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EP. REVIEW: Tokyo Ghoul √A


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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 2:18 pm Reply with quote
I have somewhat mixed thoughts so far on this season. spoiler[It seems to be going with anime original route including the fact that Kaneki joins Aogiri Tree.] And not only that, I wonder what other major changes will occur. Not much else to say right now since the season is just starting but I'm hoping it will be memorable.

New ED song is definitely memorable though imo but I'm not a fan of the new OP song.
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Hobbiton Guard



Joined: 05 Jan 2013
Posts: 62
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 2:49 pm Reply with quote
I'm really impressed with the pacing of this new season so far. The first one was a pleasant surprise, but now that I'm on the hype-train, I'm really glad to see that it's maintaining a high, if not higher, level of quality.

Alongside Yona of the Dawn, Studio Pierrot is really showing that they can make gorgeous anime when they want to.

Also, I love the symbolism in the animation for the new opening. Rize's hands putting the mask on and, as many assume, Touka's hands taking the mask off hint at so much of Kaneki's development. It's really cool.

And its anime original, which definitely makes me interested to see how it will go - since it now has the original author making a new arc to finish the series off.
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Kreion



Joined: 02 Jan 2013
Posts: 332
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 2:56 pm Reply with quote
Hobbiton Guard wrote:
I'm really impressed with the pacing of this new season so far. The first one was a pleasant surprise, but now that I'm on the hype-train, I'm really glad to see that it's maintaining a high, if not higher, level of quality.

Alongside Yona of the Dawn, Studio Pierrot is really showing that they can make gorgeous anime when they want to.

Also, I love the symbolism in the animation for the new opening. Rize's hands putting the mask on and, as many assume, Touka's hands taking the mask off hint at so much of Kaneki's development. It's really cool.

And its anime original, which definitely makes me interested to see how it will go - since it now has the original author making a new arc to finish the series off.


The pacing in the first season was awful - even if I hadn't read the series beforehand I would havethought the entire thing was too rushed. It's less methodical and more 'shove everything in your face and show you violence' which is why it's such a mess.

The OP is pretty poor too imo - sure it's symbolic but this is all symbolism we've seen a million times before in the manga AND anime. there's so little animation in the opening that it's just boring, the art is nice but that can't justify 1:30 of a picture slightly changing...it's only got slightly more animation than the ED and that's a scrolling picture.

It's not surprising Ishida Sui had to come in and fix their mess...I mean at least this means Route A will be more of the TG universe outside of the 'cannon' or main timeline which means it can actually be enjoyable to those who read the series. I'm happy in that regard as the first season was so enjoyable BECAUSE of that, and all the ridiculous censoring.
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justsomeaccount



Joined: 24 Oct 2014
Posts: 471
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 4:33 pm Reply with quote
I also think the first season was too rushed (and not that much in terms of pacing as it is the scenes felt incomplete, and I've not seen the manga), and I was thinking "maybe this being an original story for the anime is adapted to that medium, scenes' purpose included". And so far, this one is like that, in fact surprisingly calm, which some people could find now too slow or stretched, but for me I'm relief, I can be invested into the scenes and the mood! Yey~! I hope though the whole show is not like that because we only have 10 episodes left, but you can take a breath show to set up characterization, that's neat~

The downside for me, which I already saw hints in the previous season, is the insane number of characters, like tremendous. We have Aogiri (Kaneki, that misterious girl, Touka's brother and the Owl), Anteiku (Touka, Nishio, the oldman, Hinami, those three ghoul friends, etc.), Shuu, the other gay stereotype with other mate, the CCG (Amon, Mado's daughter, Mado's daughter's old classmate, the albin child, those... 3, 4 important bosses with other 4 bosses more?), Hide, two twins, and probably more that I'm missing. And I know some of them are not going to have that much importance or complexity and they are simple, but not so many that it looks suitable to treat and develop them all in only 10 episodes. I hope it does, but I'm a little concerned.
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chrysanths



Joined: 16 Jan 2015
Posts: 7
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 6:52 pm Reply with quote
Kreion wrote:
It's not surprising Ishida Sui had to come in and fix their mess...
This is a common misconception.

In his comment regarding Root A in Young Jump, Ishida Sui stated that he finished its name (draft) sometime in the middle of July. So the first season had only barely just begun. He couldn't possibly have drawn a one hundred page draft in the three month gap between season 1 and season 2 in addition to the manga and promotions he needed to do for Tokyo Ghoul:re. The man may be hardworking, but he's not a miracle-worker.

