On Mikeyโsย โDark Impulsesโ, 241, and Shinichiro
Iโm pretty sure Mikey isnโt a real person, or at least not the real Manjiro.
This analysis is all pure speculation after the events that happened in 241, but speculation based around manga canon.ย Iโve done my best to interpret things as objectively as I can, and acknowledge when something can have a more charitable interpretation. ย
Iโm fairly positive that Mikey not beingย Manjiro is one missing puzzle piece that connects everything together so we can see the full picture. I think what isnโt said in Tokyo Revengers is so much more interesting than what has been said so far.
I think that the other puzzle piece is Shinichiro. And that Shinichiro was a bad guy.ย
I think heโs the bad guy and everything weโve been told about him is a massive misdirect. ย
I think the story is telling us the truth, while the characters are lying to us or are unreliable narrators.
And I think I have a pretty compelling argument proving this.
*SPOILERS FOR TOKYO REVENGERS MANGA THROUGH CHAPTER 243*
*Trigger warnings for mentions of: child abuse, violence, and basically everything bad Tokyo Revengers has already covered in canon up until now. ย Anything worse than what weโve already seen in TR will have a giant warning beforehand with more detailed TWโs so you can turn back*
*Also spoilers for the entirety of Mr. Robot (an American TV show). ย Yes, it is connected*
**For consistency, only official translations were used from digital volumes 1, 2, and 14-24; and for volumes 3-13, Iโm like 99% sure readtokyorevengers dot net has just screen-shotted all of the official translations and re-uploaded the images for every official English release, lol. There are no official translations I can find for volumes 25 and 26 chapters since they donโt seem to get official English chapter releases outside of finished volumes, so my opinions could change once those are out, if the story isnโt finished before then.ย If I goofed on any details, please let me know**
On Chapter 241 and What it Means
Mikey badly hurts Haruchiyo in 241. ย Iโm going to ask โwhyโ,ย not to excuse his violent behaviour, but because people just donโt do shit like that, and the โwhyโ is important. ย Also, itโs fiction, so letโs try to analyse whatโs going on in this ongoing (very much not finished) story with that in mind.
Mikey mutilating Haruchiyo over a model plane breaking makes no sense, if only for the fact that Shinichiro was still alive and kicking at the time. Heโs literally in the scene, lurking around the background of the page, contributing nothing to the events going on. If Mikey was retaliating against Haruchiyo, it would be wrong regardless, but why like that? ย Most kids with anger issues would resort to punching, or kicking, or throwing. ย
I donโt think Haru was a very physically strong kid; in the present day he uses weapons and weโve never seen him fight once (before the 3 Dieties, where he uses a weapon). ย We donโt actually see him at all until volume 14 or 15, and heโs never shown fighting a single time. ย Even when heโs in Tenjiku, he just stands there in the background (anime fights featuring him were added and not in the manga, trust me I kept trying to find him in the background). ย He also doesnโt seem to have attended the dojo with Mikey and Baji, or learned any martial arts. Mikey is a martial arts prodigy, he could have taken Haruchiyo down in an instant. He could have just kicked him a bunch of times if he wanted to hurt him, or bullied him some other way. ย Again, of course this is wrong, but little kids express themselves in wrong ways all the time when they donโt have anyone teaching them better. ย It doesnโt make him evil. He was like nine, heโs sick.
The kids were all nine or ten years old, maximum, and Mikey was already like that. They were so young. ย Without knowing the context, because we donโt, thatโs some serious serial killer energy. ย Kids donโt lash out with that level of violence and literal bloodshed, just because theyโre angry. Thatโs the kind of behaviour that comes from very bad trauma.
As Senju is telling her story, itโs pretty obvious that sheโs confusing correlation and causation. She breaks the plane, lies about it to Mikey, and then sees Mikey standing over Haruchiyoโs bloody form with blood all over his hands. So she thinks cause and effect, but admittedly, she just kind of walked in on the scene and didnโt hear or see much of what happened. ย This would be a traumatizing thing for anyone to see, at any age, but especially when theyโre all so young. In her mind she thinks she caused it, because she was maybe eight. ย We all know it had nothing to do with a broken plane. ย Maybe the plane led to a confrontation between Mikey and Haruchiyo, but based on everything weโve seen up until this point in the story, it would be out of character for Mikey to hurt his friend because of a toy. ย
Mikey may be possessive, but he doesnโt seem to care about material objects all that much, at least not above his friends. ย And heโs never shown to be a bully. ย When Baji is getting beaten up protecting Mikeyโs moped, Mikey trashes it himself, because itโs dumb that Baji got hurt over such a stupid thing like an object. ย Baji was precious to him, not the bike. ย When the plane breaks, Shinichiro was still alive to build him another plane. If he was mad about it (though we donโt see him actually express any anger), it wouldnโt be because of the object, but the sentimental value it held. ย Which is none as far as we know. ย Again, Shinichiro is still alive at this point and will be for years to come.
