The exciting world of Ghoul auctions!
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Sui Ishida
Translation: Joe Yamazaki
What They Say
Haise Sasaki is in charge of turning the unruly members of the Qs Squad into an elite counter-Ghoul unit. But with everything to prove, will his team bite off more than they can chew when they start investigating the mysterious organization Aogiri Tree? And can Haise be the mentor they need when his forgotten past could come back to haunt him at any moment?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The first half of this volume goes to two things: setting up the next big event, and giving Saiko a more proper introduction. Honestly, though, even if we get a more proper look at her here… Saiko still feels kind of more like a recurring gag and a plot point than an actual character. Which is to say, most of the bits with her are largely centered around her being super lackadaisical and thus making trouble for Ginshi as he adjusts to his leadership role. But yeah, the goal as all this is going on is to investigate a ghoul known as the “Nutcracker.” Which leads to everyone dressing up as women due to shenanigans, and in turn gets Toru in on an upcoming auction as one of the items. It’s a bit heavy on the gags and all that throughout, but honestly, it’s at least a little bit of investigating and actual bonding for the team, which is more than I can say for pretty much any of the investigator bits from the previous series.
We get a little more setup, such as establishing that Juzo will go along in disguise along with Toru. I will say that if nothing else, this pairing/setup feels like a real smart move, as it simultaneously plays off of Juzo’s past and also works with a kind of interesting link between the two characters. Oh, and just getting to see Juzo cut loose is one of the highlights of the book for sure, making for a pretty fun moment. And naturally, once he does, all hell cuts loose, with even members of Aogiri Tree getting in on the action!
The real issue I have, though, is with how Toru is handled here. Which is to say, he’s just plain stuck along for the ride and more or less gets “damsel-in-distressed,” lacking any real agency and not getting to do anything of note, which feels kind of troubling considering his background, especially when he’s literally been forced into a dress by circumstances. I’m holding out hope that the book realizes this and is building into the character really coming into his own and bursting out of his shell, which would certainly be satisfying after all this. But there’s a bit of a whiff of “this character is totally REALLY a girl though and will need to be rescued” about the whole thing that has me worried, and I hope that the series doesn’t go there, as… that’d be really disappointing, to be honest. Oh, and we also get Tsukiyama’s retainer Kanae creeping around the whole book, and he kind of gets all up on Toru at the end too, which doesn’t help (nor does the fact that he’s a real uninteresting addition to the cast, but that’s kind of a separate issue).
In Summary
So, with this volume, Tokyo Ghoul:re does at least continue to be a little better focused than its predecessor was for a lot of its run, with the team feeling a good bit more like actual characters of some degree of note than what we got in the past. Heck, even Haise feels like he’s got more going on as a character to such a degree that I really wouldn’t mind the brain damage being permanent, even though I’m sure that obviously won’t be the case. As for the actual content, the first half is some okay setup, at least focusing a bit more on actual investigating than the series usually does, which is nice, though I kind of wish there were a bit less gags and we got a tad more character development in its place. As for the back half, we get a big old action sequence which works well enough, and has some nice thematic bits behind it. Though it also does have some stuff that is rather uncomfortable, and has me real worried about where it’s going. It is honestly a bit of a coin flip as to whether the series will play it right, I’d say, but I just don’t have a ton of confidence based on past precedent. Still, the sequel series at least seems to be in a more interesting place than its predecessor, so hopefully it can keep that up and actually follow through on some of the elements I’m doubtful of, as I’d love to be proven wrong.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: December 19th, 2017
MSRP: $12.99
