Tokyo Ghoul

*This review covers both seasons, and contains spoilers.*

This show was terrible. I guess I was expecting a lot going into this anime, and I wanted to like it so badly but every time I think about it I just can't. I might have mixed up this show and Tokyo Ghoul Root A in this review but I hope you can overlook that because I see them as the same show. I guess I'll do this review systematically as well just to be fair.

Story: 1/10
I guess it started off with a pretty good idea, but the farther I got into the story the less faith I ... had in it. I'm trying hard to be as blunt as possible here but it really made very little sense. Characters would go somewhere for a very vague reason and at the end of the arch it would still be unclear what they were doing there and what had been accomplished. Kagune's and Quinques were not explained at all, and there was no development in the origin of ghouls; there was just a deficiency of reason in anything that happened in the plot.
I am not the kind of person who likes fighting in anime because it doesn't progress the plot or character development or anything really. Fighting needs to have a really high quality of animation like what we see in Fate/Stay Night or martial art style like Avatar for me to enjoy it. Tokyo Ghoul's fighting animation really didn't impress me and there was quite a lot of it, which left me with a lot of moments thinking about what they were doing and if that scene needed to be that long. The scenes had a painfully low amount of frames, and it made me cringe how badly they were animated.
My other piece of criticism with the fighting is that it really doesn't match the theme of ghouls very much, who I thought were supposed to be hidden among the masses of Tokyo, and expected something much more like a "wolf among us" kind of violence. Instead it was a hack and smash, storm-trooper level accuracy gunfight. There was one part that still bothers me to this day (SPOILER).
(SPOILER) Amon, a squishy human with a melee weapon, is fighting two ghouls, who are supposedly knife proof, super fast, have teeth that can rip a man apart, and have tails that can also rip a man apart. Two ghouls. One man. Amon suddenly has a flashback to something his teacher says: "in a toe to toe battle, a human will always lose to a ghoul. So be sly. Be sneaky." With that being said (remembered, thought, whatever) Amon reveals that his sword can split in half and he defeats each ghoul with each sword. How could a squishy man defeat two ghouls with close range weapons in the middle of a losing fight? Secondly you're already in the fight, it's already too late to be sneaky. Sneaky is dressing an animal up in your clothes and releasing it as you make your getaway to make the enemy think you transformed. Sneaky is wading underwater breathing through a blow gun with a poison blow dart until twilight and assassinating their ass while they're drinking tea under the gazebo. Sneaky is covering yourself in a rock shaped blanket and waiting to shank their ass when they least expect it. In no way is splitting your sword in two sneaky. (SPOILER END)
(SPOILER END)
I'm sorry for digressing so much but that part just made no sense and it still bothers me just thinking about it. I have a feeling it's meant to be a long anime like Naruto or One Piece so they thought they had time to answer questions in the future, but they just left me confused and now I'm not going to watch that far. I spent way too much time being confused by the story of this anime.

Art: 3/10
I'll say this right at the beginning: the style of this anime was amazingly good. The dark, night-lit Tokyo where ghouls with awesome kagune's lurk in the shadows left a good impression on me when the title of the show appeared during the theme song. I was completely enchanted by the idea of ghouls, their cool looking masks fighting special police forces.
But the drawing was a complete let down. The characters were crudely drawn, the frame rate was painfully low, the extras were not believable.
The style and the idea was mind-blowing, but the execution was terrible. I chose this rating because it has the word that best describes my impression of the art: poor. Giving this rating makes me sad that I don't like this show.

Sound: 10/10
The theme songs were absolutely mind-blowing. The lyrics, genre and sound were all appropriate to the show. The sound during the show was not really that impressive, but the opening and closing themes were good enough to pull my rating to a 10. Even if you don't watch the anime, it's worth it to check them out.

Character: 3/10
I really didn't like Kaneki. He was so stupid and a lot of the time I was wondering how he was still alive. He's a ghoul but doesn't want to eat meat. I understand you don't want to eat your own kind, but I'm sorry if you don't eat you die, and you should be dead. Same with Amon. I see that he is insanely buff and manly, but there is no excuse that he should be able to fend off a lightning fast centipede kagune who is literally balls to the wall bat-shit crazy, can smell the sweat on your balls while you can't even see in the smoke, can rip your throat out with his toenails, while you're only wielding two little sticks.
Putting stupid characters who really should be dead aside, there were a bunch of characters that left me wondering: why are you here? Examples being Touka's bffl, Kaneki's bffl, every member of Aogiri Tree, half the members of Anteiku, and last but not least, pretty much everyone on the police force. These characters have zero development, serve as pretty much filler in the plot, and do absolutely nothing except get crudely drawn.

