#tokrev 278

[nanaosaki3940]

Tokyo Revengers Chapter 278 (Epilogue)

They're all alive now!!! 😭😭😭

A 37-year-old Shinichiro Sano! 😍🥰

(He still looks young! That's illegal! 😭)

An 27-year-old adult Keisuke Baji!! Finally!! 😍😘💖😭

Mr. and Mrs. Ken and Emma Ryuguji!! 😭🤧💖

A happy and cheery adult Izana Kurokawa!! 🤩🥳

[mel0ns]

❗TOKYO REVENGERS 278 SPOILERS❗

he's alive 🥹 and happy

[aokuro-san]

Some thoughts on TokRev and Ken Wakui (before reading the ending)

I want to clarify that this is my point of view and that if you have a different one, that's fine (even if you don't agree)! So let's move on.

Let's see, although everyone has a fairly well-argued point about why they don't like the ending, I think that the fact of saying: "these are not my characters" is as true as it is uncertain. I mean, there are things that WILL happen anyway and shape our characters as we know them...

...except for a few incidents that did traumatize them for life (like this: Draken never got over Emma's death and in all futures he lived extremely DEPRESSED; that is, he lived just to live. In fact, I've always had a theory that just like Ash Lynx, in Banana Fish, Draken allowed himself to die protecting Takemichi knowing what would happen to him, and at least now they both have a chance).

For example:

Kazutora will continue to have to survive the mistreatment of her father and the bullying and blackmail of her classmates until he runs into Baji, which is most likely, or another character, and he will have to start to evolve as a person from there (as we saw in several of the extras).

Emma and Draken will continue to be abandoned by their mothers. In fact, when Takemichi arrives in the past, Emma is already with the Sano and, finally, has had to "overcome" that abandonment (I put it in quotes because it doesn't seem like the right word, but now I can't think of another).

In addition, Draken will continue to live in "the massage room" and will see how the girls are prostituted and discarded. That is, he will have to learn to live in that environment and the "little" slavery he suffered from older gang members before becoming Mikey's friend.

Mitsuya and Shiba will meet in the same way and will live exactly the same. However, I want to take a little break here, because NO, I don't think Shiba family life is as good as some people think. In fact, in the color panel of the wedding you can see that Taiju is still quite far from his two little brothers. We will have to read the chapter to draw a little more conclusions, but I think that Taiju will never be able to completely redeem himself from what he did as we saw in the manga.

Izana will continue to be abandoned by all the adults around him, which will mold him as a person until Shinichiro finds him. I think this is the most difficult character to read because of the kind of life he has led, but we will have to wait for the little explanation.

Kakucho will also lose his parents in a car accident (see the scar) and the Sano will lose their father in another, and their mother due to an "illness" (which could be a hidden depression in the play, from my point of view).

And etc etc etc.

I mean, of course, Takemichi and Mikey STILL THE SAME (they are the same characters from the beginning, I mean) and it seems that thanks to that knowledge of the facts they have been able to help the vast majority of the characters (if not all, hahahaha), but they will not be able to control all the incidents in the lives of the characters. Probably, they will have spent many battles with Taiju and Izana, before achieving their objective, which, after all, WAS THE OBJECTIVE OF THEM BOTH. Especially Takemichi, our protagonist.

Actually, this ending can be as counterproductive (because of the rush, more than anything, I have already said it on another occasion), as it is appropriate for what Tokyo Revengers is, since it closes the two conflicts that arose from the beginning: "the loneliness" and "save them all" (and the penultimate chapter finally makes sense of the title and makes the best revenge of all: THE REVENGE OF TRYING TO BE HAPPY!). However, he has done it at the cost of MANY UNSOLVED THINGS (and leaving Shinichiro like the unsalted bread he has been from the beginning, haha). However, this seems to me the least serious of all. Let me explain: AN AUTHOR DOES NOT OWE YOU AN EXPLANATION OF EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS. Especially IF EVEN THE MAIN CHARACTERS DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW TIME TRAVEL WORKS OR THEY DOESN'T REALIZE THE THINGS THAT, MAYBE, THE SPECTATOR DOES REALIZE.

Also, Takemichi is our main narrator most of the time, and I already said that he's not a smart enough person to notice this "nonsense", or give it due importance, which makes it much easier for the author leave those "loose ends" without endangering the coherence of the work, or the main character.

It is true that doing something like this is a risk and that ignorance works much better in horror works. I also would have liked it to fix some specific points (like, who was spying on Takemichi in the Bonten arc?), but if not, I DON'T DIE EITHER, TRUTH. Because, if you think about it, what the author has done with this part of the story is to make sure that people like me CHECK THE MANGA INFINITELY, hahaha. It's a great tactic, no doubt.

