There are no miracles in a book that promises nothing but.
Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Hajime Segawa
Translation: Kumar Sivasubramanian
Production: Risa Cho, Tomoe Tsutsumi
What They Say:
Rinka is targeted by The Professor’s minions at school, with life-threatening consequences. Azuma wakes up, alone, on a deserted island, too far to help anyone.
After we get a glimpse of The Professor’s past and the true nature of the stone that creates the glowing fish, the terrorist gang’s hijacking of the Diet building (by sending it flying through the skies) further enrages the government, which has already created a detention center for everyone with ESP.
The Professor’s ultimate act will have long-lasting repercussions, as the trap he sets closes in on himself…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
This is the darkest timeline. For a manga that believes in miracles, not a lot of the good kind happen. Though, in a way, the bad kind of miracle is still a miracle.
The world’s in chaos after the tanker was dropped on the city and suddenly a minority of people are outed for being a minority. Everyone is subject to non-deniable checks to ensure they are not also ESPers and a detention facility has been created to house all of them. You would think branding with a readable barcode is as far as the manga would take it, but it also puts the more violent ESPers into permanent freezes. This is a civilized society that is reacting with fear mongering. This is a society that registers its citizens because they’re different. This is a society that can’t see a rose amidst a dying bush.
Everyone finds their weaknesses, separated from each other through circumstance. No one is physically strong enough, but it’s their internal struggles that bite at them the most. Azuma can teleport, yet he can’t get himself off an island. He’s limited in his power by his own endurance. Rinka can’t fight off everyone at once, but somehow a little Yoda panda can because martial arts is weird and amazing. And Murasaki and Ayumu are left on the outside, freer than anyone else yet trapped in the throes of society.
There’s finally the reveal of where these powers come from as well, which is exactly where the skull melting from Indiana Jones came from. No really, it’s the ark that held the ten commandments because why not. It IS, after all, an artifact of great power. It apparently holds fishies that give out ESPer powers. That was my second guess.
But this artifact was found by Azuma and Minami’s parents, including The Professor himself, Minami’s dad. They were all betrayed by the corrupt Japanese government, because of course they were, but not before they were swindled by the general of a government that just found itself with independence. Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time with perhaps the discovery of a lifetime, everyone but The Professor is killed because of the very same discovery. Because of greed. Even if he seeks out vengeance against all the people that did this to him, he is not in his right mind. The constant shift from a “normal” looking face to the one he puts on with his illusion to his real one, half his face burned off by scar, shows his mental deterioration as much as his visible appearance of dread.
And oh how quickly opinions change. After the Diet building is lifted above the city by 1,500 meters, everyone rallies against ESPers. But when they see one girl and her maybe dozen companions fighting through the Diet to save everyone, they see that not everyone is bad. One brave act changes the hearts of thousands. That’s a miracle.
But that doesn’t enact change. When thousands, tens of thousands, have their ESPer powers awakened—when people without powers are no longer the overwhelming majority—is when the tune changes. Only when they are outnumbered.
In Summary:
Tokyo ESP hits on some tough topics, mostly of social justice in regards to a minority group, but also spends a few pages on, of all things, the feeling of inhumanity after a near-rape, then how Minami’s father takes advantage of that vulnerability. It’s all actually kind of sick, but that’s exactly the point. Blind eyes should not be turned; they should never be turned.
Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 14+
Released By: Vertical Comics
Release Date: February 9th, 2016
MSRP: $15.95