Enjoyment: 3/10
I did enjoy parts of Tokyo Ghoul like how each ghoul had a different kagune and different mask, and there was a moment that nearly touched my heart when they showed us that ghouls had feelings too, but the next rating level was called "decent" and I'm afraid this show fell short of that.

Overall: 2/10
"Dreadful" is a great word for me to describe this with. As much as I wanted to enjoy this show, I was let down. For those of you who rated it highly I wish I could see what you see. I even watched Root A hoping it would get better but I wasted my time. Don't watch this show unless you want to support crappy work.

I am going to start off by saying that no anime is perfect. everyone has a favorite(s) series, but even then the viewer will find faults. I will follow this statement by saying that Tokyo Ghoul is also not perfect. I will also say that it is one heck of a series. The music is beautiful. the opening theme is by far the best and can make you want to do the impossible. the character voices and development were casted and executed perfectly for this thrilling horror. Unlike many other horrors (cough cough deadman wonderland) the entire thing is not filled with pointless amounts of ... blood, guts, and agonizing screams. You will develop an emotional bond in some way or another to Kaneki Ken, even if it doesn't occur till the season finale. I don't know how to describe Kaneki ken other then saying that he is every characteristic rolled into one. he has a part of him that everyone can relate to. whether it be his nerdy book lover side, his badass white haired he-did-not-deserve-this- side, his cannibalistic insect of horror side, or his team mom side shown in Tokyo Ghoul:re, everyone can relate to the poor kid.

What is bothering most people about this series, is the fact that if you did not read the manga the series becomes VERY CONFUSING. characters start popping up out of the blue and mean nothing to the actual plot of the anime! Also, if all else fails Kaneki will either be found smiling or crying. THERE IS NO IN BETWEEN. also after season one, the anime parts ways from the manga and does not have any similarities until the final battle. NOTHING THAT HAPPENS IS SEASON 2 IS RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!! it bugs me to no end.

The reason I am rating this so high is because the entire series (anime and manga) are amazing. yes its not perfect but its definitely worth wasting your time on! it will always be my favorite series. PLEASE WATCH THIS ANIME!!!!! but if all else fails.......



READ THE FREAKING MANGA YOU WEEABOOS

It set up really well to then leave the scene, and give the spotlight to the angsty pizza boy.

The show started out looking promising but failed to keep a good pacing. It gave one of the most forced and painfully pretentious protagonists I've seen.
It keeps trying to convince you you should like him, although his timid and naive nature is just too unconvincing. The show then wants you to believe his Jesus transformation syndrome, which is a thing that's always really corny but it's done really poorly here by not even having the story events really arc into this transformation and character development. Which ... comes off as (a thing very common in anime) the creator's self-insertion. When you can't mistake the feeling, of the artist trying very hard to live out his fantasy through a fictional character in their own personal project. Usually this character will come off as lacking depth or any sort of realistic reaction to what happens around them. Which leaves the viewer with a feeling that they're just looking at someone's personal ego boosting. This protagonist is the big problem, but sadly not the only problem.

Tokyo Ghoul started out really well. It had an interesting idea and a first episode that really paced itself well. It was shrouded in mystery that gave you the sense of "All will soon be revealed to you". All was indeed revealed. With little to no fanfare whatsoever. It was explained in a manner as if what is going on here is as normal as drinking your morning coffee. And it comes off with the message that they're just different, and you shouldn't hate others for being different. Insert a whiney "Don't judge me!" here. The show really hammers in how pretentious it is, and I'm pretty sure the writers are completely unaware of it.

There was something of potential here, there really was. But it casts away society and the general public view on this problem of ghouls living in the city. After the first episodes it all shrinks into this really small world. Just a couple of small groups of people, and gives the spotlight completely to characters that are frankly not strong enough to carry the show home. It would really have been nice if the show had kept consistent for one thing, but even more importantly, treated its premise with care. It starts out like it should, addressing the existence of ghouls as a problem to society. But it shrugs it off and just becomes small gang skirmishes... and barely even. We don't get any reason to why the ghouls even exist. There's no endeavor to make the viewer actually care about what's happening. This should've had a bigger plot. It's just a series of small forgettable events, and no plot.

Its art style is pretty nice... the animation is pretty good too. Nothing amazing but it's good enough. What I really think is done well in Tokyo Ghoul is lighting. Lighting, shading and character outlines. The voice acting isn't really anything to critize either.

The opening sequence was decent with a decent song, but the real feast, is the ending sequence, that sets a tone the show in general should've tried to mimic. The songs fit the aesthetic really well.

So to sum it up. Tokyo Ghoul had something going for it. If it had just treated its premise with better care. But the main problem is an extremely lacking protagonist that steals the show, but has nothing to show for it.

