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]

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Background

Both the Tokyo Ghoul manga and Tokyo Ghoul √A anime concluded with the same last arc, but how the anime arrived at that ending diverged greatly from the source material. Besides changing the ending fight scene and the main major plot of the manga, which was the focus of many chapters in the manga, Tokyo Ghoul √A also features a watered-down and greatly changed version of the source manga's final arc.

Episode 1 was previewed at a screening at TOHO Cinemas, Nihonbashi on January 4, 2015. Regular broadcasting began on January 9, 2015.

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Tokyo Ghoul
Prequel:	Tokyo Ghoul
Sequel:	Tokyo Ghoul:re

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Kaneki, Ken

Main

Hanae, Natsuki
Japanese

Kirishima, Touka

Main

Amamiya, Sora
Japanese

Suzuya, Juuzou

Supporting

Kugimiya, Rie
Japanese

Uta

Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro
Japanese

Tsukiyama, Shuu

Supporting

Miyano, Mamoru
Japanese

Nagachika, Hideyoshi

Supporting

Toyonaga, Toshiyuki
Japanese

Eto

Supporting

Sakamoto, Maaya
Japanese

Arima, Kishou

Supporting

Namikawa, Daisuke
Japanese

Kirishima, Ayato

Supporting

Kaji, Yuuki
Japanese

Amon, Koutarou

Supporting

Konishi, Katsuyuki
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Cook, Justin

Producer

Maruyama, Hajime

Producer

Danno, Yoshito

Producer

Morita, Shuuhei

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

"Munou (無能)" by österreich

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Ending Theme

"Kisetsu wa Tsugitsugi Shindeiku (季節は次々死んでいく)" by Amazarashi

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.

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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.

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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 ...

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Tokyo Ghoul √A

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Kaneki, Ken

Kirishima, Touka

Suzuya, Juuzou

Uta

Tsukiyama, Shuu

Nagachika, Hideyoshi

Eto

Arima, Kishou

Kirishima, Ayato

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Tokyo Ghoul √A

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