Tokko (manga)

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TOKKO
特公 (TOKKO)
Genre	Action, Horror, Mystery, Police, Psychological, Supernatural
Manga: TOKKO
Authored by	Tohru Fujisawa
Publisher	Jonesky Kodansha Haksan Publishing
Serialized in	Afternoon
Original run	February 25, 2004 – April 25, 2004
No. of volumes	3
TV anime : TOKKO
Directed by	Masashi Abe
Studio	AIC Spirits
Network	WOWOW
Original run	April 15, 2006 – July 29, 2006
No. of episodes	13

TOKKO (特公, TOKKO^?) is a Japanese manga series by Tohru Fujisawa. An anime series based on the manga first aired in Japan on April 15, 2006 and contains 13 episodes. The anime series has been licensed in the United States by Manga Entertainment, with its first volume released on March 20, 2007.^[1]

Contents 1 Story 2 Characters 2.1 Major Characters 2.2 Minor Characters 3 About Tokko 4 Franchise 4.1 Anime 4.2 Manga 4.3 Radio 5 Episodes 6 Trivia 7 Theme songs 8 Soundtrack 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Story

The setting of the story is that the main character, Ranmaru, lives with his younger sister since they moved from Machida 5 years ago.^[2] He has also been having recurring dreams of a girl for some time, but they are growing more frequent. She seems to be covered in blood holding a giant sword.

At the beginning of the tale, Ranmaru graduates from his cadet class to become a new investigator for The Special Mobile Investigation Troops First Division or TOKKI to avenge his parent's death. Later on the day of his graduation, he sees the girl from his dream wearing a police uniform. She is a member of Section 2, known officially as Special Public Safety Task Force, or Tokko for short, being under the eye of the Public Security Investigation Agency. Throughout the story, it is explained that there are many rumors about Tokko, one of which is that they use swords to execute criminals. There are also rumors that they aren't even human.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Major Characters

• Ranmaru Shindo

- One of the original survivors of the Machida massacre alongside his young sister Saya, he joined the police force to find out who was responsible for murdering his parents. Posted as a non-uniformed officer in the Shibuya Precient as a detective in the Tokki division, he finds out during his work that demons from the dark realm were responsible for orchestrating various massacres in order to destroy Japan. Later on, he joins the Tokko division so as to save the country from being overrun by the demons. He suffers from Post-traumatic stress disorder due to the massacre and the deaths of his parents when he and his sister were still in college and high school. He originally had brown hair, but dyed it to yellow with bits of orange after graduating from high school. His symbiote tattoo is on his right arm.

Since he survived the Machida incident, all Phantom demons were given instruction to finish him off, as well as any other witnesses who have seen the events.

As he and Saya were the only survivors of the Shindo family, the two became very close after they were tragically orphaned. It can be infered that he has feelings for Sakura Rokujo during the series where the are alone on the roof of a building talking of how they were glad to meet.

• Sakura Rokujo

- One of the survivors of the Machida massacre, she was the woman haunting Ranmaru's dreams of his parents and neighbors being killed by a Phantom demon. Working in the Tokko division in the Shibuya precient, she handles a broadsword in dispatching the Human Face larvae zombies. Her symbiote tattoo is on her right shoulder. It is also hinted that she may have feelings for Ranmaru when he kissed him before she went into his psyche in order to help save him from being possessed.

• Saya Shindo

- Younger sister of Ranmaru, she joined the police force as a uniformed patrol officer after surviving the Machida massacre with her big brother. In the course of the series, she gets wind of the demons responsible for conducting murders in Tokyo and assists her brother in eliminating them. Unlike her brother, she does not experience Post-traumatic stress disorder as she opts to forget the memories of the events in Machida. Like her brother, she gets targeted for assassination by the Phantom demons in order to keep the real truth of the Machida massacre a secret from the public, as she was one of the survivor of the multiple murders.

When not in police work or in danger from being assassinated by the Phantoms, she nags Ranmaru like a mother, such as telling him to finish his food or go have himself checked up for any injuries. Saya also thinks that due to Ranmaru's strange dreams, she assumes that he was sexually frustrated, which is not the case as Ranmaru denies them and pesters her to leave him alone.^[3]

Like Ranmaru, she cares deeply about him and will do everything that she can to make sure that he is okay.

