#tokyo revengers christmas showdown | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

medea10 · 10 months

Text

My Review of Tokyo Revengers: Christmas Showdown

First season review here.

Okay, it only took less than two years to get a continuation. Not bad! Let’s see how this season fairs out.

HISTORY: Takemichi Hanagaki lives his life of being yelled at by people and just taking shit every day. His neighbors bitch at him, his boss berates him, little punk-ass kids frame him. His life is shit. The only time he felt on top of the world was when Takemichi was in middle school. He was in a gang, he had respect, and he had a girlfriend. But once he finished middle school, he left that life behind and went down a boring, mediocre life. While watching the news one day, he noticed a familiar name mentioned in a grizzly murder. It was his one-time girlfriend, Hinata Tachibana. Takemichi reflects about losing his ex-girlfriend from middle school just as he’s pushed off a train platform. Before Takemichi ends up as another fatality to a moving train, he ends up in a different year. The shittiest year on record, 2005!

Yes, I will still go on record to say that 2005 was the worst fucking year, don’t at me!

As it turns out, Takemichi was thrown back to that time where he thought he was on top of the world. As it turns out, this was when everything in his life started going to shit. While in the past, Takemichi meets Hinata’s little brother, Naoto and gives him the stark warning to protect his sister because she will die in April 2017. That amazingly stayed with Naoto because Takemichi changed the future somewhat. He wasn’t able to save Hinata, but he was able to help Naoto a bit. That’s why her brother wants Takemichi to save his sister. The key to traveling to and from the past is a handshake with Naoto. And the main objective of these time travels is to prevent the heads of the Tokyo Manji gang to fall in disrepair.

SECOND SEASON: Yes, Kisaki is behind everything.

Okay, that’s too broad. Let’s see what I can decipher from the first episode since once again a lot went down. In the first season finale, Takemichi returned to 2017 to find that he could be living his best life as he’s now high up in the Tokyo Manji gang even now with old comrades and new alliances like this Black Dragon gang. The only thing is that Draken is on Death Row and Mikey is missing. But things fall apart when Kisaki drugs Takemichi and Chifuyu is shot in the head by Kisaki.

Before Kisaki could shoot Takemichi, Kazutora saved his bacon…beat the shit out of him and then helped him out. Kazutora is out of prison and tells Takemichi what really happened. Kazutora doesn’t like the route that Tokyo Manji was going down as it took on some very bad habits like drugs and women-beating. Mikey wants to end it so he’s going to kill everyone from the inside, old and new. Except Chifuyu, he’s been on this resistance of Kisaki and this change. And as for Hinata, the one Takemichi keeps returning to the past to help save dies the same death despite everything Takemichi has done to prevent it. Akkun slams the car killing her and him. Except in this timeline, Takemichi is somewhat responsible for Hina’s death.

Takemichi finally meets up with Naoto again, but things are more dire as the police are about to take Takemichi to prison for all the crimes of the Tokyo Manji. Naoto is still the key for time-jumping and is happy he finally got to him despite things still at a stalemate. Okay Takemichi, go back to 2005 and figure this mystery out.

In this season, Tokyo Manji goes up against the gang Black Dragon. This gang was never a threat, but now that they have a leader that’s really fucking frightening and is related to one of Tokyo Manji’s men, things do get rather ugly.

LICENSING: Last season, Tokyo Revengers was all over Crunchyroll. The whole series and several dubs. So, you would think that it would be given the same treatment for season two, right? Oh, so wrong! Prior to airing, Disney+ (yes, you heard right) reserved the rights to exclusively stream the second season of Tokyo Revengers. That just means in America, it’s just going to be on Hulu. I do find it a bit insulting that Hulu is calling Tokyo Revengers a “Hulu Original”. I would prefer it say, “Greedy-fucks” at the bottom. What’s even stupider is that Hulu only has this season and not season one (which is still only on Crunchyroll). The one good thing is that there weren’t any changes to the English dub with this platform change. I actually like the dub to this.

A LITTLE CHANGE WE ALL KNEW WAS COMING: In my first season review, I brought up the talks of a casting change. You all knew this was going to happen. This cast change involves legendary voice actor Tatsuhisa Suzuki (the voice of Draken) due to his temporary hiatus. No need to talk about what happened here. I think he’s sort of back voice acting after the unpleasant moments in this drama. Some of his roles have been recast including here. For how long, I do not know. Not sure about season three. Here’s who voices Draken now.

*Draken is now played by Masaya Fukunishi

NEW CHARACTERS AND IMPORTANT CHARACTERS: This season, we are introduced to the gang Black Dragon. There was kind of an introduction at the end of season one with Hakkai being shown in 2017. Now, we’re going to deal with some Hakkai family drama as there’s a big connection between him, Tokyo Manji, and some of its members.

First, I’m going to bring up Chifuyu. You might recall that he was Baji’s right-hand man last season and the one to get betrayed by Kisaki in the season finale. In the second season, Takemichi confided in Chifuyu about his deep secret about being from the future. Chifuyu now knows about the supernatural crap Takemichi is going through.

