Tokyo Ghoul:re Episode 16 Review: Vive: Those Left Behind

Finally a somewhat decent episode in this season of Tokyo Ghoul:re. They decided to give us hints and explanations as to what the hell is going on.

Japanese Original Episode Title: 遺したもの　vive

Plot

For the confused souls that are watching this, allow me to explain what’s going on once again.

Tsukiyama helps Naki and the White Suits fight off the CCG agents while Nishio is forced to fight Shikorae and Roma, as Dr. Kanou escapes. Meanwhile, Takizawa fights with the Quinx Squad and Urie is ready to finish him off but Akira puts herself as a human shield in front of him in order to protect him. She collapses and Amon says to Takizawa to take her to safety while Amon starts fighting the Quinx Squad. He unleashes his destructive kakuja and wounds Urie. Saiko defeats him but is unable to kill him because she realizes that he was the one who saved her life.

Nearby the incident, aboard the ship where Yoshitoki Washuu is, Marude, after reading Eto’s book, conducted a research on the Washuu Clan and found out that they are actually ghouls, thus making the CCG an anti-ghoul agency governed by ghouls. He shoots Yoshitoki hoping to be wrong, but Yoshitoki releases his ghoul powers confirming Marude’s theory about the clan. At Cochlea, Donato escapes and kills the prison’s director. Uta appears and gives him a Clown mask. They go to meet their ‘King’ and head over to the CCG HQ where they murder the chairman Tsuneyoshi Washuu.

Back to Kaneki, we see a dying Arima revealing that himself, Nimura, Hairu and other investigators from the Sunlit Garden are actually half-humans which means: having one ghoul and one human parent. He also says to Kaneki the truth about the Washuu Clan and that the One-Eyed King was Arima himself and that it was an idea that he and Eto created together in order to find a ghoul that could kill him and become the next King.

Episode Highlights

Nishio, the ladies’ man: It’s fun to see that even though all hell breaks loose around them, they still have the time to joke and insult each other. ‘I will assist you, four-eyes. It’s Nishiki and you are as flat as a board.’

Is Furuta their ‘King’? I am very confused with this Furuta character. He was highlighted to us in the end of the previous season and in this one, he is treated like a God. Is it because he was made half-ghoul by Dr. Kanou and used Rize’s kagune? What was Rize’s deal in the first place and why is she so important? Is she dead or not? And let me ask once again: IS KANEKI NOT SPECIAL ANYMORE?

Arima is the One-Eyed King: I have to say that the story behind Arima and Eto made me rather emotional for some seconds. The plot of Tokyo Ghoul emphasizes once again that there is no particular difference between the ghouls (monsters) and the humans, because at the end of the day we are all the same. Equally horrible and equally disgusting.

Themes & Trivia

Episode recaps and character guides: If you are more confused than ever before, you should definitely check the recaps of the previous episodes done by TheMikarin. They will help you clarify all the characters and you will be given loads of information about details that are missed but are essential in order to fully grasp the overall plot. Here is the guide for this week’s episode.

Glaucoma: Arima mentioned that his right eye has glaucoma. Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases which result in damage to the optic nerve and vision loss. The sudden presentation may involve severe eye pain, blurred vision, mid-dilated pupil, redness of the eye, and nausea. Vision loss from glaucoma, once it has occurred, is permanent.

Comments

I don’t know if it’s worth commenting on the horrible action scenes anymore, I mean there is honestly no point nagging about it, because let’s be real: this is what we will get so it’s better to just try to enjoy it than complain all the time. On that note I am just going to say that the eye transformation of Tsukiyama at the beginning of the episode was so ridiculous. It looks like it was made with the effects of windows media player.

Anyways, this episode was actually decent and even though we all love Tokyo Ghoul for its gore (at least in the past), I think this season desperately needs episodes with less action like this one and more storytelling and flashbacks than just throwing all the battles together in twenty minutes of runtime and not explaining a god damn thing,

‘You have to keep thinking if your choices are right or wrong.’

Well isn’t that an interesting quote? That is definitely something that the producers of Tokyo Ghoul should have kept in mind before they decided to slaughter this series, even though this episode was not as bad as the rest of them, if I was Sui Ishida and saw the work of a lifetime being treated like this I would be so enraged.

NEXT TIME: Move: Confluence, Confusion

Episode 16 Review