weyrbunny

Have you... tried talking to goldfish, Sandman? Maybe it knows something you don't!

Yes, that’s Hide. The word “infiltration” comes to mind, since the Gourmet brought it up. Ep. 2.3 – Hangman Huh, the one-eyed twins have the same lily flower kagune as Kaneki. BTW, do we know who killed Rize and set all this in motion yet? I’ve been trying to see the point of Jason Lite. (I’m with Ayoto: his crying tantrums are hard to listen to.) I suppose it’s to remind Kaneki that he was tortured, and to be yet another reflection for him. (First, the twins, now Jason’s protégé.) It’s important that Kaneki sees Naki as a victim, I suppose, and reacts kindly to him. If Naki is also here to humanize Jason, it’s a waste of time, though. Good riddance to Jason. So, Stitches gets the credit for killing Jason? At least he was honest that someone else (Kaneki) did most of the work. I wish the show hadn’t named the internment camp Cochlea. I know it means “spiral”, but I think “inner ear” every time it’s said. And I can’t take Inner Ear Prison seriously. I looked up the latest book title: MacGuffin, the Hanged Man. More symbolism for Kaneki...

Oh. The OVAs were only 10-15 minutes each. They start out humorous but slow AF, but fortunately get more interesting as they progress. #5 even manages to pass the Bechdel Test, which is an out-of-the-blue surprise. Heh, Genos really cannot stick to “20 words or less” and is now taking up entire OVAs. My favorite is #3, “The Ninja Who is Too Complicated”, because Ino, the boar piglet, is insanely cute. Normally, I prefer a good anime flying squirrel, but grief good, so much cuteness! How dare Saitama consider eating him? (Her?) The best episode is probably #4 though, with its “martial arts rock-paper-scissors” sequence. I’m still not sold on some of the hero’s names. They're either too generic, or they make as much sense as the Wu Tang Name Generator. Oh look, there's a One-Punch Man Hero Generator. It tells me my secret ability is wiggling my ears, I assume because of "bunny".

I finally caught up on One-Punch Man… I just finished it, and it didn’t leave a lasting impression, frankly. If I hadn’t marathoned it, and had tried to watch it episodically, I think I’d have forgotten it was on. I did laugh during many of the episodes, and the hero hierarchy and rules were entertaining sometimes. I also enjoyed the visuals in the finale—especially the spaceship scenes and Saitama’s time on the moon. But otherwise, my attention wandered whenever some fighter or monster started monologue-ing or bragging, which was often. Part of the issue was that the title character looks like a grownup Charlie Brown with a towel pinned on as a cape. I just couldn't invest in Saitama because of it. I also suspect that OPM spoofs shows that I never watched (DBZ) or never liked, so I just don’t get the references. The comic-relief male rapist was almost a deal-breaker, too. The hypocrisy of a group of “heroes” not apprehending him and returning him to prison because he was also a hero had social commentary potential, though. May as well power through the OVAs next…

Huh, the building's unexplained collapse did seem like "let's wrap this up" deux ex machina. Ep 2.2 - Dancing Flowers I don’t care about this new batch of humans. Based on their physical appearance, they seem to range in age from 15 to 100, which means the CCG has weirdly diverse hiring practices for a police force, I guess. Now that I’m noticing the show’s use of silence, I’m also noticing the musical score and how erratic it is. It’s jarringly intrusive in some scenes, it ends abruptly due to scene editing sometimes, it changes genre from scene to scene, and yet, in other scenes, the piano is quite beautiful. At first I thought Kaneki had killed the two people lying in front of him. But after pausing it, I realized he was just contemplating the two dead soldiers, one Aogiri ghoul, one CCG human. It’s a reference to the episode’s title, “Dancing Flowers”, I think: flowers symbolize death (and are Kaneki’s symbol)... so the two dead soldiers, side-by-side, are that dance of death. I like that you have to watch Tokyo Ghoul closely. I should’ve paid more attention in S1 when they started mentioning bad things happening 10 years ago, though. Because they keep hinting at it. Something about “the Devil Apes” this time… It was touching that both Touka and Hide are seemingly trying to connect to Kaneki—Touka, to who he was, and Hide, to who he has become.

