Tokyo Ghoul – “Incubation” Review

Now that Ken has become a ghoul, how will he cope with his new circumstances? Read on to find out.

After a less than welcoming encounter with Toka, Ken slowly begins to wrap his head around what is happening to him. Upon returning to school he encounters Nishiki once again and let’s say their reunions is less than warming. With danger and temptation on the horizon, will Ken be able to control himself?

Smart money says “probably not”

Things certainly aren’t getting any easier for Ken as he continues living the life of a half-ghoul. After being force fed flesh by Toka, Ken has a tougher time controlling his urges. After she gives him a talk about just how worthless he is (she’d not really one you would go to for cheering up), Ken meets Yoshimura, Toka’s manager at the Anetiku cafe, and a ghoul himself. He takes Ken back to the cafe where we learn that ghouls can drink coffee normally even if human food tastes bad to them (makes me think that maybe they should try looking for alternative food sources, but I digress). After Ken leaves Yoshimura tells Toka that Rize’s organs were transplanted into Ken, which is why he is the way he is.

Speaking of Rize, it seems as not everything is over with her yet. After Kaneki has one his “human flesh” panic attacks, Rize rears her sadistic head once again. Enticing him to eat the contents of the package that Yoshimura gave him before leaving Anetiku (the package was never opened but its heavily implied to be human flesh). She once again appears before Kaneki when he is on the verge of eating Hide. Not much is known on Yoshimura but he does seems to have a need to help his fellow kind as he offers to take in Kaneki and tells him that he can walk the path between a human and ghoul.

We get a look into Hide and Kaneki’s friendship this episode in the form of flashbacks. It’s nothing too detailed but it give us enough emotional weight where we can feel Kaneki’s urge to fight eating his best friend. We also learn that Nishio is Hide’s college roommate. Nishiki has more of a presence this episode, and he’s still a bastard (big shocker), although Kaneki does marvel at his ability to blend in with humans and he’s a bit of a player. He knocks out Hide just so he can beat up Kaneki and talk how he’s better than him (typical villain schtick). But he does get him comeuppance when Kaneki defeats him using Rize’s tentacle ability.

The animation continues to be impressive with this episode, cutting corners at the right places. The scenes where Riza talks to Kaneki achieves that creepy “other voice” atmosphere. The battle between Kaneki and Nishiki is also a good one despite the weird color shift for censorship. The different ghoul’s abilities are also nice to look at, alone with more blood, vomit, spit and lurching. The music doesn’t really stand out to me, but the many sounds do: Nishiki’s retching, Kaneki’s drooling and growling stomach.

The second outing of Tokyo Ghoul continues to be a good watch, with plenty of action scenes and creepy moments to keep the viewers eager for more. We get a closer look at the different Ghoul’s in town, as well as those who want to hunt them down. It’s going to be interesting to see how Ken will mesh with all of these elements.