Tokyo Ghoul √A

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.

This series is essentially what you would expect to be the end product of 12 directors and script writers playing telephone together with each episode, which would mean no overarching consistency, lack of cohesion and continuity between episodes, little to no character development, and a poor narrative. Alas, although it has turned out like a poorly written fanfiction, Tokyo Ghoul √A does not suffer from its staff playing games in its production. It's just a lackluster adaptation on all fronts, even without comparisons to its source material.

The plot is the biggest pitfall here, due to lack of clear direction and explanation. Even ignoring that ... the adaptation left out pivotal details from the manga, looking at it as a standalone, it still falls flat on its face because it leaves the viewer in a constant state of confusion. Questions arise from the very first episode and we expect them to be answered, they never are. We are left like outsiders looking in through a pane of glass, excluded from a narrative that should be feeding us something but instead we are left to guess. Why are things happening? Why are characters doing what they are doing? What are their motivations? We are given such limited information because the pacing is so rushed and for lack of ability to expound on the plot, the writers simply gave us bland fighting scenes.

Although we grew to love and enjoy the characters in the first season where they were given some room for development, here we are suffocated by a narrative that refuses to allow us to reconnect with them. Kaneki receives no more development from the end of the first season than by the end of this season; we feel as disassociated from himself as he does – as he struggles with himself, we struggle to understand what is even going on with him because we have nothing to clue us in. It’s one great question mark. Touka is perhaps the only character whose actions, thoughts, and frustrations we can truly sympathize with because she receives enough lines and screen time to convey them. There were even several compelling scenes with Ayato, but ultimately these things amount to little when the plot can’t deliver.

Perhaps the strongest point of this season is the animation, although I would argue that it’s not particularly spectacular. The animation is essentially acceptable which means that it is neither strong nor weak, but because it is average, it’s probably the best part of the series. It seems the majority of the attention was paid to the fight scenes and everything else is rather bland—and that’s giving some leniency for the fighting scenes which themselves waver between interesting to drawn out and boring.

Even the sound is average at best. The tone of the opening scarcely matches the overarching themes of the season, which is a grand disappointment in light of how amazing the opening was for the first season. That comparison aside, the opening animation is just outright disappointing and elicits none of the excitement that we should be experiencing. It accompanies a song that doesn’t set the mood for the rest of the episode, by and large considering the majority of the series includes fighting, and the rest of the soundtrack occasionally sets the generally atmosphere but there is never anything particularly impressive or noticeable about any of it. Only the ending stands out as actually decent and fitting for the series.

For all the complaints above about the end product, I wouldn’t be giving this even a mediocre rating if it hadn’t had some redeeming qualities. One of them was a solid premise and good potential—it may have not fulfilled that, but it did a decent job setting up plot points it just lacked on fulfilling them. It also has a solid cast, though not fully utilized as they should have been and not developed as they should have been, it has a good range of characters. On top of this, it does have an exciting and suspenseful final arc, though not as compelling as it promised to be, still manages to captivate interest.

To summarize, this season was poorly executed on all fronts and a great disappointment. If you enjoyed it and have not read the manga, I highly recommend it as it further develops the empty husk that is the anime series. If you are wondering whether or not you should watch it, then I would say it’s a coin toss—you exchange your time for some minor moments of sincerity and animated battle scenes some of which are exciting others mediocre.

(THERE ARE NO SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW)
As a manga reader of Tokyo Ghoul, this was obviously a disappointment. I won't get into the thick of it but to summarize most people's complaints:

Cons
1. Stupid bad animation for a show with this much fighting.
2. Poor time management. There was a lot of just nothing happening on the screen with just walking or something. The problem with this is:
3. About 50% of what happened in the manga was skipped, whether it was personal internal monologues, or simply arcs. Its almost as if they simply ripped pages out of a book. My complaint is: ... If you're running short on time, don't fill it with nothingness.

Pros
1. The ending song and most of the music was very good.

It'd be extremely long if I went any further so I'll leave you just one bit of advice: Read the manga. It is worlds better.

As a Tokyo Ghoul manga fan, is disappointment and desmotivating to see this.

Don´t get me wrong, i am not a hater but if you´re a manga reader you´ll be angry while you´re watching this. Tokyo Ghoul season 1 was already a poor adaptation and they removed IMPORTANT content that they didn´t realise in the moment that was important. lol. so, tokyo ghoul season 2, was IMPOSSIBLE to perform after that season 1 adaptation, but they forced it just beucase the SALES, and they decided to make a 80-70% anime original (with ishida´s help) with just 20-30% manga content and it made this Tokyo Ghoul √A.
Root ... A, 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.

It only proves that Studio Pierrot is UNABLE to adapat high level series and Tokyo Ghoul is a good example of it, so they should focus more on shonen and simple stories and giving up trying to addapt decent stuff.

I hope SOMEDAY, Tokyo Ghoul has an anime remake, because it´s an epic story and with an amazing tragic MC, that anime only watchers don´t even imagine about.

For anime only watchers, just read the manga.

Story:2/10
Art:5/10
Sound:7/10
Character:3/10
Enjoyment:5/10
Overall:5/10

After the end of season 1, many people were wondering about its sequel and how it would be executed especially because Ishida Sui, the mangaka, was involved on it since he decided to write the draft of the second season, and that looked like a sign of hope and possibly an improvement in the middle of a controversial first season with so many mixed opinions.

I must say, even when there were announcements of an "anime original route" for Tokyo Ghoul, I was looking forward to it and I wanted to see what Ishida would bring to us, especially when it was revealed the name ... of it: Tokyo Ghoul √A, also known as Tokyo Ghoul Root A, or you could interpret it as Route Aogiri (don't confuse it as Route Alternate or something similar).

