English Dub Review: Tokyo Ghoul: Re “Fragments: member”

When your past catches up with you, will it chain you down, or push you forward?

Overview (Spoilers)

The fight against Orochi isn’t going well. Most of the team hangs back as Haise takes on the enemy ghoul. He unleashes his own Kagune, which manifests as a hand at the end of a tail… just like Orochi. No longer relying on just his quinque to fight, he proves himself more than a match for the enemy. The fight gets intense, and Haise knocks off Orochi’s mask. It’s Nishiki! Haise seems to recognize him but doesn’t know how. The site of the blonde ghoul drives Haise berserk, and his kagune fly all over the place. Orochi flees, and agents are deployed to suppress Haise. Akira snipes him out to take him down.

In the aftermath of the battle, Haise has to do some reorganization. He relieves Urie as team captain. He’s been too reckless, and hasn’t been careful with the lives of his teammates. Shirazu is appointed leader instead. He may not be all that bright, but he really cares about the others. Hopefully, that will keep the Quinxes alive to fight another day. This only pushes Urie to get stronger. He heads to the doctor in order to have Frame surgery. You see, the Quinxes have the kakuhou encased in a structure that keeps it from taking over. This structure has a series of five filters called frames. Most of the Quinxes have the first frame undone. The more frames open, the more power the Quinx has available to them. They also are more likely to lose control. In the meantime, Haise heads over for a spar and a chat with Arima. Haise reveals his visions of another person in his mind, one he believes to be the him from the missing 20 years.

The team is given a new assignment to take out the ghoul nicknamed Nutcracker, since she hunts by being a hooker, and has a fetish for crushing her victims’ testicles. On the hunt, Haise, Shirazu, and Mutsuki happen across a coffee shop called: Re. Among the proprietors is another face from the past… It’s Touka!

Our Take

Okay, I’ve been trying to rectify the fact that I haven’t seen any of this show, currently pushing through season one. I’m glad I am. This episode relies heavily on foreknowledge of the characters to have an impact. The revelation of Nishiko and Touka obviously has meaning and echoes the introduction of the characters in the first season. We should be wondering what happened between the seasons to bring them to where we are now. Without seeing them then, the parallels are lost, and we’re just left staring at people meaningfully. I’m having serious difficulty keeping these characters straight. Other than the new characters, we haven’t been given true introductions to the cast. I mean, yes, this show is a continuation of a series. It’s justified in assuming we know the oldies. It just makes it difficult to make this the entry point. It is funny that they have Haise as a coffee connoisseur since he worked at a coffee shop in his past life. I feel like we’re on a fast track to an intricate plotline. I’m glad for that since most of the shows I’ve been watching lately have been really slow to the point.

The fight scene at the beginning was exciting and well animated. It shows us how powerful Haise is compared to the Quinxes. As a whole, the episode has been given lots of love in the animation. It isn’t stunning, but they’ve been paying attention to the details, and keeping things consistent. Really, we won’t start seeing degradation for another episode or two, if it does at all. This show is a pretty big franchise, so it shouldn’t be plagued with the same budget issues other shows have recently.

The voice acting is pretty good. Many of the oldies are used to their roles, so they’re good at making the character believable. It’s just that these characters tend toward the calm, nearly emotionless type. It doesn’t give them much of an opportunity to show off. It’s just how the characters have developed, and I’m sure that they’ll get more interesting soon. My problem was with Saiko. I couldn’t understand a single word she said since Sarah Weidenheft used such a high-pitched and squeaky voice.