Tokyo Ghoul

[bomaye]

Apparently this is super popular, so I'm just posting a thread on the off-chance others have seen it or read it. I'm watching the anime right now (though I've heard only the first season and one of the OVAs are fully canon, and Tokyo Ghoul Root A has a few canon things happen in them but it's a completely non-manga related story or a what-if or something) in preparation for the new season (I'm assuming Tokyo Ghoul:re is returning to being an adaptation?). I'm up to Episode 4 of the first season, and I'll probably give the original manga a bit of a read afterwards because people say the anime is a very rushed adaptation.

Warning for those who've had eating disorders or have queasy stomachs when it comes to elements of eating disorders, there's regular content that more or less apes what eating disorders look like.

Tokyo Ghoul is set in Tokyo and is about Ghouls ( ). Ghouls are people who look and act human, but have strange physical properties, the most important of which is that they can only nourish themselves by eating human flesh. They live in hiding, constantly in danger of being discovered by the government and by fellow ghouls looking to protect their feeding grounds from competition. For those who wish to cause no harm, there's the added struggle of living with their hunger pangs, collecting food that doesn't cause them guilt, and hoping they never get discovered while they try to live a regular life.

Wiki lists the genre as "dark fantasy" (I don't see how, it's a modern day setting), "horror" and "thriller", but so far the anime feels more like a grisly horror-themed shonen, sort of like Bleach but with a little more blood.

I sort of think it's good and sort of think it's not good too. I rewatched the first two episodes (I almost never rewatch anything right away) because I think the Ghoul hunger was portrayed really well, I'm sort of grossed out by the eating disorder-esque stuff but it also makes a lot of sense, and even though people say it's rushed I'm sort of waiting for the world to unfold more (both with the government agency and the big-time ghouls that have been referenced so far).

[Enail]

Fantasy can be in a modern-day setting! I think I'm too squeamish for this show, Attack on Titan is quite enough watching humans get eaten for me for a few years But if it turns out really good later on, rec me again.

[bomaye]

Attack on Titan is quite enough watching humans get eaten for me for a few years

>Years

Season 3 is this summer

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Episode 4

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Episode 5

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Episode 6

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Episode 7

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Episode 8

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Episode 9

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Episode 10

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Episode 11

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Episode 12

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Huh.

So it was sort of like early Bleach and Ajin combined together, and fast-paced like a more modern shonen anime is (like My Hero Academia), but not as good as any of them. The talent for world/situation building was there. I think it will be worth checking out the manga. I'll probs just leave the Root A and OVA opinions instead of going through each episode, though.

[bomaye]

Just finished the mostly non-canon Tokyo Ghoul: Root A

Was still kinda cool. I appreciated the sound effects (maybe the best part), the slightly slower pace and character development of characters who are apparently still part of the regular canon. Some shit was done really well (there's a walking scene in the last episode that was really good, and a reveal of a certain character was awesome and caught me off guard, can't believe I didn't think of that).

It was a little bit Bleach, a little bit Ajin (actually it predates Ajin by a little bit, so it's probably more that Ajin is a little bit Tokyo Ghoul), got the faster pace of a Boku no Hero Academia, but not as good as any of them.

I think the thing that stands out the most to me about both Tokyo Ghoul seasons was that it had a ton of potential and one day they'll probably make a new version that properly adapts everything and gives the right pacing. Apparently the first 12 episodes stuffed about 80ish chapters worth of content in it and you could really tell when certain points were allowed to breathe and other points were rushed through.

I just read the first chapter and it's definitely something I want to continue reading. Even with the anime taking more care with the first episode/first few chapters, the manga is slowed down, doesn't rush and adds more flavour to the proceedings (just as an example, the anime never mentions that Kaneki's favourite author is a horror writer).

[bomaye]

I've started reading the manga since the announcement of a second season of :re and that :re itself is ending soon (if it hasn't already). I do about a volume per day, 14 volumes of the original manga all together before I'll start watching :re, but probably won't do it every day.

The attention to detail is a lot better in the manga like in Volume 1 when

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Currently going through Volume 2

[bomaye]

Volume 2

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Volume 3 felt the exact same as the events of the anime.

[bomaye]

Volume 4 added some extra context and lower-key moments that really helped flesh out (pun intended) the setting and characters more. Or it was in the anime and I forgot about, that's possible too

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Volume 5

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Volume 6

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