Monday 29 June 2015

Tokyo Ghoul

06/30/2015
Ok... so when this originally came out i passed on it cause it felt it wouldn't be my cup of tea... it gave off a vibe of dark and edgy for the sake of it.

However i have a few friends who really enjoyed it... so now that it's all out (or at least there are multiple seasons) i figured i could try marathoning it.
Honestly for me that was the better choice... i wouldn't have stuck with this show if i had to wait a week for new episodes....
mainly cause... i don't get it...
i mean i get the show but i do not get the hype.

This could just be me. I do not like horror shows... they are dull and boring and predictable and often rely too much on shock then actually being horrific.

It doesn't help that 70% of the show has to be covered up with black or white or red or negative colours censorship blobs... because japans censorship laws are a little strange and instead of just not animating that stuff at all and being more creative about it... they just hide it until you get the bluray.

So all this stuff is going on and all i can think is "why do they expect me to care"

If i don't care for the characters i'm not going to care about the world or plot.

kaneki is fine but pretty dull... he doesn't add enough to the story to warrent being the main character (i'm sure that changes in Root A but for now i'm just going on ep 1-12)
Touka is interesting and i do like her character but she doesn't get a whole lot of screen time.
Hide is also interesting... also barely in the show.
The show is trying to make me feel compassion towards all sorts of different characters all of which are not the 'good guys' and i get that it's the point but i don't get why i should care.

Is the show bad? no i don't think so... and i am going to watch Root A cause why not... i'm in a bit of a lull between seasons.

I will say i do not like the music and that could be a factor on why overall i'm not impressed with the show... the whispery intro song made me want to skip it every time (though once it gets a bit more power it does improve but that takes too long to get to) but yeah for whatever reason music is really important to me and this just wasn't cutting it.

However, animation was really good.... well when you could see the animation it was really good... the last episodes did manage some shudders from me and they did it by just suggesting certain things were happening and never showing and it was REALLY effective.  I wish the whole show was like that instead of "look at all the blood... sure it's cyan but you know it's blood anyways... isn't it spooky?"
no not really... at least not in my opinion...
I am curious if the show will ever explain more about the ghouls but i think if they haven't mentioned it by now then i just have to accept that this world has them in it... i guess.

Ok onto Root A

07/02/2015
Now i have finished Root A

It's funny cause a few episodes into this season i went to twitter and expressed that i'm actually kinda bummed i'm not getting into this show or emotionally connecting at all.
My friend on Twitter mentioned a few things.

He felt it was more a story about the BG characters, not so much Kaneki.
I 100% agree with this statement and also simultaneously disagree. yes the BG characters are far more interesting then any of the main ones... yes i liked them far more then the main ones... but i never cared about them AND none of them get enough screen time to have a decent arc (but i'll come back to this later)

Anyways i replied to him that i didn't get the fuss over Kaneki Ken and he said something that made everything clear.

oh thats easy. Kaneki = modern day Shinji
I sat there staring blankly at the screen.... everything was clear... why i didn't care about Kaneki and furthermore my blahness to the show.

I do not like Evangaleon... at all
I don't hate it but i find it boring and predictable and at time infuriating to watch... i just want something that actually means something to happen instead of a bunch of messed up imagery or clumsy metaphores shoved in in an attempt to pretend to be deep.

Which is the exact some feeling i got while watching this.
I wanted desperately for something plot relevant to happen...
but in the end this show doesn't have a traditional plot... there is no goal that everyone is working towards... it is simply this world sucks and is unfair and people die get over it.
Nothing has reason or meaning... it just is...

SO i guess that makes this title a slice of life? seeing as people go through their day to day just hoping to continue living i'd say it's an accurate category but for me personally it's not something i enjoy watching.

I never connected to any of the characters by the end... i was expecting to cry went certain things happened but i just sat there staring since it was long telegraphed and really the only possible result of the situation.

I do think it would be interesting if they did a sequel... i'm sure people would say it can't but considering there are so many loose ends with certain characters i think not only would it be good but it would be needed to give certain people closure to their arcs.
also my personal rule is if you don't see a character die onscreen they could still be alive so yeah... there's that.

Did i hate the show? No
Did the show get better in season 2? Partially.... mostly because Kaneki is in it far less and the parts that he is in don't really make sense to the plot or his character so they are easily ignored.

I will say the second ending song was really good and i loved that the imagery changed with each episode... the second intro song was too painful to listen to so i ended up skipping it but sometimes thats just how it goes.

The animation is still spot on... no fault there.

So yeah it's a very good show that i just couldn't connect to, i'm still glad i watched it but i'm not going to watch again any time soon.
If they did another season i may watch that after it's all aired because i would lose my mind from being bored if i had to wait a week for each episode.

I feel kinda mean about this... again i'm just disappointed that it wasn't the type of show i enjoy.

oh and the censorship was tonned down in some spots (i know i saw a hand go through a guy) and hilarious in others (apparently having 30+ knives it you is enough to deserve a blur effect.) so if this does sound like your type of show just wait for the bluray.


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