There’s nothing more unsatisfying and frustrating than a bad ending. I’m not talking about endings where someone dies or there’s a tragedy. That kind of thing can be necessary for good drama. I’m talking about incomplete endings, the kind where you get mad at the screen because you’re thinking, “I spent all this money and wasted so many hours of my life, and this is how they reward me?!” Sadly, Tokko ends that way, but more on that later.
Tokko is about the twenty-something Ranmaru, who joins Tokko, a sub-division of the police force dedicated to exterminating Phantoms, evil creatures bent on dominating the human race. More is revealed about the origins and motives of Phantoms in this final volume, and pieces of the puzzle finally start to come together. As time is running out, the members of Tokko try to find all the pieces of The Box of Dirge that, when combined, would allow them to control (i.e., destroy) the Phantoms once and for all.
Episode 10 has Ranmaru paying a visit to the series’s villain, Taishi, who kinda looks like old Anakin Skywalker sans the Vader helmet. Taishi awakens Ranmaru’s inner symbiont, causing him to briefly lose his mind and attack other Tokko members before he’s subdued. Luckily he recovers quickly, and that leads into episode 11, when Sakura meets up with Hiroki, her younger brother, who has a Phantom spirit in his body. Sakura is reluctant to fight him, and instead wants to purge the evil from his body. However, fellow Tokko member Inukai doesn’t take the same approach and battles the possessed Hiroki, ending with a double death. In episode 12, Ranmaru decides that it might be safer for his sister Saya to reside elsewhere, so he sends her to live with Ryoko for the time being. However, that doesn’t stop the Phantoms from capturing Saya and holding her hostage in the underworld. Meanwhile, Ryoko is arrested by one of Taishi’s associates on false charges so she can be kept out of the thick of things, which leads into episode 13: Ranmaru, Kureha, and Sakura bust into jail to break Ryoko out, at which point Ranmaru and Sakura head underground to rescue Saya.
As interesting as the show is up until the final minutes, Tokko has one of the worst endings I’ve ever seen. Without giving away the details, let me just say that it leaves most everything unchanged. Nothing is resolved, and the final battle with Taishi is abrupt, rushed, and confusing. There’s a big explosion from one or two attacks that they throw at each other, and suddenly we cut to an epilogue, credits and all. That’s how bad it is. The unfortunate part of it is, the story really looked like it was going somewhere interesting around episode 4 or 5. But because it took its time getting there, tons of plot had to be crammed into the last two or three episodes, resulting in a story which is at best unfinished, and at worst a mess. All that build-up, for nothing. Heck, even Ryoko admits that it’s not over, not by a long shot. When even a character from the series acknowledges this, you’ve got problems.
I’m well aware that anime series with an ongoing serialized manga almost must leave things open-ended, so that the TV show’s ending doesn’t contradict the source material, especially in this day and age, where the possibility of sequel series is greater than it was in the past (which I approve of). But come on, was it too much to ask to have some semblance of closure? I get the feeling the staff was trying to tackle too much material in 13 episodes, especially in regards to the 108 pieces of The Box of Dirge. Even on episode 9 they only had a handful of them, leaving me to wonder how in the world they were going to get the rest in just four more episodes. This series really needed more time or better overall execution to do it justice.
Speaking of doing something justice, Tokko also needed better animation and poses. There are higher frame rates in the sword-slashing action scenes, yes, but even there, some shortcuts can be seen. For example, there are certain scenes where a character will stand still but the camera will pan across their body, which yes, gives some kinetic energy to what would otherwise be one static drawing, but I’d much rather see some actual character movement. I’ve mentioned this before too, but character faces are disappointingly stoic, very rarely venturing off the model sheets for something a little more expressive. Yes, it’s very possible and appropriate to do this in a more serious show; they shouldn’t just be limited to comedy cartoons. There’s one moment towards the end of one episode where Ranmaru, furious at Taishi and apparently fueled by his inner symbiote, displays a rage-filled expression. That’s pretty cool; it’s too bad we couldn’t have more of that. On the plus side, the background art is usually nice, particularly in episode 11’s climax, when we see the blood-stained hallway where Hiroki and Inukai fight. And the underworld is very cool, too. (Wait, it’s very hot. Well, never mind.)
Extras on volume 3 are sparse; we get a rather lengthy screenshot gallery, which is fairly pointless since all the screens are from the show itself. I prefer my art galleries with character designs and sketches, stuff you couldn’t find in the series. The other extra, from what I could tell, was actually a repeat from volume 2! If you recall, volume 2 had a 35-minute behind-the-scenes making-of program with the Japanese cast and staff. It was pretty informative, but as I was watching the “Making Of” video on volume 3, I realized it was the same video! One wonders why Manga included this extra twice. To add insult to injury, there are no chapter stops/selections on this DVD, just like the first two volumes. That should be a mandatory requirement on all TV DVDs today. The one plus to the DVD: Video quality is excellent throughout.
Tokko started so-so, got interesting and engaging in volume 2, and stayed relatively enjoyable throughout volume 3 until the awful, up-in-the-air ending. That’s really a shame, because Tokko had the potential to be a great show overall, if only the staff either had more episodes to work with or had fine-tuned their pacing so that more could be resolved within the 13 episodes. As it stands, too much plot had to be crammed into the last few episodes, resulting in a very rushed feeling. As such, I can’t really recommend Tokko anymore; it’s hard to say a show is good if the ending leaves so much to be desired.
