***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Tokyo Ghoul. Reader discretion is advised.***
Series Synopsis
There’s a war in the world. Humanity fears and lives alongside creatures known as ghouls. Feeding off humans, the public sees ghouls as dangerous and hunts them down.
All this is an afterthought to Ken Kaneki (voiced by Natsuki Hanae). He wants to do is get the attention of the girl he likes. To his delight, Kaneki manages to go on his dream date. Unfortunately, it was at a steep price.
Kaneki’s crush turned out to be a ghoul and the encounter almost cost him his life. He is only saved when a suspicious accident killed the ghoul. That and a less than legal medical operation.
To save him, some of the ghoul's organs were given to Kaneki. Because of this, he gained strength, speed, and stamina. And to his horror, the unquenchable craving for human flesh.
As a rare half-breed, Kaneki doesn't feel accepted in either the ghoul or the human world. The stress of subduing his desire to feed and keeping his identity secret weighs on his mind. It’s only a matter of time before it breaks.
Series Positives
I asked and the answer couldn’t have been clearer. Of the five candidates for this 200th review, Tokyo Ghoul won with a resounding majority. It destroyed Full Metal Alchemist, which I had picked as the favorite. It goes without saying, my excitement peaked.
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| Kaneki |
As this is review number 200 it can’t just be a single entry. I’ll be taking a look at both seasons of Tokyo Ghoul. They’ll be separate posts and this one’s focusing only on the first.
With that, I enjoyed Tokyo Ghoul a lot. There are plenty of positives to say about it. Yet, I doubt it would even break my top twenty.
After my viewing, I understand why many people like this show. It was good. Scratch that, it was fantastic. Perhaps overhyped, but it was still great. For the majority of this series, I didn’t see why it won my poll by such a huge margin.
The Animation
Holy crap, this show’s stunning.
Tokyo Ghoul proves that a dark story doesn’t have to be void of color. Everything is bright. Everything is vivid.
The visuals add so much to this series. Every minute, every second was candy for the eyes. It didn’t matter if it was a slow-paced development scene or a high-energy fight. That said, it was during the fights were the animation shined the brightest.
Pick one, any one. The fights in this show were awesome. They never failed to deliver.
One of my favorites was a throw down between Toka Kirishima (voiced by Sora Amamiya) and a ghoul known as the Gourmet (voiced by Mamoru Miyano). Now the Gourmet was a bit of a smug prick. Toka, on the other hand, is one of the best characters of the season.
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| Toka |
Every ghoul could manifest something known as a Kagune. This was a specialized combat and defense weapon which made it difficult to take down a ghoul. All the ones seen in the show were cool and brought with them a hefty dose of destruction. Toka’s was not only bad ass, it was gorgeous.
It was like a fire mixed with the colors of the sunset. It would f@#$ you up, but damn it was memorizing. Toka didn’t have much in the way of a sense of humor. She was prone to take things to the extreme if necessary. She had no qualms about killing someone and it would be impossible to mistake her intent.
During her fight with the Gourmet, Toka was ready to take out a witness. This character, I’m sure, was terrified. Yet, there was no incentive to run. If I were in that position, I would accept my fate in that moment. And I would be going out after seeing one of the most beautiful sights I could imagine.
Plus, the music compliment the animation to a tee. I’m now on the official hunt for this soundtrack.
Development
I’m impressed by how much was able to happen in such a short amount of time.
What makes it more of a marvel, Tokyo Ghoul was never in a rush. It took its time. We got to know all the main characters. Though I feel more will get explored in the second season, we got a pretty good glimpse into what made people tick. Because the series did this, it made every development feel more personal.
We got to see these characters at their lowest points. And often we got to see how they got there. No one had it easy. It didn’t matter who they were. First, there was Kaneki who had to accept his life being completely upended. Then there was Toka who was struggling with her own dark demons.
There were more, but the one who twisted my heart out was Hinami Fueguchi (voiced Sumire Morohoshi). Oh, the poor sweet baby.
There were more, but the one who twisted my heart out was Hinami Fueguchi (voiced Sumire Morohoshi). Oh, the poor sweet baby.
