There is hardly an anime in the universe more controversial than Tokyo Ghoul . Perhaps the only thing that can compete with it is SAO , and even then with an inveterate lag. Armies of rabid fans and diehard critics converge time after time on the margins of Internet forums, showering each other with a stream of arguments in favor of and against the anime epic about Japanese ghoul pigeons. The dirtiest curses and sophisticated verbal expressions are used, even women and children take part in the battles (sometimes it seems that these are the majority). Only a few leave the battlefield alive and unharmed - few can boast of an inexhaustible psyche and the absence of eye tics. However, it’s not surprising – Tokyo Ghoul really has a lot to love and hate. Love for the atmosphere, philosophy and magnificent musical and visual accompaniment. Hate for its very controversial plot, characters and pathos. And so, after, to put it mildly, the not very successful second season called Tokyo Ghoul √A , Studio Pierrot again condescended to the fans and released a sequel - Tokyo Ghoul:re (“Tokyo Ghoul: Rebirth”, “Tokyo Ghoul TV-3” ) . Let's try to figure out whether the creators managed to revive their creation, as the suffix in the title suggests, or whether the haters now have an additional argument in their disputes against the franchise.
Brief information
Tokyo Ghoul:re is the third season of an anime dedicated to ghouls - vampires who live next door to ordinary people and sometimes eat them for breakfast. Just like the first and second, the third season was released through the efforts of Studio Pierrot . The anime was released in the spring of 2021, consists of twelve episodes, and the script is based on the manga authored by Sui Ishida . I would like to point out that the first, and, in my opinion, the most successful season, was based on the manga (albeit crumpled, but still); the second, terrible and disgusting - based on the fantasies of the scriptwriters, and had practically nothing to do with the manga. When creating the third season, the writers again turned to the manga of the same name, trying to pretend that the second season was a stupid misunderstanding. A reasonable decision, but, however, it did not change the situation much...
The events of Tokyo Ghoul:re begin to unfold a couple of years after the end of the second season. The CCG, an organization dedicated to fighting ghouls, managed to win several significant victories and strengthen its influence in Tokyo, but the war is not over yet. Many organized groups of ghouls still pose a threat that must be eliminated. To deal with emergencies, the CCG organized a group of special employees, nicknamed the Quinx. These are people who have been implanted with ghoul body parts, thanks to which they can use their abilities. Haise Sasaki , a young man with a vague past and such a familiar appearance, became the head of the new division He, along with a team of loyal associates, decided to challenge the ghouls, and, in the meantime, deal with himself. But will he be able to defeat his demons?
How did the anime "Tokyo Ghoul" end?
Tokyo Ghoul is an anime that aired in 2014. It is based on the manga of the same name. In the story, an ordinary Japanese guy Kaneki Ken lives a quiet life, he is a good student at the literature department. He has a job in a cafe. But there comes a time in life when your soulmate comes. And so Ken starts dating a girl. But things don't go as he planned. The girl is an evil creature - a ghoul.
When the monster got hungry, it took on its true form and attacked Ken. But he managed to fight off the creature, and the ghoul was killed. Everything would be fine, but Kaneki Ken is seriously injured. The guy is hospitalized. Doctors transplant organs taken from the ghoul Ridze into him. Moreover, this is one of the most powerful monsters that keeps the city in fear. Kaneki Ken is now a ghoul himself. There will be no more quiet life.
Kaneki Ken feels hungry. He feels himself changing. The guy understands that he must taste human flesh. People are afraid of him, and he leaves them. Wanderings lead the guy to the Aogiri group. There are ghouls who decide to enslave the planet. But the CCG organization is also emerging. This is a center created by people, opposing the ghouls. There are also peaceful ghouls that frequent the Anteiku Cafe. Kaneki Ken must take sides. He must make his own choice.
For the anime "Tokyo Ghoul" voice actors were invited. These are special Japanese performers who voice anime characters. All the characters have great voices. The series has its own atmosphere, which immerses the viewer in the world of confrontation between ghouls and ordinary people.
