The Fall 2023 Anime Preview Guide

Tokyo Revengers: Tenjiku Arc

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Takemichi has returned to the past once more, hoping to finally right the wrongs of his teenage years that will lead to his loved ones' bloody demise. His mission is to save Mikey from himself, but first, he must face a new threat: the Tenjiku gang is brutally invading Toman's territory and is dead set on eliminating every member they find. With the conniving Kisaki leading the charge, it's do or die for Toman in both timelines.

Tokyo Revengers: Tenjiku Arc is based on the Tokyo Revengers manga Ken Wakui. The anime series is streaming on Hulu or Disney+, depending on your region. It airs on Tuesdays.

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Nicholas Dupree
Rating:

We're back for another season of assorted hoodlums, gangsters, and bad boys, everybody. As is Tokyo Revengers tradition, a new gang – of course being led by Kisaki – is coming in to stomp out the Toman crew just like the last three arcs. If that makes me sound jaded, that's because I am, even if my weariness has little to do with the contents of this singular episode.

This episode on its own? It's fine. Even good, in parts, as we introduce the new conflict with the Tenjiku gang. While there's nothing too distinctive about these new villains, they represent the most significant threat to Toman yet – a swarm of red-clad berserkers organized by Kisaki to isolate and wipe out his former gang's top officers. They've even recruited tough guys! from other gangs to bolster their forces, and Toman spends this whole episode getting their teeth kicked in, metaphorically and literally. There's also some good stuff with Takemichi theorizing that Kisaki is also a time-leaper and that this war is his last bid to rewrite the future. Those are solid stakes that are much more immediate than the family drama from the Christmas Showdown storyline, and the pacing here is swift enough to establish all that and more by the episode's end.

It's just that we've all been through this song and dance already. Through its nearly 40 episodes, Tokyo Revengers has always been pretty good at starting new arcs. They introduce some cool new gang members, have Takemichi make a big declaration about his time-traveling goal, and promises you that this time, things will be different, and the story arc won't get bogged down in terrible pacing and worse fighting animation. Then it inevitably does just that, becoming a slog of lifeless fights and poorly drawn blood spatter until Takemichi cries so hard his opponent nearly drowns. The number of times we've gone through this cycle is as demoralizing to the audience as it is to Takemichi, and it's hard to get excited for yet another season following that formula, left only to hope that this time, the conclusion will satisfy.

It doesn't help that the production has just given up at this point. Tokyo Revengers has never been a good-looking show, but it's now settled into a rut where you can expect maybe two decent animation cuts a month. What should feel like a brutal gang war has all the visceral crunch of chewing soggy cereal. A character gets brained with a goddamn cinder block, and it looks about as painful as being slapped with a newspaper. We've even resorted to using the same OP theme from last season while having to edit in footage from the episode itself because the final animation wasn't finished in time. It's a mess, and alongside the narrative's diminishing returns, it kills a lot of my enthusiasm for this arc and series. Anime are often advertisements for its source material, but it feels like reading the source is a necessity to get anything close to the visual presentation the story calls for.

Maybe I'm wrong. I would love to be wrong! It would be great if this series could recapture the heart that made it enjoyable in the first place while also advancing the plot more than a few centimeters across 13-odd episodes. In good faith, I can at least say that this arc is off to a fine start. Here's hoping it can stay on two wheels rather than toppling over in the gutter at 5MPH.