Tokyo Ghoul: Season 1/ Episode 10 "Aogiri" – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

Overview

With a war brewing between the ghouls and doves, and Rize being a wanted piece of all this, Kaneki suffers due to him smelling like Rize.

Review (with Spoilers)

Due to the war between ghouls and doves, the previews we saw before the show started, which made this seem a bit more dark and twisted, seem to actually be relevant now. For between Banjo and his crew; Yamori aka Jason, and Nico; Ayato; and then the return of Tsukiyama, it seems the ghouls have a lot of twisted players on their side. Though, not to be outdone, the Mr. Mado clone, Suzaya Juzo, seems like he will fill in Mr. Mado’s shoes and may perhaps be the skin crawler Mr. Mado was.

Topic 1: Meet Banjo – Banjo and Kaneki

Amongst those who, assumingly, are part of the dreaded Aogiri Tree, Banjo is the first to show up at Anteiku’s door in search of Rize. However, unlike those who come later, it seems him wanting to see Rize is more about romantic feelings more than anything. You see, it seems Banjo has feelings for Rize and upon smelling Rize’s on Kaneki, he immediately gets jealous to the point of swinging. But, being that Banjo is all brute and of only basic intelligence, Kaneki accidently knocks him out with a head-butt. Then, when he awakens, Banjo passes along a message to not only Rize but Kaneki as well. A rather simple message: Run!

Topic 2: Meet Juzo

With the 11^th ward’s Doves wiped out, CCG is on full alert. They are calling all their top investigators in for between reclaiming the 11^th ward and keeping the 20^th from falling into Ghoul hands [1], they seem to mean business. However, I still find it so annoying, and strange, how there seems to be no real research done into Ghouls. If just because it is weird they have learned to harness ghouls’ Kagune into Quinque, and yet don’t seem to know whether ghouls can be peaceful, what led to their creation, or anything which would lead to peaceful co-existence.

Though with the members of the Aogiri committing full fledge massacres, seemingly just due to wanting supremacy and it having little, to nothing, to do with revenge for dead parents, it seems even with Amon remembering Kaneki not wanting to kill him, peace ain’t coming no time soon. Leading to the topic of Juzo. What I assumed was Mr. Mado’s daughter is not only a boy but likely isn’t related to him either. For while the scars, and overall demeanor, screams being a family member of Mr. Mado, it seems Juzo is just an unofficial clone/ replacement [2]. One which is just as off-putting, and eccentric, as Mado. But, with mentions of his mama, and someone named Rei, it seems Juzo may have significant people in his life, something Mr. Mado long lost. However, with Juzo having significant others who are alive, it does make you wonder what makes him act so off kilter?

Topic 3: Friendly Fire – Ayato, Toka, Yoshimara, Kaneki, and Yamori

With everyone either following or closely behind, Banjo, it seems almost every ghoul introduced, outside of Uta and Itori, end up visiting Anteiku this episode. Though, unlike Banjo, it seems Toka isn’t able to create some semblance of peace. For with Yamori, who is called “Jason” by the doves, smelling Rize on Kaneki, a bloodbath ensues. For while there is some back and forth fighting between Toka and her brother Ayato, partly due to his discrediting their father’s sacrifice to protect them, the real fight, which honestly was one-sided, is between Kaneki and Yamori. One in which we see Kaneki take a real ass whipping just because he tries to fight back. And honestly, watching Kaneki’s head get smashed into every last bit of the café’s downstairs, and then how much blood is left over, if it wasn’t for Kaneki being the lead character, I’m pretty sure he would be dead.

Now, while it mostly seems the reason everyone is there may be Rize, I should note Banjo was also looking for Yoshimara as well. Perhaps to find out if he knows where Rize is, or because in the quest to dominate the doves, and weaker ghouls, taking out Yoshimara, or getting him to join Aogiri, would be a serious statement. Though with Yoshimara, as well as Yomo, not in, it seems taking Kaneki as a captive is going to be the bait to draw Yoshimara out.

Something which, for a few moments, seems futile. If just because Yoshimara makes it seem like he’d rather focus on the majority of his people than sacrifice any for just one person. However, as Toka, Nishiki, and little Hinami say they are going to rescue Kaneki, Yoshimara reassures them that he had every intention, with Yomo’s help, to get Kaneki back. It is just he didn’t want to ask for the others to put their lives on the line [3]. Though it seems they won’t be alone for Tsukiyama will be joining them. Something which, as you can imagine, enrages Toka and Nishiki, after all, he put them through in order to consume Kaneki.

Things To Note

1. Anyone else wondering what is happening in wards 1-10, much less the 12^th ward, and wards 14-19? We know the 13^th ward is where Yamori is from, meaning it is chaotic, but what about these others?
2. Juzo is the underling of Shinohara and is a 3^rd Grade detective, one which seemingly the top people in CCG quite admire, or thinks can get the work done.
3. Though two ghouls who are very unfamiliar faces, one being the ghoul we saw last episode who boasted about his kagune, are silent.