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Seraph of the End, along with No.6 are two series where it's not about reviews, scores and analysis no matter how good. It's not about finding out why something is special, it's simply about experiencing something so meaningful and important.

Not sure whether it's the characters, music, story or the foundation under all of these. Everything related to Seraph of the End was an experience and honestly hope everyone finds their most incredible thing/s imaginable. An anime, game, anything, only the out of this universe stuff can induce such love and awe for something and Seraph of the End is one.

These are keepers forever and ... beyond.

Not something to rate and think "that was amazing, what's next" and it's a disservice to break it down into scores out of ten for respective parts. No.6 doesn't feel like a story with characters to analyse and think how 'good' it is, then how it stacks up compared to other series. That all collectively boxes it in which is never good, and worse when it only devalues it.

No.6 is simply an experience, you can come across people saying how deeply something affects them and how important something is, but it's one of those things you have to feel for yourself since otherwise it's just ... empty words to someone unable to relate to it.

Whether it's an anime, movie, something or anything else, hope people do find their this has changed me and this matters thing. No need to elaborate further, it's fine, some things aren't for discussing not even saying how great it is. A rising sun is a good analogy, you don't need to explain why you like it or what makes it good, it's not about that you just marvel at it for all the wonder that it is.

Sweet, first manga review! Giving this high marks because it's very good - that's it! Really nice and a message to share (addresses mental health issues, like Yuri!!! on Ice in that regard), love the people in it, art is good.

Reviews are problematic since maybe they require coming at something with a pickaxe to chisel the mud away from diamond underneath (if any is there) in terms of being critical of a work. That's fine, done that and there's diamond with Ten Count! No need to do it further since the better lens to have is to just enjoy the series we are lucky ... to see and Ten Count is one of them. By it's nature this review site may stop people enjoying incredible series if they are moulded into scrutinising everything. Further, for the best out of this world series we don't have to explain why the stars are pretty, in fact if one is doing that they are probably missing the point.

Interesting writing a review before a planned anime release and since it's Ten Count, no matter what it's like, will love that as well!

Love Given, the characters, story, all it wants to show and everything about it is special. The anime is done perfectly, and is also detailing characters earlier (Kedama the pom is ridiculously cute!) and expanding on scenes and the moments from the manga. Oh and said anime also looks and sounds lovely as well!

People in bands is always nice and both the background and instrument playing music is on form, and then when it comes to the characters and their actions as they navigate the events throughout; equally as good.

It is not just music Given deals with, the characters particularly Mafuyu have been wounded. Yet ... just like in real life these scenarios tragically do occur, but healing from them is all that can be done since the alternatives will bring no joy for anyone.

Rather than give spoilers, all that needs to be said is Given has the best people in it, and they all deserve happiness. Excellent to see people come together to form a band, a cool one! (observe: all bands are cool, especially those of the light music variety) and also have the background explored.

Mafuyu, Ritsuka, Haruki and Akihiko, the four member group from Given make it so and love seeing their backstories, as well as the additional cast who join them. Then what they are doing currently in Given as they by all accounts have fun throughout, and good for them so they should.

Easy reviewing this, and giving it appropriately high scores... not that it needs to be scored mind, can't rate the best things you just enjoy them, so easier to say watch and soak it all in for yourself. Given is amazing, this anime equally if not more so, love everything concerning Given, that is all!

Interesting an anime with the worst, and best people in the world together in one series. First this is a thriller series and definitely a tragedy with all the awful things occurring. It is all going on plot wise and this excellent anime made some years after the manga was first released is out to get us, just a friendly heads up!

The plot driven story does not diminish the characters, Ash is the bravest person in any series and never a victim but always and forever the hero of his story. That he and Eiji essentially had multiple arcs to deepen what they have is ... also nice, goodness knows they both deserve happiness and they got that. That ultimately they make it through the worst obstacles facing them and 'win' their story so to speak (the ending took the 'story' create drama route than the character one it should have taken) and overcome one huge rocky path means the suspense part of the story can be appreciated more.

Animation is ideal, helps that there was the luxury of time to get it right and love both the look of the show and the updated looks for the characters as well. The music is 'Good', likely meant as a nice homage to the 80's yet works perfectly for Banana Fish.

All superb story and creation wise for animation and that, the score is appropriately biased from the 'Enjoyment' section. Caring more for the characters than what the plot shoots out, and simply on account of personal preference liking how the anime should have ended (and so easy to adapt it, take the whole story, just tweak the ending and there is perfection!) means it is still 'Very Good' because that is what this anime is, enjoy Banana Fish on it's many fine merits!

