Tokyo Ghoul

** spoiler alert **
Mixed thoughts and honestly I am shocked.
What a mess!!!
This isn't a proper review but just my reaction-

I liked the concept of the Tokyo Ghoul because it just puts you in the shoes of a 'Ghoul'. It was so gruesome realizing the position many Ghouls were in (good ones) and all the heartbreaks.
Though the series turned itself into a mystery manga and that is something I could have done without. I think I don't do well when there are too many characters with complex motives.

I guess this ending feels weird because it isn't really ending at all, it continues in Tokyo Ghoul:re. Just too much happened in length of one volume compared to usual pace.

The jokers reveal seemed a little out of place, it was never really hinted. Do they work with Aogiri?
At least Aogiri motive became clear, since Eto is their leader she wants to do something about the whole Ghoul/Human conflict.
Did Kaneki eat Hide in the sewers? Because he met him as injured and next he goes to Amari with taste of blood in his mouth. Really shocking.

Story - 9
In the world of Tokyo Ghoul, there exists beings known as ghouls, who look just like any human being but instead of human diet, they consume human flesh to obtain nutrition. Tokyo Ghoul has three main focuses: one on human beliefs and two on ghouls (to dominate, or to coexist). There is no true justice, as all sides have problems and the story makes it clear that there won't be a happy ending - the adventure is a tragic one. The story deals with discrimination and how it works - what it supports, opposes, and contradicts. Though with a slow start, Tokyo Ghoul spends most of its time exploring characters' beliefs in-depth and picks up the pace soon after the initial arcs.

Art - 9
The first impressions for this manga's artwork may not be ideal, but it steadily improves throughout the chapters and retains its own unique style. What stands out in this style is its "chaotic" drawing, as in the depiction of dark auras, facial despair, and etc for the author to emphasize distorted mindsets of the characters' as well as to bring out a sense of horror. With the exceptions of the occasional drawing errors, the art works out ideally for the story itself.

Character - 10
Tokyo Ghoul's exploration of multiple characters' changing mindsets stays constant and colorful, with pages or even chapters dedicated to building characterizations for main as well as supporting characters sometimes. Background information of characters are usually withheld completely or until later (including the sequel in Tokyo Ghoul:re) to avoid unecessary connections that might be made, as well to build upon the idea of ever changing views that do not stagnate in the past.

Enjoyment - 10
Great read, easily one of my favorite works of literature. It doesn't really try too hard and isn't afraid to venture into paths many writers normally avoid just to cater to the audiences' preferences. The story closes with an open ending, leaving opportunity for a sequel if the time comes (update: which it did indeed, soon after the closing). The story leaves off in a bitter note with questions unanswered, befit of its main element of tragedy: the world does not center around anyone; events continue on whether you're there to see to them or not, and you won't always be in the position to know all that's related.

Overall - 10
I definitely recommend others to try out this manga, especially if psychological horror and/or tragedy are what you enjoy in literature. Though the first half of Tokyo Ghoul left an empty feeling in me after its completion, it has since become one of my top picks due to its ending truly reflecting what the author set out to achieve.

Tokyo Ghoul is a manga in which the characters take a side-line to everything else the story has to offer. I would love to be able to lie and say that the premise is the main driving point, but after a while, even that gets thrown on the back. The back of what, you may ask?

THE EDGE TRAIN! And look, I'm all one for edgy ideas and characters in your seinen stories, I really am. As long as they're done well or realistically.

This story makes the ghouls out to be flimsy papery characters who main driving point behind their personalities is their insanity. Which could be ok in some points, if not that it makes the characters lack any character development or direction. Not even to mention the child-like understanding Sui Ishida seems to have about mental disabilities.

The main character in this story is absolutely flimsy. Not even just because of his personality, but because anything he does lack any reason when he's actually "ten-character-in-one-tm".

The main heroine is a poor archetype that gets dragged from that archetype to a point where she's just on the sidelines as well.

So where does this story shine?

The art is really good, but that's just my opinion. It's the same way where people dislike Attack on Titan's artstyle, but I think it looks unique and detailed.

Where does it go wrong?

Almost literally everywhere else. It's a vampire story, about gangs and humans, but you get introduced to so many same-y characters you can't feel anything when they get injured or die gorely because the author doesn't set any of these characters up to be liked or be unique in anyway. I couldn't tell you what's different between the numerous adversaries in this story because they all have: "Well this happened in my past because I was a ghoul, now I'm emotionless or the same type of insane." And not in an interesting way. This could be good if done well or in a different type of situation or pace. But holy shit, lets make sure to bring out everyone's back story right before they cease to exist within the story, or after they already died. Because why not, right?

It's frustrating, sadly. This story has a lot of potential, but they rushed it to a point where the pay-off is very maddeningly benign. In the future, this should be seen as a golden example on why you shouldn't rush to the interesting actiony parts of your story just because it's popular. And you shouldn't rush the reveals either.

This review is Spoiler Free. Some minor spoilers that couldn't be avoided have been marked accordingly.

So, where to start with this. I seriously wonder. You see, this happens to be my favourite manga so I have to provide sufficient reasoning as to why this is a 10/10 not only from my point of view but from any other reader's (or rather it should be). But first I have to provide you with some context on how I was introduced to the TG franchise and to be honest the start was rough. I was made aware of the anime by some friends, who dubbed it as "one of the best anime in existence", therefore it was only natural that I came to have unrealistically high expectations. Naturally I was let down... The anime was flawed. The first season was only the introduction to the TG universe so it couldn't possibly suffice just by itself and the second was bland and boring and ultimately failed to complement the first one. That's when I was informed that root(A) heavily diverged from the manga, hence I elected to give this franchise a second chance. Indeed it was the correct choice. So let me walk you through my experience of reading this manga.

