The following contains spoilers for Episode 1 of Tokyo Revengers: Christmas Showdown, " It Is What It Is" now streaming on Hulu.
It has been a little over a year since the first season of Tokyo Revengers came to an end, and what an amazing one at that. However, the hype and overall feeling for Season 2 aren't quite the same as it was. It is not surprising as plenty has changed since then. The manga wrapped up its final arc and left behind negative reviews more than anything else. Some fans, extremely disappointed with the last turns the series took, were even bringing up the word betrayal after having fallen in love with the rest of the story. Besides being one of the best-selling manga series of all time, Ken Wakui failed to give the fans the ending they would have wanted and in consequence, all the buzz surrounding Tokyo Revengers diminished.
On top of that, almost at the buzzer, Disney announced that they were expanding their agreement with Kodansha and will bring new exclusive premieres to Disney+. Tokyo Revengers Christmas Showdown became the first worldwide simulcast of anime in Disney+. This second season will cover the arc of the same name during 13 episodes that arrived a bit late but as part of the packed Winter 2023 Season. The first episode called It Is What It Is debuted on the first weekend of January.
New Threats, New Objectives
The Bloody Halloween is now part of history, Takemichi couldn't save Baji's life after all, but managed to become the Captain of the 1st Division. After coming back to the present in order to see how his action had shaped the future, he finds himself as one of the leaders within the huge organized crime group the Tokio Manji are. Once again he couldn't contact Naoto right away and had to play along with what was going on at the moment.
It led him to attend a meeting between the leaders of the organization. Right after the dinner started, Kisaki showed up and asked Takemichi and Chifuyu to accompany him for a private talk. Not soon after they found out they have been drugged and tied to a chair. Kisaki tries to get some information to them, but after being unsuccessful he executes Chifuyu and gets ready to do the same with Takemichi after calling him "my hero". That was the amazing cliffhanger that ended the first season, and that's where this episode kicks off.
The moment Kisaki was about to pull the trigger, someone broke in and fight his wait out. When Takemichi recovered consciousness he was laying on the floor unaware of how did he survive that. While probably everyone thought that the savior was Naoto, the one who saved his life was in truth Kazutora.
He revealed that after getting out of prison Chifuyu picked him up, and together, they were planning to bring back the ToMan they knew and erase this merciless and evil version of the gang. Working with a police detective (Naoto), they were aiming to overthrow Tetta Kisaki and the Black Dragon, the other gang that merged with them and the main reason why Mikey derailed from his original purpose.
Takemichi was a part of the gang for 12 years, but he just adapted to the current instead of fighting it. Chifuyu was the only remnant of the old values that resisted the violent approach. He, alone, was trying his best to improve the situation but the Takemichi that lived all those years didn't care at all. The protagonist it's shown as one of his lowest moments, overwhelmed by the guilt and with a sentiment of defeat. But Kazutora inspires him to remember what he should stand up for, and convinced him to join the cause, even if he couldn't contribute that much.
Naoto's Resourcefulness
Kazutora and Takemichi then got in his car to drive him to meet someone. In the ride, Kazutora goes into details of the ToMan situation as requested by Takemichi. Draken was executed like in the other timeline, at the same time he and Chifuyu were cornered they ordered a hit on Pachin and Peyan who were also killed. Mitsuya was missing. And it was all done according to the orders by Mikey who was also unreachable but was still passing commands to Kisaki.
Thus, they arrived at an alley where Naoto was waiting for Takemichi. Another shocking moment in a breathtaking episode. Naoto arrests him for murder. It was all a set-up to take Takemichi into custody. The reason was that after Chifuyu's death Naoto had access to his laptop where he was storing a couple of recordings proving that Takemichi ordered Akkun to assassinate someone, although he didn't have the details of the victim, Kisaki would let him know as he was the one with the petition. The target was Hina, and they both died in the same way the did in the previous timeline but without Takemichi being at the scene.
A truly heartbreaking moment for the protagonist as he finds out he is directly responsible for their death. Naoto used the arrest to have some alone time with Takemichi and tries to calm him highlighting that his actions are having and effect, saving lives like his, Kazutora or Draken who was supposed to die in the fight against Valhalla. They also come to the realization that Kisaki must have some kind of fixation for Takemichi that drives him to murder Hina and drive Akkun to death time and time again. The mission this time is to stop Black Dragon and keep investigating the relationship with Kisaki to avoid Mikey becoming an evil money-driven murderer.
Bowling and Coincidence
The moment he shakes his hand, Takemichi finds himself in the middle of a date with Hina. The theme of the date helped him remember on of his passions when he was a teenager, bowling. At this point, many thought that he didn't have any practical skills, and he relied completely on his will and emotional side. In bowling however, he is a complete master getting strike after strike like it's nothing with his own set of shoes, bowling ball and glove.
But what seemed like just a beautiful moment between the two turned out to be much more than that. In the next line and getting a strike at the same time as Takemichi was Hakkai Siba, one of the leaders of Black Dragon 12 years later and a member of the Tokyo Manji at that time. With this encounter ends a well-rounded episode with astonishing pacing and a handful of memorable moments. It also gave the first look at the new opening and ending theme songs White Noise by Official Hide Dandism and Kizutsukedo, Aishiteru by Tuyu. Tokyo Revengers Christmas Showdown will continue a weekly for twelve more weeks. Fans of the show await to see what's next in Takemichi's desperate mission to change the future, and of course, discover why would he break up with Hina on Christmas Eve.