• Kureha Suzuka

- A young prodigy who joined the police force at the age of 18 with the rank of Lieutenant,^[4][5] she is posted in the Tokko division. Her symbiote tattoo, like Sakura, was on her right shoulder.

Her preferred weapons are two daggers that have two retractable blades. Originally having brown hair, she changed it to yellow after the massacre as a means of moving on after her parents were killed by Phantoms and the death of her younger brother, Akito, at her hands.

Kureha is very interested in Ranmaru, especially on his looks and his history. In fact, she had kissed him when they visited the cemetery where her family was resting.

• Ryoko Ibuki

- Commanding officer of the Tokko division with the rank of Major,^[4][5] she is responsible for the Tokko's operations in conducting anti-Phantom operations in Tokyo.

[edit] Minor Characters

• Kaoru Kunikida

- Head of Tokki division in the Shibuya Precient. Hates the Tokko division and its members for being so secretive, especially when his fellow officers were murdered by the Phantoms and its human-controlled slaves via Human Face larvaes. He is insistent in finding out the reasons why Tokko exists and its agenda, to the cost of possibly losing his job over this.

He appears to have a daughter named Ruru and is also a womanizer.

Based on various side remarks on Kaoru during certain events in the series, it is apparent that he might have been a yakuza henchman before he decided to reform himself as a police officer.^[6][7]

• Ogata

- Having the rank of Councilor, he is the main link of Tokko and the government in battling the Phantom demons.

[edit] About Tokko

Officially known to the general public as Special Mobile Investigation Troops Second Division, Special Public Safety Task Force, or Section 2 under the supervision of the Public Security Investigation Agency after the Special Mobile Investigation Troops relinquished, with some of its member recruited from the police force. It was established after the Machida massacre was secretly investigated to discover that the perpetrators were demons from the netherworld. Under the command of Superintendent Ryoko Ibuki, she had recruited promising members, who happened to be survived of the Machida massacre, such as Kureha Suzuka and had them trained to use melee weapons such as swords and daggers to dispatch the Phantoms, including Human Face larva zombies, that were coming out of giant holes caused by unnatural earthquakes in Japan's Kanto region since most firearms do not incapacitate or kill them.

They operate similarly to the MIB in the Men In Black movies or the Center in the Martin Mystery series, arriving moments after the demons are in the confirmed area or have left the said area. Section 2 also has a technical support staff, mostly researchers and forensic scientists that quietly dispose of bodies, either infected by the demons or were attacked by the former, or demon body organs including Human Face larvas that were killed by Section 2 members during their operations. The unit is backed by a small number of wheeled armored vehicles and have officers dressed in black suits, a reference to the Men in Black.

Their actions have come under harsh criticism from certain officers, including Kaoru Kunikida, for conducting their operations in secretive manners and for covering up the deaths of either civilians or police officers, informing the public via news releases that deaths or injuries caused by demons were done by armed or insane criminals.

[edit] Franchise

[edit] Anime

• A 13-episode anime series has been directed by Masashi Abe and had a run in WOWOW from April 15, 2006 to July 29, 2006. Japanese DVDs have been released starting on August 24, September 21 with an additional release on November 23.

[edit] Manga

• Tohru Fujisawa had created a 3-volume manga series of Tokko from February 25, 2004 to April 25, 2004. The third volume, known as Phantom Hunter, is a side story detailing two siblings (male and female), who happen to be survivors of the Machida massacre. It has been said by numerous fans that it would most likely continue to be published since there are some loopholes in both the anime and manga series, such as their current endings.

[edit] Radio

• A radio drama had taken place on October 11, 2006. It had briefly expanded a bit on the events after the anime had ended.

