Tokyo Revengers (2021- ) is a Japanese manga series that premiered on HBO Max. It tells the story of Takemichi Hanagaki (Yuuki Chin, A.J. Deckles–English voice), a 26-year-old guy who holds a part-time job. On the news, he finds out about the death of his ex-girlfriend Hinata Tachibana (Azumi Waki, Lizzie Freeman-English version) and travels 12 years into the past to save her and to stop the Toman, a biker gang, from turning into a criminal gang. The shots from different angles and the sound intensify the situation and the character’s reactions. The dialogue, flashback montages, scenes, and point of view provide information about the character’s personality, memories and backstory. The dramatic emphasis evokes a lasting emotional response that is contrary to the method that is used for time travel.
An example is when Hanagaki goes back to the present after he saved Draken from dying on a certain day. The prologue of Episode 12 shows that his friend Akkun (Takuma Terashima-Japanese voice, John Omohundro-English voice) is still alive. He’s no longer a member of the Toman gang who did him wrong in another timeline, but a hairstyle assistant. Takemichi is very happy that he finally changed Akkun’s fate. The use of close-ups, point-of-view shots, extreme close-ups, and the intercut shots show their emotions and body language.
Detective Naoto Tachibana (Ryōta Ōsaka-Japanese voice, Mina Hirata-young, Griffin Puatu-English voice) calls Takemichi to tell him that his sister Hinata is still alive and is coming to pick him up to see her together. Takemichi is happy to hear that and thinks that his trip to the past wasn’t a waste of time after all. The cross-cutting conversation between him and Naoto and a flashback to the prologue of Episode 1 shows their emotional changes.
Outside the apartment building where Hinata lives, Hanagaki asks Naoto if Hinata has changed. Naoto tells him yes. She’s an adult now since they broke up 12 years ago. The camera zooms in on Hanagaki in a single shot, along with two imaginative scenes later on to show why he doesn’t want to see Hinata. The first scene is when he and Naoto are waiting for an elevator inside the apartment building. He imagines her coming out of her apartment to hug him and to say that she misses him. The second scene is when he’s walking behind Naoto to her apartment. He imagines her breaking up with him, which creates a sense of doubt in him. Takemichi tells Naoto that he’s not going to see Hinata even though he changes the present. He leaves and begins to rethink his life.
On his way out of the apartment building, Hanagaki almost bumps into someone. He says sorry without knowing whom he bumps into until he looks at her. He’s startled to see Hinata and wonders if he’s dreaming as the frame shifts to soft focus to give the scene a dreamy quality. Hinata calls his name as his eyes begin to fill with tears. The scene then shifts back and forth between the memories of them being together and his intense reaction to those memories.
The following scenes slowly heighten the complexity of Hanagaki’s mission to keep the plot and the main character moving. An unforeseen event occurs when things seem to be changing for the better. Sitting in her apartment, Hanagaki and Hinata don’t know what to say to each other except to comment on the weather. Naoto decides to leave the two alone, but ends up taking them for a ride. Later, he gets a call about a police case and takes off, leaving them with his car.
Hinata drives Hanagaki to a park where she used to go with her lover. Hanagaki wonders who her lover is. He doesn’t think that she still has feelings for him, even though she does. The necklace she’s wearing and the flashback scene of the conversation between him and her mother are hints that she still loves him. However, he overthinks too much and thinks that it’s impossible for her to love him because of his circumstances. Hinata confesses her love to him and asks why he broke up with her. He doesn’t know what to say except that he has to go to the bathroom and waits for him in the car.
At this point, the sequence is assumed to be focusing on their relationship. There are no foreseen scenes to indicate an unexpected ending until someone shows up. Walking out of the bathroom, Hanagaki meets Shuji Hanma (Takuya Eguchi-Japanese voice, Zeno Robinson-English voice), a trusted assistant of the main antagonist. Hanma expresses his disappointment at seeing him in public and not in the car, then turns around and walks away. Takemichi doesn’t recognize him or feel that there’s something wrong until he sees a symbol on his hand. He rushes to the parking lot to save Hinata, only to see that the end result hasn’t changed: Akkun and Hinata still die, though in a different way than in previous episodes. Akkkun kills her and himself by crashing into Naoto’s car at a high speed.
The method used for time travel belongs more in the fantasy genre than in the science fiction genre. It relies more on magical power to open the door for time travel than on technology. An explanation of why Hanagaki isn’t able to travel beyond 12 years in the past isn’t clarified. Does it have something to do with finding the root cause of the problem to alter the present or the future? The same can be said for the amount of time Hanagaki spent in the past, which corresponds to the amount of time he disappears in the present. For instance, Hanagaki can travel to the past and present only by shaking hands with the adult or young Naoto. Shaking hands with others wouldn’t work. It’s like Takemichi and Naoto have some kind of magical power for time travel to only 12 years in the past.
Season 1 is an enjoyable series. Each episode explains Takemichi’s purpose for traveling to the past and the challenges he has to face that slowly develop his inner character. The season finale ends with another unexpected outcome to keep the story moving forward for next season.
Rating: 8.8/10