Everything problem in this entire anime stems from one simple fact: Too few episodes.

If this series were a 23 or 24 episode anime, actually hell, even a 16 episode series, this anime would be at least somewhere in the 200's on MAL & a definite better anime.

However, just to say before I continue, You should watch this series. It's incredibly entertaining and fascinating regardless of what i say or what anyone else says, because I'm going to be objective but i enjoyed this anime 10/10 so you shouldn't let anything anyone, including me, writes dissuade you. This anime is well worth it. ...

Anyway

The story suffers, not because the plot is weak but because it's too short. Many parts of the anime are too packed into one, especially the ending which is basically set up in the most retarded way possible. I wish i could write more than that, it almost feels like a disfavor not to, but anything else would be too close to spoilers but in a simple sentence, which is the best i can do & will allow: The ending sucks.
However, despite the story's incredibly jam fucking packed ridiculousness, It has great, and i mean GREAT, action scenes. Some are short due to length(again, this is already like the 4th problem due to 12 episode slot) & it is rather well portrayed, at least in the sense it's only 12 episodes. It certainly starts off well anyway.
In summary: Story not so great, it's okay, mah mah desu yanno?because 12 episodes.

Art: Art is fantastic. 100% great animation, no bad quality episodes(better not be with 12 fucking episodes) & the fight scenes are incredibly well animated.
Summary: Art good. Episode length not in effect. Wow.

Sound: Sound is pretty subjective but since most people are morons, I'm going to go ahead & say that the sound is amazing. It's nowhere near my favorite but at the very least, objectively, it's a 8/10. I gave it a 10/10 cause i loved it but still, it's great. Opening is a great song with a vivid animation which fits well with the show. Background music & OST good, not amazing but ranged from good to really good and always portrays scenes well, in fact in some scenes, the background music & OST does a fantastic job & you'll know when. AS for ending, I never watch the endings cause that's fucking pointless but it was okay. Nothing to download illegally. Also, I don't know if voice acting matters for sound? Some reviewers do it & that seems stupid because i dont think that has really anything to do with the sound MAL is referring to but in case I'm wrong, it was great. I mean, unless you're fluent in Japanese, are Japanese, or have lived there & either A or B apply to you, you will never be able to tell truly good foreign voice acting. But not to brag, but i am entirely fluent in Japanese, he he he, due to my major, that I can honestly say the voice acting is suberb, especially by Mamoryu miyano (you may remember him from Death note as Light, so yea, pretty fucking good).
AS for dub, I don't watch dub cause I'm not an uncultured lazy american.
Summary: Sound good, dub is for suckers.

Characters: Oooooooo, characters. Too many of them for such a short series. Way too many. which is funny. Cause there's like 13. Again, this is entirely due to length of series. Some characters undergo change, have opinions, feelings, (maybe like 4 or 5) etc etc but even then, their backgrounds are sporadic and few and far between, and when they do come in, they seem entirely out of place, almost like the writers were too lazy & shoved them in into a tiny opening. Then there's character you think will be important and they should be, but the 12 episode thing really fucks with them and then they're hardly given screen time. Like Kaneki(main boy) best friend. At first you're like, this nigga is about to be important. Then it's like "You seen that orange haired bitch?) & then the complete reverse is true but only in the sense they add characters way too late that are now incredibly important. Each of which is given no backstory at all. Basically, you only ever give a fuck about a few characters & that's just on their personalities and roles in the story. Not because they're great characters. If anything, the character department of Tokyo ghoul is the worst part and is a good reason it's ranked in the 400's.
Summary: Character's rarely given background info, thus, most suck and are either useless, become useless, or are now suddenly useful. Thanks 12 episodes. Who the fuck is in charge of these episode lengths anyway?

Enjoyment: 10/10 would bang. Also, many aspects of Tokyo ghoul are left unexplained. Because 12 episodes. (getting the theme here folks?). Many questions are raised, such as "Wtf is the CCG?" "Why do ghoul parts make humans ghouls?"(yea, that's technically a spolier but it's in the first episode & you'd have to be retarded to not know that judging by, hmm, synopsis by MAL, hearsay by people comparing it to Parasyte & the fucking opening) or "Why and where are their wards?" and finally "Where in the world is carmen santiago?"

Overall

All kidding aside, why did hitler kill himself? Because the jews sent him a gas bill.

Okay, last joke. Sorry. Anyway, I would watch this show. Well i have. So You should watch this show. It's great fun & it's short(really, haven't said that before) so knock it off in 2 days like i did. Or in 1 & save the rest for masturbating.

P.S Fuck you to all my haters who gunna say this wasn't helpful. This shit was helpful as fuck. Fuck you.

