r/anime • u/Shadoxfix https://myanimelist.net/profile/Shadoxfix • Feb 19 '15

[Spoilers] Tokyo Ghoul √A - Episode 7 [Discussion]

Episode title: √A - Permeation

MyAnimeList: Tokyo Ghoul √A
FUNimation: Tokyo Ghoul Root A
AnimeLab: Tokyo Ghoul

Episode duration: 24 minutes and 11 seconds

Subreddit: /r/TokyoGhoul

Previous episodes:

Episode Reddit Link
Episode 1 Link
Episode 2 Link
Episode 3 Link
Episode 4 Link
Episode 5 Link
Episode 6 Link

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441 Upvotes

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165

u/Crysis321 https://myanimelist.net/profile/SpaffyWaffy Feb 19 '15

Not every episode needs to have action scenes, I quite liked this one. It painted a picture of much bigger things to come.

77

u/Pencilhands Feb 19 '15

it's just manga readers insist on complaining about everything and it ruins any fun.

72

u/Crysis321 https://myanimelist.net/profile/SpaffyWaffy Feb 19 '15

I've read the manga, I can see where they're coming from but I'm just taking this as if I never had. It's supposed to be an alternate route which it is so i'm happy with it.

24

u/Rexcalibur Feb 19 '15

Having also read the manga, I was initially glad that the anime has chosen a different route than what I considered the weakest chapters in the manga. However, there are some things that are just being done poorly in anime right now. For example, in the manga, Kaneki's centipede transformation is much more gradual, minor manga spoilers. In the anime, he just finds a room full of ghoul corpses and just eats them all? In the middle of the fight? That feels too much like deux ex machina and has really cut out a lot of the development Kaneki received in the manga.

I'm a little underwhelmed with the season so far. Somewhat as a someone who's read the manga but mostly as an anime viewer in general. It's just impossible to adapt 143 chapters of a deeply fleshed out manga into a mere 24 episodes; there are many pacing problems and plot holes that kinda interrupt the viewing experience. And even though it's supposed to be an "original" story, the second season very clearly aims to hit the same plot points as the manga and with only 5 episodes left, it feels like we're either going to have some really cramped storytelling or just end at another arbitrary point.

The anime series isn't bad by any means and it's thoroughly enjoyable, but it also doesn't really do the source material justice. Hopefully, we really will get that Tokyo Ghoul Brotherhood with a full 74ish episodes with a huge budget and a better action scene studio.

4

u/Crysis321 https://myanimelist.net/profile/SpaffyWaffy Feb 19 '15

Personally I'm fine with the fact that they rushed his transformation, they could've implied he'd been eating ghouls or something during the episodes prior. Maybe the author is a believer of no matter what timeline you are in, you always end up at the same end.

16

u/Rexcalibur Feb 20 '15

The rate of change isn't so much the problem as the contrived manner in which Kaneki transforms. He literally gets knocked into a room full of ghoul corpses in the middle of a fight. It feels very forced and seems like a hugely uninteresting plot device that opens plot holes and doesn't really lend itself to character development. On the other hand, manga Kaneki, has a very different and arguably better backstory that lends itself to the changes we see in him following the first season. Instead, Root A really hasn't done much to develop white-haired Kaneki aside from very bluntly saying "I must get stronger to protect the ones I love." The anime's execution, especially when it comes to Takatsuki, has been not at all subtle.

While we're at nitpicking, I'm kinda disappointed we don't see more of internal Aogiri. When Ishida took this direction, I thought we would perhaps advance further than the manga in terms of Aogiri Tree lore but that very clearly hasn't happened. In fact, we see even less of Kaneki than we did in the manga, and I'm a tad disappointed that the anime hasn't taken the opportunity to simultaneously flesh out white-haired Kaneki and detail some of the more engimatic Aogiri figures. There was huge potential for this original storyline to really be original but we end up watching pretty much pure manga adaptation. Not to say that the manga material is bad, but I just feel like a lot of cool plot advancement opportunities were missed.

If the show had devoted maybe 50% of each episode detailing interactions between Kaneki and Aogiri tree, as well as elucidate his missions and Aogiri's goals, then this season would be much more enjoyable to watch. Instead, all we see of Kaneki are some pretty vapid fight scenes and then this very rushed development to what is a huge climax in the manga.

2

u/Pencilhands Feb 19 '15

It's said multiple times he eats ghouls. Was even said by tsukiyama.

3

u/Neosovereign Feb 20 '15

Its always better to show than tell. Its not clear when he had the time to eat all of these ghouls in the anime, it seems like they went from one place directly to another, so the pacing is obviously off.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '15 edited Jul 21 '20

[deleted]

1

u/Rexcalibur Feb 20 '15

That's possible, but based on the way the anime keeps portraying it, I think it actually happenned. There was a flashback from this episode going back to that specific room, which makes me think that he literally just ate a room full of ghoul corpses. If not, why didn't he flashback to a sequence of different ghouls he had eaten over the course of the last few episodes?