I suspect that Ishida Sui is quite happy with the anime. Besides a minor quibble about Arima's hair mistakenly being colored blue in the first season's PV (which he mentions in his illustration book, zakki), he's displayed no discontent. If you take a look at everything he's written about the anime, he appears very grateful, especially so towards Morita. He thanks him (in overly wrought Japanese, no less) for accepting his "unreasonable proposal" - which, in this case, probably meant adapting his original storyline that he hadn't even started/finished drawing yet.

TL;DR: Ishida Sui has had an original second season in mind for a long time, and he was fully aware of the pace the anime had to move at and the cuts it had to make in order to reach it.

More original content by him is always nice, since I think he's quite capable for a young, first-time mangaka. And all of the setup this episode... Cool
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Hameyadea



Joined: 23 Jun 2014
Posts: 3679
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 7:15 pm Reply with quote
Although I only watched the anime, I can understand the statements about pacing in season 1 - the last 4 episode felt like being on an express train, and that made the end of season 1 (and by extension the first episode of season 2) a bit disorienting. However, episode 2 felt more coherent and slow paced, which helped the overall flow of the episode IMO.

Last edited by Hameyadea on Mon Jan 19, 2015 5:50 pm; edited 1 time in total
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residentgrigo



Joined: 23 Dec 2007
Posts: 2404
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 2:18 pm Reply with quote
Don´t worry Hope i don´t plan to annoy you this season and am probably done with TG the anime/Pierrot again but i want to promote the superior manga as the second season could not improve in my eyes even if things changed a bit. So here is my spoiler-free MU(and soon amazon when the manga finally leaves japan) review for the complete first TG Series:

Itchy tasty(8,5/10)
The series is firstly very good, employs a unique art style, has characters one can get behind and a steadily developing world. I also find the handling of gore (a bit like a french album) and minimal nudity interesting. Tons of messed up but always justified acts of violence happen to everyone (none are safe) but here is the kicker.
The actual "gore" aspect is just out frame most of the time but instead we get to see detailed and agony filled close-ups of the victims and perpetrators faces or reaction shots from onlookers. Ah so many feels.
I may love justified gore as much as any true seinen connoisseur to clarify but restrain is a lost art and Sui knows that language well. Best of all nearly everything has lasting consequences from deaths that stick to lasting darkness just under the smiles of the leads. There is further a lot of grey morality going on and the villains and anti-heroes all feel justified in their own way. A bit like the classic 10/10 Akira. The narrative itself starts of with a bang but settles down in a decent for a lack of words "shonen"grove (the series first small flaw) but then something Big happens around the middle, the series then gets a slight kick in the pants and kicks into high gear.
I am not talking about an increase of action scenes by the way. A bit like Attack on Titan (8/10). Not much time is wasted thereafter and now to the second and final flaw.
Most heroic characters are a bit too innocent or "clean" for lack of a better term to fit into their wolrd or even ours. I don´t need a sex + drugs orgys by any means but it would be nice if the all the rather cute shipping would lead to more then longing stares for example.
So no real flaws at all and my rating could go up a bit if the story stays strong.
By that i meat the fact that RE isn´t a standalone sequel and more like a volume 15 (just like the pointless US-comics renumbering) but the short spinoff Jack is sadly a skip worth 5/10 mess. The same applies to the sadly rushed and changed anime adaptation.
The happier parts of the manga remind me of Angel Densetsu (10/10), the action scenes and restraint of the highly heroic Claymore (8,5/10), the darker parts of Parasyte(10/10) and why not try the king of seinen Berserk (10/10) if you are at it. Sui´s latest work "The Penisman" (8/10) lastly proves that he isn´t a one trick pony as it is a sex comedy about cannibalism amongst other topics. Hm.

Review over: The current arc in TG: RE is about a Ghoul prostitute who castrates her customers and eats their junk. Do i have your attention now? So don´t give up on TG when in doubt and just change the medium Wink.


Last edited by residentgrigo on Mon Apr 20, 2015 1:21 pm; edited 3 times in total
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BWLJ



Joined: 11 Jul 2014
Posts: 27
PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 1:07 am Reply with quote
Well, as long as I we get to see at least some variation of these scenes (no worries, no spoilers) I'm going to be ok with the anime Wink





In all seriousness, I'm actually exited to see where this goes. Certain things happened in the manga that really played with my heart strings, and I want to see how else the author can make Kaneki's life miserable, or if he will take this opportunity to give him at least some semblance of a happy ending.
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Parsifal24





PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 1:38 pm Reply with quote
With Akira she may be brusque but I thought it was interesting that she was able to complement Juuzou or at least able to be professionally courteous to probably the most unstable member of the CCG.
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ThatGuyWhoLikesThings



Joined: 04 Jul 2013
Posts: 1000
PostPosted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 8:20 pm Reply with quote
I find it interesting how, despite being an original story (and indeed, it is quite different so far), there seem to be a couple of plot points and relationships being established here that were also in the manga, such as Suzuya and Shinohara's surrogate father-son relationship or, for a much more spoiler-ish example, (seriously, DO NOT look at this unless you've read the entirety of the first manga) spoiler[Sen Takatsuki being an executive member of Aogiri, Eto. Maybe they'll go a step further and also reveal her as the One-Eyed Owl.].

