English Dub Review: Tokyo Ghoul: Re “think: Sway”

Don your mask. The butcher has no need for a soul.

Overview (Spoilers)

Shirazu’s struggle between his morality and his quinque reached a head in his last battle. Listening to the advice of his comrades, he cuts his hair to show his resolve. He will be the commander they deserve. Just in time. Intelligence suggests that the Rose may be joining forces with Aogiri Tree. Fact-finding may be in the hands of the Quinx squad. Sasaki finally convinces the brass to let them infiltrate ghoul society by wearing ghoul masks.

The Masks are On
Courtesy: Funimation

The operation is a success. Each group of the squad comes back with valuable intel. All of them except Sasaki. He ran around wearing the old Eyepatch mask, recognizable to ghouls in every ward. Can’t talk to people when they run in fear. He decides to face his past head on, and thinks he knows a good starting point: Shu. When Sasaki tells the nobleman his motivations though, Shu is unable to speak. He simply can’t stand the pain the truth would inflict on his friend. Instead, Sasaki has no hope but to track down this Eyepatch in CCG records. While there, Akira Mado attempts to dissuade his search. Moved by his emotions, she consoles him. It doesn’t matter what his name is, or who he was before. He is himself.

(Un)Fortunately, the information gained points to Shu’s family as the home of the Rose. A full assault comes to the mansion’s door, only to find Shu’s father and servants surrendering peacefully. This is a ruse, however. They buy time as Shu and Matsumae flee to meet with allies of the Tsukiyama family. Even this isn’t enough, as CCG arrives to murder them all.

Our Take

We are reaching the end of this twelve episode arc, which feels almost like a season unto itself. This episode finalizes the character development before heading into what looks to be another two-part raid. I loved the subtlety in Shirazu’s plot here. As we see the story with his sister, we hear the words she repeated before going into a coma cocooned in biomatter: “I want to be pretty”. Now we see why Nutcracker’s final words haunt him so. He killed one so he could afford care for another, and both just want the same thing. His sister is his motivation, and the investigator’s words to him galvanize him. We take life. As Shirazu repeats that, I can almost hear where his head is going. I take life from them and give it to my sister. None of this is outright stated. It is merely left as dots to connect. I like that.

Sasaki’s story is developing as well, as Kaneki is beginning to communicate with him again. He has had it with not-knowing. I like seeing him finally confront the problem, and be honest with someone about how it feels.

The technicals on the episode were right where they need to be. Solid voice acting meets error-free animation. We don’t get any real action in this episode, but it still looks nice. The two main plots are filled with emotion, but Shirazu’s voice actor (Daman Mills) plays him with an even keel. All of the emotion is simmering just under the surface, and it means it may come to a head soon. On the other side, Austin Tindle lets it fly as Sasaki when he talks to Akira. It fits perfectly with what we see in the scene.

Score

Summary

I'm looking forward to the next two episodes. Though this one was almost all talking and development, it did it right. I give it eight fleeing scions out of ten.

8.0/10