Tokyo Ghoul √A Episode 7 東京喰種√A Anime Review

loneliness & love

Finally some Tsukiyama screen time! that scene where he was like snipping all over that napkin having Kaneki's bloodstains, pretty much showing us the flashback about his 'love story' with Kaneki, that was so very funny. I really love his character, the way we walks in at Anteiku and the classy music being played in the background, it won me over. Hell I hope he gets his own spin-off series like seriously!

Anyway jokes aside, this episodes explains us as to why Kaneki has that centipede-mode. As Tsukiyama mentions and something which is also shown during that flashback fight scene from ghoul isolation chamber, Kaneki has been practicing serious cannibalism to turn himself into a full kakuja and thus using it's powers to protect people at Anteiku etc. And by doing so he's mentally breaking down and going crazy. As I've mentioned in my previous review, this season has pretty much axed his character as even during this scene there were not as many dialogues and inner monologues that the manga had and that's something I really loved about the manga, cause it really helped to understand his complex and tragic character in a better way. Still he had just one deep meaningful dialogue in which he states that it's not he who's eating the ghouls but he's the one who is being eaten and that really makes sense as his cannibalism practice is breaking him down mentally and also eating up all of his sanity.

Moving on, this episode had a many subtle build up on two central themes of this series, loneliness and love. Like at the start of the episode, Kaneki was shown sitting alone and later, how Hinami and Touka were very lonely as they both love Kaneki but they can't express their love as he's not around. So a very deep emotional episode showing us how Hinami and Touka interact and are trying to accept the loneliness especially that scene where Touka meets Kaneki on that bridge. If you pay close attention to that scene, Kaneki holds his chin while saying how that he doesn't want Touka and other to be lonely and pretty much trying to be self righteous, now if you remember what Hide said, whenever he's lying or hiding something he holds his chin and that's exactly the case here. Kaneki's actions completely contradicts to what he said something that even Touka gets as he just cares about himself, like he's fine as long as he's not alone and that smile at the end of this scene pretty much justifies it. So there can be a lot of different meanings that you can take from this episode and this scene in particular.

Sen Takatsuki, that author, visits the CCG's head office in order to get some data regarding ghouls for her new book but at the same time gives out rumors to Shinohara about Anteiku and so we can assume because of what she told them, Shinohara and Suzuya visited the cafe. When Shinohara meets the manager, he's like, do I know you? and I won't spoil anything but if you've been paying close attention to some key scenes throughout this series you would know what that dialogue and scene really meant. Overall, a great episode with lot of set up, pretty much as that calm before the storm vibe to it. The music, I know I've been saying this since the start of the series but damn, it's just beautiful. Thank you for reading this anime review, what do you think about this episode?  let me know in the comments below and have a wonderful day or night wherever you live! Links to this episode are available in download section.

Tokyo Ghoul √A Episode 6 東京喰種√A Anime Review

Akira & Amon

Hello everyone! I was really glad to see Shinohara alive and well as it was revealed that Kaneki was actually eating Shinohara's Arata and not his flesh. We also get to see the back story of Shuzuya as to why he has that psychotic nature and heart bonding scene of Akira and Amon.

Basically Shuzuya was like a scraper who would kill other humans for viewers or ghoul's pleasure pretty much similar to that monster Kaneki had to face in previous season's gourmet arc. While doing so, not only his physical abilities improved but he also lost all his morality and got detached from human society not to mention all the tortures his Big Madame did on him. There were a lot of censors during this scene but for those who didn't get that one particular scene where Big madame uses those piers on him which causes him to scream and his eyes dilates, basically Big Madame crushes his balls. Yep that's screwed up so anyway moving on, Shinohara pretty much took him under his wings as he described him as a victim who had to change under circumstances. 

Also Touka is shown preparing for her exams and trying her best to not to think about all the buzz going around about 23rd ward and ghouls. So coming towards my favorite scene, It was revealed that the Owl killed Akira's mother or Mado's wife and ever since then, it was Mado's aim to avenge her death. Akira on the other worked hard to so that she could grow up and help her father but then her father was killed and she pretty much blamed it all on Amon as he was not by his side when he needed him the most. And Amon accepted it which shows the maturity of his character. I really loved this whole heart bonding scene, I mean we all knew that she had some kind of hatred towards him and so it was nice they finally showed what it was. The soundtrack they used in this scene was beautiful. Oh and that grumpy cat who welcomed them, that was really funny.

