Tokyo Ghoul √A

-Episode 1 review-

Where should I start: Was an okay episode, animation was a bit sluggish at times and some of the art was pretty bad in all honestly. Kaneki was pretty entertaining to watch. Everyone else though, not at all. Feel like the break between last season definitely didn't help make me remember what exactly everyone is doing or care about any of them. Seems like it'll get better with the way it ended. Sounds are kinda off like when Shinohara hits the other guy, there isn't a sound effect of metal hitting metal. The voices sound odd? I don't know there's something about it. The voices sound distorted a bit, and I'm not talking about the ghouls with masks either. Touka's emotional moment kinda seemed forced and poorly done, I get what they're trying to do but it just felt a bit flat for me. Again, animation in that scene and really just the whole idea that she would chase after him without him hearing or her saying anything is kinda laughable. I've seen it done before but it just didn't fit here. Yes, bad production values won't stop me from loving a show, but that the actual fights were so lethargic, that people stood in tense postures without moving anything but their jaws for over 30 seconds at a time, that the super-powered armours and the owl looked half baked, it was just bad. The real issue is, what was worthwhile in this episode? Let me sum it up to you, and the most important bit didn't really "happen" in this episode, but was just an outgrowth of last one - Kaneki decides to leave the human-coexisting Anteiku behind for Aogiri, those who will do anything to protect what's important to them. The real question is, what's important to Kaneki, at this point?

The last scene, if it confused anyone, took place later on after the collapse of the Aogiri HQ, as Kaneki was wearing different clothes. From what it looks like, from the people in hoods bowing and the dead corpses, Kaneki most likely had to kill a few ghouls to prove himself worthy amongst Aogiri’s ranks before he could join.

Who knows? This season might be jam packed with awesome, all fitting into 12 episodes, and with a satisfying ending. I'm pretty sure the actual author of the series isn't going to allow the studio to leave such a nasty taste in our mouths. But, we shouldn't raise our hopes... All we can do now is believe in our one and only Ishida-sama...


Even if you haven't read the manga this ending kind of makes sense anyway. Kaneki goes full on save the planet himself mode after fighting Touka's brother and realizing that he's not bad but he's just protecting his sister. Though in the manga, the whole mystery thing was a lot more interesting and how Kaneki was actually affected by the whole torture process. Here, it's just like after going mad he got strong and it didn't really affect his mental state. So in my opinion the beginning of this is really cramped and weak. If they wanted to progress past the fighting and make that part less important and focus on Kaneki leaving they shouldn't have done a half assed job at Kaneki just casually talking while dodging shards and being extremely merciful only hitting him once even though hes insane now.


√A = Root A = Root Aogiri = Route Aogiri -
Let's not forget the name of the show "Tokyo Ghoul √A", root of A or root A (implying A is Aogiri Tree and the word play on the words tree and root haha), whatever you call it can lead us to think this is a different route to the story, and it while it does imply it will be diferent, it leaves an open door to create, for example, √O (root O) aka root Original, we'll see but I would definetly love to see RE: adaptaded so by going on a different route and giving the manga time to advance is pretty much the same thing as doing fillers, so yeah, we'll see...



1) "Action":
Hide! Driving to the scene where everything's going on, what a friend. Either he'll pull Kaneki back, or it'd end up quite terribly.

Ah right, "The Owl" and all that stuff from the penultimate episode, we're back to it. Also, is it just me, or are the characters drawn much sharper and the colours are much more vivid, this season?

But how they stand there and talk, Amon and his superior, with nothing but their jaws moving, and then a single arm. No animation.

Talk about sibling rivalry. It does make me think of Legacy of Kain, heh.
Prototype gear, super-powerful enemy, but the fight looks half-baked. CG isn't helping.
The two top dogs in their protective prototype gear look like bargain bin RPG covers. Disappointing.

Right, Quinques are made from ghouls, so you want them to power up? Just let them take a bit out of you.

"We each try to justify it by saying it's right, but there is no reason that allows one to kill another." - Sounds like Kaneki, who wants to break the cycle of hatred. Is this why he only took the leader's arm a decade ago?

And of course, we're already showing hints of the next group to get themselves involved. Watching from the sidelines.

2) Repercussions and Reverberations:
How long stuff kept collapsing for made it slightly movie-like. They really gave it a lot of screen time.

"Clowns always get the last laugh." - Corny dad-joke level, achieved.

Those shots where snow falls down very slowly by Kaneki are nice, look and atmosphere wise. They're essentially still shots though.

And so, Kaneki Ken is leaving to Aogiri rather than stay at Anteiku, those who attack others, rather than those who try to coexist. A change within him. But he does so knowing Ayato is looking to protect something dear to him. Hm.
That insert song as Kaneki left Touka behind. Feels like a cour-finale, not starter, heh.

