Title: Tokyo Ghoul:re Vol. 2
Author: Sui Ishida
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 228
Genre: Fantasy, Battle
Publication Date: December 19, 2017
The Story
Tokyo Ghoul:re Volume two begins with the investigation of the Nutcracker ghoul… a female ghoul that likes to consume testicles (yum?). Haise Sasaki is preparing for a meeting with Juuzo Suzuya’s squad regarding the case, but they need to get in touch with Yonebayashi first. She is a member of the Quinx Squad that spends most of her day lounging around and playing video games. When Shirazu goes back to retrieve her, he ends up becoming late for the meeting. This works out in his favor because Juuzo was also late for his own meeting.
After some intelligence is gathered, it is determined that the Nutcracker is kidnapping teenage girls for a human trafficking auction. The auction is a huge deal because several ghoul groups are involved. The auction is being run by The Clowns, led by Uta (the ghoul who owns the mask shop and made Kaneki his mask) and is being participated in by the Madames with Aogiri Tree providing security. Tooru ends up approaching the Nutcracker on a surveillance mission and ends up accepting a job offer from her, which lands her as one of the pieces to be auctioned off. I did have a good laugh at her being in disbelief that she sold for $200 million.
Juuzo also infiltrated the auction undercover as well, but when it was his turn to be auctioned off, he revealed his true identity and began the attack. All out war has broken out and things are getting out of hand quickly. Eto contemplates sending an “owl” into the fight, but she’s not talking about herself. The final page of the volume reveals that the “owl” she was referring to is former CCG investigator Takizawa!
Well that was a hell of a cliffhanger to leave us on. One thing that has bothered me about he Tokyo Ghoul series is the amount of characters that are presented. It’s hard enough to try and remember everyone’s name, but then you have to throw in their titles and it makes things extremely confusing. That’s the only part of this battle at the auction house I disliked because it was just hard to keep track of who is fighting who… especially when Sui Ishida has a habit of switching between scenes rapidly. Despite that, I like how this story arc is beginning. Looks like volume three is going to focus on this battle so it’ll be interesting to see how everything plays out.
Characters
Yonebayashi is our newest character and she is just a wannabe NEET otaku who loves video games. Also, props for the Final Fantasy XI reference that they threw in there with her wanting to return to Vana’diel. I laughed at how Urie lied to her about the upper ranks of the CCG contemplating on firing her if she didn’t do any work. It motivated her, but she’s extremely clumsy and hasn’t really done anything so I don’t understand what the point in trying to motivate her was. Still, she seems to be a fun character that will be used for some sporadic comedic relief.
Speaking of Urie, he went to the head of the CCG himself and asked to have his surgery so that he can obtain more control over his kagune. This is when the God of the CCG himself, Arima arrived and asked if Urie knew the risks of the operation. When Urie said he did, Arima said he had no problem with it. Urie then underwent the surgery, but we have not yet seen the results of it. Urie is determined to surpass Haise Sasaki and is even beginning to lie to everyone he can to do so. It’s a slight shift in personality, but it shows just how far Urie will go to prove that he is the best out of the Quinx Squad.
We got some glimpses of Touka and Yomo in this volume, but nothing really came of it. We did learn that the Gourmet, Tsukiyama, is still “sick” and craving Kaneki which brings us to Kanae attending the auction and bidding the $200 million on Tooru, hoping to give Tsukiyama a delicious meal and take his mind off of Kaneki. There are just a ton of other characters that make their appearances here, but they don’t really get much in the way of development.
Final Thoughts
While the first volume of Tokyo Ghoul:re gave us a ton of information, this volume gave us a ton of characters. I’m sure it will all settle in time, but the series continues to rely on the reader having read the first series before coming into this one. There are a lot of moments that recall some of the events of the first series (such as the owl extermination mission) and while they do offer a quick recap, Ishida still expects you to know them in detail.
The auction arc has been interesting and everything has been laid out clearly. The battle has started off a bit messy, but all of Ishida’s fights have been choreographed as if they were military operations and when there are several fronts to these kind of battles, it is a bit hard to keep track. This isn’t a series that’s going to focus on one battle then switch to the next once it has concluded… it’s going to bounce from battle to battle to show the overall scope and that’s where some readers might not be able to keep track. The one thing about Ishida is that he always ties things together and it all makes sense so if new readers feel a bit overwhelmed, just stick with it and enjoy the ride!
I’m really looking forward to volume three, especially with Tokizawa getting involved! I’m sure the CCG won’t expect this at all!
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