When it started and episode 1 showed Kaneki moving to Aogiri, I was actually fine with it and especially okay without the 103 bones/half-killing scenes that so many manga readers were disappointed.
The first episode looked nice even though it felt a bit anticlimatic in certain moments like the end of Aogiri's arc, it had a promising start again though. There were some interesting ideas and Root A had a slower pacing to actually explain the story and important elements as the Owl along with the introduction of new characters, and it was expected to be shown more about Aogiri Tree, their members, Kaneki interacting with them, maybe even the story and the origin of the organization along with that anime original route (I mean, who would not expect that after Kaneki joining the organization?), however...

Unfortunately, Tokyo Ghoul Root A does not deliver when it comes to the hype and potential, just like season 1 didn't do it too, but now it just got worse and sometimes even confusing, since there wasn't enough screen time to know what was going on through Kaneki's head, why he decided to move to Aogiri (it was eventually revealed later, but... moving to the bad side so Kaneki can "get stronger and protect the people that he loves", that's kinda understandable, although it does feel strange to see him deciding to go to Aogiri and then the story isn't even resolving around him, but the worst thing is that Kaneki moving to Aogiri DID NOT have any relevance neither impact in the end of the anime), and it reached to a point where it felt awkward or ridiculous to watch him almost not talking a single word or barely showing up on the anime's first half.

Not to mention that, despite the Root A title, we did not find out more information about Aogiri and their characters, which is a big letdown. Another problem regarding the show is the whole deal about that "anime original": Studio Pierrot did not learn from their mistakes and they basically rushed through the story AGAIN, but guess what else they did? They were still adapting important scenes/events of the manga, however there wasn't development neither a nice and detailed setup like Ishida does in the manga, except for probably the last arc, which is actually an upgrade over the first half but it wasn't enough to cover up their mistakes and flaws from the whole anime, some moments (for an example, Kaneki fighting Shachi on episode 4, especially when he SAVED this guy from CCG's prison and yet no proper explanation on why they were fighting) made the story go all over the place and it started to be so confusing with the unexplained events and many plot holes after the last episode.

Now that I mentioned the fights, I must also mention that the animation/art is so inconsistent, it can have some nice visually appealing scenery along with the important scenes too, but the characters were distorted during some moments, the movements were not really fluid and the animation had its sloppy moments too. Also, some fights were poorly animated and you could clearly notice which scenes had more investment and budget... well, if there was ever a lot of budget for Studio Pierrot though. And let's not forget Arima looking like a yaoi character along with his weird chin, it was impossible to take seriously every scene with him... once he showed up on episode 11.
I must mention another positive aspect when it came to the art: the ED sequences (each episode got a different one) with Ishida's drawings are amazing to look at.

The sound was one of the few positive points about the anime. The opening (Munou by österreich) isn't as bad like many people say, also it does fit well into the series and what's going on or what is going to happen, but it does not compare to Unravel at all when it comes to quality and meaning. The ending (Kisetsu wa Tsugitsugi Shindeiku by Amazarashi) is pretty good though, and the ost got nice songs too (a great example is Glass Sky).

Probably the biggest disappoiment on season 2 were the characters and their development throughout the story mainly Kaneki, who got butchered again in his development and his characterization even more since he got less screen time than last season neither had monologues or an idea/insight of what he was thinking or what was going on inside his own mind. The same should be said for some supporting characters, and how they portrayed Tsukiyama only as a maniac/psycho who is obsessed to eat Kaneki. I must admit that he was still funny and enjoyable to watch on his moments, but he is still another character heavily butchered by Pierrot. I mean, how are we supposed to care or feel something for him like on episode 9 in the rooftop scene when he had a conversation with Kaneki while asking him to not go into a big fight happening during that moment? In the manga, it felt impactful and sad due to his development, but in the anime it felt awkward or even funny...

However, CCG and their members had some focus on the plot, and they did get a bit of development like Akira, Amon and Suzuya... actually, they were the characters who did receive more devopment on season 2, but thats not enough when the main character and the group that he joined don't even get enough time to be developed, and let's not forget that there were only 12 episodes, so even their development wasn't that great or amazing to watch. It's kind of ironic watching how CCG got some sweet screen time on Root A, it makes me wonder why the title is even this one.

Did it have differences? Well, it did have like obviously Kaneki going to Aogiri, but the whole original concept felt like a poor excuse to make season 2 and STILL adapting some manga scenes while cutting out development and rushing through the source. What a "brilliant" decision to take the story made on 143 chapters and do a half-assed version of that with a few differences into 24 episodes.

In the end, Tokyo Ghoul Root A was disappointing and it did not really fix the issues previously shown on the first season, and it makes many anime watchers who were reading the manga wonder why Pierrot decided to animate many manga scenes despite that promise of an anime original story. After all, read the manga and pray that there will be a remake someday.

Okay, so literally almost everyone on MAL already wrote a review for Tokyo Ghoul √A, but for some reason I wanted to write one as well. And a very short one as that, simply because of the fact that most things have already been said a lot of times.

A friend of mine and I were talking about overrated anime, as Tokyo Ghoul came into discussion and she asked "But don't you think the hype surrounding it is kind of justified?" No, I don't think it is. At that point I have to say that said friend did only watch the anime adaptation, she did never ... read the manga. Which already brings me to my main questions: Was it enough for an anime like Tokyo Ghoul to have two seasons with only 12 episodes each? No. Did they at least make good use of the limited screen time given? Not exactly.
Could a person who has only seen the anime walk out of this without any questions left unanswered? Not at all. Is it possible for anyone who read the manga to not detect possible plot holes, because they are small enough to forget about? Hardly so.

Needless to say, I was a little bit more than disappointed. The people who produced both series made great use of the hype that already clung to Tokyo Ghoul, not to mention how EVERYONE was looking forward to the second season, that none of the producers broke out in a cold sweat: fatality at its finest.