OP - The colours are neat as always, and it fits the sort of surreal feeling of the art, but my reaction could only be summarized as "meh". Utterly forgettable.
ED -I love the art-style. This is definitely one of the best endings-it's very smooth and the tune is soothing.

Comparison between the manga and anime:

This episode starts off at the ending of ch. 66/beginning of ch. 67, with the timeline for the events being swapped around slightly.

0:06-1:11 - Episode 1 begins with Kaneki leaving Jason's torture chamber and Hide presumably biking towards Aogiri Tree's hideout where Kaneki and the gang are at. Probably due to time/budget constraints, Kaneki's dialogue with Jason is cut, which is a shame because it give the audience one of the first glimpses of Kaneki's drastically changed moral code. Ch. 66, pages 15-16. Hide's parts in this episode were also anime exclusive, but still have a strong possibility of being canon in the manga.

2:42-4:04 -The fight between the Owl and Investigators Shinohara and Kuroiwa plays out very similarly to the manga, except for Amon sticking around, instead of being "persuaded" to leave Owl to the other to investigators Ch 69, page 13.

4:05-4:36 - The fight between Touka and Ayato is very similar (and short) in the manga as well. The only big difference is that they cut out basically a whole chapter worth of Touka and Ayato's childhood background story, starting ch. 70, page 4.

4:37-5:52 -Unlike the anime, the manga only has Investigators Shinohara and Kuroiwa fighting Owl in their Arata prototypes. The fight leading up to the slice to Owl's face was changed a bit too. Ch 74, pages 6-9.

5:53-6:25 - Tsukiyama, Uta, and Yomo's fight with Noro happens after Kaneki's fight with Ayato when Noro comes to grab Ayato and retreat. The actual fight plays out pretty similarly though, including Noro's ridiculous regenerative abilities, and starts ch 76, page 12.

6:26-6:52 - Ch 70, page 3

6:53-8:54- This part of the fight's still pretty similar to the manga, including Owl's disgust towards the Arata prototypes Ch.78, pages 7-8

8:55-10:37 - Beginning part comes straight out of the manga on Ch 70, page 17 and with Kaneki coming to the rescue at Ch 71, page 23, with us losing another chapter worth of background story of Touka and Ayato at Anteiku. It's all pretty similar up until 10:23. Many people were a little disappointed that Kaneki's "half-kill you" line to Ayato wasn't in this episode, from Ch 72, page 13.

10:38-10:57 - Completely anime exclusive. Not sure what to make of it yet.

10:58-12:29 - Pretty much similar to how the manga goes. I'm so glad they included the scene at 11:47, ch 75, page 5.

12:30-13:23 -Anime changes the ending to the fight rather dramatically. It's a shame that you guys didn't get to see Kaneki "half-kill" Ayato, ch 75, page 16. Noro still does escape with Ayato though in ch 76, page 17. Also the earthquake bit is entirely anime exclusive too.

13:24-13:59 - Since there's no earthquake, Owl doesn't need to save their lives. He does leave without killing anyone though, same as the anime, which leaves the investigators baffled. Ch 78, page 9.

14:00-14:20 - This is one of the first things that should've happened this episode if they kept to the same timeline as the manga. Also Kaneki rescues Banjo and his crew instead of Tsukiyama. Ch 67, page 5. Because of this, we miss out on seeing Kaneki's character development. Ch 67, page 7.

14:21-16:11 - No earthquake in the manga, so it's all anime exclusive.

15:21-15:28 - This scene's brief and you honestly can't even tell what's going on if you're just watching the anime, but that's Suzuya carrying off Jason's body since he wants to make his own quinque. Suzuya and Jason's interaction is ch 68, page 8-13.

16:12-16:34 - Ch 78, page 14

16:35-16:46 - Those three are characters that appear in the next major arc, so spoilers from the manga might still be a concern for future episodes.

16:47-17:15 - Ch 78, pages 15-17.

17:16-17:38 - Ch 78, page 10.

17:39-17:56 - Ch 77, pages 14-16.

17:57-18:15 - Marude's kind of a carp in the manga compared to the anime. Ch 78, page 11.

18:16-19:39 - Anime exclusive content

19:40-21:00 - The beginning part is ch 79, pages 5-6. Where it gets interesting is that in the manga, Kaneki decides to do his own thing with Banjo's crew and Tsukiyama, Ch 79, pages 7-10, while in the anime, Kaneki joins Aogiri Tree.

21:01-22:37 - All anime exclusive content. Kaneki's decision right here is the reason why everyone, including me, believes that the anime is going to diverge heavily from the manga. It's kind of exciting, honestly, since even I'm not sure what's going to happen next.