Final Impressions / First Impressions / Tokyo Ghoul

「喰種」 (グール)
“Ghoul”

(So a funny thing happened on the way to posting this… Once everything was done and formatted, news came through that the official Chinese website for the Tokyo Ghoul manga announced a second season for January. I suppose it could be bogus and it seems very odd that you wouldn’t announce that at the end of the episode but wait a measly 18 hours, but this is the official Chinese site – and apparently the mangaka had hinted at this earlier on Twitter. So rather than edit the post itself I’ll leave it as is, because I think it’s more interesting that way – just remember, this was all written before any announcement came down…)

As endings to manga adaptations go, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything quite like that one.

It’s been a crazy week in the world of Tokyo Ghoul. Not only was the anime ending in a blaze of hyper-pacing with rumors of a possible continuation (at this stage based on no hard evidence) flying, but mangaka Ishida Sui unexpectedly announced that the manga was ending at Chapter 143, with almost no notice. But he’d also titled Chapter 72 “Halfway”, so there’s overwhelming speculation that this is a long-planned stunt – an ending for the first “part” of the manga, with a sequel due to follow. Guesswork is rampant – hard facts are in short supply.

I most certainly have no idea what’s going to happen either with the manga or anime, though I’d be shocked if the manga doesn’t continue (probably under a slightly changed title). There’s certainly valid reason to think a second season of the anime is possible: the anime has been a huge boon to the manga’s sales, so the publisher has strong incentive to see it continue. The anime seems on-track for decent sales, though not outstanding. There’s an anime event scheduled for next month, and such occasions are sometimes used for sequel announcements. But all I could to is guess, the same as anyone else.

Thing is, if anyone was looking to the season finale for a clue (never mind an announcement, a la Sidonia) it wasn’t any help. I was quite surprised by the way it wrapped up, frankly – after the antepenultimate episode introduced a half-dozen potential plot arcs and the penultimate was an exhausting “Blackwater”-styled action epic, the finale never left one room. Apart, that is, from the flights of hallucination (or were they?) in the mind of Kaneki Ken. It was as grim and interior as it’s possible for an episode to be – it effectively took place mostly in Ken’s mind, over the course of what was probably not more than an hour.

On the positive side, I like this approach way better than attempting the impossible task of trying to tie up all those loose ends in one episode, which would inevitably have left all of them unsatisfactorily closed out. On the other, this was pretty much full-on torture porn here – those who love such things will no doubt complain about the black bars (like with all kinds of porn, this is used as incentive to sell discs), but it was plenty grisly enough for my tastes. As I mentioned last week I tend to feel that the normal charges against these sort of episodes – namely that they’re mostly about titillation – don’t apply as strongly here. As gruesome as all this is it is here for a point – the viewer has to be shown how Ken got from the guy he was to the white-haired being we see in the OP. But allowing for personal tastes, this isn’t the sort of material I enjoy very much. As torture scenes go, I thought it was quite harrowing, and both Hanae Natsuki and Nishi Rintarou deliver outstanding performances.

When push comes to shove, Yakumo is here for this purpose – he’s a device, a catalyst to start the reaction that will give birth to the new Ken. He’s a darn good one – a truly evil and genuinely scary SOB. But the main point here is what’s going on inside Ken’s head while Jason is continually lopping off his extremities, forcing him to count backwards from 1000 by sevens in order to keep from breaking mentally. I’m still not quite sure how literally we’re supposed to take Rize’s presence, but it’s certainly clear that she and Ken were indeed fused in some meaningful way (and quite intentionally, though to what end is still murky), and she makes a very useful symbol of the ghoul side of Ken, trying to assert itself.

