Of Swords and Parasols

Earlier I talked about my experiences with Sang-Sun Park’s manhwa. I think I’ll do the sme with Tohru Fujisawa. Fujisawa is the mangaka of GTO, which is pretty popular. I really liked the live action drama, thought the anime was enjoyable enough, but not my thing, and couldn’t get into the manga at all. This is probably because, by the time you get to the live action drama, the part where the main character’s motivation for becoming a teacher was hoping that high school girls will fall for him. So, GTO, not for me outside of the very unfaithful live action. Then there’s Rose Hip Zero, a little five volume manga (there’s a four volume sequel that was published before it, but I haven’t read it yet) about a girl who was a member of a terrorist group that brainwashed teenagers (including her) into being mindless assassins. She turned on them and joined the police, where she was partnered with the most hardnosed badass on the force. He was about a tenth as badassed as she was. Big Bad Loner Badass with Cute Little Accessory who’s a bigger badass. And guns. I love it. Most people have never heard of it.

Now there’s Tokko. Set in 2011, Tokko is another little sci-fi series (this one, I believe, is only 3 volumes) that probably no one has ever heard of. Ranmaru Shindo and his sister, Saya, came home five years ago to find their parents’ bodies scattered all over their apartment, in a crime that included 380 other deaths. Naturally, both become police officers, and Ranmaru, determined to solve the 382 deaths, has just become a detective. He’s also haunted by dreams of a woman with a sword, leather pants, no shirt, and dragon tattoos on her upper body.

His first day on the job, he learns of Tokko, a division of the police department called the Special Riot Squad Division 2-Special Public safety Bureau. AKA, Tokko. Tokko is currently comprised of four people. One is Suzuka, a 18 year old lieutenant who seems to have a non-professional interest in Ranmaru. Another is Sakura, also 18, who looks exactly like the woman in his dreams. The other two-a man with no dialogue yet and a woman who almost seems to be Suzuka’s babysitter-haven’t done much yet. Soon, Ranmaru learns that not only do Tokko’s members carry swords, but they also fight flesh-eating monsters. Wearing black leather. According to Suzuka and Sakura, Ranmaru is probably someone like them, and thus a target for whoever is behind the monsters (actually, zombies, in a way, since that’s what the actual monsters seem to create) and is opening gates to our world.

A lot of the first volume is setup, establishing Ranmari’s backstory (and, most likely, the backstory of the members of Tokko) and goals, as well as the threat. The characters are interesting, but not incredibly well developed yet, which might be concerning in a series that’s only three volumes. There’s lot of gore and body parts, but not compared to, say. Blade of the Immortal or Claymore. There are also several annoying fanservice bits. In addition to Sakura being shirtless in Ranmaru’s dreams, Saya runs around their apartment in her underwear to freak him out, and Suzuka goes into battle wearing leather pants and coat, but no shirt. Still, it is seinen, and echi, and could be far, far worse.

It is also about girls with swords who fight monsters wearing black leather. I feel that compensates for the annoying bits.