The following review is spoiler free.
Plot
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Okay, let me break it down for you; Kaneki Ken was this depressed introvert with a very stale life until suddenly he gets attacked by a binge-eating ghoul who he briefly had a crush on. However, this attack led to an accident that nearly cost them their lives. In order for Kaneki to live, some random insane doctor decided to transplant most of the ghoul's organs into Kaneki's body. Of course, this comes with a side effect and that is him becoming part-ghoul. Here, Kaneki is introduced to the other ghouls and to their world, which he always thought were just mere threats to the security of Tokyo.
Before I butcher the entire storyline of Tokyo Ghoul, here is one thing you should know about its setting. Just imagine what would happen if Attack on Titan's storyline was based on the perspective of a Titan (assuming they have a conscience), or try to imagine The Walking Dead being told in just the perspective of a walker, talking about how hungry he is for brains and how fearful he is about getting beheaded. That's the story of Tokyo Ghoul. This story definitely has a man vs. predator kind of conflict, but what makes the show interesting is that it is being placed in the point of view of the predator. And to add more depth to it, they had the main protagonist become some sort of newbie, so the experience of learning about the ghouls would be somewhat fascinating. However, that's not what I like most about this anime. As soon as you get sucked up into this world, that's where things suddenly get different. In my opinion, this isn't a completely dark anime. For one thing, the story has so much heart. It's surprisingly very emotional, but it's not completely filled with the angst kind of emotion. It can be heartwarming, too. The conflict almost seems vague, which is something I didn't mind actually. Just like Owari No Seraph, it attempts to show that the world does not really comprise of black and white areas. There's no such thing as a fully good side, or a fully bad side. And this is where Tokyo Ghoul shines brilliantly. It's able to point out the innate desires of anything that is alive and how important it is to each individual in this anime. They attempted to play with the morality department here but they only managed to do that for only one or two episodes.
Unfortunately, I have some gripes about the anime. The good things I've mentioned earlier only occurred during the first season. The second season didn't bother to try anymore. Instead, it just shoehorns a couple of backstories for other characters. Basically, it focused way too much on setting an arc for the supporting characters, to the point we don't get to see much of the good conflict and innate desires I have mentioned earlier. I liked how the humans are having more screen time and more background for their motives in killing ghouls, but the story for the second season was too loose and imbalanced. If they really intend to make season three, I hope they do because a lot of subplots happen in Root A, but they haven't been concluded properly. Even the main character does not get that much screen time in the second season, and that kinda bothered me because Kaneki's story was starting to become interesting.
Another issue I had with the anime is the pacing. The first season took some time before the actual plot kicked in, and that occurs in the sixth episode. The episodes before that were just felt like filler time, which is supposed to be the time for the story to establish the setting, the characters, and to lead it ultimately to the main story. As much as I enjoyed the first five episodes, which were sometimes just gory fireworks, I thought that they could have condensed the introduction into just three episodes. And I think the ending for the first season should have been the first episode of second season. That's my opinion, at least.
Score for Plot:
Characters
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The characters are great. For once, I think Kaneki Ken is a very unique protagonist. He's not the kind who would yell to your face that he will give up, nor will he be that guy who desperately wants to excel at something but ends up failing miserably at it. He's not a tsundere or the one you would label, "the boy wonder". He's just a really fragile kid with a life that sucks. His development is very drastic; when you watch him transform from this innocent boy to...well, something else, I think you would be mildly flabbergasted. The conflicts he has to deal with seem very grating, as well. It makes you want to root for him, because he's been thrown all these questions that rattles his personality. Just imagine a pretty little flower suddenly deprived from the sun, that's Kaneki. I was disappointed that I did not get to see him that much in Root A because it was supposed to be the story where we get to see how he deals with the next stage of his life. But it only gets to be displayed, subtly.