SETTING: Most people reading this will already be familiar with it, but for those who aren't here is the gist of it: The story unravels in an alternative earth, where a species called Ghouls exist. They survive by feeding on humans and have superhuman strength, speed and regeneration and worst of all no human can distinguish a human from a Ghoul, so they naturally blend into society. Humanity has established an organisation named the CCG, that hunts and exterminates such threats. A young adult named Kaneki Ken is suddenly involved in an accident along with a Ghoul and receives its organs as transplants in order to survive. He then acquires all of their abilities and characteristics yet retains his human mindset, thus he finds himself lost in a world where he is neither Human nor Ghoul. The story follows him as he gets entangled in the Ghoul society and gradually learns more about their everyday life, ideologies, problems and views on humans.

This doesn't seem too original at first. There have been countless books/movies/manga/anime handling a similar setting. One could argue other similar stories have been set up better (for example Shiki). This makes it only harder for TG to stand out from the others, since what matters is not the setting itself but rather how well it handles this setting. Which brings me to my next point:

PLOT DEVELOPMENT: Tokyo Ghoul starts slowly at first (compared to the rest of the manga). Kaneki is introduced to the Ghoul society and is involved with its members, making new friends and naturally enemies as well. Furthermore he gets to clear up his misconceptions about Ghouls, which he previously viewed as mere monsters and experiences their soft and friendly side. Additionally he supports them in their encounters with the CCG, since he has also become their prey. This sums up the first half (or about 2/5) of the manga, which was adapted into the first season of the anime. Up to this point one could call TG rather uneventful. It's not that it doesn't contain action. This first half has its fair share of encounters with antagonists but all of this mostly serves an introductory role, it helps familiarise the reader with the world of TG and the characters and sheds light on the relationships between humans and Ghouls. Therefore this first part of the manga can't do it justice just by itself (This is the same problem I had with the first season of the anime). Whether it should be appreciated or not entirely depends on how the second part does.

Somewhere around the middle of TG, the story suddenly blows up, the action escalates, the characters undergo major changes and Kaneki gets even more involved with Ghouls, while also setting concrete goals for himself. That's when the seemingly mainstream so far plot of TG makes a complete turn and decides to do away with convention. Gore, drama and violence all go up a notch and TG adopts a darker style than usual. The second half focuses on Kaneki's attempts to protect the people around him and to find out more about himself. That's when the pieces start falling into place and many previously unanswered questions are resolved. All of this development finally leads up to:

THE ENDING(minor spoilers): As you would expect from a person who considers some of his favourite anime to be Fate/Zero, Psycho Pass and NGE I like/adore dark endings. I like when the whole world of the main character collapses and they take a deep dive into a sea of despair. In a world where happy endings are the norm I just find such dark endings refreshing and realistic. Such is the case with TG. After an insane second half the story comes to a close (or does it?) with an epic battle that shakes the foundation of the entire TG cast. Words can't describe how well this was handled. TG's ending was an incredible climax with heavy symbolism and an impressive monologue. Well, actually this isn't really the ending of TG as a franchise but rather marks the end to a certain chapter in Kaneki's life. The story continues in the sequel Tokyo Ghoul:re.

THE CHARACTERS: The main character, Ken Kaneki is a shy introverted college student. He is empathetic and wishes for his and his friends' well-being. (Minor spoilers following) Or that is how he appears to be in the first half (and in root(A)). However, in contrast to most mainstream shows' main characters he has depth, real depth. Kaneki errs to the side of borderline(?) psychopathy, he doesn't just have a dark past in order for the reader to sympathise with him. As the story progresses we get to learn how his problems are rooted deeply within his psyche. He turns from the usual dull protagonist we have got sick of encountering into a multi-dimensional tragic character with complexity. (You can safely keep on reading from this point onward)

While I could spend a long time characterising the rest of the TG cast I opted not to; many people would argue that they also read/(watch) TG for certain characters aside from Kaneki such as Hide or Touka, the truth is however that he is the main driving force of the show. Sure, the cast of supporting characters is stellar but most of them follow an archetype and don't deviate considerably from it so I will just concisely describe them in short sentences. Hide is the usual cheerful companion of the main character with the only difference being that he is really intelligent. Touka is a tsundere with a rough childhood lacking the usual romantic element that we encounter in male protagonist-tsundere relationships ([Spoiler]I know people will get flustered over this but there haven't been almost any indications of a romantic relationship between the two), Hinami is a kind, younger sister-type character just with a really tragic past and Amon is a righteous, kind hearted character but with an actual fully functional brain (in contrast to many kind hearted characters in other series, who are depicted as retarded for some reason)

THE ART: Overall the art of Tokyo Ghoul is praiseworthy. I am by no means a manga art expert but in most manga I've read so far you can spot patterns when it comes to characters' faces that are similar (that becomes apparent in less popular manga like Gokuku No Brynhildr or Katekyo Hitman Reborn) That is not the case in this manga. Characters' faces have unique characteristics and shapes, which makes it so much easier to distinguish between them. Additionally the author has a good perception of perspective and how to work with it. It is a common occurrence in TG for drawings in one panel to overlap with another panel, which gives the drawings motion. A possible problem for some people would be the fact that occasionally some panels require some interpretation for the reader to fully comprehend. This might have to do with some scenes being drawn in a complicated or oftentimes ambiguous manner but also due to symbolism (or both). This ties in with the next segment.

SYMBOLISM: TG as a manga is full of hidden symbols. As previously stated one might need to reread certain pages/chapters in order to understand what exactly is going on and they might still miss hidden clues. This could be either imagery or even how certain people act or behave on certain occasions. It is commendable how far ahead the author plans some of these. There have been many cases, where things foreshadowed multiple chapters ago were addressed, which had totally slipped my mind on my first read. (SPOILER: An example would be Kaneki's mannerisms when lying) Moreover, as in many works of Asian culture one can trace a lot of references to the Yin-Yang. Indeed after having read the first three volumes of TG one could picture the human side as Yin, comprised mostly of good but also of some bad people (yeah I know this is a really generic term but you'll get the point if you read up to the third volume) while ghouls represent Yang, mostly evil beings feeding on humans but with exceptions. One could talk all day about the hidden symbols in Tokyo Ghoul so I'll stop here.

