TL;DR
Story: 7/10
Art: 8/10
Sound: 6/10
Character: 6/10
Enjoyment: 9/10
Overall: 7/10 (rounded down from 7.25)
Good Points:
+ Gripping and exciting story line
+ Excellent animation and character design
+ Excellent BGM
+ Cool and varied cast of characters with powers
+ Good main character development
Bad points:
- Ends in a cliffhanger (wait for the sequel!)
- Poor OP and ED themes
- Many underdeveloped supporting characters
- Underdeveloped main antagonist
- Underwhelming final two episodes due to lack of resolution (yet)
Other comments
You will love this show if you like:
1. Good action sequences with superpowers
2. Blood and gore + screaming
3. Emotional scenes that make you cry T.T
4. Cute tsundere main female protagonist :3
Story: 7/10
The story starts off with Kaneki, a young high school student who chances upon an encounter with a girl, who turns out to be a ghoul. Both are nearly killed in an accident, that was not really an accident, and Kaneki inherits the girl's internal organs, effectively transforming him into a half-ghoul half-human being. Throughout the anime, Kaneki exemplifies both sides, the ghoul and the human side, and starts to realize how similar they actually are and explore how they can co-exist peacefully.
But not everyone thinks that way. Other ghouls like the gourmets and binge eaters feast on human flesh waay beyond their expected calorie intake, whilst a mysterious group called the Aogiri, led by a one-eyed ghoul, is taking over 11th Ward. The humans, in the form of CCG, are fighting back against the ghouls, using weapons made from ghouls themselves, which they call "quinque". Their job is to drive out the ghoul scum from Tokyo.
The plot itself is split into 3 main arcs. The introductory arc focusing on Kaneki's transformation and from human to ghoul and then to a realization that he is half-of-each, the Hinami arc, where both her parents are brutally killed by "doves", members of CCG who are hunting the ghouls in 20th ward, as well as the final but incomplete Aogiri arc, where all-out war is imminent between ghouls and humans. All three of such arcs are gripping and have excellent development. (+3)
As far as coherence goes, I can't say much, because the anime ended in a cliffhanger, and it's not entirely fair to point out things that haven't been explained. However, there are a few things that have been explained in a rather unsatisfactory fashion.
Ghouls can't eat human food and puke when they eat food, but can drink coffee, which is perfectly fine. Alright, they also forget to mention that ghouls apparently also can drink water. So the question is this - what's so special about coffee/water - that makes it different from other poisonous human foods? None of this is ever touched on, it's just been assumed for sake of a more touching story of Tohka and her friend giving her food to eat. Next, if Tohka really couldn't eat all that stuff, why didn't she just pretend she was on a diet. Even if her friend would be disappointed, at least as a FRIEND she should understand and respect other people's dietary choices, right?
Next point, Ghouls unleash their powers in a pretty cool fashion, but nowhere does the anime ever touch on where these special powers come from, and why are they so varied? We can see from Hinami that because she inherited her powers from her parents, she has BOTH of their abilities, but what about the others? Wouldn't they have inherited multiple powers as well? Why are so many of them only using one power - since, by assumption, most of them have parents and none of them are "1st Generation Ghouls".
That brings me to my next point - the story misses out a key plot line, which I think can really be developed on, the origin of ghouls in the first place. Although this is not so much a problem but an opportunity for further plot development.
Lastly, if ghouls are running rampant everywhere, and could be anyone you know, and the public knows of the existence and general workings of the ghoul (nowhere in the show is it stated or even implicitly shown that the existing of ghouls is a secret), it makes absolutely no sense for the rest of the human public to live life as if nothing is wrong - even with CCG supposedly "controlling the problem", because as long as one life has been taken - it would be all over the news and would spread MASSIVE panic and havoc (which is not seen, as of yet). But okay, I contend that the anime did make "most of the public evacuate from the area", but that was only in the Aogiri incident, what about all the killings before that in 20th ward? Kids can still go to school and feel safe? No way, man.
The anime still has lots of explaining to do, and has no resolution yet, so I'm hoping the sequel addresses these problems and ties everything up nicely. Still, most of the story is fairly coherent, and inconsistencies don't lie on key plot premises. Characters act naturally based on situations and so do the organisations (except maybe CCG might want to use tanks/aircraft against the ghouls instead of just soldiers) (+1)
As for plot depth, it is definitely quite substantial, because the anime doesn't stick to one main character, Kaneki, and just leave you the whole anime from his perspective. It jumps from the point of view of the CCG, to the people at Anteiku, to the people at Aogiri. All the perspectives are different, but all of them are essentially fighting for their lives or to protect their population/species. The central theme to this anime is basically "What defines being a human?" And that question is up to you to decide for yourself. The author hints that being human is essentially just a way of life, and it is our moral compass, conscience and actions that we take that make us human, or not human. (+3)
Like I said, there was no resolution, so I'm rating the story fairly as if I have only watched half the series.
Art: 8/10
The art for this anime is quite good. I love how the powers of the ghouls are fleshed out, all the blood and gore is a bit disturbing, but I guess it suits the anime well. The different character art styles and hair styles are also pretty unique and interesting.
