History Main / TheTokyoFireBall

* Both versions of ''BubblegumCrisis'' level Tokyo with an earthquake before the action even begins. The ''2040'' TV series then ruins it again with runaway technology. Interestingly in the ''2040'' series, [[spoiler: the Earthquake that happened before the series was a man-made event meant as an attempt to prevent said runaway technology from running amok in the first place.]]

** The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Kanto_Earthquake Great Kanto Earthquake]] of 1923 also burned down much of the city. It was the inspiration for the earthquake in ''BubblegumCrisis'', above.

** Tokyo is destroyed at least once before the series starts, multiple attacks by giant monsters that devastate the city and require frequent rebuilding, [[spoiler:a [[NuclearWeaponsTaboo pseudo-nuclear]] assault that utterly eradicates the city before the U.N. invasion of NERV's headquarters can begin, and finally the virtual destruction of Earth (and thus, anything that is left of Tokyo). Not to mention Rei's self-sacrifice that destroys the 16th Angel -- and turns a large section of Tokyo-3 into a brand-new crater lake.]] And guess what happens in EndOfEvangelion when SEELE remembers that they have N2 mines left over from the Angels. There's ''nothing left'' after they finish: its just a massive, perfectly circular hole in the ground. Everything that even ''remotely'' resembled a city is completely vaporised.

** In ''RebuildOfEvangelion'', [[spoiler: Tokyo-3 and NERV Headquarters below it are destroyed by the 10th Angel Zeruel during its fight with Shinji and the subsequent failed Third Impact.]]

* ''DarkerThanBlack'' calls a scenario like this "the Tokyo Explosion," and groups attempting to cause or prevent it are behind most of the first season's plot. [[spoiler:In the end it does happen, but then it... [[TimeTravel un-happens]]. [[MindScrew It's complicated]].]] A lot of the city got destroyed or rendered [[EldritchLocation unlivable]] with the appearance of Hell's Gate, as well.

* Perhaps because it's presented as both comedic and in time dilation but the first episode of ''{{Futurama}}'' shows this happening to [[BigApplesauce New York]] several times.
* MegasXLR: New Jersey gets blown up in almost every episode, with the only exception being the episodes that are set in another location (like another planet).
* In ThePowerpuffGirls, Townsville gets a regular dose of kaiju-like monster attacks [[OnceAnEpisode every other day]]. Many of these monsters cause massive damage to the city, which is completely [[StatusQuoIsGod rebuilt by the next episode]]. No where is this destruction more apparent than in "Uh Oh Dynamo", when the girls use a HumongousMecha to defeat a monster, but it causes such severe [[HeroInsurance collateral damage]], the entire city is destroyed by the end of the fight. Of course, by the next episode, Townsville is in perfect condition.

[[TruthInTelevision History proves this trope true to a depressing degree.]] [[JapaneseArchitecture Traditional Japanese construction techniques]] rely almost entirely on wood, bamboo, and paper; the country's history of typhoons and earthquakes tended to discourage people from building with materials they didn't want to have land on their heads. Combined with Edo/Tokyo's enormous density, this resulted in the entire city essentially burning down to the foundations every couple of generations. The last great firestorms -- the result of incendiary-bombing during WorldWarTwo -- helped usher in modern construction techniques (which made Tokyo much more resistant to this).

* Lampshaded by [[Series/TheDailyShow JonStewart]] in ''Literature/EarthTheBook'', where he tells his future alien readers that Tokyo will be prepared for their visit, having been destroyed by aliens multiple times.

* Subverted in ''{{Dai-Guard}}'': Monsters known as Heterodynes (Not ''[[Webcomic/GirlGenius those]]'' Heterodynes) constantly attack parts of Tokyo; its most famous case being a large scale attack twelve years prior. However, the attack site had never been rebuilt. Many other sites in Tokyo still aren't finished being rebuilt even by the end of the series.

[[caption-width-right:300:[[SayMyName Tetsuoooo!]]]]

* ''MillenniumActress'' shows Tokyo in the aftermath of World War II. the title character was born during the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923.

