Tokyo Ghoul - General Discussion

[Meredith Quill]

A place to discuss particular episodes, arcs and moments from the show's run. Please remember this isn't a complete catch-all topic -- check out the forum for character topics and other places for show-related talk.

[Lantern7]

I'll have to rewatch, since I more or less gave up on the manga. Here's the gist:

"Hi! I'm Keneki! I'm a student and a dork. My best friend is also a dork, but he's got an ego, especially about girls. Speaking of which, my bookish four-eyed dream girl seems to like me! Wish me luck!"

"Well, I'm fucked. I forgot that there are humanoids in this series that dine on flesh. The manga didn't have the explicit gory intro, so I should have been watching it. What are the odds this girl was a ghoul?!? Only a miracle can save me now!" [cut to a white horse kicking construction material off the roof]

"What's worse than death? Living a Japanese horror version of The Animal, a Rob Whatshisface movie so horrible, the original 'Survivor Sweetheart' went into hiding  after playing the romantic female lead. I got ghoul parts, and now I can't eat anything without getting grossed out. Lucky for you, I'm not describing how bad it is. I really go whole hog on that in the manga. Also, I got a red eye. Like I struck a bargain with Ryuk. Things can't get any worse."

"Had to open my fucking yap. Smelled something awesome, and it turned out to be a ghoul eating somebody. And now that guy got killed. And now that guy got owned by the co-star. Look like ghoul society has its own rules. But I'm not gonna nag to dine on flesh."

"The girl just gave me a hand. Down my throat. Honestly? I'd take the parasite in my hand over this. Such is the life of the dorky anime protagonist."

[Sandman87]

I never saw The Animal, but the first episode reminded me of a more violent version of Interview With the Vampire. "Hello everyone, I'm a loner with no family. Crap, I'm supposed to eat what now? Oh, hell no! I'll starve first. No, on second thought I'll wangst about it endlessly first, then starve. Uh-oh, starving is a lot harder to do than I thought. Pitiful me!"

Hilarious foreshadowing: "You didn't eat very much, did you?", "Uh, actually, I'm on a diet."

Since they made a point of showing investigators on the scene talking about the nastiness at the beginning, I'm betting that Kaneki ends up working for law enforcement.

"Take their flesh...AND EAT IT!" He's obviously a Death Note fan.

The moral of the squabbling over the "territory" near the construction site: Nice ghouls finish last.

Ghouls on this show look less like the western version, and more like the original Arabic folklore version. But with tentacles, because it's anime.

16 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Only a miracle can save me now!" [cut to a white horse kicking construction material off the roof]

Made me laugh.

[lathspel]

I approve that coffee is the one shared food everyone can enjoy.  That seems appropriate somehow.

Blue haired angry girl is way too cute, here's hoping she doesn't just have a tragic back story (beyond the cake thing) and an eventual thing for Kaneki.  

[Lantern7]

In case Toonami shortens the credits, here they are in full:

Caught the second episode. Nonstop gore seems about right. I think that was common in the manga, though Riza haunting Kaneki might be new for the anime. Also: did it look like she was rubbing his crotch while holding him, or am I imagining that? I don't remember the four-eyed ghoul trying to stomp Hide ("He-DAY") into paste and pummeling Kaneki senseless in the manga, either. In passing, we learned a new word: "Kagune." I won't link for spoilers' sake; just know that's what pops out of a ghoul. Because having enhanced everything isn't a big enough advantage for these creatures to dine on humans.

Touka will have a lot of story to unravel. The old guy is key as well. Kaneki will get another new look aside from the eyepatch, though it does vary from "awesome" to "Dear Lord, you go out looking like that?!?" And I like the shorts after the credits. In the manga, ghouls do not skimp on how disgusting "human food" can be.

ETA: Half-watched the episode. They introduced the hunters (the titular "doves"), though it might be a while before we get the science on their weapons. Keneki tries to get adjusted to his new job. If you do not want to be spoiled on what kind of mask he ends up wearing, do not look it up. Have strength. Oh, and he offends a little ghoul girl . . . though he does rebound from that.

[Lantern7]

Heads up to anybody who's been watching: there will be no new episode tonight. Toonami is airing the final episodes of the current Jojo's Bizarre Adventure arc tonight from 12:30-1:30. Tokyo Ghoul will be back at 1 a.m. next week, following Attack On Titan.

