2/5 stars
Adapted once again from Ken Wakui’s bestselling manga series, the time-travelling gangland action romance returns with the first half of an epic two-part finale, titled Tokyo Revengers 2: Bloody Halloween – Destiny.
Twenty-something slacker Takemichi (Takumi Kitamura) must magic himself back to his halcyon high-school days to prevent the rise of the formidable Tokyo Manji (aka Toman) gang responsible for killing his true love, Mani (Mio Imada).
The endless brawling that defined the first film takes a back seat as Takemichi turns detective to investigate the bitter rivalry between the feuding Toman and Valhalla gangs.
As a result, this middle chapter in director Tsutomu Hanabusa’s trilogy is often weighed down by exposition, as it sets the scene for a climactic final chapter.
It opens exactly where its predecessor ended, with Takemichi back in the present – circa 2020 – and reunited with Mani. He is delighted they are now an established couple, even though he is oblivious of the details of their relationship history in this newly altered timeline.
Tokyo Revengers: violent Japanese time-travel gangster thriller
Tokyo Revengers: violent Japanese time-travel gangster thriller
Just as this is about to cause an issue, Mani is brutally murdered in an explosive automobile collision. Recognising the perpetrators as Toman members, Takemichi travels back in time again, vowing to take control of the gang himself and stop its reign of violent terror once and for all.
Upon his return, however, Takemichi encounters a very different hierarchical landscape. Founding Toman member Baji (Kento Nagayama) publicly defects to rivals Valhalla, where their volatile No 3 Kazutora (Nijiro Murakami) has just returned from juvenile detention, vowing to kill Toman leader Mikey (Ryo Yoshizawa).
To fill Baji’s spot, Mikey recruits the mysterious Kisaki (Shotaro Mamiya), whom Takemichi has always suspected was directly involved in Mani’s death.
These personnel reshuffles within the upper echelons of the gang present further obstacles for Takemichi, which are exacerbated when he learns that Mikey’s right-hand man, Draken (Yuki Yamada), is now on death row.
If this sounds like an overly convoluted plot, it is. The biggest problem with Tokyo Revengers is the sheer number of characters vying for control, status and attention within a melee of time-jumping deception and betrayal.
Seemingly conscious of this issue, director Hanabusa appears here to be pausing for breath, realigning his dramatis personae while filling in the details of their convoluted pasts.
One hopes this will leave the coast clear for the all-out carnage inevitably forthcoming in Bloody Halloween – Final Battle, due out in November. This chapter, however, is little more than filler.