#tr ending

I want to clarify that this is my point of view and that if you have a different one, that's fine (even if you don't agree)! So let's move on.

Let's see, although everyone has a fairly well-argued point about why they don't like the ending, I think that the fact of saying: "these are not my characters" is as true as it is uncertain. I mean, there are things that WILL happen anyway and shape our characters as we know them...

...except for a few incidents that did traumatize them for life (like this: Draken never got over Emma's death and in all futures he lived extremely DEPRESSED; that is, he lived just to live. In fact, I've always had a theory that just like Ash Lynx, in Banana Fish, Draken allowed himself to die protecting Takemichi knowing what would happen to him, and at least now they both have a chance).

For example:

Kazutora will continue to have to survive the mistreatment of her father and the bullying and blackmail of her classmates until he runs into Baji, which is most likely, or another character, and he will have to start to evolve as a person from there (as we saw in several of the extras).

Emma and Draken will continue to be abandoned by their mothers. In fact, when Takemichi arrives in the past, Emma is already with the Sano and, finally, has had to "overcome" that abandonment (I put it in quotes because it doesn't seem like the right word, but now I can't think of another).

In addition, Draken will continue to live in "the massage room" and will see how the girls are prostituted and discarded. That is, he will have to learn to live in that environment and the "little" slavery he suffered from older gang members before becoming Mikey's friend.

Mitsuya and Shiba will meet in the same way and will live exactly the same. However, I want to take a little break here, because NO, I don't think Shiba family life is as good as some people think. In fact, in the color panel of the wedding you can see that Taiju is still quite far from his two little brothers. We will have to read the chapter to draw a little more conclusions, but I think that Taiju will never be able to completely redeem himself from what he did as we saw in the manga.

Izana will continue to be abandoned by all the adults around him, which will mold him as a person until Shinichiro finds him. I think this is the most difficult character to read because of the kind of life he has led, but we will have to wait for the little explanation.

Kakucho will also lose his parents in a car accident (see the scar) and the Sano will lose their father in another, and their mother due to an "illness" (which could be a hidden depression in the play, from my point of view).

And etc etc etc.

I mean, of course, Takemichi and Mikey STILL THE SAME (they are the same characters from the beginning, I mean) and it seems that thanks to that knowledge of the facts they have been able to help the vast majority of the characters (if not all, hahahaha), but they will not be able to control all the incidents in the lives of the characters. Probably, they will have spent many battles with Taiju and Izana, before achieving their objective, which, after all, WAS THE OBJECTIVE OF THEM BOTH. Especially Takemichi, our protagonist.

Actually, this ending can be as counterproductive (because of the rush, more than anything, I have already said it on another occasion), as it is appropriate for what Tokyo Revengers is, since it closes the two conflicts that arose from the beginning: "the loneliness" and "save them all" (and the penultimate chapter finally makes sense of the title and makes the best revenge of all: THE REVENGE OF TRYING TO BE HAPPY!). However, he has done it at the cost of MANY UNSOLVED THINGS (and leaving Shinichiro like the unsalted bread he has been from the beginning, haha). However, this seems to me the least serious of all. Let me explain: AN AUTHOR DOES NOT OWE YOU AN EXPLANATION OF EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS. Especially IF EVEN THE MAIN CHARACTERS DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW TIME TRAVEL WORKS OR THEY DOESN'T REALIZE THE THINGS THAT, MAYBE, THE SPECTATOR DOES REALIZE.

Also, Takemichi is our main narrator most of the time, and I already said that he's not a smart enough person to notice this "nonsense", or give it due importance, which makes it much easier for the author leave those "loose ends" without endangering the coherence of the work, or the main character.

It is true that doing something like this is a risk and that ignorance works much better in horror works. I also would have liked it to fix some specific points (like, who was spying on Takemichi in the Bonten arc?), but if not, I DON'T DIE EITHER, TRUTH. Because, if you think about it, what the author has done with this part of the story is to make sure that people like me CHECK THE MANGA INFINITELY, hahaha. It's a great tactic, no doubt.

