History Manga / TokyoESP

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The series revolving around this is largely why EmpoweredBadassNormal [=ESPer=] characters have such a major advantage over other [=ESPers=] and normal people with guns. In many works of fiction, an underplayed power most people have ''by default'' is being able to take ludicrous amounts of pain from weapons like swords and guns and walk away with ease. Not so here; ''everyone'' is a GlassCannon playing [[RocketTagGameplay rocket tag with each other]] unless their power ''specifically'' gives the [=ESPer=] a means to withstand gunfire or avoid it entirely. If an [=ESPer=] ''doesn't'' have options like this, one or two bullets ''will'' put them down. Eventually, the [=ESPers=] who end up ruling the roost are the ones (like Kuroi Klaudia) with the military or martial training to survive scenarios like warzones without their power; the ones (like the protagonist, Rinka) who have nothing to fear from conventional arms; and the ones clever and ingenuous enough (like The Professor) to affect the world from the sidelines, outside of direct combat with combatants who could, by all rights, take them out with relative ease.

** Looks like [[StarWars Yoda was recruited by the MPD to serve as their martial arts instructor.]] Turns out that's even his name!

She was an ordinary girl with an ordinary life, until a [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins flying penguin]] and a swarm of glowing fish swimming through the air changed everything. Rinka soon finds that she is [[PowerIncontinence involuntarily]] [[IntangibleMan moving through]] things, walls, the floor of her apartment... and her clothes.

* StatusBuff: [[spoiler:The real power of the Messiah is that it can boost those who are its disciples' ESP UpToEleven.]]

** Taken UpToEleven in chapter 68 when we learn [[spoiler:the Messiah's ability is to increase the power of a person's ESP tenfold, as seen with Claudia as she's now able to teleport '''multiple buildings''' out the sky as a bombardment on one of the branch members she betrayed that was after her.]]

''Tokyo ESP'' began as a {{manga}} from Hajime Segawa, the author of ''Manga/GaRei''. An {{anime}} adaptation began airing on 11 July 2014. It's been licensed in the US and Canada by Creator/{{Funimation}}, and Crunchyroll is streaming it in much of the world.

* [[MissFanservice Mr. and Ms. Fanservice]] / WalkingShirtlessScene: Both of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deva_%28Buddhism%29 "Deva"]] siblings.

* PlayingWithFire: A particularly vicious member of the Esper yakuzas and [[spoiler: Minami's mother; both of them lose their powers via Peggy's glowfish-eating shark and getting killed, respectively]].
* {{Psychometry}}: Murasaki can read the past of objects by touching them. Later she starts using this ability on weapons to copy their past owners' fighting skills.

* TeleportersAndTransporters: Minami and Azuma.

* RealityEnsues: Azuma and Rinka catch Black Fist, and the police lament that they don’t have any evidence besides the word of a guy in a crow mask. One of the problems present is that there are no laws against ESP until the WhamEpisode in chapter 18.
** [[spoiler: The superpowered Yakuza Rinka beat up? They burn down her apartment building in front of her without a backward glance.]]
** [[spoiler: See NoHoldsBarredBeatdown for what happens because she never covered up her identity.]]
** "Only ESP can stop ESP" is always used seriously. Any time the police and the espers fight, the espers easily win. How's a pistol or crowbar supposed to help you against people who can teleport and cause explosions with their bare hands?

She was an ordinary girl with an ordinary life, until a [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins flying penguin]] and a swarm of glowing fish swimming though the air changed everything. Rinka soon finds that she is [[PowerIncontinence involuntarily]] [[IntangibleMan moving through]] things, walls, the floor of her apartment... and her clothes.

It also has a tie-in novel called ''London ESP,'' that can easily be accessed through a simple search. It details the misadventures of two of the more important characters, and contains heavy spoilers in regards to part 1 of Tokyo ESP, so it should only be read after part 1.

* ActionGirl: Just about every important female character. Even before gaining her powers, Rinka was capable of man handling multiple thugs.
* AffectionateParody: Azuma is something of a send up of any one who ever wanted to be a comic book super hero.

* ArrestedForHeroism: Rinka gets arrested in Chapter 52 stopping the hospital bomber because she's still wanted for her attack on the statesman. [[spoiler:The CIA has the warrants retracted by framing it on an fictional transformation esper before she gets a life-time sentence. Also happens to all Espers, good, bad, or indifferent in Chapter 76, for their own protection, against rioters acting out of MisplacedRetribution.]]

* BlackEyesOfCrazy / BlackEyesOfEvil: When Rinka and Nadja's (the woman in the fluffy Russian hat) SuperPoweredEvilSide[=s=] break through.

* CloudcuckooLander: Azuma, so much. When he thinks he's about to die, he's mostly just annoyed that he won't be able to teleport any more.

* ConservationOfNinjutsu: Actively subverted, and then later abused. [[spoiler: In early sections of Tokyo ESP, Rinka's hardest fights, including the one that ''kills her,'' are against multiple opponents who, while mabye not Rinka's equal in one-on-one combat, can easily gang up on her. However, by the time Rinka escapes the inspection facility, Yoda has taught her the secret to winning such fights; tactical retreats that force opponents to fight her one-on-one, where she can easily dominate them in a fight. When Rinka finally gets to put these lessons to use, the conservation of ninjutsu becomes justified; most of the Espers attacking her are hoping to gang up on her, and if they can't gang up on her, she can easily abuse the fact she's an EmpoweredBadassNormal.]]

