TOKYO TRIBE 2

Warning! This Anime is intended for mature audiences, contains gore and sexual violence.

For adults that can stomach mature themes as stated, here is my spoiler free review on Tokyo Tribes!

Tokyo tribes is a series about gang wars in Tokyo. It follows the conflict and drama between two former best friends that joined apposing gangs. Kai is the main protagonist of the series that is in a more 'good' gang and Mera is the antagonist that joined is a more violent and 'bad' gang that is more involved with criminal activities.

There is nothing really complex and groundbreaking about how the plot of Tokyo Tribes goes. In fact it is pretty jarring and bad at times having the usual bad writing qualities such as contrived events for plot conveniences, minor plot holes etc. The best example is Mera for whatever reason does not take his revenge on a major antagonist that will be revealed early in the series despite having ample opportunities.

'objectively speaking' Tokyo Tribes should be hot garbage and my intellectual critical brain but for whatever reason I cannot seem to stop watching. For some reason there is still entertainment value! I am not saying that the writing is so bad that is good like Morbius or The Room. The writing is bad but not to that level, if forced to give a score on the writing alone I must say its like a 4 out of 10.

What makes me hooked on this series is definitely the style and aesthetic. Remember this is suppose to be an anime centered around gangs in Tokyo? Guess what? I believe the term 'Yakuza' is just mentioned once in the entire series. The Gangs are stylized literally as stereotypical black gangs in the united states. Think N.W.A, think Tupac, think 50 cent, think snoop dogg! Now imagine them Japanese! It is absolutely insane! It is absolutely whacky and stupid and I love it!

This does not look like a traditional Japanese Anime even though it has the animation style of a traditional Japanese Anime it does not have a traditional Japanese aesthetic. Like literally the characters look like black people with features such as fully drawn noses and large lips. It really makes minorly fluster in disbelief as I seen these seeming light skin black people acting like they are Japanese in Tokyo.

Now I must address some concern over if this is what some people describe as 'cultural appropriation'. This is a can of worms which I really do not feel comfortable to discuss I do not understand what that even means. All I can say is that I feel that despite heavily influenced by american black culture Tokyo Tribes never disrespect it. They simply borrow the aesthetic to tell a story. I did some research on the author and discovered that he spent his childhood abroad in france which sorta make sense he is more exposed to western hip hop culture. That is all I want to say about this touchy subject, in my opinion the way black hip hop culture was never insulted in this series.

Another thing that stands out somewhat is the action scenes and boy there are plenty. They are over the top they are wacky they do not make sense most of the time but boy are they entertaining. All the main characters are like gigachad protagonists heroes that just are able to 1v10 enemies with exception of a powerful part cyborg assassin from China (CRAZY RIGHT?)

Moving on from that, IN CONCLUSION Tokyo tribes is entertaining to me not in a way a traditional story is constructed with a gripping plot and a strong narrative. It has its really over the top action and fights but really in the end of the day it is just a whacky aesthetic of black hip hop gang culture (but never to a level of insulting parody) that really makes it a fun viewing experience. I will recommend this not claiming its extremely good but intriguing and unique in its style and aesthetic. If you exhausted all the 10/10 recommendations or you just want to experience a totally new art style in Anime this should keep you somewhat mildly entertained for a few hours.

Just be reminded this series can get pretty graphic.