Great success of the last period is Tokyo Avenger, Weekly Shonen Magazine’s queen work that captured the public with time travel and street fighting, topics that bring readers back into a seemingly forgotten genre.
Ken Wakui’s manga lays its foundation on topics that seemed impossible to revise in a modern work: young offenders, unregulated brawls and time travel. These themes are reminiscent of the Shonen of the late 20th centurywhose protagonists were mainly Bancho, young street criminals.
The modern scene, dominated by the various Jujutsu Kaisen, My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer or Black Clover, is essentially based on protagonists with no special characteristics who, thanks to scary skills, in some ways become the strongest. However, Ken Wakui went against the tide by opting for a different path. Takemichi is completely different from his peers, and Tokyo Revengers is the perfect example of how bring back an old trend.
Tokyo Revengers enables the new generation of readers to relive the myths of the past. The genus Bancho is not extinct, on the contrary. Takemichi, Mikey, Draken and the other members of the Tokyo Manji Gang are somewhat inspired by Protagonists of Yu Yu Hakusho, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Shonan Junai Gumi (GTO) and even Slam Dunk. Each of these works, each with different features, connects the topic of crime.
And have you experienced the golden age of the manga “thugs”? Do you think Tokyo Revengers is a worthy legacy? Let us know yours with a comment! We’ll leave Tokyo Revengers and Ken Wakui’s animation source to controversy.
Leave a Comment