Chronicle 2:
Although still devastated by Emma’s murder which even nearly shattered his friendship with Draken, Mikey finally found the strength to come to the battle ground to confront the one behind the recent dramas his ” bro” Izana. In the violent conflict between the Toman and the Tenjiku, the hour of the duel at the top has arrived: under the eyes of everyone, including Takemichi, Kisaki and Hina, the decisive confrontation between Manjiro Sanô and Izana Kurokawa, the leaders of the two clans, can begin.
Expected as a real major duel in view of the stakes which have almost never been so high, this confrontation which should be the climax of the “Kantô Disaster” generally keeps its promises, first and foremost in terms of pure action. : Ken Wakui continues to offer us a nervous drawing where the exchanges of blows are nervous, so much Mikey and Izana compete in their devastating kicks. But in this flood of mutual blows, we especially understand how Izana is full of strength, a strength that he seems above all to draw from his disproportionate taste for violence, he who has obviously always solved his problems in this way. But at the heart of this duel where the two boys demonstrate their extraordinary fighting skills, Mikey shows a behavior quite different from that of Izana: he wants above all to ward off this “brother”, to understand what led him to so much violence and radicalism, and it starts with a very simple question: why did you kill Emma?
From there, beyond the duel itself, the major issue of the volume is then to be sought in all the deepening brought to the character of Izana at the heart of this tense action. And this will go through several stages: the boy’s exact link with the Sano, what Shin’ichiro and the Black Dragon represented for him at the time, his first contact with Kisaki which made him twist little by little, why he wants so much to kill Mikey, his exact relationship with his Tenjiku men according to him (do they follow him out of respect/loyalty, or more out of fear?), his own uprooted past… At a time when Izana seems to be completely Spinning over the confrontation, Wakui explains rather effectively the origins of all the violence of his character, who is above all a boy who has always sunk into loneliness by dint of having no real emotional family reference. And if Shin’ichiro was surely one of their hopes for him at one time, it is even more his faithful Kakucho who will reveal the full strength of his bond with him, the author even taking the opportunity to explain quickly and well the origin of the Tenjiku clan name.
But unfortunately, even if the volume is certainly gripping, it is not free from small defects. By dint of wanting to maintain a rhythm which is always in tense flow and which never lets us go, Wakui often goes quickly in its deepenings (in particular the moments of flashback) which then remain a little too much on the surface. With hindsight, the way Izana sees Manjiro as the source of all her suffering is a bit gross and ultimately unjustified. For now, Takemichi’s revelation to everyone about his time travels is surprisingly little discussed when it should call out a bunch of faces (we just have Draken who says he decides to believe him and that’s it). For his part, Kisaki no longer even tries to hide his abuses and displays them in the eyes of all, which is rather stupid (and accommodating for the mangaka) after all he has done on the sly. And finally, we must admit that the very tearful side of the final stretch on Izana and Kakuchô could divide.
Despite these small limits, reading Tokyo Revengers continues to grab us without the slightest difficulty. And if the famous battle of the “Kanto Disaster” seems to have reached its peak here, in reality nothing is less certain in view of the last pages that Ken Wakui offers us, the mangaka seeming to prepare there a face-to-face which was waited for many, many volumes…
Chronicle 1:
The final battle between the Toman and the Tenjiku is subject to a large number of twists. Unfortunately, without the presence of Mikey and Draken, the efforts of Takemichi and his will remain in vain. But thanks to Hina, who did not hesitate to reveal to the two leaders of the gang the truth about her boyfriend, the providential intervention takes place. Mikey then prepares to face Izana in a decisive duel which will be marked by surprising revelations…
The Tenjiku arc culminates with the long-awaited appearance of Mikey and Draken, two of the work’s most charismatic characters, honoring their positions within the Toman and their importance within the storyline. And because the whole plot of this part of the story is connected to the fraternal bonds with Mikey, the final confrontation is indeed his fight, the one that allows him to resolve his grievances with the terrible Izana.
If the duel in itself remains classic, the power of the two opponents constitutes a spectacle which we revel in. In this type of situation, the reader becomes aware of Mikey’s strength that Takemichi cannot claim to match, so this idea of the balance of power, generally respected although almost surreal, delights each time. And beyond that, it is indeed the whole plot of Izana, her links with Mikey’s family and the reasons for her hatred which find a resolution in this face to face whose dramatic turn goes up a notch to each page. And in this sense, the outcome could only be in this image. If we can be surprised to see a rather short last fight, everything that ensues is effectively in suspense. It’s pretty obvious in the twist at times, while still staying in tune with that idea of the human drama that Tokyo Revengers has been since its inception, while also bringing in well-timed character arc culminations. We knew that this war would take several lives, and Ken Wakui honors this promise in a decisive bloodbath.
And yet, the intense confrontation against Izana is not the end of the Tenjiku arc. By this arc, already well paced with its share of enjoyable excesses, the author addresses above all one of the central resolutions of the entire intrigue of Tokyo Revengers. Thus at the end of the volume, the main role is again occupied by Takemichi who has scores to settle. The climax of the arc is therefore his, it could not be otherwise now that the key characters of the series know the truth about him, and it is on a cliffhanger heavy with meaning that the mangaka leaves us. Suffice to say that the confrontation that will open the 21st opus will be major for the story… unless Ken Wakui manages to escape? At this stage, we doubt it, and this is what will make waiting for the next volume particularly complicated.