Tokyo Ghoul – 07
This Easter bunny isn’t here to give you candy…
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My apologies for the late post. My wisdom teeth have been troubling me immensely and I’ve just been too busy holding an icepack to my cheek or booking dentist appointments. I can’t imagine how much it’s going to hurt when they actually cut my gums open to remove them. Anyways, they still hurt like hell but I’ll do my best to ignore it! |
The breakneck pacing makes it very difficult to get a good hold on new characters and to understand their motives. This episode tries to remedy the fact we know next to nothing about the Doves by highlighting the work of Mado and Amon. They give us the weirdest pieces of information, but it works in the end. I appreciate that they let us learn about Amon and Mado by watching them interact with others instead of having someone narrate to us what their personalities are. We can make our own inferences about their personalities by seeing how they treat their co-workers and what sorts of opinions (biased or not) they form of them. It’s a nice way to indirectly get a feel for these guys without feeling like a forced character study.
Mado is…well, he doesn’t seem to be much more than he appears to be. He’s a nutjob through and through – but a smart nutjob. He’s a good detective, he carries out his job efficiently, and he protects fellow humans from rampaging ghouls. If someone just gave you his resume, you’d think he was a pretty great guy. It’s just his mannerisms and the way he does things that are offputting. Clearly, he’s got a sadistic streak, but it’s all directed towards the ghouls. The humans seem to find this perfectly acceptable since ghouls aren’t “normal” to begin with. Therefore Mado’s crazy streak is completely ignored by humans, which is really, really weird to watch.
This isn’t the face of a saint
I’m still taken aback by how much Amon seems to respect Mado as well. Amon is clearly a good guy who sticks to the books, and is just killing ghouls because that’s his job. He’s protecting all of mankind. But he does it without all the drama of Mado. For example, he doesn’t taunt ghouls by offering them their last words before brutally killing them with their husband’s remains. He doesn’t laugh maniacally while becoming absorbed in bloodlust during a fight either. Despite being at odds for their approach to the same goal, they get along completely fine. Amon always looks relived when he sees Mado and their teamwork is impressive. It’s just so weird to see a straight-laced guy not be perturbed by working with a bug-eyed psycho. That just goes to show how much Doves are trained to hate ghouls – they don’t find it weird at all for someone to gleefully kill people. It’s like watching a little kid laugh as they step on ants. It’s creepy…but everyone does it, and it’s not weird enough that you would try and stop them. Ants are just ants, after all. And ghouls are just ghouls.
Learning these little nuances about the Doves is really interesting. Heck, I’m even attached to the minor characters who eat ramen with Amon. They adds a nice, personal touch to the story and remind us that Amon doesn’t live in a bubble. He’s a normal guy with normal interests who has normal relationships with people. He just so happens to kill ghouls for a living! The show doesn’t work unless we’re told both sides of the story, and this episode takes us a step in the right direction. You have to admit things have been very pro-ghoul up until now. At least give us some sort of doubts or reasons to question things!
After being familiarized with Amon, it’s easier to see how stupid Touka is for brazenly charging in to assassinate some Doves. She claims it’s for revenge, but she essentially just killed a paper-pusher with no say whatsoever in how to hunt down ghouls. Like Hinami, he was totally innocent (and quite likeable too). Her actions aren’t justified. On the bright side, we get to see Touka fight Amon and it’s the best fight I’ve seen in the series thus far. The animation actually looked really good during the exchange and I loved Touka’s rapidfire attack pattern. The only weird thing about it was how Mado gave us a random lesson about ghouls in the middle of it. This wasn’t a very even fight since Touka hasn’t been eating well and was blind with rage. Things should get even more interesting when the two are on more even ground and Mado may have to actually break a sweat.
With revenge fresh on everyone’s mind, the show is taking an interesting turn. Part of me still wishes this was more about ghouls fitting into society instead of trying to kill people though. However, I may eat my words now that Kaneki has his mask and is slowly edging more and more into the badass territory each week. Will they be able to ramp things up before the series ends? This is one hell of a messy show, but we might at least get to see some cool stuff before this blood and guts-filled anime ends. I’m going to hang in there and see what we get.
From crying in the shower…
…To ominous BDSM wear.
About Overcooled
A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 140 comments
I love Kaneki with his bondage themed smile mask. I wish the anime brought it up sooner though. I don’t understand why they decided to switch the order of the Dove and Gourmet arcs, though I’m not bothered by it.