There’s a lot of philosophy tied up in Ken’s fevered visions, as he recalls his late mother (Takahashi Rieko). Whether it’s Ken using her as a way of questioning his own beliefs or literally her, Rize certainly uses the mother’s life to create a straw man out of Ken’s personal philosophy – “It’s better to be hurt than to hurt others”. Ken’s mother was kind, but easily taken advantage of – despite being a widow raising a young son she constantly gave money to her deadbeat sister, forcing her to work non-stop to survive and provide. It’s not the simple matter that Rize mockingly makes of it, but I don’t think most people would disagree that there’s such a thing as being too nice. And it certainly makes sense that Ken would have been harboring a good deal of resentment over this, given that it was from overwork that his mother caused her own illness and eventual death, leaving him alone (apart from Hide, seemingly).

Truthfully I’m not quite sure where Ishida comes down on all this, but there’s a definite sense that he’s judging Ken pretty harshly for the choices he’s made. Or lack of choices as the case may be, pointedly demonstrated when Yakumo makes an example of the couple who’d treated Ken kindly during his ordeal. In the end Ken seems to insist that he’s going to try and have it both ways – turn into the killer and devourer he’s refused to become until now, but retain the essence of who he is rather than turn into Rize. It’s the world that’s wrong, not him – and while that may be a useful lifeline to cling to, there’s no denying that Ken seems to have embarked on a path from which there’s no turning back.

That’s certainly a milestone, but I wouldn’t say it feels much like an ending – and I suppose one could optimistically say it’s yet more circumstantial evidence that a second season may be in the offing. It’s quite shocking, but none of the plot threads and none of the major characters introduced in Episodes 9-11 were addressed here, and apart from brief cameos in Ken’s mind none even appeared. This is either a teaser for a second season or a commercial for the manga, but it’s certainly not a conclusion. And again, I prefer that to an ill-advised to do far too much in far too little time, which almost always leads to disaster. One-cour adaptations of long, ongoing anime always require hard choices, and rarely are any of the options good ones.

So what of Tokyo Ghoul as a whole, then? It can only be judged as if this is all the anime we’re going to get because, as far as we know, it is. And for me, that’s a flawed but sometimes brilliant series – a victim of the schedule, certainly, but one which managed to introduce an awful lot of interesting stuff in that short window of time. I can see why the manga’s sales have skyrocketed, because the anime is very good at expressing just what a well-crafted story this is, and how full of interesting characters and ideas – even if it’s not always as good at bringing out all of their potential. That’s frustrating on its own terms of course, but as advertisement for the manga it’s a recipe for success.

62 Comments

  1. Welp, there goes the anime ending on a cliffhanger.

    I am not sure how I feel how this anime adaptation is handled. On one side, it has a great opening episode but then rushed through all those material. Since the manga has ended, I kinda hope they would not rush through the material at all.

    Thanks Enzo for covering this series.

    Flappy
    Reply

      1. Actually, in the last page of the manga there’s a little “See you soon” written on Touka’s top, near the bonnet of the car. You’ll have to look a bit hard though. But it’s there.

        Swarz
        Reply

  3. Personally, I was satisfied with how the anime ended. I was scared they would jam everything in the final episode. They way it was ended was pretty much perfect, and makes anime-only watchers crave more.

    I also like how the adaption was handled. In all honesty, as much as people would have love to see a more faithful adaption, it just can’t happen with a twelve episode limit. Plus, I actually don’t mind the censoring. Once the BD comes out it won’t be censored. The complaining about it is just ridiculous imo.

    I really do hope the manga gets a sequel though. I’m only about 3/4ths of the way finished, but it’s just so good and filled with potential.

    Overall, I thought it was pretty great. Thanks for covering the series, Enzo!

    Elsa
    Reply

    1. I am sorry…but anime ended horribly, at least the first season. First episode was good…and I was hoping that this will be more of his struggle with him being ghoul/human than what it was….but that aside, they ended the first season on big cliffhanger and on top of that…it sucked bad. I enjoyed how he was breaking after all the torture and finally snapped, but they ended it so badly… Quite disappointing.

