Tokyo Ghoul √A Episode 9: Raid

The beginning of the end.

Impression

It’s finally started. I’m honestly not sure what’s more tragic – the fact that swathes of CCG members are losing their lives, or that they were all meant to write wills and leave messages for loved ones in anticipation of the fact that they have a possibility of dying. They never do mention if it’s just for major operations or not, but Juuzou sounds like he’s done quite a few so it must be a fairly common thing as you’d imagine – although because this Owl operation is as major as it gets (since the last Owl one 10 ago, that is) that only enhances the risk of dying. I’ve never thought much of Takizawa, but I really liked how they put a lot of effort into his segments – and it’s exactly because he’s weak and expendable that we get a bit of an insight into how a standard dove might feel. He’s terrified, and as much as he tries not to show it to his mother he eventually breaks down when writing his will – though to be fair, his parents must have an idea of the high-risk nature of a job with the CCG. And conversely, I found it oddly funny that Arima leaves his blank. That’s very, very fitting.

On the Anteiku side, the stars were definitely Koma and Irimi. They’ve glossed over a lot of their backstories, but the essence of it is still there – much like many of the ghouls who are now with Anteiku, they used to be savage and predatory. Koma really is a Devil Ape, and what the adaptation doesn’t mention is that both he and Irimi are in fact SS-Class, which puts them on the level of Centipede despite presumably not having kakujas of their own. Much like Yomo, they both mellowed out a lot and stopped feuding between themselves upon encountering Yoshimura, and decided to follow him to the bitter end. It’s a bit strange that those three decided to stay for the sake of ‘punishment’, because at first thought you’d think that all the ghouls would just abandon Anteiku much like Yomo took Touka and Hinami and ran, leaving the CCG to just find an empty coffee shop. It’s understandable that Yoshimura would want to stay given his history, but Koma and Irimi must really feel a lot of gratitude and appreciation for Yoshimura to the extent that they’d attempt to fight what’s essentially an unwinnable battle – yes, even with an SSS-Class Owl. There are just too many, and pretty much every Special-Class investigator is on board. One odd change I don’t remember seeing is the Touka scene, in which Yomo decides to let her run off towards what’s presumably Anteiku after she hears the news. I seem to recall Yomo having knocked her out in the manga to stop her from leaving, but I could very well be wrong. Hmm.

It was a sad episode for Tsukiyama. I think it’s easy to tell that, underneath all that spiel about wanting to eat Kaneki he does actually care, and is trying to stop him from leaving to protect him. It’s much more justifiable in the manga, in which Tsukiyama actually joins Kaneki’s anti-Aogiri group, fights for him and provides them with funding, while here he’s just sort of stalked him within Aogiri, but he still cares nonetheless. And for good reason – if even Yoshimura can’t win against that many doves, Kaneki will be writing his own tragedy by diving into that mess.

Tokyo Ghoul:re Chapter 19

[SPOILER START]

Wow, Ayato has some nice muscles. I wasn’t completely sure it was him going up against Juuzou until he was called ‘Rabbit’ – of course, that moniker being a case of Ayato protecting Touka once more, and taking on all of the CCG’s attention towards her in her stead as she ducks out of the spotlight. He looks like he’s gotten a lot stronger too – Juuzou doesn’t have his proper quinque, but Ayato’s strength is still enough to make him worry, and we’re talking about the current Juuzou that’s an Associate Special-Class. 

Amidst all that we have Naki being a retard as usual (that guy’s still alive?) and a very cornered Mutsuki, who I doubt will be getting past Kanae. He technically did win him, but I can see him deciding to make a break for it without paying an exorbitant 200m, especially if it’s for his depressed ‘Shuu-sama’. Will we be seeing Kanae vs Haise before long? 

[SPOILER END]