Los Jóvenes Titanes: Misión Tokio

I am a big fan of Teen Titans as a series, and I generally love the DC animated movies. So really it was a perfect combination. Apart from the ending being the predictable side, Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo is great. The animation is full of colour, a good mix of atmospheric and vibrant, and fluidity, and the music is lively, always memorable and sometimes haunting. The writing is snappy, funny and smart, with some intelligent intensity also when needed, and the story is peppered with amusing moments like Beastboy singing karaoke and exciting action sequences as well as a sense of conflict. The main characters are likable, and the villain is a very convincing antagonist. The voice work is strong and done with gusto. In conclusion, a great movie, just as good as the series and perfect to go with it too. 9/10 Bethany Cox

The Skibz has always been a major fan of 'Teen Titans' (mainly the series; I've never even read the old 60's DC series, but maybe because I'm just a young punk); he's seen all the episodes, read all the 'Teen Titans Go!' comics, collects a couple of little figures (purely for decorative purposes to impress the nonexistent ladies that visit his "pad")...even to the point of writing fanfic. The point *is* is that he's a fan.

After five awesome seasons, 'Teen Titans' has been cancelled, and since it never really received a proper series finale, what better time than to make full-length movie, even if said movie does take place between seasons four and five? Needless to say, the Skibz had his doubts. But, despite what he believed, he lined up 90 minutes early on July 22nd in order to see the world premiere of 'Teen Titans: Trouble In Tokyo', with about 2,500 other rabid fans. After a brief introduction by Glen Murakami, David Slack, and the obviously stoned Greg Cipes, the film began.

Standing...ovation.

Yes, 'Teen Titans: Trouble In Tokyo' meets every expectation that one would have towards an awesome 'Teen Titans' movie. The Skibz shall now review it.

The plot...the plot is thus: A mysterious, seemingly indestructible superninja called PsychoTech attacks the Titans's city, bombing the hell out of everything, including Titans Tower. Having captured him, the gang learns that it is, in fact, a *Japanese* ninja (who'd-a thunkit?), who confesses that he was sent by a figure known as 'Brushogun', right before he vanishes into thin air. The Titans decide to take matters into their own hands and take a trip to Tokyo and find this 'Brushogun', much to the dismay of Beast Boy and Cyborg, who wish the trip to be nothing more than a much-needed vacation. Upon arriving, they are met by a shady detective (I don't remember his name) and his army of supercops, who informs the team that 'Brushogun' is nothing more than an urban legend, and that they are better off just going back home. But the Titans are not to be brushed off that easily, so they go their separate ways to find out more about the mysterious villain known as 'Brushogun'; a quest that just might cost them their lives. But who cares about that? The *real* plot of this movie is the relationship between Robin and Starfire, and what exactly is to become of said relationship. I'm not going to give a definitive answer, because The Skibz ain't no stoolie, but I will definitely state that the immortal question 'Will Robin and Starfire ever get together' is finally answered.

Anyhoo, this film is more than just a longer version of an episode. The plot is much more complex and thematic than you would find on television. The art is beautiful; the Tokyo backdrops are particularly pretty. Um...what else? Well, it's just simply pure 'Teen Titans'; a perfect ending to an amazing show. The movie is not without it's flaws, however. The first half-hour is particularly heavy with the comedy and the wacky animation, it puts off the actual plot for too long (however, it also happens to have some of the funniest moments the show's ever had; for instance, Starfire striking a 'Sailor Moon' pose, Beast Boy singing a badly translated karaoke version of the theme song, and "Super Twinkle Donkey Gum"). Another flaw, although I don't think anyone would mind, is that parts of it are really predictable; you know who the bad guy is from the first couple minutes, but it didn't really distract me or take me out of the movie. A strong point of 'Teen Titans' has always been the characters and their development. In 'Trouble In Tokyo', Robin and Starfire are really the only touched upon and the only ones to show any emotion. Cyborg and Beast Boy are really only there for comic relief, and Raven probably has the least amount of screen time, but I'm trying not to complain...it was a very entertaining movie. And I have two personal problems: one, doesn't anybody find it really creepy that Beast Boy tries to have relationships with *human* women? I just think...ew. And two, what else am I going to watch now that 'T.T.' is off the air? The new season of 'The Batman' looks promising...