They take the manga and completely destroys the anime adaption. This show would have been so much better if it gotten a 24-26 episodes to start with which was to bad that it didn`t because the manga is actually pretty good in my opinion.

So i really recommend that you watch the anime first and then read the manga from start otherwise if you read the manga and then watch the adaption you will be hugely disappointed. Sorry for being so negative but its really hard to be positive when one of your favorite mangas get one of the worst anime adaptions.

In overall it's not an anime I'd would want to buy or watch over and over again, except for a few specific scenes. To me this adaptation feels like an insult to the manga and for the loyal fans of Tokyo Ghoul.

Episode one was fine, it can give you the impression that it's worth to try but afterwards it goes down hill. Too many character get thrown into the story too fast most of them get neglected until later on, which makes you wonder why the hell they introduced the characters so early.

Second the characterisation is well, terrible. While the manga shows Kaneki quite ... sharp on certain situations; like during the restaurant when he noticed something was strange with the coffee and already was wondering if it was a trap; in the anime he just walks into Tsukiyama's trap without any second thoughts. At least in the manga Kaneki had a reason for entering the restaurant. Another important note Hinami: Despite being still young she was able to pick up danger with just her nose, in the anime she just runs into a trap, also without second thought... great job girl; you're 13 not 6 use your brain for a while.

Also I found the scene with Yamori visiting Hinami's father to get his new torture object very pointless and having Mado and Amon on his heels didn't do any justice to it.

But if you just ignore or skip all the annoying useless talk and pointless complicated plot of the anime and watch only the fighting scenes, you'll probably like it, if you don't mind not knowing what's going on.

If you're just beginning to get into manga and anime I advice you to watch it, since the more experienced fans will be more fond of characterization and plot and for the fans who are already familiar with the manga, only episode 8 and 12 are worth watching.

(Edits done to this review are spelling and grammar errors only)

Tokyo Ghoul's anime seems to be a beautiful adaptation of the manga I didn't read. The graphics and the soundtrack are really beautiful, the atmosphere is rhythmic and a little anxious, the actions are fluid.

For the storyline, this anime is only the first part of the story. I'm watching the second season and I don't thus judge the whole work. This first season is rather quiet. The first episodes explain us perfectly the principle and the context in which the story takes place. The end is much gorier - without spoiler nobody- and it is the moment which I preferred. We see the evolution of ... the psychology of the main character and the others. That is what I expect from this kind of work.

I would say that this first season can be considered as a kind of "prologue" which introduces the second season which seems to be even better.

"Tokyo Ghoul" is an anime of the year 2014 based on the eponymous manga Sui Ishida.
The anime has a plot is not very attractive, in the sense that immediately attracts the viewer, or at least that is what I thought I, the person who likes splatter. The picture presents many problems, both technical and in terms of plot and presentation of the latter.
The plot: we are in a Tokyo where over humans in everyday life there are the "ghoul", the "ghoul" are and are not human beings, let me explain better, but they are humans with no human characteristics resistance as well above average, regeneration ... capacity and beyond, not deepen to avoid ending up in spoiler. And it is in this reality that the souls takes place. The protagonist Ken Kaneki will one day to flounder from being human to ghoul and here begins the story of the anime.
The plot has trouble setting level or there are parts very, very boring like the dialogue in "Cafè Anteiku" between the characters that are really unnecessary and boring parts, such as fighting, that could have been better but were a hole in the water. What this leads to is largely the poor quality of the animations from the studio Pierrot who not only organized the evil souls but also produced animations of high level at all; one of the reasons why many people are found to suspend the series, and I'd be lying if I said that I'm not even I was tempted but in the end I decided to go on, but you will be back after this speech.
The characters are not at all to remember with the typical protagonist "mollaccione" Kaneki, the typical girl strong and tough on the outside but tender and fragile inside, Touka, and various characters among which you could save Hide, friend of the protagonist, However, that has almost no importance in the history and conduct of the anime.
The technical sector as mentioned above is not the best with little animations cured and sometimes unnatural, but not too much to luck. As already stated before this is a big problem because a person from an anime of 2014 expects graphics and animations done in a certain way, certainly not perfect, but even rough. The voice acting is really poorly done except for the dubbing of Kaneki that is made well enough. The fund sound is bad and almost always annoying and does not help to give depth to the scenes, you can save but the opening that is cute.
Completed the review I can say that I do not recommend these souls especially to lovers of souls horror, splatter because most likely remain disappointed and instead I can say to those who do not fit the above categories to see it only if you have no more to see in the list.
Final score: 1.

After months away from the series leaving myself the last 2 episodes, I finally decided to go back and finish watching Tokyo Ghoul, and I'm really happy I did. I do think that all the hate it got is not hard to understand because people expected so much and felt let down. I would also like to mention that I have read the manga and do agree that as a whole it is much better than the anime series, but I still very much enjoyed watching it.