Ep 2.1 – New Surge In many ways, I prefer Tokyo Ghoul √A (root A) to season 1. And it’s not just because Kaneki evolves from crying teenager to The Quiet One!! There’s a leanness to the storytelling, with more reliance on visual clues, I think. I’m noticing how well it uses silence too, for the first time. I miss Season 1’s opening credits and song, though. S2’s credits are interesting enough, but after a couple viewings, the focus on His Whiteness, Kaneki, is too static. And at first I thought the song lyrics were word salad—“The prostitute spat fire”?—that was trying to live up to the song title, “Incompetence”. But maybe it’s just the way it’s edited? And, there are other translations on YouTube that make more sense. Touka’s brother taking a bite out of her “wing” was grisly. It’s interesting that we were spared Kaneki cannibalizing Jason, but shown this attack instead. I suspect it was to establish what Ayato and Aogiri are capable of, and that they fight dirty. No wings for Kaneki… his kagune looked more like a devil’s tail. I remember it resembling the unfurled, red lily in ep. 1.12, but here the imagery is demonic. I chuckled at the CCG’s quinque suits eating the human wearers alive. Because that’s completely fitting. The words “power” and “strength” are used often and unsubtly here, and so I expect S2 to be Kaneki’s exploration of these terms, much in the way that S1 was his exploration of human/ghoul coexistence. Have I stressed how much I enjoy quiet, calm Kaneki? The absence of his inner monologue makes the ending riveting. I’ve just realized that this ending is also a visual bookend to Tokyo Ghoul √A’s season finale, too. (But more on that in… sigh, 3 months. Yeah, I don’t watch anything weekly anymore.)

Ep. 1.12 – Ghoul Thank you, Show, for cutting to black before putting the centipede in Kaneki’s ear. I don’t need to see that Wrath of Khan trauma ever again… I had completely forgotten that Kaneki eats Jason when I brought it up before. I guess it speaks to how ultra-violent Tokyo Ghoul is that a major act of cannibalism blended in. The torture is still hard to watch (and listen to), perhaps because the second time, I noticed the details, like fresh, pink skin on toes. Kaneki does what Mado suggested, oddly: he fights dirty. Of all the backstories to give Kaneki and his mom… it was like something out of a Dear Abby letter on establishing boundaries with family members. Though, I doubt Dear Abby would shame a woman for being a working mother or single parent. The noticeable jump in sexism this episode perturbed me, of course. First, it was the parental abandonment trope shaming the mom, then it was how Kaneki “overpowered” Rize by pinning her arms down while on top of her and then devouring her. The scene was meant to reflect and reverse how Rize murdered Kaneki, I think, so there was a sexual undertone to it. She did make good points about complacency and decision-making. Or…Kaneki, since he was having the conversation with himself. There was something childish about how he embraced his guilt and resentment though, so I stopped seeing logic and started seeing psychology by the end. I enjoyed the stark red/white colors this episode. They were simple, hardly unique, but visually arresting. I also liked the tear falling onto the “camera”.

Ah…so all it takes is some extended torture for everyone to chime in! Ep. 1.11 – High Spirits Ep. 11 isn’t complete without ep. 12, and it’s so overstuffed with new characters, it seems rushed and haphazard. I enjoyed seeing the next-level, sophisticated kagunes that the new characters brought, though. They helped to throw open this world so far beyond the coffee-shop’s sphere. I’m suddenly seeing quite a few Frankenstein references. They were always there, since Kaneki was assembled with Rize’s parts, as it were. But the images of Jason with nails in his neck suggested Frankenstein further, and they connected the dots to Kaneki’s mask and its neck bolts. (I know the bolts aren’t from the novel, but from the Boris Karloff movie. There’s also a Mummy image or two in the ep.) The punk-ghoul that works for the Doves was even nicknamed Stitches, which I suspect connects him, too. It’s the simple idea of creating a monster: Jason was tortured into creation by the CCG and he in turn reenacts this torture on Kaneki, to recreate him in his image. Stitches likewise seems monstrous, killing ghouls easily and complaining that he’s “not done playing” when they die, which should remind you of Jason. It’ll be interesting to see if Stitches was somehow tortured, and even more interesting to see how this idea that ghouls are made further plays out. I laughed when the CCG commander said, “Only those willing to die should stay behind, because you probably will.” Imagine if your boss said that to you.