Or those are my conclusions, before reading the ending, of course.

PS: I see a lot of people saying that that wasn't the ending that Wakui wanted to do or that TokRev should have been a seinen... I honestly have no idea how the manga industry works in Japan. I only know that the publisher itself asked Wakui for a story and he created Tokyo Revengers from there. The first shônen of him. There is nothing wrong with TokRev being shônen, in fact, it is thanks to this work and the genre that Wakui has become known worldwide and if you want to read something about gang members and seinen, you can read Shinjuku Swan, one of his earlier works. I don't see a problem with that, really.

What I would worry about is that Wakui hadn't made the ending he wanted. I guess we'll see that over time. But if he really has made the ending he wanted (and had in mind since Bloody Halloween, as he said in an interview), THEN THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN SAY TO HIM IN THAT SENSE (Not that you can't criticize the ending, but insult him, try to convince him day and night to change the ending, send him pictures of them burning his manga for the ending, and generally harass him for the ending he finished picking out. I'm not surprised by this attitude, unfortunately, but it's still CRAZY and a huge lack of respect for the artist). Because, as John Katzenbach said in an interview:

"Do what you want to do. The story you tell should be YOUR STORY. Because a lot of people will come to you and say: You know, if you turn this 16-year-old boy into a 20-year-old girl, the story will be much better. ... No. Tell the story you want to tell and have faith in that. It may or may not work... But you'll be happy in the long run, if you stay true to your own vision."

[lexinympho]

As much I detest how the manga ended, I can't lie and say seeing most of these characters again isn't making me smile and tear up a little.

[empty1ns1d3]

not senju and sanzu being youtubers 😭😭😭 LMAO

[scarareg]

Finally finished TokRev and I have mixed feelings.

I really like that Chifuyu narrated the last chapter,a pretty way to honor his importance;as well that Takemichi fullfiled his promise to Fuyu about bringing Baji back. I always wondered how he intended to do so and just assumed that he wouldn't because it would not make sense,and that is the problem,the ending is like the story was starting another arc at least 50 chapters long. As it is, the end feels empty.

I have seen people having trouble with the way Shinichiro got his powers in contrasts with the way Takemichi and Mikey did but I like it.

The message is really clear,the hobbo got his from killing someone and he ended up with a bad life. Shinichiro killed him and ended dying,leaving his siblings and grandpa lonely and traumatized in Mikey's case. He giving the powers to Takemichi through kindness and Takemichi being the one who is successfully using them is meaningful,the whole point is Shinichiro could have asked kindly for those powers and the outcome would be good but he used violence so everything ended badly.

This theme is connected to those of the main story of "violence is no the way,kindness may be more difficult at the moment, but is more rewarding in the long run and it will take you further in life" and "is more important to be mentally strong than physically,and to do so you need to be vulnerable and trust others,let yourself to feel the good and the ugly,only this way you will live at the fullest".

That being said, I think Mikey's dark impulses should have been him bottling up everything and not a curse. He not allowing himself to feel anything and mourn the deaths of his dad,mom,Shinichiro,Baji and Drakens. That would follow the theme of "you need and should cry,and after doing it you will be ready to move on and become a better version of yourself and live a happier life" that the manga has.

The ending overall felt empty,just because we do not know all this versions of the characters and there is a lot of stuff that is not as easy to resolve as one might like,examples are Kazutora being prone to violence and having a troubled upbringing,the Shiba siblings abuse,Koko and Inupi story and the fire,Izana's mother drama,etc,just to name a few. So,because Takemichi and Mikey should have interfered in all those plot points now the wedding feels empty,like they all are happy,yey! but who are they? Even the way Takemichi and Hina met now must be different,meaning that the core of their relationship and the whole manga changed.

There are two alternative versions of the ending that I think would have been more satisfying:

The one I would have gone for if I was Wakui is letting Takemichi defeat Mikey. Mikey needs to be beaten. Part of the reason he became darker in all the futures is because he feels untouchable and needs to be taken down. This is because his whole self worth is based on him being strong so making him lose for the first time against one of the weakest characters, that also resembles his brother aka the person Mikey admires the most, would be the wake up call he needs. After losing, I think Takemichi should have talked with him ,tell him that is fine if he feels sad,lost or empty,after all his life has been painful, but he needs to let everything out and move on,and that his friends will be with him all the way. Maybe is corny but I think is the easier and most logic way to end the manga. After that Mikey would let his "dark impulses"(that in this version are his repressed feelings and not a curse)out and move on to a better life. Takemichi would make sure for a couple of weeks that Mikey is doing better and everyone else are on the same page,taking care of each other ,and then he would say his goodbyes, or rather see you later, and will go back to the future. End.

