Tokyo Ghoul:re 2nd Season

So, to preface, this is my first review, so bear with me here! If you enjoyed this anime, good! That means you got something out of it that I couldn't! But I, for one, didn't! So, with that said, let's get into it, shall we? Tokyo Ghoul:RE is.... Quite an atrocious anime. You've probably heard this a 1000 times by now, and so I'll be the 1001st.. Never have I been so disgusted with a form of media until now. Save yourself, and don't waste your time with this. Story - 4 The story of this season is overall pretty dry and flavorless. These arcs are just notvery good. Period. I thought this was the case in the manga, as well. After a CERTAIN MAJOR INDIVIDUAL'S PASSING, the quality in story just drops. Every theme TG wished to take on just seems to loosely hang on as everything is dragged away by the boring narrative. Not to mention, the hundreds of scenes that were just flat out REMOVED from the anime to make room. These scenes, believe it or not, are kind of important, and are needed to progress the story properly. I'm pretty sure Funimation needed to start a weekly podcast to EXPLAIN what was going on in this series. THAT'S when you know you REEEEALLY messed it up. Art - 1 This is the worst part of it all. I would rather watch a 5 year old's slideshow on microsoft powerpoint than sit through this again. The artstyle is generic, the animation is static, and everything is colorless. It's appalling to the eyes. There are more still frame shots in this series than anything else, and that, in my opinion at least, is a really big shame. I'm still hoping for another studio to pick up this series and do a reboot, because Pierrot obviously did NOT do it justice. The fight scenes are the most horrid examples of this. It's always just slideshows. It's all just lazy. Sound - 6 The sound WOULD be the strong part of the anime, considering the soundtrack for this series was beautiful and actually felt appropriate for the series, but.... One issue. No new tracks were written for this season, and the studio kept reusing the same tracks over and over and over and over. Needless to say, it's more redundant that water torture. Character - 4 The characters in the TG manga were the strong spot. And so, believe it or not, when you take away everything that makes a character believable, relate-able, and interesting, you get generic stick figures that no one cares for. And that's just what this studio did. I won't go into detail, for that would be entering spoiler territory, but in short, all the characters had a majority of their traits, backstory, and justifications removed. Enjoyment - 1 I hated this anime, if you can't tell already. To say I didn't enjoy ANY of it would be a lie, however. I liked the opening theme by TK and a few of the tracks on the OST (before they got so stale to me I couldn't stand them, of course) but that's pretty much it. From the animation to the poor story telling.... All of it is just a big loss. I would actually sit there during each episode, looking at the time and saying to myself, "Is it over yet?" Overall - 1 It's pathetic. I've listed all my reasons as to why I think this. I'm not gonna preach high and mighty about the manga, it has flaws too, but if you want to enjoy this series, read the manga. That's all I need to say about it. And again, if you somehow enjoyed this heaping pile of trash, good on you!

This review will cover both Seasons of Tokyo Ghoul re: "YA DONE FUCKED IT UP" Angry Joe. Back in the summer 14 anime season, there was a little star anime called Tokyo Ghoul. After that first season ended the series quickly gained popularity from anime fans from the world making it the success. While manga fans beg the differ around due to its content skipping the first season was a decent adaptation that did a good job at bringing in anime only fans to Sui Ishida work. One anime season later the second season of Tokyo Ghoul came out which was titled Tokyo Ghoul Root A a confusing, poorlyanimated and horrendously adapted train wreck not only saddened the anime-only fans but pissed a huge chunk of manga fans. When I finished Root A. Tokyo Ghoul Root A was so bad it killed off a big chunk of the anime fanbase for the series where they all decided to read the manga which while reading it they opinions of the anime drastically changed for the worst where people my self-included no longer consider even the decently handle first season to be good. Now fast forward 3 years later we have the Tokyo Ghoul re anime adaptation and let's just say that this show was dead on arrival. Am not kidding when I say this but Tokyo Ghoul re is one of the worst animes ever made because not only this show is an absolute failure a manga adaptation but it's also a failure of an anime product to a point where simply doesn't function correctly and trust me when I say this that nothing more infuriating than an anime that doesn't function at all. With that said let's begin with this broken butchered feast. Uhh, there are so many things wrong with the story alone I seriously don't know where to begin and even then talking about this shows problems gives me physical pain. I honestly cannot believe of how awful this series and