nekonotabi

[nekonotabi]

Things I LOVE about TR:

‌First of all, characters. And the fact that it is a fully character driven story. The way they are built, portrayed, designed even. The way they are all written to feel like real people, like they are all your own friends and acquaintances. I have no problem imagining Tōman members (founders and original members) as being just these kids from the block that hang out in the neighborhood. I have felt since they were introduced as if I've known them all personally. They have resonated with me so deeply, I cannot even put that into words. We're not even talking "kins" or simply relating to characters here. It's even deeper than that, they are basically real in my perception (and I guess I'm far from the only one).

‌I love how layered, and deep, and complex each one of them is. They have very real, very human feelings, thoughts, fears, flaws, traumas, motivations, dreams... Their relationships are genuine. Their bonds transfer to the readers. We feel them. Just as we feel FOR them.

‌Then, narration techniques. Yes, I know. Nothing is more frustrating than a bunch of unreliable narrators in the still ongoing story, and scattered clues that can't be pieced together 'cause the key pieces are always missing, and never seem to be what we think they are. BUT! That is precisely what keeps us on the edge of our seats, leaves us interested, intrigued, makes us want to "crack the code", to solve the mystery, to know what really happened, to get the whole picture. It makes us observe, analyse, speculate, come up with theories... It keeps us entertained way beyond just reading the chapters weekly. It leaves us wondering, it leaves us wanting more, and it always only teases, even when giving us some answers. They're never full, never really clear, and they always open up new questions and new possibilites. And again, bring us to think about the story and it's characters, way beyond what we're reading weekly. Almost as if the real stories are the ones going on in our heads. And if that's not amazing and impressive storytelling and entertainment skill on Wakui-sensei's end, IDK what is!

But there is indeed another thing about his storytelling that I absolutely love and deeply respect, and that is the fact that he manages to make this appeal equally to the audiences of all ages! Maybe even more so to the adults than kids and teens! And how he does that? By dressing the much deeper story in an edgy outfit, so to speak. Unless you're a surface reader, or too immature to understand what you're in fact reading, you do know that what TR is all about has NOTHING to do with biker gangs, delinquents, fights, crime, all that. Not even the time travel shennanigans! All that is just USED AS MEANS to tell a story about other stuff that really matters. But it's 'cool' on the surface, it's flashy, it's 'badass', it's larger-than-life, and as such bound to attract attention and readers. It's still technically a shōnen manga, so that much is understandable. But it's so much more than any of that!

Protagonist. Ok, this could maybe fall under the category "characters", but it's a different point I wanna make here. Takemichi is by no means among my favorite characters. In terms of direct likeability, he has none. He's annoying, stupid, indecisive, cowardly, a loser, the one that never learns. And that's precisely what makes him an outstanding choice of a personality/characterization for a protagonist! He's unique, he's different. He's not a "Luffy" who's super strong to begin with, and he's not even a "Naruto", who starts out weak but trains to become super strong. No. Takemichi is weak, and stays weak. He doesn't change. He doesn't grow. He struggles with his flaws, but doesn't win. He's still flawed. Very much so. Do we hate him for draghing everyone else down to hell with him? Absolutely. Is he inspiring in any way? Not at all. #not_my_hero Does he make the reader want to be in his place, or want to be like him? Hell no! But does all of that make him an excellent protagonist? Most certainly yes! Because a protagonist does NOT need to be cool, to be likeable, to be strong, to be a "hero" (in convential save-the-day way). Protagonist can be as flawed and human and hateable as any other character. Because that's what makes them feel real. Relatable. And that's what Takemichi is. We can all recognize at least some negative aspects of ourselves in Takemichi. And if HE, as horrible and full of flaws, and unchanging, as he is can have a whole damn awesome, badass story about himself (technically), we, readers, can learn to accept, if not love, the parts of ourselves we hate but cannot change.

[nekonotabi]

i guess i just wanna know??? because i'm new to the fandom and i see your analysis and you're really thorough and i like that

but i haven't found a source for wakui actually leaving tips and clues being canon, can you shine a light on that? because some of the things surely can be explained by him showing unreliability in memories, but also just drawing inconsistencies as they are - inconsistencies. i am not dragging by any shape or form, i'm just trying to find a confirmation that it isn't just mistakes so i too can jump on the conspiracy theory bandwagon!!

thank you!!

Hi, good url. This is long so grab a drink or something. I hope this helps explain why these are not just inconsistencies. 

So, there’s a large element of mystery surrounding Tokyo Revengers, right? Who’s the second time leaper? Who pushed Takemitchy? What happened in the original timeline? What’s Hanma’s role? Why does Sanzu know about time leaping? What are Mikey’s dark impulses? These aren't plot holes, they're mysteries. Questions we're all trying to figure out. 

I could go on with like at least 20 more questions. It is extremely bad writing to have all of these questions in a story with no foreshadowing (or clues) about what the answers are. Not everything has to be foreshadowed x amount of chapters in advance, but the big mysteries do. Or else the answer comes out of nowhere. 

People get frustrated by the lack of answers yet, because they’re thinking of it as an action shounen, but it isn’t. It’s a drama/thriller. It’s a mystery. 

I don’t need to read a quote from Wakui about him leaving clues, it’s just how story writing works. I don’t know that any author tells their readers that they’re leaving clues? It’s kind of implied that that’s going to happen, right?

So, imagine reading TR for however many chapters it goes on for and the second time leaper is revealed to be Takemichi's mom. That would be stupid, because there's no foreshadowing for it and it would come out of nowhere. There are exactly zero clues that she's the second time leaper. Bad, weird writing.

But Wakui is a good writer when it comes to foreshadowing. He’s good at telling a story, he’s already told us who the second time leaper is (chapter 8 (I meant SEVEN, chapter 7), it’s Takemichi), and when that person is finally revealed we can look back on the foreshadowing and go OHHH! Because it’s there. And I’m sure when we get the other answers, we’ll re-read the manga and have similar reactions. 