In this version everything stays the same up until Mikey kills Takemichi,and in his last moments Takemichi passes the time leap power to Mikey,being Mikey the one who travels to the past and has to fix everything from zero. This will help in the fact that now Mikey is going to have to clean his mess and work to become a better person.

I do not think this will be satisfying because is an open ending tho, but I think is also hopeful and a little better than the one we got that feels empty,but I don't know,you guys tell me what you think.

[animekingfans]

TOKYO REVENGERS 278 SPOILER

[redbluenight]

ＴＨＥ ＥＮＤ .

[raamitsu]

⚠️ TR 278 LEAKS: FINAL ⚠️

by PepitoGoat, SpoilersWakasa & Shonenleaks

COLOR SPREAD OF CHAPTER 278:

LEAKS:

The manga has [unofficially] ends :)

[kingleeh]

Takemichi is 45.

Hina is 26.

She does not know about this.

But yaaaaay happy ending woohoo.

Okay guys.

[rindoushousewife69]

[mel0ns]

i've been fed well

[aokuro-san]

👀👀👀

[violettierre]

Kind of a sus thing to tell your homie in his wedding day don't you think ??

[kuwupikaa]

I think it's hilarious that they're youtubers but also. His name is officially not Sanzu anymore

[crystal-the-axolotl]

So apparently i've returned to yell about the ending of Tokyo Revengers...

(Warnings: Spoilers and a sligtly less mad Axolotl below the cut)

The one thing that annoys me most about this ending, is the fact that it could have been great, should have been great, but no, wakui messed it up royaly, and here's why in my humble dumbass opinion:

Yes, i'm still happy that they got an happy ending, BUT, the one thing that bothers me most in this, is the whole errasure of trauma that happened.

I'm sorry but hOW EXACTLY DO YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT TWO TWELVE YEARS OLD FIXED EVERYONE'S ISSUES, DEFECTIVE FAMILLIES AND MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEM, HOW THE FUCK???

I might actually believe the whole Kazutora stuff (in the extend that if Shin didn't die, then obviously his mental health would be greatly improved or clearly did not spiral down as it had before) and so the Baji not dying stuff as well, but no i will NOT accept any fixing of broken families, that is NOT something two kids who're not even part of them can do, this DOES NOT happen in real life. And okay, sure Tokrev asks you a lot of the time to suspend credibility (or whatever it's called in english, sorry i'm a mess) like no, Chifuyu and Mitsuya technicaly shouldn't be alive in a universe where half of the Sanos can get one shot by blunt force head trauma. But fine, i'll buy it.

I won't buy the whole happy bullshit though, because a real happy ending in Tokrev should have been these kids learning how to be happy and functional again after all the hurt, not wakui errasing all wrong that ever happened (i will never forgive him for making Kokonupi basically canon, having them finally come clean to one another, ready to finally have a healthy relationship and then pull this cheap trick and they're not even toghether in the happy ending, what the fuck)

What i also won't buy, is Mikey.

Second biggest problem to me, the entire last few chapters (basically the entire final battle arc after the Mikey/Takemichi faceoff and all of Shin's fucking flashbacks, who by the way, don't make any fucking sense but that's for a whole different issue)

Mikey snapped, completely, so no, i don't give a fuck about any of this, it makes no sense to me that simply going back in time is sufficient to fix his entire FUCKING STATE OF MIND.

We honestly know nothing of time travel, but as far as i gathered, Takemichi's mind, and all his difficulties stayed the same as his adult self when he went back in time. So why doesn't Mikey kept all his issues? Why does traveling back to 1998 somehow fixes everything?

So here's how i believe the time travel should have realisticaly went:

–Takemichi goes back in time alone (if Mikey follows it would be a mess because he's just the same as he was in 2008 and i don't believe that Takemichi's death was a miracle healing (by the way Mikey went completely nuts by the end of Tokrev and i don't mean his sanity, there was literally no need for the fucking final battle execpt the fact that Draken was dead and even then fuck the whole concept of his dark impulses that is absolute bullshit)) he tries to fix things with now the insight of all that happened and maybe prevents:

•Shinichiro's death because of the obvious

•Baji's death as well (should have been prevented in the first place, unfortunately Takemichi is a moron and forgot the whole Kazutora is gonna kill Baji plot two seconds in the Bloody Halloween battle for some reason...)

