English Dub Review: Tokyo Revengers: “Releap”

Overview: Takamichi (AJ Beckles) releaps back into the past to save Draken (Sean Chiplock) from the grim fate that awaits him in order save Akkun (John Omohundro), and Hinata (Lizzie Freeman) from theirs as well. 

Our Take: “Releap” fills in a lot of gaps that were on my mind about both past and present events that have taken place. 

One issue this episode clears up nicely is how the adolescent Naoto believed Takamichi’s asinine story about him time traveling to save Hinata. This was an oddity I specifically addressed in my previous review as I took his age taken into consideration but was unsure whether or not that was actually a factor or just conjecture on my part, so glad to know my hunch was right, combined with the fact that he was into occult stuff, I guess. 

Also, with Takamichi differing so much between his past and present versions based on his experiences, it made me question how his younger version acted when present Takamichi was not conscious. This element keeps the story and events in the past unpredictable as with gaps of time missing, it will no doubt foster some bizarre and/or memorable moments like Hanagaki waking up with a girl halfnaked. Which, of course, only became that much more hysterical when Hinata found out. 

However one oddity that Felt contrived was the inclusion of Hanagaki and Hinata in the Tokyo Manji Gang’s meeting. Real reason being how he never ends up contributing anything at all to the meeting and it feels like a forced way of getting Takamichi up to speed for the sake of the plot. Yes, he’s Mikey’s friend, but when he arrives they have very little interaction in the entire scene making it all the more odd in execution. 

What was not odd but very meaningful was how Revengers has chosen to develop those Mikey surrounds himself with, like that of Draken to be more than just a hotheaded second in command. Their sweet friendship strongly resembles  that of a fraternal one with Draken acting as an older brother figure who tries to teach him valuable lessons with him also subconsciously filling the void left by his deceased sibling. It also effectively explains how he is so mission critical for the way Mikey turns out like a real delinquent. Draken has been a big point of contention between Naoto and Takamichi recently as his death and the nature of how it comes to be looms ever closer. With Draken’s relationship with Mikey disputing Naoto’s findings and the impending war against the notorious gang Moebius just on the horizon, it’s becoming more and more interesting to see just what Draken’s fate will be, but also how it will come to be. 

Tokyo Revengers returns with another exceptional entry that answers a lot of questions with unexpected twists and turns along with good development of characters and their chemistry.