Anime Reviews | Tokyo Ghoul

Story: 8.0/10

Ken Kaneki (love the guy’s name btw) is a college student who meets, and later goes out with (STUUUUUUD), a women named Rize Kamishiro.  Short story shortened, the date didn’t turn out so well for Kaneki, because, as it turns out, Rize is a “ghoul”, a human-like creature who hunts and feeds on humans during the night (not the best first date ever, but I had worse).

Fortunately for Kaneki, Rize was killed by a falling platform(???????) before she could finish him off.   Unfortunately for Kaneki, he is left in critical condition.  Fortunately for Kaneki, the doctor was able to patch him up and replace his destroyed organs.  Unfortunately for Kaneki, the organs he got were originally Rize’s, merging with Kaneki’s body structure and turning him into a half-ghoul, half-human hybrid.  He is then taken in by a friendly ghoul society, where he learns to deal with his half-ghoul self, interact with the rest of the ghoul factions, and try to keep his identity from the human world.

Meh, I’ve been given scarier threats on a date.

I love this premise.

As I mentioned in my article about things I watched (go check it out if you haven’t yet), Tokyo Ghoul provides an interesting premise along with an equally interesting theme of self-identity.  However, the anime kinda rushes the story, which then leads to the plot becoming inconsistent as the anime tries to, I assume, stay true to its manga roots.  They would introduce the topic of being a ghoul and whether Kaneki is a human or a ghoul (cuz the guy can’t live both), and then BAM! we have a little side arc coming along.  Then, they would introduce the issue of ghouls being human-like in terms of how they feel the same things that humans do, and then BAM! let’s have a gang war, guys!  It kinda just ruins the entire theme-building process, if you see what I mean.

Other than that, when the anime does get on track with its themes, it does so with great aplomb.  The show does a great job at getting their wanted point across through the actions of both sides of the spectrum.  You’d be exposed to the dark side of the ghouls AND the dark side of the exterminators; the line between good and evil is really gray-scaled in this show.  Ghouls and humans alike are interspersed in terms of their actions in such a way that you can relate to both sides and still have a hell of a hard time choosing which side’s actions are justifiable.

Really deep stuff.  And they pull it off in a way that makes us want to understand more.  Not too bad.

Characters: 7.8/10

Nothing much can be said about the characters for this show, unfortunately.

First, you have Kaneki Ken, our main protagonist.  Now, Kaneki is arguably the most interesting character in the show, as the themes of self-identity are centered around this half-ghoul.  He is one of the more passive and submissive characters, being rather meek in contrast to other ghouls but, at the same time, having that sense of justice as well.  He doesn’t rush into things (like some characters) but rather he knows his limitations and what he would rather do before doing something, which I found pretty admirable.  His development was rushed a bit, but as it was given an entire episode to build upon, it makes sense and is realistically played out.

The other characters….well……some of them have inconsistencies within their developments and motivations.  Some are kinda pointless and whipped out of nowhere, I feel like, while some are disturbingly realistic what with the lack of motivation (just for the heck of it).  But, otherwise, there are some characters that barely get development and a proper background and some just fall under character tropes that were played out flatly, sooooo there’s that.

Character interactions, however, are played out rather well in this case.  Anteiku is a prime example, as its residents feel more like one big family to me rather than a group of people in a society, and Tokyo Ghoul is able to draw that line between the differences in relationships.  The characters, for the most part, have a visible relationship with each other, as seen in their interactions, which greatly resemble that of a familial system.  Because of this, it makes the characters, as a whole, more interesting to watch than what they might have been on their own.

Animation: 8.4/10

As it was animated by the same studio that brought us action-y stuff, like Bleach and Naruto, you can at least expect the animation for this show to be above average.  And, for the most part, it is, especially during the action scenes.  The show has this mix of bright colors and dark tones at times, which is something I found interesting, as it both matches and contrasts the show’s dark theme (in a good way).  Other than that, the general animation style was pretty good, and I don’t have much complaints aside from the occasional loss of detail….

….and the censorship.

/SIGH

Oh boy.

The censorship.