Being an ordinary person, Kaneki Ken is a quiet and modest guy. He trusts people and loves to read. He has a friend. This is Toka Kirishima - a 16-year-old girl, a ghoul. Toka works at the Anteiku cafe. She doesn't allow the ghoul inside her to come out. Therefore, ordinary people have no idea who Toka is. The girl trains Kaneki Ken so that he can stand up for himself. But when Tohka becomes a ghoul, she loses control of herself.
Does not know the feelings of fear and mercy. Her family died because of the CCG. Another girl, Ridze Kamishiro, is one of the strongest and most terrible ghouls. She is very resourceful and knows how to ingratiate herself. The CCG doesn't even hunt for her, as she covers her tracks perfectly. She once attacked Kaneki Ken, but died in the process. Doctors then took her organs to transplant them into Kan. So he became a ghoul.
Nishiki Nishio studies with Kaneki. He knows how to fight well. Being a ghoul, the guy doesn't like alien ghouls. As a person, he has the mask of a talented and diligent student. The leader of the Anteyka cafe community is Yoshimura. He's also a ghoul. His society is peaceful and does not want to kill people. Kaneki has a good friend, Hideyoshi Nagachika. He is cheerful, sociable, easily adapts to people, which is why he was able to accept the terrible truth about Kaneki Ken. Works part-time at the CCG.
How does Tokyo Ghoul end? Arima is hunting Kaneki Ken. He was nicknamed the White God of Death. He defeated Kaneki, but did not kill him, but deprived him of his memories. Taught him the profession of an investigator.
Video games have been created based on Tokyo Ghoul. For example, a role-playing game is made on a cell phone running the Android system. In addition, a Japanese film with actors was shot in 2021. Tokyo Ghoul fans are known to favor manga, and the value of anime is hotly debated on forums.
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Characters
The characters were never the main problem of Tokyo Ghoul . On the contrary, they were one of the main ways in which the title could be elevated to the category of outstanding. After all, essentially, there are enough good characters in Tokyo Ghoul , but there have always been problems with their development - there simply wasn’t enough screen time to give it to all the interesting characters. And it would be logical to assume that in the second and third seasons this flaw will be corrected by revealing the characters already shown... but no. Both in Tokyo Ghoul √A and in Tokyo Ghoul:re , instead of using ready-made resources, the writers decided to throw packs of new heroes at the viewer. In almost every episode, five or even ten new characters appear that you need to remember. And they are needed only to flash on the screen for a few minutes and then disappear into oblivion. And now attention, the question is - why? What's the point of this? What kind of empathy can we talk about if you see the hero for a couple of minutes at best? The only interesting thing about the new heroes may be their appearance, but this is clearly not enough to justify their presence in the title.
On the other hand, some characters in Tokyo Ghoul:re did receive their share of attention. But I would also call the choice of these heroes controversial. So, throughout a significant portion of the series, the viewer has to follow the mental torment of Haise , who, to put it mildly, does not impress with originality - another guy who is kind to everyone with amnesia, which appeared to him without any explanation. I never thought I'd say this, but in past seasons, Kaneki Ken's personality wasn't that bad. Everything is relative. Another central character is Kuki Urie - an arrogant, cold guy who wants to become better than everyone else and show the world who is boss. Alya budget Sasuke. Oh, and how can we not mention the effeminate, modest Tooru Mutsuki with an eyepatch, or the pink-haired lady with a crazy smile - just an example of originality... Of the new characters, the only good ones were the guy with shark teeth Ginshi Shirazu and Lolya Saiko Yonebayashi , which, despite being corny, was at least funny. Among other bright moments, I’ll name the rare appearances of characters from the first and second seasons on the screen - after all, nostalgia played a role, and it was nice to know the fate of familiar characters. So, we were pleased with the appearance of Juuzou Suzuya or the good old aristocrat Shu Tsukiyama , who turned out to be the only truly revealed character during the season. Well, Touka Kirishima – she has always been a cutie. However, such faded reflections of progress did not at all correct the overall depressing picture.
