Tokyo Ghoul √A

Ken Kaneki has finally come to accept the monstrous, flesh-craving part of himself that he has feared and despised for so long. After escaping captivity and torture, Kaneki joins Aogiri Tree—the very militant ghoul organization that had abducted him, leading his friends to question his true motive and loyalty.

As tension between the government and the ghouls continues to rise, the Commission of Counter Ghoul, the government's specialized anti-ghoul agency, has intensified their efforts to completely purge Tokyo of ghouls. This threatens the transient peace of Kaneki's friends and former comrades—the ghouls at the Anteiku coffee shop. Aware of the dangerous situation, Kaneki faces several battles that puts his precious fleeting humanity on the line.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kaneki, Ken Main

Hanae, Natsuki Japanese

Kirishima, Touka Main

Amamiya, Sora Japanese

Suzuya, Juuzou Supporting

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Uta Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Nagachika, Hideyoshi Supporting

Toyonaga, Toshiyuki Japanese

Tsukiyama, Shuu Supporting

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Eto Supporting

Sakamoto, Maaya Japanese

Arima, Kishou Supporting

Namikawa, Daisuke Japanese

Kirishima, Ayato Supporting

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Amon, Koutarou Supporting

Konishi, Katsuyuki Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Maruyama, Hajime Producer

Danno, Yoshito Producer

Soga, Hidetada Producer

Reviews

Mar 26, 2015

Stark700

Recommended

Described by some as horror, some as a character story, and some as a hellish battle zone that erupted from the events of season 1, Tokyo Ghoul Root A is a series that got quite a lot of people talking. Written by Ishida Sui (the brainchild of the manga), this sequel isn’t just a continuation but serves as another work in the universe of TG. However, it does directly correlate with the first season so by all means, do yourself a favor and finish the first season or otherwise, this is going to be one hell of a confusing ride. Nonetheless, Tokyo Ghoul Root A ... gets a fair amount of attention as a sinister story that involves humans, ghouls, and a whole load of emotions.

From the events of the first season, we see Kaneki’s change after being tortured and now he has white hair, advanced powers, and a whole badass attitude. His personality feels different from the way he was initially introduced thanks to the tragic events that has changed him. And by all means, his actions speaks louder than words in this season. For starters, he becomes involved with an organization that he despises because of his instinct. Now that he realizes the reality of himself (being a ghoul), he takes responsibility. It’s also important for viewers to realize that Kaneki doesn’t necessary become an antagonist but rather choosing his path to protect what he cares about. At the same time, we see how his actions affects others. Touka is a prominent example as we see her bitter emotions from the start of the season. Portrayed essentially as a stoic girl, she now shows a lot of emotions revolving around her friends but especially for what has happened to Kaneki. Despite their short time together, it’s shown that she is clearly affected by the thoughts of losing him. And really, that’s what a lot of the season is all about. We see how the story’s characters adapt with what has happened from the first season. Furthermore, Kaneki isn’t the only focus we get as Tokyo Ghoul Root A traces its roots with all of our noticeable characters.

On storytelling, the series focuses a lot on building up events. For the majority of the first half, we see insightful narratives from groups/organizations such as Aogiri, Anteiku, and CCG. It has both a heartwarming and pale way of presenting scenarios as we see a variety of moods throughout the season. The series demonstrates a moving tale when it lets the audience see their background stories. Characters such as Akira Mado, Toka, Yoshimura all shares a dark trend of tragedy in this series. And because of that, Tokyo Ghoul builds on their personal stories that transformed the character into who they are in the present. Among other things, the series explores a variety of themes such as revenge, humanity, morality, innocence, and guilt. Surprisingly enough, it works out quite well when it combines certain elements together to craft the overlay of its story. Because the series builds on many of its events, it employs these themes to bring the show into a grimmer horror. Sure, it still relies on violence, bloodshed, and body horror to make itself credible but at the same time knows its intentions. As the series progresses on, we see some startling plot twists, revelations, and an all-out battle for survival.