Or those are my conclusions, before reading the ending, of course.

PS: I see a lot of people saying that that wasn't the ending that Wakui wanted to do or that TokRev should have been a seinen... I honestly have no idea how the manga industry works in Japan. I only know that the publisher itself asked Wakui for a story and he created Tokyo Revengers from there. The first shônen of him. There is nothing wrong with TokRev being shônen, in fact, it is thanks to this work and the genre that Wakui has become known worldwide and if you want to read something about gang members and seinen, you can read Shinjuku Swan, one of his earlier works. I don't see a problem with that, really.

What I would worry about is that Wakui hadn't made the ending he wanted. I guess we'll see that over time. But if he really has made the ending he wanted (and had in mind since Bloody Halloween, as he said in an interview), THEN THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN SAY TO HIM IN THAT SENSE (Not that you can't criticize the ending, but insult him, try to convince him day and night to change the ending, send him pictures of them burning his manga for the ending, and generally harass him for the ending he finished picking out. I'm not surprised by this attitude, unfortunately, but it's still CRAZY and a huge lack of respect for the artist). Because, as John Katzenbach said in an interview:

I will take whatever ending Wakui has decided for HIS characters and HIS story. I’m also writing this before I read the last chapter so my thoughts aren’t influenced.

I’m really sad to see so many ppl shitting on the penultimate chapter. Ppl mad it’s a happy ending, “the deaths don’t mean anything”, “these aren’t the same characters we met and love”

The last one specifically I hate the complaints about the most. No, they are not the same. You know who else knows that? Mikey and Takemichi.

I’m glad they have each other to remember the other timelines, to not feel crazy when they think about how different things are. Takemichi will forever know why Mikey might be constantly anxious about his siblings dying. Mikey will know why Takemichi sometimes acts weird around Kisaki even tho he invited him to join Toman. And no one will know why Mikey and Takemichi ask Kazutora to run all his gift ideas through them first.

I’m sure Mikey and Takemichi are also mourning their friends’ selves from the other timelines just like a lot of us are. So I am very happy they have each other to keep their memories alive. And I also know that happy, non (or less) traumatized, ALIVE friends is a win.

I think both destroying Asgard and saving it are interesting choices and I'm honestly not sure which one I prefer over the other.

I have always said that TR could have be a good movie with some changes. Destroying Asgard matches the theme of the movie and its message which was "Home isn't a place, it's a people". So for this ending the only things I would have changed are the unnecessary comedic lines of Korg upon Asgard's destruction and a hug between Thor and Loki. Oh, and some changes during the fight with Hela.

But Asgard could have been saved. In fact I was waiting for the moment that it happens. Because they totally had the means to do it. For one they had the Tesseract! Loki could use it to send Hela to another part of Universe, a black hole or imprison her again. Like there was an infinity stone right there! sigh.

Or they could have use Surtur to distract Hela, weaken her and send her to some other place with the Tesseract. And then Loki, the resident Frost Giant, could use the Casket to freeze Surtur, kill him and save Asgard. It would have been a perfect moment to show both Loki's Jotun powers and him accepting himself. Also a Jotun saving Asgard by his powers while Asgard has always vilified him, and Asgardians accepting him would have been perfect arc for Loki's story.

this is so messy... I’m sorry.

A love letter to the fans

And, don't you think that's what it is? The last chapter constantly thanks us and Takemichi for having read, enjoyed and followed the work to this day.

Does everyone remember?

The supernatural element hasn't disappeared (and that's a good thing because it's the coherence of the plot)!

Naoto, who was a policeman (and became a policeman to save his sister in the future), is now an occult journalist, since he no longer needs to save his sister from death and may have vague memories of what happened with Takemichi. , just like Chifuyu.

And speaking of Chifuyu...

