Review of Tokyo Revengers

I have mixed feelings, that's for sure. Ultimately, I enjoyed this show. However, some elements were frustrating and took away from this being as good as it could have been. First, the protagonist, Takemichi. We are introduced to him as a "weak and pathetic human." That is his character. It is clearly shown to us, but more so, it is told to us by Takemichi himself. He not only refers to himself this way constantly but even worse, he self-sabotages by getting into his own head and giving up before he's even tried. I understand that for story-telling sake, we need a "rock bottom" to startso that we can see the necessary character development that will inevitably ensue. But...even when he has moments of mental/physical growth, he still falls back on his weaknesses. Nearly every episode would involve him taking ten steps forward only to take twenty back. And more than that, he would often rely on/get saved by others to do what he should have done in the first place.

This was beyond irritating. I was literally yelling at the screen MULTIPLE TIMES and telling him to do something - I shouldn't be telling that to the supposed "hero" of the story. So much could have gone the right way, or been avoided, if he didn't hesitate.

Now, to be fair to Takemichi, there are times when he does initiate and does likable things, so he's not an all-around lousy protagonist. But, it doesn't stop him from being frustrating, either.

Second, the plot. Overall, I liked it, truly. There were a lot of emotional scenes that made me cry. There were a lot of painful situations for the characters that made me want to see the, hopefully, happier ending for them. I liked the problem that they had to face, I liked the journey that Takemichi had to go on to resolve that conflict. Though, it hasn't been accomplished yet. But with that, I fully didn't love it.

Reasons for that - there wasn't anything superrrr climatic, plot-twisty, jaw-dropping, though I know we are only in the first season.

Additionally, Takemichi's abilities. The idea is that he can jump back in the past 12 years, and that's all fine with me. But it's the effects of the time travel that were frustrating. Hinata talks about there being two different sides to him; there's a point where Takemichi mentions that his own past self has no idea what's going on. I mean, wouldn't you leave a note? When you're in your old bedroom, why wouldn't you leave a diary entry of what happened while the older self was taking over? Or mention things that might be important, like who to trust and who not to?

Because, every time he leaves to go back to the future, he has to trust that his past self will continue to live and act the way that he wants it to be. But if his younger self has no idea what's going on, how could he know what he's supposed to do? Orr...alternatively, Takemichi just stays in the past and makes sure himself that everything stays on the right course.

Also, memories. Every time Takemichi came back to the present, he had lost memories of the past 12 years. Although, this was somewhat contradicted because one time he said he could somewhat remember a past moment. So, can he or can he not? But also, why wouldn't Naoto get together evidence of what's happened so he could inform Takemichi about what he's missed out on? All the timelines were so different from one another, even who he was friends with and who he wasn't. How was Takemichi supposed to go about his day, his life, without knowing anything that preceded?

Third and last, the characters. I actually liked the characters. I enjoyed discovering their own relationships with one another and the unfolding relationships they had with Takemichi. I will be interested to see what happens with them all as things move forward.

With this all said, despite my cons, I am curious to see what happens in season two.