As Tokyo Ghoul Root A focuses on various characters, there’s insight on the chemistry between them. Because Kaneki is no longer with Anteiku, we now see a happier Touka; when she isn’t around him anyways. However, the series does show that she feels lonely without him and their reunion turns into an emotional outburst with fists, tears, and emotions thrown right into each other. Similarly, we also see how Akira and Amon bonding because of what they’ve both lost – someone they both cared for. Some characters such as Suzuya can be come as quite a bit of a strange twist. The generic crazy child character seems to fit for someone of his caliber while we also see other bizarre characters as Eto that is hard to get used to. Regardless though, the series gives them significant roles alongside many other supporting characters. Like I mentioned before, Kaneki isn’t just the superstar anymore. Described by Touka as a “tragic hero” or what he may think he is, the series makes it hard to read what he really wants. He’s still a main event player but other characters play their roles with a goal in mind. One particular antagonist also plays the role of the Big Bad to show the audience the true powers of a ghoul really is like. In the end, how does this all work out? It’s like a genre-hood of characters all pieced together in their world. Some will no doubt be memorable while I can say that others can be easily dismissed as comedic factors or otherwise, just meh.

Pierrot is the studio to adapt this series once again. In terms of animation quality values, it’s hard for me to say this but it doesn’t live up to the first season. One particular episode really downgraded on this with mediocre fight scenes by its budget. Luckily, the latter half makes it up with better coordination and animated scenes. And in the world of Tokyo Ghoul, there’s always that moodiness that seems to flow around. The sequel’s animation style portrays it quite well with the chilly nights, frosty snow, and the dark alleyways. Character designs also remain intact with the way our audience are familiar with them. Certain ghouls also gets a clear makeover to show their malevolence while CCG investigators has their technological aspects fleshed out on the surface. However, the OP song of the sequel dramatically changed. It’s lazy with still moving montage of white haired Kaneki and some pretty backgrounds. Although there’s some symbolism behind this, it’s just downright slothful. Luckily, the ED song makes it up with this with artistic visuals and high quality imagery.

In contrast with the artwork, soundtrack improved for this season. Both OP and ED song styles has that moody tone yet portrays its melancholy with elegance. Furthermore, many characters’ voice mannerisms shows how real they feel after the events of the first season. I also give high praise to Yutaka Yamada for crafting the music of the season. With prior no experience besides the first season, he enhances almost every scenario with the skills of his musical direction. It’s welcoming with a darkly yet cinematic style that I think people will find quite approachable.

After watching the sequel, I think this stands out above the original season. With tense buildups, characterization, and dark themes to go on, Tokyo Ghoul Root A is a landmark of irresistible ideas. The story is more than just about good vs evil but tells of how characters change and take action. On another note, the season also awards those who appreciates a bit of comedy. Because in most horror series, comedy is mostly absent but this sequel has a bit of that that can spawn some genuine laughter. Just be aware that on a technical scale, the series isn’t as impressive in the art department. Certain characters will also be easily forgettable, or perhaps you want to forget them yourself. It’s still a ride for the thrills though.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 26, 2015

Tsuzanagi

Mixed Feelings

The first season of Tokyo Ghoul, while certainly not reaching the heights as the manga, was an enjoyable exposition to the series that was able lead newcomers like me to binge read the entire 143 chapter manga in two days. As a stand alone show, ignoring the quality of the manga, it was pretty good.

Root A, however, is trash from an anime-viewer-only perspective and worse than trash if you've read the manga. It is a mess of unexplained plot points that insult the complexity of the source material it was adapted from. For all the hype generated by Sui Ishida creating an original plot line ... for the anime to follow, Root A fell inconceivably short in almost all areas it could. Studio Pierrot proved itself completely inadequate to handling the franchise and we can only hope that the Tokyo Ghoul series gets the Brotherhood-esque 50-episode reboot with a much better studio.

Despite a promising opening episode that immediately introduced a difference in story to the manga, Root A never seemed to be interested in actually developing an original story. From one episode to the next, content was centered around adaptations of the sidestory in the manga. I never got the feeling that there even was an original element to the story. Kaneki, who should've been the focal point of the so-called "original plot", is left thoroughly underdeveloped and recieves approximately half a minute of air-time per episode. I was excited for the prospect of a different take on perhaps the manga's weakest arc, but found myself disappointed by the lack of attention to the main character. For all intents and purposes, there are zero differences in plot progression between the anime and manga, besides the fact that the anime development of the characters is far inferior. Simply nothing comes of this original direction despite the many glaringly obvious routes it could add to the series. Instead, Root A follows a rather slow-paced development of the supporting cast with intermittent unexplained violence. The story somewhat resembles season 1 Aldnoah Zero - intriguing major plot points outlined but no content to flesh out the story and add impact to the plot's important events.