Bunnies are cute. But they also have the same dominance behaviors as wolves. :-) Ep. 1.10 - Aogiri Second or third mention here of the “one-eyed king”—the first being in 1.8, in reference to Mado’s past—if you don’t count all the times Kaneki’s one-eyed-ghoul look has been deemed special. Dropping anvils, as they used to say on TWOP. There is A LOT of kicking in Tokyo Ghoul—Ayato and Jason pick up where Nishiko left off. I feel like we’re introduced to the 11th ward food chain in gang clichés: first Banjou’s bluster, then Ayato’s coldness, then Jason’s savagery. I’ll never understand why Jason has other ghouls as associates and “yeah, sure, kidnap him” companions. (Or why they don’t band together to cut off his head and set fire to his remains. Unless they want to eat him and take his power—that seems appropriate for Tokyo Ghoul.) His nihilism, if not sociopathy, makes him a threat to every single ghoul, and it seems naïve for anyone to think he won’t turn on them. So begins Kaneki’s second death and rebirth. It was hard to watch Jason brutalizing him in the café—bad things start in that damn café. There were other similarities to Rize’s attack, in the sense of compulsion, binging, but without the teen-romance, vampire subtext. The horror is shifting, as the shows shifts to explore the argument of ghoul superiority, I suppose.

Ep. 1.9 - Birdcage Hide definitely knows—the signs are mounting. I was filled with dread when Jason casually strolled by Hide, both for Hide’s sake and Rize’s. I still don’t have a clear picture why so many ghouls hunt/want Rize. Because she wasn’t a “joiner” and just wanted to binge-eat? That would be ironic, considering Kaneki. So begins the organized crime/gang violence metaphor for the human-ghoul war. I can respect how the show continues to hold its ground and show the humans’ perspective and backstories, but the humans are still too cookie-cutter! Perhaps Amon’s character will be more interesting now that he’s out from Mado’s shadow. I’ve never known a cockatiel to sleep on its side—they should take that thing to a vet. Touka’s bunny barrette was fitting.

Aww, I like Kaneki’s mask. Has he earned its nightmare fuel image? No, it’s just a costume at this point. It’s an exercise in contrast to Touka’s attitude and bunny mask, though. Touka is brusque and a fighter, presenting hardness and strength, but her mask by contrast looks smooth, oval, white, and abstract. Kaneki’s mask is the opposite: textured, angular, black, and detailed—which in turn contrasts with his “softer’ personality and lack of physical strength. (Touka's mask is egg-like, BTW. Two symbols for birth and fertility there: the rabbit and the egg.) Ep. 1.8 – Circular Like ep. 1.5, this is another episode that puts all the pieces together, deepening both sides of the argument (war) and Kaneki’s character. Positioning himself as a bridge between ghouls and humans is completely obvious of course, but it’s still interesting to see Kaneki try a spectrum of tactics here: fighting like a human, not fighting back, seeking mediation, fighting like a ghoul (and feeding like Rize). It occurred to me: Kaneki refusing to attack the Dove, Amon, so that Touka has time to rescue Hinami, is an echo of Ryouka’s sacrifice. But the circumstances are different, Amon is different, and Kaneki makes a different choice, not to martyr himself. Touka again serves as a counterpoint to Kaneki. When she says “My body won’t let me live by your rules,” it’s a great reminder that this isn’t just a problem for Kaneki to approach intellectually, it's also a race war, with a majority “biology” making and using laws to hunt/govern the minority. Faceless Entrée—good band name.

Ep. 1.7 – Captivity I had forgotten how little the mom fights back. Yes, it’s sacrificial, but her just sitting there diminishes the character’s agency rather than confirming its purpose, which is too bad. I shouldn’t expect Ryouka to fight: it’s understandable that the bombshell of seeing her dead husband’s kagune makes her freeze up, and Tokyo Ghoul continues to make the point that some characters don’t (Yoshimura) or can’t (Kaneki) fight. But, you know… anime. And speaking of anime, Kaneki’s nude shower scene here made me realize how little “jiggle” there is in Tokyo Ghoul. The limited amount of fanservice is refreshing, frankly. Kaneki is now saying his arc out loud—“I’m more ghoul than human these days.”—but I appreciate his self-awareness, and that he’s learning to overcome his fears, learning emotional control…the important word is “learning”. That he is intrinsically motivated and able to articulate “I have to learn by experiencing things myself” speaks to his underlying intelligence. We’re starting to see Kaneki’s strengths, and they defy (my) expectations in subtle ways, just like the show itself. I am, of course, on Touka-Rabbit’s side in the dove hunt.

