Tokyo Revengers is a sublime live action manga adaptation.

 

It's time for another blog post about a solid live-action adaptation. Tokyo Revengers is a rather popular manga that was written by Wakui Ken. Naturally, with it's popular came an anime adaptation and subsequently, a live action movie. The movie was directed by Hanabusa Tsutomu and the screenwriter was Takahashi Izumi. Without further ado, let's dive into it and see why it worked. 

The Tokyo Revengers live action movie follows the events of the manga quite closely. It follows protagonist Takemichi Hanagaki, a 26 year old freeter living what is undoubtedly a rather miserable life. The only thing keeping him alive was the memory of his girlfriend, Hinata Tachibana. Unfortunately, one day Takemichi turns on a news broadcast that tells him that his girlfriend and her brother, Naoto Tachibana have both been killed in an act of violence by the Tokyo Manji Gang. The very next day, Takemichi goes to the subway where he is pushed onto the tracks. Rather than dying, he ends up going back into the past 10 years, where he relives previous events in his life. He meets Naoto and tells him about Hinata's death in the future. This act changes that future and ends up with Takemichi's life being saved by Naoto, now working as a detective, investigating the Tokyo Manji Gang and avoiding death at their hands. The duo work together to change the past in order to change the future and avoid the death of Hinata. 

The time travelling story might not be anything new per say, especially when it comes to changing the past in order to change the present, but I believe that Tokyo Revengers does it in a really neat and intriguing way. We don't see Takemichi actually fly through time and instead it happens via a simple handshake with Naoto. He retains the knowledge of the future whilst in the past and uses that to attempt to fix things. With things constantly changing however, it all gets rather complicated for our unfortunate protagonist. It also deals with Takemichi's friendships, particularly with Akkun, before his budding friendship with Draken and Mikey. These friendships as well as his romance with the gorgeous Hinata, help our hero become stronger and complete the hero's journey. Takemichi's journey from pitiable eternal victim (mostly due to Kiyomasa, an older and much bigger guy) to a strong willed dude that will stand and fight for love and friendship. 

Hanabusa Tsutomu is no stranger to live action adaptations of manga. He was responsible for the Kakegurui series and movies after all. With Tokyo Revengers, he showcased clear competency behind the camera and really worked with the tight script from Takahashi Izumi in creating a truly compelling narrative that is a joy to watch. Add to that the neat mixture of dynamic and static cinematography from Tomo Ezaki. There's some really great use of colour used in the fight scenes and the rooftop meeting between Takemichi and Akkun. The vivid use of colour really make the scenes pop out as visual treats. 

The cinematography is also excellent for the fight scenes. Every single action such as the punches and kicks are clearly visible and framed in such a way that is clear to follow. It's tough to frame fight scenes that have a large number of combatants, but Hanabusa and Tomo managed to succeed at clearly framing the action, making the large skirmish easy to follow. There's some clever use of rather subtle shaky cam, which helps to emphasise the impact of certain blows. The choreography itself is pretty solid for the most part, invoking certain panels from the manga expertly. It might not be the most realistic as far as some gang members not all jumping Draken at once for example, but it looks cool and is functional enough. At times, it's also brutal and so it gets a thumbs up from me. 

Hanabusa Tsutomu really brought out the best of Takumi Kitamura. Takumi once again managed to showcase just how versatile he can be. He managed to portray the dejected and downright miserable freeter with nothing to live for incredibly well whilst also equalling excelling at being the cool, strong-willed fighter that'll stand up for his friends and love. Sure, he's not the most skilled nor accomplished of fighters, but he sure can take a beating and bounce back up time and time again. 

Yuki Yamada was effortlessly cool in the role of Draken. He had a large screen presence and a badass demeanour. He also succeeded in portraying the softer, more gentle side of the character which helped the movie work, he's the reason for the Tomen being protagonists rather than antagonists thanks to his kind-hearted nature. Yamada also excelled in the fight scenes which isn't at all surprising given his previous work in the High & Low series as Murayama. 

Ryo Yoshizawa also was a cool Mikey. At first, I didn't think much of him in terms of his appearance, but he sold me on the character with his solid performance. Much like Draken, Mikey is more than just a badass biker gang leader. He also has a heart and takes a liking to Takemichi due to the latter's ability to stand up and fight no matter how much of a beating he takes. 

Mio Imada is simply beautiful and really did a great job at portraying Hinata Tachibana. It's an important role due to the character being the lynchpin and reason for Takemichi's revitalisation. She's a strong female character and is incredibly supportive of Takemichi, always cheering him on and encouraging him even when at his lowest. Without her, Takemichi would never grow into the hero role. 

Overall, I greatly enjoyed Tokyo Revengers. Sure, I might be bias because I love Yanki movies that focus a lot on friendships, romance and violence, but I wholeheartedly believe that it's a tremendous movie that will appeal to fans of the manga and more of a general audience. If like me, you like Yanki movies, gangster movies and action with a hint of romance, you'll love Tokyo Revengers.