People really tend to fall in love with the main concept of a show, where i have to say that the underlying idea of a world where ghouls and humans coexist is rather neat. BUT you also have to take into account what they actually made out of it.

To sum it up with that, Tokyo Ghoul √A is NOTHING but a great basic idea, any potential was simply wasted. If this really is one of your favorite anime, I assume you have never read the manga and you must be okay with all the flaws, maybe because you have not seen enough anime yet. If that's the case, I'd like for you to stop by in 6 months again, reading through the reviews of this show once more, maybe understanding why most of the ratings above literally scream "mediocre" right into my face.

As a huge fan of the manga and the incredible story crafting skills of Ishida Sui, it's hard not to loathe the anime. Any comparison has the manga undoubtedly favored. It is a beautiful tale of a young boy, the life of a city buzzing with ghouls (and their vengeful counterparts, the CCG), and the internal struggle of the human mind. It uses symbolism, beautiful art, and is told in a fast-paced yet in-depth and understandable way.

But, this is a review on the anime. And as much as us manga lovers like to complain about the hideous transition from page to screen, season two is ... quick to dismiss the blame by taking on the title, "root a", claiming that this is a different route than the manga. With that in mind, I will try to contain my bias opinion and comment on both the pleasing sides and horrendous sides of the anime (with little comments of the manga here and there, which isn't really preventable. sorry in advance).

Story: 6/10

Truthfully speaking, when Tokyo Ghoul comes to plot, it has SO much potential. What the manga gives the writers to work with is an endless amount of detailed story and well-structured dialogue. But Root A continues down the path of it's precursor, becoming the same sad tale of season one. While it is undeniably entertaining, it leaves out an extreme amount of potential. It becomes a flat surface of one-dimensional arcs and stories that are being forcefully told.

Also, it's important to question WHY Ishida and the creators of season two decided to go out of their way to change the "route" of this season, yet still kept the main story and plot lines? Events and conversations all occur exactly the same as told in the manga, while small details are changed. Kaneki's position changes and he becomes a member Aogiri, but they do NOTHING with this plot. It doesn't contribute to the main outcome of the anime. The route is still essentially following the manga, so why claim otherwise? Unless the last episode ends differently than the manga, this can become a debatable topic. Nevertheless, all other scenes from Root A were still the same, so I personally think it was unnecessary to claim this was an alternative route (though, like I said, if the last episode is different than the manga, then my argument can be changed. STILL, a much better word for it would be alternate-ending, not 'route').

Art: 5/10

I've heard a lot of people say the art is incredibly visually appealing, and while I can agree at certain parts of the anime, it's mostly disappointing and cringe-worthy. Every fight scene seems half-assed, characters faces are distorted, and everything seems much too rushed. There are few moments that are actually pleasant to look at. I won't comment on the censorship problem because that's not the fault of the show's creators, but even without the censorship, there's nothing special about the art/gore.

I maybe would have rated this at a six if Arima's face wasn't the way it looked in episode 11 (and possibly 12). How is a REAPER, a god of death (as described by Kaneki), supposed to be terrifying yet cool when he has a triangular shaped chin and a flat, boring appearance/aura? There is nothing special about him, which is sadly disappointing. And when you compare the manga, where the art gives signs to an INCREDIBLE amount of symbolism (including The Hanged Man (XII), Death (XIII), little details of foreshadowing and more), it's hard not to be unimpressed with what the anime has to offer.

Sound: 8/10

The soundtrack is, as always, pretty amazing. The op/ed are pretty good, though not extraordinary. The voice acting is usually on-point. Kaneki, Juuzou, and a few more have pretty amazing vocals and they do a good job at screaming with the same type of insanity you feel from the manga. I would also have rated this section higher if they had not BUTCHERED Tsukiyama's voice, making him a babbling idiot who shouts non-sense in broken French. It's really cringe-worthy, so I knocked it down a bit.

Character: 5/10

Again, wasted potential and the same problem that occurs in season one. Tokyo Ghoul is known for its incredible story telling and plot/character development. It is a beautiful climb of making mistakes, learning, and growing into characters with new insights and points of view. But every single character falls flat in the anime. There is not a single character that we have followed long enough to actually FEEL the growth of his character. For 11 episodes, we have been at a single standpoint. Barely anything has changed. By taking out an important arc (the lab/doctor arc), we steal Tsukiyama's incredible development, which originally had proven how good Ishida is at telling the story of a character. The anime is all over the place, trying to tell so many points of view in such a short span of time, and everything only manages to fall flat.

Kaneki fails to impress the anime-watchers, and that's very understandable. Without much dialogue, he becomes a protagonist that is hard to connect with. While stoic and mysterious, we lose the idea that he is our main character, making the audience confused in their ability to grow empathetic to who we're watching. Something really important to note is that, in the anime he is seen as a stoic, quiet, unfriendly figure, most likely due to the post-traumatic stress of his torture. But in the manga, he still has the ability to act friendly. He is still kind-hearted and able to SPEAK, though still holding a visible inner pain. He de-humanizes himself by becoming a cannibal, but that doesn't suddenly change his personality, which again is an admirable ability of Ishida's continuity within his characters. But the anime fails to make this connection, making him into a character who he is not.

I have to say, while we've seen little of the clowns, I'm hoping they make an appearance in episode 12, as they play as incredibly important role to the plot (which, if told correctly, can be a pleasurable thing for the 'character' section).