He isn’t just a writer, he’s an artist. He knows how to draw, he’s quite good at it. Tokyo Revengers art is more simplistic, but the guy really likes to draw, it’s not his first manga. I think it's his 4th? But his other works are very detailed, obnoxiously so (in a good way). So if he’s messing up noticeable details, it’s not an accident, not this often. At first I chalked things up to mistakes, but all of the mistakes add up to something, therefore, they aren’t inconsistencies, they’re wrong to show us that something is wrong. It’s on purpose. Because if they were just mistakes, they wouldn’t fit with the plot. We shouldn’t care about what the author says, the story should speak for itself, and it does. The only thing that matters to the story is the story.

He’s not forgetting details, because I would have found an inconsistency (not an unanswered question) by now that hasn’t been resolved. The only one that I could point to, was Mitsuya’s hair length in 248′s flashback, but 264 answered that for me. The beach trip wasn’t in August, it was in June, which is why his hair was short then, but longer after Shin died. About 2 months passed between the moped getting trashed and the scene in 264.

Which we can see, because his hair gets longer as time goes on. We know Toman formed in June. Two weeks after Baji told Mikey about Kazutora getting harassed is when they beat the Black Dragons 9th gen. Wakui left a clue about when Mitsuya met the Haitanis, he was 13 (2003) and it was the Azabu Festival (mid-late August 2003, I believe the 21-23rd that year?). Which let me know that either 1.) he forgot how long Mitsuya’s hair was, or 2.) the beach trip was not in August. Looking at the DVD booklets (middle image) we can see that his hair was growing, so the beach trip was before they took on BD. In June. He didn’t forget how long Mitsuya’s hair was.

Even without the DVD booklets, chapter 264 would have answered that for me, because we see Mitsuya’s hair that long in August twice, which means that the length of his hair wasn’t a mistake and the beach trip couldn’t have been in August. I wouldn’t have known whether taking on the Black Dragons or the beach trip came first, but I would have known the beach trip wasn’t right before Kazutora plans to steal the bike, as is somewhat implied by the chapter. All just from the manga.

A detail that seems wrong, but lets us know what the truth is when the same wrong detail appears again, letting us know it isn’t wrong. He does this often.

Here’s another example: Mikey takes Emma out on her birthday. Well, no he doesn’t. Takemitchy goes back to the future on specifically November 18th, after learning Emma is Mikey’s little sister. We focus on the date on his phone when he gets back to the future.

Emma’s birthday is November 25th. 

It’s not a continuity error, and it’s not a typo (which is what I initially thought for a long time) Mikey and Draken set it up for Draken to give her her birthday present. That’s why he had a stuffed bear with him, Mikey told him where they were and he took Emma out for her birthday early. Draken KNEW where they were eating out for her birthday (right by where he lived), despite it not actually being her birthday, and came ready with her gift, because it was all a surprise for her and they planned it. Because the first thing he does when he goes up to them is taunt Mikey for taking his little sister out for her birthday. 

When it wasn’t her birthday.

So Mikey and Draken were both just putting on an act. The author is showing us that not only did Draken love her back, he and Mikey went to all that trouble just for her. Which we can see by what seems like an inconsistency at first, but isn’t. Because Draken wouldn’t have known to bring it for her birthday, when it wasn’t her birthday, unless it was planned in advance.

It would be one thing if it were only one or two things, of course that can just be a mistake or coincidence. That’s what I assumed at first, for a long while. But it isn’t a few things, it’s a lot of things. And it’s all centred around Mikey. Things he says don’t make sense. His version of events doesn’t line up correctly with reality as we are shown it. It’s noticeable. ‘Scold me like a brother would’ and then his brother doesn’t scold him when given the opportunity after he almost kicks Takeomi in the face. Doesn’t make sense. But when you look at the entire story, Mikey isn’t talking about his real brother. He doesn’t describe him in the way Takeomi does. Again, we are given conflicting, contradictory information that helps us figure out what the truth might be.

If we all stopped thinking of things as mistakes, and realized they’re likely deliberate, the story makes much more sense. As soon as I accepted that maybe these things aren’t typos, a lot of things suddenly clicked.  

Thought this was a typo, because Shin didn’t die in 2001: it isn’t a typo. Black Dragons formed in 1995, broke up after 1 year in ‘96, Takeomi lived it up for 5 years until he fell into debt in 2001. He was in debt for years, so during the period of time he was in debt is when Shin died (2003), five years after his life turned to shit (starting in 2001) is when Senju asked him to be in her gang. In 2006. The timeline works out perfectly. It’s exactly 11 years, the BD 11th anniversary is in 2006, which we learn in chapter 144.

It wasn’t a typo. The clue needed to figure out this stupid, frustrating, timeline was in chapter 144, almost 100 chapters earlier, but it was there. Not a continuity error! The timeline works out.

Just like how Emma’s birthday isn’t a typo, and accepting that lets you realize that Draken is really a big softie for Emma and was always showing it. Because Wakui left us a clue with the wrong date. It seems like a mistake, but it isn’t.

Mangaka make mistakes, it happens, everybody’s human. But Wakui puts a lot of attention to detail into his work. 

For example:

(I’ll give you a bunch of sources for these, but please check out this post by aleapple1216 for a great analysis of their suits, that’s how I know what decorations are on their suits, I’m just expanding upon it a bit)

These illustrations of Sanzu and Mikey are from the Exhibition. Mikey’s suit has Chinese Bellflowers (balloon flowers) on it. 

Balloon flowers have played a role in Japanese myth and folklore. There, the flower is called kikyou, which means pentagram. The balloon flowers’ five-pointed blossoms stand for the five elements of the Tao, which include wood, water, fire, earth, and fire. According to Taoist cosmology, Yin-Qi and Yang-Qi – the primordial feminine and masculine energies – produce what are known as the “Five Elements.” The Five Elements, in turn, give birth to the “ten-thousand things,” i.e. all of manifest existence. The Five Elements are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.

Chinese Bellflowers represent the five elements of the Tao. The Five Elements give birth to the 10,000 Things. Manjiro’s name is 万次郎, and 万 means 10,000. The flowers on his suit represent his name. 

Sanzu’s suit has scorpions on it. “An ancient character used for scorpion is 万 wàn which now means ‘myriad, numerous, ten thousand’.” 

He’s wearing Mikey, literally. 

Scorpions are symbols of protection, transformation, independence, solitude, and intelligence. But scorpions are a symbol of death and rebirth, a symbol of power, and also represent lust, sex and fertility. Because scorpions are known to use their stingers for both protection and hunting, and are usually on the defensive, they've come to represent the ability to safeguard oneself. While, yes, some scorpions have venom that can kill humans, many cultures believed that scorpions could heal, helping a person start their life over when on the brink of death.