with that said let's start talking about this dreadful story. One of the first mistakes that Tokyo Ghoul re was how the plot presented itself to the viewer. Instead of getting a half recap episode where it shows us showcases the Kaneki vs Arima you know the fight that was non-existent in Root A the show decided to jump to straight to the action while horrendously introducing its new characters. I understand that Studio Pierrot wanted to get straight to the action and all but there should be least some decent transition piece from original series to re: This is just straight up ADHD pandering and this poor transition piece alone really highlights how poorly directed this series is especially re:S2 where everything goes to shit in terms of writing and dialogue. The pacing in Tokyo Ghoul re is an absolute disaster in every level. Despite this show being 24 episodes mind, you the series moves at a fast pace like a typical battle shounen the fast shounen pacing clearly doesn't work in Tokyo Ghoul re as the series was meant to be this psychological horror drama series that has a lot of chararter and story building. Not this broken ass shounen series that completely butchers everything that the original series has set off. The final nail of the coffin for this broken mess is the direction. Am not kidding when I say this but Tokyo Ghoul re is easily the worst directed series I have ever seen in my life. So many awkward scene transition, awful camera positioning and abysmal shot composition and framing. You may be wondering why I haven't touched the plot for Tokyo Ghoul re: Well that's because the plot is a complete lobotomised bastardisation of its own source material where all the story elements that happened in the source material have been butchered to oblivion where it no longer makes any sort of sence. The story was so horrendously broken Funimation had to go out of the way to explain the all the events of Tokyo Ghoul re on a live stream and even then they are having a hard time explaining thanks to this shows pathetic pacing and directing. Overall the story of Tokyo Ghoul re: is a complete abomination that shouldn't have seen the light of day. Screw you Studio Pierrot. The characters don't fare much better and that's the tragic part because these characters can be good but the pacing and direction completely kill these characters before they can even open them damm months. Another thing that makes the characters even worse is how the series loves to introduced new characters and like with the original series they barely left an impression in the narrative as they show once or twice then they are never seen or at times ever heard from again... Kaneki/Haiseki is a boring and inconsistent husk of a chararter. Outside of him being a broken adapted chararter to the core thanks to Studio Pierrot and the staff being the show being incompetent as hell he just boring and inconsistent edgy who does edge/nerdy thing for the sake of it. Now if you thought Touka was already useless enough in Root A you ain't seen nothing yet because apart from having set with Kaneki in S2 she literally does nothing at all. What a way to kill a chararter even harder. The Quinx Squad are all bland and uninteresting as they just exist to move this broken plot along. The same thing from Arima as well all the returning characters from the previous series. As for the other characters. Well, let's pretend I never said that because they all just appear and disappear as they please. Overall the characters in Tokyo Ghoul re were about as interesting as watching DSP Gaming Persona 3 let's play and the way the characters were treated were worse than reading a bad Naruto fanfic. Oh boy, where do I even being with this trash on a visual level? The first 2 seasons of Tokyo Ghoul did not have the best production values but both seasons at various point had some decent animation that actually worked. Tokyo Ghoul re: both seasons has none of that as it contently remanded to be a poorly animated shit show from start to finish. Studio Pierrot took very good looking art from the manga and reduced them into the muddy toilet bowl as the show at various point looked like it was drawn and coloured in freaking DeviantArt in the year 2004 and as a result, the characters designs in this show look liked dogshit. The background scenery is even worse as the show loves it uses its blacks, greys, white and dark blues for the scenery giving the show a dark, depressing feel. Unfortunately, I don't think Tokyo Ghoul re understands visuals directing because despite the show being Quote "Dark" the show's dialogue as well the fight scenes that scream shounen bias all over the place. The animation in Tokyo Ghoul re is somehow even worse. Saying that Tokyo Ghoul re: animation is a travesty is a fast understatement. I am not kidding when I say this but Tokyo Ghoul re has the absolute worst animation I have ever seen from this decade. Yes even worse than The Master of Rock Bottom. While the animation of the master of rock bottom was a complete abomination least you can somewhat laugh at the animation on that because it was pretty hilarious at certain points. Tokyo Ghoul re has none of that, in fact, I