Tokyo Ghoul √A

Kaneki Ken finally accepted that he is both a ghoul and a human after being kidnapped and tortured in the first season of the series. But even though he stood at the crossroads and has an advantage of being able to understand both sides, it seems it isn't enough. For Kaneki, the only way to gain even greater strength and to protect those who are important to him is to follow a dark path. To do so, he would have to distance himself from those who have helped and accepted him in his painful transition from a human to a ghoul, the people at Anteiku.   

Kaneki transforms

Suzuya Juuzou, Yoshimura, and Shinohara Yukinori

Amon Koutarou and Mado Akira

One of my complaints in the first season are the censored bloody scenes. I don't have problems of the idea of trying to keep the series dark but still classy by minimizing the show of blood, but it was done distastefully. Tokyo Ghoul √A still has a few of such scenes but are done much better. That alone is an improvement. As for the fight scenes in general, these also improved even if there were encounters with unsatisfactory outcomes.

The pace has also slightly changed, probably to complement the change in its lead character's demeanor. Kaneki is more broody and the series has a contemplative and darker mood in general. I welcome this transformation of the lead character (it was one of the good things that happened in the first season) as well as the pace and the character point-of-views in which this sequel has decided to focus. I even liked the animation done in the opening theme.

The supporting cast made a lot of difference in the quality as well. Some complications arose because of the new characters, although admittedly I found some of them to be so cliche. 

The first season tried to be intense, dark, gory but mature but it didn't quite achieve that. Instead it wasn't so different from all the explosive and fast-paced series that has dominated the market for a while now. I think they did a better job in this sequel, regardless of what some viewers think of how the ending was handled.

Kaneki Ken resembled the tragic anti-hero here more than he did in the previous series. The last episode in particular was impressive for me because it showed a mature but broken anti-hero who realized that he had forgotten the only person he should have protected all along; the one who stood by quietly watching him both as human and ghoul.

Rating: 8 out of 10