The anime version of Twilight

The world’s largest emo fest

The series that shows us steak but gives us cat faeces

This uh… adaption? For the train wreck manga has come to a calamitous halt. Sui Ishida, real name Stephenie Meyer, has had her second coming climaxing in this blimp explosion of an anime, you mustn’t look at the carnage but how can you not!

Bella and Edward’s anime counterparts are finally given end to the ridiculous scenarios they find themselves in. Them, all of Tokyo Ghoul’s characters are expertly crafted to be as boring and shallow as possible, and a most distinguishing trait is that it ignores the ... good characters to focus on the bad. First series had Rize, Amon, Hide and Itori but the series was like na here’s Touka, café person number 1, every character focused thereon after. Then Tokyo Ghoul Re-set forgot about them and introduced even worse characters, somehow.
Why have good characters when you can have Naki, background prop, ink blotch number 2 and the anime gleefully follows suit. Oh, and refrain from blaming the anime for shortfalls in the source material, we won’t hear about fan favourite Eto (that mummy thing) or even Kaneki’s daughter (she’s called Renesmee, same as in Tokyo Ghouls inspiration, Twilight) but thank goodness were hear what happens to the non characters, whatever their names even were, and what happens to third police officer from right and so forth. We have a glimpse of Rize, but literally a glimpse on the poster, again the whole show steak cat muck thing.
Stephenie Meyer was once again wielding the fire reducing her female characters to Toukas and Bellas. Touka was a capable fighter, had dreams but Stephenie decided na, you’re reduced to damsel (well, gloomy, boring, physically and emotionally abusive quite frankly awful person) in distress. And who needs life goals and aspirations when Touka has fulfilled a woman’s role in Stephenie Meyers world, namely to marry Kaneki and bear his children. Same with whatever the woman police officer was called, capable investigator but she was placed on the side lines and existed solely to be together with Amon. Thank heavens that what came across as largely accomplished woman learn their place in this skid mark series, huh. Virtually all the interactions, especially the relationships are deliciously hammy, mind. Kaneki and BellaTouka, Amon and doesn’t warrant a second glance, they don’t even like one another. I mean they’ve been apart for years, they react to each other as if they came across a hobo pleasuring himself in the street. Wholly unconvincing bonds between the lot of them, you could tell Stephenie wrote this tripe, disguising her name was doomed from the start. Everything in this series is such a cheap imitation of actual human interactions.

Story: chunder/10 Stephenie Meyer must have huffed an especially large amount of industrial strength glue when she forgot about her previous work to make her power rangers big super happy fun fun action sequel. Like Twilight she had vampires and werewolves but was like “gotcha! Watch me make this dive!” Same with when she wrote Tokyo ghoul, she was like “you’ve seen what I done with vampires and werewolves, now gulp up my take on ghouls and investigators, run for your lives children!”

The real read between the lines story of Tokyo Ghoul, namely those awful gays are an overarching evil that need to be finished and the dinosaurs as well, comes to an end. Furuta the ‘fabulous’ villain was making the most of his limited time on account of being a ghoul/having the ‘gay disease’ AIDs and naturally vanquished by holy mystical Kaneki with cross like kagunes. Editors were likely responsible for having crass gay stereotypes Nico and Tsukiyama survive, but of course they don’t end up with anyone (all the straight people are paired off to live happily ever after, of course). Oh, and these 'dear friends' of Kaneki just want to be around him to cannibalise him, because that's what they do, dur. Mercifully Naki has multiple babies with a lady thank gracious he got out the ‘gay lifestyle’. Nothing does hate these people, sly low cunning propaganda like Tokyo Ghoul.

Animation: ?/10 this is somewhat tricky, a mark can’t actually be given for animation because there is none. Well unless PowerPoint slides made on Microsoft paint count? It’s a tough one, really not sure. In any case, I’m not saying this to be dramatic but with some manga and anime sketches I can’t actually tell which ink spill is supposed to be which. I mean looking at the anime gets you pondering whether is that supposed to be one of the characters or the pavement? Your guess is as good as mine, it's the deep questions like that which keeps people awake at night.
The only thing that can be stated with absolute certainty is that dear sweet Stephenie Meyer illustrated her manga by hoisting up her crotchless knickers and rubbing her matted grizzly bear faecal smeared bum beard all over the pages. She then flung the dripping rags at the animation studio and commanded them to make it even worse, and they did exactly that with this anime adaption.

It is really quite awful; I don’t know why they did this.

Enjoyment: Uh, well this is awkward/10 what can be seen is incredible, it’s astonishing beholding this expertly crafted pile drive. Tokyo Ghoul is the anime equivalent of people creating a snot wall, or those who stockpile their own used tampons because I don’t want to know why. Can us mere mortals ever truly understand why people would hoard crusty socks used for masturbation, keep their grandmothers soiled pantaloons on hand at all times, or have Tokyo Ghoul related content amongst their possessions? It’s horrifying, but okay so long as you don’t physically come into contact with it, at least that’s what it all wants you to think!

