衝天 – High Spirits
Five hundred and fifty-nine… five hundred and fifty-two… five hundred and forty-five… *cue black nails and white hair*
The gang head out to rescue Kaneki and Uta joins the fray. Oh Uta, how I have missed your face~ yes, that was the episode’s highlight for me.
On to more important matters… The Kaneki-bashing from the previous episode continued in this episode, with several adjustments, added machinery and buckets more bloodshed. Again I felt this was in bad taste. No reason to the torture. It was just torture, albeit censored (and once again I read lots of disgruntled comments on that). Really, the dude lacks finesse. That’s all I can say. And that thing with the centipede, just, ugh… However, we did find out why Jason is twisted the way he is. As the doves explained, Jason used to be a regular ghoul. He was arrested by the CCG and sent to some ghoul detainment facility where he was the subject of endless torture by a grossly disturbed investigator with some serious issues. While undergoing all that torture, he created another personality within himself to protect himself.
This episode was rather abrupt, with the torture giving quite a few details a miss. Why did Kaneki’s nails turn black? Having not read the manga, I simply thought Jason gave him a manicure, unbelievable as that certainly is. And Kaneki’s hair turning white at the end – a very sudden development. So this episode finally gives some hints that the white-haired character at the end of the OP sequence is in fact Kaneki. According to the manga, he gets real badass after the transformation. And I guess with this adaptation, it is unlikely that us viewers will ever find out how and why. I guess that is the thing with adaptations, there is so much detail to condense that sometimes it all feels very rushed. With only one episode left to focus on white-haried Kaneki, this series looks hard pressed for time.
Last episode, Kugimiya Rie wowed me (and I am sure everyone else who watched) with her playful and mysterious take on Suzuya. This episode was no different, as we got to see Suzuya in action – the way he took that motorcycle and forced his way into the building to eliminate the ghouls was brilliant. If the rest of the doves were as daring, quirky and innovative as he was, they wouldn’t be in such a bind. It was so entertaining to see the doves be one up the ghouls for once (after Mado’s death). The other seiyuu who gets special mention is of course, drama king gourmet’s voice actor Miyano Mamoru. Seriously, Mamoru steals the scene in every single episode he appears *cough kiseki admits begrudgingly cough*. The way he enunciated ‘eat yourself’ had me in stitches. And that last line ‘僕はけっこおいしかった – I taste pretty good’ – just wow Mamo, wow.
I would say enough gushing, but since there is only one episode left, meh I shall gush all I want. And yes, there is only one episode left. Now that Kaneki has become white-haired Kaneki and the infamous one-eyed ghoul has made his long awaited appearance, me thinks it is going to be one very hasty final episode. Ohwells, I am looking forward to it all the same~
☆ koekara ☆ 