Tokyo Ghoul √A Episode 3: Hangman

Takatsuki is too cute.

Impression

Exciting stuff. On the surface it might seem like nothing much has happened recently, but there’s more going on that you might think – and all the pieces are slowly falling into place now. Beyond expanding their territory, it’s now clear that Aogiri is aiming to recruit – which makes a lot of sense in hindsight. Yamori is dead, Nico has presumably left and I can’t remember what happened to the Bin Brothers, which leaves Ayato, Kaneki, Eto and Tatara in terms of executives. That’s not very many ghouls at all, and it’s now clear that it’s not that we haven’t seen much of Aogiri Tree – that’s pretty much it, and there’s no-one else around. In order to increase their numbers they’re going around intercepting the CCG and their woefully inadequate carriers, releasing ghouls like Naki – whom I never liked, by the way. I felt a mixture of mild amusement and irritation at his little breakdown, and spicy Kaneki did a good job of responding to him. The irony being that he was the one who cannibalized Jason, which made Juuzou’s job a lot easier. Guess teaching Naki to write was his way of apology. But yeah, the aim seems to be Cochlea, which means that ultimately there hasn’t been too much divergence from the manga. Kaneki’s anti-Aogiri group in the manga had members including Banjou and Tsukiyama, both of whom have infiltrated Aogiri presumably to help him – so they ended up near him regardless of what he chose to do. Tsukiyama never really was affiliated to Anteiku as much as he was to Kaneki himself, in the end. What a silly goose.

So the relevant participants in future events are still gathering, just in different ways. Kuro and Shiro are no exception. I didn’t think there was enough Kuro and Shiro actually, and they only stuck around long enough to reveal to Kaneki that they too only have one kakugan. It’s the first time we’ve seen the post-Aogiri Kaneki falter from his cool, piercing gaze – and there’s a good reason behind his surprise. Similarly, this is the first time other one-eyed ghouls have explicitly appeared, when they’re supposed to be incredibly rare – and not only that, because both of them are sporting identical rinkaku kagune. Which also happen to be identical to the kagune he shares with… Kamishiro Rize. Hmm.

There was also a scene with Hide and Touka, meeting for the first time in what must be a while. It’s always very difficult to ascertain just exactly how much Hide knows, and he’s one of those characters who convey a lot by their unspoken expressions – chances are, given his intellect he knows more than you think he does. This scene was very nostalgic, especially given the recent events of Tokyo Ghoul:re. I won’t be forgetting the fact that, whenever Kaneki is hiding something, he places one hand on and rubs his chin.

My favourite scene of the episode was by far the book signing event, where Hinami meets with Takatsuki Sen face-to-face. This meeting happened with Kaneki in the manga, and I thought it might be exciting to have Touka come instead – which is why I was disappointed when she eventually didn’t tag along. Koma tailing her was a much less exciting prospect, though at least her safety is ensured that way. Takatsuki is just as cute as I thought she would be! While you should know by now that Tokyo Ghoul is not a show that would ever introduce useless characters, I think Takatsuki came off a bit too strong in the sense that the anime gave out some very blatant hints. Her cryptic gaze and response to ‘Kaneki Ken’ should have been enough and maybe even too much at this stage, especially as she didn’t end up doing anything. Maybe fewer people would have made a connection if Eto didn’t have such a sexy smile.

Tokyo Ghoul:re

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This section is quickly becoming a place for spoilers of stuff that hasn’t yet happened in the anime, but that I’m looking forward to. Next week sounds like it’ll be some stuff with Rize’s potential father, while the appearances of Kuro and Shiro alongside the CCG’s hospital investigations imply that Kanou will become involved as well. But yeah, I was hoping for Eto to have kidnapped Hinami and brought her back to join Aogiri a couple years earlier than she would have. Or for her to have refused to return Hinami’s book to her, saying she’ll give it to Kaneki herself. That would have been fun!

As for :re itself, all I really wanted to say was that Haise looks surprisingly legit as a girl. I completely didn’t recognize him at first! 

[SPOILER END]