Berserk has a reputation as a great manga that unfortunately had a bad anime adaption. Tokyo ghoul is to Berserk what Twilight is to Harry Potter, it’s on the opposite end of the spectrum. Whilst Berserk and Harry Potter are outstanding, their polar opposites are anything but. Both Twilight and Tokyo Ghoul were shockingly bad series to begin with and then given a worse anime adaption in Tokyo Ghouls case. It’s very impressive really, with Tokyo Ghoul from manga to anime they’ve managed to make the worst possible stench imaginable even more noxious, well done I guess?

The moot point, and what people are failing to understand is that this was all done on purpose. Tokyo Ghoul had potentially interesting characters, focused on the bad ones. They could have had great storylines but chose the boring avenues, it could have been good but it was deliberately made bad. And that’s before we even get to this screamer of an anime. At this point it's not really a laughing matter at all. Tokyo Ghoul was spot on the money about being a tragedy, but this final anime redefines the word. I just don't understand why the animation studio took this route. They have a captive audience of Twilight/Tokyo Ghoul fans. It is then decided that violently hacking off a good ninety percent of a disconsolate “I can’t find my greasy emo black fringe extensions, Tokyo Ghoul knows how I feel” manga to make this travesty anime would be a sensible idea.

Tokyo Ghoul’s legacy as some chemical weapons grade filth series in the same vein as Twilight... no, below that is resolutely secure. This anime in particular will reap the negative reception it’s earned with flying colours/shades of black…

But then again that is what it was after. Tokyo Ghoul succeeds in what it set out to do: be the ultimate plane catastrophe series to see who prods it with a stick.

Stephenie Meyer created Tokyo Ghoul for the sole purpose of pointing and proclaiming: “Behold! Now people can no longer slate my magnum opus Twilight as the worst thing ever in every sense of the word, because Tokyo Ghoul has taken it’s place, and so Twilight is now good in comparison”

And that’s why Tokyo Ghoul was made.

This is unexpectedly quite a nice light-hearted series focusing on actors with some amazing animation and music.

The theme of this series in that it deals with loss of status and feeling replaced. Very apt resonating themes for people who are no longer getting a million likes on their social media, or are no longer the best thing in a highly critical, media glare always on you, high pressure areas like being an actor in the public eye like in this case.

A great strength of the series is realistic bodies for people. There’s no balloon cleavage for ladies, no eight pact hench, frankly absurdly unrealistic ... looks. Without sounding rude, it’s fantastic that the two leads have bodies the way they do but they’re still both considered very attractive, voted most huggable, and have remarkable acting careers based on their looks. They’re people, it’s who they are and that’s what they look like, it’s a great message that they can look like themselves and can be loved for that, exactly the way it should be.

The series fully embraces the dive straight into it scenes. Context counts for a lot here, in Looney Toons or Tom and Jerry, yes technically it is awful when something like an anvil falls on a character, but it’s over the top to the point of being ridiculous: Looney Toons extreme violence = funny. Same lens applies here, supposedly the rough nature = fine to some people, some series are watched with this in mind expecting this fantasy type thing (key word fantasy). No it is definitely not right when acts are forced in the manga, but neither is it right to fire a giant rocket at a cartoon animal. In both scenarios there are different rules and these extreme acts are brushed off like nothing. They don’t roll with the punches, the punches don’t affect them at all, their constitutions are made of different qualities.
If people are put off by the forceful nature of some incidents between the two guys here in this series, then they might find themselves disliking Looney Toons for ‘condoning’ extreme animal violence, in which case the point has clearly been missed. The lens looked through, what the purpose is here, and how they react to it is the focus.
Bear in mind this could be a deconstruction of parts of the genre, the forced attempts, and people in the anime saying “oh look how close they are, isn’t it cute”, it isn’t in that sense. This series systematically embraces it but also offers a reflection of this fantasy aspect that is quite clever really.
On one hand mature scenes should have been shown, other series explore human acts, though here the focus can be on other areas so people can see and enjoy everything that the anime is delivering.

In any case, love that we get to get to see what makes both guys special, what their thoughts are and how they regard things, and that they know what they want and how to get it. Overall, they are good for one another in terms of emotion, that is what also should be focused on. They’re comfortable around one each other, they have dinner together, Junta waits for Takoto to memorize his acting lines. That they support one another and let them be themselves is what counts. The whole rough physical acts is just rough = ‘hot’, same as explosion on the Looney Toons character = ‘funny’. Most importantly, both guys are in control in that they’re not subdued by one another, each are and remain bosses in their overall conduct. They are not robbed of any power, indeed they help each other to greater heights such as in their interview cases, and those are just a few of the strengths of this relationship.