[edit] Episodes

Screenshot	Title	Original air date	#
	"Dawn ~ 'awakening'" "Akatsuki" (暁)	April 15, 2006	1
	Ranmaru Shindo, five years after surviving the tragic Machida massacre, graduates from the Special Mobile Investigation Troops First Division training academy after he was recruited into the police force as a patrolman since the two Shindo siblings have joined the police force as part of moving on from what happened in Machida. During his transfer to the Shibuya precient, he encounters the red-haired woman in a police uniform who had been the sole cause of his nightmares and two officers, who are said to be elite officers from the TOKKO division. Ranmaru, with his friend and partner Ichiro Hanazono, investigate their first case of homicide with their superior Kaoru Kunikida after being indoctrinated into TOKKI when mysterious people began to attack the investigation team and their patrolman escorts with brute strength. It appeared that their sheer strength was about to defeat them for good. Ranmaru thought that he was about to die on his first day of duty as a TOKKI detective when the red-haired girl, wearing a black jacket and wielding a broadsword, arrives in time to battle the strange men and in fact, decapitates one of them holding Ranmaru by his throat.
	"Dream ~ 'a girl appears'" "Yume" (夢)	April 22, 2006	2
	Being cornered by strange men with brute strength, Ranmaru and Ichiro were about to be killed when the same red-haired girl and her comrades rush in to save them by killing the suspects with their swords and daggers. They reveal themselves to be from the TOKKO division after they eliminate the strange-looking larvae from the decapitated bodies and their forensic teams arrived. The red-haired woman hints to Ranmaru that she was one of the former tenants from the same apartment building where the Shindo siblings once lived in. During an investigation done by Kunikida and his colleague, Shogo Muramasa, on what earlier, they discover that the Machida massacre may have been covered up by those from TOKKO and by the Public Security Investigation Agency (PSIA), citing undocumented reports of a demonic killer in one of the strange incidents in Kameida. Later on, the TOKKI detectives are forced to confront the demon-controlled suspects again to no avail, only for the TOKKO division arrive in time to kill them once again in Miyashita Park. During an investigation on Ranmaru's old neighborhood, he realizes that the red-haired girl was his ex-neighbor Sakura Rokujo.
	"Bond ~ 'moments would be lost'" "Kizuna" (絆)	April 29, 2006	3
	With the recent attacks on police officers by the possessed human-like zombies and Ranmaru's near fatal death from one of them a few days ago, he began to reflect about what happened from his first day of duty as a TOKKI detective and on the Machida massacre, especially on the mysterious tattoo that appeared on his right arm. Concerned about where it came from and how it showed up, Saya took him to a nearby police hospital to be checked up on. While waiting for the results of his checkup, Ranmaru sneaks inside a PSIA-guarded hospital ward that housed Sakura's younger brother, who was almost a victim in the Machida incident. Later on, Phantom-controlled larvas infiltrated the hospital and possessed some of the hospital's medical personnel to assassinate Saya. Even though Ranmaru tried to protect her by firing her revolver on the possessed humans, Sakura came to the rescue and killed them. The incident had promptly forced the police to seal off the entire building and cover the entire incident by blaming it on insane patients inside the hospital. In order to take their minds off from the assassination attempt, Ranmaru and Saya went out on for dinner, only to find their boss Kunikida as an uninvited guest.
	"Omen ~ 'corpses in the laboratory'" "Chou" (兆)	May 13, 2006	4
	Saya gets Ranmaru a date, in the form of forensic expert Yukino Shiraishi, who happens to be Saya's upperclassman in her high school days. During Ranmaru and Yukino's date, Ranmaru discovered that the demons who were responsible for the Machida massacre five years ago and for the death of his police comrades were believed to be of European origin, with Yukino filling Ranmaru in on the background on a Western urban legend that the demons were summoned by alchemists in order to achieve immortality during the Middle Ages in Europe. Ranmaru was horrified that the pictures in a book found in southern Italy were the same ones that he had encountered a few weeks ago. During a conversation with Saya, she told Ranmaru that Yukino's late mother was murdered supposedly by a vicious thief. Thinking that Yukino may be in danger since her mother's death was at the time when the Machida massacre took place at the same time, he went back to the forensics building to check on Yukino when a Phantom humanoid appeared in the dark and tried to attack Ranmaru, but a spiritual barrier appeared out of nowhere and dazed the human larvae, forcing the humanoid to fight Ranmaru himself. He was eventually wounded by Sakura's broadsword, making the humanoid retreat in defeat with an arm cut off from it.