That's not to say I don't like it, quite the opposite actually, I just find it interesting, and it really has me looking forward to how it ends. Smile
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Seryne299



Joined: 16 Dec 2014
Posts: 5
PostPosted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 8:32 pm Reply with quote
After watching the 3 episodes that has aired so far, I am really loving this second season unlike the first.

The ost is memorable and sad, more suitable to the tone and atmosphere of this season, I am starting to like the OP even if it isn't as good as the first season's OP. The ED is very nice as well, not only how it sounds but the lyrics and the gorgeous art as well. THis time the anime is being very careful not to put spoilers in the OP or ED. (Though the op animation might have been just due to laziness but the ED is great, seeing Ishida Sui's new artworks every week)

The pacing is good and the amount of foreshadowing and hints of what is going to come next as well as the character development is more than the entirety of the first season, not that I'm complaining it's great.

That entire scene with Naki and Kaneki's scene was so ironic and sad, as Naki thinks that Kaneki is a 'good person' even though Kaneki caused Jason's death.
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#831702



Joined: 24 Jan 2015
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 2:33 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Old Kaneki (complete with white hair) is still getting the bugs out after his traumatic torture experience,


[img]https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSBxQNKWCb1Vb4quhCJBevWe6LgSZ37cHJFFhplfEbtvKHNPIHh1w[/img]

Choice of wording: 10/10
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Valhern



Joined: 19 Jan 2015
Posts: 916
PostPosted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 4:16 pm Reply with quote
To be honest, I only have had only one complaint about this new route for Tokyo Ghoul: spoiler[The scene of Kaneki 'half-killing' Ayato was a must, instead of doing some coreography together, I don't think he would have hated him a lot more than he does now.] I was a bit disappointed since the torture and the Aogiri arc was tremendously butchered, at least we could have had that.

At least now I don't feel like this is a twenty minutes-long commercial for the manga. Before I read it, I couldn't even understand it, clearly, we needed 24+ episodes for this show the first season...and a more competent studio while we're at it.

In any case, I'm having faith in Ishida's ideas, for now it's just slowly progressing and some of the scenes I've already seen (like Akira's introduction), from now on things should start moving faster.

By the way, the ending might not be the most innovative, but I really love that art style that sometimes is featured in the manga, at least it's better than the previous ending with three or four pictures and this new opening.
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FloydCatalyst



Joined: 29 Aug 2013
Posts: 6
PostPosted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 7:42 pm Reply with quote
Valhern wrote:
To be honest, I only have had only one complaint about this new route for Tokyo Ghoul: spoiler[The scene of Kaneki 'half-killing' Ayato was a must, instead of doing some coreography together, I don't think he would have hated him a lot more than he does now.] I was a bit disappointed since the torture and the Aogiri arc was tremendously butchered, at least we could have had that.

At least now I don't feel like this is a twenty minutes-long commercial for the manga. Before I read it, I couldn't even understand it, clearly, we needed 24+ episodes for this show the first season...and a more competent studio while we're at it.

In any case, I'm having faith in Ishida's ideas, for now it's just slowly progressing and some of the scenes I've already seen (like Akira's introduction), from now on things should start moving faster.

By the way, the ending might not be the most innovative, but I really love that art style that sometimes is featured in the manga, at least it's better than the previous ending with three or four pictures and this new opening.

spoiler[ The 103 bones. ] That was brutal in the manga. It really exemplified the change he had undergone when he was tortured by Jason. I think everybody was disappointed when it was left out but some speculate that it will happen later on down the line.

Now that he introduced Shiro and Kuro, I'm going to assume that Ishida plans on exploring the Lab arc and we might possibly even get to see spoiler[ Kaneki go half Kakuja against the CCG. ] I would be satisfied with this season if I at least got to see that.
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Calico



Joined: 05 Jan 2013
Posts: 383
PostPosted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 8:27 pm Reply with quote
Yeah... We sure got some QUALITY animation this episode. Kaneki's fight with that dude he tried to break out seemed fine to me, but everything else... The worst scenes(at least to me) were definitely the scenes with Akira and Amon fighting against the ghouls.

Hopefully you're right and the next episode will be a step up.
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