Tokyo Ghoul: Season 1/ Episode 12 "Ghoul" [Season Finale] – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

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Overview

As Kaneki is tortured, Rize becomes his twisted therapist trying to help him understand how odd it is to take all the pain he receives and not give any back.

Review (with Spoilers)

With the manga ending this week, and the first season, hopefully, ending also this week, it is a hard time to be a Tokyo Ghoul fan. However, with all that happens over the episode, honestly I wasn’t even mad we didn’t see the Doves and Ghouls facing off. If just because this truly is what a season finale should be in my opinion.

Topic 1: The Ghosts of Past, Present, and Future – Kaneki, Rize, and Jason

As Jason continues to torture Kaneki, and give him just enough time to regenerate whatever has been cut off of him, he decides to forego his normal methods of torture for something a bit more hard to deal with. For, as can be seen, Kaneki can take physical torture like a champ. However, what about mental torture? Can Kaneki deal with the guilt which would come from him not choosing? Well, Jason puts him through perhaps the most difficult bit of torture Kaneki could face as he has to choose between the two ghouls who were cleaning him up, and gave him hopes of escaping. But being that Kaneki rather present himself as a 3^rd option than let either die, him forsaking a choice A or B leads them to both die.

Enter Rize.

Being that Rize continues to live in Kaneki’s mental state, and his mental state has become weakened due to Jason’s torture, he cannot suppress Rize as he has done before. Though this isn’t to say Rize takes over his body to protect him as she did when he faced Amon and Nishiki. No, all they do is chat and Kaneki is forced to listen. As a whole however, think of Rize and Kaneki’s chat as a therapy session. One in which Kaneki talks about his parents, specifically how much his mom got used and abused by her sister and the world, and how that lead to her death and Kaneki ending up alone for some time. Then the topic ventures into the motto Kaneki lives by, which his mom did as well: “It’s better to be hurt than to hurt others.” Something which is a confusing saying to Rize. If just because she sees the idea of not hurting others being like not choosing. Take Jason killing both the ghouls who tried to save and clean up Kaneki for example, him forsaking the option to hurt one to save the other led to both of them dying. Making it where the amount of pain he took on just to try to pick what seemed like the best option, allowing himself to be hurt instead of them, ended up leading to them both being sacrificed due to him being too weak, in Rize’s opinion, to make a decision.

And with her saying that, and taking note of the two people that died, Rize shows Kaneki all the people who have died, and will die, if he stays on this path he is on. Those two ghouls who wanted to help him died due to his indecision, Toka and Hinami will die because he decided to take Jason’s torture than fight back with his all, and eventually Hide would meet his demise too. Though, lest we forget, Mrs. Ryoko is also someone he could have saved. Yet he didn’t. All because he’d rather deal with physical pain, or mental guilt, than to deal such things out on others.

Now, this talk with Rize, strangely enough, leads Kaneki to slowly change his mindset. Not to the point of becoming selfish, per se, but with Rize planting the thought “There are times when you gave to give up on one thing to preserve the other,” Kaneki realizes that if he wants some sense of happiness, peace, and wants to live life, he is going to have to give up on the ideal if he truly wants the life he claims to.

Topic 2: Kaneki Reborn – Jason & Kaneki

Thus leading to Kaneki being reborn. For, in his mental state, he consumes Rize to fully gain her power and as Jason readies himself to eat Kaneki, and then help face the Doves, Kaneki fights back and takes a bite out of Jason. Thus leading to perhaps the most epic fight ever seen on this show. Something which makes up for all the censorship and just OK fights we saw in the past. For with Jason being a powerhouse, and Kaneki as acrobatic as Toka and possessing the S rated ghoul strength of Rize, it makes for an entertaining fight. One which Kaneki ultimately wins and in Jason’s final moments, he is forced to relieve the torture which turned him into this monster. Though, unlike how he was tortured before, or how he tortured Kaneki, the torture isn’t prolonged. For not too long after Jason starts counting down from 1000, Kaneki begins to feed on him and the season then ends.

Collected Quote(s)

“There are times when you have to give up on one thing to preserve the other.”

—           “Ghoul.” Tokyo Ghoul

“You choose to be hurt rather than hurt others, right? You’re nice and wonderful. But while it seems like you’re choosing both, you’re really forsaking both.”

—           “Ghoul.” Tokyo Ghoul

“Never mind your body, you mind is surprisingly tough too.”

—           “Ghoul.” Tokyo Ghoul

“All of the disadvantages in this world stems from a person’s lack of ability.”

—           “Ghoul.” Tokyo Ghoul

“It’s better to be hurt than to hurt others.”

—           “Ghoul.” Tokyo Ghoul