Tokyo Underground

Title:Tokyo Underground
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , ,
Notables: HOSHI Souichiro
MIKI Shinichirou
MOROTA Kaoru
NODA Junko
OOTANI Ikue
R1 License - Pioneer (Defunct)
SEKI Tomokazu
TERADA Haruhi

Deep under the city of Tokyo, there exists a vast other world where people have different powers. Escaping from this world to the surface, Chelsea Rorec leads the girl she is protecting, Ruri Sarasa (known as the Miko of Life), to the home of Rumina Asagi. He is a 1st-year high school boy who lives on on his grandfather's traditional estate and is a gifted fighter.

Escape from the Underground is not allowed and an organization known as "The Company" is sending assassins to return Ruri and to get rid of the traitor who helped her escape. But Rumina is a wild card they hadn't counted on. How did this underground world come to be? How did they obtain their powers? Just who is the Miko of Life?


[26 TV episodes]
R1 By Geneon Entertainment
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Avoid 6 4 6 5 3 3 Ggultra2764 [series:446#1552]
I suppose if two words come to mind if I were to describe Tokyo Underground, lazy and uninspired would come to mind. The series takes too many shortcuts with its animation to be anything visually pleasing, its plot drags out for way longer than necessary with Rumina and his allies trying to rescue Ruri, the characters are pretty much two-dimensional archetypes who don't get much fleshing out, and the fight choreography with elemental users is mostly uninspired falling into the worst elements of shounen action titles with Rumina almost always relying on the same technique to beat his foes and not changing much from that strategy throughout the series. If you are a fan of action anime, I'd stay as far away from Tokyo Underground as possible considering the dull and underwhelming impression it gave me throughout its 26-episode run.

Last updated Sunday, September 30 2018. Created Sunday, September 30 2018.
Rent Forbin [series:446#1573]
Drama : Med
Comedy : Med
Action : Med/High
SciFi : High
Ecchi : Low

Even though I made this a rent, it's a GREAT show, it looks like someone crossed Flame of Recca with E's Otherwise (Though E's came out later). Since it isn't as original (well except for the underground part) I will only give this a rent.

Still, I love it, it's on par with Flame of Recca but Recca is still better, at least in Recca they don't use stupid animation cut scenes for backgrounds. Either that, or they just plain ran out of money and did the bad TV looking backgrounds.

Last updated Wednesday, January 04 2006. Created Tuesday, July 05 2005.
Rent 8 6 8 7 7 7 AstroNerdBoy [series:446#436]

Tokyo Underground is a shounen series which covers the basics that most shounen series cover -- lots of action, fights with named attacks, humor (especially when characters bicker), heroic deeds, and a bit of romance. The basic plot is the rescue of the Miko of Life, Ruri. After her guardian, Chelsea, helps her escape the Underground so that Ruri can see the real sky and real flowers, they find shelter with Rumina, who lives on his grandfather's temple grounds and who is training as a Japanese swordsman. They are also joined by Rumina's best friend, the nerdy Ginnosuke. These four comprise the core cast.

The exploration of this vast world under the city of Tokyo is done well. Along the way, the trio attempting to rescue Ruri see many different parts of the Underground. Of course, they are often pitted in battles against foes dispatched by The Company to stop them. Even though it is a shounen title, things are pretty tame, more so than Inuyasha. The battles are bloodless for the most part and defeated foes can return for good or ill. I'm sure this will please the shounen crowd a lot.

One nice thing about the series is that things are explained pretty well. How characters are connected or motivated is explained pretty well. The back history of the Underground is explored over the course of the series and that helps give the viewer further insights to what is going on. So kudos to the writers for this. The writers never take the show too seriously which helps as well. The series almost lost its way though when as it was winding down, it turned into a fighting competition series for some reason. I suppose it could be a parody of that genre.

There were a couple of things I would have liked to have seen. First, I felt that Sui's female friend should have shown up again at the end instead of just being dropped. A final character reunion would have been nice too. The animation is pretty weak as there is a lot of things done to look cool but save money. Other than that, I didn't have any real problems with the series.

Bottom line: A typical shounen series which tries to cover every every aspect of the genre, so much so that it might be a parody. It was fun to watch, but not fun enough to own.

Last updated Monday, February 28 2005. Created Thursday, February 24 2005.

Buy 8 8 7 9 8 8 Iceman_Aragorn [series:446#1517]
A very nice anime. Rumina, a normal guy, has his home invaded by two girls from the vast world of "Underground". He learns that many people in Underground have elemental powers, and that one of the two girls, Ruri, is on the run from Company, the so-called benevolant leaders of Underground.
The plot thickens and the animation and art are very nice. The characters dont have a whole lot of development, but the background of Underground is slowly unfurled.
The elemental powers are very interestingly used, and interesting to watch as new moves are devised using the elements.
Definately an anime in my top 10.

Last updated Friday, July 30 2004. Created Friday, July 30 2004.
Buy 8 8 9 9 8 8 Rumina [series:446#558]
An amazing anime ..pretty simple plot but still I loved it... it's pretty deep at times two and the character are put together really while AND THE MUSIC the ending OMG I lllooooove that song

Last updated Tuesday, February 25 2003. Created Tuesday, February 25 2003.
Buy 7 8 8 6 7 7 Akito [series:446#472]
This series is kind of funny and the plot is pretty clear after a few episodes. The flow of the story is pretty smooth, without much digression. The plot might appear to be simple; however, the story is more than the hero saving the heroine. The underlying theme of prejudice against inferior people is ever present in the story. This is exemplified by the company wanting revenge. It is very interesting to see how such a simple plot could have such a deep meaning.
A pretty good time killer with some serious themes.

Last updated Friday, January 03 2003. Created Friday, January 03 2003.

Community Anime Reviews

anime mikomi org