I think that most of TG's problems arise from the attempt at squeezing what is a well-paced longer ... story into a 12 episode program. This caused the pacing issues and the seemingly out of nowhere decisions and character development. You are thrown into a lot of what happens as opposed to being eased into it.

Story:

Tokyo Ghoul is about protagonist Kaneki Ken becoming very involved with ghouls. Ghouls are human-esque entities that are just like us... except they live off of only human flesh and the occasional cuppa joe. So they're monsters? The bad guys? ...that's the grey area that Tokyo Ghoul explores. What is bad anyway? These are the kind of questions you find yourself asking when you realise that many times their actions are simply the result of circumstance. The premise of the show intrigued me right off the bat and I knew I was in for a ride (albeit a rocky one here and there).

Art:

The art is great. The action sequences were beautifully animated. Many complains were about the unnecessary censorship, which I completely agree was pretty ridiculous but the uncensored version it out so yeah.

Sound:

I thought the soundtrack was very fitting and that OP is amazing. Coupled with the animation, that OP is definitely one of my favourites, it really put you in the mood for something epic.

Character:

I think the reason it's harder to have a connection with the characters and understand why they do certain things is because there wasn't enough time for the creators to flush them out due to how rushed the story was.

Overall, Tokyo Ghoul was pretty enjoyable. Wasn't as great as we knew it could've been, but it was fun. It may have felt like important build up was amiss but the ending was pretty satisfying and convinced me to check out season 2. If you are still unsure whether its for you, I'd recommend you check out the first few episodes and see for yourself, it could be hit or miss.

One of my many not-so-popular opinions is that this is one of the greatest "tame horror" animes of all time.

The first thing that caught me was the music. The title sequence and the song 'Unravel' are both beautiful, and masterfully expel a mild eerie feeling, not too much to deter the average anime watcher from continuing, but still enough to let you know that it's gonna get creepy.

The second thing that caught me is that even though this is a pretty gory anime, massive or obscene amounts of blood or gore are usually blacked out. You may be thinking, "well any horror cartoon can censor".. ... but personally, the animation style and the characters reactions to the horror in front of them is so much more subtle and, well terrifying in some cases if you're not de-sensitised to horror by now.

As much as I praise this series for it's creepy art, great music and animation style.. Some of the characters are just so dull. Although, sometimes this isn't such a bad thing, as the majority of the time it plays into the whole "emotionally exhausted" vibe that a lot of the characters give off. As great as that is, it does stunt the development of the story in the emotional aspect, which slows the anime down a bit. I didn't really see that as a bad thing though, but I know it annoys some people.

The main thing is, I absolutely love this anime. Mostly because of it's atmosphere and it's masterful use of censorship to tone down the gore. I'd really recommend this to people who are smack bang in the middle of the "scary scale" when it comes to fear factor.
For people who loved Deathnote, got enjoyably freaked out by Future Diary/Mirai Nikki, but aren't ready for the likes of Corpse Party or Deadman Wonderland. I'd recommend this to people who love outright gore and mildly psychopathic characters, but absolutely hate jump-scares like I do.

I've watched this anime several times over, completed the manga and am up-to-date on the current Manga and airing season before deciding to write this. This will be my first review I've ever written but i see Tokyo Ghoul as being something really worth doing this for.

Story- 8/10 - The story is well written and they do a great job taking from the manga, obviously things are gonna get left out or the time of an event may change but nothing to truly ruin or change the original story line. It stays enjoyable through its entirety, Throughout the series it has some very ... graphic parts that give it the horror feel but it's still a very enjoyable watch even for people not super into gore.

Art - 9/10 - The art is fantastic, not just the character's but the scenery as well. The different ghoul's kagune look awesome in color and motion ( especially Tohka's).

Sound - 10/10 - The music for this is just amazing i really cant praise it enough. The intro is the perfect song for this series, TK from Ling Tosite Sigure has a very unique sound to him and it just fits so well with this dark and unique story.

Character- 8/10 - The characters in this all have very unique personality's that you get to experience,They all become rather lovable , even the bad guys, While Kaneki may be the main character you really get a feel for a lot of the cast, who they are, what they like to do, their past, it feels like you're watching over a city as it's story about ghouls and investigators unfolds and not just watching 1 character go through life and the struggles that come with it.

Enjoyment - 9/10 - I personally really enjoyed this, enough to watch it several times over. The story is intriguing and there isn't a lot of filler like some anime's have. With only 12 episodes to work with in this season they did a great job keeping it interesting and moving the story along at a decent pace.

