Tokyo Revengers

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About

Tokyo Revengers is an action manga and anime series about middle school gang wars in Tokyo, Japan during the early 2000s. The protagonist, Hanagaki Takemichi, wakes up 12 years in the past and has to uncover the mystery behind his ability to prevent an unfortunate future. The manga started being serialized in 2017, received an anime adaptation in April 2021 and grew popular online for its storyline and “pretty boy” character aesthetics.

Premise

The story follows Takemichi Hanagaki, a 26-year-old unemployed man who one day discovers the Tokyo Manji Gang has killed his ex-girlfriend Hinata Tachibana and her younger brother Naoto. When Takemichi is pushed in front of a train, he’s teleported to his body from 12 years back in 2005. He seeks to find out who will kill his former girlfriend and prevent it by joining one of the most dangerous gangs in Tokyo at the time.

History

Tokyo Revengers first started out as a manga^[1] series written and illustrated by Ken Wakui in March 2017, accumulating 29 volumes as of August 2022. An anime television series adaptation produced by Liden Films aired from April to September 2021. A second season is set to premiere in January 2023.

Reception

The anime series was highlighted by Nikkei Entertainment^[2] as one of 2021's biggest hits, ranked as the top-watched streaming program for both male and female audiences. In the same year the anime was released, Western media censored Tokyo Revenger’s use of the Buddhist manji^[3] swastika symbol, which was used by the Tokyo Manji Gang, in order to avoid the potential controversy that may arise from confusion with the similar-looking Nazi symbol.

Online Presence

In North America, Tokyo Revengers is licensed by Seven Seas^[4] and is available for streaming on Crunchyroll. The show has gained a large online following on many sites, including My Anime List^[5], Twitter, TikTok, Wattpad, Pinterest and more.

Finale Leak

In November 2022, leaks of Tokyo Revengers manga final chapters were posted on social media, bringing some fans to comment on their anger about the anticlimactic final act. On November 8th, 2022, the fan @saitamagoated tweeted^[11] a leaked panel of the main character crying, saying it was “the worst manga ever made now.” The tweet received 73,500 likes and 7,800 retweets in four days (seen below).

Fandom

Tokyo Revengers has inspired a large volume of fan art illustration and fan fiction on the web. On the Japanese fan art community Pixiv^[6], there are nearly 27,975 unique illustrations tagged under the hashtag #tokyorevengers and the Japanese video-sharing site Nico Nico Douga^[7] hosts more than 1,700 videos that are associated with the series. On Fanfiction.net^[8], there are nearly 107 short stories centered around the series, and on DeviantART^[9], there are more than 14,700 user-submitted artworks tagged under "Tokyo Revengers." On Wattpad,^[10] there are more than 1,000 fanfic stories based on the series.