Now, I know, this isn’t necessarily the production team’s problem, but it had to be mentioned.  I also understand that Funimation is doing the best that they can to provide us with user-friendly anime content, but COME OOOOOOON!  LOOK AT THESE:

Guess what happens in this here photo, ladies and gentlemen!

How about here?

How about this one?  Eh?  Any takers?

/SIGH

Seriously……I would’ve given the animation a ton more points, but this one flaw just had to be mentioned and cannot be overlooked at all.

Sound: 8.2/10

While the soundtrack does a great job in conveying whatever mood is presented in a particular scene, there really isn’t much to say about it.  It had awesome moments on its own, and the music appropriately shifts to whatever mood the story needs.  Whether its a really creepy part or a really action-packed part or a really messed-up part, or even the use of silence throughout some scenes,  the soundtrack does an above-average work of getting us into the heat of the moment.  I’m gonna keep it short and just say that the soundtrack is good, but not much really stands out.  But it does its job well, at least as well as I can remember.

The various sound effects are actually quite worth the short mention.  Each gluttonous crunch and munch of ghouls devouring humans, every sickening crack of bone and tear of flesh, every scream of pain and peril (and believe me, there’s A LOT of pain and peril) are all realistically done and added to the overall scare factor of the show.  There are some scenes where it will be devoid of all kinds of sounds except for the crunching and munching of ghouls, you can even hear the satisfying gulps, and the way they execute those scenes are just masterful.  So kudos to the producers and sfx people.

Now, the opening theme is a different story for a different time, as it is one of the best opening themes that I’ve heard in a long time.  ‘Nuff said.

Enjoyment: 8.3/10

Despite what I said about the show being all dark and gritty and disturbing at times, I believe that it is those factors that made me enjoy the show a lot.  It does an excellent job at grabbing my attention through its premise and reeling it in slowly with theme-exploration, interesting characters (for the most part), and great action sequences.  I loved how they explore the various conflicts within the show, and the way they used such a supernatural concept (ghouls) on a realistic setting (modern-day Japan) to emphasizes those aforementioned themes just greatly appealed to me, and, in my opinion, greatly influenced my love for this show.

Now, the only 2 problems that hindered me from giving this show a higher score was the slight inconsistency in the plot and THE ENDING.

THE.

LAST EPISODE.

You whut mate?

Now, I know that a second season has been green-lit for early next year, but still, it was kind of a pain and a disappointment at the time to find that one of your favorite anime of the season had an inconclusive ending.  I’m glad that Pierrot is still doing another season, but I definitely had to take some marks off from my enjoyment of this show, as ending the anime at that point in the story without any sort of definite sequel (e.g. Code Geass), in the MIDDLE OF THEIR STORY ARC, is just as disturbing as the torture sequences in the show.

Afterword:

Overall, Tokyo Ghoul, while having some problems along its run, was an interesting take on urban fantasy.  It took on some pretty hefty themes and, in my opinion, delivered what questions they want to pose to us quite effectively, despite the various inconsistencies that abound in the plot.

The entire show should’ve actually been a full-length 24-episode series, so that rushing things can be avoided and a potentially better ending could have been made.  Characters are interesting and realistic at the same time, sometimes awfully so that it’s disturbing.  The lack of development for some may be a bit of a bother, but they play out development on such a realistic level that I’m ready to overlook that flaw.

And, finally, the production aspects of it are pretty good, with awesome fight-scenes, dark and gritty color pallet, and gorgeous imagery, along with an appropriate soundtrack and a PERFECT opening theme, sooooooo……..yeah, I don’t have much to say to end this review, really.  Just give this show a spin, and see what you can discover.

Or else……………..I will……………hunt you down…………………..

wherever…………………

………….you………………………..

……….are

I hereby award Tokyo Ghoul with an overall average score of …….80 SHAFT Headtilts???? out of 100.

Tokyo Ghoul is available, at the release of this review, for legal streaming over at Funimation, where all the episodes are available for subscribers and non-subscribers alike, although applying for a subscription to unlock all the latest anime content earlier is always a good thing to do, so please go do that if you wish to do so.