, his suppressed memories begin to leak back. During a desperate battle atop the Lunar Eclipse building, Haise fully regains his memories of Kaneki. He adopts a cold, ruthless persona known as the "Black Reaper"
—a group of humans who have undergone surgery to use ghoul abilities (Kagune) while remaining human. Haise is kind, diligent, and deeply cares for his "problem children" squad members. However, Haise is actually a brainwashed Ken Kaneki
The anime is widely considered a failure by fans and critics. It compresses complex psychological developments and tactical battles into incoherent action sequences. Key character moments (Urie’s breakdown, Kaneki’s memory retrieval, the Dragon arc’s horror) are either omitted or rendered nonsensical. The animation quality drops markedly in the second season. Unlike the first Tokyo Ghoul anime (Root A), which diverged from the manga, :re attempts to follow the manga’s plot but at roughly 1/5th the necessary runtime.
| Aspect | Tokyo Ghoul | Tokyo Ghoul:re | |--------|---------------|------------------| | Protagonist’s state | Traumatized victim becoming anti-hero | Amnesiac trying to rebuild a self | | Tone | Psychological horror, tragedy | War epic, political thriller, tragedy then reconciliation | | Ending | Bleak; Kaneki becomes a shell (the "Dragon" seed planted) | Hopeful; marriage, child, peace | | Pacing | Deliberate, introspective | Frenetic, large cast, multiple factions | | Art evolution | Raw, expressive | Highly refined, detailed architecture and creature design |