Aside from the theme and people, the other best aspects are the music and animation especially. Considering the background, for some reason there was a preconception that this anime wouldn’t receive a heavy budget so was actually pleasantly surprised to see the stunning animation. The music as well, both are used very effectively for the comical moments in particular, these scenes are a very welcome foundation, the comedy perspective is better to have in response to losing prestige, which can initiate sheer dread for some people. Dakaichi offers that ultimately a perceived loss is no a big deal at all, just because someone’s better doesn’t stop you being great, being near the top is just as good. Of course with their relationship, some things matter more than others plain and simple. Sure the pinnacle and being at your zenith is nice and all, but who cares if it fades, so long as you have love it’s all good, eh.

Honestly was thinking it’s excellent that this is being adapted, but was caught off guard by how spectacular it is which was rather lovely. In terms of animation, music and people, have to love that one of the best anime of the Fall 2018 season is this gem of a series, how brilliant is that?

Gluhen’s first review, show Weiss Kreuz some love, people! Especially to the previous 25 episodes and OVA. This sequel Gluhen adapts the previous formula and works when you think of it as one long episode/mission spread over the 13 episodes here.

- Art: 6/10 - A marked upgrade from the previous season, with greater animation all round. There are character redesigns due to legal behind the scenes stuff, but it occurs a few years later so makes sense anyway with the updated appearances.

- Sound: 4/10 - Its fine on the grand scheme of things, Weiss Kreuz does has it’s own signature theme and music to enjoy. ...

- Characters: 5/10 - Love all the characters, but the score applies to the fact it focuses on the new ones, when I wanted to see the original members from the start, and have the new ones alongside them. Spending 25 episodes, OVA (also drama CDs and side stories, TV Tropes has the best chronology) with Weiss Kreuz is a very long time. Yes it makes sense to introduce new faces, the studio was likely thinking that it couldn’t do the same things forever, and could use this new season to mix things up, fair enough. But when Omi is in the background, and Ken and Youji appear about half way through the season, I would have preferred the focus on the four main guys we’ve gotten attached to as always. Having said that this is fine if we consider the whole of Gluhen as one extended episode as said above. For instance in the previous season, in one episode when the focus was on one cast member you wouldn’t see someone else for half the time, if that, so it’s fine.
The cast we've come to know and love, and the new people introduced shine best in later episodes when they're all present. Schwarz and the Crashers (from Aya’s backstory, before he joined Weiss) also appear, and everyone and the plot develop to culminate in some of the greatest episodes of the entire series.

- Story: 3/10 - No, didn’t want Omi placed in the background by being Persia, yes I wanted Ken and Youji right from the start, no, wasn’t fond of how after everything they’ve endured they continued to be emotionally drained (though understand this was done to generate drama, and it shows they’re not monsters, they’re bothered by what’s happened because they’re human, good save) but I understand why the creators changed direction. They were fazing them out so they could retire and live safely, but involve new members to keep the Weiss series going. Weiss was always about the four first and foremost, to be with Aya, Ken, Omi and Youji for so long, to have them move on to different lives, and then the story continues as if that’s ok, but it's not, it was always about them. Will have to pretend it ends like before with them together and taking out anything that gets in their way, an alternative and better happy ending. They didn’t need to get out safely, they needed to solve their issues by leaning on each other more, but it’s a drama thing, and a there, they're out safe and alive aren't you happy? So it’s understandable the story took the direction it did.

- Enjoyment: 10/10 - it’s a series that can chuck cat litter at me, I’d like it no matter what, no point in saying what’s good and bad just appreciate what’s been given, you only think that’s for series that impact you so guess this is one of them. And as stated, the final episodes are some of the best of the entire series. Even though it came out a while ago, newcomers can have a fond sense of nostalgia on the entire series, somehow, even if you’re not a part of that time period. Weiss is magic like that, it generates it's own unique feelings. Aside from the final plot points and people themselves, a best part is a reaffirmation of the ultimate trust and bonds the four members have with one another, the heart of the series.

- Overall a good 6/10 - On it’s own, and using this sites ratings system, Gluhen is a ‘fair’ anime. As a sequel to a quite precious series, it’s part of the treasure (if you modify the ending so they remain together, or take a break then come back together and pretend they’re in the discontinued Side B manga sequel to Gluhen, again, together) and so the 10/10 for personal enjoyment matters, especially for the entire series as a whole. It’s good the series got to continue, it was a Seiyuus project, I love it, and brings closure to an overarching threat for the entire series, at which point the team can finally find peace.
(Btw Aya doesn’t die, this series fully embraces the awful grisly ends for like everyone (they’re necessary evil assassins taking out greater evil) and they’ve all overcome worse than a simple knife wound multiple times. It ended with Aya alive, conscious and able to stay upright, no way ever a death scene).