I have to keep this review short, so I'll sum it all up in a quote a guy who sat behind me said: "Dude, this is f***ing brilliant". This is a magnificent addition to the 'Teen Titans' franchise, and will definitely not disappoint fans of the series.

I could watch a million more episodes of teen Titans. I could watch it in a movie. I just want more teen Titans. I will forever want more teen Titans.

Following on an attack on their home base by a mysterious assailant named Saico-Tek (Keonoe Young), a group of five teenage superheroes known as the Teen Titans consisting of martial artist/acrobat Robin (Scott Menville), shapeshifter Beast Boy (Greg Cipes), half man half machine Cyborg (Khary Payton), alien girl with energy burst powers Starfire (Hynden Walch), and witch Raven (Tara Strong) set off for Tokyo, Japan looking for into the one clue Saico-Tek gave before he vanished, a villain named "Brushogan". Far from home and in unfamiliar territory, the Titans try to seek out the elusive Brushogan while dealing with Tokyo's many distractions and the no nonsense attitude of Commander Daizo (Keone Young), head of the law enforcement group Tokyo Troopers.

The Teen Titans animated series had a very successful run as one of Cartoon Network's most enduring and legacied series. While its creation was inspired by the success of Bruce Timm's Justice League and it took a departure in art and storytelling approaches from the Timmverse, Teen Titans was embraced by fans and helped to re-establish the popularity of the superhero team which had fallen out of favor since the cancellation of The New Teen Titans comic in the early 90s and mixed reaction to continuation such as The Titans comic series from 1999. 2003's Teen Titans animated series not only lead to a new iteration of the team in comic form, but also helped to established lesser known heroes like Beast Boy, Starfire, Raven, and Cyborg and without this show establishing these characters it's a near certain bet you wouldn't have developments like Cyborg being a member of the Justice League (though I know some people aren't fans of that). The show was initially only supposed tor run for 4 seasons with the adaptation of the "Terror of Trigon" initially positioned as the series capper, only for popularity to see the series extended for a fifth season which while very good ended on a frustrating finale that left no sense of closure and felt like part 1 of a story where the other parts just don't exist. Despite the series ending on an abrupt note (possibly because of conflicts with Toy Licensees), 8 months after Things Change we got the TV movie Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, a stand alone adventure for the Titans that serves as an alternate finale for the team. Trouble in Tokyo is better than Things Change, but the movie is dragged down by the weight of being a finale which probably wasn't the original intention.

As with the TV show, the five Titans are likable and given time to shine character wise. The show created a solid dynamic for its five central characters and we do get that dynamic on full display in both the team's interactions and the fight scenes. The Tokyo setting is decent all things considered, as the environments are all varied and unique, but most of the time it feels like a very superficial recreation of Tokyo with a lot of dated elements brought in. One sequence features background characters in Ganguro fashion (an outdated fashion concept of giving oneself dark skin and light hair that was seen as a "punk" thing to do in Japan) that had died out with the 90s. Aside from some rather odd inclusions of outdated social/cultural trends, pretty much everything you expect from a Teen Titans adventure is on display.

Where Trouble in Tokyo struggles is in its burden of being a send-off to these characters. If I had to guess I'd say Trouble in Tokyo probably began production before Season 5 of the series and was intended as a direct-to-video expansion of the franchise similar to how The Batman TV series had the movie The Batman vs. Dracula, because there's not really any attempt at closing the book on any dangling threads be they story or character based. The one exception to this is in Robin and Starfire's relationship where they finally get a sense of closure on their relationship tat has been established and built throughout the series and it's done so in a satisfying way. Aside from that however this feels like a longer version of one of the standalone episodes of the show. The central mystery behind Brushogan will be pretty easy for most viewers to solve (especially since there's only one character it could possibly be) and the movie feels pretty far removed from the series with not many callbacks to continuity (save for some background references) save for the Starfire/Robin relationship. This movie was obviously never intended to be a finally to the show and it's really only because of poor timing it ended up wearing that.

If you're looking for satisfying closure to one of the most influential and beloved cartoons of the 2000s, you won't find that here. But if you're looking for one last go around with said cartoon Trouble in Tokyo delivers on all the points that made Teen Titans so well regarded. The villain isn't one of the Titan's best and the film includes references that were dated even when it was first released, but it is nice to revisit these characters even if there's a lingering stink from Things Change.

Just another peak of Teen Titans, too bad this is the last good thing from the OG Teen Titas before that atrocity of Teen Titans Go!....................................................