Enjoyment: 6/10

In the genres of the anime listed on MAL, we have "horror, psychological, and mystery". But the anime is none of those things. Yes, anime-watchers have questions. "Who is the owl?", "How powerful is Arima?", "Does Hide know about Kaneki?", etc. But these things do not make a mystery. Yes, there are monsters. But they don't linger under the beds of children nor do they lurk in closets. There's no creepy factor, no intensity, and no suspension. So it's not a horror. And honestly, the anime LOST its right to call itself psychological when it ruined the plots and characters. So, for one, the enjoyment becomes one solely based on action, seinen, and drama. While these things don't make a good anime if they only have each other, they DO prove to be enjoyable. Even if you dislike the anime, most still decide to watch it to the end. Manga readers watch it to figure out what 'route' it will take. We all want to know what happens next. And I think that is important in the idea that Tokyo Ghoul Root A is a surface anime. It takes things as it sees it, all for entertainment. There are no deeper meanings, no symbolism, no beautiful whisks or originality in the writing and portrayal of its origin. It is something that we watch, we partially enjoy, and then we move on. It slips our minds and instead, we think of the manga or a new show. So while it's not memorable in the least, we do still have those moments of short enjoyment. There's nothing remarkable about it, but it's something to watch to pass the time. If I was flicking the channels (and I had never watched anime) and TG was an option, I would watch out of boredom, and maybe I'd even thoroughly enjoy an episode.

Also, a little side note: It's really, really entertaining when we get to see Kaneki's mental weaknesses and the true insanity that plagues his mind due to the consumption of other ghouls and his horrid torture. But there was a lack of these beautiful scenes in the anime, which again leaves us less entertained than we could have been.

Overall: 5/10

And that's what it is. Not remarkable, not horrible. Mediocre, but not yet poor or dreadful. And while writing this review, trust me. I had a lot of fan girl in me that had originally rated a lot of these sections higher than what they are now. But as I wrote, realization dawned on me, and I came to acknowledge the failed second season of Tokyo Ghoul. It had an abundance of opportunities for potential, but it never grasped at those opportunities, making the show something that can never compare to its original story-telling form. As a writer, it's disappointing to see something so beautiful reduced to something like this, and while the art and sound were not at the fault of the writers, the room left for story and character could have easily made up for it. But alas, the anime fell too short, not reaching the high expectations of fans all around. Whether these faults lay on Ishida (who helped with the anime), or the other creators of the show, it doesn't matter. It just does not live up to anything special.

Prior to this review, the anime was rated at a 6. But the ending was just awful. Wasted space, shock-value for no reason, too much walking/music, nothing happening. Again, things that just weren't necessary and could have been used for other plot devices and entertainment, such as the fight between Arima and Kaneki.

Hopefully, we never get a season three nor an adaption of Re... leave this untouched, at least.

The most disappointing thing isn't the end of this series, it's that I wasted my time watching all of it. Some of the worst character development I've ever seen, the Cat in the Hat finished plots better than this garbage series. Let's go in order of what I had to rate before writing this review:

=

Story: blah blah blah protagonist has a sad childhood story/goofy best friend, something strange happens to him where he lives on both the side of good and evil so fucking original blah blah struggles to find his place in the world blah blah ambiguous fate (if I wanted to read how ... shit turns out I wouldn't be on a site called My ANIME List would I?).

=

Art: Cool, these guys know how to draw, it's like they dedicated their entire life thus far to this type of stuff, but there were no spectacular scenes of a promise land, no 7 goddamn wonders of the world; the are is on par with any somewhat decent anime of this day and age, and the most relevant scenes are set in cities. C+ for the "effort" used to make a bunch of building, and eventually rubble look like the doodles of an art minor who wants to get a real job.

Sound: My friend Tyrone's mix-tape is more fire than this. But honestly, theme song is whiny, and the songs used at the ends of episodes are in English (nothing wrong with that, just inconsistency). I LOVE how they replay the original theme in the last episode, I get to feel like Kaneki!...while he was being tortured by Jason.

Character: Kaneki is such a baby, worst protagonist by far. After going through so much denial, you would hope the character stays true to the morals you listen to him shout/bitch/cry about over and over again, but no.

Touka: 3edgy5me. I imagine the thought process when developing this character was "Hey let's make go tsundere but stray from normal!" "How should we do that?" "By just keeping her angry and rarely showing signs of any kind emotion!" "But won't the viewers be expecting it at some point?" "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA".

Not enough time in the world to go on about the characters you never see again but were relevant to the core plot of some episodes, not to mention how some that seem extremely important just pop up out of nowhere. or how the fate of characters who are known from the beginning are left unkown.

=

Enjoyment - Nah. I liked it in the beginning and the only real thing I enjoyed was having background noise/content to watch while I played games mid season, because at a certain point you just gotta say "Fuck it".

=

Overall: WATCH SOMETHING ELSE.

A continuation of the highly popular anime whose first season aired in 2014,Tokyo Ghoul √A is just as widely recieved as its predecessor but do do the similarities end there or does √A share its big brothers problems as well?That's what we're here to find out,so let's be on our way.

1. Story - 5

Tokyo Ghoul √A continues to follow Kaneki Ken,while he struggles to adapt to life as a ghoul all the while battling dangerous foes in the form of other ghouls,the CCG and most importantly the ever growing insanity dwelling inside him ever since his imprisonment in the Aogiri Tree base in ... the 11th ward.The main differences in √A's story compared to that of the original Tokyo Ghoul is that the story is entirely original to the anime as well as being written by TG's mangaka Ishida Sui.This means that even manga readers like myself have something new to look forward to seeing but most importantly it means that the story is blessed with better pacing as it is not trying to fit 70+ chapters of the manga into 12 episodes but rather has its own timeline which it follows to the letter and that is clearly visible while watching the show.Not once did I feel as if things were being rushed like I did at the end of TG's first season or that the show was dragging its feet like in some early moments of the first season.All of the above being said don't go into this show expecting an exceptional story or a lot of philosophical quandaries being put in front of you.why is that you ask?Well, while the show is very well paced and the story does not leave you lacking it won't leave you craving more as well at any given moment and that is because in order to fit in all the necessary things from the manga into the show Ishida and others involved in the show had to cut out a lot of scenes that gave the story,its characters and the show overall a lot more character.And it truly is a shame to see because in the manga the nuances of the story are done in such a masterful way.

