▪	RELEASED BY:		ADV FILMS
		▪	ASPECT RATIO:		16:9 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN
		▪	AUDIO:		ENGLISH DD 5.1 AND JAPANESE DD 2.0
		▪	RUNNING TIME:		125 MIN
		▪	RATING:		TV MA
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		12/11/2007
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		11/26/2007
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		SCOTT CAMPBELL

Tokyo Majin gives you the sense of something “big” from the get go. This may very well be the next big thing. It has very high production values, both in depth of story and stunning animation – and takes steps to become a bigger, better demon hunting extravaganza than many of the popular series of that genre that are available at the moment. Mark these works: “Tokyo Majin will be huge.”

The story of Tokyo Majin is wrought with mystery and just hints of information as it flows along. Not knowing everything all at once gives this series a fair amount of suspense, making it much more enjoyable. It’s easy to get wrapped up in a story that you really have to think about as a viewer. The basic idea, if we’re to put it into laments terms, is that five high school students from the Tokyo area get accidentally (or by fate) thrown into an ongoing battle with once human zombies and powerful demons (school safety tip #1: “Don’t let the zombies eat you”). So, corpses of the un-dead scour the city at the bidding of inhuman masters, seeking a power that will trigger the final apocalypse. Our five high school heroes must use their new found powers and a bit of bad attitude to fight through the back alleys of Japan – places that are about to become the site of the biggest supernatural rumble ever. The question is: “Who is pulling the strings here?” The answer is yet to be fully explored in volume one, but surely that will all come to light in a later volume. All these kids know is that they must continue to fight and stick together. They are weak by themselves, but by combining all of their skills, they become a formidable fighting force.

Just to start off about the animation: The fight sequences and action bits are animated in a wildly dynamic manner! Everything shakes and moves and it’s like the fight is trying to explode out of the screen. It’s everything an action fan could ask for from a big fight between beings with powers beyond that of reality. So, the action sequences are amazing, but surprisingly enough that isn’t the only good thing about this beautifully animated bit of work. The story is involving and the characters have personalities that really stand out and are unique from each other. Even though the setting and situation of the show is something that couldn’t actually happen in real life, the characters themselves are still very believable when it comes down to it. They have many horrible tasks and fights to get through and accomplish, but they aren’t always gung-ho about it. They are sometimes unsure, especially the girls – they are frightened and unsure of what is happening to them and around them. Any normal person would question these things, so it’s nice to see the characters having some moments of weakness because it’s just so much more realistic in relation to the human psyche. Emotions, human movement, etc. are all done in a way that is both entertaining and shows high production values. The people responsible for this one said to themselves: “Lets set out to make the next big hit in anime – lets make a TV series with animation that is close to movie quality!” And they’ve done it. It looks great in every sense, and it’s exciting to watch. Just as a side note, it gets its mature rating due to a fair amount of colourful language and just as much violence and a bit of blood. But that all totally makes sense – you’d be using some colourful language too if you were caught up in some of the zombie horde/demon crushing situations that these unfortunate high school kids get themselves into.

The animation is flawless – a very visually appealing work. The story is suspenseful from the start, and the mysteries waiting to be unlocked would make anyone feel the need to see volume two as soon as they can get their hands on it. This is a great action series with time and thought out into the characters to make it well rounded and very much worth your time. Something this good is often hard to put into words – so just go out and see it!

EXTRAS:
Clean Closing, Clean Opening, DVD Credits, ADV Previews.

IN SUMMARY:
Tokyo Majin is a stunning new series that is going to make a big splash with fans of Bleach, D.Gray-Man, and any other series with wicked action and demons galore. Visually spectacular and full of mystery and suspense – this series knows how to showcase action, while still staying intelligent and involving.