It’s something rating an anime you like with ‘5’ but understand this review reflects a technical standpoint. Where reviewers give 10’s and the average rating appears to be 7/8+ for everything (which may very well mean they’re all very good but let’s balance things) this is a practical grounding. This site gives 5 an ‘average’ meaning of which Trickster largely matches that description, but the key point is that though it’s average on the grand scheme of things, this doesn’t prevent it from being enjoyable, the 10/10 for personal enjoyment at the end is what matters, when all is said and done of the art, ... sound, story, that’s what ultimately counts.

This mystery detective drama can be appreciated for its characters. Spoiler alert, Kobayashi does not ‘get better’ this isn’t a “oh Kobayashi meets great people and solves his inner demons.” Well he kind of does, bar the lethal destroy literally anything bubble thing. Presumably the bubble was meant to be imagery for a mental illness of some kind, Kobayashi has essentially been homeless and on his own for some time and it shows. He demonstrates very poor communication skills and is set on achieving his awful end goal no matter what, in terms of his thinking there is a literal bubble, but like most things in this series it isn’t elaborated on. Kobayashi made the wrong choice by deciding not to pursue Hanasaki when he snuck out, and thinking that Hanasaki had left him/was ignoring him but it’s clear there were some issues at hand.
Hanasaki is hands down the best character, his liveliness, initiative and effectively using some cool gadgets, taking out thugs, being switched on to solve cases, pursuing a shield murdering machine, Hanasaki’s the one to watch. Though Kobayashi is in no state to be there for others, through no fault of his own (Kobayashi does eventually articulate that he cares, his “you promised to kill me” is his way of keeping Hanasaki near him, his way of showing he values him) Hanasaki demonstrates some of his best and most distinguished traits by not giving up on someone who doesn’t at first reciprocate anything. He is the only one who essentially helps socialise Kobayashi and help him enjoy life, covering for him when the swing broke, arranging a birthday party for him, Hanasaki's one heck of a friend. His upbeat nature and go getter front was really appreciated considering the not really interesting cast and worked as a great foil to Kobayashi. It also turns out Hanasaki is surrounded by unsupportive ‘friends’ who are unable to comprehend his situation and yet Hanasaki is such a machine he bounces back from all that and is better for it, inspirational. After Hanasaki’s gruelling trials he does get his shine back, seen through his interactions with Hide, and his actions later on. Kobayashi does eventually have the intent to make things better, but it is Hanasaki who picks himself up and carries them both, despite what he went though and is going through. The inner power of this amazing person must be recognised.
Regarding the rest of the cast, Akechi is a classic case of unusually and unhelpfully out of touch person, even in this world. He should have been a good adult figure, telling Hanasaki about his brother, socialising a largely feral Kobayashi, just being a responsible adult to the boy's detective club and communicating better could have avoided some huge problems down the line. More so when poor communication skills were an enormous cause of a lot of the problems plot wise for multiple characters. Indeed his very poor choice of not telling Hanasaki about his brother disrupted the entire plot which had a knock on effect on the promising developments between the two leads. Kobayashi thought Hanasaki had given up on him, when he was just understandably hacked off. Still Akechi does redeem this with the rescue, but disappears right after but whatever.
Noro/shut in girl was great for providing intel, greater for telling Hanasaki to go after Kobayashi to get the better story back on track. Nakamura/police woman was also good, Hide/hooligan leader too. Hide was the only decent friend for Hanasaki and vice versa in the long term with Kobayashi, as for the ‘friends’ at the boys detective club itself, they were lead weights in which it was a requirement for them to change for the better or be cut lose.
The largest issue with the rest of the cast was that they were essentially poorly socialised, unable to understand things, kids. One ‘friend’ can’t recall who, think his name was ‘I’m not an important person forget about me’ was still holding a petty grudge against Hanasaki for ‘betraying’ them despite Hanasaki being understandably irked with the situation surrounding his missing brother. Hanasaki had no one to back him up, including who should have been his friend Kobayashi (not Kobayashi’s fault mind, considering who he is) Hanasaki done well to get through the grating injustice all around him. Holding a grudge because Hanasaki was kidnapped, not his fault - it was the kidnappers fault, and friends fault for being lousy and unsupportive. He was then drugged by a mind controlling liquid of which his ‘friends’ seemed largely indifferent of, they were basically like "gosh! that Hanasaki was filled with a mind control agent but still his fault for doing what he did! We also saw him getting (apparently) electrocuted but who cares!" The culprits got even more cold blooded and rabid donkey like after Hanasaki was rescued then left alone to wallow in unwarranted guilt, including experiencing physical health effects. Katsuta, a member who appeared sporadically also could have been but wasn’t a good friend to Hanasaki, there was just no camaraderie between the members. The ‘friends’ were content with doing menial whatever they were even doing plot wise with each other but failed to do the same for Hanasaki who needed it, later to all of them. The real good news is through his own prowess Hanasaki over came all that and got Kobayashi through as well, because you can be swamped with awful, unsupportive people but they can't diminish you, excellent message.

