this sinister agenda is somewhat unusual in its execution and subject for the various nefarious schemes undertaken by corporate entities in a variety of anime and manga series.
Now if underground societies and the underworld has been a mainstay of fiction and drama for some time what about dragons and beautiful, innocent maidens? The young girl left to the wrath of a hungry dragon is an archetypal figure that is as old as Western culture if not older; this very archetype is a part of the story within Tokyo Underground in a very major way, it is pivotal to the nefarious agenda that the Company is following. It seems that the various humans who dwell in Undertown, the main community of the Underground, are not the only denizens within this subterranean world…
Dragons also dwell within this twilight world, although the vast majority of the inhabitants of the underground believe them to be nothing more than legends certain high up officials within the Company know otherwise. It is these beings that are currently locked into a deep slumber that the Company hopes to revive and turn them against the inhabitants of the surface world, completely eradicating them for all time. Ah nothing like a good old apocalyptic agenda to really get things going, where would evil corporate entities be without this trope? Of course just simply reviving the dragons is not going to do the trick, no their has to be a sacrifice, the sacrifice of a pure young maiden and the Company has one just to hand. Ok so they might be sticklers for tradition but you have to admire their planning and resourcefulness.
Naturally within any good anime or manga the villains of the piece just can’t have it all their own way, the story would just be downright depressing and rather dull otherwise. That’s where the hero comes in, it’s his duty to save the maiden, beat up all the bad guys and generally deliver some righteous smack down on any monster that has ideas about destroying his world or eating his friends. This is what heroes do, its all part of the mandate when you find yourself cast into a traditional role in a note so traditional setting. Our hero in this story is typically a young Japanese male, one Rumina Asagi, voiced by Brad Swaile, the actor who does the voice of Light Yagami in Death Note and Rock in Black Lagoon. Rumina unlike the average ordinary male Japanese high schooler is something of a dab hand with the katana, apparently his family have been swordsmen from way back, and he also has this ability of weaving the winds to his will to do some rather nifty feats.
In fact its this ability that often results in him being called wind user by various Company goons, you know the kind of minions who can never being bothered reading intelligence reports and finding out the actual name of the person or persons that they’re going up against; those kind of goons. Smart and intuitive help seems to be somewhat lacking for the various villains of anime and manga series, sure they can get minions who have awesome abilities and nifty looking outfits and nasty weapons, but smarts don’t seem to be in the genetic makeup of hired goons. So the Company is well aware of Rumina and are keen to prevent him from coming into contact with Ruri, the Maiden of Life, the emblem of the Underground and the sacrificial victim for the nefarious agenda.
When the story opens in this particular volume we find Rumina, his buddy Ginosuke and former Company bodyguard Chelsea Rorec trying to fight their way past some Company minions in order to penetrate the deeps of the Underworld and rescue Ruri. Things do not quite go to plan, despite the valiant trio prevailing over their opponents and Rumina and Ginosuke are forced to carry onwards with a somewhat drained Chelsea deeper into the tunnels that lead to the underground in a hope of evading their foes. It seems likely that the trio are likely to be caught very soon, but fate intervenes in a truly strange way to give our heroes a chance at completing their mission as well as providing time for Chelsea to recover.
Tokyo Underground was an entertaining anime to watch, it’s interesting to note that the same three companies that produced the Bleach anime series are also involved in the production of this series, although from what I can gather is that Tokyo Underground ran no where near the triple figure episode count that Bleach has managed to drum up. I can see some similarities between the two series though; the maiden in distress held in an exotic locale, the sword wielding hero, the realisation of ones inner potential, these are just a few of the elements that the two shows seem to have in common. Worth getting a hold of and watching…
Director: Hayato Date
Producers: Fukashi Azuma, Taihei Yamanishi & Ken Hagino
Starring: Brad Swaile (Rumina), Rebecca Shoicet (Chelsea), Gabe Khouth (Ginosuke), Tabitha St Germain (Shiel), & Chantal Strand (Ruri).
