I didn’t realize it until I re-read my post on the finale of Tokyo Ghoul √A after watching this episode, but funnily enough I was in Kansai and about to leave when that finale aired. Now I’m just back (about 30 miles away) and so is Tokyo Ghoul, in yet another new and barely recognizable format. You can’t, it seems, ever get just the series with Tokyo Ghoul – you have to get the whole menagerie of complicated nonsense and confusion that goes along with it. It’s another massively popular manga that seems, for some reason, destined to never receive a straight, linear adaptation.
Part of that, I think, is Ishida-sensei’s fault, as he seems so addicted to re-framing and alternative takes and other such tomfoolery. Part of it is just ill treatment though, undeniably – which is funny to say, since the first two seasons were blessed with direction from Morita Shouhei, who for my money is one of the half-dozen most brilliant anime directors in the world. But he, too, has been ill-treated – by the whole Tokyo Ghoul experience. Apparently he and Ishida were more or less on the same page with “Root A”, but constantly dealt with corporate meddling from the production committee. And then, with a resounding “fuck it”, Morita-sensei delivered a glorious, elegiac finale that will rank as one of the most beautiful anime episodes ever made and apparently said goodbye to the Tokyo Ghoul franchise forever.
Sadly, that whole experience seems to have soured Morita on TV anime to the point where he’s said goodbye to that forever, too – which is a huge loss for all of us who love it. That’s not Tokyo Ghoul’s fault (though a lot of its ungrateful fans have mercilessly vilified Morita), but there’s no denying it’s a huge loss for it, too – at least for me. Morita’s genius shone through even through all the troubles that plagued the first two seasons, and its absence sticks out like a sore thumb when watching Tokyo Ghoul:re. It looks very plain and uninspired, prosaic rather than poetic. And given what a mess the story is, that’s a big loss.
This series is massively popular in manga form – and that’s no overstatement. It’s huge – right at the top of the “everything but One Piece” sales charts every year. I sort of get it – there’s a real sense of style, in the sense that Ishida has created something singular and distinctive. His mythology is very well-defined and fleshed out. But for me, Tokyo Ghoul has always been a great premise executed in mediocre fashion – and that’s setting aside the anime’s checkered history. I gave up on the manga a good while ago – which means much of what happens in “re” is a blur. But I’m used to that with Tokyo Ghoul – there’s never been a time when I haven’t found this story overwritten and difficult to follow.
I’m going to assume (and this seems to be what I’m hearing) that Tokyo Ghoul:re is more or less faithfully following the manga this time. Whether it is or not, it basically amounts to another reboot. Some time has passed since the raid at Anteiku (judging by Hinami’s appearance, maybe 2-3 years) and Kaneki seems to have been recast as “Sasaki Haise“, the head of the Quinx Squad. Not only is Hanae Natsuki voicing both roles but he’s not even bothering to use a different voice, so it seems safe to assume he’s the same person – but somehow, Kaneki is buried deep in his memories somewhere. OK, that’s fine – whatever.
The intro storyline is a fairly standard gritty cop story, where everyone is out to try and capture a ghoul called “Torso” (his M.O. explains the name) who turns out to be a taxi driver. There are nods and allusions to the original mythology, certainly, though exactly how this reality connects to that one (and who survived the Root A finale, assuming this isn’t some kind of alternate reality) isn’t clear yet. Several new characters are introduced, mostly members of Sasaki’s squad. It’s quite competent, though there’s nothing about the episode or its execution that stands out – and it feels like it has a couple of minutes of wasted space in the middle, as it takes too long to get where it’s going.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Ishida (like most young mangaka) is a huge admirer of Togashi Yoshihiro – so much so that he wrote a (very good) Hisoka origin story one-shot, in fact. I think what Togashi-sensei does could be called overwriting a lot of the time – if it weren’t Togashi doing it, because he’s probably the only living mangaka who has the chops to pull it off. Ishida, frankly, doesn’t – I think his ambition is clear to see, but much of the time he simply bites off more than he can chew and the result is needlessly confusing and/or artificial. So when we get an adaptation that’s faithful to the manga, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be better or even coherent – and I think Morita’s boundless creative flair is going to be sorely missed. I’ll certainly stick with Tokyo Ghoul:re for a while, because warts and all this franchise still has more style and substance than 90% of anime out there, but I’d be lying if I said I was expecting anything too memorable from it.
