Tokyo Ghoul came and went like a storm; it blew in, wrecked our house and left without a word. While the first season of the anime was widely received as one of the best ever made, the subsequent seasons never met the expectations set by such a good first season (and first opening song). However, one thing that the anime adaptations got right is how unhinged and violent the fights in the series are and how heatrending its drama can be. Written in a classic Top-10 format below are the Top 10 Best Moments Worth Watching Again.
10. Kaneki carries Hide
While we know in the anime what happens to Hide, in the manga it’s more ambiguous and you don’t learn everything until later on. Here, you can see Kaneki carrying his best friend’s dead body. It’s tragic, and the inclusion of the first opening song, Unravel, parallels the scene to Kaneki’s fight with Jason.
While it’s a good scene on its own, if you watch both seasons you can see the light leave Kaneki’s eyes. Embracing his newfound identity as a ghoul revolutionary felt like a pipe dream that came true, as Kaneki suddenly had power to defeat his enemies instead of being at their mercy. What Kaneki does in the finale shows the end to any illusion of power that Kaneki had, that forgoing his humanity was not the right thing to do.
Not to mention the color scheme’s contrast with the rest of the series, as the snow makes the moment feel peaceful and final. For those reasons, Kaneki carrying Hide makes it as a moment worth rewatching.
9. Kaneki vs. Nishiki
You can say that this scene is objectively where Kaneki’s life went truly off the rails; aside from what happened because of Rize, but we’ll get to that later.
This scene from early on in the series is worth rewatching due to its emotional intensity, and to see the beginning of Kaneki’s convictions. Kaneki only uses his kagune against Nishiki because he wants to protect Hide, and by proxy protect others around him.
At the end of the day, ghouls want equality with humans and to not be hunted on the regular. Kaneki wants this too as he protects the people he loves, in this case Hide. The only problem is that he isn’t strong enough to protect himself.
It’s a classic fatal flaw for heroes, putting other people before themselves (another infamous example of this being Shirou from the Fate/Stay Night series). Kaneki wants to protect others, and he does so well, but when it comes to protecting himself he comes up short, in particular when he’s kidnapped by Jason.
For a better understanding of Kaneki’s motivations and the specific time(s) that influenced his motivations, this scene is worth rewatching at #9.
8. Eto vs. Arima
This fight makes the list but stays towards the bottom for the same reason: it serves as an example of what could have been.
One of the main gripes that people had with the Route A anime is that it left out Kaneki’s fight with Arima where Arima stabs Kaneki’s brain, giving Kaneki amnesia so he can be brainwashed into becoming Haise Sasaki. Arima’s bout with Eto serves as a kind-of substitute for that fight, as we see some of Arima’s fighting style that’s not really present until the :RE anime.
While Eto is the main villain for the majority of the series, and seeing her fight is always fun to behold, it’s Arima who grabs the watchers’ attention, making this moment a rewatchable one. It’s similar to Kaneki’s fight at the beginning of Route A with Ayato, as the white-haired cool man easily runs circles around their ghoulish enemy. For those reasons, it snags the #8 spot.
7. Kaneki’s Cravings
Everyone’s tragic journey starts somewhere, and if Rize’s death is the prologue for Kaneki’s, this scene can be considered chapter 1.
What this scene excels at is putting the audience in Kaneki’s body. As Kaneki’s craving for human flesh begins to manifest itself, the scene keeps the audience in Kaneki’s POV, making his rapid thought processes feel even more rapid and desperate. Plus the senpuku scene’s intensity, from moving from one rapid action to the next, makes the watcher anxious and afraid of what’s going to happen next.
The beginning of Tokyo Ghoul revolves around a lot of uncertainties and sudden action occurring to Kaneki, and for the anxiousness that these scenes leave the audience with, this scene gets the #7 position in moments to watch again.
6. Hinami’s Kagune
This fight between Hinami and Touka against Mado and Amon is great because of how it revolves around Hinami.
Having to fight against the man who killed both of her parents, wielding weapons made of both of their kagune, it’s an innately emotional situation for the good guys. The fact that she manages to take the power back from Mado, and protect Touka who, as she says in the clip, just wants to live, is satisfying from the perspective of the audience and in terms of storytelling.