Overall this is a really great anime, i recommended reading the manga first then moving onto this and the next season so you can really get the full experience of what the author has to tell. I did my best to not do any spoilers ( which is tough cause i totally want to rant about this explaining why i rate this so high among everything i've seen, but no spoilers for you!)

I don't understand why it's so fucking hard to get an action show that's consistently entertaining. Of all the programmes I watched, Tokyo Ghoul is probably one of the few shows that actually made me feel like I was wasting my time watching it. "Oh, why didn't you drop it?" you might ask? Well for starters, I was actually following the programme as it was airing at the time (fun fact: I actually had the most upvoted preview at the time, but it got taken down because the show finished airing). But that isn't enough to truly explain why I so viscerally despise Tokyo Ghoul. ... Yeah, this show was beaten into the ground but I still got pent-up feelings of frustration that I need to vent.

I think the biggest reason as to why I fucking hate Tokyo Ghoul is because of how often it denied me my greatest pleasure as an anime viewer: intense action brimming with blood and broken bones. The first episode starts off with a ghoul feeding and then escaping, then it cuts to a REALLY nice opening sequence which then further sets the mood and I was just thinking to myself "aw yeah, this is gonna be awesome!" but then guess what happens? It cuts to some punk kid getting ready for his blind date and it isn't until half-way through the episode when we find out that his date was a ghoul. The ghoul tries to eat him, they get into an accident at some construction site, shit happens, and now the punk has the ghoul organs inside him. You know what that means, right? MORE BULLSHIT THAT GETS IN THE WAY OF THE ACTION!

A recurring theme of the show is Kaneki's struggle to accept his new ghoul status. He happens across a pair of benevolent ghouls who ease him through this transition but even so, Kaneki still wants to mope about. You see, I wouldn't really have such a problem with this but Kaneki isn't likeable in my book. This mostly stems for the fact that I've got a /VERY/ deep-seated resentment built-up toward Shinji Ikari clones and Kaneki certainly fits the bill and then some: he's a punk kid forcibly brought into a life-altering situation and now has to shoulder the burdens of this new life. It also helps that his female sidekick, Tohka has purple hair just like Misato and tries to get him settled in. Great...

On top of this, the whole reason why Kaneki's life got flipped, turned upside-down is mind-numbingly retarded when you think about what actually happened to him: the guy was on the verge of dying and he ends up getting the organs of his would-be murderer (who is also a ghoul) transplanted into him. So you mean to tell me that there is NO screening process to see whether or not someone is a ghoul, let alone whether or not an organ came from a human or a ghoul even though humans and ghouls have coexisted since time immemorial? Also, how is it that the ghoul's organs could've been transplanted into Kaneki so easily? Assuming that ghouls and humans have nearly identical physiologies (which is already a fucking asinine assumption to make because ghouls are man-eaters that can mutate at whim), how is it that the ghoul and Kaneki would have the same blood type or whatever it is that keeps a transplanted organ from getting rejected? The list of holes in the story get bigger and bigger, but I think I've made my point.

Now you may be thinking to yourself "oh, why overthink this show?" or "why do you have to bring real world logic into this?" Well guess what? This show is quite possibly the furthest thing from entertaining possible. I can tolerate the annoying main character and his bitching to some extent and I can let the gaps in logic slide provided that the show is entertaining enough to override my critical faculties. Unfortunately, this show just LOVES to deny me my fix of fast-paced action filled to the brim with all kinds of blood, guts, broken bones, and all that good shit! For almost 17 minutes of every 20 minute episode, we gotta put up with Kaneki's bitching, boring talking scenes involving the ghoul enforcement squad or whatever it's called, etc and then we get a few minutes of Kaneki tapping into the power of Ghoul ex Machina and then we see him using his magic ghoul powers to make pizza sauce and not much else. On top of that, the censorship was absolutely appalling when it was airing. The entire screen's colour palette would be inverted for 1-2 minutes at a time, and all that was being censored was just Kaneki stabbing the latest villain who's impossible to take seriously with his magic ghoul tentacles. Yeah, censorship's a non-issue now that the Blu-rays are out but that still doesn't erase what happened.

By the end of it all, there's a lot of shit that can be said about Ghoul and most of it sure as hell ain't gonna be pleasant from me. The only thing that's keeping this show from being so bad that it shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence that barrels are in is the fact that it's got some pretty colours and a nice OST to it. The only value that this abysmal excuse for a show has is snark bait. Now if you just so happen to unironically enjoy this programme, good on ya. You're able to do something I clearly can't do. Maybe the manga will be much better than this piece of crap but given the EXTREMELY sour taste that the anime left in my mouth, I can't really say that I'll give the manga a shot. Anyway, that's all for now. Feedback's welcome and all that guff, so I'm out. Peace :)

***

If someone has a mod for Reaper on the PC version of Overwatch that makes Reaper look like white-haired Kaneki with the mask, please send me a video of it.

