Tokyo Underground

Tokyo Underground (東京アンダーグラウンド, Tōkyō Andāguraundo^?) is a manga series by Akinobu Uraka and published by Enix. It became an anime series, produced by Studio Pierrot and shown on the TV Tokyo Network from April 2 until September 24, 2002. The TV series was released on DVD by Geneon Entertainment in the US and Canada, released as a boxset by Manga Entertainment in the UK and by Tokyo Night Train in Australia. It also aired in Canada on the digital channel G4techTV Canada, starting on July 22, 2007 at 8:30 pm ET/PT.

Plot

Under Tokyo's underground railway system is a world called Underground (地下世界, chika sekai^?), populated by Elemental Users, people who can manipulate various elements. When the Maiden of Life, Ruri Sarasa, and her bodyguard, Gravity User Chelsea Rorec escape to the surface, they take refuge with swordsman Rumina Asagi and his bespectacled best friend Ginosuke Isuzu. During a battle with the flame-using Seki, Rumina is killed and then resurrected by Ruri. The revived Rumina finds he now has the power to manipulate air, a rare talent amongst the Underground people. Realizing Ruri is in danger, Rumina vows to protect her, even if it means going to the Underground to rescue her from her eventual captors before she gets sacrificed.

Rumina eventually goes to the Underground with Chelsea and Ginosuke after Ruri is kidnapped. As soon as they arrive they encounter a genetic experiment from The Company but manage to escape.

Characters

Rumina Asagi (浅葱留美奈, Asagi Rumina^?)

Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (Japanese), Brad Swaile (English)

Rumina is a high school student, who dreams of having a pretty girl, but ends up finding himself speechless when confronted with them. As the series begins, he is starting a new school year and wants to avoid continuing his reputation as a fighter. But he still fought with 3 boys at high school. However, as it made him appear to be scary and dangerous, his dream was crushed. One day he encounters two strange girls who change his life forever. In an effort to protect the cute Ruri from harm, Rumina fights hard, but eventually loses. Ruri's powers of life revive him, and with new life comes the amazing ability to control wind powers. Rumina joins Chelsea in protecting Ruri and joins their battle in the Tokyo Underground. He falls in love with Ruri.

Ruri Sarasa (ルリ・サラサ^?)

Voiced by: Haruhi Terada (Japanese), Chantal Strand (English)

Ruri is known as the "Shrine Maiden of Life" (生命の巫女, Inochi no Mikō^?). She is very polite and kind, and is the type to address everyone with the honorific "-sama." She's very compassionate, and shows signs of affection to Rumina. Ruri used her life powers to bring back Rumina from death when he is killed trying to protect her and Chelsea. Her unusual powers make her a target for evil forces in the Underground. The Company wants Ruri so that she can use her power to bring the dragons back to life and then use them to attack the surface world.

Chelsea Rorec (チェルシー・ローレック, Chierushi Rorekku^?)

Voiced by: Kaoru Morota (Japanese), Rebecca Shoichet (English)

Chelsea is Ruri's bodyguard/tutor, and accompanies her when escaping from the Underground. Chelsea controls powers related to gravity, and has a personality to match. She is very dedicated to her task of protecting Ruri, and would gladly lay down her life - in fact she spends much of the early episodes bashing Rumina on the head for being too familiar with Ruri. Chelsea's gravity-power is very strong, and she is a tough opponent. She always argues with Rumina and always gets into a fight with each other, however she later respects him and also develops feelings for him.

Ginosuke Isuzu (五十鈴銀之助, Isuzu Ginosuke^?)

Voiced by: Souichiro Hoshi (Japanese), Gabe Khouth (English)

Ginosuke is Rumina's best friend since childhood. He has no special elemental powers, but he is very intelligent although he isn't exactly what one would refer to as 'street smart'. He later uses a very useful weapon that fires elemental attacks. His personality is somewhat timid, but he has a lot of common sense, and can be very fierce if he has to be. Ginosuke always wears his very thick glasses that change his appearance so much that his friends can't recognize him without them.

Shielle Messiah

Voiced by: Ikue Ohtani (Japanese), Tabitha St. Germain (English)

Shielle is an Electric User who is first seen as a Company Agent sent out to confirm Rumina's elemental powers. Following the recapturing of Ruri by Company agents Pyron and Tail, she is assigned as her replacement bodyguard. As their relationship deepens, Shielle undergoes a change of heart (much like Chelsea) and helps Ruri escape for a second time. She views Ruri as a sister following their time together.

The Company

The Company contains thousands of elemental users, and most are hostile. They wish to bring complete destruction to those who dwell on the surface. Their hatred for the surface world stems from the belief that they were abandoned by them, which really isn't true since only the scientists actually knew of their existence underground. They are also the people who want to awaken the dragons (called "ron") to complete their revenge and are willing to sacrifice Ruri to accomplish their goal. Chelsea and Sheille both turn against the company in order to get Ruri (maiden of life) to safety and away from the company.

The Ron

Like the elemental power user humans, the Ron were created by the same scientists. According to Chelsea, they physically resemble dragons of mythology, but are merely artificial forms of life. The Ron lie dormant, but the Company intends to use Ruri's power of life to revive them and set them upon the surface world to punish those who had wronged them so many years ago. The Ron share the same bitterness as most of the Underground humans.

External links

• Official Anime Website in Studio Pierrot (Japanese)
• Official Anime Website in TV Tokyo (Japanese)
• Manga Entertainment's Tokyo Underground minisite
• Official Manga Website (Japanese)
• Tokyo Underground (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia