An elite team of ghouls, humans, anything, engaging in what Tokyo Ghoul has to offer was always the right course of action. The suspense, gore, whatever the series wanted to show could work so long as it’s based around a great cast. Feel the disappointment when, like the first series, the wrong characters were focused on, and instead of this investigator team being fascinating characters (thinking of either Kaneki, Amon, guy Mado, Rize and Hide) the focus is instead on some bland quinx squad, generic police members and those with sparse likeability (Juuzou's just not interesting, Akira's drab, everyone really). They could still appear of course (this world demands demises after all) so long as the best characters are focused on.
The ones from the past that do appear are the banal ones like Touka, Nishio, of which they have been whitewashed of all personality and development. The only new person of note is Mutsuki who is the only non cliché one, and likely an editors suggestion to the author to include considering the unusually potent homophobic magnum opus the first manga was, it was good step to attempt to alleviate this.
Even with Mutsuki, this band-aid of a new character can’t cover the lack of presence we feel thinking of the potentially great characters. Who could look at this generic squad and not wonder back to fascinating, interesting people, like Amon – great fighter and investigator, one of the few to see Kaneki as not a monster. A natural born leader and would have loved to see him handle the extreme situations that would come his way, rather than disappear and replaced with non tier character whoever. Hide – charismatic, witty, an incredibly insightful best friend, indeed the only one considering the two faced nature of the ghouls. Hide fights indirectly, like leading ghouls to something that can beat them - other investigators, and unconventional fighting like using human food, why the heck Hide isn't centre stage, alongside his best friend Kaneki I have no idea. Even cooler if he could wield quinx weapons and have his impressive deductive abilities on show throughout the plot. Rize – clever, attractive, clearly should have been the female lead, definitely over bland, uninteresting Touka. To be able to explore the dynamics between Kaneki and the ghoul who was responsible for his fate would have been fascinating, not to mention that Rize battling, like against Yamori, Nutcracker or anyone would have been incredible to behold. Rize is the perfect ghoul as an antithesis to everyone. Guy Mado – could have carried the entire premise, specifically the humans can be just as bad as ghouls point, to see development and change so late in his life and to such a high ranking member would have been literary significant. Guy Mado being the ultimate mind to change for Kaneki’s purpose of having ghouls and humans live in peace, Mado was the one and the best key for the job. Yomo – he’s cool, wanted to see more, and Mutsuki – sure definitely get involved with this dream team.
How can people enjoy this series, considering who we could have had, and who we end up with: Touka, Hinami, Uta, Akira, everyone at the café, quinx squad, heck even Arima appear to be deliberately engineered to be as boring, and uninteresting as possible, and for some inexplicable reason it is these side bit characters that get the most focus. Whose head is turned for the trials and tribulations of wooden props?
The author may have thought to reset the series, though repeated the same mistakes in Re, and the inferior retcon characters can never replace the real stars briefly seen at the beginning. Still, nothing invested here, not dedication or interest, and so easy to move on and find something good, only the worst manga can generate these views.
Story wise, and unfortunately, the first manga dropped the ball on purpose and so 'Re'-set manga (essentially the same story, just told from the humans point of view) can’t even redeem it. In terms of plot there is nothing remarkable here, it’s also challenging to invest yourself in a narrative that continues to follow the lacklustre paths over the potential good ones. The arcs are banal, and what effect does it have on the cast? Even if there was anything interesting to note, who is tripping over themselves when Re once again consists of third-rate characters taking part in subpar story paths.
The greatest disappointment is the long seinen manga chapters should be creating gripping, something, anything, but it isn’t. This is not exactly a strenuous thing to achieve, and yet the fact of the matter is, the most striking feature of the non-existent story is how clichéd and monotonous it is.
Prejudice wise, this allegory for LBGT people and the supposed culture has carried over from the first manga, even with the toning down with the introduction of Mutsuki (though the concentrated poison is still secure in the first manga, and spills out here). The crude LBGT stereotypes have broadened, Tsukiyama and Nico are still present, but now we have the added Souta and Naki. Tsukiyama and Naki are naturally the drooling puppy dogs revolving everything round the straight protagonist; the ghouls/gays must know their place, see. And naturally they only want to be around Kaneki so they can eat him/hurt him/come onto him because that’s of course what those yucky gays/ghouls do, is the implication behind it all. Still so nice and tolerant for him to put up with the ghouls/gays, this is the other condescending message to everyone.
Meanwhile the straight people can be happily together, Kaneki/Touka, Amon/Akira, but all the homosexuals will not be having any of it. The LGBT equivalent of blackface and those old racist cartoons, and even present-day scenarios where black people come second to white people, and where they’re treated inferior has had its sorry day. It’s just quite intriguing noticing ancient history with this manga and seeing it the same way we look at old racist stereotypes. The out-dated LGBT stereotypes and their goals/motives should be rejected for the exact same reason we would dismiss a coin grabbing Jewish stereotype, who was jut around Kaneki for his money, and a magical N word person who picks the cotton in Kaneki’s garden whilst singing about how thrilled he is for the privilege. The same applies to a Tsukiyama, Nico, Naki, Souta, Nutcracker (the man hating lesbian, have to get them all in) and Big Madam and all their awful “yuck, look at the yucky ghouls/gays and how they act” preconceptions on full gracious display here.
Not even the art style can bring what could be good back, manga drawings which hint at something pleasant to be suddenly changed into sketches of planks of wood, and how remarkable the grooves are in the wood just does nothing to stir the imagination. An actual food turns to ash in the mouth, cheers Tokyo Ghoul, really appreciate it.
The only hunch is that the author deliberately tantalised readers with suggestions of promising characters, and stories in what should be an interesting environment, but then pulled the rug out from under leaving us on the ground looking at the opposite. An effective troll concept I guess, looks like it snared some people. Invest your time and interest into something that matters, this series cannot be it.
The forgettable plot can fade from our minds no problem, the bland uninspired drawings on paper (they’re not characters, characters make us feel something) immediately blanked out, and the sketches all replaced with a good manga. But presenting a glimpse of what was available character wise…
The bitter taste will forever be the ‘what could have been’ character and plot wise; ultimately that renders any enjoyment of this series impossible.