Tokyo Ghoul, the masterpiece written by Ishda sensei was adapted into an anime by Studio Pierrot in 12eps. The 12eps was the reason why it was rushed, why it was slammed by the manga-readers. But this review is with respect to the anime only and not comparing it to the manga.

Story: 8

The story is unique and finds you within two worlds, the humans and the ghouls. Through the eyes of our MC we see who are the real villains... not the humans nor the ghouls but the ones who are truly bad at heart. The story is not very complex but definitely ... has alot of depth.

Art: 8

The only thing Ishda's masterpiece lacked in the start was the art which got better and better as the manga progressed. But here in the anime, the color palette used, the animation and the character sketches are really well done and this one of the big positives. The 'kagune' of the ghouls also looked cool. The art would have got a 10 from my side but the unnecessary censorship got it a '-2'. But be sure to get the BD versions because they are uncensored and definitely will not annoy you.

Sound: 9

I have nothing to say about the sound. The opening, 'unravel' by TK was really well done and I found the the ending song enjoyable too.
The voice acting in fact was a very strong point in the series.

Character:5

This is where the anime fails. Very rushed and all the important plot points in the manga were skipped or not properly dealt with and caused the huge cast of characters who had the potential of character development, had almost nothing. *SPOILER* The MC, Ken Kaneki has a huge character development towards the end of the series but the poor execution of sequences which lead to the development made it look meh.

Enjoyment: 8

I will say this. If I had not read the manga, I would have enjoyed this series a lot. It's not that the adaptation is terrible, the manga itself is too good in my opinion

What I am about to write below is more of a biased personal view than a Review, but its spoiler free so it got it going for it which is nice.

This anime is a lot like a highstudent's research papers - brilliant start, outstanding ending , and everything else filled with copypasted fillers.
It starts great, action, enchanting characters and then , just after first episode it takes a turn to a tedious boring drama and then again gets really good at the very end. Just like certain series - you start watching them, understand how much crap they are and start wondering why ... you still watch it , and then they leave you with a cliffhanger and you start craving for the next season.

Long story short- just watch first and last episode, unless you don't mind watching anime about secondary characters full of fillers and tedious plots about weak ordinary schoolboys.

Here is my review for the fairly new anime Tokyo Ghoul.

Story - 6
It is a alright story, I have seen similar such as Shiki where the shiki have to drink blood of humans thus having shikis and humans co-exist but not like the ghouls that people already know about and actually eat human flesh not just blood. After watching the latest (and last) episode, it is hard to give the anime anything higher since there are plot holes.

Art - 9
Well done on art, it has nice vivid colors that truly stand out from others. Such as the way the hair colors stand ... out, not to mention other details they go into with backgrounds.

Sound - 7
Opening is very nice, one of my favorites but not much liking for the ending theme. OST is done nicely, not really the best but certainly not the worst. Enough to keep the mood.

Character - 6
Main character has the typical bad past like most do where his parents are dead or something tragic happened. There hardly is any character development especially since there only 12 episodes. Although I seen short animes with good development. Anyways, characters are made fair enough where the viewer will either like or dislike them.

Enjoyment - 9
I was always looking forward to seeing the next episode and during the waiting period for next episode to air was painful, lol.

Overall - 7
A good anime that should at least be given a try despite not being absolutely perfect. It is probably a good idea to read the manga too (I plan to do that) which is 100+ chapters which will satisfy more :)

This series has potential to become one of the best anime's in recent memory if it gets a few more seasons. In fact, I think that the plot is thick enough here to warrant many more seasons. Season 1 does a excellent job setting the context and introducing us to the characters. It would be a shame if Tokyo Ghoul ended after just 24 episodes Including Re . If you fail to reach the midpoint of the first season, you will judge this series inaccurately based on limited data. If you make it to the midpoint, however, you will have that epiphany you've been searching ... for and the show will appear before you in a new light, as it has to me.

This show has great character depth and animation and was pretty hectic with the violence and despair. But it was also censored to pieces and the ending was vague. The second season may clarify some things

Don't judge this series based on the manga; they're totally different artforms and should be judged separately. It seems to me that a lot of people who negatively judge this series are extremely biased in favor of the manga, and that's just unreasonable.

Some Spoilers Ensue:

Wow...that finale....I needed a few minutes after it ended. This show was brilliant. The genre of 'zombie' or what have you is extremely overdone right now, so a show coming out about ghouls who eat humans didn't seem like it would be that good. I was happily proven wrong about that. This is considered horror, and it is, which is refreshing since it's tough to find horror anime. Also, I love that this show didn't hold back on the character deaths and psychological turmoil, especially that which was inflicted on poor Kaneki in the last episodes. It was delivered well, and added a ... huge shock factor to the show. Next to Book Of Circus, this is my favorite anime this summer.