* {{Deconstruction}} / {{Reconstruction}}: Starts out as an about normal story about super heroes and personal heroism, then heads deep into deconstruction territory, and is coming back around to a reconstruction.

* EnemyCivilWar: A truly convoluted one in chapter 67. The Professor, and what remains of his organization vs the PMSC, Claudia's faction vs. the principal's and Claudia's faction fighting amongst itself featuring Claudia, with "The messiah" vs the body surfer and the plant lady. Absolutely none of them have the slightest care about any civilians caught in the crossfire.

* GloriousMotherRussia: We get it, Nadja is Russian. Does she ''really'' need to wear that ''ushanka'' everywhere? [[spoiler: And as some flashback images show, she wore that during her time as an assassin, too. [[SarcasmMode Do you think the Japanese won't notice the tall blonde woman with the fluffy hat usually attributed to Russians?]] She even wore it during her time as a prize fighter and during the infiltration of ARES HQ. Literally the only time she isn't wearing an ''ushanka'' is after getting the hat beaten off her by Kobushi.]]

* NoBodyLeftBehind: [[spoiler: The Proffesor's body cracks and completely disintegrates upon his deth and the sealing away of esper powers in chapter 74.]]
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: The bad guys want to beat Rinka and Azuma's ideals out of them. [[spoiler:And when the esper task force starts arresting people, they're able to find Rinka and her friends very quickly because everyone already knew who they were--again, because they were helping people]].

** [[spoiler:Claudia.]]

* Fingore: Azuma goes through a ''really'' disturbing take on the trope. His hand is stabbed into a ship that's capsizing, and Rinka is about to fall off. He ''slices half his hand off'' so he can remove his hand from the ship and fall so he can teleport himself, Rinka, and Kobushi to safety.

* {{Gonk}}: Quite a few of the unnamed characters, [[BeautyEqualsGoodness especially if they're rude]].

* GloriousMotherRussia: We get it, Nadja is Russian. Does she ''really'' need to wear that ''ushanka'' everywhere? [[spoiler: And as some flashback images show, she wore that during her time as an assassin, too. [[SarcasmMode Do you think the Japanese won't notice the tall blonde woman with the fluffy hat usually attributed to Russians?]] She even wore it during her time as a prize fighter and during the infiltration of ARES HQ. Literally the only time she isn't wearing an ''ushanka'' is after getting the hat beaten off her by Rinka.]]

* ConservationOfNinjutsu: Actively subverted, and then later abused. [[spoiler: In early sections of Tokyo ESP, Rinka's hardest fights, including the one that ''kills her,'' are against multiple opponents who, while mabye not Rinka's equal in one-on-one combat, can easily gang up on her. However, by the time Rinka escapes the inspection facility, Yoda has taught her the secret to winning such fights; tactical retreats that force opponents to fight her one-on-one, where she can easily dominate them in a fight. When Rinka finally gets to put these lessons to use, the conservation of ninjutsu becomes justified; most of the ESPers attacking her are hoping to gang up on her, and if they can't gang up on her, she can easily abuse the fact she's an EmpoweredBadassNormal.]]

* ConservationOfNinjustu: Actively subverted, and then later abused. [[spoiler: In early sections of Tokyo ESP, Rinka's hardest fights, including the one that ''kills her,'' are against multiple opponents who, while mabye not Rinka's equal in one-on-one combat, can easily gang up on her. However, by the time Rinka escapes the inspection facility, Yoda has taught her the secret to winning such fights; tactical retreats that force opponents to fight her one-on-one, where she can easily dominate them in a fight. When Rinka finally gets to put these lessons to use, the conservation of ninjutsu becomes justified; most of the ESPers attacking her are hoping to gang up on her, and if they can't gang up on her, she can easily abuse the fact she's an EmpoweredBadassNormal.]]

** Some people at the underground esper fight are Hanao [[Film/ChildsPlay "Chucky"]] Chiaki (a little girl who looks like Chucky the doll in a porcelain doll's dress who warns Rinka she'll need to metaphorically kill herself to survive), [[WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarePants "Sponge Tom"]] (a middle-aged man in a burger(?) costume), Django Gordoma (likely named after [[Film/DjangoUnchained Django]] and [[VideoGame/HalfLife Gordon]] who share the last name [[MeaningfulName "Freeman"]]), a woman who looks a lot like [[GalaxyExpress999 Maetel]], and a guy who is dressed like [[Comicbook/GreenLantern Green Wantan]] (apparently the baddies choose the fighters' names and costumes (or [[MsFanService lack thereof]])).

* SequelHook: [[spoiler: Ren sneezes an coughs up one of her special ice cubes at the end of chapter 76.]]

* {{Badass}}: Rinka and Zeusu for Parts 1 and 2 respectively.

* TheMagicGoesAway: Thanks to Claudia's rampage, and direct attack on Peggy in chapter 74, [[spoiler: all the esper power in the world is sucked up into the Arc and sealed away.]]