Long Live Toman!

I was genuinely surprised by Tokyo Revengers. After watching the teaser trailer on Crunchyroll a month before the show was set to air, it became one of the animes I was looking forward to the most. As a big fan of the Flash, time travel is one of my favorite storytelling themes, in regard to reversing the wrongs of the past, hoping for a better future.

The story follows Hanagaki Takemichi, a man in his 30s who leads a mundane life. In addition to a job he hates, no respect, and no-drip, he discovers that his only girlfriend in life, Hinata, has been killed by Toman's local gang. He wonders where life went wrong, which triggers his midlife crisis, and he reaches a lower point of his depression; he suddenly gets thrown in front of a moving subway train and awakens 12 years in the past.

When this incident occurred, I thought we might get a glimpse of his badass side 12 years ago. However, this is not the case, as Takemitchi gets his middle school dumbass jumped by Toman members. I won't spoil too much of the plot, as I think every anime fan should check it out. Instead, I'll list the reasons why Tokyo Revengers has become one of my all-time favorite animes of 2021.

Characters

The show does a good job of grounded character development that allows you to empathize with what each character goes through, even if they are middle schoolers running a badass motorcycle gang. (Hold on, where are the teachers and adults? We haven't even seen any of them in the past?). I have always liked characters who aren't completely good—those are my favorites. As such, it is a more accurate reflection of society. Not entirely good.

Our protagonist, a crybaby who is constantly getting his ass handed to him, is contrasted by the stoical Draken and Mikey, both of whom are ever endearing figures.

Draken and Mickey are my favorite characters as head and vice head of Toman, both unfortunate victims, fighting for where they call home. In the end, all they want is to belong to people they have chosen as family. It is extremely important to the Toman gang to stand up for one another and stand by their brothers. Takemitchi slowly begins to come out of his loser shell as a result of this. (Slow is understating the truth, Takemitchi needs training quickly)

As for the villain, the show does a really good job of setting him up before you meet him in the past. Kisaki Tetta is one of the worst. The puppet master, who is slowly taking over Toman in the past and the reason why Hinata dies in the future. He is constantly operating in the shadows, making him a hard villain to expose.

In the future, his involvement with Toman will turn the biker gang next door into hellraisers that have no code. To protect Hinata and Toman's future, Takemitchi must prevent Kisaki from gaining any power in the past.

Fight scenes

Although there are times when the action moves too quickly, this does not hurt the story. Rather it propels it forward. Fights are mostly about the defense of someone’s honor, reuniting lost friends, or defending Toman. When there are fight scenes, our main character is doing nothing, crying, and talking to himself instead of throwing punches because he has no combat experience. (Someone train him, please!)

From Mikey's roundhouse kick 3000 (in flip flops) to Draken's strength of 12 men and the rest of Toman's team of badasses, fans of action will still enjoy this anime.

Story

Takemitchi is fighting not just to save his girlfriend from the past but also for his redemption. His future is also on the line. The fact that Takemitchi is a loser without courage and fighting skills frustrates him deeply. He chose to be miserable to protect himself from chaos and he wants to change that.

In this way, he has a second chance to fight (literally) for the future he wants. One in which he is not a coward and goes after his desires. (Takemitchi has gained the power of self-respect!).

The story of Takemitch is one that many can relate to, and it makes me feel proud when he achieves a breakthrough.

Season 1 concluded recently, and the manga is flying off the shelves. As a whole, it's a great story about brotherhood, believing in yourself, and the power of choice.

It gets a 9/10 from me, and I'm really looking forward to season 2, as well as reading the manga soon.