Chifuyu

At first, he was not convinced that the narrator of the last chapter was precisely Chifuyu. I loved he, but it wasn't his story, nor was it the end of his journey. However, when I reread it (I won't get tired of saying that TokRev is to reread forever) i convinced me more. On one hand, I think Wakui wanted to express his feelings about the end of TokRev (in addition to thanking the fans for their support). And, on the other, to narrate again what it means to be a hero. As Takemichi is no longer our crybaby hero, but just our hero. The hero who sacrificed so much to save them all. And true heroes don't tell their own story. Chifuyu, who represents fidelity personified -at least, to a certain extent- is perfect for doing so.

And speaking of Takemichi...

Takemichi

I've seen some people complain that they wanted to see the Takemichi of the past, with his eyes "lit up" (which he has, by the way!) And, above all, crying his eyes out at the wedding. But I think this would be a mistake, even if the ending was different! Takemichi has given all the tears he could to his companions, out of love for them. But now he doesn't need to cry anymore BECAUSE HE HAS DONE IT! He has achieved his goal. No one has died and everyone goes their own ways despite everything. He no longer needs to drop another tear, just smile, just as he does: with satisfaction and peace.

On the other hand, is it complete happiness?

Yes and no. Happiness, in this case, means having the opportunity to follow your own path, despite everything (as Chifuyu explains in a paragraph). Which is to say that many of the things we saw didn't change overnight (obviously for me!) and just happened:

Draken was abandoned by his mother and lived for years in a brothel, but the love of his life did not die tragically at the age of fifteen, they have managed to be together and it seems that they are going to start a family.

The history of the Shiba family and that of the ToMan against the Black Dragons did happen more or less as such.

South survived the violence of his childhood (I think with him I have the least doubt that this guy fought his own gang against the ToMan, before he joined her) and is now a professional wrestler.

And he chases the one who was his killer in another life! LOL. It might be a bit weird, but in this ending you have to use your imagination (which isn't a bad thing, the writing is half imagination, half description), so I imagine South, after his battle with the ToMan, was equally defeated by Mikey (as in the past, with the difference that he did not kill him) and now admires him for being the person who managed to defeat him. The truth would not be strange to me...

Sanzu and Senju STILL HAVE A SHITTING BROTHER.

Takeomi is still the same as always and takes advantage of his brothers, as Chifuyu tells us. But these, although they seem quite apart from Takeomi, who calls himself his manager, they also don't seem to have many problems giving him money. As Chifuyu explains, this is THEIR decision and, although it seems bad to us (I include myself at this point), Senju and Sanzu are adults to make their decisions... I guess.

Izana had the life she did (look at her eyes!), but she met the Sanos and the ToMan and now she travels the world helping kids like him along with Kakucho (who also had a bad life) and the rest of Tenjiku.

And now I want to make a little emphasis on the latter...

Wakui's true goal (or so I think, haha)

Wakui has explained many times that in his youth (and as most of his manga shows, haha) he was part of a bosozoku gang. Initially, these types of gangs were born to fight against war and other injustices, before - as Wakui explained in his day - the gangs became small mafias that terrorize the neighborhoods of Japan. And that is the goal of Tokyo Revengers (according to the author)!, to revive those ideals. That's why we have the protagonist that we have (who learns from them along the way), that's why several of the characters have managed to survive their injustices (like Izana, Sur, etc.), that's why, in the end, some of the characters ( such as the group of Tenjiku or Kisaki and Koko) work and/or help in charitable associations. Because that's the meaning Wakui knew (and wanted to convey) of gangs! Mutual support, lasting friendship (despite following different paths) and the fight against injustice.

So did I like the ending?

Yes, and also, now I think that it is the ending that Wakui wanted to give it (see what a clever little person posted on Twitter) and that makes me twice as happy.

Tokyo Revengers has become one of my favorite manga. I can't wait to have the complete collection! (I think it's been years since I wanted to make a collection like this one). There's something special about this work, and it certainly won't stop being special to me overnight (probably never). And I hope I can keep talking about her here on Tumblr! Because what Wakui has achieved with that ending is that TokRev never ends.