▪	RELEASED BY:		TOKYOPOP
		▪	AUTHOR / ART:		TOHRU FUJISAWA
		▪	FORMAT:		JAPANESE / B&W
		▪	PAGES:		192
		▪	RATING:		M
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		07/01/2008
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		09/03/2008
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		HOLLY ELLINGWOOD

From the creator of GTO and Rose Hip Rose comes a horror laden, action packed, blood splatter horror series rich with foul language, irreverent characters, and graphic content. Five years ago an unsolved incident at the Machida complex left over 90% of its denizens killed, and horrifically so. In the present, one of the survivors of the massacre, Ranmaru Shindo, has joined the police force to uncover the truth of what happened to his parents. During a murder investigation he runs across the members of TOKKO, the Special Public Safety Bureau. They seem to have ties to what he is really interested in investigating. And what’s more, one of their members, Sakura, is the same woman he keeps seeing in a recurring nightmare he has every time he sleeps. What could it all mean? Finding out she is tied into the Machida incident only heightens the mystery. Then when he witnesses them in action against what could only be called monsters, slaughtering them and destroying zombies and demonic creatures, Shindo’s world is about to become a nightmare made real.

TOKKO is a manga that goes for the gore and makes no apologies. It tells a well done horror tale replete with mystery as well as bloody (and there’s a lot of blood) action. Shindo’s character looks a lot like Onizuka from GTO. He also smokes and has a somewhat derisive air to his personality. The women of TOKKO are arresting both in design and in characters. Sakura says few words but they carry heavy meaning. While Suzuka is a woman hot for action both on the streets with her sword and apparently in the sheets too judging from her many brazen comments to Shindo. She seems to know a lot about Shindo and TOKKO is keeping a very close eye on him…but why? What’s so special about him? And what does it, Shindo, and all these current supernatural murders have to do with the incident of five years ago? The short three volume series of the manga intend to answer that issue with a graphic horror action series like no other.

The art is incredibly detailed. It stands out in and of itself. Even if you set aside the many action sequences and horror scenes, the simple yet detailed attention to just the clothing of the characters is impressive. Horror fans will love it, action fans will thrill to it, and Tohru Fujisawa fans will be dancing in their seats at all the excitement, danger, adult content and flat out compelling characters that TOKKO has to offer. 

IN SUMMARY:
From the creator of GTO and Rose Hip Rose comes an impressive action horror series in the manga TOKKO. One young man tries to investigate the murder of his parents and stumbles into a world of demons, blood and countless horrors.