TOKKO Ep 01 ~ Awakening

At a residential estate in Machida, Tokyo where everyone was engaged in their usual activities, they would have not have expected a major disaster to hit them soon due to circumstances beyond their control. Somewhere out there, a group of people draped in black with hoods over their heads gathered around a cube made up of many fragments. Just when one of them was putting one of the fragments into the spaces on the cube, the fragment cut into the finger of this person thus resulting in a bloody hand emerging from the cube itself. At the same time, Machida was hit with a strong earthquake which came so suddenly that everyone was petrified to see a huge depression on the ground. A creature with sharp teeth and a bloody body emerged from the hole and left many in the estate dead and blood splattered all over the place...

Shindou Ranmaru and his younger sister Saya were horrified to see their home in a mess and their parents brutally murdered. When they heard footsteps creeping up behind them, the siblings were shocked to see the bloody creature approaching them and ran for their lives. However, Saya slipped and fell which left Shindou to be surrounded by many of such creatures. Just when Shindou thought that he was going to be killed, a topless woman came to his rescue with a huge sword. Subsequently, she remained silent and simply stared at Shindou which made him bewildered as to what she wanted to convey...

Shindou wakes up from his nightmare at this juncture and wonders why he is dreaming of that woman again. Saya enters his room in her underwear after a bath which startles Shindou again. When Shindou reminds Saya to put on her clothes in front of him, she brushes this issue off since they are siblings and he doesn't seem to have any interest in women anyway.

As Shindou gets dressed for work, his attention is taken up by the news broadcast on the latest case under the mangled corpses series where there have been 25 occurences of people killed and their body parts scattered in a bloody manner. Saya reminds him that he should get going since it's already 8.30 and he will be late for the graduation ceremony of the special forces academy. When the news programme reports on the frequent earthquakes of late, Saya remarks that these news remind her of what happened to their parents but immediately tries to put on a cheerful face since they promised each other not to bring up that incident again.

Shindou ends up being late for the graduation ceremony of the special forces officers and is teased by his friend Hanazono. Not to be outdone, Shindou disses Hanazono for slipping off during patrol duties when they were at the neighbourhood police posts. This sparks off an argument between the two where Shindou gets so agitated that he stands up from his seat in the midst of a speech which earns him stares from the fellow officers and the principal.

After the ceremony, Shindou reveals to Hanazono that he was late because of the recurring nightmare about what happened in the Machida estate 5 years ago. The worrying thing is that the frequency of the nightmare is increasing and the images are getting clearer every time. As such, Shindou feels as if the girl in his dreams is getting closer to him and gets frightened at the thought of being watched by the girl and the monsters. Hanazono reminds Shindou that since he has the intention to investigate what happened in Machida at that time, he should not be distracted by other things and get cold feet now.

5 years ago, at a large housing estate in Machida, Tokyo, 382 people from 185 households were killed. That was 97% of the population in that estate and Shindou's parents also died. As such, Shindou made up his mind to take revenge on the culprit behind this incident which was why he aimed to join the special forces.

As Shindou and Hanazono leave the school, Saya who is working as a traffic police officer, arrives in a patrol car with her colleague. Shindou asks Saya why she is loafing during her patrol duties but she is more interested to introduce her colleague to him instead. Shindou wants her to mind her own business while Hanazono looks on with interest at the banter between the siblings. Before Saya leaves, she reminds Shindou not to put his life on the line since he's the only family member she has now. Suddenly, Shindou stops in his tracks while chasing after Hanazono as he senses that someone is watching him and feels a shiver down his spine.

The next day, Shindou and Hanazono report to the Shibuya division of the special forces where their superior Kunikida looks more like a gangster chief than a police officer. After the meeting, Hanazono grumbles about Kunikida but Shindou thinks that they are better off as compared to some of their fellow classmates who were sent to divisions where they need to engage in tough physical training daily. Just then, Kunikida happens to overhear Shindou's comments about him having a gangster face and punishes them to clean the toilets within the police station.

On the way to clean one of the toilets, Shindou catches a glimpse of the girl in his dreams and turns back to look for her. However, she is nowhere to be seen and Hanazono wonders if Shindou is simply imagining things. Suddenly, the guys see two female officers along the corridor and one of them, Suzuka expresses interest in Shindou to the extent of licking his face. Suzuka tells Shindou to come and join her department if he doesn't want to stay in the special forces before leaving with her colleague, Ibuki.

Shindou and Hanazono find out from their colleagues about Suzuka who's from the Tokko department directly under the charge of the National Security bureau. However, they warn Shindou and Hanazono to stay away from the Tokko people since little is known about their work and there are rumours that they use swords to kill people or even creatures who are non-human beings. Meanwhile, Suzuka reveals to Ibuki that when she licked Shindou earlier on, she could pick up the smell of "that side" thus explaining why she seems so interested in him.

Suddenly, an earthquake strikes which leads the Tokko team to comment that the "gate" has been opened again. As such, this marks the start of some busy days ahead as they are going to hunt for Number 12. Meanwhile at an underground carpark, there is a huge hole where a bloody creature climbs up from below...

At a dark alley where a drug deal is in progress, two men are terrified to see a naked man holding someone's head but fail to escape in time to save themselves...

Shindou and Hanazono are sent to the murder scene for the investigation of the mangled corpses' case where the latter asks why Shindou can remain so calm despite the horrific mess. Shindou replies that the situation is the same as what he saw 5 years ago. Just then, the special forces team hear someone's screams and find that some policemen have been killed by 3 men with pale faces and their body parts are scattered around. Kunikida orders his team to shoot at the killers but they are unaffected by the gunshots and rip off their shirts to reveal some growths on their bodies which resemble human faces. The crackles from these faces act as the signal to summon more men with the same appearances and Kunikida orders Shindou and Hanazono to call for reinforcements.

Before they can do so, one of the killers grabs hold of Shindou and tries to strangle him as the face on the killer's body repeatedly says to kill all the survivors who are traitors. Shindou is helpless to do anything when the girl in his dreams appears before him and says that unless he kills the human-faced worms, shooting the person will have no effect. With that, she uses her huge sabre to slash the person and steps on the worm to kill it as Shindou witnesses this in shock...

The first reason why this series caught my eye was the mystery nature of the storyline thus I will probably stay around till the end to find out what exactly is the truth behind these strange happenings. At the moment, it appears as if the Machida incident was the work of someone or a group of people. I get the impression from the opening scenes that the person who tried to put in the fragment deliberately cut his/her finger so that the process was interrupted and a door leading to somewhere was opened thus causing the frequent earthquakes and killings of people where they get torn apart.

Well, the only thing which I found a bit unbearable was the human faces on the body and the worms which did look very gross. That's why I am a little apprehensive as to whether I can stand the sight of these creatures especially with the voices sounding so eerie.

As for the themes, only the ED was played this time round so I'll leave the judging to the next episode.

With regards to the seiyuus, the only familiar name to me was Suzumura Kenichi and his voice was so distinct that I could identify him immediately without looking at the credits. Somehow, his voice doesn't sound much different from what I heard in Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora so I thought it would have been better to hear some distinguishing traits between both characters of different ages and personalities. Otherwise, I keep feeling that I'm hearing Yuuichi's voice even when seeing Shindou on screen. As for the female lead played by Orikasa Fumiko, I thought her voice sounds pretty appealing but since her role looks like a cool girl, I'm not sure if she will speak a lot in this anime though.