Tokyo Revengers: Wait, It’s Actually Time Travel?
Tokyo Revengers was developed in April of 2021 by studio Liden Films. Adapted from the manga of the same name created by Ken Wakui. The show revolves around Takemichi Hanagaki, an ex-delinquent who finds himself in a dead-end part of his life. A news report one day mentions his Ex-girlfriend and her brother ending up passing due to gang conflict. On that same day, he finds himself in a near-death experience being transported back in the past 12 years.
Using his knowledge, he attempts to repair his relationship and life with his Ex Hinata Tachibana. All the while jumping back and forth working with her brother, now alive, in order to ensure Hinata survives into the future. All while repairing his old life through even more delinquent actions.
I was absolutely blindsided by this show. I went in seeing the cover art thinking it was going to be just another high school story. Boy was I wrong! Seriously if you told me this show had time travel I’d have laughed at you. Seriously, this show has such a personality and flare to it. After watching Tokyo Ghoul I needed something a little dumber and simpler. I was told this show was pretty simple but well done. It’s nothing like Wind Breaker which I covered already I can definitely see that, but this has more stakes in terms of story and interpersonal connections.
It’s always fun to see a time travel show where we actually get to see the effects of what happens in the future instead of letting the whole conflict play out and seeing the results at the end. It’s a rinse-repeat type beat and yet it’s done so well and kept nice and fresh.
Now time travel always comes with its own problems from a scientific storytelling point. How could Tachibana interact with Hanagaki in the future and send him back? Would he then be gone once everything was right? Inherently nullifying his meddling in the situation causing nothing to be rewritten in the first place? Time travel is one of the stickiest concepts for film. Many ways to skin a cat, I guess.
The fights in this show from what I can tell are rather lacklustre. At least for the first three to four episodes. Wind Breaker gave us some amazing fights right off the rip and was done really well. But lacked any real substance to the story. While Tokyo Revengers has the opposite problem. A show about gang violence without gang violence. Such a strange concept but I feel their main focus is the time travel aspect.
The characters themselves are pretty fun to interact with as well. Each one has their own quirks and personalities that shine when they mingle with each other. Even temporary side characters have somewhat decent depth to their character. Most come in the form of their hairstyles, honestly, if this one show had anything going for them it would be the wild hairstyles that make them look like they came out of the Yakuza games. It’s hilarious.
All in all this show was a breath of fresh air with a nice high-stakes concept with a light and fun environment to experiment in. It’s a great show and if you want to wrack your brain on time travel give this show your attention. It’s well done with many seasons behind its belt.