•Maybe the whole Black Dragon's arc goes even more smoothly

•If he befriends Kisaki the whole killing Hinata and ruining Mikey's life thing could be avoided, and by extention most deaths and issues of the actual entire fucking story (which is why i think it feels like such a cheap ending too, like what was the point of all this suffering if it could all be fixed in less than one chapter?)

–What he can't fix though is the fire (even if he somehow could help save Akane, the fire would still happen because man doens't have godlike powers and can't control unatural dissasters) as well as evey disfunctional relationship there is

–Even if the whole smile Haruchiyo doesn't happen for some reason, the Akashis will have to deal with their mess on their own, a kid can only do so much

–Same for the Shibas and even the Sanos (i believe it would still get to be better for Izana though because if Kisaki isn't on a world domination incel-induced trip and Shin isn't dead then there is no reason for the whole Tenjiku arc to happen the way it did)

–And last but not least, fuck Takehina, in this timeline she ends up with Kisaki because he learns how to actually asks someone on a date (sorry Hankisa stans)

(a spiteful part of me almost wish the story ended at Takemichi's death, that would have made more fucking sense)

Which brings me to my third point, fuck Takehina.

This ship is so fucking toxic (yes more than Kokonupi could ever be, i'm serious) and the age difference in the past is the least of its problems, trust me

First of all, the reason Hinata kept dying most likely was because she wouldn't get over a guy who dumped her twelve years ago and was stuck on him (at least after Takemichi went back in time, for all we know the original reason of her death could not even be related to Toman, especially Kisaki) and we even see Kisaki asking her in marriage (in the Tenjiku arc i believe) but girl still wants Takemichi

And it wouldn't be an issue in itself if she wasn't so stuck on the wrong Takemichi (like everyone else, in a way, you could argue) as in, future Takemichi.

She doens't give a shit about past Takemichi (who by the way is a terrible boyfriend so i can't blame her for that part) but she saw how he could actualy become, and then proceeded to spend twelve fucking years waiting for that guy. Not. Healthy.

Hinata started as a strong character, and then became stuck on one guy, completely throwing away her growth, making her stagnate as a person and loose her independence. And i don't think that's what love should be like.

So Takemichi isn't healthy for Hinata, he's basically the reason she kept dying. What about Hinata for Takemichi you might ask.

Well i don't think Takemichi actually gives a fuck about her (at least not in a romantic way)

I don't know if it's just that wakui can't write romance or that he really meant it this way but i have a similar issue with Drakema. There is no alchemy between these two and that is a huge problem considering they were intended as a romantic pairing. And such a shame really because it could have been a cute couple, and you can tell Draken genuienely cares for Emma, but god, where are the romantic feels?

Like, you might not agree with this (and i honeslty don't give a damn cause they are my favorite ship, yes i'm aware i'm problematic don't worry) but to me there is more alchemy between Draken and Mikey than Draken and Emma! Or even Draken and Mitsuya! I find it crazy that the only two canon straight ships are so bland and tasteless or even borderline toxic (because toxic doesn't just mean physical or mental abuse, it can also mean stopping the other from evolving and being their best version instead of ecouraging them to be better and being a good influnence on them) like take any not canon ship for example, like Mitsuya and Hakkai.

There are some elements that can be toxic (mostly Hakkai's endless admiration for Mitsuya who could turn out to be a problem i think) but these elements are actually pointed out in the story, as potentialy bad for their relationship (during the church fight Mitsuya acknowledges that his expectations of Hakkai might have put unnecessary pressure on him) and they actually evolve and progress individually, become more independent of the other (at least that's the impression this gave me) and grow together as well

Drakema only shows through character dialogue like ninety percent of the time (as in characters talking about how much they love each other but they almost never have any romantic interraction) and maybe i'm being of bad faith with this one because it might be mostly due to the fact that Draken is an idiot who never confesses and Emma is cleary shown multiple times to love him (though i'm still unconvinced about Draken, a lot of this feels like JK saying Dumbledore is gay and then people trying to grasp at strands only to realize there ins't gay Dumbledore in story, thank u and fuck off JK)

So back to Takehina (sorry for the sidetracking, my mind is a fucking maze and this is me trying to practice selfcontrol) worse than Drakema who's just bland to me, the ship is also so fucking problematic to me, like people yell all the time about the Akane thing, but how about that gal who is willing to wait twelve fucking years because this isn't the right Takemichi, what about tHAT GAL HUH?

And what about the guy who agrees to a fucking weddding but actually has feelings for another dude (because as much as Maitake is also so fucking problematic at least i can see why people ship it, there is the fucking alchemy Takehina apparently ate or something)

Also, let's talk about Shinichiro for like two seconds here. What. The. Actual. Fuck?

