Title: Tokyo Ghoul:re Vol. 3
Author: Sui Ishida
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 248
Genre: Fantasy, Battle
Publication Date: February 20, 2018
The Story
Tokyo Ghoul:re Volume three wraps up the operation at the auction. The battle was a mess at first, but it broke down into three fights with Urie, Mutsuki and Juuzou taking on Big Madam, the rest of the CCG taking on the Clowns as well as the Nutcracker and Haise Sasaki taking on a ghoul who showed up at the end of volume two… former CCG turned one-eyed ghoul Tokizawa.
Honestly… this was 200+ pages of a battle. There really wasn’t much story to be had here. There were some nice character developments which I’ll get to in a little bit, but there’s one thing about Tokyo Ghoul that bothers me and that is the constant switching back and forth between characters/scenes. While a lot of manga can pull this off flawlessly, Tokyo Ghoul’s large and convoluted cast gets in the way. Add in the fact that everyone is referred to by their rank and it’s almost impossible to remember which characters belong to which squads. Outside of main characters, a lot of them get lost in the shuffle rather easily. When you also have the Clowns, The Suits, Aogiri Tree and key ghouls like Nutcracker and Big Mama all doing their own thing, stories cross multiple times and it’s a bit difficult to ascertain anything that’s happening.
Thankfully, there was a nice summary at the end of the volume which confirms the eradication of Big Mama and Nutcracker, two of the CCG’s top targets. Also, we got to see a bit of Kishou “God” Arima which is always a pleasure. As for the action… while all over the place, it was still good. Lots of fights… lots of deaths on both sides. Both Aogiri and the CCG suffered some losses so it’ll be interesting to see how things pan out from here.
Characters
Okay. You guys ready for the big reveal? I hope you’re sitting down for this one because it’s a HUGE reveal. A reveal so huge that nobody would have ever guessed it. Nobody could have seen it coming. It was that much of a shocker! So much so they dedicated a two-page spread just for the reveal! You ready? Okay… here we go!
Haise Sasaki is Ken Kaneki!
No really… I’ll wait for the single solitary golf clap to stifle itself before I continue. I know this is a revelation and all, but it’s true! All of the painfully obvious foreshadowing done over the course of three entire volumes made this a “well, duh!” moment more than a huge shock.
It was more shocking to learn that our mysterious ghoul was Tokizawa from the original Tokyo Ghoul series. He was thought to have been killed during the Anteiku raid at the end of the first series, but now he’s revealed to be a rather powerful one-eyed ghoul who apparently loves to yoink people’s heads off their bodies and liken the experience to holding a freshly picked pineapple! (Mmm… pineapples)
Big Madam’s death was a bittersweet moment for Juuzou. On one hand, he ended up taking part in the death of the person who brought him up. On the other hand, he put an end to the miserable past he endured at the hands of Big Madam. Juuzou has found a bit of inner peace now, but I doubt that’s going to change his character all that much, but we’ll see what happens.
Final Thoughts
A nice reveal with Tokizawa balanced out an obvious reveal about Haise Sasaki being Ken Kaneki all along. The action was very chaotic and in disarray at first, but once the battles split and Ishida focused more time on each battle, things seemed to smoothen out towards the end. With this battle over, we close the book on this arc of Tokyo Ghoul:re. Volume four should open a new arc for us, but now we have to wonder what Arima thinks about Haise bringing Hinami back to the CCG headquarters and requesting supervision over her.
All in all, I hope that volume four ends up being a cooldown volume because there was a lot to digest in this one. This was a big operation carried out by the CCG and I don’t think it will be the last. Now I have to wonder if Hinami will join the Quinx Squad. I guess that is the biggest mystery heading into volume four. We will have to wait and see.
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
