Tokyo Ghoul:re

Like many other fans of this series I got into Tokyo Ghoul after bearing witness to the atrocious adaptation that was Root A. I'm not that big into manga though so it took me some time to decide that Tokyo Ghoul was in fact a manga worth reading. I'm very thankful I eventually made that decision because quite simply, it was fantastic. I quickly breezed through 143 chapters only to arrive at an ending that literally could not have left more questions. But lo and behold, a sequel series! Two years following the end of the first series we're introduced to one Haise Sasaki, a Rank 1 investigator who is actually quite special and, you guessed it, Kaneki!!! Yay! Our favorite tragic hero is alive!!! Wait... This isn't Kaneki. This is Haise Sasaki. A poor stand-in for a brilliant protagonist. Yes, that's the issue with Tokyo Ghoul:re, the characters.
The first series boasted a brilliant cast. Characters that we (the audience) could connect with on an emotional level. Characters that underwent development that felt genuine. But :re is lacking in such regards. First we have Haise Sasaki. If he were the protagonist of another story I would probably like him, but I can't in this scenario. He's a bit like the original Kaneki (before all the physical and mental torture) but with a cheerful disposition and the demeanor of Arima when fighting. By all rights he's a good character, but he's not Ken. Call me selfish but I want that bad-ass, tragic hero to return. Ken was the heart of Tokyo Ghoul, a character that many of us could relate to and sympathize with, but he's gone! If only that was the only fault... But no, we are also deprived of a story surrounding the Anteiku ghouls at this juncture. Sure, they get a page or two here and there, but they're the very definition of back-ground characters. The primary focus of the story thus far has been Haise's group of friends in the CCG. We've got the familiar faces of Akira, Arima, and Juuzou. We also are gifted with four new mains that I'm having trouble giving two shits about: the somewhat timid Mutsuki, the ambitious twat Urie, the wild idiot Shirazu, and the nonexistent NEET Saiko. Four young go-getters that are products of experimentation that we're supposed to latch onto and sympathize with. I'll give you a hint, it's not working.

:Re so far has just been a disappointment, which is a damn shame because the solid world and story potential is still there. Yes, the incredible and intriguing world with the Ghouls is still in full force. Aogiri Tree, the creepy as fuck Clowns, the CCG, they're there! The cruel and underground society is prevalent. The premise is still absolutely fascinating and enthralling, but no matter how good the world is you still need good characters to inhabit it.
I understand that by following Haise we're seeing the aspect that Ken is the only one who has a place in both worlds, but dropping in memory loss was in my opinion the wrong way to present that. Oh, and it would help if Kaneki was actually the only one with a place in both worlds, at this point we're approaching about 10 or so others who fit the same criteria, but that's less important.
One other aspect of this series that has bothered me is the manner in which the focus of the story has shifted to the CCG rather than the ghoul society. Following around a specialized police force isn't nearly as fascinating as following an underground society of man-eaters. Not to say the CCG doesn't have it's merits in the story, but making them the focal point has been detrimental.
There also exists a drop in quality in terms of story-telling. The first series' plot moved thanks to the characters themselves. Climatic events occurred because the characters had taken action because of their respective wishes and goals. Unfortunately that's not how the plot has progressed in :Re. I use the term "progressed" loosely as the story has remained relatively static on the whole. But the limited progression we've had never arose from the characters themselves but rather a contrived CCG operation. Kaneki encountered conflict because of his desire to discover and survive in the ghoul world and his efforts to assist his friends. Haise encounters conflict because someone up-top gave him an assignment.

The art maintains the same level of quality it did in the previous series, that being excellent. One aspect that is nailed to perfection is the emotion present on the character's faces. Be it fear, anger, despair, or psychopathic thoughts, the manner of expression carries a sense of realism. You don't have to question for a single second what a character is thinking because their thoughts have been beautifully painted onto their features. Though the quality is the same it is different in style. I don't consider this a mark in favor nor against, it simply exists as a change.
Allow me to also hand out accolades for the alterations in the character designs of characters reappearing from the first series, they've been excellent. Touka specifically... Damn. By making her features softer and more mature she moved away from the pissed-off high-school girl and change into a truly gorgeous young woman.