Their suits are the only ones that are black and white from all the characters. Yin and Yang.

Mikey’s tie has a river on it. Sanzu’s name comes from Sanzu no Kawa, or the Sanzu River. We know this for sure, because Senju’s fake last name, Kawaragi, comes from Sai no Kawara (3rd paragraph on the Sanzu no Kawa link) which is directly related to the Sanzu River, because we know they came up with their names together from the manga. Chapter 116.

So Mikey is wearing Sanzu as well. Whatever their connection may be, there is a connection, and he’s showing us this through his artwork. Sanzu is important, in whatever capacity will be revealed, to Mikey and Mikey to Sanzu. 

The creature on Mikey’s suit is Nue. 

Wakui has been leaving hints throughout the manga that Mikey is NOT Manjiro. He has no visual identity of his own. He copies people’s looks (Baji, Draken, Shin, Izana, Wakasa, Emma) and their words (Kisaki, Shin, probably some others I haven’t realized yet). 

(they say the same exact thing, he’s copying Kisaki, something is not right about the Manila timeline, which Taiju even points out to us)

He has more than one name, Mikey and Manjiro. He seems to be a completely different person now. Takemitchy has even stopped calling him Mikey-kun. He’s not the same Mikey, because he’s not the same Mikey.

The creature on Mikey’s suit is Nue, a chimera, as in more than one animal making up one body. Multiple in one. **Not saying he has any specific diagnosable mental condition whatsoever, but the text is telling us that Mikey and Manjiro are not the same person. 

His clothes even say so. Man in Manjiro doesn’t just mean 10,000, it means various. 

I said that Mikey probably isn’t Manjiro in February, and I looked up Nue in July. I picked up on that possibility solely from the manga pages, only to find out the animal on his suit is a chimera. I’m not that cool or creative (I wish) to make that up based on nothing, Wakui is leaving hints everywhere. And if they aren’t hints? It is the most pointless side quest on the planet that like only 10 people are playing, and a ridiculous amount of effort on Wakui’s part for no reason. There is no reason for Wakui to include all of this detail in the story and other artworks, if it has nothing to do with the story.

The etymologies of character’s names aren’t the kanji used for the most part,  Akkun’s name isn’t super interesting in the kanji, if I type it out in romaji ‘Sendou’ means ‘leadership’. He was the leader of Mizo Mid Five. Rihatsushi means barber. *stares directly into the camera* So on and so forth.

About the most recent chapter:

If Mikey’s shorts becoming pants is a mistake, then Baji’s memory from chapter 45 is a mistake too, and they both somehow psychically linked to have the same exact wrong memory. 

Because not only is Mikey wearing the same thing, all the same people are in the background. Striped shirt guy is everywhere.

I’d think it was maybe a mistake if the pages were something like this, where we didn’t see that he was wearing shorts:

If we couldn’t see what he was wearing, I wouldn’t think anything of it. But we DO see him wearing shorts and it is very obviously wrong, because we’re supposed to notice it’s wrong. Because we saw Mikey wearing pants in 45.

They broke in after 3am and we learn this in chapter 44. We know that Shin died on the 14th from the gravestone. We know they looked at the bike on August 13th, because there’s a date marker telling us in 43. 

All of these things add up to tell us that Mikey’s memory is wrong, because not only do his pants change, his brother wouldn’t call him out to come to the shop at 3am. It wasn’t actually his birthday, there’s no reason to have him come out in the middle of the night. Daytime exists. His memory aligns exactly with Baji’s from the moment we see him in front of the shop. So something is screwy with what happened before and after, the memories don’t connect to one another properly. There’s missing information. 

When you accept that these things aren’t inconsistencies, it adds up to very few possibilities. 

Not only does the blood disappear from Mikey’s hands, artistic error, sure why not, let’s consider that.

Mikey says ‘laugh/smile Haruchiyo’ in chapter 241 and then in 263, he says ‘laugh/smile Sanzu’. It changes. It’s in the raws, not a translation error. That’s on purpose, because Haruchiyo is the only person Mikey calls by more than one name. He only calls Draken ‘Kenchin’, he only calls Takemichi ‘Takemitchy’. Haru is the only person who is different and this chapter confirmed that for us for the third time. Chapters 202 Sanzu, 225 Haruchiyo, 241 Haruchiyo, 258 Sanzu, 263 Sanzu.

Mistakes do happen, of course, nobody is perfect. But I’ve seen him go back and fix mistakes nobody would even notice:

the raws he forgot the scars on South, in the finished volume, they were added back in. South is a side character who wasn’t around for that long and barely made an appearance, yet he fixed this error. Mikey is the deuteragonist, he’s not going fix a mistake with South and not fix a mistake with Mikey.

This scene is redrawn. Because they’re from two different perspectives. The one on the right is Emma remembering Izana in chapter 137 when she tells Mikey about his letters to Shin. The one on the left is Izana in chapter 172 from Izana’s perspective.

Izana’s is from higher up and he’s looking down at Emma because he’s taller. Emma’s is from her height looking up at Izana, because she’s shorter. Wakui is so extra for no reason, because this is so completely unnecessary as literally nobody would notice this. But he did it and I noticed because I happened to put the images next to each other and went ‘holy shit’. These chapters aren’t even in the same volume but he went to all this effort to redraw the scene from two different perspectives. 

Kazutora’s shadow left in to show that Mikey was lying about there only being 5 founders. Chapter 39.

The bike and the light pole vanish into thin air. From multiple angles. Chapter 173.

The bike he draws more than any other bike? The wheels change and then go back. Because it’s not the same bike. It would be a wild baseless conspiracy theory, if we didn’t already know that there are two twin engines. 172, 173 (back to back!), 43

Mikey gets smaller, because it’s not in chronological order. He asked if his dad cried when he was a much younger little boy and then said he’d be just like his dad. Then he’s very happy when his mother says that he’s like his father. Because that scene came after, but it comes before that page. It’s possible the raws messed up the page order, except it isn’t, because the narration goes in order. His memories are mixed up.

