Tokyo Ghoul: A Reflection Pt 2

Warning: MAJOR spoilers about Tokyo ghoul and it’s ending follow.

It was indeed announced that there WOULD in fact be a season two of Tokyo Ghoul (TG). But when? A week or so ago, it was announced in Weekly Young Jump magazine that there would be a sequel to the TG manga and that season two would air in January 2015. For a moment, fans dried their tears and marveled at the news. Then today, we were blessed with the following PV.

Just please. Take a look at this .41 second video. It says so much.

To most, the video tells them, “Oh ya. In that last episode, Kaneki destroyed that one guy.” For others, the readers of the manga, this reminds us of the tragic ending of said manga and that what was shown in the first season doesn’t even compare to what is coming in the future. Then we cried.

This, for example.

Tokyo Ghoul has become a HUGE series in my life. If you remember back in July, I wrote a short article on why, at first, I had no interest in the series due to it’s odd pacing and random art throughout the chapters I had read. I then go on to explain that, after I witnessed the first PV, I suddenly became enthralled with with Kaneki and his tragic life.

This mask HIGHLY piqued my interest.

What follows is a major spoiler to TG’s ending. You have been warned twice now.

Not long after that, I quickly caught up with the manga series so I would be ready for the anime. While I was a bit disappointed with the pacing of the anime series (go figure), I no doubt knew in my heart that this would become one of my favorites. I had finally caught up with the current chapters of the manga and I made sure to watch each new episode every Thursday. Then, the unthinkable happened. Never had I witnessed the end of a series or season at the same time it’s manga counterpart would. Both had ended on September 18, 2014. That, my dear readers, was a dark day in the anime and TG fandom.

With the anime’s pacing what it was, skipping certain and important parts in the manga, having it end at such an intense moment would make anyone scream (and I did). Then, reading the final chapter, all hell broke loose. The internet was ablaze. Tumblr, Cruncyroll forums, Facebook and twitter lit up like the night sky. Could this be happening? There’s no way Ishida-san, TG’s creator could let this happen. Could he? Yes. He had killed Kaneki giving him one of the most brutal death scenes I had ever witnessed. It would take me at least five paragraphs to explain the course and another five for my emotional state. His life and death is one of the most tragic stories I had ever witnessed in any type of literature.

Even as I write this, I feel the sorrowful emotions and tears flowing through me. I am brought back to one of the first lines Kaneki said, “If you were to write a story with me in the lead role, it would certainly be… A tragedy.”

R.I.P.