CONCLUSION: One would ask me at this point: “But, you had complaints with this one. How come you award it with a 10? Isn't it meant for the best of the best?” I would like to address this before wrapping up my review. First of all, nothing is perfect. Everything is allowed to have flaws, or rather it must have flaws. This is all due to perspective. (Such a wonderful word indeed!) A merit from one's point of view is a flaw from the opposite. Managing to do something one way means failing to do it the other way. Therefore some of its flaws can be forgiven according to that logic. I didn't mind that some side characters didn't get enough time or complexity because that allowed the manga to delve deeper into others' personalities and back-stories. One could also argue that the slow start of TG constitutes a problem, however I have reached the conclusion that it's necessary. One could not appreciate the second half of TG if it weren't for the first because it establishes a solid foundation for the rest of the story to base itself on. A work without foundation will ultimately fall apart. Thus I deem it necessary. And also I've grown quite fond of it after rereading it a couple of times, especially after having noticed several cases of foreshadowing of events to come.

To sum it all up: This is certainly one of the best manga or pieces of storytelling in general I've encountered. Therefore I award it with a 10/10. I would recommend it to almost anyone. I am of the opinion that TG can be appreciated by most people, even if you aren't particularly fond of symbolism, psychology or sociology you can still appreciate the Horror or Action elements of the series. I think everyone can find some form of enjoyment in TG. In any case, I hope you enjoy reading the manga as much as I did if you elect to do so and thank you for reading my review up to the very end. I hope to see you for Tokyo Ghoul;re.

PS: Please stay away from the anime. Really...

I just recently started reading manga early last year and out of all of the ones I have read, this one by far is the ultimate best!
Knowing that a season 2 will be released I'm desperate for the storyline to follow the manga's. Tokyo ghoul is my most favourite anime & manga however the manga's ending really hit me deep. ------SPOILER------ When I finally reached the last few chapters I expected Kaneki to kick ass and slay Arima but my dreams and hopes slashed down the bin. When Kaneki wasnt re healing I became worried asf and then Kaneki's eyes were no longer there I kind of started to worry so much and then I reached the last few pages and totally bam through the head. Kaneki died. I cried the whole night and couldn't believe it. He obviously suffered so much and I expected him to get the much needed revenge on the CCG but nooooooooooo. Biggest troll award goes to....... SUI ISHIDA DAMMIT!!!! I've done plenty of research on this topic with little hope that Kaneki is alive. If season 2 decides to put Kaneki's death in it, I will mentally kill everyone.

If I was to describe this manga with one word, I would use Tragedy, or Masterpiece.

Story 9/10
As I mentioned earlier Tokyo Ghoul is a tragedy. As a Greek anime fan, I can easily say that this manga achieves the purpose of the Ancient Greek Tragedy.
And I ask you what tragedy is?
Tragedy is a represantation of real life, in a very creative way. It also has a begging and an end. And its purpose is to guide, the reader, to catharsis, while using mercy and fear. So yes, Tokyo Ghoul did that.

Art 7/10
The art was really good. The only problem is with the fight scenes, you might not understand what's happening.

Character 10/10
Each character has its own back story and character development.
Our protagonist is Kaneki, who is half-ghoul and half-human. He has a development that is really outstanding. You might hate a lot of characters in the begging, but after a while you can see their good side, and even feel more than sympathy for them.

Enjoyment 11/10
I didn't liked it....
I loved it!!!!!
It was one of the 1st books-comics-manga that I read and left me with that feeling. I wouldn't believe the ending. I didn't want to believe the ending. It was such a good ending, that left me, literally, speechless.

Overall 10/10
It was a hell of a ride!!!
It was a breathtaking ride, with its scary and agonizing moments, sad times and funny parts. The only thing is that when this ride is over, the feeling is
indescribable. And the saddest thing is that you can never get aboard again....

Even though my score may not show, I actually like this manga quite a bit.
I think the premise is interesting and it actually builds up on it. While It may not be perfect in this regard and some things like the Fugeuchi incident was done better in the anime, my overall enjoyment of the series did not decrease till the end.


I like the characters of Tokyo Ghoul. Kaneki, Touka, the Gourmet, Nishio, Hanami, Jason, the manager, Hide, Amon, Juuozo, Mado (girl)are all characters I like seeing, (even though shoving Mado (psycho) down my throat didnt work) and I enjoyed watching their interactions. Even though they might not have character arcs, their character writing was very good imo( like how Arami? was written to be a badass without even appearing on screen until like the last chapter). So when Kaneki decided to go edgy randomly( justifying it with a rushed character arc ranging for a couple of chapters from what I remember), I had no problems with that, even though I could see the faults, as I thought it would create a new dynamic with the new cast of characters. But that didnt happen all that much. While the dynamic between the Gourmet and Kaneki is interesting, the other relations are pretty one note imo. And it was a problem for me as the previous chatacters were mostly ignored in favour of a cast I didnt like as much. The fact that I enjoyed the scenes with the investigators I barely knew anything about more than the "Plot" scenes speaks for itself

Minor Spoilers and one major one:

And to add to that I didnt like the ending. May be I am just stupid and the ending was above and beyond my limited thinking capacity, or maybe the ending was just bad or rushed, I dont give a shit. I didnt like it. I dont mind that the author decided to kill the character( Is Hide dead?), but I didnt feel any emotions at any death except for Amon as the death didnt mean anything significant. Kaneki was killed by a douche in his first appearance, I didnt care about the reliable investigator dude and did Hide die????. Plus I thought the ending with the clowns was too random. Maybe my points seem a bit jumbled and ranty, but what I am trying to say is the ending didnt give any closure or answers and I feel like it just baited me for a sequel.

Maybe my mind will change after reading re: but till then.....


I dont care about art. I can see Berserk and AoT early chapters side by side and see no difference, so yeah.

This manga and the sequel of it is the only manga that I have ever completed that deserves a review. I will start off by saying this... you have to re-read this at least 5 times to see how this masterpiece is so well done by the author (and the only person working on the manga) Ishida Sui.