      Vlaxx
      Reply

  5. This series … The anime was all about Kaneki. The manga probably isn’t though.

    To me, the best episodes were episode 1, episode 2 (especially the second half), episode 8 and episode 12. But what’s really interesting is the total … how do I put it … “Flip” between Kaneki Ken in episode 1 to the Kaneki Ken in the last five to seven minutes of episode 12. He didn’t just become “Badass”. He was always strong in his values, his principles before the transformation. It was kinda sad actually. Let me explain (sorry for the length).

    For example, in episode one, Kaneki knew he wasn’t a “normal” person anymore but he stayed determined to remain *Human* despite his circumstances. Who knows how long that actually lasted. But from right there one could tell he had passion. However, one could also convincingly argue that he was only able to latch onto that last bit of humanity because of his ignorance. Deep down, I never thought he quite accepted his ghoul side since he really had no idea of what kind of world he was now a part of. He was kinda like Rock from Black Lagoon who, as he would somewhat put it “See things from the twilight.”.

    In other words, *not choosing sides*. Which brings me to episode 2. Quick line here: *Power Struggle*. It was a present theme first introduced in episode one as soon as Kaneki found that rather kind fellow munching down on some supposedly “good eats”. What was different about episode 2 was that the enemy (Nishio Nishiki) also had the same problem (as was shown in episode 1; during the match between him and Touka). Nishio had no good reason to attack Kaneki. Remember, Kaneki was seen as weak and not a threat. But Nishio attacked Kaneki and Hide because he *lacked power* except when dominating Kaneki. Then Kaneki beat his ass (:P) so Nishio lost that ephemeral amount of power too (becoming a walking doormat as consequence).

    It all boils down to power. Episode eight was no different. Amon had the upper hand because Kaneki was acting like a fellow *human* instead of a *ghoul*. The people who go after ghouls are also affected by the ghouls culture of power struggle(s) simply by reacting to them or trying to get rid of them. Or is it the other way around. 😉

    Finally, there comes episode twelve. This was all a test by the author. Kaneki made a vow to himself that he was human(!) but what happened in this episode? Similar to what you (Enzo) said about the oversimplification of Kaneki’s mother’s significance and what it means to be “too nice”(strawman) I feel it was even more than that. Kaneki was forced to cling onto whatever nonsense would help him get through his suffering by the hands of Yakumo (Jason). He (Kaneki) was being attacked on two fronts: Mental/Psychological and Physical. I honestly believe Rize is a genuine part of Kaneki’s pysche. I heard somewhere that the torture didn’t happen in “hours” but *days* officially. So whenever Jason took a break, Ken probably retreated to what was supposed to be his inner sanctum – his mind – but Rize was waiting for him. She was like a big sign that read “DANGER! DANGER! YOU’RE GOING TO FUCKING DIE SOON IF YOU DON’T CHANGE!”.

    And this brings me to my point: Kaneki essentially came to the conclusion (from what I’ve seen in this “last episode”) that power is all that matters. But! he only wants power to protect those he loves rather than losing them because he’s “Too Weak” or as some people call him “A Pussy” (Strawman). But the real kicker is that he is no longer “Half Human, Half Ghoul” (except when it’s convienent). In his own words, he’s a “Ghoul”. It’s like someone “mixed” saying their one thing over the other. In reality, we are all mixed. There are no pure breds.

    So, in conclusion, while Kaneki didn’t give in to Rize, he both gave up (i.e. not fighting the urge to keep from becoming a murderer/killer; not following his mother was of living anymore) and stayed true to himself in the purest way he could (i.e. he *chose* to do something, like in episode eight right before going on the offensive against Amon). The potentially sad part is how Kaneki transformed into someone similar to Yakumo (Jason) from someone who really just wanted to do what’s right by all and bring people together. Maybe he only attacks as a preventive measure later on. Who really knows? Besides manga readers, that is. 🙂

    What’s really important to remember though is that his hair is WHITE like the flowers his mother was clipping. Symbolic perhaps? O.O)?

