Tokyo 24th Ward is an exciting and thought-provoking sci-fi anime series of the Winter 2022 anime season, taking place on a fictional island ward just off the coast of Tokyo. This 24th ward is mired in bitter controversy as its citizens prepare to get integrated into the city, and the presence of futuristic technology might actually make things worse, not better.
This sci-fi anime, taking place in an alternate timeline in the early 2020s, embraces core cyberpunk themes when it comes to society's strained relationship with technology and authority, and any sci-fi anime fan will be curious to see what kind of tech defines the world of Tokyo 24th Ward. Episode 9.5, a recap episode, reviewed each piece of technology and how it all made the 24th ward what it is.
The Hazard Cast System Is A Rapid-Response Surveillance System
The first major piece of technology introduced in Tokyo 24th Ward is the Hazard Cast surveillance system, which is like a more transparent version of the pre-crime system found in 2002's Minority Report. Rather than seeing the future to prevent crimes, the extensive Hazard Cast system simply monitors Tokyo's 24th ward to watch out for crimes or accidents in progress, and this allows police officers and other first responders to hurry to the scene with unusual speed.
With this system, crime still happens, but the perpetrators are less likely to get away with it, and there will always be concrete evidence that the crime took place, which prevents abuse of the Hazard Cast system or arresting people for no good reason. Despite that transparency, the Hazard Cast system is unpopular in the 24th ward, and Aoi Shuta's friend, the hacker/ graffiti artist Akagi Ran, despises it.
Cipher Allows The RBG Boys To See The Future
Early in Tokyo 24th Ward, protagonist Aoi Shuta and his friends Koki and Ran received a phone call from their dead friend Suido Asumi, and this phone call granted the three boys the power to see the future with cybernetic enhancements in their eyes. This power is like a sci-fi take on My Hero Academia's Quirks, and with these "Quirks," Aoi and his two friends prevented disaster when an automated train went out of control.
Several times now, Aoi and his friends have seen visions of the future when Asumi called them again, although it's up to them to actually take action and save the future, and the boys don't always succeed. In more recent episodes, Ran's graffiti artist friend 0th explained that this tech came straight from a high-tech program called Cipher, and it has connections to the KANAE system too.
The KANAE System Turns The Dead Into Living Computers
After a point, mayor Suido Gori of the 24th ward decided that the Hazard Cast system on its own was no longer sufficient to police the ward, so he unveiled the controversial KANAE system in its place. Unlike Hazard Cast, the KANAE system really can see the future, and mayor Gori intends to stamp out all crime once and for all with this powerful but potentially tyrannical system. But there's a secret -- the KANAE system is partially powered by Suido Asumi's body, with her living brain processing vast amounts of data to view the future with forbidden technology.
Asumi's brother Koki was shocked to learn the truth, and Tsuzusagawa told him in confidence that Asumi's mind is still alive inside the KANAE system, and it's in agony. If mayor Gori learned about that, he would be overwhelmed with guilt. Soon, Gori may learn the error of his ways and redeem himself -- at a cost.
Drug D Can Influence The Mind With Mobile Phones
Ran's friend, a hacker known as Kunai, didn't make it as a graffiti artist, so he decided to develop an app called Di-VA to help people. This cutting-edge app can read biometric data from anyone carrying a cPhone and play the correct music to soothe their anxiety or distress -- a form of sonic therapy. Unfortunately, Howard Win bought this tech from Kunai and twisted it into a weapon known as "Drug D."
This strange new app works in the opposite way to Di-VA, transmitting sounds to distress and aggravate the listener, driving them into a violent frenzy. This led the authorities to suspect that a powerful drug was seeping into the streets of the 24th ward. Howard's plan was to use Drug D to illustrate how lawless and terrible the ward's Shantytown was and use that as an excuse to evict every resident, tear the place down and replace it all with a casino. Now it's up to the RBG boys to unravel the mystery of Drug D and solve it -- if they can.