Produced by: TV Tokyo, dentsu & Studio Pierrot
Released by: Tokyo Night Train
Running Time: 100 minutes Rating: PG
You have to wonder where the whole idea of underground cultures and societies living apart from those on the surface first began to make an appearance in fiction, perhaps it began with Jules Verne and his ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’ or HG Wells and the Morlocks subterranean society in ‘The Time Machine’ or Edgar Rice Burroughs. Or maybe it stems from the ancient myths of the Underworld, the realm of Hades and the river Styx. Regardless of the precise origins in time and space of this particular literary trope it still makes an interesting setting even in this world of Generation X, iPods, iPhones and Blue ray discs. Here in this particular anime we are exposed to a hidden society dwelling beneath the highways and byways of metropolitan Tokyo. Thus the series title is very literal in its intent, we are not talking about a metropolitan mass transit system here, we’re talking about a world existing beneath the surface and inhabited by those who have a distinct beef against surface society.
Dragons also dwell within this twilight world, although the vast majority of the inhabitants of the underground believe them to be nothing more than legends certain high up officials within the Company know otherwise. It is these beings that are currently locked into a deep slumber that the Company hopes to revive and turn them against the inhabitants of the surface world, completely eradicating them for all time. Ah nothing like a good old apocalyptic agenda to really get things going, where would evil corporate entities be without this trope? Of course just simply reviving the dragons is not going to do the trick, no their has to be a sacrifice, the sacrifice of a pure young maiden and the Company has one just to hand. Ok so they might be sticklers for tradition but you have to admire their planning and resourcefulness.
Naturally within any good anime or manga the villains of the piece just can’t have it all their own way, the story would just be downright depressing and rather dull otherwise. That’s where the hero comes in, it’s his duty to save the maiden, beat up all the bad guys and generally deliver some righteous smack down on any monster that has ideas about destroying his world or eating his friends. This is what heroes do, its all part of the mandate when you find yourself cast into a traditional role in a note so traditional setting. Our hero in this story is typically a young Japanese male, one Rumina Asagi, voiced by Brad Swaile, the actor who does the voice of Light Yagami in Death Note and Rock in Black Lagoon. Rumina unlike the average ordinary male Japanese high schooler is something of a dab hand with the katana, apparently his family have been swordsmen from way back, and he also has this ability of weaving the winds to his will to do some rather nifty feats.
In fact its this ability that often results in him being called wind user by various Company goons, you know the kind of minions who can never being bothered reading intelligence reports and finding out the actual name of the person or persons that they’re going up against; those kind of goons. Smart and intuitive help seems to be somewhat lacking for the various villains of anime and manga series, sure they can get minions who have awesome abilities and nifty looking outfits and nasty weapons, but smarts don’t seem to be in the genetic makeup of hired goons. So the Company is well aware of Rumina and are keen to prevent him from coming into contact with Ruri, the Maiden of Life, the emblem of the Underground and the sacrificial victim for the nefarious agenda.
When the story opens in this particular volume we find Rumina, his buddy Ginosuke and former Company bodyguard Chelsea Rorec trying to fight their way past some Company minions in order to penetrate the deeps of the Underworld and rescue Ruri. Things do not quite go to plan, despite the valiant trio prevailing over their opponents and Rumina and Ginosuke are forced to carry onwards with a somewhat drained Chelsea deeper into the tunnels that lead to the underground in a hope of evading their foes. It seems likely that the trio are likely to be caught very soon, but fate intervenes in a truly strange way to give our heroes a chance at completing their mission as well as providing time for Chelsea to recover.
Tokyo Underground was an entertaining anime to watch, it’s interesting to note that the same three companies that produced the Bleach anime series are also involved in the production of this series, although from what I can gather is that Tokyo Underground ran no where near the triple figure episode count that Bleach has managed to drum up. I can see some similarities between the two series though; the maiden in distress held in an exotic locale, the sword wielding hero, the realisation of ones inner potential, these are just a few of the elements that the two shows seem to have in common. Worth getting a hold of and watching…
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