Ep 1.6 – Cloudburst Heh—I guess “go eat yourself” is Tokyo Ghoul’s version of “go fuck yourself”. So far the kagune fights seem to be about strength, not skill, which means they also seem under-developed as the episode goes on. Or maybe it’s a let-down that the parents don’t attempt to think their way out, like Kaneki did—they seemingly just raise their weapons and die. Not that they could’ve beaten the Doves or their trap... but if the kid could run past the lesser Doves, why not have the mother try some other tactic? Wait, does “S-rated” stand for strength rating? Oh… never mind, I guess. I’m still momentarily impressed that the show killed off both parents like it did, with thundering tragedy and sacrifice. The show needed to reintroduce the sense that anyone can die, I think, after saving so many other characters prior. I agree with Kimi: Touka’s kagune is gorgeous, though rather Hellsing Ultimate:

Ep. 1.5 – Scars This is the episode where the pieces really start to fit together, I think. I appreciate the extended fight scene—it’s pretty trope-laden, with more talking than action, but it fills in quite a few blanks about kagunes, as well as characters. I also once again like the first-person-shooter POV, this time with Touka instead of Yomo. Kaneki also continues to try to “work the problem”, which is a sign of progress. He’s still alarmist and getting his ass kicked easily, but he’s learning under Yomo’s tutelage and from every encounter he has with ghouls. This is why I think Tokyo Ghoul’s whole is greater than its parts: the show is about progression and change, which it and Kaneki do. And consequences. The theme that every action has two sides, and consequences to both, really moves to the forefront here with Nishiko, of all people. Kimi’s comment about “every time you leave, you come back hurt” made me laugh, though. “Because Nishiko acts like an asshole every time he's in public…” Kimi’s “as long as he doesn’t kill anyone I care about” rationalization also gave me pause. But then I remembered that humans make that decision every day, about all kinds of killing.

Ep 1.4 - Supper I dig Yomo. His split-second fight scene was so well-directed, it was electric. And his coat is cool, as is required. The (racial) identity theme continues—the statement that half-blooded ghouls are “far superior” to full-blooded ones subverts the usual purity narrative nicely, though. Though… it does elevate Kaneki to Special Snowflake, which pathologically makes me roll my eyes. The first time I watched Tokyo Ghoul, the Gourmet’s comments about being able to “forget yourself” in books seemed so significant for Kaneki’s character. It fit perfectly with his uncertainty and loneliness, and that scene repeated the pattern of his being seduced by Rize. But this time, I was so distracted by the farcical Cannibal Hunger Games and the Gourmet’s carnivalesque clothing, it was harder to take the nuance seriously. Shudder. I did not need to know that drowning songbirds for appetizers is a thing. I will also never eat balut.

BTW, I love the opening credits now, both visuals and song. And I like the end credits more each time I watch them, too. The character design is different, maybe adding more personality. Ep 1.3 – Dove I suppose that the Doves are a counter-terrorism, impunity-thanks-to-a-Patriot-Act unit rather than part of the police, but the mentions of segregating ghouls and trying to drive them out of Tokyo imply racist policing and a race war. The Doves seem to coldly kill every ghoul they meet for simply “walking while ghoul” too, so it’s hard to find them sympathetic in the slightest, even though they do hunt serial killers, aka binge eaters. Or, yeah, what you said. I like that Kaneki is putting effort into accepting what he is and trying to find his sense of self. It tells us about his character that he tries to work through his anxieties. And it also helps to alleviate how irksome I still find Kaneki when he’s in screaming-teenager mode. It's on the CCG's seal:

Yeah, they’re so darkly funny even when they try for silliness. Thanks for the reminder that they’re there, since I usually skip credits. Ep 1.2 - Incubation A better episode, in that it deepens so many aspects of the story simultaneously. Parts of it were nicely tense too, like when Nishiko was threatening Hide before finally attacking him. And it even managed to introduce racial identity themes, with the idea that ghouls are born, not just made. Learning more about Hide and Kaneki’s friendship helps to alleviate how irksome I find Kaneki when he’s in crying-teenager mode, too. I have to remind myself that he was brutally attacked and murdered and now feels betrayed by his own body, which I think the show is playing out astutely. But every time he shrieks, I cringe. Maybe it's the voice-acting. Nishiko certainly is a… kicker. Bulimia references this time, when Nishiko vomits after eating, I think.