This moment shows how easy the food chain of this show changes, and for those reasons this fight is the 6th more rewatchable moment.
5. Haise Cracks
As a series meant to overwrite the mistakes made in Route A, the first major battle of :RE is an important one, & one worth rewatching.
Taking place two years after Kaneki’s disappearance, we get to see how much Kaneki has grown under the guide of Haise Sasaki. This fight demonstrates a half-way point in Kaneki’s story, represented by his dual-colored hair. He’s more refined, but he still retains the psychotic nature he developed after being tortured.
Plus, we get to see Haise from the POV of the Quinx Squad. Through them, we see the (almost) full scope of Kaneki’s personality, as we see the full range of his personality and power. For those reasons, this article gets 5th place.
4. Juuzou Breaks the Bike
This scene, first and foremost, is comedy gold. Juuzou breaking his boss’ bike and proceeding to defeat all the ghouls blocking the entryway into the building is the defining moment for many when they fell in love with this unhinged psycho; and that’s why this scene is rewatchable.
Juuzou exists primarily as comedic relief, but he is also a character with a great arc throughout the end of Tokyo Ghoul and :RE. It’s almost a shock to the brain, laughing at a show that’s primarily about cannibalism and body horror. The only other source of comedy is later-Tokyo Ghoul Tsukiyama.
For the role he plays in the show, the moment Juuzou breaks his boss’ motorcycle gets the #4 spot.
3. :RE Cafe
This scene is tragic (a word often used for this series), but in a different way.
A lot of Tokyo Ghoul’s less gory side revolves around Kaneki and Touka’s will-they-won’t-they romance. They are constantly separated for one reason or another, and seeing Kaneki as Haise Sasaki in :RE, going through the nostalgia of Anteiku without realizing what exactly is going on is heartbreaking for a myriad of reasons.
It’s tragic because Touka is patiently waiting for Kaneki to remember, it’s tragic because Kaneki can’t remember anything, making him feel like an empty husk more than a man. It’s like two ships that you want to crash just missing each other in the night.
It’s a memorable scene overall, and for that reason it makes the rewatch list.
2. Kaneki vs. Rize
Everything starts somewhere, even if that where includes your date trying to eat you, followed by her being crushed by steel beams.
This fight is worth watching again for one sole reason: you tend to forget about it. The series revolves around Kaneki and his path from becoming a shy college kid to the next One Eyed King, but exactly how that path began becomes drowned out in all the new tortures and tribulations faced by our tragic hero.
It’s a good and terrifying fight, especially for those who don’t know anything about this series. You don’t know if Kaneki will live or die, or what exactly will happen next. That unpredictability is the primary reason why this moment is worth watching again, in addition to the nostalgia of seeing Kaneki back when he was a relatively happy human being.
1. Kaneki vs. Jason
Widely regarded as one of the, if not the, best moment in all of the anime, Kaneki’s revenge on Jason is a scene you could rewatch as many times as you want and won’t get bored of.
The fight is well-choreographed and satisfying, without telling too much of what has happened but enough to understand. Kaneki has spent the series until now knowing that he has extraordinary abilities as a half-ghoul, including regeneration and combat abilities.
All of the punches that Kaneki takes and dishes out, combined with seeing him recover from having his leg twisted 360 degrees without a wince is extremely satisfying for an audience that just wants him to be ok, or to hold his own at the least.
Another point worth noting is that this scene has intense emotional impact, especially for those who particularly like Kaneki. This fight’s buildup, with Rize convincing Kaneki to embrace the side of him that was forced into his lower back, and Kaneki’s sudden development of Marie Antoinette syndrome, makes this scene as sad as it is exciting, because at the end of it all it’s about a college kid who’s forced into becoming a killer.
Plus the red coloration and inclusion of the opening song, mentioned in #10, makes this fight the #1 moment to watch again.
Also be sure to read:
[Top 10] Tokyo Ghoul Best Fights Worth Watching Again
[Top 10] Tokyo Ghoul Best Characters
[Top 3] Tokyo Ghoul Best Seasons
[Top 10] Tokyo Ghoul Best Moments Worth Watching Again
[Top 15] Tokyo Ghoul Best Wallpapers
