Warning: this review contains minor spoilers. First impressions so one of my favorite manga continues which I am happy for because the ending was such a cliffhanger and I want to see where the story goes from there because I was very hooked. Story: 7/10 2 years after the raid of the 20th ward the CCG decides its time to deploy a new type of antighoul weapon in order to combat the ever present threat of the ghoul terrorist organization known as Aogiri Tree who continue to terrorize ghouls and more importantly the human population of Tokyo. This new type of antighoul weapon is known as the QS children a group of individuals who have been implanted with quinque throughout their body giving them amazing abilities. Unfortunately though these individuals are fresh out of the academy and dont have the combat skills or experience necessary to even stand a chance against a single regular ghoul. The solution the CCG has comes up with to deal with this problem is to deploy a mentor figure named Haise SasakiKaneki with memory loss to guide and train them to become the ultimate killing machines. while in the background Haise seeks answers about his past while in the shadows the ghoul world and life he once had start creeping ever closer into his new life. The first half of Tokyo Ghoul Re is mostly Haise and his merry band of idiots doing missions for the CCG while occasionally encountering figures from his past with a fairly large amount of focus being given to the people who work in the CCG and what their lives entail. Its only around 50ish chapters in after Haise goes on some missions and some events take place that during a raid hes able to get his memory back and become Kaneki+. To follow up a jailbreak a rescue mission and fight with Arima Haises mentor and father figure insue. This is honestly the only thing that kept me interested in Kanekis neoedgelord phase the ever so hyped Kaneki vs Arima rematch. Well that and the anticipation of what Eto will do next. Fortunately this is the part of the series where it really gets going. The second half of Re is probably the part where my intrigue was at an all time high as it heavily involved the long standing series mysteries. Even better these mysteries heavily pertained to the identity of the one eyed King V and the Washu clan most of these mysteries get explained in a satisfactory manner. He takes on the title of the one eyed King in order to build a world where both humans and ghouls and live in peace And honestly it really interesting to see Kaneki put in the leadership role. And the trials and errors he goes through while taking the path of leading what is essentially a terrorist organization comprised of ghouls and former CCG members. Which is interesting and funny to watch when you consider the fact that most of the people that are in this terrorist organization are people who originally at one point would try kill each other. Tokyo Ghoul Re like its predecessor is still heavy focused on this social political conflict between humans and ghouls the difference being that Re is much more focusedat least in the beginning on depicting the human characters point of view. while the original did show both the ghoul and the human side viewpoints. Re goes for a more personal take and focuses more of the individual characters from both the ghoul and human side and how they react and feel about this conflict. Which I feel makes the conflict its feel more morality gray. Because we have both ghoul and human characters who deep down dont want to fight in this war and actually regret the actions and lives they have taken but have to continue doing it because the world is still stuck in this fucked up cycle of death hate and despair. Something thing which I think is interesting is that it parallels a lot of the key events in the original manga but puts a spin on it so it isnt predictable. But at the same time you kinda guess whats going to happen. Now one problem I had with the original manga is that even though it was building up these multiple mysteries and this epic level government conspiracy in it narrative to make the story more interesting. But because of the very sudden ending of series. It opened up a lot of plots holes and honestly it made me and probably most people for that matter scratching their heads wondering what the fuck is going on. Because there quite a few scenes and dialogue in that series that make no sense because you dont know where to put it In terms of context like for example why exactly is rize so important to so many people if all she ever did was being used to turn Kaneki and a few others into half ghouls. Thankfully Tokyo Ghoul Re actually explores and explains a lot of what originally didnt make sense. Like what I mentioned before like why is Rize so important or what exactly are the Washu clan hiding from people. Which is great because it removes a lot of plots holes and a few problems I had with the original series before. But even if we get these answers and etc its still opens up more plots holes for re and If anything leave me with more questions than answers. Like it cool thats there these mysteries going on and a lot more world building is taking place to flesh out the setting more and its shows that we as the reader have only scratch the surface of this world and that there is more to explore. But does it really need to drag it out for this long for the sake for building up hype and selling more manga volumes Theres also a bigger focus on the series romance and slice of life aspects which adds more flavor to the character interactions and improves on one my problems with the original. That being that there werent enough cooldown moments to allow me to care about most of characters. I feel like some of romance parts are a little rushed mainly between Kaneki and Touka as even though theyve known each other for quite a while their relationship progresses at an unreasonably rapid pace. Now while I like this kinda relationship I wish they padded it out more. But it was also pointed out to me that the characters do live in a world where everything and anything that gives them happiness could be taken in a heartbeat so it makes sense why they would speed up their relationship. But sadly like the original manga is still uses over the top edge and over dramatization of certain situations to try to get its point across. Which lucky it dose it less but there still monuments where I still thinking was that really necessary to add that in. Like there is this one scene where this person gets chopped in half by a chainsaw or another scene where you got Mutsuki is riding this ghoul corpse that she has fucked up beyond repair because