Story: 10. Tokyo is being terrorized by these "ghouls", which look and act like human with other humans, but they only can survive off human flesh. A boy named Ken Kaneki is just a fragile college freshman who one day, like many other days before, goes to a coffee shop. There, he and his friend meet a beautiful girl, who also reads the same book he's reading. Ken and that girl later go on a date, and on the way home, the girl isn't exactly what he thinks she is. I will end it at that. The story progresses at an almost perfect pace, the literary elements in this manga is used almost as amazing as Shakespeare himself. The foreshadowing, the LITTLE things, those are what makes this manga great. The manga does start off slow after the first couple chapters, and than once you think you should drop it, BOOM, it reels you back in with an amazing chapter. You really have to complete this whole manga and catch up to the sequel before you realize how godly Ishida is with the little things. I might never see that in a manga again.

Art: 10. It visually gets better and better and by the end of the manga, the last chapters are artistically brilliant. It shows how well Ishida has progressed. You can see the little details in them. Whats great about the art is that the art also shows foreshadowing and many other elements. It isn't all about how visually appealing it is, its about how you understand the whole chapter, just by the art. Again, the little things.

Character: 10. There are so many characters in this manga, plus the development they have, its sometimes hard to keep up. I had to look up some of their names again because there's a lot about them that you were like "Wait, this happened?". This is why you have to re-read this. The MC's have gigantic development in this. It's astounding how Ishida kept this at a great pace too. There's so many things thrown at you, but you don't even notice it. Speech is also very key to understanding these characters. Outstanding, once again.

Enjoyment: 10. Boy did I enjoy this manga. Really one of the first mangas I have ever read, I was hooked on it from the first chapter. I never really realized how fun it was to also be on Reddit, as the redditors on the sub looked for every single little thing that could influence/ understand the manga.

Overall:10. This is the best manga I have ever read. Don't believe me? Read it for yourself. There is also a sequel, so if you thought the cliff-hanger ending was it, look into ":Re".

from my point is the story of tokyo ghoul is really interesting because there's no one to blame in here. For example why ghoul hate the CCG so much? many of them were parentless in such a young age. Their parents were killed just because they are "Ghoul". And many of this ghoul kid have to watch their parent dead in front of them self. If i become one this kid ghoul i will hunt the CCG down and kill all of them no matter what happen to me. But the some the bad ghoul also kill human just because it's funny or for entertaiment and not because they need it.

The story of this manga is also entertaining. Because there's some plot twist in this manga. That's what makes this anime really intresting like making the MC is struggling for his life and have to accept the other side of him seld. For the part of art... i think it's pretty good with that black and white on the top of the MC hair and i wonder how many ink Sui-sensei need. The character is really amazing the best part of Tokyo ghoul is the characters and the characters development. Very clever one also the part of 103 bones. I really like it especially when the MC explained one by one the part of human/ghoul bone. And for the enjoyment is average i think because there's so many you have to read but if manage it somehow to read all the lines. You will find some informantion abou TG world. Overall of this anime is i think for rating i will give it 8.6

Tokyo Ghoul - truly a masterpiece!
It's safe to say this is one of the best manga out there. And for good reasons too!

[Story-10/10]
While it can start a little slow or not have the most original concept at first look it definitely picks up after a while. The story is executed in such an interesting way that it surely catches up to you. These monsters or ghouls - Where did they come from? Can they really be stopped? Is anyone among us one of them craving for human flesh? There are 4 types of these monsters each with their special traits, strong and weak points. But is that all there is to ghouls? No! There is much more to be explored! Of course, apart from ghouls alone, there are some countermeasures created from the human point of view and with time passing each side adapts to one another trying to overwhelm the other. Keep in mind there is really deep symbolism throughout the story but even if you don't get or don't bother to go and see what people have dug out you will still find yourself on one of a lifetime ride!

[Art-9/10]
Sui Ishida apart from being a ''genius'' he is also exceptional with his drawings. Really refined to almost perfection details. Fighting scenes are done really well and easy to understand (but they themselves are usually not that simple). Beautiful expressions on characters as well as setting and atmosphere. You just can't get enough of this ''cleansing'' art style of his. It's so reassuring and bone-chilling (when the time calls of course). You will get used to it and even more so with pleasure, you will continue to compare in the future with different art styles just because this one left a really good impression.

[Characters-9/10]
While some people may have problems with Kaneki Ken at the beginning he is much more than a shy, enclosed, smart and kind personality. There is a tremendous amount of character development in this series not only to the MC but to pretty much all even moderately relevant characters. And like I said even though Ken may look simple and flat at the beginning he is much more than that - without a doubt a tragically philosophical persona. You will see for yourself and begin to love even vice-versa opposing characters. There will be laughter, smiles and cries reacting to the characters and their growth. You will see characters pass by and away and come back later to which your heart would skip a beat.

[Enjoyment-10/10]
This being one of the first manga that I've ever read and the first one ever to reread because of various reasons, I can safely say that I cried, laughed, trembled and thought through all of it or in other words I enjoyed it to my heart's content. When it comes down to it in my neutral opinion there could be some really minor improvements which are only an existing matter because of the thing called experience and once again it is all relative, but my biased and honest opinion is that this manga was, is and will remain of my favourites till death!

[Overall-9.6/10]
You looking for a terrifying seinen with a lot of symbolism and major character development, a heart-throbbing action and tragic outcomes? Go read Tokyo Ghoul and you will not be disappointed.

See ya in Tokyo Ghoul:re!

WARNING! SPOILERS!

"The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world"

This was my favorite line in the whole story of Tokyo Ghoul. It perfectly fit the overall plot and storyline. Tokyo Ghoul is a very meaningful manga for me. Not just only because it was the first manga I ever read, but also its one of the few manga series that contain symbolism and unusual details. If you read carefully, you may notice that almost every character being related to a number, which corresponds their tarot card. But I will talk about this later. Tokyo Ghoul is definitely a great series. We all have seen protagonist fighting against the monsters, but what if we had a protagonist who actually was a monster, and fighting against the other monsters and the ones who try to hunt him? I'd say Tokyo Ghoul is the perfect manga for a "protagonist vs. the world" story. "The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world". This quote is the main ideology of Tokyo Ghoul. The main character of tragedy, Ken Kaneki falling into a world of monsters and finding himself struggling from the cruel incident that happened to him and fighting against other monsters and the ones who try to hunt him. Now I will be mentioning each element of Tokyo Ghoul one by one.