The things that happened to her. They were effective, don’t get me wrong. But f@#$ the story for doing it none the less. It was hard to watch. There were a few tears in my eyes, I’m not going to lie.
This attachment wouldn’t have been this strong had the story rushed her development. And it didn’t abandon her either. Yeah, what happened to Hinami sucked, but it had a purpose. We got to see her carry the weight and still move forward. The memory of what happened wasn’t downplayed. It wasn’t forgotten. It was something she had to deal with.
And it wasn’t just Hinami. It was all the lead characters and quite a few of the minor ones too. Even when the show took a few liberties, you were still able to connect with everyone.
Episode Twelve *Spoilers*
Look, I’m either going to have to pussyfoot around it here or get forced to talk about it in the next post. The final episode of this season was amazing.
It was at this point where I, at last, got it. This is why the series did so well in my polling. At last, we got to see Kaneki accept his ghoul form. Before this, there were a few hints (and a s@#$ ton of fan art online) pointing to how awesome this was going to be.
It was cool to see Kaneki at last say f@#$ it. Getting to that level, though, that was the ride. I don’t blame him for giving up. His mind shattered. Kaneki had been doing a good job fighting off his urges. Yeah, he may have been a tad on the whiny side. But it wasn’t without reason. He tried to be a bridge for humans and ghouls.
And that bridge burned.
I’m of two minds of the final shot. On one hand, it left a lot up in the air. How far gone did Kaneki actually go? Leaving it up to the viewers imagination is a bit more terrifying. And I respect that.
On the other hand, I want to see more of this version of Kaneki. I am sold on season two. My expectations are high. That’s maybe a little unfair, but that’s what’s happening.
Series Negatives
A series getting hyped, is not a fault of a series. It’s just a thing that happens. Though it can lead to disappointment, that’s not on a show.
I’m also not saying I felt disappointed with Tokyo Ghoul. Not by a long shot. I enjoyed this one a lot.
Yet, I did notice a few things. That and people put this series in a higher regard than it might otherwise deserve. Where’s this going? I best get to the point soon because I assume I’m pissing more and more people off the more I ramble.
Slow Burn
This was an unfortunate side effect of a series doing two things well but not making them compatible.
Tokyo Ghoul has great development. Tokyo Ghoul has great action. To get know characters to level done in this show, it had to spend time getting to know them. To be as epic as this series got, it had to go big and get creative. One was well fed fire and the other was a firework.
Both were great and it’s hard for them to coexist. Character development will last a long time and make a series worth talking about. Bad ass action will get your attention. How do you pace them? How do you balance both so they are as effective as possible?
It's a difficult question and Tokyo Ghoul didn’t answer it. The fights were so epic that you wanted to see as many as possible. Yet, the character development was so meticulous it dragged in comparison. I lost count how many times some gave a speech before finally throwing a punch. It felt like stalling. You knew where a scene was leading so you wanted it to just get to the point.
The worst of this came during a faceoff between Toka and Investigator Kureo Mado (voiced by Yo Oizumi). These two were never going to see eye to eye. The show needed to stop beating that point and get on with it.
It also didn’t help that Kaneki was doing a similar back and forth with Investigator Kotaro Amon (voiced by Katsuyuki Konishi). We had to see both play out for before they got resolved.
This sucked too because these weren't bad scenes. They had a point. They weren’t irrelevant. And I would almost look the other way.
Except, the introduction to the final arc was so rushed. Kaneki was kidnapped. That came out of nowhere. Yes, this led to that great final episode. But you really wanted to get to that final episode didn’t you show?
I do see a silver lining. I assume the majority of the main character backgrounds are now covered. The second season should therefore not have to worry so much about it. We’ll find out soon, won’t we?
Final Thoughts
Of course, I recommend Tokyo Ghoul.
It’s great. The story’s interesting. The characters are meaningful. The visuals are beautiful. The action is amazing. It’s an all-around package. Yeah, I gave some negatives. Yet they were born out of two positives. I’m not that peeved about the small number of faults in this show.
This brings us to the end of part one of the 200th review special. We'll be finishing it off on November 18th with the series' second season, Tokyo Ghoul √A.
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Others in the Tokyo Ghoul Series
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