Intro/Continuation
So other reviews are too one sided and are about people crying over how they messed up an adaptation. So I'm gonna give an anime only perspective to this series and not fanboy over how the series sucks compared to the original.
Story 7/10
Tokyo Ghoul Root A is the season 2 to the original Tokyo Ghoul regardless of the fancy "Root A." It continues off on the in medias res or height of action from where we left off in the first season. The ongoing battle between CCG and Aogiri Tree. We see Kaneki walk away from his epic confrontation with Jason and completely changed from how he was before. The story takes a turn when Kaneki makes a certain decision that changed the course of everything we understood about him and it surprised everyone (including the Manga readers to their initial ill content). The story goes on about Kaneki's inner struggle with humanity like from before, except that its been worse since his torture with Jason which leads to psychological side effects. We see him do actions, we know normally he wouldn't do and its a bundle of confusion on our part on his decisions. The story also gives a glimpse on how his behavior is affecting everyone around him so it goes into the story of some of the side characters. The weakness of the story however, is trying to patch things up with the previous season. The story strides away from the main interest (Kaneki) and goes on about everything else going around in society, mainly the CCG's perspective. Though the story poses a two unique perspectives, one being ghouls and one being CCG, we must remember its called TOKYO GHOUL, not TOKYO COMMISSION OF COUNTER GHOULS. Another plot hole in this series was the beginning when they introduced like 4 new characters, but didn't go into an detail of who they were or whether they were significant. Some of them didn't even make another appearance at all.
Characters 7/10
The main reason people watch this series isn't just the idea of a world of ghouls, but the chronicle of Kaneki, the protagonist of the "I did nothing Wrong Club." Seriously, he doesn't catch a single break. Since his incident at the end of last season, his whole character seemed to have changed. We see him do things we couldn't believe he would do from episode 1 as a shy bookworm. He's by far, the most dynamic character that I've ever known, enduring many hardships, you see how far transformed with not just his hair. We see him psychologically suffer from his previous experiences and how he struggles to keep his sanity making us have lots of sympathy for him like when he was tortured. The only issue with Kaneki however was that he barely had any dialogue or analysis during the first half of the series. His weak character development start was one of the issues I had with the series as a whole. We do see more development and insight on side characters though which was helpful since in the first season they showed characters we didn't care about and never showed them again until now. The whole Anteiku group is characterized heavily in this season which was a pro for me. Touka however was my favorite developing character in this season. You see her cope with the fact Kaneki's changed and try to reunite with him to like how it was before. You can call this friendship, I and many others call this the OTP or the ship to ride over tsunamis. I mean its pretty obvious and a tease for us fans. The CCG also get lots of decent screen time to show the opposite side of the coin with Amon and Akira. You see the pair have their moments and get a glimpse into their reason for fighting ghouls as well as their pasts. They synergize really well throughout the whole series from the light comedy to their own unique problems.
Animation 6/10
Studio Perriot was the studio that animated the 1st season and their back again with season 2. The animation quality for season 2 has greatly improved from season 1 by a lot. The only problems is every other episode has better quality. You can easily tell which episode they poured their money, time, and tears into while normal episodes with no action or meaning have below subpar animation. Being a large studio and infamous for many projects, I wished for a constant quality of animation throughout but since Perriot is known for Naruto series, I can't expect much. I just keep thinking to myself how amazing Tokyo Ghoul would look if animated by studio Ufotable (Known for Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night). Another piece of info which doesn't influence my score in any way, but worth noting was the censors. Censors didn't premiere for the first episode but later on began to appear, but that was due to the ISIS issue with Japan with the tragic beheading of a reporter. In the blu-rays they will be gone like it was with season 1.
Sound 8/10
The sound for Tokyo Ghoul has changed from the 1st to 2nd season. I felt the opening song was fair, but not up to par with "Unravel," from the previous season and many fans agree, but I don't absolutely hate it. The lyrics characterizes and symbolizes Kaneki perfectly, it just the animation of the opening I found bland. The 2nd season focused on many quality pieces of background music which I found really well composed, but that's coming from a guy that doesn't play any instruments. I would say the background songs were the best and were very well executed. The strongest point I would argue, would be the OST of this season and worthy of being downloaded.
Overall 7/10
I enjoyed the series from the ground up, regardless of whether people thought the adaptation wasn't up to expectations. YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER, ITS AN ANIME ORIGINAL STORYLINE and not directly from the source material. Your complaints should go to the director of the first season for moving plot arcs causing this season to have issues patching things up. I thought The characters were very interesting and the atmosphere was immersive. The story line was created by Ishida Sui (Author of the manga) himself and gave us a great "what if" perspective from the original manga. I recommend people wait for the Blu-rays to release if you haven't watched it yet. I can't wait for the OVA on Tokyo Ghoul Jack that's coming out later this year. Its sad, but I don't think there will ever be a season 3 unless they somehow magically get enough sales on Tokyo Ghoul;re.