Story:
The story is great. Kaneki trying to fit in the new world he discovered of ghouls, but this isn't only a story about him. There are also other ghouls who are being terrorized by other ghouls and ghoul investigators. The ones (ghouls) who seem as hunters are actually prey from their own point of view. Some of them (ghouls) try to live a peaceful live, some of them try to violate the wards and some of them spend their lives hiding and running away from ghoul investigators. They seem like a superior race or something like that but they are actually slightly different than normal people. The story of Kaneki gets pretty complicated in time. He turns into a ghoul, associates and works in a cafe owned by ghouls and tries to understand the world of ghouls', fights against the ghoul investigators, runs away from other ghouls that want to eat him, risks his life so that he could save someone from ghouls' hands, gets captured and tortured by other ghouls and turns into a badass. As you may also see, once Kaneki got the organ surgery and turned into a ghoul, not only himself had a "metamorphosis", but his entire life became abnormal and tempestuous and had a metamorphosis. The story in overall is very great. By having his protagonist through many changes, both physical and mental, Ishida proves that he is an impressive manga writer.

Lore & Worldbuilding:
A very little can be noticed in the world of ghouls. Their cultures or past are rarely referred during the story. We only know that there are many organizations of ghouls and many of them have different goals. There can even be conflicts between the ghouls since many of them hunt in a certain ward or area. Which can cause great terror for innocent people and others. For CCG (Counter Comission of Ghouls) it's known that they are a pretty archaic company that exterminates ghouls and preserve peace. We also have the organization called V, which a little is known about them and seem to be targeting ghouls thought they don't look like humans either.

Philosophy & Symbols:
As I said in the beginning, many symbols can be noticed in this manga, if you read carefully. Especially, almost every character is related to a tarot card. Which actually isn't a big deal but we can say that each character's tarot card is his or her "theme". But what I really want to talk about is the identity of the "One-Eyed King", his origins and his symbol. We get to know who really is in :re, but not in this part of Tokyo Ghoul. I personally believed that the king definitely carries an important meaning (idk, maybe some symbol or a reference to a historic figure) but in ghouls' world king is likely seen as a myth and legend, a mysterious figure. Suprisingly, he wasn't referenced to any certain tarot card unlike other characters. Which might mean, in my opinion, that he carries even a greater meaning. The thing I wanted to talk about most was, Kaneki's flashback. While being tortured by Jason, Kaneki has a dream of watching a theatre play with Rize, which he also was in as the play's main role. And if you look carefully you may notice that in the back of the costume Kaneki wears, there is a pattern that seems to be a leaf or something similar. Now the thing is this pattern is actually the same with the symbol that Aogiri has. When I noticed this I had felt chills down to my spine, and wondered that possibly Kaneki was already a target of Aogiri or had a bigger part of something else. This wasn't ever mentioned at any part of the story. If you also remember the panel where Rize asks Kaneki about this school play, "were you the protagonist?" and Kaneki replies "I was forced to it". This dialogue actually summarizes the plot of Tokyo Ghoul perfectly.But with this said, it really makes me wonder if Aogiri was already aware of Kaneki's existence since his childhood, but why an organization of violent ghouls would be interested in an ordinary kid? I really don't know. Maybe I'm exaggerating.

Cast:
The characters cast is incredible, yet many of the characters are underrated and irrelevant. But except those, I really like the cast. I love Kaneki. He is a greatly written character and I believe the first type of character on his own kind. His change as a character was a never seen before experience. But instead of his change, I would like to mention his initial personality. At the beginning of Tokyo Ghoul story, Kaneki wasn't a protagonist that was fun ( and he never was fun lol) and he was kinda boring since the audience wouldnt enjoy cowardly protagonists. But I really had sympathy for Kaneki since I relate myself to him. I was also a pretty lonely child back then and I was a very shy person. I wouldn't like to interact with others a lot. Just like Kaneki. Hey hey, Im not saying that im literally kaneki, its just i have empathy for him. As a heroine, I also liked Touka. She can be mad and edgy but her caring side is also strong. When Kaneki said "I would be sad if you died" to her I believe she pretty much realized how much she is important for Kaneki, leading her to be more kind for Kaneki. For others, such as Anteiku employees and the manager they are pretty charming and good characters, I don't think they had enough screentime though. Every employee of Anteiku except Kaneki, Touka and Nishiki were pretty underrated and lost their roles even without having a proper character arc. Amon Kotaro is my favorite character in the series. His strong sense of justice really got me. And the relationship between him and Kaneki were iconic, even during his last fight with Kaneki, Amon still thought of Kaneki as a friend or a comrade not a ghoul. Amon is a kind of guy I would put as the protagonist if I wrote a manga. I really liked him, yet he wasnt as relevant as Kaneki or Touka.

The Ending and Idea of Creating a Sequel (tokyo ghoul:re)
I personally think ending was very satisfying, althought it left several question marks in the audience (which were soon going to be revealed in the :re). I think if Tokyo Ghoul:re wasn't ever created, the manga would have been better. Its not because that I didn't enjoyed :re (i actually loved it) but leaving kaneki dead and leaving the cast completely corrupted might be dark but a fine idea. The story of Tokyo Ghoul wasn't a happy story after all. It kinda deserved a bad end yet had a sequel. And :re felt very prolonged after a certain point. Near the last pages, where Touka stares at vandalized Anteiku and hopes Kaneki to turn back one day was very emotional. But it would have even more meaning if they didnt had :re

Story - 9/10
Art - 9/10
Character - 10/10
Enjoyment - 10/10

Overall - 96/100

Tokyo Ghoul's anime adaptation does't even compare to the quality of the manga. Manga explained every aspect of the series which couldn't be understood if you watch only anime.
The execution which this manga showed is outstanding.
Their is proper introduction of every character. Detailed Information on what we need to know. Example -
Ghouls - Creatures who looks like human but feeds on humans to live. They cant eat human food. The only thing which they can drink which humans also drink is coffee.

Mc -Ken Kaneki, an average looking college student get involved in the world of ghouls. Undergoes an emergency surgery with a ghoul which results in him becoming a one-eyed ghoul. Mc is the most developed in the manga.