Kintil Anime
April 4, 2018 at 7:58 amThanks
GC
April 4, 2018 at 9:28 amWhat was up with that blond woman punching him in the stomach as a punishment?
sonicsenryaku
April 4, 2018 at 2:24 pmThis first episode blew threw six chapters of the re: manga. That would be fine if the chapters themselves didn’t have valuable content to adapt but they sort of did. I’m pretty sure this rushing of the material was done to squeeze in a few more action scenes and reach that cliffhanger. What’s more is that this season is slated for 12 eps and from the opening, it looks like they are going to try to cover 60 chapters worth of material, some of which are pretty dense and would need an episode to cover 2 chapters.
It’s like higher management didn’t learn anything from what happened with the first two seasons of TG. At the end of the day, this anime is serving purely to advertise the manga. This is still a rushed product and while i don’t think Odahiro Watanabe is even close to Morita’s league, he is probably being reigned in by the corporate big wigs as well to make the anime a certain way. To be honest, the cards were always stacked against re: as a story for three reasons: 1. we’re handling the content of re:; which while okish to good in its own right, is a step down from part 1 of tokyo ghoul. The character writing is less meticulous and genuine and the narrative structure is not as cohesive as it was in part 1. 2. the art and animation this season is a step down from season 1. I’ve seen so many people claiming that the art and animation of the first ep was gorgeous and flawless and i can only sit here and wonder if i have entered some bizarro land; perhaps it’s still april fools and it turns out that i’m trapped in this groundhog scenario; everyone is in on the joke but me. Season 1 wasn’t a paragon of animation but it looked better than this. I don’t want to make it sound like the visuals were complete trash in this ep but they were not excellent…i wouldn’t even call them good; this is pierrot’s average output, pure and simple. 3. Re: forgot that the heart of tokyo ghoul was Kaneki’s and his relationship with anteiku, particularly that of Touka. Maybe saying it forgot is a little too much but it’s like Ishida forgot how to weave that theme of family more heavily into his narrative as he began to rely more on shocking twist and outlandishly dark moments with not much weight.
Guardian Enzo
April 4, 2018 at 4:03 pmThe 12 episode thing is mystifying. This manga is just as big as Shingeki no Kyojin, pretty much. Some series just seem to have been born under a bad sign when it comes to adaptation.
sonicsenryaku
April 4, 2018 at 5:23 pmtch, you’re telling me….the thing is TG isn’t even a structurally complex manga to translate to anime form. i’ve seen some make the argument that it’s “complexity” is why it suffers bad adaptation and all i can think is “No…all you need is a group of people with the right vision and the defenestration of the mindset for the anime to serve as a vessel for advertisement”
The wild guesser
April 4, 2018 at 2:50 pmYou said that Togashi is the only living mangaka whose able to effectively “overwrite”. What other mangaka of the past could also be considered skillful in this regard?
Guardian Enzo
April 4, 2018 at 4:02 pmTezuka, ROFL.
Zane Araki
April 6, 2018 at 2:12 amWell said, Enzo.
Currently how I feel about the adaptation. I’m not a fan of Ishida’s writing style in :re, he started anew with an amnesiac protagonist surrounded by characters we barely knew about. And then the lack of old characters appearance.
I think it had potential of showing the TG universe from the humane perspective (CCG), but the result is quite.. strange. It’s like I’m being thrown into an alternate timeline that had nothing to do with the builds-up from the big raid. Everything almost feel like it’s happening off-screen. Like, how are Touka and Yomo adjusting before they open up :re cafe? Or how Hinami struggles to continue her path without her oni-chan and onee-san by her side? I would’ve probably enjoyed it more if Ishida showed supporting characters progress before focusing on Sasaki, since I care for the characters. But the story suddenly jump to a new setting, and therefore I feel disconnected as a reader, and now as a watcher.
Story aside, the designs are a bit hard to get into, and the scenes felt rather flat to me. It lose that touch that is apparent in TG but I’m not sure what it is.
Tinydluffy
April 8, 2018 at 10:30 pmI think that the major problem with every Tokyo Ghoul adaptation will always be the way they try to make it fit into the shonen mold when it’s clearly a seinen. Tokyo Ghoul it’s not about the fights it’s about the characters. I personaly love re:’s manga and I’m just gonna watch the anime to hear the OST.