Hakkai is a vice captain in one of Tokyo Manji’s divisions. In the future, Hakkai does end up killing off the leader of the Black Dragons. Unfortunately, that means committing fratricide as he does off his brother. In 2005, he’s a lot meeker and has a purpose of protecting ones he cares about. While the reason he gives is a lie and drags his comrades into a daunting fight, he does want to do what’s right.

Yuzuha is the younger sister of Hakkai. You might be wondering why the anime gave her top-billing in the ending theme (this song is totally lit BTW). She’s who Hakkai swears to protect and a driving factor in the brewing war about to go down between Tokyo Manji and the Black Dragons. Now, I watched this entire season subbed. But the second I read that Sarah “Ash-fucking-Ketchum” Natochenny, my birthday-twin voice actor was voicing her…oh, this I gotta hear!

Taiju is the leader of the Black Dragons and elder brother to Hakkai and Yuzuha. Before Taiju took over the Black Dragons, the group suffered a big defeat by Tokyo Manji. But Taiju took over and steered it in a different and stronger direction. Taiju is an unforgiving beast who takes glee in beating the shit out of anyone, including his younger siblings. Also, it only took me three seconds to recognize Tomokazu Sugita’s voice here.

Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Chifuyu is played by Shou Karino (known for Fran on Ascendance of a Bookworm)

*Hakkai is played by Tasuku Hatanaka (known for Kaminari on My Hero Academia, Flegel on Attack on Titan, Yuuma on YGO Zexal, and Alex on Domestic Girlfriend)

*Yuzuha is played by Mikako Komatsu (known for Mairin on Pokemon XY, Setsuna on Yashahime, Lupusregina on Overlord, Tsugumi on Nisekoi, and Tori on YGO Zexal)

*Taiju is played by Tomokazu Sugita (known for Gin on Gintama, Kyon on Haruhi Suzumiya, Joseph on Jojo’s Pt. 2, Rudeus on Mushoku Tensei, Hideki on Chobits, Marlo on Attack on Titan, and Eizan on Food Wars)

ENGLISH CAST: *Chifuyu is played by Adam McArthur (known for Yuuji on Jujutsu Kaisen)

*Hakkai is played by Landon McDonald (known for Enmu on Demon Slayer, Ranpo on Bungo Stray Dogs, Shun on Rent-A-Girlfriend, and Henry VI on Requiem of the Rose King)

*Yuzuha is played by Sarah Natochenny (known for Ash, Delia, and Johanna on Pokemon [2006-present])

*Taiju is played by Ray Chase (known for Prof. Cerise on Pokemon Journeys, Uzui on Demon Slayer, Bruno on Jojo’s Pt. 5, Shinta on Your Name, Roswaal on Re:Zero, Karamatsu on Mr. Osomatsu, and Iwabee on Boruto)

SHIPPING PART II: After watching the first season, it was clear that Takemichi loved Hina and vice-versa. It’s just that something happened to cause Takemichi to dump Hina and Hina was never able to let it go. We get the details in the fifth episode about how they met, how they first became boyfriend/girlfriend, and the break-up. Hina fell in love with Takemichi when he saved her from some bullies. She revealed her feelings to Takemichi in their second year of middle school. What the hell could have happened between the two?

The papa!

Hina and Naoto’s father was never really there for his kids and would mostly work. When he met with Takemichi, he told him that their mother spoke highly of Takemichi and that Naoto’s determination of becoming a cop has him happy. But then dropped the bomb and told Takemichi he should break up with Hina for the fact that he’s in a gang and doesn’t want her to get caught up or get hurt. I kinda figured that Takemichi broke up with Hina to protect her from harm. I just didn’t add her father talking to Takemichi to this equation. I do not see many adults in Takemichi’s time of 2005 so I figured the father was non-existent. With that said, Takemichi broke up with Hina on Christmas Eve, coming up with a bullshit lie, and getting the shit knocked out of him by Hina.

Love hurts.

Spoiler alert: They do get back together despite what the papa says.

ENDING: The massacre on Christmas ended a lot sooner than I thought. Then again, how long could a massacre on Christmas night be in terms of episodes? Then again, the August slaughter-fest was several episodes long. Who am I to judge? Taiju was never going to go down. Mitsuya, Chifuyu, and Hakkai are no match. Yuzuha tried stabbing him and he’s still at it only angrier. And as for Takemichi, don’t hold your breath. But he does take a punch like Homer did in The Simpson’s episode “The Homer They Fall”. So, who can defeat the human equivalent of Cocaine Bear? Mikey enters and ends everything with one kick to the head. And as for the army of men Taiju has from Black Dragon, all taken out by Draken.

Okay, either that’s fucking lame or Takemichi and the boys are some weak-o’s.

Taiju got knocked the fuck out. It happened so fast that you needed some instant replay to see it.

So, we get some satisfying conclusion. Taiju left home so Hakkai and Yuzuha won’t have to endure their older brother’s wrath. Takemichi and Hina get back together despite what her father says. At the Tokyo Manji meeting, Mikey and Draken make some big changes. Taiju’s right-hand men for Black Dragon have decided to join and it was decided by Mikey and Draken that they will be under Takemichi along with any other Black Dragon member. Hakkai is forgiven by his brothers without a second thought. And finally, Kisaki is kicked out of Tokyo Manji. Kisaki did not take this news sitting down and tried to bear fangs at Mikey. Mikey was not amused by Kisaki’s method of adding more members to Tokyo Manji and cut him loose.