[Lantern7]

Bumping up for the show's return tonight, with "Supper." That is not a good sign with this anime.

ETA: They're going willy-nilly with the manga timeline. Remember in the Cartoon/Anime thread, when I asked if the giant griddle would be involved? Well, it isn't. Grisly shit, but it could have been so much worse here. Also: there is NO way in hell that the Connoisseur didn't sprout wood sniffing his stained handkerchief.

[Sandman87]

A gourmand ghoul invites Kaneki to dinner, but not in a good way. Turns out that he's going to be the ghoulie version of ortolan, complete with the diners using masks to hide their faces, except that he'll be beaten and sliced by a giant mook instead of being drowned in Armagnac. Makes the meat tastier don'tcha know. Ghoulicious! Then his eyepatch falls off, and the foodie ghoulie freaks out that he's about to kill a "one-eyed ghoul" (not a euphemism, really!), so he takes out the giant mook instead as a last minute entree substitution.

Meanwhile, Angry Blue-Haired Waitress eats human food and throws up.

[Vermicious Knid]

Eh. So far this seems solidly mediocre; not horrible, but not particularly good either.

[Sandman87]

I've been trying to figure out why Kaneki sounds so familiar to me, and I finally got it: He sounds like Morty from Rick & Morty. He does the same stuttering whine thing.

[Sandman87]

Awful lot of dietary self-sacrifice going on in this one. Reminded me of the Trinity Blood episode where Esther was locked in a cell with starving Ion.

[lathspel]

Was the voice of Kime the same VA as Riza Hawkeye from FMA?  It really sounded like her.  

Also, crazy gourmet ghoul is so over the top, the only other character I can put him next to is Alan Gabriel, the insane cyborg from Big O.

Edited May 2, 2017 by lathspel

[Sandman87]

Close. Kimi is Caitlin Glass, who voiced Winry in FMA. Riza was Colleen Clinkenbeard.

You want to see over the top? Watch a few episodes of Yakitate! Japan. The bakery manager/judge could give the foodie ghoulie a run for his money with his sheer paroxysms of rapture over bread.

[Lantern7]

Kaneki can't catch a break. Basically, he's like the girl cat with black fur that got white paint on its back, and Tsukiyama is basically Pepe Le Pew, with the lust and the gratuitous French. Or maybe he's supposed to be Gambit. And now Touka got a taste of Kaneki before him. That's gotta suck.

[jbrecken]

So it seems like the theme of this show is that some monsters are humane and some humans are monstrous.

[Sandman87]

And also that every little bit of happiness is followed by an avalanche of tragedy.

Now we know what's in the briefcases that the "Doves" carry around: Nothing. The briefcases are transforming weapons. Mildly curious why they're called Doves, btw.

[Lantern7]

Poor father. I think he was two days from retirement.

Reveal: the Doves' weapons (quinques) are made of ghouls' kagunes. Basically, it's like if one race kills one from another, then uses their natural defenses to hunt the rest down.  I'm thinking the Doves mean well, but then you got psycho assholes like Mado that makes things so much worse.

Basically, this episode is gearing up for more skirmishes down the line, and Keneki now has his mask. Which I cannot take seriously. At all. It does look more imposing animated than in the manga, but given that this is Keneki, all I can think is, "Bring out the Gimp."

[Sandman87]

I wonder if the Doves have stopped to consider that they might provoke the ghouls to band together and declare war on them. Mado certainly wouldn't care, but the others might, especially if the ghouls decide that friends and families are fair game for retribution.

The individualized ghoul masks are cool and all (obviously your mileage may vary), but wouldn't it be smarter if they all used identical masks to make things a little harder for the Doves? Or use ultra-popular Japanese festival masks? Or better yet, ultra-popular cosplay masks? Or Guy Fawkes masks? Anyway, Amazon sells Kaneki masks if anyone feels the need.

[Lantern7]

Almost forgot . . . do you think Mado pays royalties to Renji? Because that quinque is totally Zabimaru.

[ZoqFotPik]

The Doves probably considered it, but what else are they supposed to do, rollover and let the Ghouls hunt them with impunity? Ghouls need to eat humans to survive. You can't exactly blame them for fighting back.