Besides that we are shown that Kankei is pretty much breaking down like he can't control his half kakuja and all but again, it's really sad they haven't been showing a lot about him lately, they are completely ripping off his inner monologue and stuff and I really hope they show all his flashbacks cause for anime only watchers it's just like a character who can't control his powers but there's a lot more to it which they've been skipping and it's really starting to make us feel disconnected from him. Towards the end of the episode we are shown that CCG are mobilizing and preparing for mission, Owl extermination. So overall, a good episode, it had a lot of character developments like that of Shuzuya and Akira both of which were executed superbly with excellent soundtracks. And that ending credits, beautiful. Thank you for reading this anime review, what do you think about this episode? let me know in the comments below and have a wonderful day or night wherever you live! Links to this episode are available in download section.

Tokyo Ghoul √A Episode 5 東京喰種√A Anime Review

the One-eyed owl?

Wow, speechless. This episode was probably the best episode of this season so far in my opinion like straight out 10/10 and no, this is not fanboying all over the place, this is serious. One-eyed owl? Holy shit, like anime only viewers might wonder what I mean but for those who have read the manga know that this is way to early for that ghoul to show up! Before I get into that, lets discuss some other stuff we got to see in this incredible episode. We were shown a glimpse of Nashiro, Kurono and Suzuya's past during their ghoul-academy days. If there is one thing that has not changed in all these years is Suzuya's psychotic nature in fact this episode just helped to showcase it even more. His ideology about how he didn't care when one of their friends died back then was shocking. There's also a really sad and sentimental scene in which both the twins hold hands as Suzuya beats the crap out of them only to get sliced by him I suppose, I don't know, they blurred a lot of stuff during their whole fight. As those Twins escape and stop to catch a breather, Amon with struggling Akira catches them resting. Amon vividly remembers who these twins are and is shocked to see them turn into ghouls. 

Besides that we are also shown another really sad and tragic flashback during Shinohara and Ayato's fight in which Shinohara is shown having the upper hand, as Ayato runs out of energy, he just lays his fist on Shinohara's armor, the Arata which as we know is made from Ayato and Touka's Father. He remembers his dad telling a story to him and Touka back when they were kids, the symbolism in that story and the relation he had with his father is really striking as he never got as close as he had wished for with his father. Interesting to note how Shinohara mentions that his Arata was acting sluggish, pointing out that even though Ayato's father is dead but some of his memories are still passed on. After Ayato pretty much passes out, Centipede-chan comes out of nowhere, I've got to say, that entry was bad-ass. He's fast like way faster than even Shachi, speaking of Shachi, where is he? Anyway coming back to the point, Centipede-chan! Shinohara mentions that this form of ghoul is likely a half Kakuja and is the craziest ghoul he has ever seen. 

Shortly after their encounter in which Kaneki pretty much hurts Shinohara to an extend where he is unable to fight, CRC gas is released that suppresses the regeneration of Kagune or RC cells, and then things get ugly, off course in a good way. Amon, with Akira comes to the scene and watches "eye-patch" eating Shinohara's Arata. Fumed with anger like never seen before, Amon rushes all out on Kaneki and slices Kaneki's Kagune one by one as they fail to regenerate due to the gas present all over the place. Amon asks him that why he didn't kill him back then and says that the fact that he was eating just proves he is just like other ghouls. This is when Kaneki comes back to his senses. I really think that both Amon and Kankei are the only two characters who want to establish a coexistence between both Ghouls and humans, I mean Amon could have easily killed off Kaneki but instead he kept asking him questions thus proving they share similar goals.