2. Art - 8

Honestly speaking the animation in Tokyo Ghoul √A won't blow you out of your seat or anything,but it can be seen that a lot of effort was put into the art but it inevitably suffers from the lack of funds provided to Studio Pierott.During the course of the show there will be several animation "herp derps" that will be evident but they are few and far between so it will not affect your experience at all.The part of the show's animation that must be singled out for it's a rung above the rest are several key fight scenes during √A 's run that are just breathtaking to watch due to the animation and direction.But what truly separtes √A from other shows in terms of art are its 12 distinct ED sequences during which drawings by TG's creator Ishida Sui are being displayed.

3. Sound - 9

There is not much to talk about in this section,but I will give it my best.All the seiyuu are up to par especially Natsuki Hanae who lends his voice to Ken.The OP and ED songs are both wonderful although I do prefer the first season's opening song Unravel to the one used in the second season.As for the OST I will surely get it once it is made available as it is simply glorious,and its usage is perfectly timed.My favourite of the pack and to many other people I am sure is Glassy Sky.

4. Character - 4

Like I said in the story section of this review a lot of small scenes form the original manga were cut in this interpretation so as to make it flow more naturally.Unfortunatly that means the development of a lot of characters is stunted and you will not care much for them by the end.All of this is presuming you are an anime only watcher.As for the manga readers, a dark and powerful force may boil in your stomach once you realise that a lot of your favourite scenes or really important scenes for certain characters have been cut from the show.As for the characters themselves,Kaneki or perhaps I should say his suffering is entairtaining as always and besides the Anteiku crew this time around the show switches its focus more often to the investigators of the CCG.

5. Enjoyment - 6

I kinda enjoyed Tokyo Ghoul √A and would recommend it to people who are either masochists,like to watch trainwrecks or just had to see what this new season was all about.In all honesty the enjoyment score is as high as it is just because even though the show is mediocre at best it is still Tokyo Ghoul and I enjoyed on some subconcious level


6. Overall - 5

It just had the potential to be oh so so good and that is what hurts the most.Had it been in a more capable studio's hands TG could've turned out so much better,but alas it is not so.The only thing to hope for now is a FMA : Brootherhood type treatment once :re is finished.

Overall I give this anime a 5 out of 10.

As one of the most popular anime of 2014, I was looking forward to watch Tokyo Ghoul. However, I must say that I am very disappointed. I might come off as being harsh to some but I believe I am justified when I say that this anime is unremarkable and easily forgettable. There are two seasons of Tokyo Ghoul, but considering that season two is a direct continuation, I feel it would be most appropriate to examine both as one.

A strong introductory first episode lead me to believe that I might have to add Tokyo Ghoul to my favorite’s column, but at last ... I came to realize I was deceive. Our protagonist, Ken Kaneki, is a shy college student who happens to be bookworm. Not the most unique of characters but he is who he is. He befriends a beautiful girl, Rize Kamishiro, who also appears to love books just as much as him. He is smitten and takes Rize on a date. As they are walking home Rize reveals that everything was a façade, she is actual a ghoul and beginnings to attack Ken. A construction “accident” miraculously kills Rize and saves Ken’s life. He is left unconscious and later discovers to his great consternation that some of Rize organs were transferred into his body during surgery. He now becomes half human and half ghoul and his story for survival commences.

The premise is very appealing, however I feel that the story is incomplete and has too many holes. For example, the producers fail to provide adequate information about ghouls, after finishing the series I still do not fully know what a ghoul is. In fact, the producers provided very little background in general. Although I must stress that the first season was very entertaining. It appears that they were trying to build some intrigue and provide answers later on. However, season two provided little to no answers. *SPOILER *Almost every ghoul knew of Rize Kamishiro and was interested in her in some form. But the story provided no background into her past. In one scene Ken breaks into a ghoul prison and ends up fighting an inmate who surprise surprise is only focus on Rize. He is much stronger and ken proves no match for him. The fight scene is cut and that inmate disappears with no explanation is never seen again. Also, after Ken’s transformation into a full ghoul, he joins the enemy faction and provides no clear motive. His only explanation is that he wants to protect those he love. How exactly will joining Aogiri tree (enemy faction) help protect them?* The story, mostly the second season, felt force. Bits and pieces of information were thrown in with no real coherence. I keep on waiting for the story to gradually provide some answers and explanations but that never happened.

In all honestly I did not like most of the characters, this is my personal opinion therefore it may vary from other people. Omitting the torture scene Ken Kaneki was weak and a wimp, personally I find this very annoying. After his transformation into a full ghoul he becomes stronger but too distant and mysterious to the viewer. Touka Kirishima is a tsundere, very cliché. Amon is one of the few characters that I enjoyed. They revealed a little of his past which help explains some of his motives and aided the audience in connecting with him. Yoshimura fulfilled his role admirably. Tsukiyama was incredibly irritating I hated him. His extravagant gestures, tone and mannerism frustrated me. Juuzou is another one of my favorites, an enigmatic character always willing to provide some comic relief. Hide was an essential piece to the story but very little is known about him much like Rize. Most of the remaining characters are extras and don’t really add to the story.

The animation was very well done and the character design were practically flawless. The fights were undoubtedly very visually appealing. The opening and ending music were unsatisfactory, they did not create an impact.

Granted, not by design, my review can appear as if I am attacking this anime. However, I tried eminently to enjoy this anime. Tokyo Ghoul certainly had the potential but disappointed in most areas. It was obvious that the producers were in a rush and crudely assembled the story. Although I did not read the manga, from the comments that I read the producers did not stick to the manga and did a poor job in the adaptation. Tokyo Ghoul is not terrible but as a whole this anime was rather lackluster.

Tokyo Ghoul √A....how do I even start this review.....