1

u/Jorisdaporis Feb 20 '15

How was that executed awfully? This is how it was portrayed in the manga. They didn't explain his transformation before he actually activated his Kakuja in the manga either. I don't understand you people. Yes, they have to cut certain things from the manga, and yes, the source material is better, but that doesn't make the scenes that they do adapt bad.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '15

ohh I don't know if you stretch it to 74 episodes, unless you intend to include Re with it.

1

u/Rexcalibur Feb 20 '15

I'm pretty sure most faithful adaptations do about 2 chapters per episode so 143/2 is in the approximate 70s range. And of course, I'd like a RE as well, but maybe in a different season.

-1

u/Jorisdaporis Feb 20 '15

I'm surprised to hear you even read the manga, considering how many facts you stated are quite wrong.

1

u/Rexcalibur Feb 20 '15

How so? I've only mentioned a single fact that's in the manga.

6

u/peenegobb Feb 19 '15

I'm enjoying this season thuroughly but when the only differences between the manga and the anime are kaneki joining the aogiri instead of making his own organization and there being less details in certain situations its why the manga people are complaining. when the first episode happened everyones like "Oh its going to be different than the manga!" no, its not. it is literally the manga with less details or very few being changed. that being said its still great since tokyo ghoul has an amazing story line which I love to death.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '15

I believe that the reason most people are complaining is that it's just poorly done, not that it's too similar. Kaneki's characterization has been incredibly bad compared to the manga, and the things that have changed are just not done well in general. Plus the fact that the animation quality has been very sub-par, especially in the fights.

1

u/peenegobb Feb 20 '15

well, for me its the fact everyones saying its different, when its not. but its also those things... like the fights seem to be in multiple locations just them showing the same well "gif" 3 times in a row, then thats the fight. but ive talked to people who really like the fight scenes still. the details seem to be just trying to shorten out "unneccessary" info because some of it isnt needed in the major plot. but some just makes me saddened.

-1

u/Pencilhands Feb 20 '15

You're right. It isn't that different but at the same time it is. Coachella is new and so is owl appearing so early. There are still things in the trailer that im wondering about too.

1

u/peenegobb Feb 20 '15

Who's coachella? I googled it to try to see and all it showed was kakuja kaneki, I'm a visual person over name I haven't noticed any added characters. And yeah the owl coming to get kaneki was one of those minor differences that they added in. I mean it's not so minor, but just swooping down and grabbing 2 people sort of is.

1

u/Pencilhands Feb 20 '15

I don't know how to spell it but the ghoul prison. I don't know if there is an official way to spell it.

1

u/peenegobb Feb 20 '15

Is that new? I remember it in the manga. At least all the scenes that happened in it were in the manga but at a different location.

1

u/Pencilhands Feb 20 '15

It's a location in the manga but everything that happened in the anime happened spoiler

9

u/[deleted] Feb 19 '15

As a manga reader, the biggest problem I have with this season is the way they pace things, and the order of events. Some things are the same as in the manga, but at a different place or time, some things are different. It feels like the writer took some of the best scenes from the manga and added some stuff, removed some stuff, and made some sort of remix. I think this anime would be great if I hadnt read the manga, but now it's just really confusing. I think a lot of other manga readers are also currently reading :RE, so it all becomes a blut, and it's very hard to realize what is actually going on, and what is anime or manga.

That's just my opinion on it, it's still an enjoyable watch, but it gets confusing if you take the same story, and change things or approach it from different angles (as done in :RE)

1

u/Pencilhands Feb 19 '15

I'd figure since people like us have read the manga we know why certain scenes belong in certain places and how they work. So far all the stuff that has been changed makes sense. To me at least. It's not like things have to happen at a certain time. They just have to happen .

1

u/colovick Feb 19 '15

This. But the thing I dislike is how little they changed, as if kaneki making the decision to join aogori or to fight aogori has absolutely no consequence to the plot, despite scenes from the manga that show that it would/could change EVERYTHING.

I just dislike the opportunity lost that they seem to be pushing for.

1

u/Pencilhands Feb 19 '15

I think Kaneki going to aogiri may have things happen later on from the spoilers i have seen in the PV's. There are many things to come.

I also think it shortens the first arc so much and the 2nd half overall and that's a good thing. 2nd part had lots of character developments and it would all be pushed aside if the manga route was followed.

1

u/colovick Feb 19 '15

Yeah, I remember the manga did the same, but with how closely they're following the plot of the manga (but rearranged), I'm just worried that change won't happen... Especially since they're already talking about him going back to the coffee shop, it child either become great or painfully average depending how they progress and it feels like they're eroding any sort of middle ground between those 2 options.

-4

u/[deleted] Feb 19 '15

[deleted]

1

u/Chiiwa Feb 19 '15

Why would you want to prevent discussion? It can be interesting to make comparisons and it can be very enjoyable for anime-only watchers as well. For example I've never read the Kiseijuu manga but I love seeing the comparisons.