A large part of the problem is no doubt due to the shortness of the adaptation. The first season, while not perfect, was able to a manage a somewhat coherent story condensing around 60 chapters of manga. Root A attempts to condense something closer to 75-80 chapters and royally screws it up. Major story arcs are melded together so that the overall picture is completely nonsensical. There is no coherent progression from one event to the next; the end result is that the series as a whole feels like a haphazard, condensed jumbling of the manga. With everything feeling rushed and coming from left field, it's nearly impossible to get invested or enjoy the story.

That said, there are some legitimately good scenes of character development of the side characters. Suzaya Juuzou's character and his relationship to Shinohara is actually better done in the anime than the manga. Unfortunately, the rest of these character development scenes are mostly direct adaptations from the manga. If you've read the manga, you will very soon forget that this is supposed to be an original story, as 90% of each episode is cut from the manga. You really begin to question Studio Pierrot's priorities, as the main story arc is so sidelined by side stories (how ironic) that when bouts of action occur, you simply have no idea what the conflict is about. Pacing was an issue in the first season; however, Root A takes poor pacing to a new level.

The major climax of the manga was impactful and well thought out but gets completely butchered in the anime thanks to a missing major fight as well as the larger issue of simply not adapting enough of the main story to really understand Kaneki's profound development as a character, which is what makes the final arc so epic. Once again, I really have to question the director's priorities - if you plan to adapt the epic, final showdown of the main story arc, why wouldn't you spend more time adapting the events of the main story?

Animation-wise, Root A is fairly underwhelming. The art is nothing spectacular (aside from one beautifully detailed keyboard) and the animation hits power-point level quality during some fight scenes. With this show, Studio Pierrot proudly declares to the world that fighting scenes are not their forté and fills most major fights with smoke so nearly all art is obscured.

Sound is a similar story. Pierrot should have kept the same opening song from the first season (Unravel by TK from Ling Tosite Sigure), which will undoubtedly be the most memorable piece of the Pierrot iteration of the franchise. This is pretty evident considering Pierrot even brought in an acoustic version was made specifically for the (rubbish) final episode of the show. The ED is a decent song but the series offers nothing spectacular when it comes to OST aside from the one standout song that came from the first season.

Overall, this was an extremely disappointing follow-up to a semi-decent first season. I'm still having trouble comprehending the stupidity that was the decision to cram the brilliance of the 143 chapters of Tokyo Ghoul into 24 episodes; furthermore, the hint of a :re follow up is nothing more an insult to manga readers. Root A has some good moments of character development, but that is due entirely to a direct adaptation from manga scenes and should not be any way credited to Studio Pierrot. In fact, Root A has only shown that Studio Pierrot should not adapt any more Tokyo Ghoul material - or any material really.


Story: 3/10
Art: 6/10
Sound: 6/10
Character: 7/10
Enjoyment: 5/10
Overall Rating: 5/10

TLDR; Read the manga from chapter 1, watch episode 12 of the first season, avoid all else. Or, wait for the 50-episode remake of Tokyo Ghoul it deserves with a competent studio.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Apr 1, 2015

BanjoTheBear

Not Recommended

(This has been adapted from my reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!)

Something that is inherent in all people is the need to protect the things you love. Doing whatever it takes to keep the stuff around you safe. Either by fighting or sacrificing, as long as what truly matters to you is unharmed, the rest doesn't matter. It might be family, friends, or your dearest of objects; it's not so much what it is but the act of protecting it that matters. But there are those times when, despite how hard one tries, such protection just isn't possible. Such is the idea that Tokyo Ghoul Root A ... works with. But without being kept safe itself, it merely implodes.

STORY

Root A (the name to be used from here on out) takes place immediately after the conclusion of the first season. Kaneki has become quite strong and through his own volition, has decided to join the "bad" ghoul group known as Aogiri.

