This is my first impression of Tokyo Revengers, a new anime that follows the story of Takemichi Hanagaki – a young man who falls into despair and depression as he learns that the only girlfriend he ever had, Hinata, has been killed by ruthless and notorious Tokyo Manji Gang.
The day following the news of her death, Takemichi is waiting at a train station and is pushed onto tracks by a mysterious figure. He closes his eyes and braces himself, expecting imminent impact and death. Upon opening them again, he finds he has time travelled back 12 years to his former, schoolboy self.
Now that he is “alive” in a time when Hinata is still alive, he decides to take revenge for the life of his older self, whilst basking in the best years again.
Genre: Action, Drama, School, Shounen, Supernatural.
The anime is based on the existing manga of the same name and is produced by Pony Canyon.
Why do I want to watch this show?
I saw this anime being talked about A LOT on my social media platforms so I decided to look at a trailer and see what it was about.
I haven’t watched shows with gang themes or a time travel concept before, so this will be a first for me. I think it’s a really ambitious and intricate crossover of themes that I hope is well executed!
Overall, the trailer gives a very gritty impression and the accompanying rock soundtrack also really adds to that effect. I’m predicting the show to be quite violent, probably quite emotional but also quite fast-paced.
Characters
As mentioned previously, based on the trailer and the concept, I think we will see quite a lot of varying characters. Given that there are gangs, I am looking forward to seeing character designs that are less fluffy than what I am used to.
The characters that immediately caught my attention from the trailer are Draken, Mikey and Hina. From a purely aesthetic standpoint, Draken’s look is unique and cool – I love his braids and tattoo!
Mikey is quite small, which adds to my curiosity about him since he is presented as being strong.
Finally, Hina caught my eye because she is extremely cute and innocent looking!
I wonder who will be my favourites by the end!
Opening and Ending Sequences
The OP for Tokyo Revengers is a song by Official Hige Dandism and is called ‘Cry Baby’.
I haven’t heard this prior to watching, but I really like it, I am a big fan of rock bands in general and this song fits the vibe really well. It is quite easy to listen to and the vocals are really pretty – the first thing that came to mind when I heard it was one of my favourite Korean rock bands, Day6 – they sound so similar! However, both are really great in their own ways.
The ED for Tokyo Revengers is a song called Koko de Iki o Shite by artist eill.
It has a different vibe to the OP and is my least favourite of the two.
Despite it not being my favourite, it has a really upbeat feeling and is accompanied by a really pretty animation sequence. I am not a huge fan of the female vocals throughout but in the last 10-15 seconds where the artist is sing-rapping and the drums come in, I really love that part!
Final Thoughts
I’m excited to see what Tokyo Revengers has to offer, as my first gang/crime-related anime I have no idea entirely what to expect but will keep an open mind. There are lots of really cool looking characters at a first glance and I am keen to learn about each of them and see how they all interact.
I’m not sure if this will be a super emotional show in a sad sense, or if it will have a lot of adult themes in terms of violence. It would make sense for it to have this since it’s literally based on the main character trying to save loved ones from death. I guess I’ll have to find out and see how everything plays out over the next few weeks!
Will you be watching Tokyo Revengers or do you have any thoughts on the show so far? Come chat with us over on Twitter!