Okay, I'm just going to start off by saying if you're expecting just an amazing badass continuation of the first season, you're going to cringe a little---scratch that, a LOT while watching this....

After the amazing first season, I was just REALLY, REALLY disappointed by this continuation. It was a sloppy storyline without a true focus, just a bunch of storylines and characters smashed into twelve episodes. UGH!

Story 5/10

This makes me SOO sad to say that I gave the 2nd season of TOKYO GHOUL this poor of a rating. I mean, it's even lower than what I ... gave Bokura ga Ita and Kare Kano (I think). Okay, that's not right. Let's get this straight: it wasn't downright TERRIBLE, more like downright DISAPPOINTING.

Okay, so the season starts off a pretty decent way with Kaneki exiting the toture chamber and what not. Which leads to my complete confusion. No, I have not read the manga; don't know if I will after this...maybe. UGH I DON'T KNOW. I was SO confused throughout this season. Maybe it's because I have a low I.Q. PSH no! Nothing was explained like, at all. The entire thing, we got one half-assed explanation of what a Kakuja was. Don't get me wrong, explanations can be long and annoying, but in this case, they were absolutely necessary yet absolutely NONEXISTENT. I never got closure on why Kaneki's hair turned white or why his nails were black. Just because he went full ghoul mode? Because his fingers/toes got ripped off repeatedly? That makes even less sense. Did the help paint his nails? And how did they retain the color for that long? (I'm a girl, trust me, I know how it works). Okay, I never got that, but I let it slide because, well Kaneki is a total hottie now and it's not an essential must-know thing. BUT what about everything ELSE? OH. MY. GOODNESS. Someone who's read the manga or whatever please tell me!

And if Kaneki's the protagonist he sure didn't get a whole lot of on-screen time. Half the time the focus shifted from episode to episode from crazy Mado's daughter and Amon's love story (..I think? Even the kiss was stopped! Is that a relationship???) to irrelevant Hinami's coffee conversation with Kaneki's fav author to Touka's hardcore studying (WHY WERE SO MANY SCENES SPENT ON THAT???) UGH. I am so FRUSTRATED. I found myself, hoping, PRAYING, that Kaneki would get an episode.

I'll admit the final battle scenes with the Anteiku staff was pretty cool though. But like most of the season I found myself dragging myself through it. It was kind of....boring. I really hate to say that.

Art 8/10

Pretty great, awesome. Opening theme's presentation wasn't nearly as visually satisfying as season one, but fine, WHATEVER.

Sound 6/10

Okay, maybe I just don't get it, but the opening theme of the second season was so DISAPPOINTING. I mean, obviously it's hard to match season 1, but what! I literally SKIPPED the opening theme! I never did that in the first season! And the soundtrack didn't always mesh quite perfectly like the first season. Battle scenes just didn't feel right anymore.

Character 5/10

There were so many plot jumps there wasn't enough time to do all of the characters justice. Too many new unnecessary human beings/ghouls stuffed into the plot. I feel like I didn't learn any more about the characters that were already there than I did the first season. Other than the old man. That backstory was pretty cool. Really sad, but probably my favorite part. WHAT IS THAT! WHY IS MY FAVORITE PART A BACKSTORY?
The characters I wished to see more of almost disappeared from the plot completely. Got way more unnecessary screen time of the creepy cannibal sniffing his handkerchief. People say they cried at the end and I ask why. I didn't even feel sad because none of the characters that died were represented enough to the point where I actually got attached. Even the BFF only popped up once in a while as the nosy ghoul nerd and at the end. PSH.

Enjoyment 6/10

Meh, I can't say I hated watching it. I just found myself more bored that I expected. Confused.

Overall 6/10

DO I NEED TO SCREAM ANYTHING MORE????

I...
I have no words. This is an anime I have been expecting ever since the first season ended with such a cliffhanger. Had I not read the manga and I would've lost any hope in Ishida whatsoever. Just... why, Pierrot.

As usual, I try to be unbiased, even though I read the manga, watched the anime's first season and legit enjoyed both, which just made this so much more painful. The story... it's a disaster. Was this supposed to be original content? Because the only two things actually changing were Kaneki joining Aogiri and Touka having a prominent role, and the earlier had no positive impact ... save the initial shock whatsoever. It was possibly this twist that made Kaneki's character seem so shallow and his development near null.

The anime turned him into some brooding, woe-is-me dude that immediately plunges into the world of mediocrity. Many casual fans actually like this version of Kaneki better, which is probably why he was twisted into that. But it's just not... right. He was a completely different person at all times save a few precious scenes and the last episode, and even then he felt off. The worst part is there isn't any development to speak of, and he is the main character!
Touka, however, actually had the good end of the animation. She managed to have the best development in the cast for me, and even then it wasn't stellar.

A last point about the story. Judging from other reviews, anyone who has read the manga can very rightfully get pissed off at perhaps the most important arc being adapted out. It's almost as though this season was made solely to attract more people with no regards to respecting good development whatsoever.

The art style was, in my opinion, superior to the first season, but that's as good as it gets. The animation certainly wasn't, to the point it was plain hilarious at times, and some fights were cringe-inducing.
Th soundtrack was excellent, a bright spot among the darkness, bringing along many memorable OSTs and some following from the first season. Many people complain about the opening, but I feel like it goes perfectly with Kaneki's (or what they tried to achieve) state of mind, as it speaks about beign unable to go back to the peaceful days. And it does have a spark of Ishida symbolism in it.
The ED was great, and unlike the controversial anime the opinion about it seems to be unanimous.

This show was... certainly something. Yes, it did make Tokyo Ghoul popular enough to be the most popular anime of all 2015. And yes, I must admit it was entertaining. I did wait with great diligence and watched each new episode the moment it came out, and it kept me hooked. Of course, it could also be I hoped it would get better.