	"Phantom ~ 'a father, all alone'" "Oni" (鬼)	May 20, 2006	5
	Covering the incident of Ranmaru involving a car accident as a cover story, Ranmaru encounters Saya in his hospital room. She warned him not to get further involved into what had happened to him near the forensic building last night. Kunikida, thought to have granted a request to investigate the forensic building for evidence to suggest that TOKKO was concealing evidence from the public, which was denied by top National Police Agency officials. Yukino then visited Ranmaru back in the Shibuya police station, warning him that her father was researching on the strange creatures that Ranmaru had encountered before. Wanting to quell his suspicions, he requests a meeting with Dr. Shirashi, who fills him on the legend of the Box of Dirge, the artifact that the alchemists used in the Middle Ages to connect the human world with the underworld, only that demons were summoned from the box. Ranmaru found out that the Box of Dirge broke into 108 pieces, living inside each Phantom demon. The story made Ranmaru even more suspicious of Dr. Shirashi and when he entered the abandoned Special Organisms Laboratory, only to discover that the chief researcher himself had consumed parts of the demon hand that police found near the scene of the Machida massacre, turning him and his research staff into half-human/demon hybrids. Before the mad Dr. Shirashi could kill Ranmaru, Yukino was critically wounded when she interfered by blocking Dr. Shirashi's attacks on Ranmaru. The mad scientist tried to escape, only to be killed by two unknown people (Known as the Araragi siblings in the manga). Kureha and Sakura raid the forensic building to secure Ranmaru from harm, killing the half-human/demon hybrids instead.
	"Sorrow ~ 'who kills my brother'" "Ai" (哀)	May 27, 2006	6
	In a closed meeting with Councilor Ogata, Superintendent Ibuki discloses to her superior that Ranmaru is a possible symbiote, telling him that she'll have him killed if it has to be the case. Later on, Ibuki informs Kureha to see if Ranmaru has the symbiote inside of him. Back in the TOKKI office, it was business as usual until Muramasa informs Ranmaru to entertain Kunikida, who didn't go to work since he was pissed off at the NPA officials for denying his search warrant on the forensic building. Ranmaru was about to tell Kunikida what happened at the forensic building last night when Kureha arrived on her motorbike. The two went out to visit a carnival and a cemetery, laying a flower on two graves. Kureha tells Ranmaru that the graves belong to her parents and her younger brother, who were killed in the aftermath of the Machida massacre. From their conversation, Kureha found out that Ranmaru had the symbiote, but cautioned him to think it over if he would want the symbiote to awaken inside him, with the chance of being converted into a demon. When asked by Ranmaru on what happened to her younger brother, Akito, Kurehad joked that he was killed. But as the two went back to the city, Kureha cried with her motorbike helmet concealing it and the truth was discovered: She had to kill him when Akito's symbiote made him insane and converted him into a Gaki Phantom demon.
	"Love ~ 'a telephone call'" "Koi" (恋)	June 17, 2006	7
	Sakura relieves her memories of meeting with Inukai and her sister prior to joining TOKKO. After TOKKO's clash against Gaki demons, Ranmaru receives an anoynymous call from a mysterious person who could provide him information as to the true reasons behind the events behind the Machida massacre years ago. During his investigation, he is suddenly attacked by a lone Phantom demon in the nearby park, specifically the 13th Phantom demon. Later on, he is saved by Sakura and her TOKKO comrade, Inukai when the two killed the 13th Phantom. In a conversation between Ranmaru and Sakura, she warns him not to continue getting involved in fighting the demons anymore. Ranmaru is left baffled by her strange warning. Sakura is left to believe, at first, that some people in the Public Security Investigation Agency were responsible for Ranmaru's appearance in the park.
