Tokyo Ghoul knows how to do a lot of things right. Since the series was created, the dark fantasy has excelled with its depiction of mind games, and its gory aesthetic is hard to outdo. Creator Sui Ishida has prided himself in making his series eerily authentic, and that has forced him to dig deep into some polarizing emotions.
So, it's about time the new season of Tokyo Ghoul toed into one of its most heart-wrenching moments yet.
Earlier today, the second episode of Tokyo Ghoul:re went live, and the release did a lot. The episode was briskly paced as Haise Sasaki wrestled to control his ghoulish nature during his confrontation with Torso. Still, everything did go the CCG Investigator's way, and he got to treat himself at the end of the episode by visiting a new coffee shop called ':re' but his luck did not last. Or did it?
If you have seen the latest episode of Tokyo Ghoul:re, you know who Haise came face to face with by its end. The man visited the shop with members of the Quinx Squad, and he commented that the store's coffee tasted strangely familiar, but it seems the shop's staff is even more familiar. Just before the new episode ended, Touka Kirishima entered the cafe as she works as its manager, and Haise began to cry unconsciously when their eyes met.
For anime-only fans, the touching moment made it easy to suss out who Haise really is. The character looks rather familiar to a certain half-ghoul hero, and his strange interaction with Touka further proves Haise is Ken Kaneki. As manga readers already know, the Quinx mentor is the long-missing protagonist, and Touka's arrival will help the damaged lead piece together his forgotten memories. That is, if the fan-favorite heroine doesn't get fed up waiting for Haise/Ken along the way.
Naturally, the ship-centric reunion made fans teary, but audiences didn't expect the touching moment to make them that emotional. Sites like Twitter and Tumblr have been flooded with tear-jerking reactions to the anime's sappy new episode, and as you can see below, fans are eager to see where Touka and Ken's relationship will head in upcoming episodes.
Did this episode make you cry? Would you call it Tokyo Ghoul's most emotional episode yet? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!