Plot wise, Trickster stumbles heavily as a result of trying to dabble in several different routes, but follows none of them through. Want to be a detective series? Needs thrilling plots, want to explore character interaction? The side characters need to be decent, did the series want to make a point about mental illness? That would have been great, why didn’t it? Not to mention the potential for psychological horror with Kobayashi’s mind set and the way he has to eat. Also touches upon a great story overcoming hardships? The barrier surrounding Kobayashi should have been addressed by the end, it would be a superior message if it were gone, not learnt to be lived with. Learning to be live with things is fine and all, but not for a lethal shield that does need to go. Learning to live with vaporiser shield is also complicated by the focus on getting rid of it. And why show that was indeed possible to get rid of the destroyer shield, which would have also been the more desirable outcome? "Oh a great mystery shield that can go which would solve a lot of problems? Na let's just keep it to show the ultimate mystery has not been solved, the poor guy's still hindered by it, make an inferior story" - pretty much.
As fine as it is the way it is, a story where Kobayashi overcomes the odds is better for the same reason a cake covered in icing and nice things is better than plain cake, and the latter was what the anime was, likely due to an abrupt “oh were out of time and funding, let’s end it here” response from the studio. Also suggests the anime itself didn’t know what it wanted, or left for a sequel that is unlikely to come (less so when the OVA’s focus on stuff not related to Hanasaki or Kobayashi, both of who were carrying the show). Kobayashi should not have decided to live because a vision of his mother told him to live for her, Kobayashi should have changed of his own will and developed enough to decide to live for Hanasaki and the amazing club members that were there for him and showed him how life was enjoyable.
The parallel plot of Akechi and twenty faces was just another example of touching on things but not expanding on them. There was some very fine dog whistle stuff going on (and with other characters, watch the later episodes especially and see if you can spot it all) but for the large part twenty faces just wasn’t a good developed villain, and again huge potential for psychological thriller stuff, even action if they crossed over which it should have done more. Having said that this series does appear to be more of a shout out for the authors works rather then trying to develop or take it further for the current time (this Trickster is like a homage, it’s like telling a story about the Batman of the past and missing an opportunity to create the gritty versions like the Dark Knight, Trickster had some grit and other features to embrace and make use of).
Like the characters, the story also ends in lose ends, both Nakamura/police woman and Hide/hooligan leader aren’t heard from again, Kobayashi still has the destroyer bubble, the only hunch is the anime was meant to continue to encompass other books in the series, but no idea if this anime, like the dog friendly bubble is canon or just a studio view of it, and this anime perhaps fails to make people care enough to find out, still Hanasaki pulls through, he’s there for Kobayashi, and he can be trusted to be a needed friend to Hide as well. Hide would be a best member of the detectives club plus it gives him a way to turn his life around, that would be cool, Hide can definitely join Hanasaki and Kobayashi as best people for sure. Hopefully it went well for police woman and pink clothes girl as well, as for the rest, just wanted this series to bring out more of their better quirks, despite what was said above, these qualities were there. Another series would have been great to expand, but based on this that is unlikely to transpire, still.

A side note, the world also has truly odd scenarios occurring, like Kobayashi’s Droideka bubble, that everyone’s rather blasé about what should be something outstanding, an invulnerable person who can destroy anything is unique even in this world with advanced machinery and the like. Surely he would have been the target of all the worlds governments, which could have created a greater plot, of which twenty faces could stake a greater role for himself, especially with his abilities (spoiler, also turns out that the shield was instigated by himself which raises vastly more questions, and no one even thinks of raising and expanding on these questions in the series).
Additionally people being largely indifferent to Kobayashi and the fact that he was a young guy who wanted nothing but to die was just all rather odd, is that normal here? Did no one think, right we're here for you, not just going to use you? This doesn't apply to Hanasaki who realised that promise was the only way to stop Kobayashi from running away long enough to help him change, very clever, but there were counsellors here, maybe chuck one Kobayashi’s way? Real strange all round, but again no sense reading too much into it, the series didn’t bother, why should the audience.
Largely it’s a “is seriously no one noticing how strange this is? Are people seeing this?!” going down, no one batting an eyelid about a child wanting to die, or living in the freaking park, and people like Hide able to acquire assault grade weapons and have the initiative to launch a hit mission, where he is impressively skilled enough to shoot a gun out of someone’s hand, and use flash grenades effectively (needed lots more Hide) apparently nothing out of the blue here.
Aside from the world, more oddness comes from the story, nothing really comes from anything, this series is unlikely to make the audience appreciate the original works, perhaps the fans may like it. They may also like Ranbo Kitan: Game of Laplace: this also has a head in the clouds Kobayashi, presume its book related, or perhaps back then people thought nothing or a truly odd way of thinking for a person. This work has nice art, but it’s apparent the studio received funding to celebrate the legacy of the writer and gave a brief overview of it in these two series, again not a major effort, and not remarkable, but if you like something you appreciate the best qualities.