we find out she is an yandere for Kaneki and this corpse basically looks like him. Dont get me wrong I enjoy it I just feel it doesnt have to go as far as it does sometimes. Its just for a series in my book to be counted as mature it has to handle its content in a mature way even if it has mature themes and concepts. My major problem is that some of story arcs and character arcs were mishandled and where written a little sloppy and wasnt as tightly packed as some of the other story arcs where. like during the rue island arc one of the most hyped things was the battle between Hoji and Tatata. basically what happens is before the critical blow was done Takizawa basically comes out of nowhere and kills almost everyone and even if that was used for Takizawa character arc. I still feel that situation was mishandled. What should of happened is that one of them lands the critical blow and before they finish it Takizawa comes out and does his thing. Thats a better concussion because Hoji and Tatata get this finish there thing and Takizawa still gets his character arc Like how hard is that to do exactly. And speaking of story arcs. The jailbreak and rue island raid were done around the same time and how it jumped from different characters groups and timelines was quite the cluster fuck. Because the events of the jail break arc have already happened as the rue island shit was kicking off. Like it would have been better to have one of arcs focused on only and then you switch to the other arc. The fact those entire arcs where cliffhanger central didnt help because there so many things to focus on and those arcs kinds became a Cluster fuck. Because those arcs were trying to do to many things at once in so little time that it became unfocused and really hard to sit through. I want to address some of new ability they give ghouls. Which is the last negative thing I want to say. Like The idea that your kagune is shaped by your imagination and creativity and how strong it can be depends on many rc cells you have. I think it fine it makes sense given the information we know about kagune and how ghoul abilities work. But the thing that has me scratching my head is that there are ghoul characters that have these very odd abilities even by ghoul standards. Like theres a character who kagune can make fire that can burn about as hot as the sun or another character who can make these clones of himself with his own kagune Those are just a few examples out of a dozen I could mention And I dont have a problem with these abilities being in the series because its makes the fights more interesting and slightly more tactical than I should give it credit for. it just I wish they explained how that works exactly. Because it kinda feels like an asspull when they dont explain how to works.Like do you have to be part of some special ghoul bloodline to get these abilities or are these abilities things you can pick up the stronger and more experience you have with your ghoul abilities. Characters: 7/10 Main character Kaneki Ken initially living with memory loss under that name Sasaki Kaisewhich Im going to be calling CCG Kaneki is kind of a rehash of what Kaneki used to be before he became Kanedgy. This is something i find quite annoying especially since his whole I cant control my ghoul side was somewhat pointless to me because hed already gotten over that conflict of what am I?. On the flip side I found his overarching I wanna get my memories back character arc interesting even though I feel it dragged out for far too long and although I found the payoff to be decent getting there was very taxing and slow burn. In retrospect I actually appreciate his character for who he is as personality wise hes basically like a more mature and confident version of black haired Kaneki as I found him was originally kinda boring. Its also interesting and cool to see CCG Kaneki in the mentor/ teacher role because the QS children he is looking after are like a family to him and I find the time they spent together very cute and endearing which also speaks volumes about how Kaneki has matured over the course of the story as a whole. Because originally he was lost and didnt know what the fuck he was doing but now he is confident and has a family. But sadly all good things have to come to an end and though certain events he gets his memory back and oh boy we find out a lot more about his true character. I wont go into detail about what we find out about him from this event for the sake of brevity but If you thought Kanedgy was an edgelord then just wait till you see his next persona black Kanedgy. Luckily he doesnt stay around for long. So before I continue with Kaneki last personality change for now. I would like to say even though I found black Kanedgy really cool and kinds badass and it also drives home the point of how Kaneki is a very damaged human being deep inside and kinda explains why he is the way he is in certain situations. But anyway his last persona which I am very much on the fence about as takes on the best and worst qualities of his character. Because he has the confidence because now he knows what he wants in life and knows what he needs to do and he has the capability to get that shit done and will be a badass about it. Which is always a plus in my eyes But at the same time he is a bit too passive and he still has trouble with making a critical decision and I feel at times he loses some of the intelligence and foresight he had before. Because Kaneki is not a dumb person hes actually quite a smart person yet sometimes he has these random Lapps of intelligence. Like for one example he finds out about a spy thats gained information on him in his base of operations and instead of killing him he locks him up even though and he might have a tracker and a listening device on himwhich he totally does btw. But even though he has those flaws I feel it makes him more realistic as a leader and helps drive home the point that he still has lots to learn as a leader and an individual before he has finished his journey. Even though at that point of the story hes been kinda deified to ghouls and humans alike to the point where in fact in one scene an entire groups of ghouls refer to him as their king repeatedly. The side characters as a whole is kinda a mixed bag for me because on one hand we get quite a few characters that go through great character arcs and decent fleshing out but at the same time we still have those dimeadozen cannon fodder characters who you can tell immediately are going to die despite their backstories and fleshed out personalities. To add insult to injury there are still way too many characters that dont get the