Tokyo Ghoul Season 2 (Root A) Review

The twisted horror hit is back, and the ghouls haven’t lost their taste for blood. After weeks of torture at the hands of Aogiri Tree, Kaneki emerges a changed ghoul. No longer the meek young man who struggled with his hunger, Kaneki goes through a ravenous feeding frenzy, even devouring other ghouls to collect their power. 

He then joins the very organization that attempted to break him, Aogiri Tree, and the ghoul faction quickly becomes embroiled in a war between other ghoul groups and the CCG. Along with Amon, Mado’s daughter Akira, hoping to avenge her father’s untimely death, spearheads the anti-ghoul attacks. As the war between humans and ghouls intensifies, one question remains: what makes a monster?

The controversial second season of the Tokyo Ghoul anime leaves nothing but bodies in its wake, even dividing fans of the manga intensely. The second season of Tokyo Ghoul, titled Root A, veers off from the source material and doesn’t follow the Manga like season 1 mostly did. The result is that many fans of the manga were disappointed with where Kaneki’s character went and the overall story. This review is going to focus on the anime only and not the manga. I have just started to read the Manga and enjoy it a lot. I highly recommend it but lets look at the anime away from its source material for a moment.

Season 1 had its moments of action but was mostly filled with back story building and the slow background buildup to Kaneki’s kidnapping and torture. His character was rather annoying in season 1, by design of course, and going into season 2, he literally snaps. At first you think he is no longer the boy we knew but as the season move through you can tell that deep down something still exists and that he has a plan.

Tokyo Ghoul has always spent a lot of time showing us the constant battle and balance between light and dark within a person and a ghoul. Kaneki embodied that struggle from both sides in one body. Watching everything from the other side was a fun twist in the story that had all the same emotional back and forth you got from the first season.

The ending had me with tears in my eyes, i’m a softy sorry. I truly hope a 3rd season does happen. Granted it will be difficult for them to follow the Tokyo Ghoul :RE story line given the changes in season 2 versus the source material BUT that doesn’t mean they can’t make it happen. I have seen far worse seasons get turned around. The very final scene in the season makes it clear that the intent is to make more seasons. Whether the support from the fans is there or not remains to be seen.

As a fan of the Manga myself and a fan of the anime, Root A is a must have for any fan. Even if you look at it as a non-canon story plot, its still more Tokyo Ghoul and thats never a bad thing. Plus the final battle is one of the best animated fight scenes I have seen in a long time. And the most emotional on all sides.

If you haven’t already head on over to Funimation.com and subscribe to Funimation Now to get all of Tokyo Ghoul in Sub and Dub and marathon your way through it or go to Amazon.com and buy seasons 1 and 2 now for your collection.

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