Tokyo Revengers: the anime where 26-year-olds look like overgrown kids and kids look like they must have hit puberty right out the womb. Because yes, that's what most of our main characters are - kids. And they sure do act like it too.
If I had to describe my experience watching Tokyo Revengers every week in one sentence, all I can say is that it feels like such a chore. I can't be the only one who gets reminded of dramatic Indian soap operas watching a bunch of testosterone-jacked dudes overreacting every few scenes or so. Then why, if it annoys me so much, do I continue to suffer every Saturday? Well, it's in the hopes of finally seeing some mind-blowing unraveling that every fan seems to rave about. But 7 episodes in and this show is full of snail-like pacing, poor attempts at inciting emotions, misplaced humor and one of the most aggravating, useless MC's.
The first problem with Tokyo Revengers lies in its unbelievable representation of middle schoolers. You just can't look me in the eye and say these guys are meant to be 14-15 year olds - Draken, Osanai, Pah, Kiyomizu and a majority of the gangs would be better suited to play their characters' dads here. Of course, inaccurate age depictions are no stranger in the world of anime, but this is one of the worst cases I've seen of it by far because its existence constantly detracts from my enjoyment of the plot. I can imagine the story playing out so much better in the context of high school "yankii" instead, with the potential to go even darker, albeit more realistically.
Sadly, it doesn't stop there. The second biggest problem that holds this show back is its ridiculous premise to begin with. The unique concept of time travel portrayed here deserves some praise, but it fails to be interesting when our two genius protagonists, Takemichi and Naoto, go out of their way to pick the most complex solution to their problem. One can conjure up numerous better ways to save Hinata, but no, the stakes must forced to be unneccesarily high or where would our entire plot and character development be? Speaking of the latter, it's pretty clear from the start that Takemichi's goal as a character is to learn from his regrets and become a better person but damn, if we haven't seen that one before. There is absolutely no redeeming factor or quality to keep me invested in his character (rather difficult when the MC just cries every episode) or anything that happens to anyone around him, really. And NO, to anyone claiming this is a good example of a "multidimensional emotionally in touch with himself" character, please go watch some josei to see what that looks like. Simply put, it's all just so BORING and predictable. Yes, even the "plot twists" which is where the dramatic soap opera vibes come in. Also, has no one stopped to question how fucking weird it is for someone who's mentally 26 to be crushing on a 14-year old girl? As someone who's normally a sucker for romances, this just isn't it.
If all of that wasn't already enough to put me off, we have our final cherry on top: the art style. For a lot of anime that suffer from poor storylines and characters, the animation is something to fall back to as its saving grace. Not the case here at all. From the very first episode, there's just something about the cartoonish character designs that turns me off, regardless of the warped sense of age. What's worse is that it had the potential to be so much better; the manga's art style is far superior here and perhaps, it is better off consumed in that medium. But hey, I guess we got a pretty decent OP and ED out of this adaptation at least?
It may not seem like it, but believe me when I say I really wanted to like this show. With all the hype it's been receiving since its release, my curiosity was piqued, but all that's left to be found here is an unrealistic, uninteresting and underwhelming story ft. aesthetically displeasing cardboard characters.