...And that's as logical of a plot as Root A offers. From then on, the show adopts a completely nonsensical and disjointed front that, even upon closer inspection, follows no semblance of thought. Kaneki's underlying problems? Sorry, those aren't looked at in depth because it's much more important to have a terribly choreographed fight scene. What about that guy during said fight? Nope, ignored completely for some asinine reason. How about the encompassing battle that was occurring around them? Nuh-uh, nothing is revealed there either. Where were the girls who have only one ghoul eye like Kaneki? What became of Yoshimura, aka "Baby Owl"? What was Aogiri's true motive? Why did Touka literally do nothing for twelve straight episodes? There are no answers to these questions because the show doesn't bother to talk about any of them. And it's not as if they bring them up themselves to elaborate on; they sort of lazily occur, with the narrative progressing from one instance to the next without contributing even an ounce of credible evidence as to why anything that is happening is going down.

Since Root A cannot support itself on the events that really matter, then it falls onto the fights themselves to attempt to salvage anything that remains. But even those cannot escape the downward spiral that is happening. Not counting the lackluster animation, there is an inadequate look at both sides -- the humans and the ghouls -- which causes zero emotional resonance with any of the cast. Thus making the outcomes of the fights a moot point. Touka's "presence" has already been brought up, but the entirety of the cast falls into the same unimportant boat as she does. Yoshimura is given an inconsequential flashback with Koma ("Devil Ape") and Irimi ("Black Dog") receiving the absolute bare minimum of background to constitute some form of morality. Takizawa complains about being second-best, Amon can't understand Kaneki, and Shinohara is a super-nice guy to Juzo; all three men, more or less, die at some point in the anime, but their deaths hold no value because, like the plot, they are given no attention or purpose. The same goes for Hide -- his death is supposed to be somber, but it's awkwardly placed and means nothing to the audience who's only interaction with Hide was him stalking around the Dove headquarters. This all says nothing of the fights in which neither side seems to be able to kill off primary characters after receiving the wallop of a lifetime.

Hearkening back to the introduction and the established inability for the anime to craft relatable characters, one of Kaneki's supposed drives is to protect the people he loves dearly -- those at Anteiku. And to this end, he joins Aogiri, believing that by aiding them he can eradicate the people going after the only friends he has. Obviously, this notion sounds completely insane, but it at least makes sense for Root A. But (perhaps obviously again) it doesn't work: Anteiku burns and his friends are decimated. This is acceptable; as has already been discussed, sometimes protecting the things you love isn't possible. Yet Kaneki seems to just give up. So instead of continuing to try to protect his loved ones -- the whole reason the show began in the first place -- he stops, making his actions up to that moment mean as much as if he never parted ways in the first place.

ANIMATION

The art style for Tokyo Ghoul isn't that engaging. Many dark grays, browns, and greens are used all over the place, making the anime feel more depressing than beautiful. Granted, this may be what the show was going for, but it only makes everything seem muddy. Even worse, the fight choreography and direction is lackluster, where the duels seem like an amalgamation of blobs maybe striking at one another here and there.

The character designs for Root A can be good at times, but are nothing too impressive. The Owl is quite intimidating, Kouma's ape mask, and many of the other ghouls are definitely unique and give the necessary feeling of being alien.

Yet, actual animation pulls it all back down, being below average in most cases. The earlier episodes are the most egregious, with a loss in flow in movements, static characters, and simple facial expressions. The later episodes at times can go against these notions, but having to fight through the censoring, the bad camera work, and obstructing debris makes it hard to see much movement even when it is supposedly going on.

CHARACTERS

The problems continue for Root A when it comes to its characters. Besides being completely distant to the audience, their independent development is severely lacking. It's also difficult to pick any character to initially focus on. Not just because they are all incredibly weak, but because none of them are given enough spotlight to constitute a "main" status.

Nevertheless, Kaneki is around once more this season. After his previous trauma at the hands of Jason, Kaneki is no longer the scared, helpless kid but instead a confident, strong ghoul. But following his beginning speeches and departure, his vocabulary is reduced to a lot of screaming and the occasional "Hide..." here and there. He has some kind of metamorphosis that essentially enwraps his mind but -- like most everything within Root A -- why this happens to him isn't clearly looked at. He manages to go around, attacking random human buildings and groups until "finally" realizing that he should have been there to protect Anteiku personally instead of indirectly. His character is supposedly killed (the ending is obscenely convoluted), and since his actions have been relatively unknown, his growth is nearly nonexistent.

