| Tokyo ESP | |
Cover of the first volume as published by Kadokawa Shoten featuring Rinka Urushiba. |
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| 東京 ESP | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Action, Comedy, Science fiction |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Hajime Segawa |
| Published by | Kadokawa Shoten |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Magazine | Shōnen Ace |
| Original run | July 26, 2010 – ongoing |
| Volumes | 3 |
Tokyo ESP (東京ESP) is a supernatural action manga by Hajime Segawa. It has been serialized by Kadokawa Shoten for the Shōnen Ace Magazine[1][2] on its September 2010 issue.[3] The story is about a high school girl named Rinka Urushiba, who lives with her father while being in almost poor conditions that she needs to work part-time. Her life changes when she has the ability to use strange powers that are labeled to be as extrasensory perception or ESP.
Contents |
Rinka Urushiba was a fairly normal high school girl, though she was a bit poor and her only family was her father. This forces her to work as a waitress after high school to raise money for them to secure rent and food. Then one day, she saw a penguin and some glowing fish swimming through the sky. Rinka might have thought it was a hallucination if there hadn't been another witness with her, a boy from her school with a strangely scratched-up face. Contact with a fish caused her to pass out, and when she awoke, she had developed the power to move through inanimate objects such as the floor of her apartment. She meets a fellow high school student named Kyotaro Azuma, who has the ability to teleport.
The two of them use their ESP powers to take on individuals who have decided to use them for evil. But there is an organization that plans for a bigger scheme to secure utopia with their ranks consisting of strong ESP fighters and users.
Rinka Urushiba - the main female protagonist. A highschool girl with a strong sense of justice (as a direct result of her father, a former cop, teaching her his ways), she gains the power to phase through inanimate objects at the start of the series. Kobushi - a former thief who gains the power to become invisible after encountering the glowing fish. Rinka and Kyotaro first encounters her attempting to steal a royal crown, but was halted by their combined efforts.
Plans for Tokyo ESP started when Segawa was still doing the Ga-Rei manga, discussing ideas with his then editor and supervisor when the latter suggested that his next work should be based on superpowers.[4] Segawa suggested that his protagonist should be based from someone in the Matrix series with the comical ability to use his fart as a weapon with the addition of drama before the supervisor told him to take out the farting ability.[4] Segawa decided to go with the female lead like he did with the Ga-Rei manga series.[5] During brainstorming, Segawa pitched an idea to his staff that the female could have fearsome superpowers due to the concern that the female lead will not be prominently known if a male character helps her out, which was met with some opposition from his supervisor again.[5]
The manga was written by Hajime Segawa, publisher under Kadokawa Shoten's Shonen Ace Magazine after Ga-Rei ended serialization,[1][2] appearing on the magazine's September 2010 issue.[3] As of 2011, three volumes were published and sold for 588 Yen each.
| No. | Release date | ISBN |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | July 26, 2010[6] | ISBN 978-4-04-715488-9-C0979 |
| 02 | November 26, 2010[7] | ISBN 978-4-04-715560-2-C0979 |
| 03 | March 26, 2011[8] | ISBN 978-4-04-715654-8-C0979 |
Some of the merchandise being released by Kadokawa Shoten include phone cards, tumbles and drawings autographed by Segawa.[9]