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Tokko
Anime DVD Review
Tokko holds no punches whatsoever whether it is the manga or the anime. I felt like I was watching another JJ Abrams piece of work. Tokko grabs you by the balls from the get go and you are going wherever its creator, Tohru Fujisawa of GTO and Rose Hip Zero, wants you to go.
To the normal everyday citizens, Tokyo is just being rocked by frequent earthquakes and waves of violent crimes. Nothing too extraordinary, pretty normal. Ranmaru knows it's not true; something else happened at the Machida Apartments 5 years ago that is now spreading to all of Tokyo. Something, not someone, is ripping people up into shreds and Ranmaru is going to find that something. He's going to make it pay for killing his parents and the other 380 lives that were lost that day.
 In order to do that, Ranmaru and his friend Hanazono joins the Special Riot Squad Academy. When they graduate and actually start working in the SRS, they have access to all the resources and information on these supposedly terrorist acts and can work on avenging these murders. Well... they can start working on the avenging once they stop pissing off their superior, Captain Kunikida, and end up washing bathrooms instead of heading out on cases. It would also help if his sister, Saya, would stop trying so hard to set him up on dates.
It turns out that janitors can gather the most information. While cleaning bathrooms, Ranmaru finds out about Division 2 - Tokko: the Special Public Safety Bureau. Everyone else in SRS tries to stay clear of them because they are strange. Not only do they dress differently when they are out on cases (the girls on the team tend to favor leather and as little of it as possible without drawing too much attention to themselves) but they also carry swords with them in addition to their guns. Forget about the rumors that swirl around this group: recruited as teenagers and all promoted to lieutenants. They usually solve the cases by the time any of the squads from Division 1 get to the scene so all that's left to do is clean up. And, boy, is there a lot of clean up. All the blood and the body parts that have to be cleaned up adds to the mystique of Tokko. Supposedly, there was a squad that made it to a scene just as Tokko was finishing up the job and they saw Tokko hacking away with their swords at people. The report that ended up being submitted said that Tokko shot the culprits... There was also a smaller rumor going around that Tokko hunts non-humans but Ranmaru thinks that that's just to scare new recruits.
 On the other side, Tokko has their eyes on Ranmaru and his sister. They are survivors of the Machida incident; something will be hunting them soon. Lieutenant Suzuka has licked Ranmaru; he might be the Fifth Hunter that they are looking for. Deputy Ibuki created Tokko and currently leads the 4 member team. Lieutenant Suzuka is the second in command even though she is only 18 and under her are Inukai and their newest recruit straight from SRS Academy, Sakura Rokujo, also 18. As another earthquake rocks Tokyo, Ibuki and Suzuka braces their team for the Twelveth one that they will be busy hunting for.
Blood, swords, guns, and carnage everywhere so you better be prepared to start swimming for the surface if you want to breathe once you jump in.
Reviewed by Carolyn Whu, August 2009
Below: Scenes from Tokko.
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