Tokyo Ghoul is a series that I personally did not know about until season 1 of the anime came out last year. While I didn't think the anime was anything particularly masterful or mind blowing, it definitely sparked my interest enough to get me to actually read the manga in its entirety shortly after I completed the anime. While I can definitely see why people who have not given this series a chance, may avoid it altogether under the assumption that it's yet another weak, dark, and edgy show/manga that's becoming mainstream similarly to Shingeki no Kyojin; I feel the series more than deserves some attention. Sui Ishida has beyond proven himself to be a fantastic mangaka who not only knows how to tell a brilliantly executed story, but knows how to masterfully utilize literary devices such as foreshadowing, characterization, symbolism, etc. in unique ways. Not to mention his artwork is some of, if not the best, artwork I've seen in recent manga. He has a unique, detailed art style that really translates well onto the page in conveying his stories. And while some may not enjoy it, Ishida has also proven himself to be quite the master of tragedy. My fellows readers, today I'd like to use this post to talk about my thoughts of the recent anime: season 2/Tokyo Ghoul: Root A.
I'm not going to lie, I love the Tokyo Ghoul manga series. After reading it, I came to the conclusion that the first season of the anime really did not do the best job in adapting this fantastic story. It ended right at the moment when things begin to get really interesting in the manga (the debut of white haired Kaneki) and suffered from some pacing errors. By the last 2 episodes, it felt terribly rushed and manga readers couldn't help but notice the nonsensical decisions of certain major events from the story being conveyed incorrectly and out of order. Yet, while it ended on the story's high point, fans were pleased when the announcement came for a season 2 of the show being tackled by Studio Perriot. However this time, Sui Ishida himself announced that the new show, entitled: Tokyo Ghoul Root A would be an anime original story written by himself that would display an alternate version of the events of the manga. Initially, this decision did not sit well with me. Why would Ishida create an anime original story as the season 2 of the anime adaptation of his show that had already been faithfully (for the most part) adapting his story from his manga? There are plenty of people who are anime only viewers who don't care for reading manga. Wouldn't you want more people to be able to experience the fantastic story you have already created? These were my thoughts and fears until I eventually came to the conclusion that I would respect Ishida's decision and trust that he would create a great, original story that would tie to the first season of the anime. Though to be honest, I was mainly excited as a manga reader as I would be able to see a new version of the story I had already came to love; not knowing what was actually going to happen. What we got.....well..... let's talk about it a bit.
While Root A was marketed as an "anime original story written by Ishida himself," I can't help but feel cheated and frankly lied to. Upon Root A's completion as of 3/26/15, viewers have come to realize that Root A ended up being (for the most part) a direct translation of the second half of the manga. The only major differences/anime original elements of Root A included: the fact that Kaneki joins Aoigiri Tree (a sort of lame hype tool that was utilized in the very first episode that left manga readers excited for more divergent elements from the manga) as opposed to forming his own group of ghouls apart from Anteiku, the absence of the raid on Dr. Kanou's (an important character who was completely excluded from Root A) lab that was replaced with a ghoul prison, and how Hide ultimately died in the last episode (compared to his ambiguous death/disappearance in the current manga story). That being said, I can't help but feel that we were lied to in being told that Root A, would ultimately tell an "alternative" story. I can't make the argument that Kaneki's participation as a member of Aogiri Tree really drove this point, as we frankly didn't get to see Root A's story from his perspective beyond a few three sentenced monologues and the final episode being dedicated to him. Instead, Kaneki took a more passive role as the anime tried its best to flesh out Ishida's world more and some of the other characters involved in the story. However, where some characters got to experience some decent characterization, many other characters were completely left in the dust.
Another thing I can't help but feel is that Ishida actually had a minor role in this project altogether beyond some creative decisions and his wonderful art at the end of each episodes' credits. I think he wanted to have more of a role in the show, but the studio probably restricted his involvement as I can't see him being ultimately proud of Root A's story as a whole (though I could very well be wrong about this). I would honestly not be surprised if his name was simply used as a tool to attract more viewers to this show as the anime industry has done this quite a few times recently: looking at you Aldnoah Zero, using Gen Urobuchi's name to attract more viewers when he only provided some frameworks for the show and only directed Episode 1. However, while all these things I've written seem negative, I did actually like Root A in the end despite its issues. Let me talk about its strengths before returning to its weaknesses and detailing what could have bolstered Root A to reach a better viewing experience.
Strengths:
-Root A's music definitely deserves some recognition. It is by far, one of the more enjoyable soundtracks this season as well as a fine example of music direction that may have topped many of the anime that came out this Spring 2015 season. Root A's music definitely knew how to set the tone appropriately for whatever scene was being displayed. I appreciated the variation amongst the tracks as well as the utilization of more vocal-centered tracks. Also props to the beautiful acoustic version of "Unravel" in the final episode by TK from Ling Tosite Sigure. It is a song that has become iconic to the show and bringing it back in a new way was very cool for fans.