I am VERY late to this party, but I’ve started re-watching Tokyo Ghoul and plan to catch up to where Toonami is airing this week. Thanks again, @Lantern7, for letting me know! Ep 1.1 – Tragedy So… the pilot is pretty uneven, and yet by the end of the episode, I am hooked on Tokyo Ghoul. The prologue has never worked for me: Except for dropping a bunch of keywords and bodies, it’s just too scattered and out of context. And you don’t need it to establish Rize as villainous since her violently murdering Kaneki in a rape analogy takes care of that later. So, yeah… not the best start. Presenting ghouls/zombies as every eating disorder combined, including cannibalism, seems kind’ve witty, though. It did annoy me that Kaneki thought Rize barely eating was “ladylike”, because it played like a symptom for anorexia, and calling anorexia ladylike is sexist BS. It never occurred to me that the book title The Black Goat’s Egg was symbolic for Kaneki, but then I Googled it. (Spoilers...) I just figured it was poorly translated slang for “spawn of Satan”. Every time I hear the book's title I think of that scene from Constantine where Tilda Swinton's Gabriel hisses genteel insults at Lucifer like "Little Horn" and "Most Unclean." Lucifer's reply: "I do miss the old names." Still makes me chuckle. I’ve never watched The Animal either, but Body Parts comes to mind when they talk about Kaneki’s organ transplants.

What?! No! I just caught up on Season 2 and loved it. I was so looking forward to watching future seasons. We live in an era where shows move networks, get limited returns, or are just un-cancelled. Sense8 needs any or all of those options, dammit!

I was fascinated by the dream logic in this episode, and with watching John’s brain trying to work through the problem that is his life, his own actions. Comparisons to Crime & Punishment were evident everywhere, I think—the mind will get you in ways the law never can. It made me want to revisit the siblings’ shared nightmare about the intruder at the door in Part 30. I had taken that as a bit of Southern Gothic—the kids not feeling safe in their childhood home, or in their memories of home. But perhaps it was foreshadowing...or perhaps not. While I’m enjoying the tense storytelling as always, Season 3 has seemed almost too “slow burn” even for me. But this episode, and Ben Mendelsohn’s return, really drew me back in. Looking forward to the next one now.

I'll be the voice of dissent and say that I much prefer Series 3, 4 and, even though it wasn't as well executed, 5. They were a leap up in novelistic storytelling and symbolic richness. I like S1 and S2, but I was never that invested in the CSI 1890's police-procedural aspects. Series 1 and 2 didn't surprise me. Series 3 did. Series 4 did. (Exhibit A: Susan shooting Reid in the head. Exhibit B: Nathaniel biting out Drake's throat.) The complexity of later seasons helped to differentiate Ripper Street from the other cop shows that I (and everyone) had compared it to, and I really appreciate that, too. I do grasp why you (collective you) object to the show's sullenness, and the series finale's joylessness gave even me pause, but... the show was always about the spectre of Jack the Ripper. A growing darkness seems fitting.

Making Whitechapel a wolf or THE wolf... thanks for phrasing it like that, @raven, because it makes Ripper Street's ending even more thematically consistent for me. Thanks for re-framing Reid's outcome for me, as well—your reading of it is excellent! I'm trotting off to All Episodes Talk to disagree about which seasons of Ripper Street are best...

Exactly. I finally put my finger on something I’ve been missing: Anne’s academic competitiveness, the emphasis on her intellect, her life of the mind. These things are touched on in Anne’s brightness—her reading, spelling, cleverness mentioned—but it ultimately felt cursory, the focus shifted to the emotional or social, without striving to balance the themes. I kept wondering if the show did this to appeal to a modern girl audience. Which would be terribly unfortunate, because there’s so much research on how adolescent girls are subtly (and not subtly) taught to let go of intellectual curiosity or ambition and prioritize social interactions. To see the show prioritize the melodrama, as many here have said, seems to feed into this shift. I did like the show in its understated moments. The subtle parallels and connections between Gilbert’s and Matthew and Marilla’s childhoods were an aspect I’d never thought about, for example—and they were made better by the show not over-explaining! By the end, I really resented every time Anne said “I’ll be the hero of my own story” or some other theme out loud… I’m off to look up RH Thomson now—I don’t remember him from Avonlea, but I should!

Bumping up this All Episodes Talk thread, since it's the original for discussion of all seasons, all episodes. (The other thread is a character topic for Homer Jackson, and hopefully its title will be corrected soon.) Back on topic... Does anyone remember an episode where Reid uses the phrase "a dream deferred"? Or a paraphrase? That phrase came to mind during ep 5.4, The Dreaming Dead, but for the life of me I can't remember (or Google) which episode it was in.