Pros - Its Characters are introduced well enough
Its an Enjoyable Manga atleast far more enjoyable than the anime adaptation.
The art of the manga is amazingly good.
The story is excellent and understandable.

Cons - Action is a little bit dull.

Tokyo Ghoul is a manga by Ishida Sui which contains extreme suspense with a dark feeling added to it. It begins with an intelligent college student whose life is already quite full of tradegy. His life is turned upside-down and he has his humanity taken away, throughout the Manga he becomes a much stronger person mentally and physically. The character development is outstanding and the protagonist is glad to have made friends because of the change in him. The Art for this Manga is outstanding and the plot full of survival of the fittest, a thrilling and dark aurora and enjoyment!

Tokyo Ghoul Review


Story (10/10) Outstanding

The story for Tokyo Ghoul is quite outstanding especially compared to it's anime counterpart. I'm glad I took the time to sit down and read this the mangaka behind this knows how to latch a outstanding story together. Although at some points it can get a bit overwhelming with the introduction of characters it's not too hard to follow. The struggles and undertone messages that this manga brings to the table is definitely within the same realm as another series I adore called Parasyte and after reading this I do think this is better than Parasyte, it takes the overall plot that it shares with Parasyte and beats it at it in my opinion not by a long shot but I definitely think it's better.


Art (9/10) Great+
More Specifically (9.50/10)

The art at the start of this manga I felt was honestly just ok, it quite mediocre in some panels but around the 20th chapter and beyond you can tell the mangaka got batter at drawing his characters and especially his background environments. His art eventually becomes a treat to view especially on key panels he really puts time into the key panels and that's when his art style is at it's absolute best. But most of the time it's great, the only thing that bothered me just a big about his overall art style is just there was just a tad bit too much line shading across literally almost everything he draw it got just a tad bit annoying to me, it's what eventually turned me off with Shingeki No Kyojin's art style far too much line shading it makes it look like a rough draft of a picture instead of a finished product, but that's just my opinion it didn't ruin the overall art for me just something that has urked about art style not just in tokyo ghoul but across other manga nonetheless like i said it's still great.


Characters (9/10) Great
More Specifically (9.75/10) Great+

The characters in Tokyo Ghoul are great the character development of the main character was amazing. Although a lot of characters around the half way point were introduced and it felt overwhelming to keep up with all the characters the mangaka was introducing at once it messed with the flow a bit. But the characters that were focused on like where great and I also like the focus on the Dove characters too because it made me understand and connect with characters like Amon, Mado and his daughter and Juzo also, so when both sides clash I was more invested in the battle. Like I said the only thing that bugged me where large amount of side characters that hopefully get fleshed out in the sequel Re: but who knows some fights they participated in I didn't care for and got lost for half a chapter trying to figure out who I'm following right now but it didn't happen often but enough for me to point out.


Enjoyment (9/10) Great
More Specifically (9.75/10) Great+

My enjoyment for majority of the manga was great. It started off entertaining and the slice of life parts were ok i didn't really care for those chapters of Ken and Hinami going to get coffee, or the chapters where Amon and Akira are discuss what the plans for dove are next even though i understand why those chapters exist it was for characterization but I'm not going to lie I was getting a bit bored as this might last for 3 chapters or so. But other than that like i said everything was really entertaining especially majority of every conflict that happened in this manga quite top notch fight scenes and angles the mangaka drew all the scenes at and for that it keeps it at a high 9 for me.


Overall (9/10) Great
More Specifically (9.75/10) Great+

Tokyo Ghoul is a great manga I knew I was going to like it more than the anime but not this much. It's definitely one of the best manga's I've read in quite a while and as of this review has broke into my top 10 favorite manga. Eager to see where the sequel Re: takes this great manga as I've been hearing good things about it also.

I will begin with the story, as I was looking for this manga, and how long I was going to read it, blablabla. Let's just say that I was lucky to stumble on advertising in general coming out of anime, and double-lucky guess, first read the manga.
The first thing that attracted - the name and the word "ghoul". I like it to me, that's all, nothing can be done about it. In general, intuition told me that manga should be interesting, and Bravo, she did not fail me, guys.

Let's start with the plot.
Mangaka really well done, he held readers [absolutely everyone, judging by the comments under each page] naizhestochayshem in suspense. Each head is cut off at the 'tasty' moment, from what I personally, scatter my saliva, read chapter by chapter, volume after volume, until the morning, without any opportunity to break away.
The basic idea of ​​this manga - the war between humans and ghouls. Personally, for myself, I discovered the other side of the story - the struggle with the internal SG "demons." And though the atmosphere quite mystical, supernatural, but still there is something very approximate to the human reality.
For the story, and the idea: 10 out of 10. I applaud Dr. Ishida for meticulous attention to detail on the world of vampires and the organization of "doves."

Characters.
The secret of all successful manga - in the characters. In my humble opinion, the most important - is to come up and work of the main characters, adding to them a pinch of bizarre supporting characters [and how psyched they are, the more successful will manga]. The buzz of Tokyo you'll find all types of characters from completely normal person, to psycho-killer-child of Satan. And surprisingly, they all fit into the story undeniably awesome! Nothing more, I will say this.
I would like to express a few words about my favorite, and I remember the heroes.
I'll start with the epicenter, Kaneko Ken-kun. A character called me a double feeling from the beginning of the manga. But I want to note that none of these feelings were not negative. This is one of my favorite moments, when you read the next work - watch as the protagonist is changing, with nothing much externally as internally. I can definitely say for sure that the main character is now my favorite character in the world of manga and anime. You can not just take and not fall in love with this kid humanity. In order not to spoil, just want to mention something at once: the story of Ken Kaneko really heartbreaking. And if you do not like to stay with the heaviest precipitation in the soul, and with a bunch of questions, then I advise you to just switch to some syonen.