If the scores of this series are any sort of judge my opinion is likely not that which is popular. As such I would not be surprised if only 1 in 20 souls happen to share my opinion. But with so much potential awarded by it's predecessor, I felt the need to share why :Re has felt like a failure. Maybe it's my inherent dislike of memory loss and character regression, but this series is radiating an overwhelming feeling akin to wasted potential. Most of our questions have yet to be answered and the emotional ties to the characters have been severed. I don't read each week because I'm looking forward as to what happens next, I read in the hope of seeing change. I cling to the naive hope that every time a new chapter comes out the steps for Ken's return are taken. Instead my nightmares are actualized as I'm continually teased and lead along by the leash with Kaneki himself hardly being a topic for discussion...
Despite the many gripes I hold for these first 46 chapters I must say that it could definitely get better; but for the foreseeable future I don't see that happening. We'll be stuck with the same new cast wistfully longing for the days our favorite waiters and baristas return to the forefront of this tale. Tokyo Ghoul :Re is not terrible per se, but it's a far-cry away from what I had been hoping for.

Edit as of Chapter 48:
Alright, someone hand me a hammer, it's time we nail Tokyo Ghoul:Re's coffin shut.

One tag on this series that likely caught a lot of eyes was "Seinen". It sure as hell caught my attention. We all know what Shounen are, and we go to Seinen anime and manga in our pursuit of stories that don't cling to childish tropes. The all too common cliches present in basically every famous Shounen: plot armor, feelings serving as a power-up, speeches on friendship. Unfortunately, I fear that Tokyo Ghoul:Re is more deserving of the tag "Shounen". We're almost 50 chapters in at this juncture, if we use the first series as a judge we're now 1/3 of the way through the series. By this point I had hoped to see something happen to these characters. Anything would do! Death, despair, injury, coma, sadness, guilt, some sort of hardship or trial that our characters would be forced to overcome. For heaven's sake, wasn't there supposed to be a proverbial "tragedy" tag attached to this series?? Perhaps I should clarify- a series does not need these elements to be considered good. I'm not bitching because there isn't a contrived death or tragic event. I just can't stand it when characters are able to fight enemy after enemy but have every single cast member walk away when all is said and done. So on the Shounen check-list we can now add "plot armor" (though, if we're being honest, the first series had a lot of that too, but not this much.)

Let's continue the Shounen check-list, shall we? What's next- "feelings serving as a power-up". This is one truly despised element of Shounen. The notable title "Fairy Tail" receives a lot of shit for having this in copious quantities arc after every bloody arc, but I've also seen it present in Naruto and a number of other less long-running titles that need not be named. Suffice to say, it's quite the odious notion. The idea that thinking of your friends and family will somehow give you a boost in power and skill. Never mind your adversary's power, friendship and lovey-dovey feelings are stronger (looking at you Dumbledore). And though it pains me to say it, we can add Tokyo Ghoul:Re to the list of tales that utilize this woefully childlike plot device. A moment of silence, please. . . . .
I wish I was lying, honestly I do. Tokyo Ghoul has had a decent amount of friendship and love incorporated into the characters' motivations from the beginning, most notably Ken Kaneki's. The difference is that those feelings served as motivation as opposed to power. We would see people training to learn how to fight, pushing themselves to train more because they needed to gain the power to fight for their friends. I'm sure most of us remember Kaneki training alone with dozens of books open and scattered around the room. Only to later walk out of the shower shirtless, giving the fan-girls their favorite panel in the entire series, but I digress. Motivation, that's a perfectly acceptable notion. And to be fair we've seen some characters in :Re train, Urie for one, and... umm... shit, yeah, just the one. (I'm partially joking. For the life of me I can't recall if any of the other Qs have been shown training to improve their combat capabilities. If they were, it was likely a single panel or two, hence it's lack of placement within my memory. But, I cannot actually say they don't train, so I'll leave it as neutral.)
I'm now going to quote chapter 48, there will be no context, nothing to serve as spoiler, simply a statement that was made out to be fact given the results of various fights:
"Of course skill is important. But what's even more important than the sword and shield are... those feelings. Feelings are what make you stronger."
There it is, feelings are more important than skill. Some of you may want to spin this quote in such a way that those feelings were mere motivation. Well, I hate to break it to you (I'm lying, I'm quite pleased to do this), but motivation shouldn't be able to change an outcome beyond reason. It does not, and cannot supersede skill. In this instance those "feelings" served as the deciding factor in what was an evenly matched battle. "Feelings serving as a power-up", our Shounen check-list continues.
Speeches on friendship time! Well, my perspective of this particular trope hasn't changed. These are where they need to be and are not aspects I would view as faults. As I've said, friendship is a motivation for some characters, discussion of the characters' respective motivations is not something I need to mark off for. Thankfully, there haven't been any instances where combat was stopped so the characters could stand back up declaring their love for their friends. Should that happen... *shudders*... I'd rather not even ponder such idiocy for fear of my brain cells deteriorating at a hastened rate...