Sound: 6/10
The anime has some quite poor OP and ED themes, but the background music never seems out of place, it was generally alright and kept the excitement going. The voice acting, really top notch here - must've been difficult doing all that screaming. Music was really good for all the touching scenes as well as the action scenes - job well done!
Character: 6/10
The characters in the story are many, but of course, in this 11-episode anime, not all of them can be fleshed out and fully developed. Character development-wise, we got to know the backstories of most of the main cast, Tohka, Kaneki, Nishiki, as the plot progresses, and their pasts tell a lot about why their personalities are the way they are now. There's also quite a lot of dialogue and interaction that goes on between the main characters, and it adds a lot to the identity of the characters. Even Mado and Amon's past and interactions are clearly portrayed throughout the anime, which I thought was a good thing (+2).
The main character in the story is actually quite cliched, but there's still reason to love him because it's the "good" kind of cliched, and he doesn't really get that annoying until the last arc where he keeps screaming and starts getting multiple hallucinations. Other than that, you can really feel for Kaneki every time he tried to fight his urge of becoming a ghoul. The character's struggle completely grips you each time. Some people might be slightly annoyed at how useless he is most of the time though, and always needs saving, but this is only present in the first arc, by the second arc his involvement, while still weak, manages to help Tohka defeat Mado, which is a statement to the increasing trend of his usefulness as the anime progresses. (+1)
My favourite character definitely has to be Tohka, even if she is the cliche tsundere in the story. She still ends up kicking ass and has some really beautiful wings, even for tomboy, which she uses to slay people in battle with a rain of red crystals. She's also kind, and slowly opens up to Kaneki, and ends up liking him, as she reciprocates the kindness that Kaneki always shows her, in spite of her cold exterior. She also protects Hinami like her younger sister and has strong affection for her. I also find her really cute, especially the way she blushes and the fact that she wears a rabbit mask. :3 (+1)
The final character who bears some interest is Rize, whom we still know nothing much about (except for the fact that she is a well-read bookworm who shares a similar taste with Kaneki), other than the fact that she is basically the "ghoul-side" of Kaneki after merging with his humanity. She haunts him about how it was "all his fault" and about how he has to "suffer" because he refuses to hurt other people, and about how his "inability/powerlessness in making decisions/taking action" result in the various tragedies surrounding him. She eventually convinces him that in order to "protect something" he must "sacrifice something else in return", which Kaneki eventually concludes that he has to sacrifice his own sense of "humanity" and become a monster to attain the power he needs to protect the people whom he cherishes. (+1)
Rize's character continues to be mysterious, but her influence in the anime seems much greater than many of the other supporting cast that the anime introduced and then totally left them out of any form of development.
None of the other characters actually stand out much because they aren't focused on too much. Yamori is one of the evil bad guys who goes crazy for no apparent reason and begins torturing Kaneki, for no other reason than, "Hey guys I got tortured, so I think I should torture him too." Which is like...uhh bad reason yo. Also known as "Jason", he is the main antagonist in this 12-episode run, but he doesn't get much a back story and gets even less of development despite his central role in the anime, so that was disappointing.
In terms of character growth, Kaneki shows outstanding growth throughout this anime - from being a wimpy kid at first, to growing slightly stronger but still being generally weak, to end up going crazy because of Rize that is in him and accepting his ghoul-ness despite his best efforts in being human, because he realizes being human ain't gonna help him save his ghoul friends anymore, and he is too powerless as a human. (+1)
Tohka also shows a bit of growth, slowly opening out of her shell. While Hinami goes from simply crying and whining about her tragic life, which is truly sad, to growing stronger than she is expected to, and volunteering to fight to get Kaneki back at Anteiku. The other one who shows growth is Amon, who starts to wonder about whether ghouls are all that bad at all when he meets Kaneki, who spares his life and does something only humans would do. Amon also gives into the desire for revenge against the "Rabbit" Tohka-chan, for taking away his boss, Mado, whom he respected and looked up to a whole lot. But none of these are actually portrayed well enough, we can see the change in the characters but the progression to that state, not so.
Tohka's growth came while "sitting idly by" and "reflecting about stuff that happened", all of which was essentially skipped, and we only know this because Kaneki bothered to see her in her room. Hinami's growth came in the midst of her crying... it really does solve everything doesn't it? Amon's growth came from visiting Mado's grave. But the anime showed little or none about what led him to any of these characters' conclusion.
The anime also left me with some characters whom I'd really be interested to know about, like the old dude who leads Anteiku, Yomo, and of course the girl at the bar, Itori, because their character exudes some sort of special aura about them. Too bad they weren't fleshed out in this series.
Enjoyment: 9/10
I really enjoyed most of this anime, from beginning all the way until the final arc. The scenes are action-packed, and when they are not full of heart-racing action, they are full of touching scenes of people crying, screaming, and talking to each other in meaningful moral dialogue. This anime I didn't want to put down from the time I started, till the time I ended, so good job for that. I did think that the entire of episodes 11 and 12 focused too much on the torture that Kaneki was going through. Firstly because the torture made no sense whatsoever anyway, and secondly because it just felt soooo long. Too long, in fact, and while it first gripped me, I slowly lost interest because it was the same screaming over and over again, and it was the same blood over and over again.
So, I can't give full points for enjoyment but it's still a very exciting anime to watch.
Overall: 7.25/10
