So my car is messed up and I can't fix it without any real light.
I'm going to use the next few hours to complain about Tokyo Ghoul RE and continue to edit this post.
1.Storytelling
Oh dear god the storytelling is so bad now, instead of being SHOWN how powers work with small amounts of exposition sprinkled throughout at appropriate times, it's all just spoon-fed to us like we're children even though we've gone through TG. Before we used to see how weapons work and how characters deal with each other, now there's always some fucking box of text underneath the event telling us how the event works. Gone are the days of mystique and theorycrafting on what Hide was pulling and who the One Eyed King was and how far deep the CCG's hands are in the Ghoul pot.
2. Widening of scope does not mean deepening of ambition.
Jesus Christ what happened to this goddamn universe? Even though the character list has tripled we know almost no more than we did when TG ended. How is i that we're almost 50 chapters deep into this damn manga and nothing has been brought to light, not even the indoctrination process of Sasaki Ken or whatever his name is. In 114 chapters (I think) of TG we got to see how the CCG worked on the surface level, the dirt that the CCG is willing to pull, how Ghouls get back in daily life and the subculture of the Ghoul underground. Seriously, what the fuck has TGR taught us? How is it that not even one faction has had anymore depth put into them than what we've see at the end of TG? These past 50 chapters have felt USELESS.
3.Characters
Name one new character that you like? It's probably Eyepatch girl right? (can't even remember her name because she's so uninteresting) Or maybe it's the dude who likes bikes with the teeth? Almost every new character is so weak it's humiliating. Remember how HUMAN the first characters felt, remember Ken, a conflicted young man whose just trying to find his way through this Kafka-esque nightmare? Remember Touka, who started out a little one dimensional? Then we saw her flesh out into this young woman who sincerely cares for her community and harbors deep regret for her past sins? Remember Amon, a character with steady convictions but willing to bend his conceptions of life for a deeper understanding of people not on his side? Even the side characters felt strong and consistent. Mardue who gave off the impression of this credit hungry bureaucrat but ended up being a man who takes personal responsibility for every single life he commands? Sure there were characters like Suzuyo but he was seen as an anomaly by everyone, not the norm. He was a one in a million and that's what made him special.
Now what do we have? Fucking gimmick characters who throughout 50 chapters have been given no real depth. We have lazy girl, promotion guy, bland girl who pretends to be a guy for no reason shown so far even though it seems we've rushed past that little revelation of hers, a dude so nothing I think he likes bikes or some shit and Sasaki Ken. Sasaki Ken, a character whose whole claim to fame is that he USED to be interesting. We see Sasaki Ken talk about how he doesn't want to fade away and that he has people he love to but WE'VE SEEN NOTHING. Sure, we've been told he loves his group like family and that his life is a life worth living, BUT WE'VE NEVER SEEN ANY EVIDENCE. As far as we know, he works, sleeps, cracks some jokes and that's it. What about Sasaki Ken's life does he think is so special? We've seen no real special memories of him hanging out with loved ones or even just off the clock banter, yet we're supposed to feel torn between Ken and Kaneki?
KINGDOM HEARTS DID A BETTER JOB WITH ROXAS/SORA, GIVING US TWO CHARACTERS WHO OPPOSE EACH OTHER WHILE BEING ALTER EGOS THAN THIS.
Ken/Kaneki is fucking nothing, we have all the reasons in the world why we love Kaneki, but does anyone like Ken? Like on his own? As his own character, not as a part of Kaneki? No. No you do not, you were never given any reason to, you were only told in fucking text boxes why he's special, we've never seen it.
Where are the clowns? We're 50 chapters in and no clowns? Aogiri just showing up, and not even in a serious capacity even though they're supposed to be a big fucking deal, right? We have Touka, who at the end of TG is crying and begging white haired dude to go with her to save kankei opening her own shop and just saying "yeah, whatever" about Kankei. This doesn't feel like an evolution of character, it feels like Ishida thought to himself "I need to make up some kind of reason as for why Touka isn't desperately searching Kankei all the time". The last thing we see of TG is her holding back tears saying "he'll return". Now we see her going "if he doesn't remember, that's cool, if he does we'll be here." Bullshit. Touka knowing that Kaneki has forgotten about her is painful, or at least that's what should be expected out of her character by this point.
4. Tone
I for the life of me can't find the mood of this fucking manga. TG was a Kafka-esque horror novel that slowly evolved into dark mystery/battle manga. It's mood was crafted well through Ishida's unique art style full of rough lines and heavy shading. What the hell is RE? I really don't know. It doesn't have the feel of a horror, it's not that. It doesn't feel like mystery either, I guess it's a battle manga?
When I was in Japan last year I saw a tone of weird ass TG posters, one for a game, one for a deck of cards, one for a signing, one of just Kaneki just standing there being all "badass". Not a single one captured the feeling of that manga.
To be continued when I feel like it.