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「驟雨」 (Shuu)
“Cloudburst”
Whatever else one might say about Tokyo Ghoul, you can’t argue that it doesn’t keep itself busy.
It looks like Tokyo Ghoul is set to do pretty well commercially. The Stalker numbers look decent, and all of the back issues of the manga have started to chart again – always a good sign that an adaptation is pushing the right buttons. That doesn’t mean a second season is a lock of course, but the early signs are promising – which makes it all the more critical what the anime decides to include and not include in this cour. I haven’t read much of the manga but I know things are being reorganized in a pretty significant way. So far it’s mostly working for me, but here’s hoping it doesn’t burn through any more material than it needs to, just in case we get that sequel.
Superficially it would seem this show is anything but subtle. Larger-than-life villains, fountains of censored gore, action set-pieces – bombast is definitely the order of the day here. And that clearly suits the material well. But there’s actually a lot of complexity in the character interactions when the show is at its best (not with the Gourmet, mind you, but with those broadly gathered under the good guys umbrella). And for me, it’s that quality that makes Tokyo Ghoul arguably the best new series of the summer when it’s right.
I’m not so sure it was right this week, though this was still a pretty good episode. The bombast played off against the character dynamics is the combination that makes Ghoul go, but when the character dynamics lose their subtlety that’s where things start to misfire. There are a couple of major issues I have with this week’s story, the first and most simple being that Mado is nowhere near as much fun as the Gourmet. Ridiculous scenery-chewing baddies are part of the fun here, but Mado is sort of uninteresting and Amon basically a cipher.
A bigger problem with the ep for me, though, is that there’s a kind of lowest common denominator quality to the drama. Playing with the emotions of the audience by showing a little girl crying for her father and tearful mother-daughter bonding and self-sacrifice is pretty low-hanging fruit. I would have also liked to have seen Dr. Fueguchi’s character given a bit more of an opportunity to make an impression, because it’s hard to muster much emotion for somebody who’s basically never shown his face on-screen and whose total presence can’t be more than a couple of minutes.
There were a couple of headline moments in the episode that did work well, the first being Touka’s moment of decision as she stood over Kimi’s body once the Gourmet had been subdued (so many light beams). There’s an obvious hypocrisy to Touka’s declaration that Kimi had to die given her own lifestyle, as Ken pointed out. But the moment does a good job of highlighting the dilemma of being a ghoul trying to live a “clean” life in the modern human world. And Nishio joining the staff at Anteiku is certainly a form of penance in addition to a practical necessity if he wishes to be be one of those ghouls. His redemption may have come about too quickly for some tastes, but I thought it was very effective.
The other headline-grabber is the battle between Mado and Jason, which by appearances seems to be one villain vs. another. These are two baddies who so far don’t have the grotesque magnetism of Tsukiyama, nor do they have Miyano-san’s unique charisma to draw on, but they both have high-octane veteran seiyuu behind them. It’s hard to draw much conclusion on their relative strength based on their brief encounter, though Jason was certainly strong enough to break Mado’s Quinque (I believe that’s the first time we’ve heard the doves’ weapon referred to by name). I suppose these two big fish are going to continue snapping at each other for quite some time, though Mado is only too happy to wipe out as many small fry as he can while in the process of trolling for larger game.
That encounter of course directly led to the demise (presumably) of Fueguchi-sensei, and thus provides the impetus for the aforementioned drama surrounding Hiromi and her mother. What happens there is sad, certainly, but it’s very familiar and it’s easy – too easy to really spark any deep emotions in me. To the extent that Hiromi’s situation can be used as a device to shine more light on an important element of the larger issue of Ghouls integrating in modern culture it’s a good thing, but the more it steers clear of the shameless heartstring-tugging the better off the show will be. Grey morality and adults facing hard choices seem to be a better catalyst for bringing out the best in Tokyo Ghoul.
Omake
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Touka’s kagune was indeed very beautiful, but from the manga chapters, I imagined Ryouko’s to be even more so, but in the anime it was a bit of a letdown. Other then that i find the tie in and change of order of events in the anime to be working out very well.
The mother and child scenes here were pretty run-of-the-mill this episode, but since the sacrifice bit was in the manga, that’s not this adaptation’s fault. And seriously, what’s with anime mothers who’re going to die having hair in a ponytail over the shoulder? Eren’s mom, the Elric brothers’ mom…
I appreciated that they added Ryouko using her kagune though!
