shinigami’s blog

I started on Tokyo Tribe 2 with a modicum of enthusiasm. The art is distinctive, and, well, artsy. And artsy can mean interesting anime. Hey, it worked for Kemonozume. But the first contact was:
Colors: “Wee! We are bright and shiny! And there’s too much of us.”
Me: “Oh man, my eyes… my eyes…”
The OP kicks in.
Me: “Oh man, my ears… my ears…”

As the show starts we see an ugly guy being pursued by gangsta zombies-look-a-likes. Then there’s Daddy McPimp, sporting a fur-collared coat and bling in the form of the “hikari” (light) kanji; he draws a katana in a very literal flash of blinding light. So much kool cannot be defeated with mere bullets, so despite dual wielding pistols, the ugly redshirt gets cut to pieces. His severed hand makes a lovely image with the blueish moon in the background. W00t!

The OP is so lame it should be banned. Cheap visuals (lots of portraits, showing off the original chara design, with a collage including real life images), Japanese rap with random Engrish (”I drop a coin. Brain buster!”) and B.u.d.d.h.a. (yeah, spelled, the letters in English) and… well, the song itself is embarassingly bad.

Next scene has me whooping. It’s video gaming, while the news are on. Apparently what we saw before is a fight between “tribes” trying to control areas of Tokyo. The gamer is Kai from the Saru (Monkeys) Tribe, an unemployed guy, kicked out of his last job 3 months ago. Also, he’s playing on a PS2. (Talk about identifying with the characters, heh.)

While he drives by, listening to a new CD he bought (yes, kids, you need to buy the newest albums even when you are unemployed and your parents worry about you paying your rent!) a bunch of guys from another tribe (I’d bet money that it’s actually Inu (dog) head, though the subbers left it as “Inohead”) corner him on bikes and a freakin’ old, freakin’ ugly shirtless mofo asks him for money. He is a good guy and tries to just get away from them without resorting to violence. Failing that, he whips out a baseball bat and trips the mofo’s bike.

The Monkeys hang out in a bar *yawn*. There is a kid acting all nervous, wanting to get inside. New recruit alert! Anyway, Kai gets saddled with the n00b just as he was about to go hang out with some workin’ girls.

Screencap time:
Second image, look at those redshirt losers go. Bonus for the guy on the left fondling his privates. Come morning, they are majorly pwned so Kai, HamsterGuy and the N00b go investigate. As in any typical movie that involves investigation, it’s strippers time! Except now as soon as the elevator doors open…. zomfg!nipples. It’s actually a wall of tits (a titwall?) but I ain’t posting a screencap of that too. You can see in the image how narrow the passage between them seems to be. Dunno, rubbing against a corridor of dozens of rubber tits seems just kinda funny. But no, somehow the corridor is wide enough. Ha! No fun, just pr0ny atmosphere

The whole investigation lasts a few seconds. (See, it WAS all about the tits.) The woman the pwned guys had selected from a catalog doesn’t exist. Oooh, suspicious… Of course, this isn’t a mystery anime, or even a cop show, so while HamsterGuy is still bitching about it, there she is, right in front of them! Standing on one foot! rofl. I kid you not. She also has huge tits on a thin frame, and carries what seems to be a hefty shopping bag. I can’t see her face as I’m blinded by the even more obnoxious than usual bright pink background, but I think Kai can, because he stares at her like dumbstruck. She confirms that the guys had been there (uh, why was this necessary anyway?). Then the camera moves to show HamsterGuy passing by her and the pink hell is easier on my eyes. Heck, she is hot! Her mouth is huge though, making Saya look thin lipped, but it’s only freaky from certain angles (Yes, freaky. Check out that screencap).

She uses that huge mouth to whisper “Save me”. Hel-lo! When a hot call girl, or whatever the term is for what she does, asks to be saved, what are you guys waiting for?! But she runs away in the buidling before they even turn around. Women…

While the 2 leave (Where is the n00b, btw? Waiting in the car?) Dady McPimp and the Zombies drop by for a chat. A bunch of insults and threats later, we find out the following:
1. Daddy McPimp’s name is Mera.
2. His assistant(?) also looks like a hamster, and is called Skunk, was the one who ordered for those losers to be hanged in Shibuya (he admits it to Mera only after Kai leaves).
3. Mera used to be Kai’s friend.

We are treated to another scene with the chick. She is talking to Mera, and he seems like a decent guy, not pressing her for info and not letting customers approach her.

Then, suddenly, sucking, rubbing, tits. Man, this anime is ugly. Wtf?

Now to explain the caps. The first cap is a huge fat guy being licked by girls. And I mean HUGE. The second cap is the blob raping a guy to death (complete with lots of blood). Yeah, those scenes made perfect sense in the context of the anime. Not. Also, the huge guy looks much, much bigger when he is being licked than when he is standing. Who got paid to do the graphics for this show anyway?

Skunk snitched on Mera, so the Blob sends him to conquer Saru’s territory to “recruit” more girls for da business. Mera is, understandably, not happy about this.

Meanwhile, Kai and the others are being carefree and all. Well, not the n00b who is being bullied by classmates for money till Kai comes back with his Saru T-shirt and the bullies make a quick exit.

Mera-tachi invade Saru’s area. Ok, they write “Wu-ronz was here” on the “Welcome” sign, which is pretty lame, but at this point I’m not expecting more from the anime. Indeed, when it’s finally Mera VS Kai time, katana VS baseball bat time, “To be continued”.

The ED is less awful, but I wouldn’t exactly listen to it. The preview is another O.o moment. Nothing I’ve seen in this episode makes me want to watch the second episode, which I already downloaded thinking this show will be interesting. At least one actual action scene would have helped. The female character being consistently attractive would have helped too. I’m not saying I’m ditching the series for its originality. lol. But when adding the lack of appealing visuals and music to the absence of action scenes and of intriguing story and characterization… what’s left to make up for this?

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