Kaneki joins the fray, and comes to a major decision.
What They Say:
As Shinohara and Kuroiwa prepare to take on the Owl, Amon insists on joining the battle. Ayato attacks Touka, and Kaneki comes to her rescue. Meanwhile, Yomo, Tsukiyama, and Uta take on Noro, but find him to be a most unexpected opponent.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Continuing immediately after Kaneki slays the monstrous Ghoul known as Jason, episode 1 of √A shows the immediate aftermath of the joint (but neither are aware of it being joint) CCG/Anteiku raid on the Aogiri Tree headquarters. Amon joins his superiors on a mission to bring down a Ghoul whose raw brute strength has mowed down countless agents in the past. Bringing in dangerous prototype armor and weapons, they are only able to match its power and speed, but never overtake him. With the burden of their new weapons consuming their bodies, the CCG is forced to withdraw.
This was a rather cool (though admittedly fruitless) fight, particularly with two senior CCG agents against a singular opponent whose arms have been replaced with his Kagune. Presumed new aspects of the CCG’s anti-Ghoul arsenal are shown and while these tools were only able to bring the agents up to an even fight before they ultimately consumed too much of them, it was a fun fight to watch.
Meanwhile, Anteiku is having issues with a Ghoul with incredible regenerative powers and Touka has her back to the ropes in her fight with her brother. Unable to land a blow, she is promptly defeated until Kaneki shows up. His newfound power is able to overwhelm Ayato quickly, but before he could actually land a blow the Aogiri Ghouls begin to evacuate the building. It’s rigged to blow. The surviving Ghouls on both sides are able to withdraw easily while CCG suffers heavy losses. Kaneki breaks away and when he returns to Anteiku, he announces he’s defecting to Aogiri Tree.
I have to admit Kaneki’s move to defect from Anteiku caught me a bit by surprise and not in a particularly good way. Twists like this only work well when there are hints peppered here and there that you can look back on and find during rewatches. There’s really no indication of Kaneki’s intent to defect in the episodes involving his detention by Jason other than the change in his personality. There’s no display of inner conflict, not even an apparent invitation from Aogiri Tree for him to join them. It’s sudden, and I’m not particularly impressed. We do get some glimpses at characters we’ll likely be seeing throughout this season, and I do have to admit the designs for these characters look great. The action is kinetic and fast paced, which occasionally leads to problems for Pierrot but I’m happy to say this is not the case here.
It should be noted that this episode marks a complete departure from the manga storyline. I am not aware of the plotline of the manga and I have no intent of looking into it until after the series has concluded.
In Summary:
You’re going to run into a world of problems if you go into √A blind, but if you know the story of Tokyo Ghoul up to the raid on Aogiri Tree you shouldn’t have any problems. While a Fullmetal Alchemist ‘03 it is not looking to be, it still looks to be an enjoyable ride while it lasts.
Grade: C+
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment: 17” HP Pavillion laptop running Windows 8, Google Chrome