[ZoqFotPik]

I might have some sympathy for ghouls if they could eat things other than humans. Like they can live eating regular food, but human gives them their powers or something. As it stands, there can be no peace or compromise between two sides when one needs to eat the other to live. Sure Mado was a psycho and Hinami and her mother seemed to be relatively innocent, but they weren't exactly being, according to Toka, "hunted for no reason" either.

[Lantern7]

I'd be okay with the Doves handing suicide victims with no real connections to the ghouls, but even that would probably go south sooner rather than later.

Of course Hinami got upset. If some asshole ripped out the natural defenses of your dead parents and tried to kill you and your friend with those, you'd probably be "torqued" at minimum.

Still liking the manga shorts translated into animation. Mado goes to the afterlife and finds hell to be ghoul heaven. Serves him right. The bit where he noticed that he lost his hand was funny, though.

[Sandman87]

Everyone spends an episode recovering from the recent unpleasantness. There are flashbacks involving Mado and Amon, as well as Toka and her previously unmentioned younger brother who we'll probably be seeing a lot more of.

Introducing Hinami's bird, Hetare, which Toka is not fond of ("It pukes, it moults, and it haunts my dreams.") The bird gets the best line of the episode when it yells "Aho!" at Toka.

ETA: The internet tells me that hetare means coward/loser/worthless.

Edited June 6, 2017 by Sandman87

[weyrbunny]

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.

On 3/31/2017 at 11:51 PM, Sandman87 said:

I never saw The Animal, but the first episode reminded me of a more violent version of Interview With the Vampire.

I’ve never watched The Animal either, but Body Parts comes to mind when they talk about Kaneki’s organ transplants.

[weyrbunny]

On 4/8/2017 at 8:43 PM, Lantern7 said:

And I like the shorts after the credits.

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.

[weyrbunny]

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.

On 5/7/2017 at 4:46 AM, jbrecken said:

So it seems like the theme of this show is that some monsters are humane and some humans are monstrous.

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.

On 5/7/2017 at 10:33 PM, Sandman87 said:

Mildly curious why they're called Doves, btw.

It's on the CCG's seal:

[weyrbunny]

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.

On 4/23/2017 at 1:24 PM, Sandman87 said:

...the ghoulie version of ortolan, complete with the diners using masks to hide their faces...

Shudder. I did not need to know that drowning songbirds for appetizers is a thing. I will also never eat balut.

[weyrbunny]

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.

[weyrbunny]

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:

[Sandman87]

Kaneki gets beaten like a rug. Again. Hope they have good health coverage at the coffee shop. Assuming they can recover him, that is. He needs to do something about being abducted so frequently.

The odd pickpocket with the white hair and tattoos turns out to be a Dove. That's how you know they're a villain organization; they keep attracting weirdos with white hair. That's like wearing a black hat in an old cowboy movie.

 

8 hours ago, weyrbunny said:

Wait, does “S-rated” stand for strength rating? Oh… never mind, I guess.

I've seen that in quite a few other anime, including Naruto and One Punch Man. Any time there's a letter-based ranking system (with "A" being high, "B" being the next one down, and so on), there's almost always an "S" rank that's above "A".

An S-rank usually means that whoever or whatever it is breaks the scale for lethality, cuteness, or whatever else is being measured. Sometimes it gets ridiculous when escalating character powers in a show turn S into the average level, with rankings of SS, SSS, or more cropping up.

Apparently it originated with Japanese video games. I don't know why S is the standard. Maybe it's short for "Super?"

[weyrbunny]

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.

[weyrbunny]

On 5/14/2017 at 1:44 AM, Lantern7 said:

...Keneki now has his mask. Which I cannot take seriously. At all. It does look more imposing animated than in the manga, but given that this is Keneki, all I can think is, "Bring out the Gimp."

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.

Edited June 17, 2017 by weyrbunny

[weyrbunny]

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.

[Sandman87]

Yeah, looks like she uses bunnies as her go-to cute thing.

1 hour ago, weyrbunny said:

I still don’t have a clear picture why so many ghouls hunt/want Rize.

I just assumed that the was this show's version of Lana from Smallville; obnoxious and selfish, yet everyone loves her and Must! Have! Her!