In addition to the unique SG in good manga should be a female part, is the embodiment of beauty and sexuality. At the same time, it is vital mangaka to make so that this character is in any case not infuriated his character, female logic, love in the SG [or vice versa], etc. Dada is about Sakura from Naruto, a severe case, alas.
Ishida again managed to create a character who will love not only the male audience, but feminine. Tadadada, but Touko-chan! It is truly beautiful. Stunning girl ghoul, studying in the most ordinary human school, want to live in the world of men, a superb fighter, and all this will always find time to help Kaneko. Although peculiar way, sometimes floating physical pain, but still. Great character, perhaps, too, will remain in my list of favorites.

In addition Kaneko Coon and Touko-chan, there's also plenty of heroes, which simply can not ignore. Why are only Gourmet, with its far and gone away roof, pretty investigator Gus [floor is forever unknown :(], the owner of the mask shop Uta [he did not like me at once, but remember] best friend YY Hide, investigator Amon and his mentor Mado-san, cutie Akira trans seksual Nico [yes, even that there] and so on. The list is still very, very long, and not all make me positive emotions. Mangaka times you surprise a turning point, because in Once again it proves the truth of the proverb: "The still waters run deep." And I personally, as the reader did not know who you can really trust, if I were to place Kaneko.

The result of the diversity of characters: 10 out of 10.

Panache.
It just WOW! DOLCE! BELLISSIMO! BRAVISSIMO! I believe that this manga is read at least because of the affectation. Landscapes, atmosphere, characters, fights - all turned out really nice. It is hard to count the exact number of pages that I saved just then to admire again and again and again to remember these gorgeous moments.
10 out of 10.

To summarize. Should I read manga? Yes, definitely worth it. And do not complain that there is a lot of text, force yourself to read everything and not regret it. After mangaka through these dialogues and a limited number of pages trying to convey to their readers the most information.
Alas, the history of the Tokyo Ghoul was over, and due to the fact that our translators produce 2-3 chapters a week [sometimes a month], then you have a great chance to extend their pleasure even for the year ahead. That, unfortunately, did not work for me, because after the 93rd chapter, I came across a tiny spoiler, because of what had to finish the manga in English. There were tears? Yes they were. Are there any questions that the answer can only give a mangaka? Yes and no, one or two. Am I sorry that fate gave me the story of Ken Kaneko? No, not a bit. Is it worth it to watch the first season of the anime? Certainly worth it, but before that it is desirable to read the manga up to 66 head, for in all the anime cut to the impossibility that in each series there are more and new heroes, and from the questions "where? Who is it at all? What they need?" the head may burst. And even the anime is worth seeing because of the great opening theme. Song UNRAVEL Now stuck in my head for a very, very long time, and the meaning of words makes us think again about the plight Kaneko-kun. He did everything right.

I'LL GO MAD
I WILL NOT GO MAD

P.s. Get ready to crackle fingers.

Well.. Well.. Tokyo Ghoul. If i have to rate the series overall the score would be 9. Let's begin with the story. It's about Ghouls who only can feed of humans to survive. The main character Kaneki Ken's fate changes when he meets the bookworm Rize. From being human to half Ghoul. Is he Ghoul or is he human? He is the only one who can live in both worlds.
The story have two big questions:
If I eat some human necessarily to satisfy my hunger, am I wrong?
If I kill someone to prevent them from eating my species, am I wrong?

The art is very good. Everything is great besides the fighting scenes. Sometimes you can't see what's going on in the Fighting scene so that is why i can't give the art a score of 9 so insted i am going to give this a score of a 8.

The characters are so daaaamn good! You have so many likeable and epic characters. You have Kaneki, Amon, Juuzou, Touka, Renji, Tsukiyama, Manager Nishio and Arima. The character development for Kaneki is very good. He experiences the life of full human and full ghoul. I will give the score of the characters a 10.

The enjoyment was outstanding. I read the whole manga (143 chapter) in 5 1 week. I could not stop reading it. 10/!0 obviously.

So overall i will give this manga a 10 out of 10. I recomend all people to read this.

Sep 21, 2014

OMG yes baby it's happening! Tokyo Ghoul;Re, the sequel, exists! Chapter 1 is out now!!

Update:
This manga was so good I gave it an immediate reread, which I haven't done before. Oh and I changed it back to five stars in light of the fact that there is a sequel in the making now, so the ending doesn't bother me so much; and also because I kind of take back what I said about not liking the Investigator side of the manga - in retrospect, it's a necessary side to the overall story that needs to be told in order to balance out the human and ghoul aspects, which strengthens the 'who-is-the-real-monster, which-side-is-right?' theme. Giving the manga a reread, I was more patient with those chapters where Kaneki and the ghouls don't show up for awhile. Also, it seems as though a lot of those Investigators whom we only caught a few scenes here and there of will be playing bigger roles in the sequel manga.

****

AS MUCH as I would love to give this five stars - because it left me breathless, it gave me chills, it hit my feels, it has amazing characters, it's dark and twisted and completely messed up and I LOVE stuff like this - I have to be honest with myself and knock off a star for 1) that absolutely appallingly open-ended, unsatisfying ending (although it left me satisfied in that I'd finally reached the end and could take a breather - my heart couldn't bear anymore pain) and 2) anything that did not concern my favorite characters, whether ghoul or human, couldn't manage to hold my attention very long so that I would only read them quickly just to get back to things I cared about.

What made me decide to read Tokyo Ghoul in the first place was that its premise - a regular somewhat timid kid being thrown into a set of unfortunate circumstances that lead to him becoming half a 'monster' - reminded me of the Cirque du Freak series by Darren Shan, which I have always claimed love for. I am also somewhat of a sadist - I love despair and tragedy and horrible things happening to the main character, not because I honestly want to see them getting hurt or because I hate happy stories, but because it allows me to feel real emotion and real anticipation for something good to happen. In any other genre I can count on things turning out all right for the heroes and for characters to not die, but in these kind of stories I can never be sure. As a reader, I love being thrown off guard.

And Tokyo Ghoul definitely delivers on that front. This is as deep and dark a tragedy as I could hope for. It also has my favorite kind of protagonist, that of Kaneki Ken, who starts out like any other average college student, book-obsessed, quiet, and a bit anti-social (like me) and ends up being someone completely unrecognizable by the last chapter. Not only that, but the way in which this character develops and transforms is disturbingly drastic and shocking to both the heart and mind. The other characters in this manga (the ones that matter anyway) are no less very well characterized.

