Review of Tokyo Revengers
If you could go back in time and change anything, what would you do? It’s a question and concept as old as humanity itself, yet it constantly appears in media time after time. Why? Because it’s integral to the human condition, we constantly want to change our mistakes or do something we didn’t get a chance to. The fact that we can’t, is what makes life some meaningful. Every encounter, every action counts. Despite it being an old concept, Tokyo Revengers does an excellent job of presenting it with a rather unique twist. The MC being able to time-travel via connection to his deceased exgf’s brother was something I hadn’t seen before and really enjoyed. The gang warfare and logistical management of a gang aspects were fun and original. While at times the story is far fetched and kind of unbelievable, it has a lot of fun moments that allow you to overlook that.
Personally, the idea that 12-15 year olds can run criminal empires without their parents knowing or law enforcement intervening is laughable at best, subpar writing at worst, but it’s anime. Who cares. At the end of the day, we just want stories that provide entertainment and allow us to escape. Tokyo Revengers has that in spades. Once you make it past 15 year olds looking like 25 year olds and 25 year olds looking like 14 year olds, you’ll find a really interesting supernatural time travel storyline. The biggest highlight for me was the strategic mind games between the MC and the antagonist. It felt a bit like a chess match. I like the fact that the MC lacks any real powers or strength of his own and instead has to rely on his ability to form relationships with people from totally different walks of life in order to change the future.
The show can be a bit slow at times. There’s definitely episodes over the two cours that feel like nothing much happened, but it’s often in an effort to build up future events/arcs. The action sequences are…. pretty bad to say the least. The climax of the series(final 4 episodes) really looked like a slideshow at times. I’m not sure if it was because of the pandemic or not, but the studio really dropped the ball during the Bloody Halloween episodes. That said, there’s really not a tremendous amount of action in the show. It’s mainly mindgames and exposition, which I don’t mind, but if that’s not your thing you’ve been warned. There’s a few fights, but the focus is on the story and the MC’s growth.
Tokyo Revengers grew on me week after week. For the first 4 weeks, I was pretty uninterested, but of course kept watching. As the plot began to unfold and things became more clear about the antagonist, I got more absorbed into the anime. It eventually became one of my most anticipated of the week. By now, TR has surely become one of the biggest shows of the year, and honestly for good reason. I think it’s one of the few shonen series to deserve the hype it’s got. An underdog loveable MC that makes you want to root for him and a mysterious time travel ability, along with some edgy gang banging teens is a pretty cool combo.
Tokyo Revengers gets 8 out of 10.