Tokyo Underground 5/10

What's with the Japanese and their fascination with underground cities? I liked Fraggle Rock as much as the next kid but c'mon. Tokyo Underground once again situates an adventure underground and I figure it's to save on background animation costs.

I like some technical parts of this show but not many. The character designs aren't among my favourites but they look OK and are pretty consistent throughout the 26 episode series from 2002. The backgrounds are pretty limited and not that impressive but then again caves are pretty boring. The music isn't anything special but I really like the end credits theme. The VAs are rather good and each character is quite distinct, I was surprised by this as the rest of the production seems a little on the non-distinct side.

The story here is pretty weak, a boy named Rumina meets a couple of girls running from someone who intends them harm. After being killed by the bad guys and resurrected by Ruri the Priestess of Life, Rumina gains wind powers. Whoo-hoo! The girls have escaped from The Underground, an old scientific research facility/ghetto for poor people. Ruri is recaptured after falling for Rumina and he, his geeky friend, and Ruri's bodyguard rush down into The Underground to save her. What follows is a rather uninspired trek through a series of dark and boring tunnels and towns and converting earlier enemies to the good team.

It's not entirely bad, between episodes 16 and 22 the story starts to get better and it raised my expectations for the ending. So much for those. The story ends with Ruri being rescued while all 12 or so main characters are facing certain doom and POOF! The 4 original members are in a field on the surface and WE NEVER FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS TO THE REST OF THE CAST!!!! WTF!?

For a retarded ending you get dropped to 5/10 from 7/10 before the last 4 episodes. Not recommended if you want the ending to MAKE SENSE!!!