Like. I could keep going there’s so much, but I’ll leave it with this. I think everyone is forgetting the Black Dragons Arc. We see Hakkai’s flashback of his horrible home life 3 times. 

Hakkai was lying. And if we paid attention, we would have been able to tell that, because in chapter 85 when Hakkai tells his story Taiju was facing forwards with the bookshelf to his back. Hakkai was also standing against a wall. Taiju wasn’t talking to Hakkai, because if Hakkai was telling the truth, then Yuzuha should have been behind him if he was protecting her. There’s a wall behind him. Taiju would have been talking to him from across the room with Yuzuha in between them. She is the only person he could have been talking to in that scene, because Hakkai was not in front of Taiju.

In Yuzuha’s memory, she’s in front of Taiju, who is talking to her, with Hakkai standing off to the side of him, which makes sense. 

We were always seeing the scene from Yuzuha’s perspective. Hakkai was in front of her and so was Taiju; he was talking to her. He could only have been talking to her.

Wakui was always showing us that Hakkai was lying.

Hakkai’s name also means 8 and commandment. The 8th commandment in Christianity (and we know the Shiba family is Christian, actually the church is Catholic, it’s based on a Catholic church anyway) is DO NOT LIE. Hakkai was a liar. 

Wakui IS leaving clues, they’re there. There is literally no possible way for me to make this up and have it fit so well. The timeline is extremely tight, like it’s annoying how consistent it is. Mitsuya’s hair length was the only thing I was ???? at and he answered my question. 

They aren’t art inconsistencies, not this many. And not all centered around Mikey every time he remembers something. Mikey is unreliable. We’ll find out why, whatever that reason may be, but he is not a reliable narrator.

I’m not sweating the small stuff. An entire bike vanishing and not getting corrected in the published volume is a big mistake to not fix. The wheel spokes changing is a big mistake to not fix. The light pole vanishing is the easiest fix of 4 lines and the erase tool or some white out. Mikey’s shorts become pants and then become shorts again, and the way Baji remembers it is exactly the way Mikey remembers it. Mikey’s memory is wrong or they’re both wrong, but either way, someone is wrong. He goes from calling Haruchiyo ‘Haruchiyo’ to calling him ‘Sanzu’ in his own memories (though both Senju and Mikey could be wrong here). Et cetera.

Anyway, the man is insanely detail oriented, I truly don’t know when he sleeps. They aren’t inconsistencies, because if you pay attention you realize eventually that Wakui is an absolute madman who really is just like that. He has exactly zero chill.

Mistakes happen and nobody is exempt from them, but like. These aren’t mistakes and when you accept that and think about what could be happening logically, assuming everything is on purpose, things start adding up and make sense. Every time the story veers to the left and I’m like ‘what the fuck...’ the next chapter brings it back to where it was. 

253 made me go what the fuck, 254 made me realize the train vision probably isn’t really a vision (and therefore Kisaki/Hina vision was also fake so that no longer bugs me), because it was too over the top and doesn’t make sense. Not only that, but the page background changes. It’s not a mistake, because the next vision has a white page background again. The only weird visions were the Kisaki one and the train one and they’re the ONLY two that are visually different than the rest. It’s on purpose.

263 confused me, 264 confirmed to me that Mikey’s memory is wrong and a lot of things make sense now. The vanishing bike, all the other weird inconsistencies. It’s not the story that’s inconsistent, it’s Mikey and his version of events that doesn’t make sense.

If you don’t accept that these are not mistakes? The story is nonsense and I understand why people would be frustrated. You have to accept he’s not forgetting his own story and these things are on purpose. It is literally the only way the story works. 

I can’t believe I have to say that the only way the story makes sense is to trust that things that seem like mistakes, aren’t mistakes, but that’s what the situation is. 

That’s right, you HAVE TO trust the author in order to make sense of things in this story. The characters are unreliable, however the author is reliable. You have to accept that ‘no, that isn’t a typo’. You have to accept that the story DOES make sense. 

I spent WEEKS confused because of what I assumed were typos. The story only clicked into place when I realized I need to stop doubting the author, because I wasted so much time on errors that were never actually errors. I could have saved myself so much hassle by just accepting Wakui is a good writer.

Mitsuya’s hair was literally the only thing bugging me in 264 chapters, because the story makes sense. 

I completely understand the skepticism. I understand the doubt when I’m pointing out one or two things, but I do not have space, nor time, to write them all out in one post, because there are SO MANY INSTANCES of this happening. Where we are shown something that seems like the wrong thing in order to figure out the right thing, based on what makes logical sense. 

Therefore, since they answer things in the plot, and fit perfectly, they aren’t inconsistencies or mistakes. I could not have figured out what the hell Takeomi was saying if I didn’t accept that the typo wasn’t a typo. I’m not including them in every single post I make when I notice something is off, because then every single post would be at least 50 pages, if not up to 200. There are that many. I literally do not have the time, because they’re on purpose. 

This response is NINETEEN pages by the way (including images, which adds some, but whatever) and this only scratches the surface. Barely. If that gives you an idea. 

South’s scars being forgotten was a mistake, it happens. There are mistakes, I’m not saying he doesn’t ever make any. He definitely does. But I haven’t mentioned any of the little ones I’ve noticed as a clue that something is off, because they’re small details, not indicative of anything. It would be a stretch to say that they were clues. I’m only mentioning really noticeable things and there are still so many.  Mikey’s clothing changing, when everything else from that scene is what we’ve already seen before 200+ chapters ago? And then changing back?? Not a mistake. Especially not with a main character like Mikey. Especially not when nothing Mikey says makes any sense. Wakui is telling us he’s unreliable and always has been. 

Since chapter 5, when he says I HAVE (not past tense ‘had’, I checked the raws) an older brother. He’s either misspeaking, forgetting Shin was dead for a moment, or not talking about Shin. Everything seems to point to him not actually talking about Shin in this instance, because now we know about Takeomi. The only person he uses the brother honorific with, Take-nii.   

Anyway. 

Wakui also uses hair styles and length, and the seasons, to tell us the timeline. He leaves clocks in everywhere to show us how much time has passed. I literally just realized now why there’s a clock in chapter 138 and it’s to show us that it’s still the same day after Takemitchy told Hina about being a time leaper, because he went to Mikey’s house after that in the early morning and the clock shows afternoon by the time Chifuyu and the other guys come over. 

