Let’s first establish that Takemichi (14-17) and Takemitchy (26-27) are two separate individuals. They may share a body, but they are not the same person.
AndTakemitchy? I don’t thinkhe’ll end up with Hina or Manjiro.
Takemichiwill.
And while the title says TakeMikey, this is not about shipping. I couldn’t care less about that. It’s about what the story has always been trying to tell us.
♢ PLEASE DON’T SKIP PAST THE DISCLAIMERS! ♢
✦ DISCLAIMER: Any time I use ‘Takemichi’ and ‘Takemitchy’ I am talking about two different people, I amnot using them interchangeably. Same thing with ‘Mikey’ and ‘Manjiro’. They are different people and I will refer to them solely as one or the other. If you think I’m making a mistake in spelling or talking about the wrong version: no, I’m not.
✦ SECOND DISCLAIMER: I am NOT saying, nor trying to imply, nor have I ever stated that Mikey has any specific diagnosable condition.
Any perceived similarities to real life or real people is purely incidental and unintentional.
When I say ‘there’s more than one Mikey’, don’tascribe a diagnosis to him,that’s not what I’m doing or saying. I do not care what specific name could be given to whatever is going on in his brain, nor do I have any interest in diagnosing him. And you shouldn’t either.
It’sfictionand I’m talking about characters within a narrative (where time travel is a real thing!),not real life people or real life medical stuff. I am only talking about what I think the story is trying to communicate to us.
✦ THIRD DISCLAIMER: This is my interpretation based on manga canon and season 1 of the anime.
✦ FOURTH DISCLAIMER: PLEASE DON’T REPOST THIS to tiktok, other websites, or social media apps without my permission. It’s RUDE and people on tiktok are insane.
If you want to post a link, that’s fine, but please do not clip and share any portion of this out of context.
Please do not repost this translated into another language without my permission either. Again, it’s RUDE.
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BEFORE I GET INTO IT:
Hina is one of my favourite characters, and I am in no way saying that Takemitchy (and Takemichi) doesn’t love her too.
This ISN’T a shipping thing, shipping is for fanfiction, which I do not write. I have no problem with Takemichi and Hina together. If the story ends with them married and happy? That’s cool too!! There is no ‘anti’ content to be found here. Just read the whole thing, I think you’ll understand why I think the story isn’t going that way.
Don’t bother me about ship wars, I’m not 12, I don’t care.
I am not excluding the possibility of poly relationships, because of preference of one pair over another, I just think the story is actively saying that that isn’t going to happen. It would be neat if it did though!!
If you’re getting ready to come over to my inbox and tell me that it’s weird and gross for Takemitchy to get together with Mikey, considering what I think is going on in the story with onii-chan, please scroll up a little and see that I literally just saidIdon’t think that 26 year old Takemitchy is going to have ANY romantic partner.
One more time: TAKEMITCHY IS GOING TO REMAIN ETERNALLY BITCHLESS. He died a virgin and he’s going to stay a virgin.
Mikey (and Manjiro) does not have romanticfeelings for Takemitchy. Does he have a little friend crush on him? Sure, but 15 year old Mikey is never shown to have any feelings romantic or sexual in nature towards anyone.
In case anybody missed it from my *other* post: Takemitchy is NOT like Shinichiro, he may share some of the good and positive attributes Shin had, but that’s it. He isnever once paralleled with Shin. Baji thinking he sees Shin in place of Takemitchy is not drawinga parallel between the two. A character saying ‘Takemitchy reminds me of him’isalso not a parallel. In my *opinion* Takemitchy is the kind of person Mikey wishes Shin had been like, he’s his Mr. Robot. Mikey does notviewTakemitchyromantically.
I am talking about Takemichi,who is a different person.
But we follow Takemitchy, he is our protagonist, so I will mostly refer to him, as he is the one we actually see in scenes.
Also, want me to tell you who the second time leaper is?
Well, then you have to read this whole thing. TRUST ME. I think it’ll be worth it.
Got it?
Good.Now:
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SCHRÖDINGER’S LOVE INTEREST
Tachibana Hinata is definitely the Love Interest™ of Tokyo Revengers. Everything about her role in the story screams love interest coded.
But then you read past the end of the Black Dragons arc and arrive at the Manila timeline. And you read past the Tenjiku arc to arrive at the Bonten future. And then you have to kind of reevaluate your understanding of the story.
Because you realize that Mikey isn’t the insurmountable obstacle Takemitchy needs to overcome in order to finally save Hina. He’s not just the leader of Toman, who Takemitchy needs to set back on the right path in order to save everyone’s futures.
Mikey isn’t just the problem,he’s the deuteragonist. The story has actually been about him this entire time. And Mikey is also love interest coded. Not just because he is someone in need of saving, but because so many ‘romantic’ moments that occur in the story between Takemitchy and Hina, are directly paralleled with Mikey. None of them are necessary unless he is also a love interest.