    There more I’m sure could be looked into but not as much as there would have been had the anime been handled properly (like the episodes mentioned above). I still liked it though. ^_^

    P.S. This is my first post on RandomC. Again, just sharing my thoughts but please forgive my lengthy post.

    Dissonant Souls
    Reply

  6. Kaneki was so bad this episode, he left me completely speechless. Also, Yandere HanaKana, is best HanaKana!

    SECOND SEASON!!! Yay! Studio Perriot, for all the times you didn’t do something right, this is certainly one of the times you did, and we all forgive you.

    Reianz
    Reply

  7. Kaneki: Now, before I eat you, I want you to apologize. Or else.
    Jason: Or else what? You’ll rip my toes off? Oh geez, like I haven’t enough already.
    Kaneki: Nah. Something much more painful. I’ll sing.
    Jason: You wouldn’t.
    Kaneki: ♫♪You would not believe your eyes
    If ten million fireflies♫♪
    Jason: OK! OK! I’ll do it. Ju,.. just don’t sing that ridiculously catchy song. I’m sorry
    Kaneki: You’re sorry for what?
    Jason: Oh come on!
    Kaneki: ♫♪I’d like to make myself
    Jason: OK! OK! God! I’m sorry for hurting the ghoul girl at the coffee shop, making you count backward from 1000 by sevens, ripping your toes, putting centipede inside your ear, killing the ghoul couple, trying to eat you, OK?!
    Kaneki: Good. And now, you die.

    Don’t mind me. I’m just a bit antsy, waiting for the return of Stardust Crusaders.

    Terrorhunt
    Reply

  8. With Tokyo Ghoul, I don’t see how the story can be misconstrued as anything BUT a tragedy. Ultimately, this whole show boils down to The Horrible No Good Life of Kaneki Ken.

    Don’t get me wrong, I was a BIG fan of the story; Ishida has beautiful and gorgeous ideas, but the prose and storytelling was. Um. I suppose he can’t do everything at once. And that cliffhanger, siiiigh. Still, Tokyo Ghoul was a great story with a fantastic twist at the end that causes you to go back and reinterpret some parts of the story, though I did find the need to scour my brain with soap afterwards. (Torture porn, yikes. I don’t recommend marathoning this show in one sitting. It’s definitely bad for your mental health.)

    And yay, second season!

    Murasaki
    Reply

    1. The author hardly ever writes the script for the adaptation. I suggest you read the manga before accusing the author of not being all that good at writing, because the writing in the manga is one of the better ones I’ve seen.

      Hanabira.Kage
      Reply

  10. I was a fantastic episode but yes definitely left everything handing consider ep.11 setup. But not unlike a number of north american tv shows. That is one great cliff-hanger.

    Kaneki decision to eat his enemies is a an interesting one. For someone that views the innocents in both humans and ghoul eating you enemies to survive makes sense. I’m sure this will apply to Doves as well. O__o

    Ani_BEE
    Reply

  13. I have mixed feelings on this anime. It portrayed some scenes very well but on the other hand it also mises some scenes from the manga making some episodes feel rushed and boring. This episode was brilliant but i am saddened that Yamori/Jasons retribution was cut short.

    septin
    Reply

  15. ” it effectively took place mostly in Ken’s mind, over the course of what was probably not more than an hour.”
    This much I can say I guess, in the manga it was 10 or 14 days (dont remember exactly), and I had the impression, that in the anime the time span was the same. Thats why they used the flashback-style, to be able to focus on the inner “dialogue” without having to refer to the other events or outer time, thats how I understood it at least.

    ” I’m still not quite sure how literally we’re supposed to take Rize’s presence”. My guess would be – only symbolic since everything only happened in his mind.