There were scenes that stood out greatly, too, like the long-awaited reunion between Touka and Kaneki, especially because how in-character they acted. I would have lost all hope if Touka had, I don't know, rushed to hug in someone who in her eyes betrayed her given her volatile nature. And Kaneki was at his post-white hair Kaneki-est. The last few episodes were very engaging and action-packed as well, especially the second-to-last one.

My favorite scene, however, and one that was on par with the manga was Kaneki's reunion with Hide. It was especially heartwarming how Hide reacted to the whole situation and genuinely painful to see Kaneki no distressed at having his friend look at the monster he had become. Even better when Hide actually made Kaneki laugh, as it just showed how, despite so many things changing and going to hell, their friendship was untouched. The feels.

It was that scene and very few memorable others that compelled me to give is a seven and not less. However, I think we can all agree that this season stomped, spit and laughed at out expectations, anime and manga fans alike.

[Spoiler FREE]
[Anime Only]

~ Do you want to know what the best thing about Pain is? ~

This is the long awaited sequel to the original season of Tokyo Ghoul, named "Root A". It goes without saying that this season has disappointed countless avid Tokyo Ghoul viewers, myself included. The franchise has always been cursed with a widely love/hate relationship, and a hostile division between its Anime and Manga followers. This vague, and poorly executed sequel was the last thing it needed...

There are many reasons as to why this anime fell flat on its face. Perhaps the most notable, is that at a glance, it's essentially just ... a string of linked plot revelations and/or discoveries. Not to say that these twists... these... punchy and plentiful moments of truth didn't catch me off-guard, because they did - and this worked well... until you realize that the rest of the content is filler.

An anime needs to do more than just relay what's happening at a given moment, it needs depth, and development of the characters to make them relatable and likable. Doing so makes the show seem less manufactured, and offers a more personal viewing experience.

Whereas in the first season, Kaneki was very relatable, emotive and acted in a way that resembled what normal people would do - he was easy to appreciate and get attached to. In Root A, the best development in my opinion was of Akira, as generally the season starts out quite slowly, and a good amount of consideration was taken in developing her through her father - alongside some other new faces of course. Sadly though, Studio Pierrot... She is definitely not our main character. As instead, viewers of Root A have to deal with Kaneki "version 2": for the most part he is an emotionally devoid, isolated, brooding bore. This was a massive hit for that signature reliability, and outgoing personality of Kaneki in season 1. Despite his circumstances, there was no need to render him so brooding and quiet to the point where the show looses ALL sense of personality - and potentially causes the audience to root for the opposition.

I would definitely say that there is a very significant distance between the viewer and all of the characters, as in in addition to having no main character, the story of Root A is very much set on a larger scale. In fact, the whole anime can be described as a war, and therefore characters individually play smaller, less developed roles. This explains the loss of character attachment, but i genuinely do believe that the "bigger, whole city" premise was a refreshing angle for the show, kind of like how season 1 began...

You can't have a war without ACTION!
And Root A DELIVERS! (for once)
Arguably, the show's only strong suit is its immediate scope presentation. The art is phenomenal, and the in-ep soundtrack is very fitting too.
Despite the invasion of the theme into "filler territory", the action fighting scenes are truly a sight to behold - dominating those of season 1.

TL;DR
You can probably gather that as a whole, i felt that this follow up season was lacking in the story and character departments. I found it hard to get acquainted to the characters again, as they were all, always so distanced during the somewhat repetitive, but dramatic and pleasing fighting scenes.

It's a show that i'd say, will only work well for action-addicted judges...
And if you've read the manga (i haven't) - just forget it!

~ It tells you that you're Not Dead! (yet) ~

I had never been disappointed with an Anime that I was actually excited to watch.Tokyo ghoul √A is the continuation of the first season of tokyo ghoul but rather than following the manga it had been announced that it will be announce as an anime original.

Story- While Season 1 a little bit disappointing in terms of story telling. Season 2 is worse. I did not see what is the difference between the Manga and Season 2 in terms of plot, being Season 2 was an alternate story. Season 2 showed us the same story but offers nothing new with the Aogiri tree.

Art - the ... animation in this season is not good either. Some episodes are animated badly which is recognizable in the fight scene.

Sound- One of the good things about this season is the sounds. The OST are good and It fits atmosphere and the scenario of the anime. The Ending is quite catchy and the OP is nice.

Characters - The characters are weak in terms of development especially the main character, mainly because the anime did not show what he is thinking. Some characters are introduced but did not elaborate their purpose in the show. Although some characters got fair amount of character development.

The anime is quite enjoyable to watch but it is also quite boring.

Meh. That's all I have to say about Root A.

I really liked Tokyo Ghoul's first season, I have to say. I haven't finished the manga yet, so I can't really compare it. But, I only watched it to the end for hope of it getting better.

Root A is much like a train wreck. You want to look away and stop, but for some reason...you just keep watching. Well, for me, anyway. It was really a sad attempt, because I feel like I, much like many others, had high expectations for it from the first season. I'll admit, the ending caught me completely by surprise (not ... spoiling it).

But, overall, I was not very impressed by it. My other biggest problem was the lack of character development. The characters I kinda was getting to like went a little (or maybe a lot) "stale" on me.

Finally, I'd only recommend watching this if you have nothing else to do. Or, if you're really into Tokyo Ghoul...maybe not. Whatever, I'm done.

Hold it right there! I trully recommend you to read manga before watching the anime, the original story have a powerfull impact in contrast with the anime.
The anime story has a adaptation with good art, character, sound and you can enjoy every episode with interest. Although the adaptation made for anime failed specially in the 2nd season, the story itself is amazing in mangá. I started to watch tokyo ghoul and when i finished the 2nd season it was difficult to me to accept it, i didn't understand some parts of the anime itself and the end was sad, gloomy and lots of questions were ... left without answer. The main character seems to doesn't accomplish anything in the end of the anime and you as a spectator want more! That's what drove me into the mangá. I realised later that the anime story and the mangá story don't match in some points. Due to the popularity, the author started a new mangá to continue because even in the mangá the end left us with lots of questions and the main character stays without accomplishing nothing.

