Tokyo Ghoul

This is my first ever review of anything on here so I'll try my best to provide good info. Side note: I'm not sure what exactly will be in chapter 144, but I have read all the way up through 143. Just waitin on that final chapter...

Story: 9
Tokyo Ghoul or Tokyo Kushu is one of those manga that don't really have a solid objective at first but slowly develop one. The developmental process is a really good one though! We start off with Kaneki, the main character, as this weak freshman in college that seems pacifistic and reads a lot. When his world is changed forever an objective is slowly generated through mystery. The story follows each side of the coin; On one end is the Comission of Counter-Ghoul(CCG) and on the other is the side of the ghouls. Seeing as the main character authentically exists in the human world as well as the ghoul one (same world, more of a figurative comment) the story does a good job at not vilifying either of the sides.

Art: 8
I rated the art as an 8 simply because there were many points during fights or chaotic scenes where I wasn't sure what exactly was going on. The art does get better toward the middle and end of the manga but other than the clarity issues I had during certain moments, I thought the art was pretty well done. I love the way the characters were drawn and how the environments really supported each scene.

Character: 100
Kaneki is my favorite MC I have ever followed in a manga or anime.(Not the TG anime though, they portray him differently) His development is the best I've seen so far in terms of resolve. The other characters have varying levels of development with the second most coming from Amon, a inspector in the CCG. All of the characters are interesting in some way and a few of them evoke very strong hatred from the reader when introduced!

Enjoyment/Overall: 10
Definitely my favorite manga I have read thus far. Somehow the story and characters really drew me in to the point where I felt like I was in the shoes of Kaneki at times. There is plenty of mystery, development, action, and think-for-yourself moments. The only fault of the manga which is slightly irritating is that it does not answer all of the mysteries in it. However, we have yet to see if the author is planning on just taking a break and then releasing a series that continues the story, or if it is actually done for good. Only time will tell...

Ah, Tokyo Ghoul. One of the most polarizing manga series of the last decade. Some love it for its heavy, emotional narrative, others hate it for trying a little too hard to be dark and edgy. I'm somewhere in the middle, and while its heyday has long since passed, I'm going to write this review anyway, cause I got some THOUGHTS about it. I'm also going to include some stuff from :re in this review cause I don't feel that :re on its own merits anything more than my contempt.

Story - 5

At the end of the day, the story is kind of average, and nothing to write home about. Basically, Tokyo Ghoul takes place in a mirror version of Tokyo where humans live alongside monsters who prey on them, called ghouls. The story revolves around how ghouls try to blend in to human society while trying not to get themselves caught and/or killed, particularly centering around the protagonist, Ken Kaneki. At least, that's how it started, until the CCG came along and Ishida thought that was more interesting than what any of the ghouls were doing. What starts out as a tragic story of a young man trying to find his place in the world eventually turns into...kind of a run of the mill police drama. Look, Ishida: I'm not one to tell you how to write your story, but if I wanted to watch 500 red shirt cops interact with each other while you expect me to care, I would have just gone back to watching cable.

Art - 8

The art is admittedly pretty impressive, but I'm not really ever sure how to grade art because, well, writing is my strong suit. That being said, the use of watercolor on the cover art is absolutely gorgeous, and as fucking awful as :re is, you can really tell that Ishida grew during his 7 years writing this series. Or rather, drawing this series. He certainly regressed in the writing department.


Character - 6

Hoo boy, I have a lot to say about this. First, let's start of with the protagonist, Ken Kaneki. He's a college student trying to get his life together after a rough childhood (can relate). On one fateful day, he meets what he thinks is the girl of his dreams, and manages to land a date with her, but unfortunately, she turns out to be a ghoul. One visit to the hospital later, and Kaneki wakes up to find he has become a ghoul himself, and his life and mental health slowly begins to crumble as the series progresses. Now, I'm going to be frank: I like Kaneki. He's a better protagonist than his haters give him credit for, and his legions of fangirls (and sometimes fanboys) often like him for the wrong reasons. The truth is, his struggles with identity and his attempts to reconcile his feelings towards the world that has wronged him so many times is fascinating to watch. It isn't perfectly executed, of course, and his development sometimes comes off as abrupt or unnatural, but he's interesting nonetheless.

Aside from that, we have an assortment of other ghoul characters. Touka is your generic brooding tsundere. She has no chemistry with Kaneki whatsoever but then they have unprotected sex in an empty warehouse and that suddenly means they're soulmates, I guess. Most of the other ghouls are okay, but the ones that stood out to me were Uta, mostly for his character design, and Tsukiyama, for his surprisingly good character arc that continues well into :re (even though I hate the rest of it). Of course, the fact that most of the ghoul characters are overshadowed is through no fault of their own: that's where the CCG comes in and ruins everything by introducing all these characters who are meant to be ghoul food and expecting me to care more about them than the ghouls. Come on, it's called Tokyo GHOUL, for the love of god. Show me the damn ghouls! Only good characters in the CCG were Suzuya, Amon, and Akira. The Quinx from :re can stay too.

(bias rant incoming)

The best character, however, is Hide, Kaneki's childhood friend and the greatest ride-or-die in history. Unfortunately, he also gets the worst of the sidelining, maybe because he'd juxtapose the Dark and Edgy nature of the rest of the story, but DEFINITELY because if he were more involved, Tokyo Ghoul would straight up just be a boys' love manga with cannibalism. No, seriously. Speaking as a gay person, whatever Kaneki and Hide have going on is the most homoerotic shit I have ever seen in my life. I won't go into detail, but my god, get a room you two. And Touka claiming that she liked Kaneki ever since that one incident with the CCG? All while she was also kinda sorta pining for HER best friend? Yeah, I know a retcon when I see one.

