Shoujo Watches “Tokyo Ghoul:” Episodic Reflections (Session 1)

[Tokyo Ghoul is rated TV-MA for frightening/intense scenes, violence and gore, etc. Please be aware before watching the title.]

[Title image taken from scriptanime.wordpress.com]

The following is an episode-by-episode reflection (in real time!) on my thoughts while watching Tokyo Ghoul. It isn’t a show that I’d typically watch, but I’d viewed Black Butler, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and Attack on Titan on whims (in that order) and loved each one, so I thought I’d take a chance on Tokyo Ghoul (because I’ve had a tentative, fearful eye on it for a while) and… well, man…

To summarize, Chronic sent some uncensored screen shots to Husband, and he was fully aghast that I’d watch such a thing. Like, Fully Aghast (TM).

“Is that human meat?”

Yep. Yep, Husband, it is. Don’t worry; I wanted to barf, too.

I plan to continue these episodic reflections in spurts as I marathon watch the title. Now, onto the main event!

*spoilers ahoy!*

EPISODE 1

Episode 1 had me stuck somewhere between passing out and vomiting. While I had established that Riza was totally a ghoul before she even came onto Kaneki, I will also admit that I did not foresee EVERYONE BEING A GHOUL. Hide’s co-worker/friend guy, the waitress at the cafe… and even though they are terrifying and their habits make me want to puke, at the end, the ghouls seem so normal. I guess it’s like their lions or something. They are predators. They eat. Yet their prey is particularly sentient and seemingly closely related. It’s not cannibalism, but it’s close…

EPISODE 2

I’ve started episode two, and I don’t know what’s wrong with me for choosing to do so; seeing much more of the ghoul’s dietary habits… I am honestly feeling nauseous already. But… I am curious as to where this plot will go, so I’ll give episode 2 a chance.

(I had wondered why that waitress girl didn’t stop Kaneki if she felt Riza was a threat, but now I realize that she didn’t stop him because she herself is a ghoul; that makes sense to me.)

I’m obviously going to start episode 3, and I know that Hide was at least partly conscious for that rather violent encounter. I think he knows that Kaneki is a ghoul now, but he’s not going to say anything. I never watch anything this violent, and yet… Attack on Titan and Tokyo Ghoul all in the period of a few weeks. Watching The Ancient Magus Bride was much more my style.

EPISODE 3

Here’s to a repeat of the Ciel Phantomhive girl. (Yep, I just looked it up, totally Brina Palencia.)

J. Michael Tatum just arrived in the most J. Michael Tatum way possible. Also, I am really enjoying this show. I have a feeling that it’s going to really make one think about the nature of humanity, but time will tell. In addition, I find the art really interesting. The outside of the CSC…CCS…whatever it is… building was done in such a realistic style that it almost looked like a photograph, and yet it disrupted the flow of the animation… Perhaps if they were to incorporate more such shots, it wouldn’t be such a one off. It would be interesting to see the whole title done in that style, but I think it would end up coming off FAR too graphic…

EPISODE 4

Normally I don’t write the bulk of these small blurbs until the episode ends, but “MY SWEET KANEKI.” What the frick!?!?!

“I want you, and I’ll have you.” THE FRICK!?!?

DOES HE WANT TO SLEEP WITH HIM OR TO EAT HIM I JUST DON’T KNOW ANYMORE

I mean, obviously he wants to eat him, but still. Too weird.

…I don’t even know what….

I dont…

What. Was. That!?

EPISODE 5

Just when you think that things can’t get any more disturbing, they do. When the shock value of a ghoul’s diet wears off, a newer perversion takes it’s place. Whereas a ghoul is a lion of sorts, a cannibalistic ghoul has no such “justification.”

In addition, these ghouls are still humans of a fashion; rather, that’s wrong, but they can love, and that must mean something.

EPISODE 6

I hardly have anything to say except that I have to know what happens next, even if I already have a few assumptions.

EPISODE 7

There are good and bad on both sides. Ghouls who love and humans who fight for justice. The important thing is to realize that, and to understand that—much like Nishio and Kimi—humans and ghouls could live together in an uneasy, disjointed peace. In the end, it seems like both humans and ghouls prioritize those that they care about over species distinction. Could prioritizing one’s loved ones over all others and at any cost be any more of a human trait?

EPISODE 8

Everyone just wants to live; this show makes an interesting case for Darwinism. Everyone has something they care about more than anything, and I think that’s the point. Even the most vile or evil of characters has a story. A wedding ring. A friend. A vow. Except that J. Michael Tatum guy. That guy’s just a sick freak.

In the end, we all prioritize the ones we love over strangers. In the end, many are willing to look the other way when it comes to the people for which they care. This show got me thinking a great deal more than I anticipated. It was just as gory as, but also much more emotionally and psychologically brutal than, I expected.

It did not disappoint.

I plan to watch more Tokyo Ghoul soon, so please let me know what you’ve thought of the title in the comments below.