Plot
In order to understand the deplorability of the situation, let's plunge into history and try to remember how the atmosphere around the epic about ghouls changed during the first two seasons. So, as you already know, Tokyo Ghoul is based on a manga by Sui Ishida . A good, dynamic and interesting manga that has many fans all over the world. Therefore, when the release of the first season of the anime was announced, they were excited and joyful - finally, their favorite manga was being filmed. However, after the broadcast of the first season, the viewership split into two camps: those who read the manga were dissatisfied with the fact that many important details in the anime were not touched upon or were considered only in passing - this is not surprising, because in one episode of the anime the writers managed to cram in 8-10 manga chapters. Those viewers who were not familiar with the manga were generally satisfied, because the anime turned out to be atmospheric, beautiful and quite interesting. This explains the decent ratings on various major sites - after all, there were several times more viewers who were not familiar with the manga. However, then everything went awry: after seeing good ratings, Studio Pierrot decided to release a second season called Tokyo Ghoul √A . But instead of drawing conclusions and correcting the mistakes of the first season, enhancing its merits, they decided not to stick to the plot of the manga and came up with something of their own - awkward and stupid. Here, even people who had not heard about the existence of the manga began to suspect that something was wrong with the franchise. This is also the reason for the much lower ratings for the second season. However, this did not bother the most devoted fans...
The Tokyo Ghoul franchise has a huge fan base, which is both its strength and weakness. Power, because fans provide anime creators with attention and money, which means the studio has the resources to create sequels. A weakness, because many Tokyo Ghoul fans turn out to be so devoted that they are ready to completely turn a blind eye to any existing shortcomings, of which in the anime there is a carriage and a small cart. I myself have encountered this many times and was surprised. But since the fans are happy, then why develop? Why go down a complex path of risks and potential losses when you can continue to sculpt controversial sequels that will be swallowed anyway? Why develop characters and write an adequate plot when you can add more blood, simple drama, nudity and madness , put a high age limit so that the young audience has a feeling of “forbidden fruit” - and voila, increased attention to the work is guaranteed , the crowd applauds and applauds. In the pursuit of popularity (it must be said, successful - few anime fans have not heard of Tokyo Ghoul), quality suffers greatly , and so creations like the second and third seasons of Tokyo Ghoul are born. Here is an excellent example of the degradation of a work, associated with low demands from fans and a sky-high threshold of trust.
Even if this is subjective, the storyline in Tokyo Ghoul:re really seemed banal and uninteresting to me. Half of the series is dedicated to a guy with the “well, finally acknowledge me, senpai” syndrome, and the other is a hodgepodge in which only the last three episodes . Even the fact that the season was again based on the manga did not help improve the situation. I literally had to force myself to watch each new episode with a significant effort of will. There is no dynamics in the title - even the battles, which were one of its strong points, have now turned into performances unfolding according to one scenario. CCG and Aogiri attack each other in droves, the main characters kill various nameless pawns in batches, who fight worse than NPCs in fighting games on easy difficulty, then a couple of strong heroes meet each other, chat about life, fight and go their separate ways. Well, a couple of minor characters die. Cool, whatever you say. At the same time, neither the abilities of ghouls are shown in all their glory, nor how they manage them and why they are so strong. And the shonen-style chatter completely kills any action. Add to this the overall slow pace of the story, with minimal events happening in each episode, and a huge number of characters that you need to remember - and you get a list of the main problems of Tokyo Ghoul:re . And the advantages... I practically didn’t notice them. The only thing I liked was the ending, which gives hope that the next season will be more successful. Another bonus is that in the last three episodes the battles have become more dynamic. But how long, damn it, I had to wait for them, forcing myself to wade through the abyss of mediocrity and despondency. Don’t think - I love Studio Pierrot , because it was she who gave us Naruto , Bleach , Great Teacher Onizuka and many other famous and cool titles, but in the case of Tokyo Ghoul, everything somehow didn’t work out yet again.
Don't interfere, she will eat you! Review of Tokyo Ghoul.
If you have ever appeared in media entertainment, then rest assured that your popularity is not far off. This industry is capable of making anyone and anything. You don’t have to look far for examples: until the 60s, no one cared about zombies, but with the advent of the movie “Night of the Living Dead,”
they became more and more popular until everyone knew about them.