We should probably worry about some kind of revenge plot considering Kisaki is the same guy that ruins every timeline we’ve seen up to this point. But Takemichi ends up getting rewarded by Mikey with a motorcycle of his very own. Kinda touching how Mikey is reminded of his older brother when he sees Takemichi. What’s even better is that the crew celebrated the new year and it is officially 2006. We could just end this season here with a happy note. But this is Tokyo Revengers. It’s time to see if the future changed for the better. Takemichi goes back to his time in the year of 2018. What’s going on in 2018?

Trump is still president.

I hate remembering that this was a thing.

Takemichi ends up in a timeline where he’s not incarcerated. However, he winds up at a funeral. Turns out, it was his comrade during the Christmas massacre and Hakkai’s mentor, Mitsuya. Apparently, this is the worst timeline yet. Everyone seems to be dead. Hina still dies the same way she has been since the series began. All of the captains to Tokyo Manji are dead and died pretty gruesome ways at that. Naoto came to the conclusion that Mikey is the culprit behind all the murders. And what do you know? Takemichi gets a letter from Mikey asking for him to come all the way to the Philippines to meet up.

You might be wondering, why the hell all the way out there? Well, that pile of junk we kept seeing at the end of the ending theme (great song BTW) was a special place for Mikey. This is the place where Mikey’s older brother came across the parts that would one day become Takemichi’s motorcycle. Once there, Takemichi finally meets with Mikey in the future. This is big for him because in every later timeline, Takemichi never sees Mikey. And what do you know? Mikey totally murdered his former bros. He killed Mitsuya, shot Chifuyu, set Hakkai on fire, and he even killed his second in command Draken. Something must have happened between 2006 and 2018 to cause Takemichi to leave Tokyo Manji. All we know is that Mikey was never the same after Takemichi left. And now, Mikey asks Takemichi to shoot him or he’ll shoot Takemichi. Takemichi goes crybaby and doesn’t pull the trigger. That however doesn’t stop Naoto from pulling his trigger (who was also with Takemichi). Too bad he realizes moments later that Mikey had the safety on his gun and had no intention of killing Takemichi, it was just a threat. But he truly wanted to die.

Takemichi ends up going back to 2006 and swears he isn’t going back to his present time until he settles things so no one has to die in the future. Trouble arises again as a gang ambushes Takemichi’s friends. This gang has over 300 members and they are on the move. They totally crushed Akkun and the rest. Chifuyu is in danger as well. They are the Tejiku gang, headed up by a guy named Izana Kurokawa. And worst of all, Kisaki is their newest member and is ready to kick some crybaby ass.

Before I go onto my thoughts on this season, can I just say this? Takemichi, just kill Kisaki and Akkun. It’s obvious those two are the reason for many stupid things happening in the future. And I highly recommend the latter. In literally every timeline, Akkun kills Hina. Just end him. I know he’s your bro and everything but…dude, just off him.

Okay…so I kinda had a back and forth with this season of either loving the hell out of it and thinking it was just okay and that it could be better. I think the reason behind that sentiment is that I think I was expecting more when it came to Tokyo Manji versus Black Dragon. I think I was set up for high anticipation with Tokyo Manji in a Christmas showdown. For corn’s sake, it’s the name of the stinkin’ season! In the end it was just some big fucker beating the second-tier gang members until Mikey and Draken came in. But this is a beef I have with the story itself and not the anime. The anime did well with the source and you know what, I’m kinda glad this didn’t end up becoming a movie with the retelling.

This next installation that’s coming, the show started hyping us for what’s to come even before the end credits hit on episode 13. A new gang just kicked prime members of Tokyo Manji’s ass. They outnumber them. Kisaki’s there! This new gang’s leader seems to have a fascination with Mikey and Takemichi. And we will see this season in…October. Hmm…nope, I’m not waiting to post this. I’ve been doing that a lot lately and then it just stays on my computer forever.

I know this anime gets some weird hate sometimes. I don’t know. I thought this was a fine anime. Then again, I’m always giving glowing recommendations to a lot of animes that many people don’t like. What the hell do I know? If you’re into gangs and time-travel, this is totally up your alley as it has both. I’m sorry that the two seasons Tokyo Revengers are split between two streaming services. That’s bullshit and no one likes it. Season one is still on Crunchyroll. Season two is on Hulu/Disney+. Let’s just hope for the best when it comes to season thr…It’s going to be on Hulu again.

Final note: This season’s ED theme is a banger. I know this is like the third time in this review I said something about the song. I like it!

#tokyo revengers #takemichi hanagaki #mikey #draken #anime review #tokyo revengers christmas showdown #hinata tachibana #kisaki tetta #manjiro sano #ken ryuuguji #kazutora hanemiya #chifuyu matsuno #taiju shiba #hakkai shiba #yuzuha shiba #naoto tachibana

5 notes · View notes