Right towards the end, the One-eyed owl appears out of nowhere with the big claws of his and rescues both Ayato and Kaneki. Akira realized who the ghoul was pretty quickly, there's more to it which I suppose will be revealed in the future. Honestly, I was blown away when I saw one-eyed owl cause I didn't expect that to happen in this episode. One thing I've noticed in this season so far is that not a lot of focus is given on Kaneki's development, like he hardly has any screen time except for this episode and cause of this, it kinda feels like we are getting disconnected from him or is it done deliberately? I mean, anime only watcher might be wondering what this "centipede mode" is all about and would probably come to the conclusion that its a super form of a ghoul or something but trust me there's a lot more than what meets the eye and I hope they reveal all of it soon. Overall, a superb episode, Almost all build-up leading up this episode was executed superbly. The tone and atmosphere that the music created was superb, the tragic slow type music really suits this series. animation for the fight scenes was top notch as well. Thank you for reading this anime review, have a wonderful day or night wherever you live! Links to this episode are available in download section. Thoughts? let me know in the comments below.

Tokyo Ghoul √A Episode 4 東京喰種√A Anime Review

CENTIPEDE-CHAN

After watching this episode, the previous episode in comparison definitely had that "calm before the storm" vibe to it. But I'm not surprised to see all the action we got in this episode, rather it is the excellent execution the stood out. If its really true that Ishida-Sensei is actually directing this season unlike the previous one, then hats off to him so far, brilliant job.

The whole focus of this episode was based on the Aogiri tree attacking the Cochlea as mentioned in my previous review. At the start this episode Yoshitoki, the Bureau Director of CCG's main office is revealed to have decided to return to front-line under chairman's order. Besides that we are given Amon's sad back-story. He was an orphan at an orphanage ran by Donata Porpora, a ghoul and Donata basically ate most of the orphans but for some strange reason left out Amon, shocked, when he found out the truth. I really wonder why he let Amon live which is something that even Amon is shown wondering about till date. During Donata's brief stare down with Akira, he says that she looks tastier unlike her father possibly pointing out that Mado and he encountered in the past. 

So moving back to the main topic, Aogiri attacking the Cochlea. A complete massacre, like dead bodies flying everywhere, some of those are of Aogiri Tree's members but most are of humans. That scene where Tatara just throws away one of the ghoul investigator after killing him was plain badass, we don't know a lot about him, sure looks interesting. We also get to see Amon and Akira teaming up to kill all those ghouls who are released, while doing so they encounter the emotionally unstable, Naki. He looked like had the upperhand fighting against Akira while Amon was busy fighting other members but then Akira pulls off another quinque which stabs right through Naki's torso. In the end he gets to eat a part of Akira's leg before he's sent flying away by Amon, interesting build up between Amon and Akira here. Nashiro and Kurona are also inside Cochlea in search for their "brother" Kaneki when they encounter Suzuya who from what it looks pretty much know who these twins are but kinda surprised to see them turn into ghouls, does that mean they were humans like Kaneki before and were turned into ghoul artificially?

We have two more encounters in this episode, firstly Ayato encounters Shinohara, a really interesting point is laid out us in this scene. Shinohara's Arata or that special quinque that covers the body like a armor is made from Ayato and Touka's father! if I remember correctly but that's something which is not mentioned in the manga. Whoa, I mean we know the ghoul from which this was made from was once one of the strongest ghouls out there and that ghoul was their father? Shocking. Now, the second awesome encounter shown in this episode was between Kaneki and Shachi. Apparently Kankei came here to rescue him but he pretty much turned on him. We don't know much about Shachi, all we know is that he knows Rize and he's quick like super fast. During their awesome fight in which he pretty much out classed Kaneki and threw him far away, crashing through walls, Eto, outta nowhere comes there and asks Shachi if he wants to see Rize, what does that mean exactly? Is she referring to Kaneki or is Rize alive and captured by Aogiri tree? So many questions! 

Coming towards the end of this review, we finally get to see Kaneki turn into his Centipede-Chan mode! After Shachi throws him away, he is shown lying there in despair of his weakness and inability to protect Hide, Touka etc, so in order to overcome that, he turns into centipede mode. Though we only got a glimpse of it, I was fanboying all over the place. Hype, pure hype for the next episode, can't wait! Good episode overall, really digging the beautiful artwork of the ending credits. Another thought came to mind after watching this episode, what do CCG feed these ghouls prisoners in Cochlea? What do you think? let me know in the comments below. Thank you for reading this anime review, have a wonderful day or night wherever you live! Links to this episode are available in download section. 