The same fate befell the ghouls. After the release of Fallout,
many learned about these creatures.
Although, their popularity did not increase much from this, even taking into account other works in which ghouls appeared. However, at some point the situation changed, and fame still came to these monsters. And all this thanks to one ghoul, Tokyo
Ghoul
” .
Cover of the first volume of the manga.
The original manga was written by Sui Ishida.
.
In 2010, he competed in the 113th Young Jump
and came in second place (I tried looking for a 1st place entry but couldn't find one).
The following year, this work, a one-shot "Tokyo Ghoul", was published in Weekly Young Jump
.
A little later, a manga based on the plot of the one-shot began to be published. By 2014, it had become very popular, breaking sales records for the magazine. At the same time, she also received an anime adaptation from the Pierrot
(
Naruto
,
Bleach
,
Great Teacher Onizuka
,
YuYu Hakusho
,
The Twelve Kingdoms
).
The director was Shuhei Morita
and the screenwriter
was Chuji Mikasano
.
The anime was released on July 4, 2015. I don’t remember exactly when I met the ghoul, but by that time both seasons had definitely already come out. An acquaintance recommended it to me, saying that it was similar to Parasite ( Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu
) and
Elfen Lied
.
I am not familiar with the first one to this day. I heard that the anime was made from an old manga, and the series was developed by the studio Madhouse
. But I’m familiar with the song and I don’t like it at all. Because of this, my first acquaintance was with great skepticism.
The plot tells about an alternative world, where at some point creatures appeared that began to be called ghouls
.
They look exactly like humans, but are very different from them. Those are stronger, faster, less susceptible to pain and physical damage, have increased regeneration and more developed senses. Ghouls are able to turn their eyes black and their pupils red (This is all called kakugan, but this is just for reference). They also have a unique organ, the kagune, but I will touch on it in more detail a little later. All inedible food is poison for them. Their diet itself is extremely narrow. They can feed on three things: coffee, people and other ghouls. Coffee can only suppress hunger, and not everyone will want to eat their own kind. As you understand, the only source of food for most ghouls is people, which is why the confrontation and survival of the two species begins. The main character is Kaneki Ken
.
He was an ordinary freshman, but everything changes when he meets Rize Kamishiro
.
Ken fell in love with a girl and they started dating. But when they were left alone, he finds out that she is a ghoul. As it turned out, Rize looked at Kaneki solely as a tasty piece of meat, and everything she did was necessary to bring Ken to a deserted place, to a construction site at night. Everything would have gone as she planned if construction beams had not suddenly fallen on her and she had not died. Kaneki remains alive, but while Rize was chasing him and playing (clarification, so as not to think too much, she was playing like a lion with an antelope), many of his organs were damaged. He ends up in a hospital, where they decide to transplant the girl’s remaining organs. The operation was successful and Kaneki escaped death for the second time. However, the transplantation of a ghoul's organs into a human body does not remain an unnoticeable event for him. He has lost the opportunity to eat regular food, since it now tastes no better to him than garbage. Kaneki has become a ghoul (more precisely, a half-breed) and now he is able to eat only human meat. While he was walking down the street, not knowing what to do, Ken gets into another scrape. He is rescued from the situation by Touka Kirishima
, a girl he had seen earlier who works in a cafe Kaneki frequently visits (If you have an idea that our protagonist is doing nothing at all in the events taking place around him, then do not miss it, it will come in handy) .
She also turns out to be a ghoul, like the manager of the cafe, Cousin Yoshimura
.
They invite him to join the Anteiku
, which helps ghouls who are unable to feed themselves. Kaneki agrees and from here his new life begins.
First opening.
I do not even know where to start. I think it’s better to talk about more clear-cut things first, and then understand the more obscure ones. By the way, now we will only talk about the first season. About the second next.
At close angles, the characters look good, but as soon as the camera moves away a little, their faces begin to distort unnaturally. Sometimes there are some twitches during dialogues, and in some places the characters’ mouths open, let’s say, strangely. All this occurs, but not too often, and otherwise everything is fine and the ghoul is visually pleasing. I especially liked how the backgrounds and scenery were drawn.