See? This is a mistake. But one that wouldn’t have any significance to the plot, it’s clearly just a ‘whoopsie forgot to draw in the hands’. The entire clock doesn’t change shape or disappear.

So I hope you can see what I mean by the ‘inconsistencies’ not being inconsistencies and being wrong on purpose. If all this didn’t answer your question thoroughly enough, idk. We don’t need to hear a quote or anything from Wakui about what he’s doing with the story, because author commentary about their work doesn’t matter to the story, the work should speak for itself. It’s why JKR’s post book commentary is so pointless, if she didn’t include it in her work anywhere (idk I’ve never read Harry Potter, it’s just the most popular example of an author who won’t shut up I can think of). Knowing Wakui was in a gang as a kid is a fun nugget of trivia, but that’s it. Books, stories, aren’t meant to rely on author commentary in order to make sense of them, that’s bad writing. Same thing with the character books, they’re fun for fans, but don’t really tell us much that the story didn’t already. Nothing I’ve learned from them has changed my perception of the story, because the info lines up with what we learn from the story. We could see that Mucho and Sanzu were close from the manga, the cheesecake story is cute, but didn’t change my opinion of what their relationship was like, because we can see that they were close in the story. Authors don’t usually tell you when they’re leaving clues, they just do it and you either find them or you miss them, I’m sure I’ve missed a ton lol. 

I could keep going, but I’d just be repeating myself from my other posts and I’m very sleepy now. Hope this helps!

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And if you want to know why Takemichi is the second time leaper: because Future Takemichi gets pulled along when Takemitchy time leaps bc they have the same soul. It’s why his body is empty in the future (chapter 7!) when he goes to the past, nobody is home. If that didn’t happen, then Future Takemichi should go back to living his life when Takemitchy leaps, but he doesn’t, because he’s pulled out of his body. Future Takemichi’s consciousness goes back to the past as well, he just doesn’t get to control the body. Just like how past Takemichi isn’t in control of his own body either. There are 3 Takemichi’s in one body when he’s in the past. 

Just like there are 3 Manjiros. 

See? 3 different people. The person on the left has short hair, but no bags under his eyes, because he’s a different guy. That’s Manjiro. *clues* Nue on his suit, his name means various or numerous, his memory is messed up, et cetera.

Future Takemichi is the second time leaper, but Past Takemichi who grows up, is the person messing things up as he grows up into Future Takemichi. Because you aren’t supposed to know what your future is going to be like, time travel moral lessons 101, and in trying to do the right thing, he ends up messing things up. Because he should be living his life and existing in the present reality, but he isn’t. Takemitchy was stuck on the past, and it’s his fault Takemichi ends up stuck on the future. Takemitchy’s insurmountable obstacle was himself from the very beginning. He’s the thing that was holding himself back. His ultimate final boss is himself, Takemichi. Which is fitting, because a good chunk of the story has been him overcoming his trauma and regaining his confidence, which he finally does in 244 when he sends Kakucho flying. He was always the person in his own way, mentally and literally. 

Chifuyu says in chapter 127 that Takemichi is the only person who can change the future and he’s right. If Takemitchy doesn’t change things, then nothing changes. Takemichi still exists and lives his life for 12 years when Takemitchy leaves his body. They are, and are not, the same person. The current timeline is created because of Takemitchy’s actions, so another version of himself is the only person who can alter their reality. He is the only person invested enough in his own personal drama to care about it. 

I’m not just talking out of my ass, we get the clues in chapters 7, 8, 48, 85,1 27, 181, 216, 217, 231, 253, 254, 256, and I’m probably forgetting a chapter.

I would accept Sanzu as the answer I suppose, begrudgingly (it’s not him tho and it’s not Mikey or Hanma), but Takemichi fits and it explains his visions, they’re memories from Future Takemichi. Train vision? Fake. Kisaki vision? Also fake. He’s telling Takemitchy ‘it’s your fault Hina keeps dying, because she never got over you when she was never supposed to meet you’. He’s telling Takemitchy ‘you need to get to Sanzu, because he’s Mikey’s last childhood friend and Mikey isn’t going to talk to you’. How did he know where Sanzu was? Peripheral vision, Sanzu has bright pink barbie hair, he sticks out. All of the visions are explained if Takemichi is the second time leaper. Nobody else would care about this. Nobody else has to be granted the ability, it’s just one asshole who shouldn’t have been time travelling, because time travel is BAD and you shouldn’t run away from reality. That’s what Takemitchy did in his original life, he ran away. It’s what Mikey is doing now, he’s shutting himself away and not facing his problems by giving into the worst aspects of himself instead, he’s hiding. Time travel is another method of running away and it always causes its own problems. It is the moral of every good long form time travel narrative = don’t fucking time travel. Time leaping has only made things WORSE for everybody, that same moral lesson is holding true so far in TR. 

Just my opinion of course, but. 

[nekonotabi]

So, I'm a bit mixed about the new chapter.

First of all, seeing Kisaki again was interesting. Bad person, good character. What I found most interesting was the way he approached Mikey : Mikey is known to value his friends very deeply and Pah, as one of the founder of Toman, has a very special place.

Kisaki introduces himself to Mikey as a "hero", as "the one who can break Pah out of jail", though his means for doing so are questionable at best. What's even more interesting though is that Mikey acknowledges that Kisaki isn't "good". He's not blind to the fact that Kisaki isn't a good person and more than that, he's okay with it. He needs it. However, the fact that Kisaki is the first to know about the dark impulses remains surprising.

Mikey's request that Kisaki guide him is even more surprising. I have to admit that I didn't see it coming. What worries me, however, is his "I don't care" when Kisaki says "Even if I don't do it the way you want". How can he not care? From what I understand from this chapter, he approached Kisaki because Kisaki is "dark" and he can understand Mikey's darkness where Toman can't. But "I don't care" is to leave the field open to the worst atrocities.

I feel like this chapter is the most reliable we've had from Mikey so far.

I wonder what the Takemitchy chapter will bring us.

(I'd like to add some things about the Kazutora part but I can't organize my thoughts at the moment. Maybe later.)

I kind of had a feeling this chapter was going to be Kisaki centric, though I am glad it seems we aren't going to just gloss over Takemitchy/Takemichi entirely. Which I was very worried about. I know by now that Wakui absolutely would.

