Hot Take: The Current Arc of Tokyo Revengers is the Best One
I wasn’t caught up to the manga when I first got into the fandom. One thing I noticed right away was that there was a lot of hate going around from the most recent arc-- whether it be hate for a character(s) or hate for the manga in general.
Now that I’ve read further (around chapter 235 now), I get it. Wakui has made characters do or say some really horrible things. The manga isn’t shying away from that. This arc in general feels like one big fuck-up. It’s written to be a fuck-up and it’s written that way on purpose. That doesn’t mean it makes people feel less frustrated. Some don’t know how to express that frustration in any other way than to claim that the manga is trash now or that Wakui has no idea what he’s doing--
Which I heavily disagree with.
Because through all the frustration and resentment that I also feel for what all these characters are doing and for the direction of the story-- this actually makes me love the manga even more. Wakui does know what he’s doing but people don’t like it because it’s not what they’ve been conditioned into believing he’s “supposed” to do.
What is he “supposed” to do? It’s a shounen manga. People read it to feel good and hyped. They want to watch a main character fight heroically, be over powered, make all the best choices to save people, then get the girl in the end. The reason people hate this arc so much is the same reason why they complain about Takemichi not learning how to fight in a manga about gangs when not knowing how to fight is one of the major points of his entire character.
Hence, this arc does a ton of things that shounen manga and a lot of other manga in general “shouldn’t” do. First of all, Takemichi got the girl-- almost married her in fact, but gave all of that up to kickstart this arc in the first place. People say it’s bad writing. They claim that Takemichi not letting Mikey go to be with his girl was just bad writing to force the manga to be longer than it was. But it wasn’t. Because Takemichi’s biggest trait that’s been prominent since the first arc is that he doesn’t give up on people to the point of unhealthy obsession. Takemichi NOT going against everyone else’s wishes and leaving Hina behind to save Mikey would’ve been forcing his character into something he’s not just to make the manga end. Saying “well, his actions are foolish; I wouldn’t have done that” is not always a good reason to claim it’s bad writing.
I like that Wakui took that direction because it shows that he’s aware of his characters and how they control the plot and story rather than the other way around. Wakui is allowing the characters to drive despite the road they’re being led in not being pretty.
Second of all, this arc shines a light on a very fatal flaw of the main character, giving him actual permanent consequences for acting that way, and letting characters call him out for said flaw. There are important characters in this manga (ie Chifuyu) who are very good people but who have very good reason to dislike Takemichi and no longer support him. But how could that be? Main characters in shounen have the protagonist halo, they charm everyone into following them. The protagonist’s best friend should be the supportive cinnamon roll who is always there for him. Up until this arc, that’s the kind of protagonist Takemichi was and that’s the kind of supporting character Chifuyu was. Now suddenly they’re not. Some people who stan characters like Chifuyu can’t handle that break from his troupe as a cinnamon roll so either stopped liking him or stopped liking Takemichi.
And honestly? It makes sense people would react that way. Toyko Revengers had that status quo for the first 80% of the series. Most series would’ve stuck to the status quo because it’s what people are comfortable with, but Wakui didn’t do that here. Chifuyu isn’t some perfect sunshine who is going to forgive Takemichi for everything he does. Takemichi’s determined shouts of “I’ll save everyone” doesn’t mean he’s going to save everyone. He will and has already risked fucking up everyone’s future just to save one person because that’s in-character for him. I like this because it adds depth to both of their characters. They aren’t just one troupe or role in a story but rather act human.
Then there’s Mikey. Oh boy. If people don’t hate the manga or hate Takemichi or hate some other character, then it’s likely that they at the very least hate Mikey (rhyme!). And I’m gonna be honest. They are totally justified in hating him. Does that mean that he’s badly written this arc and the Mikey we knew was retconned? Absolutely not. I see people’s surprised pikachu faces about how Mikey can suddenly be so brutal but that’s not it. He’s always had the potential to be this way. The reason why he comes off so brutal in this arc is because Wakui finally took the safety belt off, either wrote off or killed off everyone (minus Takemichi) dear to Mikey from his life, and let Mikey reap the full rewards for his fucked up brain. I’ve seen characters like Mikey before in series who we’re supposed to root for and are also capable and very well will do unforgivable things-- but these manga rarely follow through on it. Wakui did over and over, and it’s making a fan favourite character stir up a ton of controversy in the fandom.
Mikey acting this way is enough of a knife to the heart of the fandom already, but the fact that Takemichi-- our main character permanently ruined everyone else’s futures just to try to save this fucked up person is what makes it hit even harder. Again, people read shounen manga to feel good. Wakui is pulling out all the stops possible to make us not feel good about this arc at all. Being able to time travel to fix previous mistakes sounds like wish fulfillment, an ideal dream, and we’re being told that it isn’t. No matter if Takemichi really can save Mikey or not, it doesn’t change the fact that people who shouldn’t have died have now died because of his own actions. Sure if we were given the same power then most of us wouldn’t make the same decisions Takemichi did, but somewhere down the line, we’re bound to mess up somewhere that could lead to a similar situation.
Basically, Tokyo Revengers started out as a great manga that fell in line with what most people would expect from it. These last few chapters have been turning nearly every one of those standards on its head and doing the exact opposite in order to push the characters and situation to their absolute limit.
But I think that’s what’s beautiful about this arc. There really aren't enough manga that do what this arc is doing for Tokyo Revengers nowadays.