Mikey could have easily overpowered and beaten the shit out of Haruchiyo, these kids would probably be accustomed to physical altercations, and familiar with the casual violence of punching someone. ย Kids play rough. ย These kids have older brothers in a gang. ย But instead of roughhousing, Mikey permanently scars his face. ย And not his nose, or his eyes, or his ears. ย Mikey seems like heโd be that kid that bit people, he could have pulled a Mike Tyson even. ย But he rips open Haruchiyoโs mouth. Why his mouth?
I think something Haru said set Mikey off or โฆmaybe Mikey was trying to help him in a messed up way? (I know, I know, just stick with me. ย Iโm not absolving Mikey of being an absolute terror. ย I have a reason for thinking this, just keep reading, Iโll get there I promise.)
I have a very bad feeling and the more I go back and think about it, the worse that feeling gets. Re-reading the manga did not alleviate that feeling, it just reinforced it. ย I could be wrong, but. ย Well.
This is incredibly long but I promise thereโs a point. This is mostly about Mikey as a character and what I think is going on with him (and therefore the entire story). ย But also Shinichiro and Izana, and what that all has to do with Sanzu.
Iโll get to Shinichiro and why heโs a bad person.
Iโm prepared to be way off the mark here and reading way too far into things, but this has been bugging me since the leaks for chapter 240 came out.
Against my better judgement I re-read the entire manga (and the volumes I own several times) to make sure Iโm not misremembering anything, but if Iโm flat out factually incorrect about anything, please let me know (I wrote this twice (well, three times) and itโs long, so I may have missed an error I made in an earlier draft).ย ย
But I digress, if youโve seen Mr. Robot through to the end, I imagine you know exactly where Iโm going with this and that itโs in a very BAD direction. ย
Letโs start with why Mikey is NOT Manjiro.
I donโt think Mikey is a โreal personโ.
I donโt know enough about mental disorders that cause one to disassociate as hard as Mikey does to try and put a name to it, nor do I want to armchair diagnose someone (and the same disorder can vary wildly from person to person, so). ย But it really seems like Wakui has been laying the groundwork and leaving clues the entire manga so far, that the Mikey weโve seen for the majority of the story is not the original Sano Manjiro.
And I donโt mean that Mikey is a second time traveler.
I strongly suspect that those 'dark impulsesโ or 'other Mikeyโ is an alter, or another personality (for lack of better terms) completely separate from 'our Mikeyโ. ย Maybe weโre almost always seeing Mikey and weโve either never met Sano Manjiro, or we see him very briefly, when itโs just him and Takemitchy.
Tokyo Revengers is a story about becoming a whole person again when youโve lost yourself. ย Itโs Takemitchyโs entire journey. ย Itโs also Mikeyโs journey. ย Theyโre both just parts of the whole person they should make up and not โreal peopleโ themselves.ย If they were bothย โreal peopleโ, they should have all their memories and neither of them do.ย ย
In fictional stories, names are very important. Not just the meaning of the name and how it relates to the character or overall story, but if a character has a name at all, or if they have multiple names.
Takemichi has two names. Heโs given the nickname Takemitchy (by Mikey, isnโt that interesting), because heโs a different person. Mikey may not know that until the Tenjiku conflict, but we know it as the audience. Heโs an alternate version of himself when heโs in the past, and annihilates his alternate self to take over that body when he goes back to the future. Thereโs a version of him, Takemichi, that we never get to see. We only follow Takemitchyโs story. We never really see what kind of person younger Takemichi is, because weโve never met him. We arenโt afforded the opportunity to see what happens in the past when Takemitchy isnโt there and Takemichi gets his body back. We can only piece together what happens from information other characters give us.ย Takemitchy doesnโt get any of Takemichiโs memories in the future, because heโs not him.
Mikey has two names. Manjiro and Mikey, but he only goes by Mikey. A name he gives to himself to no longer be Manjiro. NOBODY calls him Manjiro aside from Shinichiro, Izana, and Takemitchy that one time (no, a character saying his full name does not count). ย I donโt think itโs a coincidence that Takemitchy calling his real name is the thing that gets through to him at the last possible moment as he finally asks for help. ย
Mikey isnโt the original Manjiro, and Takemitchy isnโt the original Takemichi.
But then thereโs also โMikeyโ. In the Bonten timeline, Sanzu says โMikeyโ is gonna speak, in quotation marks. Itโs possible that this is just a strange stylistic choice made by Wakui or a rogue translator, but.ย He already called him Mikey when they were children, why the distinction in quotations here?ย Is there a difference?ย Can Sanzu tell the difference because they know each other so well and have for so long?
Mikey also goes between calling him Sanzu and Haruchiyo, which could be nothing, but IS interesting, since he calls everyone else by one chosen name and only that one name. He doesnโt go between โKenchinโ and โDrakenโ, or โMitsuyaโ and โTakashiโ, or โTakemichiโ and โTakemitchyโ. Sanzu is the only person whoโs different.