Both of them are, and aren’t, the Love Interest™ simultaneously, until the story finishes and the box that is the story opens so we can observe the outcome. But I think the story is already telling us which one it will be when we finally get to look inside.
So what does one do with this information now?
Takemichi and Manjiro’s story could easily be that of two people who love each other very much in an unnamed way that’s not platonic, romantic, sexual, or familial, but something completely intangible. Like Mako and Rahleigh in Pacific Rim; like Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady; like Eiji and Ash in Banana Fish. The story would not suffer for it and nothing would really change. It wouldn’t lessen the love that Manjiro and Takemichi feel for each other. That feeling would still have meaning.
Takemichi could even marry Hina and live happily ever after with a wonderful woman, and it wouldn’t change the fact that he also loves Manjiro. It would just be a different kind of love. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Friendship is a beautiful thing and just as valuable.
One of the most impressive things about Tokyo Revengers is how bonds of friendship are portrayed. It never stops being fascinating to me that Wakui managed to write a cast of basically only male characters, and not have it feel like a ton of queerbaiting. Some characters definitely seem to have more than strictly platonic feelings for each other (Hakkai for Mitsuya, Baji for Chifuyu and Kazutora, whatever Inupi and Koko have going on), but not in a way where I felt the author was ever baiting us. Their bonds felt natural yet ambiguous, but not in a way where I felt that it was forced empty fan-service to attract more diverse viewership, while not losing the straight male audience. They genuinely feel like friends, like people that care for each other, deeply and in complicated ways.
In the year of our Lord 2021, it was so refreshing to see male companionship that isn’t rivalry, or romantic-but-will-never-be-acknowledged-as-canon; but just good old fashioned found family. The kind of family made up of the people you choose to love and choose to surround yourself with.
They’re delinquents: they get into fights, and break the law, but the Toman guys are all good kids deep down. Toman was formed to protect. They have a code of conduct and their own moralities. The connections they have to each other are complex, reflecting the complicated lives that most of the characters lead. Just like in real life, their individual moralities are complicated; nobody is completely a ‘good guy’, but neither is anyone completely a ‘bad guy’. Everybody has the capacity to be saved, but also the ability to be corrupted. They feel like real people; like the author has actually spent time in the real world around real people, lived a real life, and put that into his story.
Not to mention, all of the five named female characters are excellently written as regular people. They don’t need to be tough, or damsels, or heroines, or fit into some other archetype to make them great as girls. They’re people,first and foremost,who just happen to be ladies.They can be strong, or brave, or weak, because that’s how people are. They’re an amalgamation of attributes making up the whole.
The male characters are allowed to be vulnerable and cry, while still being tough delinquents. Our protagonist is even a big crybaby. He gets scared and wants to run, but chooses to be brave despite his fear. His tears aren’t a weakness or something to be looked down upon. He’s our crybaby hero.
And then I got caught up with the manga, only to find Takemitchy’s hero story didn’t end at his happy future. We are shown the exact same scene that opened the story. A soft reboot. His story should be over, but it isn’t.
Because Hina wasn’t the one he needed to save.
And then the wedding dress scene changed my entire perception of what story I was actually reading.
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▶︎ Content Warnings: not much really, just adding this to be safe
I’m going to reference what I think is going on with Mikey from my *other post* non graphically, and very briefly, only using very vague terms like: ‘hurt’ and ‘take advantage of’.
If it makes you feel better, substitute the phrase ‘burned his blanket in a fire’ for ‘hurt’and‘take advantage of’
And I’m going to talk about how weird it is that Takemitchyis an adult in a 14 year old body, and why I think that means he’s not going to end up with any of our teen characters. That includes Hina and Manjiro, even when they’ve grown up.
Here’s a hint: it’s because he’s an adult.
▶︎ SPOILERS FOR:
The end of Banana Fish. Seriously, I’m going to spoil the last ten minutes of the anime
The entire Tokyo Revengers manga through chapter 245 and season 1
**For consistency: only the main story of the manga and anime are being referenced here. I am not examining merch, fan books, music videos, Chibi Revengers, or anything else that isn’t the main story. That’s all supplementary material and irrelevant to the telling of the story, it’s just bonus content for fans, even if it is canon. Official English translations were used for all manga caps through chapter 215, after that there are no official English translations as of March 22nd, 2022. If any images are cropped, it is not done to be misleading or push a narrative that isn’t supported by the manga pages. I just don’t feel right uploading so many manga pages wholesale when the images are only meant to refresh your memory of events. Read (or re-read) the manga yourself.
This is longer than my other long post, and is made of *good vibes*. There is some angst here, but angst that has a happy ending.
It’s still long though, so come with me on a journey into why I’m pretty sure the story has always been about Takemichi and Manjiro.
Allow me to tell you why I think Hina neveractuallyneeded to be saved, and it was a red herring the entire time.
