Tokyo Ghoul Anime Review

Sometimes the anime version of a series is better than the manga version.  The manga may be truer to the intended story the writer is trying to tell, there's can't be any denying that watching the actions play out (as with anime) can be more exciting than simply looking at them (as with manga).  Tokyo Ghoul is an example of one such series.


In an earlier review, I basically said Tokyo Ghoul was boring, disgusting, and overhyped.  I also said I would definitely be watching the anime.  Several entries later, here I am, having watched the anime.  So how does it stack up?  It's still disgust and overhyped, but at least it's not boring.  So what's different?  Let's dive in.

Our protagonist, Ken Kaneki.

This is what happens when you date from Craigslist.

First, as I mentioned earlier, anime let's you actually see AND hear what's going on.  You can see Kaneki's struggle as he tries not to give into his urges and hear his inner dialogue as he tries to maintain his sanity.  It really nails home his disbelief and hate for the situation he's in (at least early on.  Seeing and hearing it gives it that extra oomph the series needed (at least for me).

Kaneki resisting the urge to eat everyone in sight.  His inner dialogue only adds to the scene.

Second, as expected, the action translates well.  Seeing how the action would play out is the primary reason I wanted to give the anime a shot and it didn't disappoint.  The scenes involving Touka (the emo chick) fighting were pretty nice.

There's plenty of this...
...and this...
...and this, too.

The bad should be no surprise.  It's still largely about cannibals.  Ghouls eating humans, ghouls eating ghouls.  There was a line that Kaneki said that was so cheesy, I had no choice but to roll my eyes and say, "that's bullshit."  I forgot the exact line, but he basically said ghouls are humans too and that all they have to do is talk things out to make coexistence possible.  Why's it bullshit?  Because while ghouls may be a type of human (at least in this world), they still have to eat humans to live.  In other words, it doesn't matter how much talking you do, the ghoul is still going to eat you eventually.  There's no way around that.

Does this look like a person you can talk to?

In the end, the anime is better than the manga.  The sights, sounds, and seeing the action play out helped me get through an anime based on a boring manga.  I still don't like the series, but I could at least tolerate enough to stick around.  That's more than the manga managed to do for me and I'll give it points for that.  Check it out.

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