Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: In Japanese or Japan-influenced media, anything interesting happens only in Tokyo.

  • Straight: Monster of the Week only ever attack Tokyo.
  • Exaggerated: Tokyo is regularly gangbanged by aliens, demons, zombies, alien-demon-zombies...
  • Justified: The Japanese government hides Imported Alien Phlebotinum underneath Tokyo.
  • Inverted: While the rest of the world is busy holding back Alien Invasion, people go on with their lives in Tokyo.
  • Subverted: The Alien Invasion fleet descends from orbit and is moving toward Tokyo, but they attack Kyoto instead.
  • Double Subverted: ...and after they're done with Kyoto, they continue moving toward Tokyo.
  • Parodied: Tokyo Cataclysm Management, a government body that schedules disasters of the week.
  • Deconstructed: The Tokyo Fireball happened, the story is now about the people of Tokyo bitterly fighting for survival, depicted realistically.
  • Reconstructed: The survivors are powered by whatever [Imported [Alien Phlebotinum]] destroyed Tokyo. Adventure time!
  • Zig Zagged: Aliens invade Tokyo. Alice and Bob knew in advance that earth was going to be invaded and where else than Tokyo. So they try to stop the invasion before they can even land. But it turns out that at the same time many other cities are being invaded as well, confusing Alice and Bob. In the end, the main invasion was planned for Tokyo. But thanks to Alice and Bob, Tokyo is the only city able to hold them off using Imported Alien Phlebotinum that the Japanese Government was hiding underneath it's city. New aliens show up and they tell the heroes who saved Tokyo that the Phlebotinum is literally a weirdness magnet for this alien race but it's too late for them to destroy it now. In the mean time, world leaders flee to Tokyo and declare it the new capital of the Free World as Tokyo is the only city not in Alien hands and under weekly attack. After a few weeks Alice and Bob discover London has managed to free itself from Alien control by using an even bigger weapon made out of Imported Alien Phlebotinum it was hiding and it is quickly decided that since London now has a better defence, it now is centre of the Free world. After saving Britain from the Aliens and non-Japanese cities being the only places where the main action takes place, the aliens finally manage to get hold of the London weapon which could destroy planet earth in one big swoop. Bob and Alice then discuss that they should go immediately go back to Tokyo even though they're told not and that the aliens would more likely attack recently freed Washington D.C.
  • Averted: Orochi rise from his slumber, and attacks Tokyo... and New York, and Rio de Janeiro, and Moscow, and New Delhi, and Shanghai, and Jakarta.
  • Enforced: Anime.
  • Lampshaded:

JSDF Private: "Ye gods! They again? Do they think Tokyo is the most important city in the world or something?"

Back to Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe. Don't forget to send us genuine alien/demon/zombie souvenirs.

Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Tokyo_Is_the_Center_of_the_Universe/Playing_With?oldid=1438444"