So there you have it, the Seinen tag was annihilated almost as thoroughly as Kaneki's memory. Don't take this little commentary as naught but a rant on a single chapter. This one chapter served as the final nail in the coffin, it's indicative of what the entire series has become. I would change the score to a two or a three, but the lower I go on the score the less likely people are to give my review a fair chance.

Edit as of Chapter 58:
Fair warning, below I will not include any spoilers, but given my thoughts displayed in the rest of the review you will be able to easily ascertain some of what may have occurred.

There is one huge question that often pops up in anime and manga: "is it worth it?" People want to know prior to watching or reading if the story in question is worth their time. For months now if someone had asked me "Is Tokyo Ghoul:Re worth it" my answer would've been an immediate and emphatic "no". But now, I'm not so certain. I would honestly say "I don't know". You see, some things have happened, some things have changed, and the only thing anyone can say for certain is that shit has indeed gone down. At this juncture not all of my issues with the story are fixed, but some of them appear to be well on their way to being so. I wish I could say more "review" things with this edit, but there's regrettably not much I can say without diving into the depths of spoiler territory. I just felt that I had to add this little stipulation that things could be looking up. But, even if things are trending back towards the sky my previous words should not be disregarded. You shouldn't have to trudge through over 50 chapters to arrive at the well written parts, but in some cases it becomes worth it. Whether Tokyo Ghoul:Re is worth it remains to be seen..
Since this is a review, and I have to you know, review, I'm going to say that my original score of five is what you should go by. But that is a tentative score, it could rise or fall. My hope and expectation is that it will improve. If only hope wasn't so hollow, right?

Edit as of chapter 144...
I was loathe to write another edit of this review... Not just because every time I include an edit I fear the wrath of review moderators and their case-by-case system of evaluation (no offense meant, it's literally just a fear of mine), but also because for a long while I didn't wish to waste any more of my time nor effort on this series aside from the few minutes I spend reading it every week. But after cresting that dreaded chapter 143, with a full 86 chapters left to explore since I walked away from this review (that's almost two years worth of content for those of you counting along at home), how could I not supply my updated thoughts?
So, what are those thoughts? Oh. My. God. Stay. Away.
You think I'm joking, don't you? Oh no, I'm not. If we traveled back in time a little over a year I would honestly be telling you to start reading. I'd say that the trek to getting caught up would be worth it. Man, I had hope in this series once again... Damn I miss those days. What changed you might ask? Quite a lot, actually. Hell, enough changed that I miss the old days of :Re. Yes, the same days I bitched about above. (Quick side-note even... it could just be the nostalgia kicking in, but the early days of :re probably weren't even as bad as I was making them out to be... Either that or the current chapters are just THAT bad... maybe both..? Moving on though.)

Where to start... How about the grand plot of the manga? A rant on "V" perhaps?
Whatever the hell "super peace" means? I would, but there really is nothing to say. The entire notion of the overall plot remains as something you'd read about in a 14 year old's fanfic. Shadowy organizations that rule over governments and factions in an endeavor to preserve balance and control the city! Tell me that isn't worth a solid 22 eye-rolls and 4 shots of whiskey!
That's it... I honest to god just realized something as I typed the above paragraph... They're just the Organization! Yeah, the same one Okabe never stopped ranting about! It all makes sense now! It proves my theory! Tokyo Ghoul:re is just one huge meme! Seriously, hear me out:

-How else could we explain the Quinx squad's (especially Urie) metamorphosis into Genos?
-How else could we possibly explain why the MAIN ANTAGONIST dating all the way back to chapter numero uno is just another Aizen clone? You all remember Aizen right? Mr "all according to plan"? Oh yeah, that's Tokyo Ghoul's main antagonist too.
-Why else would the "good guys" collective organization literally be "Greatest Of All Time"?
-Why else would the "bad guys" collective organization literally be the Organization??
-Why else would Ishida dedicate an entire chapter to a sex scene?
-Why else would everyone that was supposed to be dead come back to life? (Even the ones that died on-screen. Yes you're reading that correctly.)
-Why else would Kaneki be the walking incarnation of Murphy's Law? Why? Tell me; oh tell me... (lol)

