History Main / TheTokyoFireball

* Happens sometimes in [[{{Toku}} tokusatsu series involving giant things duking out]], e.g. ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' and ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' (and by extension, ''Franchise/PowerRangers''). The most honorable mention goes to ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger's/Series/PowerRangersSamurai'''s GrandFinale: the Shinkengers/Samurai Rangers impales the BigBad so hard he goes kaboom, result in the city having a large chunk of it wiped off. It is still [[ImpliedTrope implied]] that the city gets rebuilt eventually.

* The opening of the UsefulNotes/PC88 version of ''Veigues: Tactical Gladiator'' depicts a surprise attack on an unidentified Pacific coast city, which is reduced to smoldering ruins.

* Happens very frequently in [[{{Toku}} tokusatsu series involving giant things duking out]], e.g. ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' and ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' (and by extension, ''Franchise/PowerRangers''). The most honorable mention goes to ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'''s GrandFinale: the Shinkengers/Samurai Rangers impales the BigBad so hard he goes kaboom, result in the city having a large chunk of it wiped off. It is still [[ImpliedTrope implied]] that the city gets rebuilt eventually.

[[folder]]

** 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 ''Anime/BubblegumCrisis'', and is directly depicted in ''Anime/WhisperOfTheHeart'' and ''Anime/TheWindRises''.

* ''LightNovel/ShangriLa'''s backstory consists of Tokyo having been mostly flooded and turned into a tropical jungle by global warming. A few landmarks are visible beneath all the plants and vines.

* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' has Tokyo destroyed by nuclear weapons, and then flooded by God. The {{MMORPG}} ''[[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIMAGINE IMAGINE]]'' takes place after these events.

* A somewhat [[UpToEleven "larger"]] version is the SF "Japan Sinks" by Komatsu Sakyo. Which even prompted an inversion: "The World Sinks Except Japan" by Tsutsui Yasutaka. (Both books got filmed, too.)

* In the back-story of ''Manga/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. It appears however, that the national government is still in Fukuoka, where it was relocated after the destruction of Tokyo (and about as far away from it as it gets).

* Both versions of ''Anime/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.]]
* ''Anime/AllPurposeCulturalCatGirlNukuNuku'': Nuku-Nuku and Eimi demolish most of Nerima Ward during their first spat.

* As does the first ''Anime/ProjectAKo''. The second time isn't total destruction, instead leaving a crashed starship in the middle of the city.
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'':
** 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 ''End of Evangelion'' 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.
*** Interestingly, they don't rebuild in the same location. "Old Tokyo" is abandoned as a nuclear wasteland; Tokyo-2 is in Nagano Prefecture, and Tokyo-3 is built on the site of present-day Hakone.
** In ''Anime/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.]]

* ''Literature/DemonCityShinjuku'' starts with a major precinct of Tokyo collapsing and being cut off from the rest of the city because of an earthquake caused by [[DemonicInvaders demons]].

* In the back-story of ''Manga/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. It appears however, that the national government is still in Fukuoka, where it was relocated after the destruction of Tokyo (and about as far away from it as it gets).

* In the GrandFinale of ''Manga/TokyoMewMew,'' Tokyo is in ruins; it comes back, but with a lot more overgrowth, which had built up over the series by the use of environmentally-friendly AppliedPhlebotinum.
* ''Anime/ParanoiaAgent'': As out of place as it may seem, the trope appears in [[spoiler:the last episode, when Tokyo is engulfed by Shonen Bat's rapidly growing form. It's rebuilt by the end of the episode, of course. And its implied the whole thing will happen over again, if that's not enough.]]

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' abuses Tokyo quite a bit. The first battle of the series takes place in Shinjuku, which starts out as a massacre of civilians until Zero and the terrorists get involved. The first season finale has a huge, decisive battle there, with massive collateral damage. There's another battle there late in the second season, which ends with [[spoiler:the utter annihilation of Tokyo using a quasi-nuke that literally vaporizes most of the city]].\\
\\
This doesn't even get into the destruction and occupation of the city before the series proper even begins. During the majority of the series, Tokyo is actually split between the rich "Settlement/Concession", where the Britannians live, and the run-down ghettos that were never really rebuilt where the "Numbers" are forced to reside.
* ''Anime/RahXephon'' plays with this. At first, it seems to be {{inverted|Trope}} with the whole world ''besides'' Tokyo having been destroyed. However, it's quickly revealed that this isn't true, and that Tokyo has instead been sealed off from the outside world, with nobody being able to enter or leave, which is close enough to it having been destroyed from the perspective of the people living outside of it. The events of the series are kicked off when people from outside manage to break through, and take a person (and a HumongousMecha) from inside back out with them.
* In the final arc of ''Manga/TheDaughterOfTwentyFaces'', a MadScientist attempts to vaporize most of Tokyo.
* ''LightNovel/ShangriLa'''s backstory consists of Tokyo having been mostly flooded and turned into a tropical jungle by global warming. A few landmarks are visible beneath all the plants and vines.