Tokyo Ghoul √A Episode 3 東京喰種√A Anime Review

THE SYMBOLISM 

Before I dive into this episode, I would like add something that I forgot to mention in my last review. As we all know, this whole season is set in an alternate universe or based on original manuscripts of Ishia'-Sensei but, (Don't worry, no spoilers ahead) some parts are exactly similar to the manga. For instance the way Akira is introduced to us etc so it's gonna be really interesting to see how much of such similarity this season will have to the manga and will the ending be same as well? 

So with that off my chest, lets move on to the actual episode. What a big story progression we had in this episode like whoa! Still it didn't feel like it was rushed at all, that's a sign of good directing. Like I predicted in the last episode, Kaneki along with his fellow Aogiri members were going to ambush those police vehicles to rescue some ghoul, and it was Naki, Jason's right hand man. A quick note before I go any further, all my Tokyo Ghoul √A reviews will be completely based on this season's point of view and not the manga to avoid anyone getting spoiled who have yet to read that masterpiece. Naki is shown as someone who was very deeply attached to Jason and his death has just made him an emotional wreck. As Aogiri tree ambush those vehicles, Kaneki along with Ayato rescue Naki. Suddenly, Kurano and Nashiro attack Kankei from what looked like something just to check his abilities. As revealed in their very short appearance in this episode, they're both one-eyed ghouls like Kaneki. Later Hinami is shown going alone to the Takatsuki's book signing oppose to what actually was planned. Touka and Hinami were to suppose to go together but from what it look like, Hinami is trying to become independent. Later Nishio takes Touka to Kimi university so that she could have a look at it as she is going to apply for it. This is where Touka meets Hide, who was taking down all Kaneki's wanted posters.

Symbolism is one of the best things about this season, from the snow fall that took place in the first episode symbolising loneliness and so on. In this episode Hide tells that Kaneki once took part in a play and had a main character role and he was superb in it. He reveals that when Kaneki is lying or hiding something, he puts his hand under his chin as shown in this pic, remember this, trust me. Hinami meets Takatsuki during the book signing where she is getting her autograph on one of her books as a present for Kaneki. Takatsuki seems really interested in Kaneki from how she reacted in this scene. Strikingly similar to how Eto was, really interesting. 


Moving on, Takizawa is shown talking to Hide about this Ghoul prison called Cochlea, a isolation chamber for S and SS rated ghouls. Also an interesting note that there used to be more of such groups like Aogiri in the past. They are soon interrupted by Akira who by the looks of it had some intuition about Hide. Other than that Shuzuya gets her new quinque made from Jason at Ghoul research facility. Later we get to see Naki again, going all crazy and crying over Jason's death, trying to write Yamori with crayons but he could't. That's when Kaneki helps him and shows him how to write it. He later thanks Kaneki by saying "You're a good guy", oh the irony here. 

Just when I thought we haven't seen Tsukiyama lately he appears outta nowhere disguised as one of the Aogiri members who were discussing a rumor about Kaneki being an cannibal. Tsukiyama always wanted to eat Kaneki and now that he is a cannibal, Kaneki has even more ''flavour'' and is ''spicier'', basically he can't wait to eat him. Banjo and his group are also present with Tsukiyama and it looks like they're searching for Kaneki or trying to get some info related to him. Coming towards the end of this episode, it is shown that CCG have come to an conclusion that one of their targets ''Eye-patch'' is somehow related to that incident that took place a couple of months back where some organs from the girl who died in that accident were transplanted into him without his consent and both that boy and the doctor who performed that operation are missing. 


Symbolism strikes yet again after that scene. Touka tells Hinami at the start of this episode that not to discuss anything about Kaneki as he is no longer a part of Anteiku knowing how deeply Hinami is attached to him. Now this is the best part, this is entirely my point of view and I can be wrong, she says he doesn't fit to be a star of the play as Hide told her before maybe because as we all know Kaneki's whole life up till now has been constantly filled with pain and tragedy. I don't know if I'm correct but this really is sad to see how things turn up for Kaneki. Before the awesome credits' video hits (which again has beautiful new sketches) we are shown that Kaneki and Ayato staring over the Cochlea, that ghoul isolation chamber, in what looks like another ghoul rescue mission. Amazing episode, I'm really starting to like this plot more than the manga's plot! This episode didn't feel like a 24 min episode at all not to mention that superb background music. Thank you for reading this anime review, have a wonderful day or night wherever you live! Links to this episode are available in download section. Thoughts? let me know in the comments below.

