Tokyo Ghoul √A Review

Overall Rating 6.6 out of 10 - Good on Average: at times better at times worse

I would still recommend watching.

Sequel to the original Tokyo Ghoul that takes the story from there.

Watch the original and read my review of that one before starting with this one. There will be spoilers to the original Tokyo Ghoul

If previous one was occasionally hard to watch, but somehow left a sense of hope for further development. It was clear that author did not intent to just leave it at just that and plans to take story into a new field. Just like slavery period for Captain Blood was but a prelude to his Pirate Captainship and audacious Pirate life, which what the story was really about. Kaneki going white haired almost felt like that moment when Blood and his crew finally captured Cinco Llagas. From there they defied both Spanish, British, French and rival pirates and became legendary pirate crew of the Caribbean, who pulled off shit, others could not even dream of. 

However Tokyo Ghoul does not take story into the same direction. Ultimately Kaneki did not become like Captain Blood. While early episodes of A Root still leaves room for that kind of development, later it clearly veers off that path. In fact if conclusion to the original leaves it open ended, conclusion to A Root kind of closes off these possibilities.

Fundamentally this show enjoys wallowing in guilt. Most characters suffer from guilt and even hurt themselves out of this feeling. As well as out their desire to be normal, to be human.

Most characters are driven towards protecting someone or preserving this pseudo normal 'human' lifestyle they have. What I have called Anteiku logic and principle in my review of the original. They are ghouls, but they want to be normal humans. So they do as much as they can to keep 'normal' human life.

Out of the characters only Ayato seemed fully embraced ghoul-ness and went of to create a world for ghouls by ghouls. I thought Aogiri was like that as well. To not spoil the A Root ending I would not tell much on how Aogiri really ended up.

Generally Ayato is probably the most relatable to me character in this story. Though by the end of A Root I am not sure really.

Ideology and values aside this show is not too bad. 

Battles are engaging, though they become repetitive close to the end of A Root, they are still fresh enough in the middle.

Plot does a good job engaging curiosity. You just want to know what will happen next and keep watching. 

Thus I can at least recommend watching it once. May be. It does leave a sense of disappointment at the end.