Tokyo Revengers Omnibus 1-2
Author: Ken Wakui
Illustrator: Ken Wakui
Publishers: Seven Seas Entertainment
Age Group: Older Teen
Genre: Shonen Fantasy
Type: Manga
Content Warnings: Violence, SA, Gangs
Spoilers ahead
Plot
Watching the news, Hanagaki Takemichi learns his junior-high girlfriend Tachibana Hinata has died. A sudden shove sends him 12 years into the past to face the Tokyo Manji Gang that once made his life hell, which is also responsible for Hinata’s death in the present. To save Hinata and change the future, Takemichi must rise to the top of Kanto’s most sinister delinquent gang! But things aren’t simple when he befriends the gang’s leader, Mikey. What turned Mikey from a petulant child to the leader of the most infamous gang in Tokyo?
Character Development
Hanagaki has a lot of regrets from junior high that he’s never gotten over. He bums from one job to the next without a life goal until he’s able to go back in time. This allows him to solidify what he wants. We see a lot of character growth in the omnibus containing the first two volumes of Tokyo Revengers. He’s a bit of a coward and can’t fight, though that doesn’t stop him. He’s not the smartest or strongest but he does have a fighting soul.
Naoto Tachibana is Hinata’s brother who’s become a police detective in order to save his sister. He can't do that without investigating and having Hanagaki help him change the past. If they can do that, Hinata may just be saved. Naoto is a serious type that’s obsessed with taking down the Mangi gang by any means necessary. He’s intelligent, but his sources could use some work.
There’s a lot of tension developing between Naoto and Hanagaki as things between the present and what’s in the past aren’t lining up.
World-building
We have a contemporary setting with time travel back exactly 12 years. The phenomena of Hanagaki’s time-traveling powers are interesting as he needs the catalyst of shaking hands with Naoto to go back and forth.
Themes
Sometimes to achieve what you want, you have to have guts of steel. Hanagaki isn’t the brightest, strongest, or anything. He’s your average Joe that just wants the best for a girl he still pines after. He doesn’t let anything he encounters stop him from saving those important to him, even though he knows the odds are not in his favor. As such, we shouldn’t let things get in our way either, even if its ourselves to achieve our goals and dreams, especially if we have another chance.
Observations & Predictions
While we don’t know who is behind all of the misinformation between the past and present, I have a hunch that it’s Kasaki Tetta. Tetta may be more intelligent than we think once we meet him. We know that Hanagaki’s friend is so scared of him in the present that his friend commits suicide. In order to save his friend, he’ll have to change the past. Who is Tetta and how does he gain control? That’ll be the biggest thing for Hanagaki to investigate.
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