Tokyo Underground

This is the story of a world under the streets and subway tunnels of Tokyo, where a group of powerful children with the ability to control the elements live a secret life. Rumina Asagi meets them after his first day at high school, when he comes home to a big hole in his back yard and two strange girls, fragile Ruri and feisty Chelsea, in his house. When Ruri is dragged back to the netherworld below Tokyo, Rumina joins forces with Chelsea and his schoolfriend Ginnosuke to get her back from the adults who hold her prisoner-he feels obliged to do this, because he has already died once rescuing her, and has now been brought back from the dead with new elemental powers into the bargain-compare to Poltergeist Report.

Director Hayato Date was a key member of the team that made Naruto, a fan favorite of the early 21st century that similarly made light of more serious questing issues. He also made Bubu Chacha, a kid's show for the very young that subtly revealed the strains of modern life, featuring a protagonist in need of rescue and companionship. TU's Ruri is not merely a damsel in distress, she is a girl reared in a hermetically sealed world, cut off, as characters observe, from the sun and sky. Japanese comics and animation have seen many such exiles, both in times gone past, and in a recent resurgence since 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq. Like Japan itself, the fantasy realms of anime are often cut off from the rest of the globe. In the hidden worlds of TU, we see a similar distant conflict to that in Howl's Moving Castle, and a nation under siege like that of Heat Guy J. Tokyo Underground also reflects the iPod generation's general lack of affect. In a reversal of the twists of The Matrix, our intrepid heroes face a completely new environment, unlike anything they have ever encountered. Their first thought, however, is how much it reminds them of a film set-similar designer apathy for slightly older kids appears in TU's contemporary, Gantz.

Season/Ep#	Name
1 - 26	To the Light - Let our Thoughts Become One	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1 - 25	Collapse - An Incurable Heart	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1 - 24	Reason - Flame of the Betrayed	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1 - 23	Fierce Battle - Aiming for the Top	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1 - 22	Concentration - Invitation to Killing Field	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1 - 21	Slums - Town of Rebels	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1 - 20	Assassin - The Trap of the Magnetic User	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1 - 19	Impatience - Thoughts That Do Not Reach	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1 - 18	Meet Again - Tear Wiping Wind	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1 - 17	Gradual Attack - For Sake of the Smile	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1 - 16	Attack - Unforgotten Melody	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1 - 15	Attack - Broken Bonds	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1 - 14	Pursuit - Assassins Of The Tower Gate	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1 - 13	Promise - The Wish In The Ribbon	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1 - 12	Rebellion - Escape To The Light	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1 - 11	Battle To The Death - Beyond Hatred	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1 - 10	Counterattack - Again With Water Controller	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1 - 9	Spirit Gun - In Order To Fight Together	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1 - 8	Suupei - The Trap Hidden In The Dark	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1 - 7	Break In - To The Underground World	0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5

Name	Tokyo Underground
Name:	東京アンダーグラウンド
Romaji:	Tōkyō Andāguraundo
Publisher	Studio Pierrot
Start Year	2002
Genres	Add a new genre
Themes	Add a new theme
Aliases

Tokyo Underground

Original US Poster Art

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