All humor aside, everything I just said is true. This manga has hit the level where my first thought is simply "dreadful." At this point all semblances of any redeeming factors are gone. The characters while once great (yes, even some of the characters predominantly in :Re alone) have regrettably been turned into nothing more than victims of the plot. I feel like I'm reading the 4th Shinobi War arc again because while the plot moves there's nothing to it. The characters are involved, sure. Their personalities might even shine through from time to time, but we've long since left behind the days when individual character motivations were worth a damn. For those few that are still present though... they might as well not be. They're the exact same characters with the exact same motivations when the first series ended. There's been no growth, no progression, fuck, there hasn't been any change at all! They're the recycled remains of characters that were once among the best manga had to offer...
The morally gray world? The intense conflict between ghouls and humans that left you pulling for both sides? Dead. Gone. That was left in the dirt some time ago. It's become a clear-cut case of good guys vs. bad guys (note, not ghouls vs. humans). Even Ishida admitted as much with a not at all veiled black and white kings on a chessboard metaphor. No, I'm not just misinterpreting a panel here, it was meant to be that obvious. I think back to the good days of Tokyo Ghoul when we had fights such as the CCG vs. Yoshimura... Who were we supposed to pull for? There was no one in that battle we could call hero or villain, just two opposing sides. Both sides killed when they had to. Both sides had those they'd lay down their lives for. Both sides hated, both sides loved. It wasn't a conflict that left readers calling for someone's head.... yet that's all we have in :re..

I honestly don't know what else to say without going into massive spoiler territory. The characters are a fraction of their former selves. The plot is sloppy and filled to the brim with whatever conveniences are needed to drag its sorry corpse into the next chapter. The morally gray world has been abandoned as has all the psychological depth that came with it. Half ghouls number in the hundreds. There's a new SSS rated ghoul around every corner as well as an Investigator to stop it. People unfortunately don't die when they are killed, but apparently this manga does.

Every 10 chapters or so there will be a moment that reminds me of what I used to love about this series, and every time I have to remind myself to not let those brief flashes of greatness fool me. Maybe that's why I find this series to be as dreadful as I do, because once upon a time it was truly spectacular. If I'm being honest it's probably not bad enough to warrant a 2. I'm sure there are thousands of other manga far worse than Tokyo Ghoul;re, hell, I've read some of them and given them higher scores. But reading ;Re hurts far worse than it ever did to read any of those other shit manga because I know this is a series that could be so much more... I don't hate :Re for being bad, I hate it because it and its predecessor were once so good.
So do yourself a favor, don't read this manga. There's nothing here but disappointment.

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Alright, so I read the whole manga after watching the anime and I LOVED IT. I start reading the first couple of chapters and to be honest, I had to adjust to it. I read the first chapters a couple of times to realize what's going on. After I had finally got what was going on, I now loved the story. Its great that this is around 2 years after the Anteiku Raid. So many questions still unanswered since that latest chapter was 25. This follows Haise Sasaki (who looks almost exactly like Kaneki), a CCG investigator and the supervisor of the newly formed Quinx Squad, which are humans that have built-in quinques. Old characters emerge, but the new characters so far are very interesting. The art is the same from the original manga, which is great. I enjoyed EVERY chapter. I will conclude this review by saying this, it will ONLY GET BETTER. So far, its another masterpiece in the making.

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Tokyo Ghoul is one of the more prominent figures in the Anime/Manga industry as of late. With the two anime shows showing in the last year, and the original story ending late last year. Tokyo Ghoul:re is the second manga by the author, Sui Ishida, and the continuation of the story which takes place a few years after the first. It is full of everything the first manga series brought to the table. The author certainly has not lost an edge in the years.


Story: 8/10.