* In the back-story of GhostInTheShell, Tokyo was destroyed by a nuclear blast during WorldWarIII and a replacement city, New Tokyo, was built near the ruins of the old one. Oddly enough, the reason why Old Tokyo hasn't been rebuilt isn't due to lingering radiation (Japan has exclusive access to radiation-scrubbing NanoMachines), but because the explosion sunk most of the city below sea level and flooded it with sea water.

* Not as violent as most, but [[Anime/YuGiOh Domino City]], a suburb of Tokyo, [[Anime/YuGiOh5Ds was split in two by a perpetual energy generator]] [[HollywoodScience because it went in reverse]].

*** Followed by a nuclear reactor meltdown which went somewhat past the Three Mile Island stage, but nowhere near Chernobyl, thankfully.

** Places in Japan that are prone to typhoons and other tropical storms will build their buildings out of reinforced concrete and put metal cages over the windows (to protected from flying debris), which also also grants them protection against fire... or anything else since they're basically bunkers.

[[caption-width-right:300:[[SayMyName Tetsuoooo!]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[SayMyName Tetsuoooo!]][[note]][[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP835Ez6Hbo&hd=1 awesome accompaniment]][[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[SayMyName Tetsuoooo!]][[hottip:*:[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP835Ez6Hbo&hd=1 awesome accompaniment]]]]

-->-- '''Noah "The Spoony One" Antwiler''' ''TheSpoonyExperiment'' on ''Manga/{{AKIRA}}''

[[TruthInTelevision History proves this trope true to a depressing degree.]] [[JapaneseArchitecture Traditional Japanese construction techniques]] rely almost entirely on wood, bamboo, and paper; the country's history of typhoons and earthquakes tended to discourage people from building with materials they didn't want to have land on their heads. Combined with Edo/Tokyo's enormous density, this resulted in the entire city essentially burning down to the foundations every couple of generations. The last great firestorm -- caused by incendiary bombing during World War II -- helped usher in modern construction techniques (which made Tokyo much more resistant to this).

* During WorldWarTwo, there was something akin to a real Tokyo Fireball. On 9-10 March 1945, 279 USAAF bombers dropped 1,700 tons of incendiary bombs on the city. This destroyed c. 16 square miles of the city and killed about 100,000 people -- more than the straight-off deaths caused by the atomic-bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. This was only part of the larger strategic-bombing campaign, which was particularly effective given that Japan's military government had few resources and even less interest in countering such measures. Anti-invasion fortifications using the same kind of materials needed to build shelters were given top priority whilst all but the most important cities like Tokyo had no bomb-shelters (that could actually prevent the occupants from dying in air-raids) whatsoever. ''GraveOfTheFireflies'' is inspired by the firebombing of Kobe.

* During WorldWarTwo, there was something akin to a real Tokyo Fireball. On 9-10 March 1945, 279 Allied bombers dropped 1,700 tons of incendiary bombs on the city. This destroyed c. 16 square miles of the city and killed about 100,000 people -- more than the straight-off deaths of Hiroshima or total deaths of Nagasaki. ''GraveOfTheFireflies'' is inspired by events caused by the similar firebombing of Kobe.

* An example of TruthInTelevision. Before Japan industrialized, the primary Japanese building material was wood. Commoners' houses, imperial palaces, lavish Buddhist temples, usually built entirely out of wood. Japanese neighborhoods experienced fires with frightening regularity. Sometimes, entire cities burned down, either by accident due to earthquake, or deliberate vandalism. The survivors always rebuilt, often producing a near carbon copy of the originals whenever practical.

* James Clavell's ''AsianSaga'' has a couple of examples:

* WilliamGibson's novel ''Idoru'' starts soon after an earthquake destroyed part of Tokyo. During the plot, it is being rebuilt by nanomachines but doesn't quite follow its original map except for a few landmarks. Guess what? ''Idoru'' is partly based on manga subcultures.

*** Followed by a nuclear reactor meltdown which is already past the Three Mile Island stage, but nowhere near Chernobyl, thankfully.