Tokyo Ghoul – 10

“…Just let him brood in fashionable silence.”

Tokyo Ghoul is almost over now. There are only 2 episodes left. Therefore, it’s safe to assume this is the final arc before everything is wrapped up…or left for things to hang as the staff cross their fingers and hope a second season is greenlit. I’m not sure how likely a decent ending is given how this “finale” is not starting things off on the right foot.

Just as I was starting to really get impressed by the direction in Tokyo Ghoul, things went plummeting right back into the depths of mediocrity. What happened to all that good momentum? What a shame that just when I thought this show was getting better, it ended up failing. It’s not because old, bad habits are resurfacing either. It would make sense if they fell back on heavy melodrama again or had some more terribly choreographed fights. However, I really didn’t enjoy this episode largely because of new problems that have been popping up.

Just a few of the new faces…

The main issue I have here is that this episode dumps a ton of new characters on us. Ayato, Suzuya, Nico, Banjou and a large handful of masked ghouls are now competing for the spotlight. While one or two new villains would command our attention and interest, having a myriad of characters all appear at once (mostly in the same room no less!) is distracting. If you’re introduced to one person at a party, it’s easy to remember their name and who they are. If you’re introduced to a group of people all at once, it’s highly likely that you won’t remember a single one. This is what happened when I was bombarded with all of these characters all at once – I didn’t know what to do with this information or who I should focus on. As a result, I don’t care about any of these new faces because they’re all a blur to me. I just categorize them all as one collective entity – “the bad dudes.”

The only real stand-out for me is Suzuya because he doesn’t happen to crash Anteiku at the same time as like 5 other villains. Even then, his character type is like someone followed a textbook for how to create a mentally ill, creepy character. He’s loopy in all the ways you’d expect a character that looks like an airhead but is secretly really dangerous to be. Although he’s supposed to be unpredictable, they follow the rules with him so much that he becomes predictable. I feel like I’ve seen Suzuya a million times before. Such a flat character is extremely boring to watch, but at least he’s slightly more memorable because he looks different from all of the Doves. But really, this is just replacing Mado with another sadist. I feel like everyone in this show is a sadist now! Is there really no other personality type available for the side characters?

Ahhh, being impaled by purple butt cacti is never fun

Speaking of reusing the same character moulds over and over, guess who’s back? In addition to messing things up in an entirely new style by throwing a billion characters at us at once and expecting that alone to entertain us, the show has once again brought back a total asshole and attempted to make us love them. I’m talking about Tsukiyama. There is literally nothing to like about this guy. Despite this, they decided to bring him back and have him be a new ally. So this show has not only picked up new bad habits, but it’s reviving old ones too.

The amount of times this show has tried to redeem the actions of despicable people is ridiculous. It worked with Nishiki, so fair game there. In contrast, I feel that it failed miserably with Mado. As for Tsukiyama, I saw him for two seconds before I groaned and covered my eyes…I guess you could say I’m not buying it. Tsukiyama is not a nice guy, and he’s really damn creepy too so I find it hard to like any aspect of his personality at all. He’s not even evil in a cool way, just a sleazy way. Plus, he brings back all the over-dramatic elements about the show that I didn’t like in the first place. Can Touka kill him for real this time? Please? Send him and his horrible fashion sense to the grave. Clearly all of these fashionable ghouls don’t belong hanging out with him.

Next thing you know, Mado will crawl out of his grave and team up to save Kaneki. And they’ll all hold hands and pet kittens together. I’m so mad this show tricked me into thinking it would become something good instead of some half-hearted Deadman Wonderland clone. It’s just so saddening that such a promising show would lose focus so much. At this point I just want this show to end because it’s so lacklustre and devoid of depth. Y’all should just give up and watch Space Dandy.

I guess we’ll never get to say au revoir to this guy.

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.