TOKYO
ESP: Too much action, too little exposition
Tokyo
ESP revolves around the idea of espers, humans possessing extrasensory
perception resulting to the manifestation of supernatural abilities. The story
jumpstarts to a group of espers hijacking the government office building and
declaring themselves as the new leaders of the world, while several espers
emerge and try to stop them.
I am
actually surprised with everything that has happened in the first episode of Tokyo
ESP. And no, that’s not a compliment. Firstly, the synopsis I’ve read in the
introductions, Wikipedia, and elsewhere, is entirely different to that of the
anime. Or, at least, the approach of the anime is completely different that the
given synopsis is unrecognizable. Secondly, the approach makes it hard to make
out the plot.
This
is because of the technique in storytelling. Tokyo ESP doesn’t allot some time
for exposition and immediately jumps to the action. This technique is effective
in some stories, but I’m afraid it’s not in this case.
The
lack of exposition makes the first episode of this anime a heap of action
sequences that don’t really capture the audience. It doesn’t give the viewers
enough reason to care if this or that happens. The same thing goes for the
characters. The lack of proper introductions makes the viewers feel
disconnected to the perspectives of Tokyo ESP, not to mention that the
personalities and whatnots of these perspectives are uninteresting.
 |
| Some of the perspectives of Tokyo ESP |
The animation
and design is not top-notch, but I appreciate them. I can see the effort in
achieving fluidity in animation and distinctiveness in design.
Overall,
I think Tokyo ESP is trying too hard to capture the audience in the first
episode. It’s feeding the viewers with too much action, a rather mindless hook
to get them subscribe to the anime. The high number of perspectives and lack of
an obvious main character fail to achieve an emotional connection.
Cluttered
plot. Cluttered characterization. Okay production value. I’ll be skipping this
one, but it’s recommended for those who are looking for a lot of action and
grit.
For me, a pilot episode that is either heavy on interesting exposition, like Aldnoah.Zero, or pilots that start with something intriguing, without explaining it, and then expand upon it in later episodes. Ga-Rei: Zero actually did the same thing by starting in the middle of the story, and flashing back. Anyway, I look forward to how the story turns out, especially since it features a few Ga-Rei: Zero cameos.
ReplyDelete-James
We all know that there is no strict formula on good storytelling. But personally, Tokyo ESP's style feels like a poor attempt for a hook. Maybe I'd give this one another chance if I hear some good news for the next episodes.
DeleteSo.. you don't like those kinds of storytelling. I fairly get the story of Tokyo ESP in episode 1. A synopsis of an anime series is not entirely based on what happened to the first episode. Then I think you will also skip Zankyou no Terror - also lacks exposition. Have you watched it?
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying that I didn't get the story. I'm just saying that the given synopsis is not very obvious from the get-go of the anime. That's not actually a major problem for me. The real problem solely lies on Tokyo ESP's style of storytelling, which is obviously trying to grab the audience in ways I find uninspired.
DeleteHey, just a random update. The series took a complete nosedive in quality. It has turned into typical shounen without any of the fun shounen charm and energy.
ReplyDelete-James
Oh, that's too bad. But I'm actually not surprised. After all, it was giving me the wrong signals from the start.
Delete