Episode Reviews - Trouble in Tokyo
Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo
Original Airdate - September 15th, 2006 (Cartoon Network)
Original Release Date - February 6th, 2007 (DVD Release)
When a high-tech ninja attacks Titans Tower, Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven
and Beast Boy spring into action. Robin finds out that the ninja was sent by a
mysterious and menacing Japanese criminal known as Brushogun, and the Teen
Titans travel to Tokyo to track the villain down.
Reviews by Bird Boy
Media by Bird Boy |
Titans
Staff
Written by David Slack
Directed by Michael Chang, Ben Jones, Matt Youngberg
Exec. Producer Sander Scwhartz
Producer Glen Murakami, Linda M. Stenier
Associate Prodcer AJ Vargas
Casting and Voice Direction by Andrea Romano
Music by Kristopher Carter, Michael McCuistion, Lolita Ritmanis
Animation by Dongwoo Animation Co., LTD.
Titans Voices
Greg Cipes as Beast Boy
Scott Menville as Robin
Khary Payton as Cyborg
Tara Strong as Raven
Hynden Walch as Starfire
Robert Ito as Mayor, Bookseller
Janice Kawaye as Nya-Nya, Timoko
Yuri Lowenthal as Scarface
Cary Tagawa as Brushogun
Keone Young as Daizo, Saico-Tek, Chef |
Review
Many will find it surprising that I never watched Trouble in
Tokyo until it came time for me to review the DVD. It aired on
Cartoon Network months and months ago (September, to be exact) and
it had repeat airings, so it wasn’t a case of missing it—heck, I had
the thing recorded and ready to watch whenever. I had the time, but
the desire to actually watch the film just wasn’t there. At the
time, I was still burnt out on the Titans rapid five-year production
and airing schedule and didn’t care to revisit the crew anytime
soon. Even watching it now I feel it was too soon for me to join the
Titans on another adventure, but this time it was mandatory for me
hitch along.
The plot of this feature-length Titans adventure revolves
around a mysterious villain from Japan showing up in Jump City and
wreaking havoc. After defeating him, the Titans learn that he was
sent by the mysterious Brushogon. Traveling to Tokyo, the Titans
hunt down Brushogon to get their answers and amidst their tumultuous
journey they create new allies, villains and learn a few things
about themselves (well, Starfire and Robin do anyway). After
debuting at SDCC and then airing on Cartoon Network month later, the
plot and details are pretty much everywhere by now, but just in case
you don’t know the big reveal at the end, I’ll leave that plot point
up to you to be surprised by.
For as long as a wait and big to-do this film received by the fans
and Warner/Cartoon Network, it, for me, kind of fell flat. Sure it
was nice to see the Titans again, but somehow the airing of it on
television almost half a year before its DVD release made this film
feel much less special to me. Watching it, it really felt like a
long, drawn out episode of the series with really nothing making it
worthy of being a seventy-minute long ride. Sure, the animation, as
always, was astounding and great to watch (as was the fight
choreography). Yeah, the music was a pleasure to listen to
(particularly the end credits music with the Titans singing verses
of the theme), but so much of it was filler that it astounds me. The
plot could have been easily done in a two-part episodes of the Teen
Titans show…in fact, this is almost what it feels like. Had the
Titans not left their city, it almost certainly would have felt like
a padded episode (most of the padding can be placed on Cyborg and
Beast Boy as their plots were nothing more than quick humor).
As mentioned before the animation is incredibly nice in this film.
Not only is there a fair share of pans making Tokyo feel larger than
life but it also manages to bring in some wicked fight scenes to
life. The animation style Teen Titans uses doesn’t change a
bit in the feature film and it manages to throw in a fair share of
“Anime-isms” without making it overkill. Particularly nice to
witness was the full 2D animation with no CGI (from what I could
tell)—having just come off of watching The Invincible Iron Man,
I was in no mood to see more mediocre CGI (which went along with
Iron Man’s mediocre story, but that’s for another review!).
The music was also a wonderful part of the film, even if it did feel
as if it was a departure from the show's usual theme. The music in
the opening of the film remained Titans-esque, but once we get to
the movie intro and into Japan, we get a much more Western-sounding
style (obviously). While this fits the movies theme, it almost feels
alien to see the Titans fighting with this style of music. Still,
between the Titan 5 singing the Puffy AmiYumi theme song and the
other small musical cues it feels like home enough to strike a
balance between the two very different music styles.
I don’t have any other major issues with the film, as it served it’s
purpose as a final Titans adventure, even adding onto the
characterization of Robin and Starfire more (something I’m glad they
left till the movie, as seeing this go on for a season or more in
the series would be a bit too annoying to watch [Smallville
has jilted me into hating “destined to be soul mates!”
relationships]). Having been burned out on the Titans prior, I guess
I was hoping for a more fulfilling, well-rounded story cap to the
series, but instead I got a shallow, albeit entertaining, movie in
the series ending’s place.
Overall if you’re a fan of the show, the films a must-see. It may
even bring in a few new viewers to the series for those who haven’t
had their fair share exposition to the show, which is great both for
their animation library as well as sales of the DVD sets (season
three in April, folks!). Since Tokyo is commanding a the same
MSRP as a season set of Teen Titans, the price is a bit
harder to swallow for much less content—at the very least the film
is worth a rental and maybe a purchase down the line when the price
drops.
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