We did actually see Kisaki approach Mikey about Pah-chin in 61, so this is us seeing the same scene all over again, but from Mikey's pov instead of Baji's. We didn't actually hear the dialogue, Baji just gave us the gist of what happened. Meaning it probably didn't actually happen exactly as Baji recited it. We don't actually see Kisaki say he wants to be 3rd division captain, that's just what the outcome was, so Baji's probably filling in the blanks with the information he has.

Yeah, I wasn't expecting Mikey to have sought him out after that either. And interestingly, he does so after he reconciles with Draken on August 1st.

It really puts into perspective why Kisaki was so SURE that he knew Mikey better than anybody in chapter 149. Because Mikey told him about the darkness lingering inside him.

But he didn't know Mikey, he knew "Mikey". Like, I am just about positive that is not the same person and Kisaki couldn't have known that Mikey and "Mikey" are different.

"Mikey" is the person who told him about his darkness, not Mikey.

Definitely recontextualizes this exchange in 112:

Especially since Takemitchy was even like 'his feelings for Mikey-kun aren't grounded in reason at all' a few panels later. And his reaction in 112 wasn't grounded in reason, it was purely emotional. Kisaki must have thought they had a bond and that Mikey was just throwing him away.

No wonder he was so mad and confused over being fired. "Mikey" told him he didn't care what he did, while Mikey tossed him aside for doing exactly what he told him to. "Mikey" asked him to stay by his side, while Mikey kicked him out of Toman. "Mikey" wanted him to guide him, because he was a bad person, while Mikey claimed to have ignored his underhanded methods just for the sake of growing Toman. But that isn't what they discussed and agreed to.

I think "Mikey" doesn't care, because those aren't his friends. Like how Sanzu calls "Mikey" his ally and not his friend. I think he knows Mikey and "Mikey" are not the same. "Mikey" doesn't care about the guys in Toman at all, he cares about them to the extent that they're Mikey's friends and that's it.

Y'know. Besides Hanma and Hina, "Mikey" might have been the only person to say 'I like you' to Kisaki. Maybe that's why he, according to Draken, adored him so much. When I stopped to think about it, his actions surrounding Mikey were just like that surrounding Hina and Takemichi. Like he had a crush on Mikey. Just like he had a crush on Hina and then has her killed. He really treats Mikey like he's a jilted ex-lover and this chapter explains so much.

He was a jilted ex, just without the lover part. That feeling of betrayal makes so much sense now. Mikey did betray him. That’s why he was so determined to set Mikey back on the right path. “Mikey” is the person who started that path in the first place.

Like, if we take this chapter at face value, Mikey’s reactions to Kisaki throughout the manga are completely incongruent with his actions in 265. But they make sense if Kisaki wasn’t talking to Mikey in 265, but “Mikey”. If Mikey liked Kisaki, why would he plan his suicide in Manila for his birthday? That’s pretty fucked up to do to someone you’re civil with at the very least. You don’t know someone and work with them for 12 years closely without learning that basic bit of information about them. It doesn’t make sense to do if they were truly partners, as this chapter suggests Mikey wanted. It does make sense if “Mikey” was Kisaki’s partner, not Mikey. 

[nekonotabi]

With the recent chapter, I see so many people blaming Mikey for the events of Tokyo Revengers and not…The people actually responsible?

Like..People don’t tend to understand the effects that death can have on a child’s psyche, and Mikey experienced THREE of them. You can argue that he probably wasn’t affected by his father’s death since he didn’t remember him as much, but his mother’s death and clearly Shinichiro’s death really impacted him and molded his character. I keep seeing people talk about how Mikey didn’t experience anything bad but like…death is traumatizing—especially what happened to Shinichiro—and Mikey, who already wasn’t mentally well, wasn’t able to process his feelings over both incidents and instead just repressed his emotions. So is it really shocking that a 15-year old mentally ill child isn’t going to make the best decisions?

Obviously him telling Kisaki about his dark impulses wasn’t a good decision, but self-sabotage is a thing that a lot of children experience when they experience trauma, and clearly something that Mikey himself experienced here. He didn’t want to work with Kisaki because he wanted the events of TR to happen (i.e. his loved ones getting killed) and he just didn’t care about getting stronger, he wanted to use his dark impulses in a way to protect what he had left. You really think that, if Mikey had known what was going to happen, he would have still worked with Kisaki?? And the reason why he entrusted his secret to Kisaki is because he saw him as a kindred spirit, someone also with a darkness that would be able to help manage Mikey’s own darkness to better protect the people he cared about.

And why didn’t he tell Draken or the others about his dark impulses? Well, see it from his point of view. You have a group of people that, like Mikey described, are genuinely good and wholesome people. Would you risk possibly losing them or risk hurting them by telling them about a dark aspect of your personality? Sometimes it’s easier to entrust the worse of yourself to strangers than the people you love (of course this changes when Mikey tells Takemichi about his dark impulses), not because you don’t trust your loved ones, but because you don’t want to subject them to that worse version of yourself.

At the end of the day, it’s clear that Mikey desperately needs help and while many of his actions are inexcusable and he needs to be held accountable (i.e. what he may or may not have done to Sanzu) he is still deserving of getting help. Kazutora literally killed two people and was still able to heal from everything that had happened. Just because Mikey isn’t acting like a classic “victim” (lashing out)and didn’t experience what people may see as a“traumatizing childhood (abuse)” doesn’t make him any less deserving of help.

Wow that's really well written anon! I think the bit about Kisaki being a kindred spirit really makes sense. Like Mikey was able to sense something in him and knew Kisaki wouldn't be scared away by his dark impulses like some of the others might. Mikey seems to like Kisaki specifically because he's different and he can be himself around Kisaki. To put it plainly he doesn't care about Kisaki like the others so doesn't need to protect him.

Youre definitely right though Mikey needs help and I think he can come back from this.

