Originally I thought Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpuchou was going to be a slice of life demon high school anime from the title. It’s more of an action title than anything. It features a lot of fighting, gore, and zombies. What about plot, you say? Not so much…
Note: I think this anime probably makes no sense even to native Japanese watchers. I watched this raw, so if I make a mistake in this entry, please let me know in the comments.
The first few minutes of the anime are basically just eye candy. I guess you could say the whole thing is eye candy, actually. There’s a bunch of images that don’t really seem to be related to each other. A high school girl is walking around by herself when she feels some kind of presence following her. She starts running, and all around people are flipping out and fighting each other. Eventually the zombie mob catches up to her…
Meanwhile, school is interrupted as a rival bunch of thugs demands to fight our heroes, the zombie-busting school kids. I don’t think the thugs are zombies themselves… It’s probably just an excuse to animate more fighting. The meganekko reporter also shows up to try and find a dai-scoop.
Later, the source of the zombies is revealed! It’s some kind of giant bug thing that sucks the life out of people… And it keeps the zombies on a string? The school girl who was attacked revisits her boyfriend and brings a couple of her friends with her. Fortunately, the high school anti-zombie squad is on the case! They exterminate the zombies, chase the giant bug thing, and save the meganekko! They fight it until it keeps shrinking and eventually turns into a doll that coughs out a spider. WTF?
There’s also a nonsensical fight between some monk guys and a very strangely dressed man. He has a two-faced sidekick who goes from moe to emo in a flash! This part just seemed really out of place as it had no prior context or anything.
I’m not really sure how I feel about this anime. Granted, I watched it raw and it made very little sense. But I think that even if I had grand mastery of the Japanese language, it still wouldn’t make any sense.
Maybe this anime doesn’t have to have a plot. Maybe I should just sit back and enjoy the epic mob battles. I mean, if zombies are involved, that usually denotes a lack of a serious plot, right?
I guess that eventually the anime will explain the situation. Why are there zombies terrorizing Japan? Why do these school kids have super powers? What’s the deal with those monks?
One thing I can say about Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpuchou is that the animation is good. Of course, with a lot of anime the first episode looks awesome, then the animation quality quickly deteriorates. I guess we’ll need to see more. The fight scenes were especially cool. The pacing seemed a little too schizophrenic for my tastes, though. Like everything happened way too fast and it felt like a cheesy action movie.
I should also point out that this anime is really gory. Like there’s quite a bit of limb slicing and whatnot. They must show this anime pretty late at night because even I was starting to get grossed out.
The character designs are certainly interesting. Everything in this anime is a bit more gritty than most other shows. I’ll hand it to the artists, though, they sure do draw a good zombie.
A lack of nonsensical plot (which could just be due to my bad Japanese, but probably not) hurts this anime a bit. Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpuchou still looks really awesome, though. I guess I might wait until a sub comes out so I can actually try and make sense of what’s really going on. It’s probably the most action filled anime, at least.
It’s like a world full of people who have special skills or…something. Hopefully the subs clear things up. At least the artwork was crazy colorful, and quite amazing at times.
I will DIE if the next episode sucks…this is just too good for me to handle1
The first ep was completely mindblowing. Ultra-violent and action packed. I expect the quality to dip (though hopefully not too much), but I hope the invention, pace and idiosyncratic vein does not disappear. This could be the first unmissable show of the season.
Artwork was definetly over average. While watching first ep i just got feeling like “Wtf is this? Artwork is so beautiful that i could fall in love with it” but cuz i didnt know what story told about in first place it was bit confusing (now i know it though). Cant wait till 2nd episode!
The first episode isn’t actually the start…it kinda starts in the middle with the first ep. The second ep is actually the proper start where you are introduced to all the characters in a more official way….Its like not so much of an ep but a ep long trailer. o_O;
I actually liked how we were thrown into their world without going through the tedious “who’s who” part. Stories later. Action first.