What I didn’t like was the presence of the word “horror” in the list of genres for this anime. The events that take place may create an atmosphere and cause discomfort, but not fear or fright. I would consider this a negative if I saw attempts to scare me. That is, I did not notice such moments. Most likely, the publishers, seeing that the anime/manga was a little like horror, decided to put this label on it to reach a larger audience, or I don’t know something else. If it is not perceived as horror, there are no problems.
Music gives and maintains the atmosphere. I enjoyed listening to it, especially the theme from the first opening – Unravel.
I also liked this OST. I know it's from the second, but looking ahead, the music in the second season is at the same level as in the first. Therefore, does it matter what he is from?
And now we move on to the slippery slope - the plot component. On the one hand, the story is interesting to follow. It touches on and reveals the theme of survival well. Eating people is, to a greater extent, not a whim of ghouls, but a need. But this is not a reason for people to let themselves be torn to pieces. There are heroes and villains in both camps, which is why it is impossible to call some conventionally black and others conventionally white. On the other hand, there are just as many interesting and well-done characters here as there are boring and poorly written ones. Moreover, the main problem here is that the latter includes Kaneki, the main character, the character from whom we follow what is happening most of the time, and with whom we should empathize most of all. Did I say problem? I meant "catastrophe". We know little about him, he whines and cries a lot when it is not appropriate (Just in case, I am not complaining specifically about the crying and whining itself, in appropriate places I have no complaints about him). But the worst thing is that he does almost nothing himself. There are exceptions, but almost all of them are made out of their minds (His roof is slightly turned). We can say that the plot simply leads him by the hand. Sometimes it felt like Touka was the main protagonist rather than Ken. And with such a main character until the end. No, I didn’t miss “the one”. Unexpectedly, in the last episodes, his backstory is revealed to us, some of his life principles change, and he begins to really do something. We can say that from that moment he was reborn. This explains why Kaneki was previously “no good”, such an artist of choice, but you still feel too much in this and some harshness. We were given no hint of such an outcome. If there were, I didn't see them. In addition, there are many different implausible and immersion-breaking elements and moments. For example, the construction of the world: here it looks exactly the same as ours. People walk around calmly, chatting about something and it doesn’t look strange. The city and streets also look unremarkable. What's wrong? Well, if I knew about the existence of creatures that feed on human flesh, and which are indistinguishable from ordinary people, hardly anyone would see me on the street, and my door and windows were locked under several locks and bars. I think that many would do the same or begin to suspect that any people are ghouls and create riots because of this. Or here's another one. Almost all ghouls wear masks to keep their “human” identities hidden. And everything would be fine if Kaneki didn’t have such a mask.
Maybe it's just my problem, but I think it really stands out. Also, I have a feeling that the mask covers the face too little, especially compared to other ghouls.
Let's move on to the battles. For battles, ghouls use the previously mentioned kagune organ, which often looks like some kind of tentacles. It can be located in one of four places in the back. Depending on the location, you can determine the type of ghoul. I could describe them all in detail, but it would be too long and unnecessary, so I will only say the most necessary. If anyone is interested in the details, here they are. Each species has its own abilities, unique traits and has an advantage over one of the species. People, or rather members of the "CCG"
(
“Commission of Counter Ghoul”
,
“Department for Combating Ghouls”
) can create weapons called quinques from the corpses of ghouls and their kagune. They are also divided into four of the same types. And now directly about the quality of battles. When I started rewatching the series for review and got to the battles, I had this reaction:
-... Oh yes, there’s not only dialogue here.
They look kind of spectacular, but at the same time very slow. The existence of a combat system does not affect their progress in any way. The only normal battle was at the end. It was the only thing that felt speed and at least some kind of choreography, dynamics and good staging. It's actually an interesting fight, but it doesn't bring the others to the same level.
Some might say that I was too critical of the series. And you know, maybe you're right. I won’t rant for too long, so I’ll say this: I have reasons to be critical of “Ghoul” that are not fair to him, but reasons nonetheless. Why the hell did I review it then? To this there is a very symbolically simple answer to cosmic stupor, which will dispel all questions in an instant - because I wanted to. In short, I want to give the series some extra points for balance. To make it clearer, taking them into account, the series is commendable. In fact, I don’t like to give ratings, especially using someone else’s rating system, but exceptions have to be made.