[nekonotabi]

Thoughts on Mikey’s character?? He also seems complex in a way but also simple. Either I am utterly in love with him 🙂

i have such strong opinons on his character i fear if i start i may never stop.

spolilers for tokyorev and mentions of trauma, gang violence, etc.

tldr: peoples refusal to understand mikeys position as a victim frustrates me. not saying that makes his actions okay, but i wish people would humanize him more.

i really do like mikey and i like him more in retrospect because i think his character is incredibly emotionally complex and also very nuanced but i do NOT like the fandoms handling of him at all because it either 1. demonizes him to a degree i find alarming or 2. coddles him in a way that doesn't fit his life and how he's been.

i have soo many things to say about. because for a fandom that produces a large body of dark or morally questionable content, people seem almost unwilling to treat mikeys issues with an iota of nuance. especially as we so continuously get information that reflects the same things which is that mikey as a character has greater issues than the rest of his crew that are perpetuated by his position in life.

but you can't talk about mikey without nuance because if you do, you're going to shit on his intricately written character completely.

people can call it what they see fit what those issues are because every character in the show is traumatized, poor, and generally disenfranchised by society at large which turns them to things they wouldn't normally do.

personally i think mikey's dark impulses are merely reflections of his very fractured mental state. i don't think it's of value to name a specific mental illness, and im not qualified to do that but i think people put up defenses because saying mikey has mental illness makes them think you're saying that's what causes him to act like that.

which isn't true nor what im implying because mental illness happens to normal people everyday and they're not violent. but if you look at mikeys circumstances, his life, the death of his siblings and his pronounced and continual trauma - and how those things interact with mental illness, i do genuinely find it unfair that people are so unwilling to be at least a little more understanding to his spiral.

all of that on top of, we don't know what happened to mikey that led him to where we are now. we have no idea what he's witnessed, if he's taken any substances to make this worse, what he's had to do to continue to survive. mitsuya had fashion, draken had his cars, chifuyu and even baji all had aspirations, but mikey didn't. mikey has never had.

i dont think you have to like mikey to understand his position is different from everyone else in the series. the continual loss and the things he must see in his work every day drive him to a point where his instability is tangible.

what michi is trying to do now is something only he can do. because everyone else in mikeys life has to worry about themselves because all of them are poor, disenfranchised kids with hard lives. it's not their fault like they couldn't "save" mikey, or get him the help he needed.

the only reason michi can even think to do that is because he never lived that life. not in the same way everyone else did. his aspirations are because his life was mostly stable up until where the manga starts. and his desire to save mikey is all because he thinks he can even do that.

mikey deserves time and then a lot of therapy and rehabilitation. all michi is trying to do is convince him that his life is worth saving.

i was crushed when draken died. i think it broke me in a way i cant explain, but i think that scenes significance flew over so many peoples heads. draken was mikeys heart. for him to die at mikeys hands is a suicide attempt more than a murder. of course it represents his internal darkness. its fucked up and awful.

but what mikey represents in many ways is simple. you can't save a person who doesn't want to save themselves. what michi is trying to accomplish is pulling mikey that far. what mikey did, has done, keeps doing is a form of self-destruction, one we see he's prone to over and over and over. that darkness is represented in tokyorev frequently.

and it is unjustifiable. but more than i want mikey to rehabilitate himself because i think having him suffer would do more damage to the story than good.

and to be frank, i think too many people have incredibly simplified views of gang life because they've never interacted with it. but i have because of the kind of drugs i was around in my adolescence. getting out is not easy. those people are human beings. not every person who's killed someone for the sake of their own survival is proud of it. that is a mental torture unlike anything else. your willingness to give empathy to imperfect victims says much about your character.

it's easy to simply say "you had a choice," when you don't understand what that shit is like. but to someone like mikey and to the rest of the characters in that show - they've only ever known how to live one way. wakui wrote this story because he knew young kids who got caught up in this crowd, and what the experiences at the hands of a system that doesn't uplift them.

and mikey is a product of that system. he's a product of poverty, trauma, mental illness and early exposure to violence and gang life. he's a product of never receiving the kind of support that a kid like him must've needed. it doesn't justify what he did, but i am so so sick of people pretending that is some senseless beast and not some deep shit that he's spent his whole life steeped in.

[nekonotabi]

I saw twitter saying Mikey didn't hit Senju and Koko because Senju is a girl (Mikey said he never hits girls) while Koko is a gay and Mikey is too---

[nekonotabi]

i will never. Never. recover from this

(and i'll make it even worse for myself)

[nekonotabi]

In your opinion based on their dialogue, is there something romantic going on between Inui and Koko? I don't know if ppl shipping them is misplaced or not, if there is any merit to the romance rumors between them.

Fun question! My stance is always "people can ship whatever they like", canon or crackship or anything in between, without need to prove or explain a single thing, or justify it as a "good choice of ship". Shipping is a fandom activity for enjoyment, that's all it is. Let's ship and let ship, hell yeah.

That's where I start from. But let's get into InuKoko, absolutely!! It's a hella good subject.

In short and simple: yes! There has always been a strong romantic aspect to their story, overall. Things going on between the two characters that unquestionably involve romance. That much I can say, since it's factual in script, presentation and progression.

Romance is the basis of their plotline, after all. What I mean by this isn't how in love they are, in what form, whether it's a good or bad thing, much less where exactly they stand now and what's gonna happen to them - none of that. What I'm saying is that it is a storyline that happens because Koko had a romantic interest in Akane and then in Inui, kickstarting everything from their individual growth lines, to Koko's involvement with the Black Dragon gang (which wouldn't have happened had he not decided he'd follow after Inui exclusively), to their place in the overarching Tokyo Revengers plot and the struggle they're currently solving. Everything is where it is with these characters because Akane died, because Koko kissed Inui, because they stuck together all those years, because Koko wanted to follow Inui anywhere, because Inui did so much impulsive stuff for Koko as "the person he'd die for" too, because Inui didn't think Koko had gotten over Akane and kept himself closed to communication, because Koko decided to act like money and success were his life and left for Kanto Manji Gang, and now, because Koko is realizing he's been cowardly and that what he wants for himself IS Inui. All throughout, this has been built on the base of a romantic element.

(From there, one can discuss and voice opinions to their liking about whether Koko's way to approach Inui was misguided, healthy, toxic, awful, tender, messy, a good thing to do or a bad thing to do; and whether the bond that came from it is misguided, healthy, toxic, good, bad, etc etc. But it is a thing that's present there, has always been.)