Oh, my bad, she did use it in the manga. Ooops
The difference is the manga’s version was much more subtle. Remember execution of an idea is more important than it’s concept.
I actually laughed when the Gourmet asked if Nishio was a zombie. How the hell is he still alive? He’s basically gotten the shit kicked out of him in every scene he’s been in. And now that he’s a protagonist I definitely expect to see more of this
https://randomc.net/image/Tokyo%20Ghoul/Tokyo%20Ghoul%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2006.jpg
The “quinque” was first mentioned in ep 3, although very quickly. I dont know, i wouldnt say they pushed the drama between the mother and the daughter over the top. I actually think it was well handled and a lot more toned down than what it could have been and i couldnt have been happier. It almost sounds as if you thought it got as emotionally manipulative as some of Okada’s works and i think Morita sensei, given the material he has, is a lot better than that; I thought that scene was well handled enough.
In regards to Tsukiyama and Mado I would have to go with liking Mado more as an antagonist. While I thought Miyano gave a very manic and good performance as shuu, shuu’s character is very one-dimensional and too hammy for my taste for a series like this, as much fun as i thought he was as a character (mostly fue to miyano’s performance). Mado on the other hand, while appearing to be your cut-out off-kilter personality, actually has a more subdued type of sinister vibe going on with him, and that makes him a more effective villain than Tsukiyama (which is another reason why i bet these events where rearranged; going from this to Tsukiyama wouldnt have the same impact as it does in reverse). Plus you see that Mado, although looking like he just stepped out of an insane asylum, actually cares about his partner, which already puts him a step above shuu as a more effective villain.
Not exactly related to the episode itself but this video of Touka’s seiyuu playing with cats is really adorable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2hcWDutYvo
Yeah, the tropish mother’s sacrifice did nothing to me. Now, if she somehow survived and evaded that big death flag, THAT would be interesting.
As you said, it didn’t really help that we never saw the father’s face. Who knows, maybe there’s a reason, but I doubt it.
In the manga, Hinami’s dad died a long time prior to the start of the series. It’s pretty difficult to flesh out someone who’s already dead and thus has zero exposition in the source material.
And was the cause of his death the same as in the anime?
Pretty much.
Other than chronological order differences, the constant brief appearances of Jason also diverges from the original source. Jason first appeared in the arc after the gourmet one (manga follows the mado->gourmet order instead) and never appeared in any of the previous arcs. Understandable, since Show Spoiler ▼
, they felt that he needed more screen time before the actual confrontation.
To answer your question, yes. The agents got him but Jason was not involved.
Touka is so beautiful
Words of wisdom right here.
So cutting important things from the manga and rushing things in every episode and yet they still can add filler, which was what…? about two thirds of this episode!…lol studio pierrot, though the filler was still nice though.
notaminA or IG may be better studio ,well we just have to accept this, i guess.
crimson beautiful wings!
Well, the sacrifice was predictable but this is a pretty good episode (didn’t really enjoy the last week episode, it is just me maybe).
I can’t wait to see Kaneki manfight someone now, since the action scenes are getting better!
Yes! Finally my favorite arc is going to be animated <3 Gonna prepare a box of tissues for next ep.
I always thought Touka’s kagune is beautiful. Like the wings of a butterfly.
Seems pretty clear to me that they will mix up the next two archs. Dont like this idea.
I don’t think so.
Show Spoiler ▼
Hmm, if thats true then I would feel relieved.
I just thougth that Show Spoiler ▼
Show Spoiler ▼
Convinced XD
Show Spoiler ▼
Show Spoiler ▼
Kimi is so right in that Touka was so beautiful.
And the Quinque seem like Kagune somehow turned into weapons able to wielded by humans, perhaps harvested from dead Ghouls?
Show Spoiler ▼
Please cease all the unmarked manga spoilers – enough is enough.
Crap, didn’t realize that constituted a spoiler. Duly noted!
Show Spoiler ▼
Stupidity + post-operative exhaustion
The animation quality was really really really bad in this episode.
this anime sucks
TAKETHEBAITTAKETHEBAITTAKETHEBAIT
No but this episode was a bit better than the last. Still really trope-y though.
Not the mother-daughter pair!!!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Less homo + more drama = better quality.
Shiro/Ganta(deadman wonderland) vs Ken/Touka Team deathmatch. I WANT TO SEE THIS NOW!
“Is this so-called mother-daughter love? You make me sick.”
“If you say that, your mother probably didn’t love you enough.” *attack*