Warning: Spoilers Ahead!
Tokyo Revengers Season 4 Episode 2: “Left Behind The Times” begins on a lighthearted note with Takemichi freaking out for forgetting Hina’s White Day present and stressing out about how to approach her. Chifuyu being canonically the one friend who’s complained about not dating, then giving relationship advice that is overcomplicated and feels like something from a bad romcom, is so on brand. This actually reminded me of when Hakkai was asking to leave Toman and Chifuyu convinced Takemichi to offer Mikey his favorite food as a way to stop him from being mad. Scenes like this really help keep things balanced and remind us they really are just kids at the end of the day, aside from Takemichi.
What I appreciated about this moment is actually the scene that comes after, when Hina arrives at the park, and we get more insight into her thoughts. For so long, she’s been a character solely to protect, and we rarely get a glimpse into her feelings. At times, she feels like just a character to drive the plot rather than her own person. Hearing her admit how impacted she is by all of the deaths around her and how she feels responsible gives her more depth. It offered a new side to her!
One thing that didn’t land for me was Takemichi proposing to her after Hina opens up about her feelings. It has always been a bit weird because he’s still technically an adult who is time-leaping to his younger self. Even though he tells her they wouldn’t actually get married until 12 years in the future, it felt a bit heavy-handed. While I understand they did it so the next time-leap scene could have shock value and make us viewers think we were time-leaping straight to their wedding, it still fell flat to me because of the age gap. I feel it would’ve been sweeter for him to give her the ring and then cut to the wedding scene, because it would’ve been a “they stayed true to each other after all these years” vibe rather than “they got engaged as kids and are now finally planning the wedding as adults.”
The wedding Takemichi ended up time-jumping to was Pah-chin’s! The wedding scene was a brilliant writing choice to naturally gather all the characters in one place and show their personalities as adults in a believable setting. It was a fun way to cover everyone’s career paths and get insight into what everyone’s been doing. This episode really pushes the wedding topic with not only Pah-chin, but Hina and Takemichi discussing their wedding and reminiscing.
What is Bonten? Where is Mikey?
The Bonten news forecast at the end of the episode helps ramp things up again and bring the energy back! Izana’s earring design being tattooed on a Bonten member who looks thin and short like Mikey is what piques interest and feels like where the story will actually focus. Bonten is depicted as a criminal organization that the authorities have been trying to learn more about so they can crack down on them! The core of Tokyo Revengers is the gangs and rivalries, so it’s exciting to see a new gang being introduced!
Hopefully in the next episode we hear more from Draken about Mikey and what he’s been up to. There are a lot of rumors about Mikey’s whereabouts in this future, with each rumor being more and more unbelievable. It feels so inconsistent that they wouldn’t keep in touch with him or know his whereabouts. Even if there was a major falling out, it’s really hard to believe they just know nothing.
Takemichi’s End Goal?
Something interesting about this latest future is how, even though this is the best future so far, Takemichi is still not satisfied. Takemichi’s mission starts with saving Hina, and now he’s in a timeline where everyone is happy and moved on, but Mikey is missing, which is enough to keep him from being satisfied. After he saw the Bonten news, he suddenly became hungrier for more information on Mikey and couldn’t even relax. This then raises the question: If Mikey wants to be off on his own and decides on a different path, would Takemichi be right to try to change his mind?
Let’s say Mikey is part of Bonten, if that was his choice in this timeline and every other former Toman member respects his decision, then shouldn’t that arguably be the end of time leaping? It would then be Takemichi holding onto the past and trying to force Mikey to be who he wants him to be. It feels like Takemichi’s own savior complex may make him refuse to mind his own business, and then we will start reaching a gray area where it’s hard to say who is making the right choice.
Animation
Finally, after giving it a couple of episodes, this new animation style is a bit of a miss for me. Some of the characters’ faces look so different that it’s distracting at times. The artwork looks a lot softer, with more rounded features and less sharpness. You really notice it most with Mitsuya, Kazutora, and Hakkai in this episode. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it feels as though the color grading is off or they’re clashing with the background environment. There’s this almost glowy effect they have. Very curious to see how the fights will look animated in this new style!
What are your thoughts so far on Season 4? Leave a comment below!
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