People have forgotten what horror is. Jump scares, music
stings, and well-lit creatures shown in full? That’s not horror -- that’s
terror. Terror is the sudden, the immediate, and the physical.
Horror is in the uncertain, yet inevitable; in the building
dread of something you know you are helpless against; in the mind. TOKYO GHOUL
has a really good understanding of horror.
…at least at first.
== TEASER ==
The story’s pretty simple. Shy boy has crush on shy girl.
Shy boy asks girl on date, despite friend’s doubts. Shy boy and shy girl go on
a date, and shy girl is secretly the meanest man-eating ghoul around. Boy and
girl crushed in industrial accident, and the doctors transfer her ghoul organs
into him. Boy must now grapple with intense cravings for human flesh.
And that’s where TOKYO GHOUL really darkles. As protagonist
Kaneki experiences greater hunger pangs for human flesh, a vision of Rize (the
girl who tried to eat him) appears and tempts him with relief and ecstasy,
Gaius Baltar/Head Six style. Kaneki’s internal struggle in these first couple
of episodes is thoroughly captivating as he wavers back and forth between
humanity and monstrousness.
It’s the external conflicts that make me want to run away
screaming. Fights seem like your standard super-powered shonen battles, but
exceedingly more violent. Blood, stabbing, and excessive amounts of force are
accompanied by strange blood-tentacle things that do all the actual work of
fighting. None of the impact or gravitas of the internal struggle scenes are
felt here.
By the end of episode 2, the weight of the premise is
definitely wearing down on the shaky shonen foundations. Increasingly inane
“ghoul rules” about how Kaneki has to live his life now, coupled with the same
sort of “my power level is higher than yours!” bravado we see everywhere. It’s
like some business types sat around a conference table and discussed what to do
now that NARUTO and BLEACH are coming to an end, and determined they needed
something “edgy and violent and 90s-ish” to appease their now older audience.
Unfortunately, I don’t think featuring more of Kaneki’s
internal struggle is going to end my gripes either. Already his back and forth
with Rize is getting old, with the same three points being echoed back and
forth (“you should eat flesh,” “I can’t I’m a human,” “it’s so good you should totally do it”).
Despite a strong initial showing, I don’t have much hope for
TOKYO GHOUL. Perhaps a television series was the wrong medium for this story.
A movie would have better served to keep this story fresh; how long are you going to interested in whether or not Kaneki will eat someone? Instead I have the feeling that we’re just going to have protracted battle after
protracted battle, stretching the initial concept thinner and thinner. The
prospect of continued viewings of this show are truly…
…horrifying.
You can watch "Tragedy", the first episode of TOKYO GHOUL, for free on Hulu and judge for yourself!
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About the Author
 | Matt Murphy is a freelance nerd who has contributed to many nerd websites. You can reach him by going to where the light meets the shadow, by sending out zeta-brainwaves or by following him on Twitter @Murphix. |
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