    The adaptation chose at least the right way to end. No anime-original ending and a cliffhanger! I really really would like to thank them for making this choice!!!:)Thats how you do it, if you dont have enough episodes. Its still really sad that the adaptation doesnt come close to the manga, but it redeemed itself (a bit) with this episode – and the voice-acting.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Libélula
    Reply

  17. Read the manga after watching episode 11…
    Holy hell I thoroughly rebuke this anime.
    This episode though? I could watch for days on end cause it’s perfect. Literally perfect…well…aside from the character swap outs (which gives me every reason to believe there won’t be a season 2) and censoring…again.

    I’ll only be satisfied with a continuation of this anime if they go the FMAB route and just press the reset button on it all…and do it right.

    Kaneki is easily my favorite MC of all manga I’ve read.
    And seriously…I need to rant rn (bout the manga, heavily about the manga)
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Kabble
    Reply

    1. Big big spoiler Show Spoiler ▼

      Libélula
      Reply

    2. the following will be a little bit of background we get from the manga, but I’ll put it in spoiler tags, since up to this point it’s manga exclusive:

      Show Spoiler ▼

      ()
      Reply

  19. Everyone wondering about his clothes changing.
    Span of multiple days yall.
    And if you hadn’t noticed, ep. 12 was a recap of the torture that happened in episode 11 that was brutally ignored all episode.
    So the clothes change was signifying real-time rather than a flashback

    Tori
    Reply

  21. Best episode of the series! This is what the whole anime should have been like. Good pacing, good camerawork, etc. Besides the ending (Which I don’t mind that much since I’ve read the manga, but anime-only watchers will probably hate) and some censoring and small changes, it was what Tokyo Ghoul should have been as a whole. 7/10 for me.

    Apa
    Reply

  22. There better be a second season in the not too distant future because as it stands the ending here ranks pretty far up on the list of biggest cliffhanger cop outs :P. Now with that said Tokyo Ghoul was probably the best adaptation of the bunch this season. Pacing, cutting, and rearranging aside, the show managed to stay intriguing and entertaining throughout, words which are not able to be said about most adaptations these days. Only major complaint personally was the censoring, it detracted significantly from several scenes and I might have to reserve final judgement on Tokyo Ghoul until I can get around to watching it uncensored.

    Overall right now I’d give Ghoul a “good” grade (7/10), it kept me watching and wanting to see more, it never bored me or stretched any suspension of disbelief up to and beyond its breaking point, and it played with some interesting ideas (i.e. ghoul biology, morality) in a pleasant, simple manner. Although it’s clear that the source material has been butchered formatted to fit the anime mold, I can say as an anime only viewer that Ghoul was a pretty fun ride, even with the occasional pothole.

    Pancakes
    Reply

    1. I kind of agree, since it was generally an good adaptation, though they did cut out a lot of Banjo’s exposition and limited Kaneki’s fighting at certain parts. But overall, it was entertaining with what it was given. I was surprised at some slight changes that didn’t defer the story, but seemed unnecessary like when Kaneki head-butted Banjo by accident, but he was supposed to knock him down with self-defense; it was a minor change but my overall paradigm of Kaneki changed and I felt they were trying to develop Kaneki in a different direction until his transformation in the last episode. Nonetheless, not the best adaptation but an entertaining one for this season.

      Dualash
      Reply

  24. “A flawed but sometimes brilliant series” – you took the words right out of my mouth. Now that both versions have ended, I definitely think that this statement applies to both the manga and the anime. Tokyo Ghoul is often atonal, inconsistent, and overdramatic. But there are also times when the writing and direction unify in all the best possible ways. It’s these moments that demonstrate Ishida Sui’s talent as a storyteller and belie his relative inexperience as an author. (His only previous work is a webcomic called “The Penisman”, which is… lol.) Credit is also due to Morita & Co. for the fantastic direction this episode.

    I have a hell of a lot more to say about Kaneki Ken and his role within the story, but I suppose I’ll save it for the next season’s finale. Though not quite Natsume/Gon/Killua level, Kaneki’s honestly become one of my favorite male protagonists, a credit to Ishida Sui’s relentless, incredibly compelling character development.

