In the anime industry, there tends to be a great production team behind each and every work these days. However, writers of outstanding merit are scarce. This notion is similar in a sense to a stroll in the park. Sometimes you find novelties that surprisingly evoke eccentric sentiments; but unfortunately there are times where the camera pans out, and you find yourself treading in congested crap. Unfortunately, I'm writing about the latter scenario, as Studio Pierrot brings us yet another adaptation of the renown manga: Tokyo ghoul.
The majority of people will tell you that the story is just a butchering of the manga; and quite frankly, I can wholeheartedly agree. A show with so incoherent a plot as Route A has must be a distorted variant of the manga-writers script, right?
Story 3/10:
An obvious deus ex machina moment was present prior to the events of this sequel, and surprise! They don't end there, but at the very least; they’ve learned to hide in plain sight. Furthermore, there is an inadequate amount of overarching world-building. Therefore, there are even characters that are supposedly relevant to the plot; yet they don't get enough screen time to fulfill their respective roles in the plot (I'm looking at you, Arima). As a whole, this atrocious portion of the anime leaves me speechless, and as such, I'll just leave the critique of the core narrative elements with that.
Now, given that the greatest merit of horror is the shock factor that elicits a suspenseful response or atmospheric change from the viewer, it is rather unfortunate that the execution of "Tokyo Ghoul Route A" has the inability to incorporate either of the above mentioned elements. In brief, one reason for this is because of the full-fledged war between the investigators and ghouls. They essentially stand on equal footings, which is rather underwhelming in a to say the least (especially when these supernatural entities are allied on one side), and definitely does not complement the horror/tragic narrative that is tries to be. Using such means to create a collective piece of writing forgoes the process of writing fully-fleshed out characters (more on that later) and keeping the plot coherent/cohesive. As a result, what we get is a half-baked product, of which is essentially sitting on the fence between a psychological enigma and your average "5deep3me" tragedies. Even worse, the problem lies in the accord to congest this over the mere span of 12 episodes, and as such, amounts to nothing more than convoluted scribe.
However, despite me seemingly chastising the anime's plot completely, I have to admit that there are redeeming qualities associated with the direction that Studio Pierrot decided to take the show. The way the show portrays itself is intrinsically abstract, given how the entirety of the second season is a manifestation of Kaneki's introspection, following the questionable events of season one. To illustrate, when Kaneki was reunited with Hide near the end, the scene was so beautifully done and opportune, given the whole "childhood friend accepting who you are now " effect. Despite this it was hard to keep my composure, given the lack of direction and plot holes in the story, not to mention the fact that the two literally had null screen time together.
Characters 4/10:
If you're an avid anime watcher, then you've probably already seen all of the troupes this show has to offer: the hard-at-work protagonist, the tsundere tryhard female lead, the generic childhood friend who has little to no relevance to the plot whatsoever, and I could just go on and on... The antagonists are similar in a sense; being generic to an extent where their motives are either completely obscure, or are limited to irrational prejudice toward the ghouls as a whole.
As for the character development; this is arguably the most pivotal part of what limits the show from consolidating its relation between character and plot. Expectantly, a wide scope is used to depict an abundant number of perspectives. By the same token, the diversity of the cast is sizable enough to attribute the lack of development to a sheer shortage of screentime. *Warning spoiler* A perfect example of this is Yukinori Shinohara, who is Juuzou’s senior investigator (If I’ve mixed people up, I apologise; it’s just too tall a task to remember names with the way the characters are portrayed). Nearing the end of the season, he succumbs to Eto’s wrath after a valiant attempt to protect others. In effect, Juuzou mourns his death, but the scene lacked poignancy and emotion because their relation had yet to be established to the extent where you would actually care for either of them.
In a similar fashion to the plot, the indecisiveness of the writers is manifested by the lousy way they experiment with each demographic of characters (The respective representatives of both investigators and ghouls). At various points in the anime, characters react in ways that one would never expect, given the previous actions they have already taken in the anime. Simply put, their personas inconsistent and are extremely lazily written.
In essence, each character has a does have a definitive place in the story, however, they are never given the opportunity to develop. This is because their goals, morals, and ideals are latent and leave the watchers wondering what they value in relation to the story. By simply dedicating one episode to outlining each of the chief characters’ back stories and ambitions, perhaps this mishap of mingled personalities could have been avoided altogether.
Art + Animation 7/10:
The animation in the entire Toyko Ghoul TV series can be summed up in one word. Inconsistent. There are times where the fights are dazzling and perhaps even amongst the best of our time. However, for whatever reason, there are episodes where everything goes downhill and we are left with sloppy animations that can be compared to panning images encapsulated onto our screens. Overall, nothing particularly spectacular, although definitely not dreadful.
The show takes on a very modern art style, which may not have been the best idea, given the atmospheric conditions of the anime, but that’s just personal preference. Also, I was pleasantly surprised by the change in art in each ED sequence, and definitely something to take note of.
Suffice to say, there are many potential metaphors and ways that Studio Pierrot make what you are looking at simple eye-candy. To illustrate this notion, the secret base Anteiku doesn't symbolize much per se, but the studio makes very good use of its poignance as a place in respect to both the themes of the show and the ostensibly prestigious cast. At best, you could call these moments the epitome of hype for this show, easily because they evoke great sentiment despite the poor writing of the said scenes.
Sound 8/10:
The ED and OP are phenomenal, but not pieces that the average person would listen to on their own time. Regardless, they are superb lyrically and sentimentally when situated in the dark thriller that they are associated with.
As for the OST, it’s hard to say whether it really complements the scenes themselves or simply diverges the audience’s attention to the more beautiful tracks coupled in the OST. Genres vary from acoustic arrangements to electronic/dubstep, and I honestly cannot agree with every single piece’s usage in the anime. However, one thing that I commend the studio for doing is for not straying away from pieces with lyrical accompaniment, and it honestly makes me wonder why studios seldom use such pieces.
In short, the pieces themselves are edifying, but can occasionally be misused at times where their presence is not ideal.
Enjoyment 5/10:
Personally, I cannot stand shows with bad writing. Therefore, the enjoyment I got from the show was very poor. However, I can see why people love this show, considering how simply abstract it is by nature.
Also, if you like dissecting a show just to see how bad it can get, this grandiose work of art is meant for you.
Overall 6/10
If you are looking for a show that you that you can take seriously one-hundred percent of the time, I advise you to stay away from this sequel; although in that case, it piques my interest that you didn't drop its prequel. That being said, it does fortunately have an abysmal list of redeeming qualities for the casual viewer. Perhaps, I’m just a deranged critic and in that case, this blasphemous show is worth watching upon your personal whim. But beware, or you might find yourself binge eating it.