The other characters are just as interesting, too. This is another area where Tokyo Ghoul shines. The way the ghouls are represented here isn't what you would normally expect in a story similar to this. Again, you get to care about them and wonder who is really the antagonist of this story. I cared about Touka, I cried for Hinami, and I even wanted to give the manager a massive hug. However, aside from Kaneki, only a few arcs of certain characters get to dominate the story. That is the story of Touka, Hinami, the Manager, and from the human side we have special investigator Amon to represent them. Amon was surprisingly a great character. He has his own motives, his own subtle backstory, he dresses fancy, he has great abs.... how can you not like him? You don't get to stay that he is a terrible character because he is the only human with the most depth.
The second season just had to introduce many more characters, especially from the ones that come from ghoul organizations. But most of the characters only reached to their introduction stage at this point. So it's safe to say that there will be more to come from these characters (hopefully) in the future, especially now that there are rumors for a third season brewing. Right?
Score for Characters: 
Music
The score for this anime, didn't engage me as much. Perhaps because this anime was much more dependent on its natural sound of anguish and despair. But the music accompaniment to this series didn't do much. So I thought maybe just some subtle classical music (just like what they would usually do with Tsukiyama's comical appearances) would suffice for the dialogue or even the silent scenes where you are supposed to cry. But can I say the second opening is terrible? It's seriously the most lazy opening theme for an anime that I have ever seen. I almost thought that the second season was at least five minutes long. I honestly preferred the second ending theme to be the opening.
The first opening was good. But just good. I guess I would say I prefer to see this on replay for the rest of my life rather than seeing the second opening in each episode. So here it is; Unravel by TK from Ling Tosite Sigure.
Score for Music: 
Art
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Now this is where Tokyo Ghoul suffers a hit or miss. The overall art and design for this anime is great. I like the costume designs, the looks of the characters are great, and the setting is all you could ask for in a dark fantasy anime. The kagune or the weapon of choice in this anime is probably the most unique thing in this anime, since this varies in different forms. But with an anime as shounen as this, you'd expect some excellent fight scenes veering left and right. That I didn't get to see. The fight scenes seemed lazy to me, and it mostly depended on cuts and quick turns. Sometimes I can't help but notice how inconsistent the quality of the art gets, especially in fight scenes. It can either be really good or just really bad.
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I thought this anime wasn't gory enough. I'm not saying that is should have more blood and gore, though. Putting the Funimation censorship aside, the gore in this anime wasn't that impressive to me. It was just "eh". All you get to see is blood and the most violent thing you could possibly see is a decapitated head and the rest of the supposed creative violent stuff get cut off to the next scene. I had a feeling this anime wasn't willing to go that far yet, but I wished they did.
Score for Art: 
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Overall, I think Tokyo Ghoul has a great set of characters and a storyline that has yet to be completed. The first season is definitely a thrill ride, whereas second season sort of drops everything it tried to build in the first place because it focused too much with character introductions and other story arcs. Perhaps it is designed this way because the anime intends to create another season, where we hopefully get to see much more important matters being tackled. The art is so-so, I wouldn't say it's the best because I think there are other anime (that does not even brag about how gory and violent they are) that have thrice the detailed blood and gore. Tokyo Ghoul still has a lot of work to do.
TOKYO GHOUL HEREBY RECEIVES A
RECOMMENDATION.
Recommended if you are interested in: Some blood, Gothic cosplay or fashion, masquerades, the supernatural, Halloween The Walking Dead, coffee
At the end of the day, there will always be people who will say that Tokyo Ghoul is too violent for their taste. So, if you don't consider yourself a fan of bloodbaths and brutality, then best to steer away from this show. But if you're into that kind of stuff, then by all means go and see it.
That is it for my anime review for Tokyo Ghoul. Hopefully this serves as an improvement, because I really had a great time doing this. This will be the format of my reviews from now on, so I can't wait to do more, especially once I'm done with the TV series that I am currently watching. Till the next post~
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