Ranked #90

Tokyo Crazy Paradise (Manga)

HOW I WAS INTRODUCED TO TOKYO CRAZY PARADISE:
"Tokyo Crazy Paradise" was one of my random finds. I don't very often read random manga, but in TCP's case, I'm glad I did.

STORY (8/10):
When you boil TCP's story down into a mere plot summary it sounds dull and overdone--girl falls for bad boy, leader of a mafia organization at that. However, doing this certainly doesn't do TCP justice. The story melds romance, drama, and action so well that TCP becomes an incredibly unique story of its own.

ART (7/10):
The art of TCP is by no means bad, but it is a little different. The art even seems to reflect the melding of genres--a little shounen action art flavor with the shoujo flavor. There are some areas of the manga that feel as if they have been drawn somewhat akwardly, but the majority is good.

CHARACTERS (7/10):
The characters in TCP are just short of amazing. The protagonist, Tsukasa, is quite simply one of the strongest female characters in shoujo manga. Even considering the gender-bender situation, one doesn't lose sight of her feminine side. As for Ryuugi, he is less lovingly characterized than Tsukasa, but a great character despite it. As the volumes continue, one finds that it's easier to like him more and more.

ENJOYMENT (8/10):
TCP is unique, funny, and interesting. It has romance, drama, a love triangle, and gender-bending. I highly recommend anyone to read it.

OVERALL (7.5/10)

- Spiffyish

NOTE ABOUT THIS REVIEW: Also, if you find this review unhelpful in anyway, send me a private message saying why (please) so that I can improve it for future readers! :D read more

I discovered this manga when looking for other works by Nakamura Yoshiki- I was first drawn in by her recent manga, Skip Beat!. It turned out she had written a manga directly before Skip Beat!, called Tokyo Crazy Paradise.

The story seems to cross over both shoujo and shounen lines, the shounen covered by the large amount of violence that occurs in this story and the"'I will protect/serve 'insert name of person or area here'" attitude that many, if not all of the characters hold. This aspect also hold up in the main storyline. The more typical shoujo aspects occur in the lead's focus on taking care (up to and including physically) of her family and love interest. The latter is central to her motivations for acting as she does, which gives this more of a shoujo lean. However, as mentioned before, the main storyline holds to more shounen aspects, such as becoming a bodyguard, being immensely proficient at a weapon, protecting the weak, and defeating any enemies that threaten the peace that her life has. Thankfully, unlike with many shounen mangas, the story isn't long enough to fall into the 'enemy of the week' territory. It is also rather innovative, with the lead heroine the one who does the protecting instead of vice-versa. Also, theworld that the mangaka paints is very different than the one most do, with bleak imaginings of the world falling into violence and depravity. The politics of this world are well thought-out, with much study on the Mafia and Yakuza apparent. And while the ending isn't the one that I may have hoped for, it is nonetheless realistic and fitting.

The art is quite shoujo, with large, sparkly eyes and 'pretty' boys. However, is is a little rough in some areas. If you have also read Skip Beat! then the similarity in character design is aparent, with Skip Beat! smoothing out some of the rougher edges in the art style. This also holds true for the charater's personalities themselves- you can see that Kyoko was based of Tokyo's main lead. But in and of themselves, the characters in Tokyo aren't bad- Tsukasa is overall a sweet girl with a few rough edges and the will to protect those that are precious to her at all costs. Her love interest at first appears to be an aloof pervert, but Tsukasa comes to understand that he... is an aloof pervert. While he does fall in love with Tsukasa, to protect his clan and life, he is willing to marry someone else. He is also a definate prototype for Ren of Skip Beat!. And in case I forget to mention, this is a bit of a reverse-harem. Not only is she surrounded by men (all her siblings are male, too!), several men do fall in love, both with her female form and when she's disguised as a man.

I did enjoy how different this was from most shoujo manga. It had action, action, romance, action, and a surprising amount of violence for the demographic it's aimed at- and I didn't mind a bit. Well, almost. It came too close to being too formulaic and violent for my tastes, but that's just a personal opinion. Overall, an eight. If you liked this, I do feel that you will like (or at least like comparing it with) her later work Skip Beat!. For female gender-bending and reverse-harem, go for Ouran High School Host Club. And for incredible amounts of power, action, a little violence, and more reverse-harem, go for Dorothy of Oz. Enjoy! read more