Vio Shimokura’s Tokyo 24th Ward (2022– ) is a Japanese sci-fi and mystery anime series that premiered on Funimation. It tells the story of Shuta Aoi (Junya Enoki), Ran Akagi (Yuma Uchida), and Koki Suido (Kaito Ishikawa), who set their path in a different direction after receiving a mysterious phone call. Each of them receives visions of upcoming events and specific powers to save lives. It’s up to them whether to use their power to do good and discover their inner self. 

Episode 1 does a good job of exploring the character’s relationship with the environment and combining past and present. The opening sequence shows how dangerous Tokyo’s 24th Ward, a man-made island, has become. An example is a fire incident that happens at a school. The clarity of how or why the fire started in the first place is unclear. It just shows the school is already on fire to begin with, and adults and children are outside in the safe area. The firefighters are not there yet due to the traffic at a festival. Shuta takes the matter into his own hands, even though Ran and Koki urge him not to. He goes into the school to save Asumi Suido (Manaka Iwami), Koki’s sister, and Kozu Shirakaba (Rina Hidaka), Asumi’s classmate. He finds Asumi on her last breath by saving Kozu. He quickly attends to her needs, but it’s too late. She dies in his arms.

A year later, Ran, Shuta, and Koki meet again when they attend Asumi’s memorial and eat at Mari Sakuragi’s (Yui Makino), their friend’s restaurant. At the restaurant, their cell phones ring. They go to different private areas to answer their phones. All of a sudden, they feel something is happening to their eyes. They receive a vision that hasn’t happened yet. The parallel editing of them answering their cell phones and seeing a vision in soft focus creates an impression that their path in life and the island are turning in a different direction. 

A flashback to the school incident, as well as his childhood dream of becoming a hero, foreshadows the conflict in his life. Shuta hasn’t been a hero since Asumi died. However, he still protects his community when he sees a helpless person being bullied, which suggests that his childhood dream hasn’t faded away, as shown later in the episode. He’s now been given a situation to decide whether he will act as a hero to save lives or not.

Ran, Koki, Shuta, and Kaba, and their high school teacher, are stuck in traffic. Kaba wonders why the traffic is so busy today. He then remembers that it’s Kizuna Train’s opening today. Shuta wonders about the vision he had earlier and the rumors about the train. Suddenly, he blurts out the word “Daisy,” meaning Maria’s dog. Koki and Ran remember the word, and Koki asks Ran if he can hack into the transmitter. Ran tells him that it depends on the model. Koki tells him the model number of the transmitter he put on Daisy earlier, and the password. Ran then hacks into it on his laptop with flying colors and shows him the location.

The focus shifts to Maria at the Niimi Station. She carries her dog in a dog carrying bag, ready to take her dog to the vet. She sees protestors and journalists waiting for Mayor Gori Sudio, Koki’s father. One guy attacks the mayor and shouts out, “Abolish the Hazard Cast,” the surveillance system. Shuta calls Mari to ask her where she’s at when someone bumps into her, and her dog’s carrying bag slides out of her shoulder and onto the floor. Daisy starts running as Mari chases after her.

The focus now shifts back to Shuta, Ran, Koki, and Kaba, stuck in the traffic. Shuta immediately gets out of the car and begins leaping from car to car. Ran and Koki get out of the car to see where he’s heading. Ran then throws him and Koki a wireless earpiece. As Shuta continues to reach Nijimi Station, he discovers his superpower. The same goes for Ran and Koki as they work on their tasks to save Mari and Daisy. The question is where their superpower comes from. Is it from Asumi, whom Shuta believes, or is it from the computer system that a woman is monitoring everything as shown in the prologue? 

Tension and anxiety are increased by shifting back and forth between two or more scenes of the situation, with the music in the background and the shots from different angles. A person with a camera spots a girl and a dog on a railroad. Kaba’s employee contacts the control room as Kaba suggests, followed by making the right decision to save Maria and Daisy. Shuta is on a time schedule since there’s little time left to save Mari and Daisy as the self-driving is heading their way. 

Episode 1 is worth watching. The story is good even though it gives away who the bad and good guys are. The post-credit scene shows Shuta, Koki, and Ran’s points of view about the mysterious phone call. Shuta really believes it’s Asumi who’s talking to them on the phone, but not Koki and Ran. They think that someone fabricated her voice, which is a possibility. The post-credit ending shows a screen that someone has been monitoring everything with a woman’s voice telling others to choose a future.

Rating: 8/10