Tokyo Revengers, as you may have probably guessed from the name, is a popular Japanese Manga series originally written by Ken Wakui, a manga artist who created Shinjuku Swan. The manga series was first launched in 2017 and became a sought-after series amongst manga fans. Since then there have been various adaptations of Tokyo Revengers with each format gaining the same love from viewers. Keep reading to learn more about the series and where you can watch Tokyo Revengers in different formats.
Let’s first dive into the history of the series before we learn more about where you can access it.
After the launch of Tokyo Revengers, the initial serialization of the manga series began in March 2017 and lasted till November 2022 in Weekly Shonen Magazine by Kodansha. By the end of November 2022, the chapters were collected in 30 tankobon volumes in terms of book volumes. Since the series is available in multiple formats, it has gained huge popularity since it caters to the needs of all types of anime lovers; some prefer to enjoy anime in book format while some may have a preference toward the digital form.
1- Manga
The first time Tokyo Revengers was introduced to the world was when it was serialized in a weekly magazine which was in the year 2017.
In 2018, Kodansha USA, the subsidiary of Japan’s largest publishing house Kodansha and the company to publish the original Tokyo Revengers, initiated the digital release of the manga series.
Following the success of stories related to the Tokyo Manji Gang, the manga received publishing licenses in other countries as well including Taiwan, France, South Korea, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Argentina to name a few.
Between 2021 and 2022, the popular Japanese manga also witnessed several spin-off series. For instance, in July 2022, Yukinori Kawaguchi illustrated a spin-off manga based on the life of Chifuyu Matsuno and Keisuke Baji. The illustration was titled Tokyo Revengers: Baji Keisuke Kara no Tegami
2: Anime
The anime television series for Tokyo Revengers was announced in June 2020 with Liden Films acting as the head producer for the series. The scripts were written by Yasuyuki Mutō while Keiko Ōta was the responsible person for character design.
The anime series aired on MBS from April to September 2021. During the same time, anime shorts were released on YouTube to gain more traction.
The second season of Tokyo Revengers was announced in December 2021 and the premiere is set for 8th January 2023.
3: Live-Action Film
Tokyo Revengers was adapted into live-action film format In February 2020 with Tsutomu Hanabusa acting as the director. The cast members included Nobuyuki Suzuki, Yūki Yamada, Takumi Kitamura, Hayato Isomura, Ryo Yoshizawa, Mio Imada, Shotaro Mamiya, and Yosuke Sugino. However, due to the pandemic, the filming of the movie was halted and the film release was rescheduled to 9th July 2021.
The sequel, announced in July 2022, is set to be released in 2023 but there is no confirmation on the exact date.
4: Stage Play
Tokyo Revengers was also made available to the viewers in the form of a stage play that ran from August 6 to August 22 in 2021 with multiple shows across Kanagawa, Osaka, and Tokyo with Naoshire Ise taking the director’s seat.
In 2022, between March 25 to April 5, a second stage play titled Tokyo Revengers: Bloody Halloween was run in Tokyo.
Looking at the number of formats the show was adapted in, it is easy to guess the scale of popularity the manga show has managed to achieve in the short span of its existence.
Keep reading to learn the number of awards Tokyo Revengers has bagged for itself.
Yahoo! Japan Search Awards awarded the anime category prize to Tokyo Revengers in 2021. This award was based on the online search rate for a certain term as compared to the number of searches made in 2020.
Nikkei Entertainment also highlighted the anime series as one of the biggest hits in 2021 and was ranked as the most-watched program amongst male and female audiences alike.
In 2020, at the 44th Kodansha Manga Award, Tokyo Revengers was awarded in the shōnen manga category.
In terms of sales, more than 3 million copies of the manga were in circulation as of February 2020. The number reached 17 million by May 2021 and in a month, the total number of copies being circulated crossed the 20 million mark, and by December 2022, 70 million copies had been sold in the open market.
However, the manga is not free of its share of controversies. The Buddhist manji swastika (卍) symbol had to be censored when the show was aired for the world outside Japan. The symbol is used by the Tokyo Manji Gang in the show. However, the swastika holds different connotations in Asia whereas the symbol, when reversed, is a mark of atrocities against Jews during Adolf Hitler’s rule hence, to avoid any controversies, it was voluntarily removed. With time, releases across South Asian and Southeast Asian channels were not censored and currently, Crunchyroll is the only streaming service outside Japan to run the censored version.
There are multiple sites, where you watch Tokyo Revengers if you prefer online streaming to read the manga series.
Netflix is one of the popular service channels that gives you complete access to season 1 of the anime. There are around 24 episodes with the 1st episode called ‘Reborn’ and the last episode called ‘A Cry Baby’
Tokyo Revengers can also be played on JustWatch and Disney+.
The second season is set to premiere in January 2023 and the good news is, it will air both on TV and Disney+ in Japan and is anticipated to have 24 episodes just like its predecessor.
Conclusion
If you are new to anime or are just exploring the world of manga series, it may get confusing to choose which series is the best to start with since the options are too many. We recommend starting with Tokyo Revengers because it is a good anime that has an excellent strategy and great character development. You already know where to watch Tokyo Revengers, so why wait to get started?
