Review of Tokyo Revengers

Toyko Revengers is like Re:Zero, but instead of a fantasy world with deep characters and a constantly twisting plot, its about a biker gang made up of kids with a particularly poor main protagonist. That said, if you were going to copy the homework of a show, Re:Zero is a good one. Though lets not get too ahead of ourselves. Story: Toyko Revengers is a slow burn, taking about 7-8 episodes before anything truly interesting starts to happen. In that time we learn of the general mechanics of the main plot, being how protagonist Takemichi's consciousness hops between the "present" timeline of 2017 and the"past" timeline 12 years ago in 2005. What happens by random chance (at least as far as we know) before a tragedy becomes a resolve in order to save everyone dear to him from either perishing or suffering terrible fates in the future. A noble goal, one that might even be engaging if it was even a shred original or attached to anything that wasn't a morainic cry baby, but I digress. Simply put the plot is split into 2 different timelines, that of the past and present, and each time something gets fixed in the past something else happens in the future to continue the tragedies. On one hand, this lends a certain mysterious touch to the ever expanding events of the past that we along with Takemichi slowly learn. The problem I have is with how they piece it together, as it follows the pattern of prevent this guy from dying so the gang doesn't become evil! Wait, that didn't help and only delayed the inevitable because someone else died? Shit guess we gotta go back and prevent that too! Every time on repeat. You'd think with the obvious drops of information we get the main character can infer that there is so much more that is going to happen and perhaps stay in the past, but I guess eventually we'll get that, one piece at a time for 12 years. Though I will praise it in the later half, as the butterfly effect starts to change things more dramatically and actually through Takemichi into more and more brutal and desperate situations. On top of that, the gang wars become more character centric around the myriad of much more interesting characters whose backstories carry the story. So far the development trends this story to being more interesting and engaging than the average seasonal anime, and the tease for a 2nd season might even propel this story into being great. But for now, its good, not great, but terrible, but good.

Characters:
Takemichi for a main character is an annoying shit where half the time he's on screen I physically cringe and the other half I'm screaming at him to nut up and buck up. God he's the worst lens to view this story simply because his first reaction to everything is crying. And he doesn't even bother to learn how to fight, considering he has his pick of people both probably willing and able to at least make sure he's not getting his shit kicked in at every opportunity or just standing there staring. Literally every other character is more engaging that Takemichi, and I have no idea if that's by design or not. Takemichi is not the protagonist of this story, that title goes to Mikey. Everything revolves around Mikey, considering he's the commander of the gang that ties into the deaths of many of Takemichi's friends. But not only that, its really him and Draken that carry the show given they are the ones with interesting backstories from the creation to the gang to the way they need each other to keep the other in check to the way they kick ass. If you want to watch a guy get his ass kicked is a particularly interesting way it's one of these two that's whooping those cheeks. However, they are held back I think by not engaging with the main plot more over something like Takemichi but instead seem to be treated more like a domino that will eventually fall in some fashion that will cause the downfall of hundreds of people. I want more, but I want more of them in the now. Though besides that the characters are also more interesting due to their backstories but just never get enough screen time, which is frustrating. The characters are the point, in combination with the butterfly effect they do make a decent show, I just wish in season 2 they focus more on the characters. Overall strong backstories for main characters, strong reasonings for their behaviors, strong cool factor for most side characters, but a shitty main protagonist that pulls it all down.

Music:
Eh, nothing to write home about. There are 2 j-rock openings and closing that I forget as soon as the sequence is over with. The actual soundtrack itself is also pretty average. No problems, but nothing interesting to note. Forgettable average.

Animation:
Not gonna lie, the animation is not the best. In fact there were multiple times I had to double check what I was watching that it wasn't lagging. Every scene that wasn't a fight, is choppy and plain. Even when it was good, it wasn't great. When it wasn't good, oh jeez it was funny how bad is looked. There were a couple times when I'd see Takemichi's face in the background and he literally has an eye looking one way and the other eye looking the other during a serious moment. Considering it was from the same studio that made 2016 BERSERK and Terraformers, well lets say that at least it didn't want me to barf. Painfully average yet again, for the most part a more casual watcher probably think it was simply fine, and that might be the highest praise I can give.

Fun:
I always like to write out why a show is fun. Because something can be so bad its good. Sometimes a show with a brilliant story is still sorta boring. Sometimes the point of a show is simply to show 2 people beating the shit out of each other, and that can be incredibly entertaining to watch. Tokyo Revengers is had it's high highs and low lows. It was actually really fun to watch whenever we got a some gang wars happen, and when the timeline twists in an unexpected way it does lend itself a gripping tension especially when shit goes down in the present. But it had its lows too, again with Takemichi crying instead of doing anything, or the love subplots. I think however, overall, it is an enjoyable watch if your willing to push through a slow beginning and a bad main character.

I know that this might seem like a harsh review but this is for the first season, there is a lot that can happen in the 2nd that could make the series really good, the seeds have been planted so to speak. The butterfly effect is interesting but the repetitive equivalent of picking things up domino by domino is kinda tedious. Takemichi makes me cringe, and ever minute he wasn't on screen was a minute I actually enjoyed the show. Watching a bunch or teenagers/young adult beat the stuffing out of each other with charismatic figureheads is always entertaining. If I'd give it a score, it'd be 6.5~7/10. There are better shows out there, but you might get some mileage out of this one if you enjoyed Black Clover lol.