Tokyo Revengers: Did Wakui sideline Draken for Takemichi? Explained

Recently, the Tokyo Revengers community has been feeling that mangaka Ken Wakui sidelined Draken for the protagonist Takemichi. Fans also raised their voice against it and began questioning why Takemichi was being made to take Draken's place in Mikey's life, almost completely overshadowing him.

But as things stand, it does not seem like Ken Wakui sidelined Draken for Takemichi Hanagaki. The series is technically about Takemichi, following his leaps through time, attempting to save his love, Hinata Tachibana, and all of his friends. It does not focus on Draken all that much, although he received his fair share of attention.

As the series progressed, Takemichi ultimately attempted to save his friend Mikey, whom he befriended and formed a strong bond with early on in the series. Alongside Mikey, he also attempted to save Ken Ryuguji, aka Draken, from dying. This was due to the latter being destined to meet his demise, having been killed in most of the timelines.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for Tokyo Revengers manga.

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Tokyo Revengers' fans concerned over Ken Wakui relegating Draken's importance

Takemichi, Mikey, and Draken (Image via LidenFilms)

Takemichi's final time leap sent him and Mikey 10 years back into the past, thus completely resetting the timeline. Due to this, Mikey and Takemichi were friends from a very young age. They went on to establish Toman together and serve as its founding members.

This caused outrage in the community as it looked like Takemichi had taken over Draken's place in Mikey's life. The panels in chapter 277 showed Mikey and Takemichi standing on the same roof overlooking the city that Mikey and Draken once stood on. Considering this, it was understandable why there was such a reaction.

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Draken was not sidelined

However, Tokyo Revengers' Ken Wakui did not sideline Draken. Ken served as Mikey's closest companion for a fair bit of the show and was always at his side. Through Takemichi's time-leaping, Draken's role was altered each time, but it remained constant, more or less.

Draken was one character who had been fated to meet his demise, at least in most timelines. He was either stabbed in a fight against a rival gang and succumbed to blood loss or was shot trying to save Takemichi. So saying that Tokyo Revengers sidelined Draken for Takemichi is far-fetched.

Takemichi and Manjiro (Image via LidenFilms)

In Tokyo Revengers chapter 277, Draken makes an appearance while the Tokyo Manji Gang is being formed. In this chapter, it seems that all the members were safe, and Draken did not die in this ultimate timeline.

Takemichi looks to have finally saved everyone in Tokyo Revengers. All the major characters were alive and well and held important positions in this version of the Tokyo Manji Gang. Shinichiro, Mikey's older brother, was alive and other members, such as Keisuke Baji, Emma Sano, Izana Kurokawa, etc., were all well. Even Mikey was now free of his Dark Impulses.

Hinata and Takemichi, as seen in Tokyo Revengers anime (Image via LidenFilms)

Things also ended well for Takemichi as he got to marry his high school sweetheart Hinata Tachibana. The story began with him regretting that he did not engage with her more and that she met her demise at the hands of the Toman in the original timeline. But after the reset, he finally got what he wanted.

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Final Thoughts

Ken Ryuguji aka Draken in Tokyo Revengers anime (Image via LidenFilms)

As mentioned earlier, Tokyo Revengers mangaka Ken Wakui did not sideline Draken for Takemichi. He merely reassigned his role when the latter made the final time leap. Draken can be seen as an essential character, but he is not as important as the series' protagonist. He was not relegated when looked at from the overall story point of view.

However, based on the new timeline, it is fair to see where this is coming from. Since Takemichi changed the entire timeline, what followed were drastic changes. While many of the members who were destined to die were saved, many relationships weren't the way they used to be.

Similarly, Draken is likely close to Mikey but probably does not hold the same significance in his life compared to Takemichi's first time-leap.