So after I saw first season and it’s epic ending,I thought that maybe the quality of the second season would go up for a little bit.But what did we get in the end?Huge pile of shit.The only thing this did to me was that it made me go WTF,made me angry, and crushed my feeling(Hide R.I.P).
I love Tokyo Ghoul and all that,but this season was full of unconsistent bullcrap.They even left out famous scenes from manga(like Kaneki vs Ayato (in the the beginning of a season 2) and Arima vs Kaneki that should have been in the last episode).What got me hyped was the the ... fight with Eto vs Arima and Kaneki vs Amon.other than that not much.In the last episode we got 8 minute long scene Kaneki carrying Hide and 2 episodes with scenes od running with Touka.WOW.Such a meaningfull episode.Also we don’t know what happened with Eto and her father,we don’t know if Amon is dead or not(but in this huge pile of crap i suppose he is).Just i can’t contain the rage I got from this.
The final scene,what a beautiful staring scene between Arima and Kaneki.Staring contest instead of a fucking fight!
You cant just shove all the story of Tokyo Ghoul into 12 episodes.You won’t have enough time to focus on important scenes and characters and thus this will be the result.Character development was killed,Kaneki joining Aogiri was for nothing in the end,nothing got explained and it even made you more confused.
Better reboot the series or do better season 3.
6/10

Just finished watching season 1 and 2. To begin with the positive, I think the concept was good.

Now for the negative. One thing I must say, is that I felt like there could have been so much more to the story overall. We got to know little if nothing about most of the supporting characters. I myself am a big fan of supporting character, as I believe they bring so much more depth to the story as a whole. I would have loved to seen a lot more of the stories behind the supporting characters as of where they came from, what they had ... been through, etc. We got maybe a second or two from when Yoshimura met Koma and Kaya as how they were in the past. That was it. To be fair we got to know some of Touka's past and also Nishikis. But what about Itori and Renji and what is up with Eto?? I know, many of you who read the manga, probably know more than I do about the story, as many details tends to be left out the anime. I just don't see the point of havin' so many exciting supporting characters, which you get to know nothing of.

To sum up. I liked the overall concept / story; I would have loved to see a lot more background story and character development (more episodes!) Also it was not very friendly towards non-manga readers, as I had to read through a lot of pages afterwards to get the slightest idea of what happened in the end. The story is probably a 100 times better in the manga, but if I have to rate the anime as a standalone product, without the manga to back up the story and to help us understand what happens, , I must say it’s a very poorly executed anime.

Toko Ghoul Root A... Where shall I start from?

Most people didn't get the Root A analogy: A is for Aogiri Tree, the antagonists and Tree have roots, so it wouldn't take you many neurones to guess the rest.

Now, as a fan who has read the manga, I must judge this animation.

Root A is an insensitive piece of trash. If you have read the manga and are planning to watch this anime, I would advice you to back off at this point cuz you're going to hurt yourself. Everything seems wrong since the first episode, as one of the gorest moment of the story, the 103 ... bones broken bit is removed. Then what else... ah yeah, the fights. The fights were very awkward to watch, a character could die in the middle of them you wouldn't give a damn. I am here talking about those of the first 7 episodes, I will mention the rest later on. Some events were omitted from the manga whereas most of the plot was modified, that's probably where people would start saying that it is an original piece of work.

I'm sorry guys but it's not because something is original that it must make sense. Tokyo Ghoul as a story itself has 2 main strengths: The goreness of the masterpiece and its twisted plot. As many of you probably already know, TG is one of the worst censored anime of all 2014-2015, thus, removing already the goreness of the story. What about the twisted plot? Well, 22 episodes in total I believe is sure not enough to expose such a great story, and this second season will just be like some fighting game anime, just set the arena and music then launch the fights. EVERYTHING IN THIS SEASON SEEMS OFF, I GUARANTEE.

Music-wise: The OST are great, way better than the first one but WTF THEY REMOVED OSHIETE TO PUT ON "The prostitute start fire". This is surely one of the biggest downsides of the season for people who liked the music of the first season cuz singing an opening song is surely one of the best ways to start watching an anime. The ending song is quite catchy and the art is marvellous, I would even advise you guys to search on youtube "amazarashi kisetsu wa tsugitsugi shindeiyuku" to see the PV and how well the video recreated the world of TG even better than the anime!

The second part of the anime (Attack on Anteiku), that started well, very close to the manga and it rised our spirits cuz we all wanted to see this goreness and sadness that is well communicated in the manga. This was another letdown by Pierrot, they battles were as empty as usual, the hype you build up on seeing Arima arriving fades away within 3 minutes.

Regarding the last episode? Oshiete was finally back but that ending... Pierrot must confess their sins, if I wanna see a guy walking for 7 mins with music in the background, then I'll go to the park and put some earphones on. Seriously, the middle of the episode was great, the rest was utter crap.


Final words? The only good episode imo was the one where the old man fights, you get a sadly excited of seeing him in action as we all know that he's the #1 ennemy of the CCG. Please Pierrot, don't make another season, TG already suffered enough

To be completely honest... I had high hopes for this anime. After the first season i thought that this season would be GOOD but after watching the second season i felt like i've been completely ripped off... The anime changed the story from the one in the manga (i was so what happy about that since i knew what was going to happen) but then decides to just start following the manga story. But even though they started to follow the manga story; they missed like more then half or the important stuff that happened.... You know the ending for ep 12???? YEAH MISSED LIKE ... SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH THERE....

All in all... i'd say this anime is trash