    In other news, Ishida recently made a Tumblr account (sui-zakki). May God have mercy on his soul, because whatever fanaticism he may have inspired on Twitter will be 3x as intense on Tumblr. I just hope he won’t have to deal with death threats/hate messages again. Those were upsetting to read because I love when mangaka are active and happy on social media and because Ishida’s been nothing but a sweetheart to Japanese and English-speaking fans alike.

    igriega
    Reply

  25. And this is the part where if it wasn’t for the show ending like that, I’d say the manga readers are once again complaining way too much. In fact, it was pretty damn good up till then. These last 3 episodes in particular definitely knew how to keep the tension going and censorship aside, the action was rather fluid.

    Buuuuuut, ending it right there is just….ugh. I mean, with just 1 more episode it probably could’ve at least reach a good stopping point. I guess Tokyo Ghoul can redeem this to a degree if we get a 2nd season, although not entirely. If it doesn’t then welp…it’s a serious issue since this would probably be one of the worst endings of the year.

    T’was still pretty awesome throughout it’s run though. I gave it a 7/10 for now with chances of raising it now that the 2nd season’s confirmed.

    MgMaster
    Reply

  26. the anime was good but not great, i felt they were three parts of the series, the first part and thrid where my favourites, loved the idea, but it wasn’t as scary as i would have wanted but all the same it was an absolute joy to watch especially the ending

    re_i
    Reply

  29. I lost my shit when the manga supposedly ended, there’s just no way you can do that to us!!! FINISH IT! FINISH IT! (Green Goblin Voice)

    The anime adaptation was bad, imo. Looks like I won’t be seeing an SnK quality adaptation anytime soon.

    magoiichi
    Reply

  31. Nothing like torture to make my day a little less brighter.

    I have 2 complaints of the Tokyo Ghoul anime

    1. The censorship! Damn it! If the anime is about blood and gore, atleast let me see it!

    2. It’s already the end. NO! I WANT MORE!

    All in all, it was a fun ride. Sure there are some failures here and there, but it did not change the fact that Tokyo Ghoul was one of the best animes of the season

    Ginobi47
    Reply

    1. There is no point whining about the censorship. That is just a function of it being broadcast on TV and will be gone on the BD’s which I assume (since you hate censorship) you’ll be purchasing??

      Scruffy
      Reply

  35. YES! They did this part of the manga justice, they have the potential of wrapping up the Aogiri arc decently, and showed Kaneki being truly broken / badass. If they continue the show, I’m buying into the hype for all I’m worth since the first 3-4 episodes look set to be mind-blowing.

    For what felt like the first time the anime production took the visual storytelling of the manga and put it front-and-center. It will be really interesting to see if they keep it up in a potential second cour.

    TKoverthere
    Reply

  36. Just checked the source for ANN’s second season article, and it seems that the Chinese website has removed the section about the second season. I don’t doubt its veracity for a second, though. Ending the manga and anime at the same time was most likely planned since the beginning; they were probably planning to announce the second season and sequel manga at the same time as well for maximum hype.

    It’s unfortunate that TG has been plagued by leaks, but I can’t deny that I’m relieved by the early news, or that the leaks haven’t caused an even more brilliant explosion of publicity.

    igriega
    Reply

  37. This series has some good moments, but is in general a disappointment to me. Ghoul is a metaphor for “men eat men.” The season finale touches on the issue of self-preservation, which reminds me of Oliver Twist. I like how it distinguishes between cowardice (failure to stand up for one’s legitimate interest) and genuine kindness. Confucianism advocates that “virtue” not backed up by appropriate actions is a vice in disguise. The story seems to share some elements of this line of thinking through the words of Rize (or delusion of Ken). Its plot shows some of the tension similar to vampire stories, e.g., the main character had to struggle to avoid harming people for his own survival. It has a lot of violence scenes like a zombie movie. But that’s about it.