In regards to the supporting cast, however, I do have one complaint, which is that there is a bit too much focus on the Investigators. The Investigators that matter, such as Suzuya, Amon, Mado, Shinohara and Akira, I have no problem reading about. But whenever something extremely intense is going on with Kaneki and the ghouls and we suddenly switch to this other fight involving all these nobody Investigators, whose names and ranks I honestly don't care about keeping track of, I can only feel frustration; no offense guys, I know you're all laying down your lives to protect humanity (in the way you see fit, that is) but you're kinda getting in the way of the part of the story that makes me love this manga.

I also have to note that in some cases the fight scenes are not very clearly portrayed or fluid. If a fight involves Kaneki using tactics he learned from training to weave through and dodge attacks from an opponent, the effect looks very cool; a sort of Matrix-ish feel of slow-motion break dancing that defies gravity. However when it's a fight between two really buff, bulky characters, or an Investigator in Kakuja armor, and there's kagune and quinques being waved around, the movements get a little disorganized and lost, resembling not so much a series of attacks as a giant mess of blurry charcoal streaks.

And of course, there's the ending, which really just screams sequel, seeing as how it didn't wrap up anything and added more mysteries than it did solve them. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, although there's a very good chance that the author will do a sequel (mostly because I just can't see how he couldn't have more planned, considering that ending). If he does, I will most definitely be reading it, and I do so hope I will be able to see more of these characters that I love so much grow and learn and get the happy endings they're owed.

When I first decided to read the manga from it's first chapter release in 2011, I felt like it was going to become a excellent manga and it did. The thriller and suspense of the manga series had me exuberant in the fight scenes.
(Spoilers in Art section)

Story 9/10:
As much as I hope for Sui Ishida to continue the Tokyo Ghoul Manga, the story is unique in its own way. Although the thought of cannibalism and intense gore may refrain people from reading this, it scrutinizes the many details that people do not usually see in a Seinen/Psychological manga. The protagonist, Ken Kaneki is one of the most favorable, and I admit, one of the biggest pet peeves I've ever encountered when I came upon reading this series. As a dynamic character, he excelled in a way that I can't comprehend and wouldn't had expected from the author.

Art 9/10:
The art is very good in the manga, however although it was released in 2011, some of the chapters felt as if the drawings were from 2008. It may sound pretty harsh and I don't want to be nefarious for calling it old or retro but it progressively got better. Like I said in the paragraph above, the drawing scrutinizes the many detail people do not see. For example (spoiler): The chair scene when being brutally tortured by Yamori and the "flowers" in the latest chapters. Symbolism played a huge role in the art style of Tokyo Ghoul and it is appreciating that each character has an certain type of taste and attribute that fits in the story.

Character 7/10:
The characters are bland in a way and does not discuss much. We do not know Kanou's background, who Kishou Arima really is, and how many of the characters didn't really have much of an impact in the story except for the end (Devil Ape and Black Dog). Some of the characters may feel kind of left out and not much development goes around for the side characters that are reoccurring. The additional of characters may get rather confusing in the manga, but it was worth it all once getting to know a little of their background and role in the manga. In the end, I hope Sui Ishida has another continuation of the Tokyo Ghoul manga.

Enjoyment 8/10:
Not much to say, Story and Art is great; character is mildly good and not to mention, it had some pretty kick-ass fight scenes. The scenes in which they had Aogiri, Anteiku, and CCG fighting was intense that it literally had me at the back of my chair while reading this. Cooperating both fighting and psychology,the fights with Kaneki's traumas had me constantly addicted with the manga while updating. Thus, it was pretty a fun ride for me reading this.

Overall 9/10:
If its a manga you like filled with gore and psychology, I highly suggest this manga. Sui Ishida made a fantastic manga and it is one of best mangas I had ever read. Everything from Story, Art, and Character can depict a lot in a manga series and this one had it all (almost all). Hence, if you're into this kind of stuff, Read it!

Due to the fact that the anime itself cut a duck load of scenes from the manga, it is considerably more less interesting. Here are my opinions about the certain aspects.

}}STORY{{
-One of the animes with an actual headstrong plot and very straightforward story. I love animes like this. I'm not fond when people compare this anime to SnK due to the fact that SnK itself has a variety of mini-stories in a single anime which can sometimes cause the anime to swerve to a different direction in which I am not fond of. However, Tokyo Kushuu is a pretty interesting and straightforward anime.

^^Art^^
The art is nothing special, quite common except for some special effects used during fights and character face expressions.

~Character~
I think character development, alongside the Story are one of the most important aspects in a good anime. And Tokyo Ghoul has one of the best character development. **SPOILER ALERT** AS how our MC grows from a very very weak character into a character with a strong will and sense of direction/

**Enjoyment**
Due to censorship and scene cuts my overall enjoyment is lowered to a 7. HOWEVER, this does not mean the anime sucks, it's just the way the anime was adapted.

Overall
9. good enuff.

p.s, Kaneki has white hair and an eyepatch 20/10. get the reference there? C;

I started Tokyo Ghoul because I was very intrigued with the concept. A human teen becomes a ghoul, thanks to a botched organ transplant, and can only feed on human flesh, or starve.

Huh, interesting.

The early volumes had me enthralled, learning how the protagonist would learn to live with this ailment, and even embrace it, was fascinating. His evolution in perspective on ghouls, and society was exceedingly entertaining.

I loved how creepy it could be, and the way the art style made you empathize with the characters.

However, right around the midway point, the story begins to bog down in long fight scenes, that frequently barely moved the plot forward. This didn't start as an adventure/action series, but by the end of this manga, 80% of the time is spent in pretty standard anime fights.

Perhaps most frustratingly, the series doesn't really "end" but rather concludes the first arc, and then begins, sort of, in Tokyo Ghoul Re. This was frustrating and felt disingenuous as I wasn't planning to sign on for a long series, but rather thought its end, was well an end.

Not a bad series, but one that seems to lose sight of what makes it unique halfway through.