iverezza

An introduction to ignore.

Let me preface this by saying: Tokyo Ghoul :re is my favorite manga series. If ever there was a bias in favor of TG:re, I have it, in its purest, fan girliest form. There are flaws, but I can over look them for the sake of the story that is being told, and the adventure I experience.

This anime has none of that. It was interesting reading the buzz about this anime. In general, people adhere to the 3 episode rule. Watch by episode 3, and you kinda get the gist of where the anime is headed. In certain circles, it was "wait for episode 5." Then it became "the next episode will surely be better." Finally "They hopefully saved their animating budget for the last episode!" No. This was quite literally embarrasing to watch at some points.


It's extremely difficult to judge this anime solely based on its presence as an anime, not linking it to the manga. Especially since this was the anime that was supposed to be adapted straight from the manga. No more alternative plots like Root A.

With that said, :re is not a continuation of Root A. The second half of the  original manga was never animated, at all.


Animation - 3/10

Still frames. Power point presentation. Lack of impact. These are just some of the few phrases that will cycle through your brain as you watch TG:re.

Something is wrong when the sexual fanservice character gets more framerates than any action scene in a seinen, arguably shonen, dark fantasy anime.

There is a fight scene in almost every episode of this series, and yet it seems the entirety of the animation budget was blown away by Nutcracker's tits, which flapped in the wind like two flags which read "this right here is the best we can do."

It feels as though kagunes aren't an extension of ghouls' bodies, like the animators didn't know how to deal with them. Dodges and landings feel weak and fake. Impact, the build of momentum, the weight of each action...all dead, or hanging on just barely waiting to be resuscitated.

For example, in the last few episodes when Haise runs up the side of the building...he's literally running up the side of the building. Not only does he not have enough momentum for this feat--due to his speed being only 3 frames a second--but he's supposed to be using other means to do scale the building...like his kagune, which hoists him up to different elevations and such. But let's be real, physics, continuity, and logic had long since turned its back on this sad, sad anime.

Characters, trained professioanls at that, are so shocked at all the gruesome deaths that they can't bust out of their zero frames a second to shake in terror.

It's not all bad! There are a few moments that genuinely surprised me at how okay they were, but these few lonely scenes were toward the end and still mediocre at best.

Sound - 3/10

The real focus of this category is the OSTs and the sound effects. You'd think that if the animation can't pack a punch, then maybe the sound could help out a bit there, right?

For me, the OSTs were either completely unnoticeable, or played too low to hear. Because I can't even recall any of them playing...

A scene in the last episode reveals Matsuri sliding across the ground after having jumped out of an exploding, flaming helicopter. He grapples the side of a skyscraper and crash lands through the window. Everything leading up to him landing was okay. But then, he rolls so softly on the ground it's like... like a sack of flour just gently summersaulting on the ground.

There's a lot of scenes that also have mismatched sound based on what's happening. It's actually rather jarring and made me appreciate all the anime I've watched up to now without having ever, ever taken note of the presence of seamless sound effects.

Moments of impact--physically and emotionally--are dampened by the absence of accuracy or volume of sound effects to back up their presence. In that regard, at least the animation matches the quality of the sound.

My first impression of the opening was that it feels off beat somehow, but I eventually got used to it. Haven't looked at the lyrics yet for relevance, but it's not bad overall; I can see it becoming popular. Ending theme wasn't really my style, but again, it' wasn't bad. Nothing overly amazing.


Story 3/10

For how much backlash Root A got in (some) of the manga community, it seems someone at the top decided to stick to the story of the manga much more closely this season. And they did. If you were to summarize the manga's chapters in 4 sentences or less, :re's anime is probably what you'd end up with. Run on sentences that try to squeeze out as much as possible, remaining structurally integral, but lacking in rhythm, connectivity, and relevance.

For specific, plot revealing moments, concerning more...controversial topics, the studio chose to omit or completely alter these scenes, making them only heavily implied. Not going to explicitly state which scenes, but they will become quite relevant to this character's back story in the future. Basically, if they continue to animate :re, which they've planned to do, there is no way to avoid this development, controversial or not.

There was also some exposition information about RC cells that would've cleared up much confusion for anime-only viewers, but again, this anime assumes you've already read the manga. But at this point, I'm just glad they bothered to explain kagune frames.

Even though it is more faithful to the manga, it's like they didn't bother to capture the essence of the story. And to me, most of that stems from the characters, of which there are many in TG: re.


Characters 4/10

I'm at least glad they chose to slow down and give some relevance to the Rose group, to show how ghouls can have similar problems to humans. Even if Kanae's scenes were handled awkwardly. The divide between the two species, and the nature of how Haise accepts or rejects them is an important point overall.

There are also so many characters in the manga that readers seem to have to struggle to know who's who. This anime also has that problem but not because the amount of reoccuring characters, but because they're never given any significance other than their initial introduction, if they even get one. A lot character designs change between TG and TG:re, the manga and the anime alike, which adds another layer of confusion, which isn't entirely the anime's fault.

I feel a lot of this could be solved with the pacing issues shown in the first half of the series, though. Build relationships between characters. Make the viewer care that they exist. What's the importance of rando if they're always in the background? It can be cool to see reoccuring characters who don't have active parts in the main focus of the story, but that should be a bonus, not a focal point. When everyone feels like some random shmuck, it makes for a lifeless, boring story. Heck, it feels that way even with the main characters at times.

Speaking of main characters, there's Haise. With no previous knowledge of this guy, most vocal viewers wouldn't like him much, in favor of wanting Kaneki as MC back. All the scenes were he struggles internally are cringeworthy. Admittedly, I'm not entirely sure how to make these scenes better, I'm no anime directer by any means, but something feels wrong. It's not jarring. There's no suspense to find out who he is or his relation to Kaneki.

And such a huge part of *his* story is dependent on the Quinx, his squad. Does anyone even know their individual names after having watched this anime? Haise's relationship with them, and many others of the CCG were his reason to continue working there. They gave him purpose, as supporting characters, and he depended on them emotionally.

One of the things I did like was they gave Arima more of a human side. He does smile in the manga, but he also has more appearances there too, and most of the time he doesn't show affection. But then they removed the Christmas theme of their sort of family gathering, which would've been great for solidifying the Quinx's relationships with their superiors: Haise, Akira, and Arima.

These anime openings need to chill when it comes to spoilers, even minor ones. That "subtle" sinister glance from that one character is enough to deflate foreshadowing before it even has a chance to appear.

The ending theme terrible though, I can accept the still frames in this case. But it was still sad to realize they were replacing little character developing moments between the Quinx with the entire ending theme.



Overall Enjoyability Score - 5/10

It's embarrasing to watch this anime and know how the manga goes. There's always the constant comparisons of course, and the disconnect of what is shown versus what you saw in your mind how things would go as you read. But it can be enjoyable in its own way.

The story, animation, sound, and characters don't have to all be at all relevant.

Kind of like the show would have charisma, or soul or something. TG:re anime does have a level of enjoyability. If you enjoy moments of cringing, confusion, emptiness, and the occassional thin laugh, this anime will likely have a score of 8 or so in this section. And I must say, I do enjoy this cringe at times. If you ever laugh and think to yourself "How did this even get aired?" during any time watching this anime, it's safe to just throw all your expectations out the window at that point. Because it will only get worse. This anime had me look at it with a completely different set of standards, so there's that. I feel like I could watch almost anything now and not look at it so badly anymore.

That being said, I was glad to see my boys Shirazu and Urie finally getting animated.

My rating will also likely go up as I (attempt?) to rewatch it sometime in the future. As far as first impressions go, this one wasn't too hot.