* While the Dragons of Heaven are supposed to be preventing this in ''Manga/{{X1999}}'', they don't exactly do a good job of it.

* ''Anime/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.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Terranigma}}'', when the BigBad pulls out his evil biological weapon, the only city that gets hit is -- you guessed it -- "Neotokio."

* ''VideoGame/KeioFlyingSquadron'' ends with the city of Edo being completely leveled by a ColonyDrop.

* The backstory of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV: A Realm Reborn'' (which is also the end of the game's original 1.0 version) combines a ColonyDrop with a FantasticNuke-spewing [[DragonsAreDemonic dragon primal]]: due to the machinations of [[TheEmpire the Garlean Empire]], the lesser moon of Dalamud is pulled towards Eorzea, releasing Bahamut, who proceeds to raze the major city-states of Eorzea. ''ARR'' kicks off five years after, with Eorzean civilization back on its feet, for the most part.

[[TruthInTelevision History proves this trope true to a depressing degree.]] [[UsefulNotes/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 population 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 UsefulNotes/WorldWarII -- helped usher in modern construction techniques (which made Tokyo much more resistant to this).

* Throughout all of history, every city in the world was subject to this. Ancient Rome was plagued by numerous fires (including the one Nero allegedly fiddled to) all the way up to the 19th century (the Great Chicago Fire was in 1871). It wasn't until the widespread adoption and enforcement of fire safety codes coupled with advances in firefighting that cities stopped burning down regularly. Most accidental fires these days can be traced to buildings that are not up to code. Even besides that, it is exceptionally rare for a structural fire to stray beyond the structure it originated from.

* The GiantWallOfWateryDoom version of this trope is also familiar to people who live in hurricane country -- not just Japan, but also the coastal areas of the southeastern United States, most notably UsefulNotes/{{Florida}}, whose [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Building_Code building codes]] are a standard copied by several other states. Basements are rare even in mansions, let alone in middle- or working-class neighborhoods, and most buildings, even small houses, are constructed from concrete and have hurricane-resistant windows designed to withstand getting hit by a wooden beam at over 100 miles per hour. Some homes even have breakaway walls designed to give way when the building is flooded or hit by high winds, allowing wind and water to flow through and thus preventing the entire structure from being carried away.
** The lack of basements in Florida has very little to do with storm surges (though it helps to not have them there) but rather that Florida has an extremely high water table. Children can dig a hole in their back yards with a plastic hand shovel and find water before the hole reaches a depth of forearm length. The most famous "Basement" in Florida is the "Utilidoors" under [[DisneyThemeParks The Magic Kingdom]] at Walt Disney World and is technically not a basement, but a ground floor which was buried and had a theme park put on its roof. Actually tunneling anywhere on the Disney Property as it is mostly swamp.

* Generally averted in the original ''Film/{{Gamera}}'' series. Though, when Gamera first appears he ends up leveling Tokyo. Barugon wrecks Osaka (No, not ''[[Manga/AzumangaDaioh that]]'' Osaka) and Kobe. Gaos attacks Nagoya. Gamera once again (via stock footage) flattens Tokyo in ''Film/GameraVsViras''. Jiger smashes up Osaka (again) in ''Film/GameraVsJiger''. Only the next-to-last film, ''Film/GameraVsZigra'', features Tokyo getting flattened, but it's predominately offscreen. Of course, by that point there aren't many Japanese cities left besides Tokyo to destroy, so, yeah...

** The original 1954 film ''Film/{{Gojira}}'' has the titular monster destroying Tokyo and setting the entire city on fire.

[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/{{Akira}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/akira_fireball.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas Aw shit,]] HereWeGoAgain[[note]][[spoiler:[[BookEnds And again!]] And again!]][[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Aw shit, HereWeGoAgain[[note]][[spoiler:[[BookEnds And again!]] And again!]][[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Aw shit, [[HereWeGoAgain here we go again]]...[[note]][[spoiler:[[BookEnds And again!]]]][[/note]]]]

** The lack of basements in Florida has very little to do with storm surges (though it helps to not have them there) but rather that Florida has an extremely high water table. Children can dig a hole in their back yards with a plastic hand shovel and find water before the hole reaches a depth of forearm length. The most famous "Basement" in Florida is the "Utilidoors" under [[DisneyThemeParks The Magic Kingdom]] at Walt Disney World and is technically not a basement, but a ground floor which was buried and had a theme park put on it's roof. Actually tunneling anywhere on the Disney Property as it is mostly swamp.