panel time they need to be properly developed or fleshed out and for the most part either only show up every now and then to speak a few lines or even worse get killed off before they even become characters in their own right like Fuuka or Hairu. These are characters that had potential and were around for quite some time yet not only were their personalities barely fleshed out but theyre built up only to get axed off before they can amount to anything. Now on to character development. I feel that Re is quite abundant in characters that are excellently developed both by the standard set by the original series but also by the medium of manga in general albeit often following certain patterns. One of the most common of these patterns being that of inhuman characters discovering or rediscovering their humanity and growing more responsible tieing them more to the series themes. Characters following this general type of character arc include Urie and Ayato who both initially are introduced as apathetic and inhuman but later on through the hardships they endure learn to be more empathetic and in tune with the world around them. Of course these aforementioned characters pale in comparison to one of my favourite Tokyo ghoul characters of this type that being the character of Juuzou. Now in all honesty Juuzou used to be one of my most disliked Tokyo Ghoul character as I have a personal bias against characters that are of the one dimensional psychopath variety. The reason for this is because in my experience those types of characters are more often than not used for the shock factor or as prepackaged antagonists rather than as a base to develop interesting characters or as grander thematic pieces to challenge the readers perspective. Fortunately Juuzou is one of the few rare cases where thats not the case as over the course of the series he receives excellent character development. Not only does he grow into a much more mature character but he also builds relationships with the characters around him becoming an important figure in their lives instead of just maintaining his singular status as the CCGs murder tool. The character interactions are a lot more interesting and have a lot more weight to them that those of the original series given whats been built up till this point. Some of my favourite interactions in the series include those between the people in the CCG and CCG Kaneki and the QS children he looks after. By concept alone this is something that draws my interest given the preexisting disposition the members of the CCG hold towards anything even resembling a ghoul. An added benefit from these types of interaction is also that they allow for the individual characteristics of the CCG members to be drawn out cementing each of them further as individuals rather than some hivemind. By far though one of the best things that Re does is show the gradual shift the the CCG members perspectives towards the ghouls as over time they seem to realise that the ghouls are something more than or just evil blood thirsty animals that want to ravage corrupt and kill everything in sight. Finally i want to bring attention to the way some characters either reconcile their differences or past misdeeds and become comrades like in the case of Akira forgiving Hinami and Touka for their involvement into her fathers death. Though this event its shown both how much these characters have matured to be able to get to this point in the first place but also instils in them the realization that being consumed by hate only serves to further fuel the conflict between the humans and the ghouls without actually solving anything but instead just causing more bloodshed. Art: 7/10 The art for Tokyo ghoul re is great improvement over that of the original manga. The backgrounds have more detail and make the city that the story takes place in feel so much more alive. The fight scenes are a lot cleaner and its much easier to tell whats going on except for some scenes where characters are moving really fast or there are multiple things happening at once. The character designs are much more creative and varied this time around even though there are some characters that look very bizarre even by Tokyo ghoul standards and kinda cartoony like for example this one guy who looks like a corpse thats been put together using old body parts. I also think some the some of the characters outfits look really cool and add more personality to them like Ayatos battle suit which he wears in the auction raid arc or Kanekis white suit that makes him look like some kind of badass yakuza gang leader. The last thing I want to address is that improvement in the quality of the designs for the kagune and kakujas as now theyre varied and creatively drawn than a lot of the older ones especially when theyre drawn to look really metallic or insect like. Also now instead of this ghoul has wings or this ghoul has a tail its more like this ghoul has a fucking armor or this ghoul has a fucking scorpion tail. Besides that though theyre just all around a lot more detailed and stylish which I really enjoy. Enjoyment: 7/10 To be honest even though I am quite negative about this series Im quite the Tokyo ghoul fag so I enjoyed the living fuck out of it. It always gives me something to look forward to and reading the new chapter every week and finding out what happens next never failed to bring me joy. I think the thing that I enjoy about Tokyo ghoul re the most though is the fact that the writer of Tokyo ghoulSui Ishida is so unapologetic about what he puts In his story. For example theres an entire chapter long sex scene between Kaneki and Touka or a scene where Mutsuki is half naked riding a corpse that looks like Kaneki. The dude just doesnt give any fucks and that adds a lot of personality to Tokyo ghoul which really gives you an idea of what type of person the writer is through these types of scenes. Overall: 7/10 Conclusion: Tokyo Ghoul Re story wise has some really good ideas on paper that in practice simply fail to read their full potential. Nevertheless lacking as it may be its still is a step in the right direction as it improves upon many of the problems the original had even though it feels like its still being held back by them. Its not the masterpiece of great writing that some people claim it to be but its getting there so I would totally recommend Tokyo ghoul re to anyone who likes the idea of humans vs misunderstood outgroup stories. Id recommend you check out parasite and ajin first though. Btw i didnt where to include this so imma just say it here. Eto is best girl Fuck you Fight me Special thanks to my unpaid and slightly pissed editor Lonecrit.