The original story was an absolute masterpiece. Everything tying together, with certain what if moments and twists sprawled out throughout every single chapter. The developments and maturing of characters seemed to run off the page and made you experience something that is real. These characters bloomed with life and vivid details. :re takes this concept and continues it seamlessly through the time skip, and notably brings forth some really interesting changes in characters we came to love in the first manga, as well as new characters that we come to enjoy that were not previously involved. The reason why this rating is in an 8 range is because the story itself hasn't had that much happen in it, with only the real "IT'S HAPPENING" moment starting around the recent chapters I have read at this time (27-29). This isn't to say the story itself isn't impeccable already with plenty of really intriguing moments. Even recently a character we saw in the previous manga, coming back in a way I don't think anyone even anticipated. There just isn't enough of the story to rate accurately yet. In the future this could be subject to change as more moments and broader arches come into play, with character developments of course.


Art: 10/10.

Ishida is one of those manga artists that know how to portray emotion and passion into the paper he draws on. As mangaka, they tell their story not just through the words and spoken dialogue, but the images being presented. This allows the reader to construct a story within their mind, much like novels do. The difference being, novels are done with words, manga is done with images. The story is beautifully drawn, and absolutely mesmerizing at certain high points. The characters all seem to have their own aura when watching them go about this crazy world Ishida is painting. Each one with their own unique characteristics and styles. Their own images, set apart from others. Furthering the relation the reader can express while glancing across the black and white surface. The art makes the characters come alive.


Characters: 8/10.

Much like the story portion, we simply do not know enough about the characters at this point to make any real judgement calls. The characters we do know about however, have really come a huge way from the first series. The developments that now span two different series, tie together in a way that are so satisfying for the reader with their own new quirks. The uniqueness of even the "throwaway" characters really comes to mind, especially in the recent Nutcracker portion of the story. Ishida being the master he is, paints this character in a unique light and puts so much mood and feelings into the short amount of time the character is in the spotlight, all done on a few short pages. Many other stories in a lot of other mediums seem to always have a copy paste method of characters. The whole "seen it all before" stereotype that we all come to expect from certain stories. But Ishida is adept at not falling victim to this ploy in his works. Even if you think you know the character through and through, something surprises you about them. And to that I give so much credit to the story as a whole. Hopefully this trend continues into the later chapters.


Enjoyment: 10/10.

Tokyo Ghoul is one of the only series of mangas I have actually sat down and read through and through. The hook of the story in the first few chapters of the first manga really packed a huge punch into my interests, a typical non-manga reader. Even today, the only manga I look forward to every week for release is :re. The story here in :re like the original knows how to appeal to the person's life. Their feelings. Their struggles. Because let's be honest, many of us don't have perfect lives. We all experience some bad. Some tragedy. And Tokyo Ghoul plays onto this fact. It shows you tragedy. It lets you know that people are out there. We are all out there. Living a life. One life. And in that fact, we all have some weight to bear. It brings a huge down to earth feeling to the reader, that many can really relate to. Life isn't always a shounen after all.


Overall: 8/10.

It's hard to rate a story fully without seeing it in it's completion. At the time of making this, I am currently up to chapter 29. With a lot more story and chapters awaiting in the coming weeks, months, possibly years, I will edit this review as it sees fit. Much of the perception of this is hinged on the fact that the person has read the prequel to this story. Highly recommend doing such, because you cannot truly grasp everything in this story without the background and the perception the first series gave to the reader. For now, the story cannot be perfect or close to it. Too much needs to be done before rating it that high. For now though, an 8 is a good place to put it for all that we have now. Looking forward to the future of this series.

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Tokyo ghoul: re is the official sequel to the well claimed and popular Tokyo ghoul, & well after that ending that blew our minds with chapter 143, we were left with a great cliffhanger, gladly the sequel continues the series just after a short period of time.
So yeah, Spoiler alert! if you didn't finish TG yet!
So now we're introduced to Haise Sasaki, a rank 1 ghoul investigator, that is a half-ghoul & his squad the Quinx that consist of other half-ghouls, whom are: Tooru Mutsuki, Kuki Urie, Ginshi Shirazu & Saiko Yonebayashi. well, this quinx squad was formed to make a ghoul investigator that could surpass Kishou Arima (Wish is a godamn god for fuck's sake).
Anyways, we later know, after a couple of chapters that Haise is actually Ken Kaneki, but for some reason, he doesn't wanna be his old self even tho he knows about it, & he struggles to fight it when he's is in tough situations.
Well, all the other characters from the first part get their screen time like: Hinami, Ayato, Naki, Touka (even if she's kinda useless, at this point), Suzuya...
I totally recommend this manga (even if it's kinda slow at times), it's a rare gem, & the readers of the first part will sure love it

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