10/10 for personal enjoyment, remember this, this is important. Yes, give all the animes 10/10 because we love them and we always see the best in everything, but this review gives a realistic grounding, it's real and honours the series more that way. For the purpose of this review site the 5/10 score, even calling Trickster ‘near average’ is being generous considering the plot could be better, the characters spiralled into a trail of lose ends, the overall premise surrounding twenty faces was nothing to write home about. Yet you can give all the breakdown of the scores you want, but it’s whether you like it that counts. At that point you don’t think about ‘average’ animation, the dodgy dichotomous plot, you just see the good, and there’s good here, so have your first impressions end on the 10/10 for personal enjoyment since here it’s all that matters.
Trickster may be described as a plain cake, yes it would be nice to have icing, frosted vanilla, sprinkles in the cake itself, but why think of how things could be better, and miss the niceness in front of you. Despite this mid rating, plain cake is still nice; Tricksters still a nice anime, show it some love, and no matter what ensure that you soak in the key theme you can see from Trickster:

What must be remembered was seeing Hanasaki as the ultimate team member, carrying out everything, covering for his friends, and rising when he was surrounded by unsupportive people, that’s impressive. Hanasaki is amazing for recognising the quite severe issues surrounding Kobayashi, who couldn’t do much for him when it counted, but sticking by him nonetheless, that takes maturity. The point about being there for people who are unable, through no fault of their own, to be there for you commands praise, Hanasaki’s a good egg. Who else is gallant enough to be worn down by everything in this plot, and everyone around them, whether it's issues with his father, brother, being unjustly blamed for stuff even after you’ve been kidnapped and threatened at gunpoint? We’re human, these things can happen, but who can remain strong when you come to the bleak realisation that your ‘team’ are devoid of empathy, clueless and unusually petty? To weather these heavy burdens but then overcome them, and then to go even further than what should be possible, whether it was in the final stages of the plot with some astounding bravery and skills, but largely by looking after a essentially special needs Kobayashi who really needed help of his own, Hanasaki must be recognised for the incredible person he is.

A mercy 1/10 because it offers a glimpse of a story that could work, if it had the right characters leading it, and if you cut out the previous manga in it's entirety. Re is what the first incarnation of Tokyo Ghoul should have been from the start. Too little too late though, and the few good characters from before have been replaced by bad ones.

An elite team of ghouls, humans, anything, engaging in what Tokyo Ghoul has to offer was always the right course of action. The suspense, gore, whatever the series wanted to show could work so long as it’s based around a ... great cast. Feel the disappointment when, like the first series, the wrong characters were focused on, and instead of this investigator team being fascinating characters (thinking of either Kaneki, Amon, guy Mado, Rize and Hide) the focus is instead on some bland quinx squad, generic police members and those with sparse likeability (Juuzou's just not interesting, Akira's drab, everyone really). They could still appear of course (this world demands demises after all) so long as the best characters are focused on.
The ones from the past that do appear are the banal ones like Touka, Nishio, of which they have been whitewashed of all personality and development. The only new person of note is Mutsuki who is the only non cliché one, and likely an editors suggestion to the author to include considering the unusually potent homophobic magnum opus the first manga was, it was good step to attempt to alleviate this.
Even with Mutsuki, this band-aid of a new character can’t cover the lack of presence we feel thinking of the potentially great characters. Who could look at this generic squad and not wonder back to fascinating, interesting people, like Amon – great fighter and investigator, one of the few to see Kaneki as not a monster. A natural born leader and would have loved to see him handle the extreme situations that would come his way, rather than disappear and replaced with non tier character whoever. Hide – charismatic, witty, an incredibly insightful best friend, indeed the only one considering the two faced nature of the ghouls. Hide fights indirectly, like leading ghouls to something that can beat them - other investigators, and unconventional fighting like using human food, why the heck Hide isn't centre stage, alongside his best friend Kaneki I have no idea. Even cooler if he could wield quinx weapons and have his impressive deductive abilities on show throughout the plot. Rize – clever, attractive, clearly should have been the female lead, definitely over bland, uninteresting Touka. To be able to explore the dynamics between Kaneki and the ghoul who was responsible for his fate would have been fascinating, not to mention that Rize battling, like against Yamori, Nutcracker or anyone would have been incredible to behold. Rize is the perfect ghoul as an antithesis to everyone. Guy Mado – could have carried the entire premise, specifically the humans can be just as bad as ghouls point, to see development and change so late in his life and to such a high ranking member would have been literary significant. Guy Mado being the ultimate mind to change for Kaneki’s purpose of having ghouls and humans live in peace, Mado was the one and the best key for the job. Yomo – he’s cool, wanted to see more, and Mutsuki – sure definitely get involved with this dream team.
How can people enjoy this series, considering who we could have had, and who we end up with: Touka, Hinami, Uta, Akira, everyone at the café, quinx squad, heck even Arima appear to be deliberately engineered to be as boring, and uninteresting as possible, and for some inexplicable reason it is these side bit characters that get the most focus. Whose head is turned for the trials and tribulations of wooden props?
The author may have thought to reset the series, though repeated the same mistakes in Re, and the inferior retcon characters can never replace the real stars briefly seen at the beginning. Still, nothing invested here, not dedication or interest, and so easy to move on and find something good, only the worst manga can generate these views.

