Following the success of Ga-rei, Hajime Segawa-sensei launched his next series Tokyo ESP. While Ga-rei was a story of the supernatural, Tokyo ESP is based on ESP, Extra Sensory Perception  Both stories take place in modern Tokyo with their respective twists. If you like one, you will like the other, although there are distinct differences. 

Tokyo ESP is a manga with alot of action flavors. The first type includes generic fighting, and the second, simply a large amount of things happening at once. Often type the latter action is training, saving people, and escaping danger. Action scenes in this work benefit from Segawa-sensei’s crisp and clean artwork which helps make the scenes less confusing as each element is distinct. The plot isn’t as straight forward as the usual mainstream manga.  Although there is a distinct enemy the fact that besides the evil organization the protagonists must be wary of innocent general population makes the line between good and evil blurred. The various superpowers of the characters adds a new level of interest to the story.  However, the types of superpowers, so far, have not been unique in anyway and have repeated in characters. 

Thus far in the story, sub-themes such as romance, comedy, and drama have surfaced.  The fact that one of the protagonist, and key elements to the plot, is a penguin must add humor to the plot at some level. This one character is what makes the powers over the top.  Jokes are sparse, it’s elements like this penguin that add the subtle humor to the work.  Romance, it seems plays a hand in the other two sub themes.  The fact that Kokui Kobushi, a professional thief and High School student, is in love with the protagonist’s ex-police officer father is not funny but is just plain silly. Segawa-sensei has a tendency to pair up every main character for romance.  For an action manga it might be a little much. Rinka Urushiba, the main character, is clearly in love with Azuma Kyoutaro. Drama will clearly unfold with his sad/hard past and the possible romantic tension he has with his step-sister, who is an enemy. 

All in all, I recommend reading Tokyo ESP. Although it may not be far from being mainstream it has enough unique elements to keep you interested week after week. I especially recommend it if you enjoyed reading Ga-rei.

*If you couldn’t already tell from the title.

GO Rating: 

[Batoto.net]