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You can't friend zone a guy who doesn't want to be your friend in the first place.

This manga is truly a quality piece of work. The premise is not extraordinary - an odd guy/weirdo and a kind hearted girl in a shoujo setting, except the romance is pretty much non-existent. So, if you are a shoujo enthusiast looking for some good ole romance, bid this one a goodbye. There are some very subtle hints of romance but they could be interpreted differently too. It is first, and foremost, a slice of life manga with rich characterization, great humor, good art and extremely likeable characters ... and you will not be disappointed if that's what you are looking for.

You can tell the mangaka put a lot of effort into creating his story and characters because every chapter feels well thought out and significant to the progression of the story as a whole. In a couple of other manga, I've noticed that authors tend to drop in a line or two about how kind or sweet a character is without providing any actual examples or the kindness/thoughtfulness of a character is depicted only when a love interest is watching; it feels very superficial. This manga, however, is different. You are introduced to a host of characters, they are all unique and the author provides a number of examples to help the readers understand his characters better - very rich storytelling and characterization. In addition, the author's characters don't drastically change overnight because they fell in love or though some divine intervention realized they need to do a 180. Take for example Yugami -I've read a few other manga where the guy is 'supposedly' a weirdo but Yugami takes the cake for being the weirdest one of them all and he stays in character THROUGHOUT the manga. But, of course, that is not to say that he does not develop as a character because he does, but in such subtle a way that if you blink, you will miss. The character development is consistent and you feel rewarded as a reader to be able to understand the subtle changes and interactions and what impact they've had on the story.

Call me very petty but my only gripe with the manga is.... ugh there was no kiss even in the last chapter. That's why this one gets a 9 though it deserves a 10.

Tokyo revengers is interesting. It starts off with an exciting premise; a seemingly naive, innocent guy who has to go back into the past to save his girlfriend. The story that follows as our hero gains courage and makes friendships that he wouldn't otherwise have if not for the time leap are narrated quite compellingly. These friendships and the MC's relationship with his girlfriend in fact form the heart of the story and we understand his desperation, his motivations and the reasoning for decisions he makes as the story progresses. The plot twists in the beginning were convincing, but somewhere in the middle, the author ... loses his steam and the plot twists seem start to seem contrived and introduced solely because the author didn't know how else to keep the plot moving forward. A great example of this is how, at the very beginning, we are introduced to who apparently is the main villain of the story, but then we move onto other small fries before the author finally pulls out another guy as the main villain in the very recent arc. There have been no clues about this new villain from the start of the story and yet we are to believe his background and intentions - why? Because the author says so in 2 chapters worth of background. The old villian is cast aside and we don't know why/how he is obsessed with the MC baring a couple of panels over 150 chapters. This essentially means there is no sense of brooding over the antagonist's schemes because of his poor development and this sense of fear is especially needed because that is what turns a good story into a great one.

The second protagonist - Mikey (who I believe could in fact be the antagonist of the story because of the author's tendency to jump between villains like he is playing football), and his relationship with the MC is interesting and the author creates a camaraderie between them that makes us believe that their relationship is reminiscent of the one Mikey had with his brother. However, Mikey's relationship with Ken is also very similar to his relationship with the MC, thus taking away the uniqueness. If I had to pick one relationship that seemed unique and written beautifully compared to a lot of shounen manga, I have to give it to his relationship with his ex-gf. The author narrates their relationship beautifully and we see why they care for each other as much as they do.

A minor complaint I have with this manga is the fact that the MC seems to never train and is a bit of a wuss, and usually I wouldn't have a problem with that, but, over the course of 150 chapters, I have yet to see him engage in a compelling fight. He is excellent at being the voice of reason and strives his best to endure in fights as much as possible, I just wish there was a training arc of some sort where he puts his best into learning how to fight. It seems a little ridiculous that we are to believe this guy grows up to become the biggest yakuza when he starts bawling at every opportunity available.

This came at a time when I was feeling the drought of good manga and it might be recency bias, but despite it's shortcomings, the art, characterization and plot of this manga deserve one read at the very least.