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It’s the year 2020 AD, and Tokyo II is a city infested with crime. Women can no longer go out in the streets alone without being victimized. Not wanting their daughter to suffer the same fate, Tsukasa Kozuki’s cop parents raise her as a boy. When they are suddenly killed by one of the yakuza’s in-fights, Tsukasa is left orphaned on the streets along with her three brothers. With no other options, she goes to the only person she can think of for help: pokerface Ryuji Shirogami, her classmate of 8 years and also the head leader of the powerful yakuza group, Kuryugumi. Ryuji, whose father was also a victim of the same yakuza fight, agrees to take her on as his personal bodyguard. As they set out to find their enemy, Ryuji slaps an increasing amount of debt onto Tsukasa, using all manner of ploys to keep the reluctant Tsukasa by his side (source: Baka-Updates Manga).

T  H  O  U  G  H  T  S

Tokyo Crazy Paradise: 9.3/9.6

The truth of the matter is I read this because of the mangaka. For those who do not know Nakamura Yoshiki wrote the Skip Beat manga (one of my favorites). Since I realize that TCP is complete (and no more waiting for chapters to be scanlated), I decided to give it a go.

If I were to be honest, in terms of how good it is (without being bias), I would give TCP 3/5 stars. However, taking into consideration how much I liked/enjoyed it and how much I came to love the characters, I would give it a rating of 4/5 stars.

There were quite a number of things which I did not like about TCP, but mostly I don’t like it when Tsukasa’s front is shown (there were a lot of scenes!). IT was such a shock to me because I started reading TCP with the thought ‘this is the author of the awesome Skip Beat’ and poof! my expectations were shattered. Also, there were things that were not that clear (like when did Ryuji learned of Tsukasa’s gender? Was it back when he saved her from drowning). Another thing, I was expecting for Ryuji to learn of Tsukasa”s identity as the manga goes along but it was made clear at the beginning that he already knew.

When I first started reading this manga, it take me quite sometime to get accustomed to the illustration, dialogue and story. I was a bit disappointed to say the least. HOWEVER, after I’m done with TCP, I felt like aside from all the criticisms I said, I still liked it.

There were redeeming factors to this manga. They were so good that I am willing to let it overshadow the faults I found. I read this for four days (almost non-stop). I can not rest until I see to its end.

What is to like about TCP? Well the characters definitely. Ryuji, Tsukasa, Kawajima, Akira, Kozuki brothers, Shiva, etc. Even if it was a bit hard to believe that at 14 they were already like that but still idc. In my opinion, despite the flaws, TCP has heart. It made me realize a lot of things and at a certain point it made me bawl so hard (especially when ‘he’ died). TCP reminded me of Skip Beat at times, though of course if I were to compare the two, Skip Beat is the more improved version (probably the author refined some of her ideas, like hey TCP came in 1996, that was so long ago).

To conclude, I was feeling sentimental when I read TCP’s last chapter. It felt like I was not yet ready to see it end. IDK, I wanted to see Tsukasa becoming the Seisai, that if I can’t see it on my own, I will refuse to believe that TCP already ended. You know what I am feeling right now? It’s as if Tsukasa and Ryuji is still out there continuing their story 🙂 Tokyo Crazy Paradise undoubtedly became a part of me 🙂