Tokyo Ghoul Root A is Significantly Better Than the Manga

Anime Opinions, Article, Winter 2015 — By Dark_Sage on March 29, 2015 1:58 am

This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.

The truth can hurt, but that’s why they invented biting the pillow, baby.

A Divergence That Doesn’t Suck

Let me get this out of the way first: Root A should not be judged on the sloppy execution of the first season, but rather by how well it builds on that broken foundation. Understand that there is no way they could retcon everything that they skipped in the first season, so Root A was always going to be “different”.

Sometimes change is good.

As a standalone product, Root A is exceptional, but it shines at twisting the expectations of those who read the manga first — each differentiation provides a way to keep manga readers guessing at what’s gonna happen next.

Sure, I understand a lot of people were butthurt about all the skipped material. However, they need to understand that in order for Season 2 to “close out” the anime, Studio Pierrot had to condense ~80 chapters into 12 episodes (most series cover 1-2 chapters per episode). But while some of the modifications were out of necessity, many actually improved the series. Win dash win.

Solo Hunter

Rather than having Kaneki create a crew of useless low-tiers, Root A rolls with the assumption that you don’t give a shit about the cannon fodder. With only 12 episodes to cover the essentials, I’m not sure anyone could deal with even the most minute amount of time spent on meat shield, meat sword, and fresh meat’s forced-yet-non-existent character development.

I'll leave you to figure out which is which.

I’ll leave you to work out which is which.

lol Scanlations

While DDY made a few mistakes (and Funimation, a few more), Twisted Hel managed to ruin every line they touched. With no sense of flow or even a basic understanding of English, their dull lines truly make them the brainchild of the scanlation scene.

Are we supposed to be laughing here?

Kind of hard to truly enjoy a series when you have to read past the dialogue.

No Finding Rize Arc

While Rize is inarguably the best girl…

So best.

…skipping the arc in the anime meant I didn’t have to deal with this bullshit:

Don’t fuck with my yangires, Japan. I forget a lot of things, but a best girl slight? Nope.

Better Ending

Characterization

I figure most of what I’m gonna say here goes without saying, but some people need a bit more convincing than others.

Kaneki-kun Ken-kun

This is how the anime makes him look.

This is how the manga makes him look.

Banjo-kun

He doesn’t even appear in Root A, which makes this the best thing that could happen to his character.

Useless.

That One Girl

The most important part of Android 18’s character is how cute she is, which the anime did a bang-up job at.

They say some men’s dicks bled three times that day.

She’s cute in the manga too, but let’s be serious here — it’s hard to beat those mouth curves.

Touka

Bet you can’t even guess what episode this is from.

We’ll skip this one cuz it doesn’t fit my narrative.

Pacing

Jumping right into my heart~

Excluding the beginning of the final episode (they probably blew their budget on the electricity bill from constantly fucking with the light switch), Root A has much more precise timing than the manga. Skipping from thought to thought like you’re getting paid per chapter only works when you’re actually getting paid per chapter.

Anime always has the benefit of having a more controlled pace, where you’re generally not going to be read a dictionary at by a creator who hasn’t figured out how to show rather than tell.

What kind of monster would read every line here? Gotta skim this like it’s diet milk.

Rushing at breakneck speed through the manga, Root A never breaks a sweat. Definitely a better use of your time than reading a “graphic” novel where Kaneki doesn’t even spend three minutes trying to kiss a dead Hide.

You wanna tell me you weren’t leaning in for this?

In Closing

Tokyo Ghoul Root A > Tokyo Ghoul Manga Route. That’s a formula, and that’s a fact.

I know you don’t even care about me proving the premise of my post when my writing’s this good. But I did — perfectly — and that’s just one reason why you love me.