can go as far that even hentai's are better animated than Tokyo Ghoul re: Where do I begin with this nightmare. For starters the consent still frames are out of control as scenes look like it was done in Adobe After Effects in under a day. The fight choreography is piss poor the use of budget cuts were out of hand and show is simply a poorly animated shitfeast that had no care or soul. The worst thing about the animation about Tokyo Ghoul re were the horrifying camera shake for the action scenes Holy hell I have never seen relay on camera shakes to simulate character movement in my life and I have seen The Asterisk War, and Black Clover where both of these shows abuses its camera shakes to quote simulate epic moments however, its so much worse here as unlike those two shows were they some okay animation every now and then this series feels it was animated by someone who has just learned to use Adobe After Effects. The final nail of the coffin of Tokyo Ghoul re: is the second season poster. Not only the poster is filled with massive spoilers that can annoy the viewer especially anime-only fans who haven't touched the manga but it looked it was done in Adobe Photoshop in less than an hour. The soundtrack of Tokyo Ghoul re like with the show butchered narrative and production values is bland and uninspired. Yes, it may had some iconic track that played from the original but the show poor direction kills it as the show seemed to play them in very inappropriate scenes. The example of this happens in the last episode of season 1 as the series decided to play happy ending song while all the sad scenes were going on. Both the opening and ending themes were pretty decent for what they were but the ultimately not that memorable As for sub vs dub well let's not go there as it just as bad as a whole script and production. Never before I have seen an anime this incompetent and broken in my life. The story is a badly paced mess that with filled with asspulls and plot holes that are never explained at all to the viewer. The characters are all blander than cardboard as they are all empty shells of their manga counterparts. The production values were horrendous that is filled with trash directing, abysmal music including voicing acting was terrible. This is easily hands down the second worst anime I have ever seen period completely de-throwing The Asterisk War and Darling in the Franxx. If you haven't seen the anime yet please do yourself a favour and read the manga and pretend the anime got the Tsukihime anime treatment.

"SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN THE FIRST SEASON OF TOKYO GHOUL:RE" It's fair to say that the first season of Tokyo Ghoul:re didn't leave a good impression on fans of the series (In fact, I think it made it worse). The problems that Root A had only got worse in Tokyo Ghoul:re with its only saving grace being its soundtrack. And with Root A no longer being canon, it kind of left Anime only's confused as to what the hell was going on (Although the story did not help with that). It would probably take a miracle for the anime franchise to redeem itselfand this second season would have to be the one to do it. I mean it couldn't get any worse, right? Well you would be wrong. Sit back, relax and grab your torches and pitchforks as I present to you the anime review of the the second season of Tokyo Ghoul:re. Lets begin. Story: 1/10 Haise Sasaki is no more. Kaneki has regained his memories and now wants out of the CCG. Exploiting a ghoul raid on the max security complex for ghouls, he, along with his ghoul friends, manages to escape and now plans to end the bloodshed between humans and ghouls. By becoming their leader, he wants peace. Meanwhile, the CCG has tracked down Aogiri's base of operations and raids it, hoping to put an end to them once and for all. I don't want to say too much because that would mean I would had to go deep into spoiler territory. Not that it matters at this point. The story kind of goes back to the roots of the first season of Tokyo Ghoul and asks the question "what is the difference between a human and a ghoul?" Only this time, it is done much, much worse. To begin with, the story's pacing is awful. For example, Kaneki starts off as Kan-EDGY for a couple of episodes, only to revert back to nice Kaneki who just wants to protect his friends after two episodes. There is no development in the story to progress story threads and character arcs as it is all rushed to get a conclusion. Now, I've never read the manga. The anime is the only time I've experienced as to what Tokyo Ghoul has to offer. But it is clearly obvious where parts of the story have been just gutted out. There is little build up or over arching development here to get us invested into the story or its characters. It rushes from one part of the story to the next in order get to a conclusion. Not allowing the time to develop your plot just leaves people confused. It makes them go, "what the hell is going on?" You could take the story less seriously, but that is clearly not a good option. This kind of story needs to be paid attention but without the depth of its world and its characters, then you just leaving us to not care about