I don’t think an anime remake is even possible: here’s why.

A decent bit of this post is copy pasted from a comment I wrote today on a post asking about a remake. So, to the (currently) 10 people who saw that comment, apologies for the repetition.

One of the most common posts in this sub is the “why aren’t we getting an anime remake/will we get a remake?” posts, and for good reason. The anime adaptation we got is overall meh at best when compared to the manga Ishida put out. However, I don’t believe that even if we got a Tokyo Ghoul Brotherhood-style anime remake it’d live up to the manga. So in this post I’ll go over why I think that.

First, there’s the straight visual aspect. Think of a panel from the manga. Got it? Now take the artstyle from the anime and apply it to the panel. Does it improve or drop the quality of the moment? I’d say it drops it vastly in 99% of panels. So much of Ishida’s style is based around sharp, cutting & chaotic art that the anime medium won’t be able to accurately capture. Think of the “goodnight Haise… I’m done dreaming” panel. I genuinely don’t think we could get an anime version that lives up to it at all, solely because of how the art doesn’t translate well to the anime artstyle. There’s too much detail and too much jaggedness. Now, if we somehow got a remake with a violet evergarden budget for detail, I could see this MAYBE being less of an issue. But that’d mean a different studio has to take on the project while also having a big enough budget, which I don’t see happening.

Then there’s the storytelling aspect. Ishida tells a lot of his story through his art. If the art itself doesn’t translate well to the anime, the meaning is lost or muddled. The “I am a ghoul” panel to anime is a prime example of this. The anime couldn’t adapt it due to the art being too tricky, chose to go a different route, and changed the meaning of the moment completely. Instead of Kaneki having his very concept of self destroyed, we get a moment more akin to “I’m 13 and this is deep.” This happens in so many moments throughout the series.

This isn’t just Tokyo Ghoul either. This issue is the same reason Beserk anime adaptations are pretty meh overall and why Vagabond doesn’t even have an anime. The art of the manga is a core part of the story itself, and the style and detail in the panels just can’t be truly transferred to the anime medium.

Now, let’s say the anime gets remade by Studio Pierrot. Even if they went back and added all the missing scenes and info, ditched RootA and made a proper s2, and fixed their attempt at :re, I don’t believe it’d be very good. It might be decent now that it follows the manga, but I can’t see it being what we’re hoping for. Personally, I’d rather have 1 shitty anime adaptation than 1 shitty adaptation and 1 decent adaptation. Look at Beserk, it has 2 adaptations that are both not great compared to the manga. I’d rather not see TG have that same issue.

Now, as I mentioned a bit, I do believe it is theoretically possible for a TG anime remake to accurately capture the manga, at least to 80%. However, that would require a shift to a different studio (either KyoAni or Mappa would be my choice), a massive budget, a change in animation style/design compared to the current anime, and a willingness to show the intense gore and more disturbing scenes. With those changes, I do genuinely believe we could get a damn good adaptation. I just don’t think it’d ever happen. As vocal as the fandom is for a remake, it’s not like TG is the most popular series to begin with. Pair that with how a properly remade TG wouldn’t be nearly as marketable toward younger audiences and I’d imagine the projected revenue from a remake falls dramatically.

Now, I’m not a business major or a member of an animation studio, so I could be fully and completely wrong. But I do stand by my stance. Hit me with your thoughts on this matter, I’m curious to see what yall think.