Story: Ghouls are able to only eat one person per month, and live well...but there is one person who has been binge eating and causing problems in Tokyo. From that opening, we are treated to an interesting and action/horror packed ride through the world of ghouls. Some are heartless, some are funny, and some are loving. The beauty of the story is the fact that you don't know the outcome for any specific character. All can change. The reveals and plot twists were excellent and I was hooked from the first episode.

Animation: what can I say? It is definitely gorgeous to watch. The ghouls are interesting to look at as are all their different powers. The visuals throughout were lovely, however I would have liked to see more gore...but you're listening to a horror conesuer talking here.

Sound: outstanding...just wonderful voice acting especially from Kaneki. There's a scene at the beginning where he has just been turned ghoul and he bites into his favorite burger and starts crying...it gave me chills. The ending as well during all of the torture, he was just amazing to listen to as he went through all that horror. The theme song is one of my favorites of late as well and I highly recommend the amazing OST.

Characters: From jump, Kaneki was well developed. He is loveable and naive which are qualities that sometimes hinder the character, but not here because his dark side is also beautiful. Rize and Jason along with any other opposing villains were also very 3 dimensional causing the viewer tho harbor extreme love or hate towards any of them. I don't so much like Toka (just my preference) but am fond of Nishiki and definitely Tsukiyama. Villain or not, they are super interesting.

Overall, I hope they are going to do another season because I loved this show, but for now, I'll try to mend my feels.

8.5/10 Watched Subbed.

Tokyo Ghoul is a very curious case in that it is probably the only series that fails to deliver only because it is not violent enough. Its whole world has a rather dark and brutal feel to it. Or a least that's what it tries to convey: the expression of the characters are most of the time distorted; everyone has a really sad past involving numerous deaths; and almost all of them have some mental disorder thanks to the fact that they have to live on the edge of society for being ghouls. The main character and his friends try to find their place by ... forming a group that keeps them out of trouble. It makes them the most reasonable of their kind but even they are really messed up.

You think it would not be hard to sympathize or at least understand such tragic souls but they are so boringly written that it just makes them annoying, especially Kaneki. I get it, it is cool that he starts out as a whining loser to later become a big badass, but both of his personalities are so stereotypical anime tropes lacking anything new that the way they overemphasize his pain just makes it really tiresome. And it is more or less true for every character, especially because the adaptation feels very rushed and so they have very little time for development.

For a long time I just didn't get why this story doesn't work, but the last episode made me accept the reasoning of the manga-readers: it is way too censored compared to manga. The last scene in the anime is just so brutal that even this toned down version succeeds at giving you a feeling the anime should have given from the start. The feeling of becoming totally lost that can only be dispelled by going out of your way.

If you want to show something that can make even the most sane man crazy you really need to try because there have already been many anime that shows you real desperation (Shingeki no Kyojin, Claymore, etc.). In many cases violence is just a tool to make things more exciting. But Tokyo Ghoul just doesn't have anything else that makes this craziness and sadness believeable.

The best part of the show is its incredible opening. That’s how the whole series should have felt like.

I started Tokyo Ghoul without knowing what to expect. All I knew about it came from short little briefs on what it's about. I had heard nothing but rave reviews so I decided I should check it out; needless to say, I'm glad I did.

The concept itself of Tokyo Ghoul was incredible to me -- "Ghouls", people-like monsters who need human flesh to survive -- but that's just the basis. What they made this concept was what really captivated me. Keneki begins as a naive, good-hearted boy; and, unlike many other series, his transformation is much more realistic. The care placed in the development ... of the main character is wonderful, but what makes this anime a standout to me is how much is put into the side characters as well. The writers created many, many characters you can genuinely feel for. As someone who gets bored quickly with unnecessary side back stories and characters, I really appreciate this aspect of the story.

The best thing about this anime is the mystery and the dark vibe in the atmosphere. I always enjoy when there are different sides to a story. How each sides have different views of justice, but the bottom line is that we're not much different from the prejudices and stereotypes we all hate so much. One cannot judge everyone in the same category. It's like saying: "many black people are criminals, therefore, all black people are criminals". I liked that message, I found it intriguing.

This show lacks in character development, the story feels rushed (though it IS only 12 episodes), they censor a great ... deal of bloody and violent scenes, which I found quite annoying, and the different special powers each ghoul has is stunningly cool looking, but each ability isn't as unique as I wanted them to be. Overall it's a good anime to kill time, but it'll easily vanish away from my memories as the years go by. Nothing memorable, in other words.