Story wise, and unfortunately, the first manga dropped the ball on purpose and so 'Re'-set manga (essentially the same story, just told from the humans point of view) can’t even redeem it. In terms of plot there is nothing remarkable here, it’s also challenging to invest yourself in a narrative that continues to follow the lacklustre paths over the potential good ones. The arcs are banal, and what effect does it have on the cast? Even if there was anything interesting to note, who is tripping over themselves when Re once again consists of third-rate characters taking part in subpar story paths.
The greatest disappointment is the long seinen manga chapters should be creating gripping, something, anything, but it isn’t. This is not exactly a strenuous thing to achieve, and yet the fact of the matter is, the most striking feature of the non-existent story is how clichéd and monotonous it is.

Prejudice wise, this allegory for LBGT people and the supposed culture has carried over from the first manga, even with the toning down with the introduction of Mutsuki (though the concentrated poison is still secure in the first manga, and spills out here). The crude LBGT stereotypes have broadened, Tsukiyama and Nico are still present, but now we have the added Souta and Naki. Tsukiyama and Naki are naturally the drooling puppy dogs revolving everything round the straight protagonist; the ghouls/gays must know their place, see. And naturally they only want to be around Kaneki so they can eat him/hurt him/come onto him because that’s of course what those yucky gays/ghouls do, is the implication behind it all. Still so nice and tolerant for him to put up with the ghouls/gays, this is the other condescending message to everyone.
Meanwhile the straight people can be happily together, Kaneki/Touka, Amon/Akira, but all the homosexuals will not be having any of it. The LGBT equivalent of blackface and those old racist cartoons, and even present-day scenarios where black people come second to white people, and where they’re treated inferior has had its sorry day. It’s just quite intriguing noticing ancient history with this manga and seeing it the same way we look at old racist stereotypes. The out-dated LGBT stereotypes and their goals/motives should be rejected for the exact same reason we would dismiss a coin grabbing Jewish stereotype, who was jut around Kaneki for his money, and a magical N word person who picks the cotton in Kaneki’s garden whilst singing about how thrilled he is for the privilege. The same applies to a Tsukiyama, Nico, Naki, Souta, Nutcracker (the man hating lesbian, have to get them all in) and Big Madam and all their awful “yuck, look at the yucky ghouls/gays and how they act” preconceptions on full gracious display here.

Not even the art style can bring what could be good back, manga drawings which hint at something pleasant to be suddenly changed into sketches of planks of wood, and how remarkable the grooves are in the wood just does nothing to stir the imagination. An actual food turns to ash in the mouth, cheers Tokyo Ghoul, really appreciate it.

The only hunch is that the author deliberately tantalised readers with suggestions of promising characters, and stories in what should be an interesting environment, but then pulled the rug out from under leaving us on the ground looking at the opposite. An effective troll concept I guess, looks like it snared some people. Invest your time and interest into something that matters, this series cannot be it.

The forgettable plot can fade from our minds no problem, the bland uninspired drawings on paper (they’re not characters, characters make us feel something) immediately blanked out, and the sketches all replaced with a good manga. But presenting a glimpse of what was available character wise…

The bitter taste will forever be the ‘what could have been’ character and plot wise; ultimately that renders any enjoyment of this series impossible.