Anime Review: Tokyo Ghoul:re

Common Name: Tokyo Ghoul:re

Alternative Names: Tokyo Ghoul : re

Score: 7/10, 3/5

Length: 12 Episodes

Genre: Action, Drama, Supernatural, Psychological, Horror, Grimdark, Super Powers, Shounen, Military

Summary: Two years after Kaneki Ken's death at the hands to CCG's ace in the hole, Arima Kishou, ghouls still pose a threat to humanity. While the ghouls of Anteiku have effectively gone into hiding, stray ghouls and the members of Aogiri Tree have only grown more bold in their attacks. To challenge these ghouls, the CCG has created a new team of ghoul-hunting Doves that have been effectively turned into artificial one-eyed ghouls, capable of using the same super-powered kagune as the ghouls and the CCG's Quinque weapons. This team of artificial ghouls, known as the Quinx, is still relatively new and inexperienced but their potential is nearly limitless, given the proper guidance. To offer such guidance, the Quinx squad is led by none other than one of Arima's specially trained recruits, Sasaki Haise. While little is known about Haise himself, the boy seems to bear some connection to the deceased Kaneki Ken. So, there is some reasonable concern whether or not this new team will rid the world of ghouls or just become another issue for the CCG to solve.

Review: On the off chance that anyone reading this hasn't watched or read the original Tokyo Ghoul, go do so before you even think about watching this show. In spite of the title, new cast of character, and time skip, this is not a reboot or spin-off series to the original Tokyo Ghoul. It is a sequel that picks up after the events of the original series and is directly influenced by that same story. While I normally wouldn't worry about people jumping into the middle of some stories, this is one of those that will make absolutely no sense and will have zero emotional resonance if you don't recognize the characters from the past. Why am I so sure of this, you may be asking? Simple. Given how much the second season of Ghoul (Root A) made me want to forget the series entirely, as well as the significant period of time between the end of that season and this one, I had entirely forgotten the vast majority of this show's characters. As I started watching Tokyo Ghoul:re, I had to pause occasionally to cautiously search through a wiki just to remind myself who these people were and why they mattered at all. Once that foundation was shored up, however, things started to click for me and it was like I'd never given up on this show in the first place. Still, given the fact that I have watched the original series and only needed to rebuild my fragmented memory of the series, I cannot begin to imagine how nonsensical and jarring this show would be for anyone new.

To be fair, though, there are quite a few moments that don't make much sense, even with context.

So, now that I've firmly stated that none of this will make any sense unless you've been exposed to the prequels of this series, I think I can get on to the actual review of this grimdark, edgy, nonsense series that I like for some reason. Much like the previous Tokyo Ghoul, this series starts off with some light steps into all the insanity this ghoul-infested world has to offer. Rather than starting with the character who mainly runs this show, Sasaki Haise, :re starts off with the show's brand new cast of characters that make up the Quinx Squad. What's most notable about this change of cast is that it opens up our ability to learn about and be sympathetic toward the CCG in a way that wasn't possible in the previous Ghoul seasons, since those were primarily focused on expressing sympathy for the monstrous ghouls. Through the eyes of the selfishly ambitious Urie Kuki; the yankee moron with a heart of gold, Shirazu Ginshi; the quiet and incapable Mutsuki Tooru; and, eventually, the oppai-loli NEET (sorry, but that's literally all there is to her character thus far), Yonebayashi Saiko, we get to learn about the struggles of those in the CCG to further their various interests. Interestingly enough, though, it's worth noting that all these characters bear a certain amount of similarities to Kaneki Ken's situation at the beginning of Tokyo Ghoul. Particularly, while they all chose to become artificial ghouls, they are still forced to walk a fine line between becoming the things they hunt and staying human. On top of that, they are all about as naive and powerless as Ken was initially before he became the notorious "One-Eye." So, on the one hand, we're given a glimpse into this world that wasn't previously possible with a gaggle of new, if fairly basic, cast of characters. On the other hand, the slow introduction to this world paired with characters vaguely similar to one we already know and love makes diving into this show a lot easier for old fans of the series. All in all, this new series does a fairly decent job switching gears between the new and old series to make it easy to digest.

Granted, it's hard not to like this band of awkwardly adorable dorks for their own sake too.

