If you’re a fan of anime, there’s a lot of titles that you just know. Naruto. Bleach. Attack on Titan. But there’s one that has become a common household name that I had personally never expected. Tokyo Ghoul.
I’ve been a fan of Tokyo Ghoul since right around the beginning of the anime. It began simulcasting through Funimation during the summer season in 2014, with a second season, Tokyo Ghoul √A, making its appearance in January of the next year. Days after finishing the first season, I delved straight into the manga, which in turn, destroyed my ability to stop reading the manga.
If you’ve read the manga, you know where I’m about to go with this. If you haven’t, be warned, there are spoilers beyond this point.
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The first season of Tokyo Ghoul ends in the middle of an incredible climax and a decision Kaneki has made, which leads into yet another decision at the beginning of season two. Ken Kaneki has come to terms with who he is, allowing himself to be consumed by the ghoul within him. As season two begins, he’s made the decision to join the very people that tortured him past the brink of death and back again. Which… doesn’t really seem to make any sense once you’ve read the manga.
Kaneki makes his decision. Kaneki allows the ghoul inside of him to reign. But what holds significance is the choice Kaneki makes once he’s out of the walls of Aogiri. He leaves, but it’s not with Aogiri. It’s with his own group that comes together to try and take down Aogiri because Kaneki can see exactly why Aogiri isn’t the right choice. It’s pretty much plain as day here.
This is the main issue with the anime, but there are plenty of others. Side characters are treated two-dimensionally, whereas in the manga they’re given so many details to flesh them out; important plot points in the manga are still left in the anime, without any explanation. Kaneki was treated as a mystery the entirety of season two, but he was given so much character development during this arc in the manga that it’s almost unfair. And of course, let’s not forget the most important scene in the manga that was left out so that the anime would be left with a cliffhanger. Kaneki’s final, decisive battle against Kishou Arima.
The Tokyo Ghoul anime is a train wreck, to put it plain and simple.
So let’s talk about Sui Ishida for a moment. The author behind the manga. The way he writes his stories. The tarot numbers he throws into the manga to tell you where the story is going to go. The hints within the first chapters of Tokyo Ghoul, that continue into the manga’s continuation, Tokyo Ghoul :Re. The incredible characterization of more than just Kaneki, but Juuzou Suzuya and Karen Von Rosewald.
I’ll end it here, but to put it simply: if you’ve watched the anime, trust me and the entire fandom when I say: please read the manga. It’s some of the most incredible storytelling you’ll ever read and it will pull you in faster than the anime did.
& A quick PSA: the changes in the anime happen right around chapter 65.
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