	"Awake ~ 'time to say goodbye'" "Sei" (醒)	June 24, 2006	8
	As Ranmaru continues to get deeper and deeper into the mystery of the Phantom demons, he is accosted by two strange men wearing shades and wielding pistols when he was strolling in a local park. To make things worse, Saya gets injured in a depicted hit and run accident staged during her break hours by an unknown vehicle. Ryoko and the others inform Ranmaru that a secret sort of cult society may have hired assassins to kill her when the TOKKO unit met Ranmaru in the old Machida apartment. In the subsequent fight, Akiha helps Rannmaru awaken his bond with his symbiote demon by stabbing him in the chest before pushing him into the open hole that he (and the other TOKKO members have seen 5 years ago) had seen in the Machida massacre. Ranmaru's awakened symbiote soon turned the tides in the favor of TOKKO when his symbiote defeated the demons in the area.
	"Cold ~ 'we were born to be'" "Rin" (凛)	July 1, 2006	9
	Ranmaru gets unoffcially transferred to the TOKKO division while still being under the official command of TOKKI, which pissed off Kunikida and thinks that Akiha may have been responsible for Ranmaru's supposed transfer. In a meeting with the Phantom Countermeasures Committee, lead by top NPA (and possibly Public Security Investigation Agency), they accuse Ryoko of wasting her time in their investigation against the Phantoms and not doing anything to calm the public about the supposed serial murder cases since Ranmaru's own symbiote was awakened by her subordinates without enacting on their authorization. In the dead of night, Gaki Phantoms infiltrate a NPA office in Tokyo in order to assassinate Ryoko in order to halt TOKKO's investigation against them. In the subsequent fight, Ryoko gets minor injuries on her left arm and they discover Ranmaru's power, which was the ability to channel his symbiote energy on his broadsword to do a projectile attack. Ranmaru, through Akiha, understood why Ryoko wanted to be in charge of TOKKO. It was for vengeance when her fiancée died protecting her from one of the Phantom demons during the subsequent Machida massacre.
	"Shake ~ 'never mind'" "You" (揺)	July 8, 2006	10
	Yukino visited Ranmaru in the Shibuya Police Station in the early morning, delivering the book regarding the Box of Dirge and information regarding a supposed piece of the box. During a courtesy call to an old man who have called Ranmaru earlier on, his symbiote was slowly corrupting his mind and body after his attacks were thwarted by his mysterious strength. He was rescued by Sakura and the others with an unknown necklace on his neck, but Ranmaru's slowly corrupted symbiote used him to attack Akiha and the others before Ryoko was forced to use her Colt SAA revolver to fire a shot at Ranmaru's chest, mortally wounding him. Sakura decides to enter his dreams by stabbing the both of them with her sword, rendering her unconscious also. When Sakura attempted to rescue Ranmaru to bring him back alive from the vision of his late parents, his corrupt persona slashed at her chest with Ranmaru's own sword, nearly making her status critical. Despite her wounds, Sakura journeys on into the depths of Ranmaru's minds even though the symbiote taunted her with the vision of her grown up brother pleading for help. With Akiha and Inukai's assistance in using their regenerating energy, Ranmaru was able to defeat his corrupt persona and the Gaki Phantoms. Ranmaru and Sakura eventually were revived, thanks to Akiha and Inukai in partial to heal their chest wounds with their energy.
	"Prison ~ 'No woman, No cry'" "Goku" (獄)	July 15, 2006	11
	Hiroki, Sakura's younger brother, was awakened with a Phantom spirit when it infiltrated the Udagawa Police Hospital in Tokyo and doctors who were attending to the unconscious teenager. During an encounter with TOKKO, Hiroko wounded Sakura and drove off the other members, barely surviving. Despite this, Sakura wishes to help her brother by trying her best to purge the Phantom spirit out of his body and does not wish to kill him. Later on, Ranmaru and Sakura head off to Machida to look for clues at the old apartment complex when Hiroki reappeared with Gaki Phantoms along. TOKKO had its first casualy when Inukai sacrificed himself, killing Hiroki by cutting him in half, but not before he too had the same fate. It was revealed that Taishi, the man whom Ranmaru visited a day ago, was the one mostly likely responsible for implanting Hiroki's Phantom spirit inside him.
