Tokyo Ghoul is a mega popular Japanese animation and manga series created by Sui Ishida. the series is well known worldwide for it's violent dark story that shed light on the problems in society when given separation between two species. Ishida continued the series with a continuing ark titled Tokyo Ghoul: Re that came in manga formate then spawned an anime soon after it's release. There's also other forms of media that accompany the main series such as novels, games, two live action films, and spin off one shots. A sudden hate train started online after the second part of Tokyo Ghoul: Re was released. This wasn't so much from the Japanese fans but more so the international fanbase who complained that the anime "isn't as good as the manga" or that "they changed up the story in the second part." I have a different opinion on the series as a whole now that it's officially over because I don't follow what others say. I've always had a mind of my own. Even if I might lend an ear to the criticism.
First off, Lets talk a little bit about the original Tokyo Ghoul manga. Content here is very stripped down to the harsh reality: A reality you might want to look away from due to the view being so bleakly depressing. Still, the story is a wild ride that holds no punches back from the reader. By the conclusion you aren't given a sugar coated answer to the problem which was the charm of Tokyo Ghoul. I was satisfied with the ending because it was true to a harsh reality that can't be controlled. The anime takes a slightly different path than the man but it still had the same raw feel overall. I was introduce to the anime before the manga and my experience wasn't ruined at all. Instead I was introduced to the manga where I could enjoy the contrast. In my opinion, Tokyo Ghoul's manga counterpart had the better ending.
Now, Tokyo Ghoul: Re comes along bring a whole new vibe to the world constructed around dark humor. Light hearted fair enters the story to change to whole new dynamic into an action mystery. Manga content does a better job building the suspense to what's going on while the anime lets the cat out of the bag very early on. Maybe the problem was that I had read half the manga before I watched Re in animation form too. Having a front seat look into the supposed "enemies"was a nice twist on the story but the new form Tokyo Ghoul was molded into resembled nothing of what it's original was. What I will say is that Tokyo Ghoul: Re's anime had more action packed episodes than Tokyo Ghoul did. Some TG episodes were just dialogue which I don't mind. Wherein Re defiantly stays flexing like a man hopped up on steroids all throughout the show.
Where? When? Why? did the hate train for Tokyo Ghoul: Re start? I honestly think that it was a big misunderstanding mixed with some anime fans trying to know more than what they actually know. Point number one is that Tokyo Ghoul Re's anime follows the manga almost to a tea. Only thing that's different are minor things that don't effect the story. I'm really not sure where people are getting that the anime started changing the story toward the end? The anime I saw was a copy of the source material. Problems come in when Ishida tries to conclude such a dark world wrapped up in a nice red bow. Bad enough the source material starts getting unstable with all the time jumps and character identity issues. Lord… Those poor characters get put through a complete rewrite like their former selfs didn't exist…. Could we call this personal growth? I'm not sure cause the decisions some of the characters make in the sequel are ones that the characters I grew to love would never do. All this leads to an ending that I was quite disappointed with when finishing the manga. At least the anime gave a bit more emotional context to the ending that made me feel a bit more something. The music was amazing across the whole series. We can all agree on that.
Now we all can have a hate train for Tokyo Ghoul: Re if it's for the right reasons. The anime itself wasn't bad because it strayed away from the manga. It was bad because it didn't have the spark that made the original Tokyo Ghoul amazing. Ishida clearly trips over himself trying to make the sequel to his series as good as the original. Problem was that he got caught up in his ambition to make another masterpiece that he started rewriting qualities specific to his universe he created. Can we all frown at how Touka went from being an independent cold female ghoul to being a soft hearted female ghoul who waits in a coffee shop half the damn season. That's not the Touka we know……. Anyways, I had my gripes with the sequel but even with that being said, I still enjoyed watching episodes enough to finish up the series. People who hate something online need to make sure they have the correct reasons to hate before you start going around online talking shit. Many jump on the hate train cause they see others doing it and it scares new viewers from checking out the series. I'm here to tell you that Tokyo Ghoul as a series is one to not be missed. Just beware that Tokyo Ghoul: re comes off very different from it's counterpart.
Viz Media needs to license the two spin off series: Joker and Jack in English as a final goodbye to the series. PLUS...Dear Funimation…. Tokyo Ghoul S live action film would be nice as well since we got the first live action film released state side awhile ago.
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