Tokyo Ghoul √A Episode 2 東京喰種√A Anime Review

The build-up begins 

So, this week's episode starts off by giving us a glimpse of Arima, one of the best (if not the best) investigator of CCG in the very first Owl extermination that took place 10 years ago. As for anyone who read the manga knows that Arima plays a vital role in future so this build up around his character will probably go on for few more episodes to come. Shinohara and Iwao are shown discussing the possibility that The Owl they encountered recently might be different from the one they encountered 10 years ago due to size difference. Besides that the cafe is shown reopening after being shut for while when everyone was in search for Kaneki. 

Moving on to the CCG meeting that took place, they've decided to wipe out Aogiri Tree as expected. We are also  introduced to Mado's daughter, Akira for the first time, who now is appointed as the partner of Amon. Besides the whole jealousy of Takizawa and his fight to prove Akira wrong (In which he failed miserably), there's also development shown between Amon and Akira (a little funny though). It'll be interesting to see if it'll be same as the manga or different. At the end of episode, Aogiri Tree's members along with Ayato and Kaneki are shown going after some police vehicles, possibly to rescue a ghoul who is in one of the vehicle while Kurona & Nashiro are lurking from above, watching Kaneki. Just before the Ending credits we are also shown Eto unwrapping those tapes and from what it looked like, showing some interest in Kaneki. I wonder whats going on there.

Overall a good episode, a lot of set up is in process and we'll probably get all the answers in next episode as to why Aogiri Tree were about to ambush those police vehicles and so on. One side note, the OST, it was amazing! The background music during the Cafe's reopening and when Amon visited Mado's grave were superb, not to mention the song during that whole Aogiri scene.

I was also surprised to see a different ending credit's video, the music was same but the sketches were different from last episode. From what I've heard is that these sketches are actually made by Ishida himself! I wonder if we'll get to see such new sketches in all episodes cause they're really beautiful. Thank you for reading this anime review, have a wonderful day or night wherever you live! Thoughts? let me know in the comments below.

Tokyo Ghoul √A Episode 1 東京喰種√A Anime Review

Alternate setting done right

Tokyo Ghoul's popularity increased dramatically last year after it's anime started airing. By the time the 12 episodes were aired and all the dust settled, there were 3 kinds of people. Those who have only seen the anime and liked it, the ones who had read the manga prior to Anime and just plain hated it and criticized it for skipping a lot of stuff and then those who had read the manga and liked the anime as well. I was one of those who belonged to that third category. And so after the rumors were clarified and official season 2 was announced, I was over the moon at the time but somewhat came down to Earth on realizing it was based on "original manuscript" and that it won't follow the manga. 

Beautiful

Diving right into the anime now, I've read the complete manga of Tokyo Ghoul and the first volume of Tokyo Ghoul :re so I knew what kind of twist I was going to expect after reading some wild rumors of  what happened from those who saw the first episode in early screenings. It has a new opening song and pretty much everyone I know pretty much hated it but still, I liked it for some reason. The story progression may feel rushed at times for example when Suzuya is dragging a body of someone. Most people wont get it but for those who read the manga pretty much knows that Suzuya found Jason lying helplessly after Kaneki defeated him and somewhat ate him but didn't kill him. He attached Suzuya and well Suzuya killed him pretty quickly. Anyway moving on, they skipped one of my favorite Kaneki's scene where he "half kills" Ayato as well but what surprised me was Hide was actually watching or saw Kaneki from far away with his binoculars which doesn't happen in the Manga. 

New Family

The OST is superb, the ending song is good as well but I for one think that the previous OP and ending song were way better. The biggest possible twist is Kaneki joining Aogiri Tree, again completely different from manga. A lot of new characters like Kurona, Nashiro, Eto etc are introduced for the first time as well. Overall a lot of set up was done in this episode and there are a lot of scenes in this episodes which contradicts the manga but they so in good way keeping the story interesting for both, those who have read the manga and want something different and for those who only saw the anime. A Really good first episode for the series which is hyped so heavily. Interested to see how the story develops from now on. Thank you for reading this anime review, have a wonderful day or night wherever you live! Thoughts? let me know in the comments below.