Amon is one of the most interesting characters in this world, and his back story is both haunting and gripping. Though if this is just 12 episodes there is no way we’ll get to see it. So sad, too bad.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Unfortunately, it is just 12 episodes. Confirmed by MAL. Hopefully there’ll be a chance for a second season. Since the anime started airing, updates for the manga have been coming in like crazy, though I haven’t taken a crack at it to abstain from frustration of making comparisons. Right now, the Tokyo Ghoul manga has a total of 138 chapters.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I’ve been waiting for that mask to make an appearance! It completely changes the way Kaneki looks.
Amon certainly looks interesting. As BB says, this is probably going to be a short run (unless S2 happens which I kinda doubt) so we won’t get much depth in the remaining episodes.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
My nerves got riled up as much as Touka. Pah, disgusting Doves. The humans can act like victims all they like but I certainly don’t feel anything for them. Though it’s all about point of view, I can’t see them as good guys because the way they talk and handle things, much like Mado, pisses me off to no end. Especially how he mocked Ryoko before killing her. I really hate the bug eyed creep. Amon gets a bit of leniency given that he’s blindly following an ideal without question and only knows the situation on his end. A boy scout, if you will. Were he put into Kaneki’s position exploring the Ghoul world and it’s not what he believes it to be, I’m sure he’d begin to re-evaluate perspectives.
Touka’s retaliation on her own wasn’t very bright but she acted like any regular person who’s experienced a loss. They grow careless from the pain. And not just Ryoko, she’s hurting for every Ghoul who died without provocation so in her mind, it’s an eye for an eye on anyone linked to the doves. Guilty by association. Wars do have casualties on both sides.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Finally Kaneki makes his resolve to step in the fight. However, I must say his mask is an odd choice for someone of his personality. He declares he won’t kill but it’s likely the circumstance won’t call for it and he’ll have to take drastic measures. With what I saw from the promo before the anime aired, now that he has his mask, he’ll start using his kagune.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I find it really hard to see the Doves as the “good guys” too, even though they’re trying to make us see them in a more positive light now. They’re still really cruel in how they take out the ghouls.
Touka clearly has a lot of issues, so it’s not surprising that she’s lashing out. But yeah…not a smart move nonetheless. Emotions just got in her way. If only she had killed someone a little more important than glasses dude.
I guess Uta wanted him to look badass so he designed it that way…and now Kaneki has no choice but to fill those shoes =w=
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 167 comments
wish there were hooks on the mouthpiece that artificially forces kaneki to smile rather than a painted on thing.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
When I first saw the promo, I thought that’s what it actually was. Now that would be terrifying…
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
Due to the story focusing on ghouls, the Doves looked really mean here. But more of their stories will be presented as the story progress (which we won’t get in the anime). Amon’s past was… Definitely unique.
I think the different opinion the Doves and Ghouls have is one of the most interesting aspects of Tokyo Ghoul. All this time, we’ve been presented with gray areas in many anime, where none of the sides are completely wrong or right. It’s the same with the humans and the ghouls, but this time, they refuse to acknowledge the other person’s truth and stick with their own. Their ego and own reasons make them refuse to acknowledge each other’s “truths.” I think Tokyo Ghoul just described the so-called “bad side” human’s nature perfectly.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Ah, I see. So the manga tries harder to make the Doves look at least a little bit nicer?
I really wish they’d play with that moral grey area a bit more because I really find it interesting too. But right now the story sides so much with the ghouls that it’s not even a moral dilemma anymore. Shiki did a much better job making it more ambiguous to pick who was “right.”
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 60 comments
It took 7 episode just to get Kaneki with the bad ass mask? So when DOES he become a bad ass? Become I’m getting tired of his crying, whining, yelling, and screaming. It was emotionally heartwarming in episode 1. By episode 5 it’s like “get over yourself please”. Just do awesome shit and become a bad ass. The Akami ga Kill MC is a punk ass bitch, but at least he’s a lot more bad ass than Kaneki. I was tricked by all the promo art.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I’ve kind of accepted that Kaneki will never be a cold-blooded killer. He’s just always going to be a regular dude caught up in weird circumstances.
The badass promo art really messed all of us up…
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 60 comments
That promo art really made me think something else. Instead I get this. Thing is I get tired of characters like Kaneki because after a while their character becomes tiresome. I see no growth and get bored. I want to see him gain confidence, etc. Cause at this point I’m clinging unto a show with potential, but the potential was wasted.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 83 comments
It’s actually far from that. I hope there would be the S2 coming to explain to the audience what the author had in mind.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I wonder if Mada thinks himself a necessary evil? He looks like he might act the part.
Touka seriously failed to bide her time. But it’s better than running to an even worse place like her peers want to.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
That’s a good question…I’m not quite sure, to be honest. I’m sure he thinks exterminating the ghouls is doing everyone a favour but can he really justify killing them so brutally?…Then again, he seems pretty pleased with himself so maybe he does.