Somehow worse than Kaneki is Touka, the semi-in-love-but-not-really girl who is doing what she can to be by Kaneki's side. After fighting to save him and him suddenly leaving her and the coffee shop, Touka is somewhat crestfallen. In order to take her mind off of the situation, she opts to go to a college while simultaneously getting nearer to Kaneki. Her inner turmoil about fitting in and the struggles she faced against her brother and society are replaced with quasi-romance feelings, effectively killing any development she may have had. Which would have been at least tolerable, had they done something with such a turn of events. Instead, after working rather hard to be with him, the two times she comes "face-to-face" with him, what occurs is: her attacking him and her letting him go. The former can make sense in context; she is simply letting out her frustration against the boy who won't look her way. The latter goes against what Root A had started in her. By the end, the only thing she gained was a few facts from a college textbook.

The rest of the cast, from both the human side and the ghoul side, are not even worth mentioning. Nearly all of the Doves are given one-note personalities, with their respective persons being more foreign than the ghouls that inhabit the show. Amon does nothing but fight and complain, Akira laments about her dead relatives, and Takizawa has some forced melodrama. Other members exist, but a passing show of their messed-up face or a single line from the enemy about their power doesn't tell the audience anything about their character, let alone what kind of experiences they might have had. And the same can be said for the ghouls. All of Aogiri is filled with characters that somehow seem to have pasts with their Dove counterparts, but such revelations are never given and subsequently their characters mean nothing. Names like Noro, Tatara, and Eto are just that; names without any fraction of message behind them besides that they are "really cool looking." The only character that maybe earns any sort of credibility is Juzo. He is a known psychopath working under Shinohara, with his background being explained in an exchange between the two. And after all of the time he spent with his pseudo-father, he shows some form of compassion and sadness for the only person who cared for him. Unfortunately, not even Juzo's markings are enough to keep the cast stitched together.

SOUND

The OP is extremely grating on the ears. The instruments are a mishmash of sound that doesn't seem to follow any kind of order, the singing is all over the place, and it isn't catchy at all. It's as mangled as the rest of what Root A gives.

The only good thing about the anime is the ED. The drums and singing in the first half work nicely in tandem, rising and falling in power as it works its way to the halfway point. At that moment, the background singers kick in and the piano takes on a more prominent role, giving the whole a piece a presence that overtakes the whole anime. On top of all that, the various ending art for each of them is quite beautiful, too; more so than anything that the actual art for Root A used.

The rest of the soundtrack often uses rather loud sounds and more pounding instruments for a higher feeling of creepiness and awe. But it can also tone down that feeling, incorporating a soft piano for those more heartfelt moments. The tracks fit the mood of the anime but aren't worth listening to outside of the anime itself.

As for voice-acting, the cast performs generally around average. There are no special shout-outs to be had.

ENJOYMENT

This show prioritized the fighting and the "drama" before anything else, and it was not something that I could effectively get behind. All of the fights were boring, predictable, or honestly dumb. Akira getting bit on the leg while Amon just stands around for no apparent reason makes no sense. Arima being able to take on the Giant Owl by himself wasn't fun to watch, it made me question why in the world he wasn't doing anything before. And the Kaneki versus Amon fight had so much smoke billowing through the area, I barely got to see any of it.

It has been mentioned briefly, and it has to be brought up at some point, but the ending to Root A is probably the worst ending to an anime that I've ever witnessed. At the minimum, it comes very close. Lots of hair, walking, and intentionally confusing camera work make the ending so painful to see that when it concluded I was happy that I wouldn't have to be watching this show any more.

Tokyo Ghoul Root A didn't just fail at being an anime. It failed at being anything even remotely worthwhile. The story is abysmal, the characters are atrocious, and the rest is forgetful. Honestly speaking, this is one of the worst shows I have ever seen.

SUMMARY

Story: Terrible, nonsensical, pointless, and meaningless

Animation: Bad, boring art style, okay character designs, below-average actual animation

Characters: Terrible, Kaneki and Touka are awful while the rest of the cast means absolutely nothing

Sound: Bad, lame OP, good ED, okay soundtrack, average VA work

Enjoyment: Terrible, lame fights, unnecessarily confusing ending, and contains no value

Final Score: 1/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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