Tokyo Ghoul

Tokyo Ghoul is a dark action and fantasy series that took the anime world by storm when it first came out in 2014. It was unquestionably that one anime that edgy kids would watch to prove that they have, well, edge. While I agree that it had massive potential, I can't bring myself to say it's a good watch. Tokyo Ghoul let me down in the worst way possible: they built an amazing premise and interesting characters, only to destroy everything they built in the later seasons. Imagine that you've just been served a mouth-watering meal, say a delicious looking bowl of spaghetti. But just as you look away for a moment, someone comes and takes a stinking shit all over it. That's pretty much what you'll feel as you transition from season 1 to the later seasons of this anime.   

It's known in this world, that there are beings called ghouls who possess extraordinary strength and feed off the flesh of humans. As a result, the government creates an agency focused on the eradication of ghouls, and its inspectors are trained to wield special weapons. In the beginning, the plot follows a boy named Kaneki who lives a normal school life. He goes on a date with a girl way out of his league (first red flag) just to find out that she is a ghoul and attempts to eat him. By some twist of fate, they get caught up in a construction site accident, and Kaneki wakes up in a hospital with vague memories of what happened to him. It seems that the ghoul's organs were transplanted into his body by the doctors in an attempt to save him, and as a result, Kaneki has forfeit his humanity to become a ghoul. The story gets interesting when he starts to enter the secret world of ghouls and finds a way to survive without eating his friends. The dynamics of this society and interactions between ghouls make for great content coupled with gritty social ideologies, mysterious back stories and engaging fight scenes. Be warned, Tokyo Ghoul has its fair share of bloodshed, gore and death which can get borderline disturbing. All of this builds up to the ultimate question: will Kaneki choose to live as a human or a ghoul? And what are the consequences of each path. 

I'll make myself clear again, watch season one of this anime and stop then while you can. Anything after season one is a jumbled and confused mess with sloppy to careless story arcs. You'll see characters with great backstories being sidelined and even worse, randomly nonsensical story developments. I guess this is just the outcome of straying away from the manga to create a random anime story arc. 



My personal ratings are:

Story: 3/5
Character Development: 2/5
Dialogue: 2/5
Music: 4/5
Enjoyment: 2/5 

Overall recommendation: One kinky BDSM gimp mask

Tokyo Ghoul is available on Netflix and Crunchyroll in select regions, with a censored version that is less bloody as well.