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Tokyo Ghoul - S1E10 - Aogiri

Previously on Tokyo Ghoul, ‘Birdcage’

All the teasing about the 11th Ward is finally starting to pay off. The ghouls of the Aogiri Tree finally make their move into the 20th Ward, at great cost to Anteiku, while the CCG prepares for war.

The Block Is Hot

At the CCG’s 11th Ward office, the doves are being overrun by two ghouls. Before the slaughter is over, the last agent is able to get a call to Commander Marude at the central office. He’s able to tell Marude that it is the Aogiri Tree that has wiped them out before dying himself. The last thing the Commander hears is the ghoul confirm that all of the doves are dead. Meanwhile, Yomo and Yoshimura survey the agents Ayato killed in the 11th Ward. They also know it’s the Aogiri Tree, and that they are led by “The One-Eyed King”, but they don’t know how big the group is.

Later that day, Banjo arrives at Anteiku to find Kaneki and Toka there. Flanked by his three ghouls, Banjo explains that he’s looking for Rize. He knew her back in the 11th ward, and his last lead was that he knew she was interested in Anteiku. At this point, Banjo smells Rize all over Kaneki, but mistakenly thinks it’s because Kaneki is her man. Banjo throws haymakers, but Kaneki easily dodges them, knocking Banjo out with a counter head butt.

Hours later, he awakes surprised at how strong Kaneki is. After being assured Rize and Kaneki aren’t together, Banjo still wants to know where she is. Toka walks away so Kaneki can tell Banjo the half-truth of “she’s not here anymore.” Banjo asks that if they do see her, tell her to run. A few months ago, the Aogiri Tree began taking over the 11th Ward. They killed, or added, the other ghouls like him to their ranks, and have taken out the CCG in the 11th Ward too. Now, they are looking for Rize, but he doesn’t know why. As he begins to tell them to run also, Ayato drops through the window and kicks him across the room. Ayato is a part of the Aogiri Tree too, but that doesn’t stop Toka from confronting him. He thinks she’s weak for wanting peace, but before they can debate it, Yamori barges in with another ghoul.

Unbreakable

At the CCG, Amon and Shinohara are in a briefing with the rest of the 11th Ward task force and many of the top brass. Commander Marude explains that since the 11th ward branch is gone, more ghouls will join the Aogiri Tree. They will be at war, and as Marude starts to hit the fever pitch of his speech, Shinohara’s underling, Juzo Suzuya barges in. Juzo turns out to be the same kid who pick pocketed Kaneki last episode.

Back at Anteiku, everyone is either in fear, or awe, of Yamori except for his partner, Nico. Nico is too busy being the best gay stereotype he can be. Nico ups the ante when he can’t get over how gorgeous Toka and her brother Ayato are. So much so, he offers to have a ménage a trios with them. Yamori followed Banjo there, and he zeros in on Kaneki when he realizes Rize isn’t there. Kaneki reeks of her, and that’s the next best thing. Toka tries to help but is blocked. In one motion, Yamori backhands her out of the way and swoops up Kaneki. Kaneki is choke-slammed through a table and stomped while given the option to get up or stay down. Kaneki’s ghoul eye kicks in and he powers out from under Yamori’s foot. In the time it takes for Kaneki to throw one punch, Yamori has already appeared behind him and speared Kaneki with his kagune.

Toka charges again, but is swatted away by her brother. He calls her weak like their dad, and the kagunes are out. As it turns out, Ayato has two kagune’s like Toka’s, and the fight is quickly over after she eats her own 100 crystal shard attack. Yamori decides that Kaneki’s resiliency reminds him of Rize, and he decides to reward Kaneki with another beating. Nico is jealous, while Yamori marvels again at how tough Kaneki is. With glee, Yamori decides to smash Kaneki’s head through anything within arm’s reach. Everyone watching in the room is either disturbed or disgusted watching Kaneki’s blood paint the bar, except Nico. Yamori is giddy with the fact that he can’t break Kaneki, but Banjo can’t take anymore. He blurts out that they need to be going, but before Yamori can turn his anger to Banjo, Rico agrees. Yamori stabs Rico in the gut, and Rico is delighted. Rico asks that they save the rest for when they get home and Yamori relents.

The Road To War

The daylong meeting at the CCG is finally over after Marude announces that the 11th Ward will be evacuated. Shinohara and Amon drag their feet leaving, which gives Commander Marude a chance to talk to Juzo. Before Marude can get to the point, Shinohara steps in and walks him away. Although the chairman signed Juzo himself, not much is known about him. He’s a low level agent who seems to be as eccentric as his appearance is bizarre, including the way he seems to be stitched together. Outside, Juzo hangs off the roof, excited that he might get a new quinque from all the ghouls they’ll be fighting. He tells himself he has to be good, or he will anger “Mom” again. Inside, Amon is now alone with Shinohara. While talking about Yamori, Mado is brought up. The conversation ends abruptly, but not because of Mado. Amon can’t stop thinking about his run-in with Kaneki. While thinking about that, his mind wanders back to when he was a kid. Amon barged in on his priest who turned out to be a ghoul, mid-meal.

Yoshimura and Yomo return to find the floor level destroyed and covered in Kaneki’s blood. Toka is still down, but she confirms that Kaneki is gone. Yoshimura calls a meeting with all the employees to discuss what comes next. First, Anteiku will be closed for the time being, and then he asks that they all forget about seeing Kaneki again. The Aogiri Tree are dangerous killers, not to mention that the doves will be attacking them head on. Anyone going will be caught in the crossfire, but Toka doesn’t care. She pledges to go, and Nishiki and Hinami follow suit. Yoshimura explains he never said he wasn’t going to save Kaneki, but anyone going must be ready to die. They all agree before Yoshimura ask one last person to come in and join them. Toka can’t stand it, but The Gourmet is joining their forces for his poor Kaneki.

Tokyo Ghoul S1E10
  • 9.5/10
    Plot - 9.5/10
  • 9/10
    Dialogue - 9/10
  • 9/10
    Action - 9/10
9.2/10

Summary

Most of the series has been hyping up the 11th Ward spilling over into the 20th, and we finally got there. The war is about to begin, or at least a big battle. If I had to guess, Anteiku and the Aogiri Tree will duke it out, with the doves showing up almost too late. In any case, I wasn’t expecting a bisexual sadomasochistic couple, but here we are. If Nico was an American creation, he would launch 100 think pieces, but alas, it’s from Japan. I still get irritated watching Mr. Popo on Dragonball Z, but they always seem to get a soft pass. Yamori’s Kaneki demolition derby was uncomfortable to say the least. In a show where we almost had a kid killed by her own parents’ body parts, not to mention the bag of her mom’s leftovers, that’s saying something. On the flipside, I’m curious to see what comes from Juzo. He’s one part L from Death Note, and 3 parts Cowboy Bebop’s Edward. Not a bad mix, but his last scene about the quinques makes me think there might be some Mado lurking in there too. Speaking of Mado, he may have been taken away from us, but the writers had mercy. The Gourmet is finally back! Is there any way this doesn’t backfire and he turns on them? On second thought, I don’t care. Just don’t kill him. That’s all I ask.

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About Stephen Smith (72 Articles)
Stephen Smith is an old military brat who claims Houston, TX as his hometown. Growing up on a steady diet of anime, comic books, and video games, he has always kept his nerd light shining bright. Now, as a married father of 4, he passes on the tradition to his kids, while trying to not be too much of an adult in his bid for world domination.
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