English Dub Review: Tokyo Revengers: “Revenge”

Overview: After returning to the present to find Akkun (John Omohundro) alive and well, Takemichi (AJ Beckles) goes with Naoto (Griffin Puatu) to see Hinata (Lizzie Freeman), only to struggle with his identity. That soon becomes short lived however as an old threat rears its deadly head once again. 

Our Take: The new journey into the refined timeline highlights one of Hanagaki’s defining traits in his constant struggle of inadequacy that continues to plague him. Despite his recent heroic actions in the past, his current life circumstances serve as a constant reminder for his shortcomings allowing it to make for a sensible internal conflict and thankfully one that doesn’t feel contrived.  

But before he goes deeper down the rabbit hole, he has his long awaited reunion with Hinata and it just goes to show how immaculate their chemistry is with one another no matter what time they are in. Despite their aging, they remain as endearing as ever with their adorably awkward relationship with one another that is more so than usual because of their separation. It’s also really neat seeing Naoto included in their dynamic for a scene considering that he hasn’t been all that present for most of them, besides his oblivious past self. It’s also quite a funny one with Naoto’s short fused irritation with their shyness and Takemichi’s childish begging for him to stay to keep from being alone with Hinata making it a very genuine and lighthearted scene that establishes their friendship.  

But just like Revengers has taught us and like that of a bad rash, the downward spirals as a result of time alterations always seem to have a way of resurfacing one way or another. The show seems to have various time travel plot twists in place that it takes from various ideas and concepts. The reveal of Hinata being the one that was dumped in the past as opposed to Takemichi indicates to me that it could be one of them. It could either be a choice Hangaki will make in the future during the past timeline or the result of his old personality being present. Either way, it just goes to show how the choices he makes now and later down the line continue to have huge ripple effects and implications moving forward and should not be taken lightly. 

The biggest ripple this time though was the occurrence of Hinata’s death once again, but just as importantly as to how it was at the hands of none other than Akkun. Orchestrated by present day Hanma, he was somehow able to coerce Akkun into crashing a car into her. Ever since he debuted, Hanma distinguished himself as a decently threatening adversary, but hadn’t done enough to really feel that until now. Hanma being able to do something of this magnitude truly takes a sinister step in the right direction and makes me hope he is able to live up to this level of wickedness as an imposing villainous figure overall with even more monstrous character and actions later on. 

Finally, this brings Hanagaki to his brand new goal that he has set out for himself: becoming the new leader of Toman. Climbing even greater heights creates a lot more anticipation as both the past and present stakes continue to grow and close in around him, correcting his heroics.