I know we basically knew nothing of him and that made it unfortunatelly very easy for wakui to come up with this mess that is Shin being a time traveler (okay, not a super bad idea, where you going with this?) Mikey having an accident (oh, more angst, sure feed me some) and then it goes to hell.

The whole old man thing (not really in character for what we knew of Shin, damn) Mikey's dark impulses as a form of punishment (good idea terrible execution in the way it was lost among alk the chaos of the last twenty/thirty chaps) Shin not giving a fuck about Haru murdering people (honorbale mention, because ableism is despicable, but Haru plz don't slash people with ur katana okay?) and probably the biggest crap, Shin passing down his power to Takemichi (like, it makes no sense in story because Shin was never at the scen at that time, and also why would u do that Shin? Why? He's just a kid, didn't u already traumatize Haru enough with ur bullshit?)

Like now i 100% blame Shin for everything that when wrong with Haru, like how is a kid supposed to be fine with all of this (i can only see two reasons for Haru to have known about the time traveling bullshit and that's either Shin telling him everything or him actually being og timeline Haru, in either cases, his head is screwed and that's Shin's fault)

I will share a maybe unpopular opinion right here, but hear me out first. I would have almost (and i can't stress this almost enough) prefered Shin to be revealed as the bad guy, than this entire flashback debacle and this fucking ending.

In all honesty, the final battle wasn't so bad (like the Kokonui reunion was so good, maybe the only good thing about it) but Mikey has been feeling so out of character for the entire final arc, that it kinda made no sense after the whole flashback thing started anymore (which is why, again, fuck traveling back to 1998 fixing Mikey's entire life AND mental health issues, fuck this so much)

So yeah, fuck the Takehina wedding, fuck this so called happy ending and fuck no Kokonupi content (which makes no sense, even if the fire didn't happen, they should still be close, even closer since the entire Akane situation is the reason the drifted away!! Goddamnit!) and fuck Mikey and Shin not making any sense for the entire final battle!

All in all, the concept for the ending could have worked, if wakui just had made an actual effort with this. Inupi isn't Inupi without his burn. Kazutora ins't Kazutora without his tiger tattoo. Haruchiyo isn't Haruchiyo without his scars (even though i'm glad he doesn't get them because fuck Mikey for this so much). This somehow feels disrespectful for the characters to take away all the trama like this (and i mean the ones that happened before 2005, i very much love that my fanged man is alive, that is one of the only good things about this ending really (and also Kakucho, but he should have never died in the firt place))

I think the timing with this was also an issue, one chapter before the end and everything is solved felt very forced. And it's weird because i know stories with this kind of miracle ending sometimes work, but they usually make the entire situation return to what it was like in the begining, whereas here, everything is infinetly better than it was at the start of the story and less than one chapter before it was a total mess. This was a terrible deux ex machina (more importantly, where the fuck was Takeomi, and why couln't he be the deus ex machina instead, that would have been infinitely more funny if nothing else)

Once again, i believe wakui should have ended his manga after the Tenjiku arc, or at least with the Bonten one, or just generaly, fuck the final arc.

I still persist in saying that people have made better fics with a similar concept, or even entire rewritings, overall saying fuck the bonten/final arc and going wild with it, and it actually worked!! This though, didn't, and i think there was many reason why; what i ranted i mean talked about here were just some of the things that annoyed me with the ending or that i felt were problematic to the story and weren't resolved at all even in this so called good ending (like, as much as i bitched about Takehina, i would be less salty about it if their relationship had developed into something more healthy, and also not a romantic one as well!! fuck the Takehina wedding seriously)

Well, i think i'm done here, don't forget that this is only ever my own opinion, based on my own interpretation of the story (i still ptetend that the final arc never happened because the end of it messed with so much theories and interpretations, that is almost funny in itself) and you're allowed to disagree with me (like i love cheese but i won't force feed people fourme de Montbrison just because i like it) just like i might disagree with you. I find it stupid to fight about a manga when there are other topics that are much more important and significant to daily life with opposing opinions that could use actual arguing to make things better (because actions are nice but it starts with talking about it)

I went a little serious here, but that's because i'm aware that what i just did (i.e. this entire post) is a huge waste of my time (it's okay it's the night and i have nothing else to do) and i could maybe spend it talking about more serious and impactful topics than the end of bloody Tokyo Revengers. But that will be for a day when i feel like actually getting defensive about something (i won't force feed you cheese but if you asume that i'm a girl, i will scream behid my computer/phone like a madman)

Have a nice day/night/evening, and stay safe– Mika