the plot whatsoever. With the messages and themes Tokyo Ghoul tries to leave us, not caring about the plot because there isn't alot there to get us invested just tosses all of them aside and so we are left with a plot that is just going through the motion. Characters: 1.5/10 The same can be said for the characters. Depth is clearly lacking in these characters to get us invested. Now considering that there are so many characters in Tokyo Ghoul now, I know not everyone is going to get a fair share of development. But when important characters don't get good development, it has a repercussion on the rest of the cast unless they really stand out. In this case, none of them stand out. You would think that Kaneki would stand out and accepting who he is and what he has become, but nope. He's as boring and lifeless as the rest of the cast. The only character that got a sense of real closure to their character arc was Urie as he has slowly been able to stand on his own two feet and forge his own path while acknowledging those around him. Everyone else just get rushed conclusions to their character arcs. Returning characters also get little development or reasons as to why they have returned. Instead of me going, "Oh cool, he/she is back." I'm just like "Ummm, who are you again? Oh yeah, now I remember you." There is a lack of fanfare to get us hyped about these returning characters to make the overall plot more interesting and make it more dynamic. It can be the same with established characters because some of them I barely know and the show wants me to care for them, But I don't care. I don't care for them because it seems the anime doesn't care about them. So why should I? Animation: 4/10 The animation is once again pretty lackluster and feels even worse than before. The fight scenes especially feel lackluster with the cheap ways of animating a fight scene. This includes shaky cameras, cutaways and basically treating it like a slideshow. It really makes the fights have less impact and don't invoke a sense awe or grip that the fight should invoke. Considering the amount of fight scenes in this season, that's a big negative. The art design as well feels uninspired as it just looks so bleak and bland. Tokyo Ghoul hasn't really been known for its animation quality. But here, it just feels even worse than before. Sound: 8.5/10 The soundtrack is the only good thing to come out of this series. It just sounds so beautiful and wondrous. You can listen to the music and just forget all of the bad that has come from this series. It has always been a highlight of the Tokyo Ghoul franchise and here is no exception. It continues the trend of this franchise having great music. The opening as well is great. TK returns for this opening called "Kartharsis." Along with the great vocals and instrumentals, the visuals are also nicely symbolic, showing how Kaneki will always keep going, no matter what persona he adopts. While not as beautiful or colourful as Unraval, its probably the second best opening out of the four we've got. It's funny, no matter how crap the series is. The openings are always agreed on to be one of the best. The ending sequence does show us some beautiful art; backed up some nice vocals to calm the viewer and realise the beauty in this world. The English dub was always considered, by me, to be one of the more underrated dubs out there. Austin Tindle puts in another good performance as Kaneki as he brings a very humble Kaneki yet he can also bring a good serious tone as well. Other performances like Adam Gibbs as Urie, Brina Palencia as Touka and pretty much the rest of the cast are also well done. They managed to make the material they were given work which is honestly surprising. Conclusion: This mess of an adaptation of one of the most popular manga of all time has been a travesty. At this point, I wonder who Tokyo Ghoul's anime adaptation is for. It ain't for the anime only's because with them probably being lost in what is going on and Root A not being canon doesn't help. It ain't for those who read the manga because they just watched this show be mangled into a shell of what it is supposed to be. Even die hard fans must be dissapointed in this. Tokyo Ghoul:re season 2 is probably the worst in the franchise and since this anime franchise has been going down hill since the first Tokyo Ghoul season, that's saying something. I can't care for the story or its characters because there isn't enough there to make me care. Its animation is lackluster than ever and the soundtrack can only go so far to make it slightly better. I heard this season was adapting at least 120 chapters. 120 CHAPTERS! You can't adapt that much without the story suffering as a result and it shows here. I hope someone, someday reboots this franchise and is able to recapture the magic that made the first season of Tokyo Ghoul so enjoyable. Give it the treatment it deserves. But for now, we look back at what is probably one of the most overrated anime franchises of all time and makes us wonder if it could have been so much more. My personal enjoyment: 2/10 Overall score: 3.4/10 Recommendation: Don't f***ing bother

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