Tokyo Revengers: Seiya Kessen-hen
“ganged up on for no reason”
2023 was the year for Tokyo Revengers. The fandom was excited that the long-awaited second season was about to go on air in January, and many people were expecting it to join the race to become the anime of the year despite it being the very start of 2023. But during its airing, it was constantly bashed for being bad, with poor writing and lousy animation, which killed the hype and prevented many people from picking up the show.
I will admit that some of the concerns were valid, given that this season was going in spirals and lacked the limiter that prevents anime from over-complicating things. However, many individuals often need to pay more attention to the inherent beauty of Tokyo Revengers: its ability to convey the notion that time can be ruthless and accurately predicting any result is nearly impossible.
Fans have long been enamored with time travel, but only some anime even attempt to explore the setting, much less do it flawlessly. So today, if you're late to the party and want to pick up the newer arcs of Tokyo Revengers, you're in luck since we'll be talking about the second season, Tokyo Revengers: Seiya Kessen-hen!
Always in a bad spot
If you look back at season 1, there isn't a single time that we have our protagonist, Takemitchy, arrive at a time favorable for him or others on that part. Someone new gets killed, another one dies, and the recurring fate of his girlfriend dying in front of his eyes, no matter how hard he tries, is like living an unending nightmare like Okabe, despite the former being a child.
But what contributed a lot to the hype and excitement of this season was the cliffhanger that the prequel closed things up with. Seeing Kisaki about to shoot that gun, I remember fans being pissed at how the studio made the series end at that particular point.
In the new season's first episode, Takemitchy gets out of harm's way thanks to some unseen aid and discovers everything is worse again. With Mikey killing most of the Toman members, Takemitchy and Naoto have a discussion, and the former decides to go back in time to try to make things right.
New characters are introduced, with Hakkai and Chifuyu being two of the highlights of this season. Thus begins Takemitchy's quest to fight for his life if he wants to set things right, looking into the black dragon biker gang and fighting Taiju, probably the biggest and strongest Tokyo Revengers has seen.
Rolling on itself over and over again
Sure, everyone likes a new setting when you leap through time. But there's a limit to the different changes and developments we can handle. Even though it is a shonen anime, not everyone is Einstein-ready and able to keep up with every shift that someone pulls from behind them.
From the beginning, one of my favorite aspects of Tokyo Revengers is the constant transformation that occurs whenever our hero performs a time leap. It adds an element of surprise and heightens the excitement with each new leap. You cannot help but look forward to the latest episode every other week.
But this time around, while introducing new characters, it features changes and developments that sometimes need clarification. The writing of this arc could be better, and if you're sitting in front of your screen trying to understand things, that's just not going to happen!
Also, due to the episode count, the anime does manage to skip quite a bit from the manga chapters. Some of those moments are emotionally impactful and connect you with the series in the short and long run. But you're not here for the story, right? Of course! It changes every three episodes or so! We're here for the action!
Action that disappoints
Despite being teenagers, the first season of Tokyo Revengers featured gang leaders and delinquents fighting to the death. Even though nothing made sense, the sight of biker gangs and brawls was enough to satisfy everyone. The first season features numerous great fights, with the one between Baji and Kazutora being the best to date. However, a few great fights exist in Tokyo Revengers: Seiya Kessen-hen.
Since entering a new timeline, Takemitchy has experienced numerous beatings from various characters; for some reason, this is how they welcome newcomers to the universe. But on top of a shortage of fights, which could be attributed to the low episode count, the ones that exist aren't that engaging or adrenaline-pumping either.
The season's main event is the final fight against Taiju, the giant, at Christmas in a church. They really want to make Santa add them to the naughty list. Heck, Santa might be the referee, for all you know! Anyway, that fight manages to let us all down. Despite being overused in all these other Isekai games, the choreography could be better, the animation doesn't feel smooth, and MS Paint seems to have saved the day.
Despite being outnumbered, Taiju manages to take a backstab. But he doesn’t flinch and keeps fighting, overpowering every other soul that has come to get his blessing in that church. But what do you know? Mikey comes, and the fight is over in no time! In my opinion, that individual's leg is heavier than Mikey's. While I do not advocate for Mikey to succumb to the monster's power or die, I believe we can spice up the battle with a matchup similar to All Might vs. Nomu. Is that too much to ask?
Wait, that's not all! To no one's surprise, Draken has defeated all 100 black dragon members outside the church who had made escaping nearly impossible for the show's stars. Well, that's one way to make the two feel overpowered as hell. As I said, nothing makes sense, and it doesn't need to, given that it's a shonen anime, but a title that's supposed to deliver some great fights should deliver when and where it matters, right?
Downgrades
Season 1 of Tokyo Revengers didn't feature an animation style that was crazy, either. We had standard animation, yet it fits the whole theme and style of the show, so no one had any complaints at all. But season 2 manages to make matters worse regarding the animation. The animation feels like a downgrade when compared to its former self. But that becomes noticeable only during the fights.
The sound is okay; nothing like the old days, if that wasn’t obvious. You cannot possibly suggest that they could surpass that illustrious opening theme and ending sequence with this sequel, correct? It's just not possible!
Fans of the Tokyo Revengers universe got a sequel shortly after the first season ended. However, the season failed to meet the expectations of many. Although the narrative began to make more sense following the conclusion of the most recent arc, this season was under constant attack and scrutiny at the time of its broadcast. A lot of it is justified since fights are a huge thing, and that's all I expect from this series. It failed to deliver with this sequel, and that's just sad.
The good news is that the third season is complete, and you can watch the newer episodes simultaneously with a single click. While some have griped about the lack of episodes compared to the quality of the season, when you include the more recent episodes, you get a formula very similar to the original that successfully immerses viewers in the world of a time-traveling biker gang.
But right now, we’re only looking at the second season, and that doesn’t get more than a 6.5 from me. It could’ve been way better if we had an actual great fight at the end and didn’t overflow the whole thing with so much happening and things changing at the speed of light.
They had to fit the entire arc into that episode count, and that sounds like a pain, to be honest. In case you haven’t already, go and check out both of these seasons. I’m sure watching all those episodes in one go will give you that Tokyo Revengers experience!
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https://pinnedupink.com/blogs/random-thoughts-because-mondays-suck
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