I feel TG gets too much criticism especially from manga readers. There are some complaints that I would like to address.
1. They left out a lot of stuff from the manga.
This is partly true especially in the last arc but other than that, things that were left out were mostly nerdy trivia unimportant to the development of the story (explanation of ghoul kagune types, Hide and Kaneki's bromance dinner date, etc).
The only real problem here is the crack-induced pacing of the anime's last arc where a dozen characters were introduced in about 10 minutes and a few important scenes were cut out. This was quite disappointing since I felt the pacing and execution in the first 3-4 episodes were almost flawless. The drop in quality was likely a result of the 12 ep limit, so this is forgivable.
2. Censorship
The censors were quite atrocious as it is overused and detracts from the horror experience. Maybe it was done to reach a wider audience, but it's silly how half of the screen often gets blacked out or everything just turns blue. I don't know who is responsible for this, but I will nomnom their flesh.
3. The MC is a wuss.
Seriously? If you want a protagonist who wtflolpwnzallggnore, go watch SAO. I'm sure you would like that kind of story "development". The point is Ken is a believable character who is just trying to survive. He might have a whiny voice and get kicked around for much of the series, but he does what he has to and grows stronger little by little. Watching his growth from squeaky anorexic wimp to I-will-eat-your-face beast in the face of dangerous situations is what made the show for me.
4. Underdeveloped characters.
This is also true for some especially the supporting characters. Killing off side characters, some of which had 2-3 lines (and one whose face wasn't even shown (like wtf?)) and expecting to make it into a tragic story development had me rolling my eyes. These dead characters might as well be cattle.
- Hey I'm gonna kill you dead and leave your family and loved ones forever in despair! Got any last words??
- MOOOOOOOOO!
So overall, TG was very enjoyable despite some of its legitimate flaws. It's the series I looked forward to every week, and I will be looking forward to it in S2.
