Tokko (manga)

Tokko (stylized as TOKKÔ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tooru Fujisawa, better known as the author of Great Teacher Onizuka. It was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine Monthly Afternoon from April 2003 to February 2004, with its chapters collected in three volumes. The manga was licensed in North America by Tokyopop, who released all three volumes from July 2008 to February 2009.

An anime television series adaptation produced by Group TAC and AIC Spirits aired on Wowow from April to July 2006. The anime was licensed in the United States and United Kingdom by Manga Entertainment, with its first DVD released on March 20, 2007, and in Australasia by Madman Entertainment.[5] In the United States, Sci Fi aired the series from June to September 2007 and later re-aired it from November to December 2010 when it was renamed to Syfy. Its sister network Chiller would also air the series from July to October 2009.

Plot

In 2011, Tokyo is plagued by supernatural threats stemming from the Machida massacre, a gruesome incident secretly orchestrated by demons known as Phantoms. These creatures originate from the netherworld, having crossed into reality after the "Box of Dirge" (or "Druj") was shattered into 108 fragments, each possessed by a powerful Phantom. To combat this menace, the Public Security Intelligence Agency establishes the Special Public Safety Task Force, or "Tokko" (特公), under Superintendent Ryoko Ibuki. Composed primarily of survivors from the Machida incident, Tokko's members harbor dormant Phantoms within them, granting superhuman abilities when awakened, including enhanced speed and the power to materialize swords. These weapons are essential, as conventional firearms prove ineffective against the Phantoms and their lesser human-faced larval parasites, which emerge through massive holes caused by unnatural earthquakes in the Kanto region.

Tokko operates covertly, drawing criticism from other law enforcement agencies for their secretive methods and cover-ups of civilian and police casualties, which are publicly attributed to armed criminals or mental instability. Each member bears a symbiont tattoo, marking them as hosts to one of the 108 Phantoms. The alignment of these spirits remains unknown until awakened, though they provide passive protection—such as shielding Sakura Rokujo from a fatal car accident in her youth. Tokko's mission is to hunt down rogue Phantoms, reclaim the Box of Dirge fragments, and seal the expanding Machida hole before it consumes the world.

Ranmaru Shindo, a young investigator, joins the Special Mobile Investigation Forces (Tokki) to uncover the truth behind his parents' deaths in the Machida massacre. Haunted by recurring dreams of a bloodied, tattooed girl wielding a massive sword, he encounters her in reality—Sakura Rokujo, a Tokko operative. Alongside her are the prodigious Kureha Suzuka, the taciturn Takeru Inukai, and their leader, Ryoko Ibuki. Rumors swirl around Tokko, alleging they execute criminals with swords, leave dismembered bodies at crime scenes, and may not even be human.

While investigating a brutal murder, Ranmaru's team witnesses a demonic attack by larval parasites, which identify him as a Machida survivor. Sakura intervenes, revealing that the massacre was perpetrated by Phantoms who crossed into the world after the Box of Dirge was opened. The stronger Phantoms consume humans to grow more powerful, and Tokko's symbionts are the only ones capable of stopping them.

Determined to fight, Ranmaru and his partner Hanazono infiltrate the quarantined Machida site, inadvertently provoking a Phantom attack. Tokko rescues them and explains that symbionts—awakened through near-death trauma—are the sole means of defeating the creatures. To activate his latent Phantom, Kureha mortally wounds Ranmaru and hurls him into the Machida hole. He emerges transformed, wielding dual swords and swiftly annihilating the 12th Phantom. After recovering, he joins Tokko as the countdown to Tokyo's destruction continues.

Meanwhile, siblings Itsuto and Mayu Araragi, unaffiliated symbiont hunters, consume Phantoms to absorb their powers. They rescue Yukino Shiraishi, a suicide attempt survivor controlled by a larval parasite. Investigating disappearances at her university, they uncover a conspiracy led by Yukino's father, who experiments on students by turning them into Phantom hybrids. After a fierce battle, Yukino kills her father by burning their home, then joins the siblings to prevent further atrocities.

The epilogue hints that Tokyo is ultimately consumed by the Machida hole, underscoring the relentless struggle between humanity and the encroaching netherworld.