-Animation: While the budget suffered at times and was clearly not consistent throughout, the second half of Root A really showcased some stellar animation and artwork. I can't stress how beautifully done almost the entirety of the Anteiku raid looked and felt for viewers. I particularly appreciated the animation direction in the final episode with the lighting on Kaneki and Hide's faces in Anteiku and the flame contrasted onto the falling snow.
-Pacing: While a lot of Root A definitely felt rushed, (contributing largely to a lack and/or nonexistence of many/important plot elements from the manga) I have to give credit where credit is due. The second half of Root A saw a major shift in the pacing. Suddenly the anime felt really slow...but it was a good kind of slow...let me explain. The pacing, especially during the Anteiku Raid in the last three episodes, saw some fantastic execution that really highlighted the emotional intensity of what was really going on. I really appreciated this tone shift and felt it successfully created a strong, emotional backdrop for the final events and fights of the show. Say what you will about the final episode, but I really love the emotional focus it took on the segments in which Hide conversed with Kaneki, shortly before his death. I also felt the 4 minutes or so dedicated to showing Kaneki carrying Hide's lifeless body (while most may find this unnecessary/annoying) as he slowly approached the CCG members made for a really powerful and beautiful scene; the likes of which I personally have not seen an anime implement in a little while now (in taking that much time to convey one scene). Thus, while the direction may not have been the best, I certainly think the show did a decent job in displaying most of the major events that occurred in the second half of the manga.
-Yoshimura's past: Although this is minor, I personally felt that of all the character's who were privileged to received characterization in Root A, Yohsimura's was done quite well in adapting the manga. I really felt his back story was done in a way that viewers could really feel the deep rooted sadness and tragedy he experienced that influenced him to become the honorable, geriatric mentor figure he ended up being for the ghouls of Anteiku.
Let's get back to some of the show's shortcoming's and what was presented!
I truly feel that Root A's core issue lies with it's length. 12 episode was simply not enough to give anime only viewers a holistic view into Ishida's brilliant story. Had the show had more episodes, studio Perriot may have been able to not only include characters such as Dr. Kannou but also cease the stupid recurring theme of micro-previews of certain characters who received no characterization and came across as effectively unnecessary to the story to anime only viewers. This is exemplified with Kamashiro's (Orca) quick introduction and sudden disappearance, Amon's ghoul foster father's abrupt and tasteless cameo, the twins Kurona and Nahsiro's essential irrelevance, as well as Arima's complete lack of characterization. I can't help but feel that anime only viewers seeing Arima fighting Eto in episode 11 must have been like, "This is cool and all...but who exactly is this guy and why is he important?" Another lame element that permeates in the same neighborhood is how Kaneki's kakuja was portrayed. In the manga, Ishida slowly built up to this ability and really fleshed out the emotional intensity and madness that led to Kaneki's psyche breaking. Suddenly, Kaneki had this new ability that received no explanation (beyond an extremely brief mentioning of it the episode after it was shown) and a complete disappearance towards the end of the show. While I understand they were constrained to only 12 episodes, it's a shame that anime only viewers were simply presented a micro-view into this important and powerful element of the story. The final battle between Arima and Kaenki was also completely removed and instead exchanged for a symbolic image of Arima posing with his quinke on the ground in the very same fashion that he had it when he "killed" Kaneki at the end of the manga. This left anime only viewers of Root A in the dark as to Kaneki's ultimate fate (leaving it very open ended). Elements such as this and the inclusion of the scene with Touka after the credits in the final episode making a reference to a potential, future Tokyo Ghoul RE adaptation makes for weak and awkward elements that only readers of the manga would really understand. This does not translate well when trying to appeal to a wider demographic (albeit appealing to manga readers). I really can't help but feel that many viewers of Root A will be quite confused about the story upon its completion; even more so than readers of the manga did before we knew RE was coming out. All these problems could've been solved had the show been privileged with a bit more episodes.
*Lastly I wanted to mention that it REALLY saddens me that anime only viewers did not get to see the fantastic character development that Juuzou gets at the very end of the manga. I definitely felt a scene showing the fate of the surviving CCG members after the raid would've made the conclusion a lot stronger. But sadly I can't really harp on this as this was simply not done.
So did I like Tokyo Ghoul Root A? Yes I did. And I'd honestly give it a 7.5/10 if I had a to give it a numeric score. It was definitely a step in the right direction to adapt Ishida's story, albeit not the perfect way. While Root A touched on some of the issues of the first season of the anime, it is a shame that a lot of major plot elements were excluded in the final version. If the show, for whatever reason, was to be picked up by another studio, to do a more proper adaptation/reboot before tackling an adaptation of the sequel manga, I think it would be very much appreciated (with the appropriate budget and episode numbers). I definitely think if a RE adaptation was to be done, it would be very confusing for anime only viewers of this series as of right now. Here's to hoping the recently announced Tokyo Ghoul Jack (a side-story detailing some events from Arima's youth) will be done well this summer. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day.
-Nights Off
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