However, I would like to remind you that all these words refer to the first season, but what about the second, Tokyo Ghoul √A? The fights became much more dynamic and more exciting, but the plot fell through the cracks. The absurdity of what is happening and the lack of logic is present almost everywhere. The same bullshit with the characters. Especially with the main character, who decided (Spoiler, spoiler) to defect to the enemy. Why? They don't tell. Any guesses? There are, but they come out of thin air, so to hell with them. Everything else in the second season (Music, animation, etc.) is done at the same level, but this does not save it at all.
Some time after my first viewing of the entire anime, an acquaintance (already different) convinced me to read the manga aaaand... I once again understood why the “READ THE MANGA” meme appeared. As it turned out, the manga has the same plot as the anime, but only revealing some things in more detail and exactly until the second season. In the manga, everything is written at least logically and there are no those absurd scenes from √A. Why did I tell you about this? Just so you can draw certain conclusions. And which ones exactly are up to you to decide.
It's time to take stock. If you evaluate the series as a whole, then I would not recommend you to watch it. As for the manga, I'll keep my opinion to myself. I haven’t watched the third season, although I know its plot, so I have nothing to say about it. If you think that I unfairly threw dirt at and abused a masterpiece of universal scale, or, conversely, that I praised ordinary garbage to the angelic heavens, then write about it. I'm interested in another point of view. In any case, I am a Naruto fan, which means my opinion has no weight (I hope this will at least reassure you).
Thank you for your attention! Good luck and all the best to everyone!
tokyo ghoul, review, anime, Tokyo ghoul
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Panache
That's it, Tokyo Ghoul never had any problems with the graphical component. And the third season was no exception: yes, in some places you can notice a deterioration in the originality of camera angles and the elaboration of small details in close-ups like hair and facial features, and especially in the staging of battles, which have now been simplified, but the overall graphical level still remains at its best. Excellent character design , which is especially important with such a large number of them; high-quality background images ; as well as an atmospheric color scheme – the picture is not lacking in darkness. Still, Gul’s problems do not lie in his panache.
Music
Pleasant symphonic and meditative electronic compositions fit perfectly into the atmosphere of Tokyo Ghoul. Beautiful, melodic background music, coupled with competent visuals, made the title the way it should be - tense and intriguing. If the music in Tokyo Ghoul:re had also sagged, then that’s it, the title could safely be thrown into the trash. However, Yutaka Yamada , who, by the way, was the composer in the previous seasons of Ghoul, honestly worked his bread as a composer. Some people could use a lesson from him. The opening of asphyxia performed by Cö shu Nie was made in the tradition of the famous opening of the first season - the muffled voice of the soloist and a melodious but jagged sounding melody. Even though I have never been a fan of this style of performance, I have to admit that it sounds fresh - better than standard modern openings. The ending HALF performed by Ziyoou-vachi turned out to be good, but nothing more.
The popular phrase "1000-7" is a simple mathematical example from the anime "Tokyo Ghoul"
The mathematical example “1000-7” for social network users does not equal 993, but sadness. It comes from the anime Tokyo Ghoul, which tells the story of Ken Kaneki, an 18-year-old student who becomes a half-ghoul, a monster that eats human flesh. In the first season of the series, Jason, the main character's opponent, so that he does not lose consciousness during torture, forces him to subtract seven from 1000, and then from the resulting number, and so on. In the end, Ken Kaneki manages to defeat the tormentor, and it is he who speaks the phrase.
Therefore, the phrase has become firmly associated with suffering for anime fans. And soon it migrated into the vocabulary of those fans of “Tokyo Ghoul” who love to play MMORPG Dota 2, as Medialeaks previously wrote about. Ruthless and cold-blooded gamers who call themselves ghouls say that they are dead inside, put Kaneki Ken on their avatars and write “1000-7” in chats.
Then the phrase “1000-7”, which became a meme among dota players, was adopted by many social network users. Young people use it to tweet about their sadness.