	"Anger ~ 'if not in love'" "Nu" (怒)	July 22, 2006	12
	TOKKO had decided to move Saya to a safer place, more specially Ryoko's apartment instead of the Shindo's for her own protection. During Ryoko's surprise visit, she managed to obtain information from Muramasa that he was the inside man paid by Taishi to provide police information regarding the case after threatening him with Ryoko's Colt SAA revolver. Later on, Taishi dispatches Gakis to assassinate all active TOKKO members as a means of further slowing down their investigation against him. Surviving the said incident with help from the Araragi siblings, Ryoko obtains an arrest warrant for Taishi. Despite heavy security, the group was able to penetrate deep into Taishi's mansion, but not before he escaped. After the assault, Ranmaru reaches to find Ryoko's apartment, only to realize that it was ransacked, probably stormed by Taishi's henchmen with Saya held as his prisoner. Taishi's associate in the PSIA later moved in against TOKKO by disbanding it and having Ryoko arrested, on false charges of using a fake arrest warrant and supposedly trying to kill Muramasa, who lead the PSIA agents to arrest Ryoko in her office.
	"Dark ~ 'remain tender together'" "Rei" (黎)	July 29, 2006	13
	Kunikida encounters Muramasa and after an argument, the two tried to shoot each other out when the former heard Muramasa ordering Shindo and the other TOKKO operatives to be arrested and taken care of when PSIA agents tried to raid Ryoko's apartment to arrest Shindo, Sakura and Kureha with Kunikida shocked to realize that Muramasa is a PSIA agent in reality. Kureha and Sakura stormed the supposedly empty PSIA complex to rescue Ryoko with Gaki Phantoms, which had appeared due to low security. In a change of heart, Kunikida assists the two TOKKO agents by breaking Ryoko out of her cell, only to be arrested by PSIA agents for helping Ryoko escape. Back at the Machida apartment complex, Shindo and the others assemble to do battle against Taishi, with Kureha severely wounded. Ranmaru and Sakura head into the underworld via the giant hole in order to rescue Saya and defeat Taishi. When Taishi placed a good fight, Sakura told Ranmaru to kill her in order to get her symbiote merged with his. When Ranmaru refused, he was forced to confront her until he accidentally wounded her. With her symbiote's power in him, Ranmaru travelled deep into the underworld and found Saya held captive. In a show of force, Ranmaru and Taishi fought sword to sword with the former being able to win by using projectile moves on him. Following the rescue, Muramasa is reinsatated back in TOKKI with Kunikida as well with alterations removed by NPA and PSIA officials. Sakura was recovering from her injuries with the TOKKO members and Saya visiting her. The hole in the Machida apartment was permanently sealed, but another was opened near the heart of downtown Tokyo. Unknown to Sakura's visitors, her eyes were shot wide open.

[edit] Trivia

• In episode 6, Ranmaru spoke to a stall chef when he asked Kunikida's pre-cop days. When the chef mentioned that Kunikida had things easy for him, he used his clenched right hand to hint at Ranmaru on a motorbike's right handlebar grip. This can be a reference to GTO in the sense that Kunikida's seiyū is Wataru Takagi, who plays Eikichi Onizuka. Onizuka was a former bōsōzoku gangster and thus, knew how to handle a motorbike. Also, his womazing as seen in episode 3 is also a reference to GTO since Onizuka wanted to lose his virginity soon after he became a teacher, though it is the opposite in Tokko since he appears to be divorced from his wife and has a daughter.

[edit] Theme songs

Opening

• Nothing by dB

Ending

• Sherry by dB

[edit] Soundtrack

Please See TOKKO Original Soundtrack

The soundtrack of TOKKO has been released on June 28, 2006 in stores around Japan with some making its way through Amazon North America and Europe on the subsequent months. It includes 11 tracks without the opening and closing themes from TOKKO.^[8]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• (Japanese) Official site
• (Japanese) WOWOW's site for the anime
• (English) Tokko at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• (English) Tokko (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• (English) Tokko - some screenshots from the anime