Characters

• Ranmaru Shindo (申道蘭丸)
• One of the survivors of the Machida massacre alongside his young sister Saya, he joined the police force to find out who was responsible for murdering his parents. An officer in the Shibuya precinct as a detective in the Tokki division, he finds out during his work that demons from the other realm are responsible for orchestrating various massacres. Later on, he joins the Tokko division so as to save the country from being overrun by the demons. He suffers from Post-traumatic stress disorder due to the massacre and the deaths of his parents when he and his sister were still in kids. Since he survived the Machida incident, all Phantom demons were given instruction to finish him off, as well as any other witnesses who have seen the events. As he and Saya were the only survivors of the Shindo family, the two became very close after they were tragically orphaned. His symbiont tattoos are on his right forearm and left shoulder.
• Sakura Rokujo (六条さくら)
• One of the survivors of the Machida massacre, she was the woman haunting Ranmaru's dreams of his parents and neighbors being killed by a Phantom demon. Working in the Tokko division in the Shibuya precinct, the 18-year-old handles a broadsword in dispatching the Phantoms. Her tattoos are on her right shoulder and arm, a dragon, and left arm. Her brother was also a survivor but has been unconscious since then, she resolves to kill all the monsters.
• In the anime, it is also hinted that she may have feelings for Ranmaru when she kissed him before she went into his psyche in order to help save him from being possessed. Later on in the anime, she is forced to face her own brother when the symbionts inside of him possess him and turn him into evil. In the final episode Ranmaru stabs her with his sword (and kisses her) to gain her shard, hinting that she dies, however at the end of the episode she is seen laying in a hospital bed apparently in a coma. She then wakes up and we hear evil laughter (not Sakura's).
• Kureha Suzuka (鈴鹿紅葉)
• A young prodigy who joined the police force at the age of 18 with the rank of Assistant Inspector, she is posted in the Tokko division.
• Her preferred weapons are two daggers that have four retractable blades. Kureha does not wear a shirt with the Tokko division's black leather jacket and pants, revealing a tattoo of a butterfly above her pierced belly-button. In the anime, she originally had brown hair, before changing it to blonde after the massacre as a means of moving on after her parents were killed by Phantoms and the death of her younger brother, Akito, at her hands. Her symbiont tattoo, never shown in the manga, was on her right shoulder in the anime.
• Ryoko Ibuki (伊吹涼子)
• Commanding officer of the Tokko division with the rank of Superintendent, she is responsible for the Tokko's operations in conducting anti-Phantom operations in Tokyo. She prefers guns over other weapons and is never actually confirmed to be a symbiont in the manga; in the anime she is explicitly said to be a normal human.
• Takeru Inukai (犬飼武流)
• The only male main member of Tokko, he survived the Machida incident by tearing apart his parents' killers with his bare hands. He is usually silent and dresses in black clothing and wears black shades. In the anime, he was recruited by Ryoko after demons kidnapped his sister and had been a martial artist (implied to be kendo) before joining the police. He is later killed by Sakura's possessed brother back in the ruins of the Machida apartment in episode eleven.
• Saya Shindo (申道沙也)
• Younger sister of Ranmaru, she joined the police force as a uniformed patrol officer. As a survivor of the Machida massacre, she also has a phantom inside her, though it is never awakened. Unlike her brother, she does not experience post-traumatic stress disorder as she opts to forget the memories of the events in Machida. Like her brother, she gets targeted for assassination by the Phantom demons, as she was one of the survivors of the murders. When not in police work or in danger from being assassinated by the Phantoms, she nags Ranmaru like a mother, such as telling him to finish his food or go have himself checked up for any injuries. She cares deeply about him and will do everything that she can to make sure that he is okay.
• Ichiro Hanazono (花園一郎)
• Ranmaru's best friend and partner. They graduated together and are assigned to the same commander. They can be troublemakers when together. Ichiro often calls Ranmaru a pervert and says that he has something for his younger sister. In actuality Hanazono has a crush on Saya and often gets mad at Ranmaru for always being around attractive women, stating that he used to think Ranmaru was loser.
• Kaoru Kunikida (國樹田薫)
• Chief Inspector of the Shibuya branch of Tokki, where Ranmaru and Hanazono are assigned. He hates the Tokko division and its members for being so secretive, especially when his fellow officers were murdered by the Phantoms and its human-controlled slaves via Human Face larvae. He is insistent in finding out the reasons why Tokko exists and its agenda, to the cost of possibly losing his job over this. He is especially infuriated when Ranmaru leaves his division for Tokko. In the anime, he appears to have a daughter named Ruru (most likely a nickname) and is also a womanizer.
• Based on various side remarks on Kaoru during certain events in the series, it is apparent that he might have been a gangster in his youth before he decided to reform himself as a police officer. His rough behavior and language also fit the general stereotype of a yakuza.
• Shogo Muramasa (村正将吾)
• Kunikida's subordinate and serves as his right-hand man, supporting the Special Machine Squad.
• Itsuto Araragi (荒羅木一斗)
• He and his sister Maya are hunters unaffiliated with Tokko. A survivor from Machida, he "awakened" when he and Maya walked in on their parents being eaten by phantoms. Together they hunt phantoms and eat them to get stronger, absorbing their abilities, and aim to eventually kill them all.
• Mayu Araragi (荒羅木繭)
• She and her older brother Itsuto are hunters unaffiliated with Tokko. As survivor from Machida, they hunt phantoms together and eat them to get stronger by absorbing their abilities, aiming to eventually kill them all. She is adept at detecting phantoms and can insert any image she wants into someone else's mind, a sort of hallucination, although she can physically hold her own.
• Yukino Shiraishi (白石雪乃)
• She is accidentally saved from committing suicide by Itsuko and Mayu. After deducing she was being controlled by a phantom, the two learn students have been going missing at the university she works at and that there are rumors of "demons". It all started when Yukino discovered and took back the university what was in fact a Phantom hand from Machida. Her father began experimenting and learned humans can become a hybrid of human and phantom by eating them and began to turn the students as well, with some willingly agreeing. He planted a larva in Yukino to make her commit suicide when she walked in on him trying to force her mother to eat phantom and killed her when she refused.
• In the anime her character is different, she is often referred to as the "hottie from the crime lab" by Ranmaru's colleagues. Her mother died prior to the Machida incident, with her father becoming obsessed with his research soon after. Saya set her and Ranmaru up on a blind date that ended up in them finding out more about the phantoms. Later on, on a second date they were attacked by Yukino's father after he turned himself into a phantom/human hybrid. Leaving her job awhile after, Yukino gives Ranmaru the info behind the murderer of her mother who caused the Machida incident.
• Hiroki Rokujo (六条大樹)
• Sakura's younger brother. He was attacked by the Phantom during the Machida incident and was left in a vegetative state.

Media

External links

• Wowow's website for the anime
• Manga Entertainment UK's site for the anime