Again not burying the lead, Tokyo Revengers’ third season has been confirmed even as the second ends. This is not news per se, as there was never any question that TMR would get a full adaptation. But perhaps this suggests that the interval between seasons is going to be shorter this time. With the manga already finished it’s just a question of studio availability and marketing decisions by the production committee. But finish it will, however long it takes.
More and more as time passes, the elephant in the room dominates the TMR experience for me. I look at a situation, see the obvious answer that the dim bulb characters are missing, and wonder – does Wakui see it? Are we supposed to realize how dumb Takemitchy et al are being, or are we supposed to think he’s doing the right thing? That as much as anything keeps me coming back at this point. I really want to know if at the end of all things the curtain will be rolled back and the scales lifted from Takemitchy’s eyes, and he realizes what an idiot he is. Or whether it’s the audience who’re the idiots, for thinking any of this ever made any sense.
We now know what the MacGuffin for the third season (“Tenjiku Hen”) will be. And unsurprisingly it’s Tenjiku, the Yokohama street gang Kisaki goes to for his revenge against Mikey and Toman. Or something. This comes on the heels of Takemitchy actually having one of his brighter moments, realizing that Kisaki leaving Toman might have been part of the reason Mikey went full sociopath. As long as Kisaki was around to do the dirtiest work, Mikey could indulge his fantasy of organized crime as a force for good. Just why Kisaki has chosen to go this route in this timeline isn’t clear yet, but this is clearly going to be the battle of the third season.
As for Takemitchy’s idea that he’s going to fix everything by becoming the leader of Toman and setting Mikey free, it’s dumb on so many levels that in most series I’d dismiss it as a serious plot point out of hand. But, well… I suppose any Toman weak enough for Takemitchy to become its godfather might potentially peter out into nothingness pretty quickly, which is actually the logical route to fixing the future for Hina. Not that either he or the author are thinking that logically about it.
I can say this much, whatever credit Tokyo Revengers had in the bank is running pretty thin with me. I feel no obligation to finish this one (unlike say Shingeki, which I’ve already put in so much hard time with). Either it’s going to level up or I’m going to cut my losses, unless whatever season Tenjiku Hen airs in is extremely weak. On balance this season was less interesting than the first one I think, though they’re fairly close. There’s still a goofy charm to this show that makes me want to like it, but that’s not the same as actually liking it, which I don’t as often as I’d like to. I’ll hope (more than expect) that S3 can move the needle.