Too bad none of these new characters are a solid enough reason to be interested in this show, or the main reason why anyone picked it up in the first place. Unfortunately, none of the show's new characters are strong enough to carry this show in their own right. So, to give this show a solid reason to get invested with all this new stuff, we're introduced to the struggles of Sasaki Haise, the leader of Quinx Squad and an individual who, for some odd reason, has the Post-Jack version of Kaneki sitting in his head, constantly tempting him to "accept" him. Not to belabor the point, since the conclusion is fairly obvious, I'll just state simply that Haise functionally exists as an existential middle between the warring halves of Kaneki Ken. Like the young, naive, and powerless Kaneki, Haise is just as thoroughly invested in maintaining his human persona and caring for those around him to the point of his own detriment. At the same time, however, he is still very much a ghoul and one that bears a nasty grudge against this world that has given and taken away so much from him. In short, this simply means that Haise is a bit of a mess. He has all this personal investment in those around him and a fear of who or what he might have been in the past, since he has no memories of his life as Kaneki Ken. Yet, at the same time, the ghosts of his past, quite literally, call to him and feed him strength in the interest of slowly bringing his old self back to the surface, rather than existing as this new, false identity Arima made up for him after Kaneki's "death."

Initiate the "Maximum Edge" program with the "Yaoi Untertones" subroutine.

This will definitely go well and make total sense.

Yeah, it all honestly makes no sense and flies so far in the face of actual psychology that this whole situation with Haise vs. Kaneki is nothing short of laughable but compelling in spite of its ridiculousness. Functionally, it works well because Haise exists as a tentative step backward from the character Kaneki used to be, regardless of which continuity his past followed (the manga's or Root A's), and gives us a return to his more human side that was easier to empathize with. At the same time, however, the memories that he lacks make us equally invested in him becoming Kaneki once more since it leaves us so much unfulfilled baggage that we are only reminded of, episode after episode, as Haise runs into the people he used to call friends. His relationship with Touka, in particular, is the most emotional incentive for wanting the old Kaneki return along with that humanity we see in Haise and the old, Pre-Jack Kaneki. So, slowly but surely, the main push of this show is the struggle of Haise learning who he used to be and giving himself over to the ghoul within him. To make that fact all the more poignant and obvious, the amount of black in Haise's hair grows as he comes to accept Kaneki more and more until it is gone entirely, supposedly along with his identity as Sasaki Haise.

The more he gives in to his inner emo, the blacker his soul and appearance become.

Christ whoever thought of that is simultaneously a genius and stupid as hell.

As Haise's inner struggle goes on, however, there is also the outer struggle of fighting the ghoul menace in large-scale conflicts to contend with. This is, of course, where Haise's role as a leader to these fledgling one-eyes comes into play, thus giving us more reason to care about them and their safety--which only puts them in greater peril if I'm going to be totally honest. To encourage his growth and rediscovery of who he used to be, it figures that Haise would be forced to fight a number of battles against ghoul groups that he either knew in the past or individuals he used to care for. While that drama mainly goes on in the background, these same battles often become the proving grounds for Haise's subordinates in the Quinx Squad. Of course, all this really means is that we get to see these new characters clash and win or fail horribly, prompting them to push themselves past their current limits in the standard shounen fashion. Urie, in particular, undergoes a kind of development almost identical to that of the old Kaneki as he seeks the strength to hold his own and eventually see his driving goal through, pointless as that goal might be. With the rest of the Quinx Squad, though, there are varying shades of personality and dive that make their interactions interesting and memorable in spite of how bland and one-note most of them are. But that's the unfortunate truth of the matter. In spite of how often they get screentime or are given motivations that define who they are and why we should care about them, these new characters aren't all that interesting or important in the face of Haise's story and the intrigue of him battling and eventually succumbing to his, very literal, inner demon.

As much good as it does the show at large, the fact that they are one of this show's

only means of comedic relief doesn't help their influence on the plot.

I suppose the point I've been trying to get at this whole review is that Tokyo Ghoul:re is just as much a mess as its true main character. Its tone and message are often jumbled up to the point of being indecipherable at times. The characters, apart from Haise, aren't really all that interesting or engaging. They've got just enough to get them through the show without being a burden, but there's not really much point to them either. The simple fact of the matter is that any or all of these characters could die and I don't think it would affect much change on the story itself. That might change as the series goes on, but as they are in this series alone, I only expected them to be killed off throughout the season and was mildly pleased when that didn't actually happen. As for Haise's story, everything is as action-packed and compelling as you'd expect from this franchise and, for better and worse, it hasn't lost its edge. The animation and art are all pretty stellar, barring some of the standard issues of a fluctuating budget during the more low-key scenes. The music, both new and old, are used effectively to build the appropriate levels of stress and hype in each scene. So, all in all, I'm inclined to say that Tokyo Ghoul:re is actually good in spite of everything and does what it set out to do with only a few, minor hiccups along the way.

#Review #Action #Drama #Supernatural #Psychological #Horror #Grimdark #SuperPowers #Shounen #Military