    The good guys (at the cafe) and bad guys (human cops & ghoul terrorists) just crash out fight after fight. While the main character (Ken) tried to engage in some deep thoughts, the momentum is hardly echoed in other people’s change of behavior and thinking. Hey, look, Ken is thinking. But then, who cares? Let’s see some guts and gore. This cycle has been repeated so many times that it is not amusing. The essence of a good combat story is to set up a “good” reason to fight, AND to end the conflicts in a way consistent with the logic within the world view of the story. But I personally feel that there is not enough progress to realise the potential of this series.

    Matroid
    Reply

  39. To me this was nothing mind blowing at all. I will say the execution was great in. many parts, namely the beginning of the series, but to me this anime was just done very poorly. And let me explain myself here.

    The whole anime was meant to be a series based on expanding and building upon the world it was placed in. Yet the world building for the ghouls was only so bareback and basic. After the first episode the show turned into a huge cliche, shoving nothing but pathos down our throats and hoping it sticks it to the viewer, which seemed to work for lots of people, but for me it just became pretentious. The story itself is realy nothing special. I admit the execution is partly what made it work for some people, but really, I couldn’t be bothered to really immerse myself in the show. without checking my Facebook for updates to Brave Frontier.

    The animation as well became quite worse in quality. The fight choreography itself was not great and the character design seemed to get choppy down the road. Yes, I consider animation to be important. Naruto would be a laughingstock if drawn an animated to crayon. The characterization was also so put there. Many characters don’t grow past their first selves. Except Tsukiyama. But his backstory was presented in like ten minutes and I still don’t see how people thought that was great.

    The finale was nice, finally developing Kaneki, and it would have been terrible because of the cliffhanger but since there’s a second season, that’s cool. But at this point this even leaves a sour taste in me reading the manga. How am I supposed to sit through such obvious speeches of being a unified guoul or whatever again?

    O

    Noragami!
    Reply

  40. Aside from the unnecessary censorship and few minor hiccups here and there i immensely enjoyed watching Tokyo Ghoul, it’s a lot more than just a mindless shonen romp with non-ending power-up races (not that there is anything wrong with those)… it knew what it wanted to say and it stuck to it’s themes and delivered a coherent experience that’s both entertaining and thought provoking (and at times down right shocking).

    As for the final episode, i have to say i did expect the fight between Kaneki and Jason because it was shown in one of the trailers for the series (which was a bad idea) but i didn’t expect the final episode to play out like this .. it almost has a poetic quality to it .. the extreme contrast between Kaneki’s situation outside his mind (Jason’s crazy torture and Kaneki’s screams) and the philosophically charged but tranquil conversation he had with Rize inside his mind really created an amazing atmosphere .. i almost loved Rize here despite what she did before .. although in one way you could think of her manipulating Kaneki like she is a parasite to ensure her host survives .. so she makes him awaken his fighting instincts and change his world view in favor of a more “survival at any cost” ideas .. and it seems the reason the doctor implanted her organs in Kaneki is really using her regenerative powers to heal his injuries.

    As for the torture itself .. how is that torture porn exactly !!! .. it’s disturbing and hard to watch but not for the reasons torture porn is made for .. most of the extreme stuff is done off-screen or implied and is left for your imagination .. that’s a great way to handle a torture scene specially one where the torture isn’t the purpose of making the scene but it’s made to move the plot forward and acts as a mile stone for the character changing his world view (torture is exactly what torture porn is made for .. it has no other purpose .. want to see what it’s like .. go watch the SAW movies after part 2 cause it turned into full on torture porn, there is also Hostel or the most disturbing thing humanity ever made .. A Serbian Film .. THAT IS torture porn .. depraved torture of the sake of torture, and be prepared because you won’t be able to unsee it).

    All in all, i really enjoyed the impressive finale and can’t wait for the next season (i heard it from several sources, so here is hoping it is actually getting made not just a rumor).

    Hunter-Wolf
    Reply

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