After watching the second episode, you’ll kinda start seeing where this whole thing is going to go. There still leaves a lot to be explained though, so I guess we’re looking at a complicated plot.
Following the cult hit Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu which doesn’t play linear in episode arrangements, it’s strange people are still fussing over an intro episode that banks on a promise how the story will be like.
It is actually not strange for a Japanese Occult series/manga to jump straight into the action first.
Anyway Tokyo Majin is based on a game originally released on PS. Don’t give up on Tokyo Majin yet!!!It’s hard to fansub this series in fact unless you are familiar with Hindu/Shinto/Japanese mythologies so I believe we need to put on extra work to google even if we are watching fansub to fully enjoy it.
i agree with Danny, the next ep has got to anwer a few questions here and there! LOVING this anime, everything about it! the characters, storyline, and MUSIC!! someones got to tell me the band’s name!!!! >.
I don’t understand why anyone would complain about the plot of an anime series after watching only the very first episode. I also don’t understand why anyone would try to write a “First Impression” of something they barely understood. I would have through understanding would be a prerequisite but apparently I was wrong. I actually really enjoyed the storytelling style. In a few more episodes the plot should become more apparent, but who want a a show where you already know everything after the first episode?
this anime is the best i have ever seen beside shakagun no shana and ouran highschool host club. i like the telepathic girl and that guy with the stupid sword is so mean to her. i jus found the show today and it is so fucking cool! dude that transfer guy is a bit weird but he’s my type of guy, lol. anywayz man i hope they get new episodes on youtube man imma die if they dont come out. omfg i cant w8, anywayz if anyone doesnt like this they cna go to hell, thats for sure. i luv it so much, but i wish the telepathic girl wouldnt be so a cry baby she, she’s cool and stuff. she need to punh that guy in the face. this show the da bomb
Well, I like it mainly because it’s NOT a standard plot. The tasty ultraviolence doesn’t hurt, rither, but the main thing the 1st ep. grabbed me with was the zombie-flinging spider. OMFG that’s a great monster! Ilaughed myself semi-nauseous…
Damn, even HERE some people just CANT STOP mentioning the fucking Haruhi ! Cut it out already !
You can’t judge this series by it’s first episode and you can’t do that with a lot (if not all) animes. They’ve taken a different start and put you right in the midst of the “situation” of the anime, leaving you confuzzled and miscombobulated. It’s great! Although moving slow, this anime had me from the start with it’s drawing style, crazy violence and their 2 main characters who are crazy cool: Houraiji Kyouichi and Hiyuu Tatsuma!!
What’s really amusing is that the monster vaguely resembles a katamari.
I think the bands name is ACID the official site has this name listed next to the op/ep
It is sad to see a review that lacks any insight… All this review talks about is the surface. Plot, and animation… Storys are not just about plot, they are about envolving the audience. That is what Majin EP1 does SO well… The pacing is frantic on purpose the skipping around is to make you feel lost. The amount of substance in the EP is great… This show is great because of its use of metaphor (although somewhat obvious uses).
Well, “Meh” basically said what I was going to say.
I just hope to God you watched the other episodes. Majin starts off in the same way Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu began. Sometimes this method works very well.
This anime was great!……I saw all 14 off the episodes of this season.A season 2 is scheduled for a july release.I thought the anime was drawn excellently,the music was great I even downloaded the opening and listen to it all the time.The story is one of those storylines where you have to watch it more than once to understand,I still didn’t grasp all the story but I do have somewhat of an idea.I just finished epsiode 14 today actually.I give it an 8 out of 10.
I think it’s great!! (The boys) main characters are so cute!! Super natural powers, high schoolers, Zombies, killing, blood, gore,ect. Have we heard this before? It’s really a great ( in my opinion) the action though seems to fast paced and the characters almost seem to come out of nowhere. The reporter or as Kyouichi says “the stalker” is a bit creepy!! (sweatdrops) Anyway I think that Tatsuma ns Aoi go great together!! KAWAII!! How about Kyouichi and Komaki?? (weird)