As for the current stage of the story, chapter 252 and all that… I mean, I realize your question probably IS referring to this current time haha, I just find it important to clarify the type of story we're already coming from, with those two. But for what's right now, since you're welcoming my personal opinion on this… 

The language and narrative framing around "I will forget Akane, I'll give myself to Inui" is saying enough, I think, considering this is a man he made physical moves on and was emotionally very involved with. The words are pretty straightforward! It reads like a direct contrast between old feelings and new feelings, in which, ultimately, Koko's feelings for Inui (however people may judge them) are what he chooses to pursue. He's finally come to terms with that. And Inui, well, Inui has been waiting for him to come around for a while now.

That's the way it reads to me, dialogue and full context of the manga considered!

Again, though, regardless of where Inui and Koko end up and what's stated or left unstated about their relationship, we ship and let ship in this house. Thanks for the question, and feel free to chat more about it anytime!

[nekonotabi]

Anyway since Black Dragon arc will be on air Jan 2023 I will expect the booms of Mitsuya stans, KokoInu stans, and if Tenjiku arc can get animated after that some months later, then a KakuIza stans boom

Also more Yuzuha love she's amazing best TR girl

[nekonotabi]

Regarding TR262, I gotta say something controversial--

Dance, just dance Mikey, just like that. You don't have anything to lose anymore, let it out of your petite body, destroy everything in this world that continues to pit against you despite your wish, those who keep asking for forgiveness over the crimes you can not forgive, those who use you for their selfish desires rather than those crappy words saying it's for you

[nekonotabi]

I binge-read Tokyo Revengers and let's just say this thing is about delinquent boys be gay do crimes and also they need a lot of therapy

You can strangle me and can never make me say Mikey, Draken, Chifuyu, Koko, Inupi, Izana, Kakucho, Sanzu, etc. are straight. Even Takemicchi saw his fiance in her wedding dress and he said he missed Mikey's smile and literally dropped his own wedding to go save Mikey. Da fuck. And I don't even ship MiTake, I'm down with Drakey and whatever is happening in the manga now is hurting my soul terribly

(Truth be told I seriously felt bad for Hinata in that situation but without Mikey's decision to disband Toman her life and many others' could not have been saved, and Takemicchi can not become the person he is now without Mikey's influence, it can not be helped that Micchi wants to save Mikey, welp)

[nekonotabi]

Some of my Yu-Gi-Oh! illustrations over the years. Thank you for everything you did for us, Takahashi-sensei. Part of who I am and what I'm able to do today was thanks to you. I hope you rest well.

I will still continue to love and draw for this series as long as I'm able.

[nekonotabi]

This family is a match made in heaven

[nekonotabi]

i love how much anya just acts like a kid her age, she excitedly shows yor each room in the house, she introduces her to anyas stuffed toys, she excited says she can clean her own face “all by herself” the way way little kids gets excited about things they can do. she always says how she “helped” with tasks even tho the reality is that kids often just get in the way when they try to help. she has no filter when out in public and will loudly state that the the painting is nude” i can see her boobies papa” and while she draws about her parents being as assassin and spy because she has the drawing skills of a 5 yearold they dont realize she knows their identities. she eats with her fingers instead of using a fork and spoon. etc

i just love all these little details, its super cute and makes anya feel very fleshed out beyond just being a telepath

[nekonotabi]

[image description: a ten page comic starring saiki kusuo from the disastrous life of saiki k and anya forger from spy x family.

1: a shot of the both of them walking. They are talking with telepathy.

2: anya, telepathically: do all telepaths have pink hair?

saiki, telepathically: no

anya: oh… are you a spy?! (Next to this thought is a drawing of loid forger)

saiki: no.

anya: an assassin?! (next to this thought is a drawing of yor forger)

saiki: hey, aren’t these your parents?

anya hesitates to answer.

3: saiki: I… am a normal high school student.

anya: what?! how?! You have telepathy! your life has to be exciting!

saiki: I prefer when it’s not. I don’t like telling people that I’m an esper.

4: anya think about this for a moment, before going wide eyed.

anya: does that mean you have to kill me?!

saiki: what? no?

5: saiki: why would I have to kill you.

anya: because i know about your telepathy?

saiki: watch other cartoons

anya, looking shocked: How- it’s not from a cartoon. (She is thinking of a cartoon, where someone says “you found out my secret! Die!”)

saiki: you’re replaying the episode in your head right now.

6: saiki: it seems like a better show than cyborg ciderman no. 2 at least.

anya: cyborg ciderman?

saiki: don’t watch that either.

anya: if you don’t like telling people about it (his telepathy)… do some people already know?

7: saiki thinks of his mom, aiura, toritsuka, and akechi.

saiki: a couple classmates, my family. some found out on their own.

Anya: how did it go?

8: saiki: maybe a little too well. they never stop bugging me now.

anya: really?

saiki: really.

anya looks shocked, then says: I haven’t told anyone.

saiki: you don’t have to

anya: i know, but…

9: a shot of both of them walking, this time in silence.

10: saiki: hey, if you haven’t told anyone, did you make your psychic limiters yourself?

anya: what are psychic limiters?

saiki: the cones one your head?

anya: heh. ive fooled you. These are just hair pins!

saiki: why do they look like that.

anya: I don’t know

End ID]

psiprise encounter

[nekonotabi]

Okay but Loid and Yor realizing Anya wasn't comfortable around crowds and immediately leaving, no questions asked, no demands for her to just put up with it. They recognized their child's need for support and gave it to her on her own terms.

[nekonotabi]

This anime. This one. This thing right here. It's the dumbest, weirdest, most out-there anime series I've ever been forced to lay my eyes on.

I fucking love it.

It's about an ancient Chinese general getting fucking isekai'd into the middle of modern day, party-central Shibuya and he uses his military knowledge to help this random singer girl achieve EDM vocalist stardom via his innate understanding of Instagram and also crowd control.

It's the most random, unimaginable thing I've ever watched and I swear to God the first 4 minutes of episode 1 are the most tightly and effectively written opening minutes of an anime I HAVE EVER SEEN. Like the way they establish tone and character and concept so succinctly is literally mind-blowing and somehow they managed to work a genuinely emotional moment and a killer acoustic track into a discussion involving CRYPTO CURRENCY.

Why oh why does "Ya Boy Kongming" exist?

And where the FUCK do I get more!?!?!?