[weyrbunny]

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.

[Lantern7]

8 hours ago, weyrbunny said:

Aww, I like Kaneki’s mask. Has he earned its nightmare fuel image? No, it’s just a costume at this point.

A while back, somebody on Facebook posted a commission of Harley Quinn in a Keneki-like mask. I don't know if you can see this, but I found it highly amusing.

Half-watched this week's ep. Did the Gourmet intercept the fey ghoul from last week? I am not shocked.

[Lantern7]

I'll have to rewatch the last two episodes. Note to self: If I am a bad guy, and I am torturing the everloving FUCK out of somebody . . . note any changes in hair color. "Jason" failed to do that, and now Kaneki is gonna eat him. Also: listen for full versions of the opening theme song.

[Sandman87]

That just dragged on forever.

[lathspel]

This show is daaark.  

Not sure I could handle having an internal Rize either, but she made some good points.  

It occurs to me that the opening animation takes a lot from this episode.  

[Vermicious Knid]

Quote

Bunnies are cute. But they also have the same dominance behaviors as wolves. :-)

Well that puts a whole other spin on Sailor Moon.

Kaneki finally gets interesting and it only took being brutally tortured, giving up his humanity and going total insane cannibal. And it's going to be a live action movie.

[Sandman87]

We learned that Kaneki's mother was a doormat who couldn't say "no" to anyone, and that she ended up dying from single-mom karoshi. Kaneki gets tortured and tortured, and tortured some more, until he starts having Riza hallucinations that talk him into abandoning sentimentality while embracing pragmatism and his ghoul nature. And not being a doormat like his mom.

Kaneki spends the last couple of minutes of the episode showing Jason just what a good student he's been; cracking his knuckles, kicking ass, and starting to eat Jason.

[weyrbunny]

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.

[weyrbunny]

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.

On 6/26/2017 at 6:08 AM, Sandman87 said:

We learned that Kaneki's mother was a doormat who couldn't say "no" to anyone, and that she ended up dying from single-mom karoshi.

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.

On 6/25/2017 at 11:01 PM, lathspel said:

Not sure I could handle having an internal Rize either, but she made some good points.

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”.

[Lantern7]

Rewatched the episode. "Jason" is a dumbass.

"Okay, Keneki. I've squeezed every drop of fun and sadistic pleasure I could from you. You are better than Viagra, kid. But the show is over, now say goodbye. Huh . . . that's funny . . . you don't have the skin discoloration where your new digits grew out. And your hair is snow white. And you're not sobbing or screaming. Almost as if though you just had a hard truth revealed to you, and you have transformed into someone else. Something else. (pause) Naaaaaaaaaaaahhhh. Time to eat you and continue to not get any sort of comeuppance!!!"

[weyrbunny]

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.)

[Lantern7]

Saw a bit of the opening and the new credits. Damn, the credits are kinda creepy. All I can think is, "Where is Rize's head?!?" Anyway, if Toonami monkeys with the credits, here they are in full, courtesy of Funimation:

[Vermicious Knid]

:puzzled: So Kaneki leaves his friends to join the group that just tried to kill them? Is this one of those 'I'm a monster and must remove myself' things?

[Sandman87]

I dunno either. Maybe it was more of an "I can get stronger with these guys" thing? Or else he's embarrassed to be seen in public with his new hair.

It takes talent to make action scenes seem dull, but they managed it somehow in this episode.

One Eyed Owl (aka old guy from the coffee shop) unsurprisingly manages to fight off four heavily armed CCG officers without actually hurting them. In fact, they take more damage from their ghoul-powered "protective" gear than they do from him.

Was that an earthquake, or did someone set demolition charges while I wasn't looking?

Opening and closing credits: Meh.

[weyrbunny]

On 7/10/2017 at 1:39 AM, Sandman87 said:

Was that an earthquake, or did someone set demolition charges while I wasn't looking?

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.

[Sandman87]

13 hours ago, weyrbunny said:

Huh, the building's unexplained collapse did seem like "let's wrap this up" deux ex machina. 

I could buy it being just a random earthquake (they have them all the time in Japan), but I need some indication one way or the other. Lacking that, I have to assume that Aogiri set some explosives as a trap.