(bias rant over)

Enjoyment - 7

As much as I was thoroughly disappointed after it was over, I did enjoy reading Tokyo Ghoul. Unfortunately, by the time :re rolls around, Tokyo Ghoul falls into the shonen trap of ever-increasing stakes and power levels, and it doesn't really stay true to its seinen roots, so it's the wrong kind of enjoyment. If you don't want to ruin your perceptions of Tokyo Ghoul, just don't read :re. That's my advice.

Overall - 6

:re gets a 3. It's that bad. 4.5 average, I guess.

First off, I have to say, this manga is not my cup of tea. I probably would have never read this, but some friends convinced me to. Since it's also a manga that recently got very popular, I decided to give this a shot hoping it was actually gonna be the masterpiece everyone says it is. Boy, I was so wrong. Now, where do I begin...

Story
First off, let's start with the story. I have to say, the story is pretty generic, the kind edgy teens to crazy for. Have some Shinji Ikari-type teenage wimp become a human-eating ghoul and then start writing about his dilemmas about distinguishing good and evil, his human and his monster side. So far, it's okay. The story has been done countless of times before in fiction (with Parasyte being the first manga that comes in mind). Add some Kafka-esque philosophy to make it look a bit more mature. Now, after you did all this, mess everything up.
Yeah, you read it right. Tokyo Ghoul had a good setup. Maybe not the most original, but it was acceptable. The problem is, it messes everything up afterwards. I don't know what caused this. If I had to guess, I'd say the author's inexperience was the downfall of Tokyo Ghoul. Instead of focusing on the main storyline, the author choose to stray several times from it, focusing on side characters that, in the end, are irrelevant. Such is the case of the ghoul investigators. We have countless scenes of them talking to each other and "investigating" ghoul activity, especially the actions of Kaneki and his ghoul friends. The question is: do we need all this dialogue? Let me answer that for you: No, we don't. We already know what Kaneki and his ghouls are doing. We don't need the investigators' deductions, because we already know what has happened. That makes everything irrelevant. That's it for now. I will address the problem of irrelevance later on in the "Character" part.

Art
The art is mediocre. For a manga as popular as this, I expected something better. Well, I didn't expect the author to rival the art of Kentaro Miura or Hirohiko Araki in his first try, but he could at least try to be better than your average doujinshi. He could get away with bad art if the story was good, but unfortunately, it isn't. I guess that's another thing the author has to improve.

Characters
The bane of Tokyo Ghoul: it's characters. I have to say, my favorite character in this manga was Kureo Mado. Yeah, he was your average psycho villain, but at least, he had a purpose, something other characters don't have. Almost every character is there without a clear purpose. Now, it would be okay if they were only there as side characters for just a bunch of chapters, but no, they converse throughout the whole manga. In fact, there are so many characters, that around the middle part of the manga Kaneki, the main character, becomes irrelevant too. He appears just in the main fights to fight strong villains, but apart from that, nothing else happens with him. Your average ghoul investigator probably has more lines than Kaneki, which is a problem.

Overall
This manga is a bit better than average, but nothing more than that. It has so many character that it loses its focus and makes the whole plot a mess. The art could have been better, especially in the violent scenes. An okay read, which is doomed by the author's inexperience.

P.S. If you want to enjoy this manga more and read it faster, skip almost every lengthy dialogue between the investigators. You won't miss anything.

Tokyo Ghoul:Re is the sequel so after you've read this masterpiece of a manga, read the sequel.


Now, one word that describes the manga. Addicting.

The first time I read the manga was after watching Tokyo Ghoul and Tokyo Ghoul Root A (both sort of follow this manga). All I got to say is, why does the anime leave out so many things?. There is an UNBELIEVABLE amount of stuff here that was left out from the anime, so if you want to start off where you ended the anime, don't. Start all over again.

Now, for the review. Best manga I've read so far. The amount of excitement makes me a fanboy. I seriously am addicted to this manga. A college freshman in a coffee shop named Ken Kaneki meets a girl who reads the same books he reads, and his life completely changes. I'll just leave it right there, but my god theres so much in the manga that will make you cringe, dumbfounded, and anxious to read more. The art is pure eye candy and the character development is outstanding.

Tokyo Ghoul - This kind of Seinen is.. Normal ?!

Since 2011, seinen has become a more shared genre among readers who are exclusively attached to other types of readings. Tokyo Ghoul is just an example of yet another forbid reading.

Personally and by reading the first time, I didn't like this manga at all because I feel that it's just like another 'cliché' seinen, which it's boring to read after a certain amount of hours with the same kind of stories. Even so, I feel very unsatisfied with the final product being almost exactly like some people thought it will become. Actually, I'm not even in favor of public opinion so that's why in some cases, my opinion may vary in favor of some plot points during the series until the end.

Tokyo Ghoul tells us the story of shy Ken Kaneki who is thrilled to go on a date with the beautiful Rize. But it turns out that she’s only interested in his body—eating it, that is. When a morally questionable rescue transforms him into the first half-human half-Ghoul hybrid, Ken is drawn into the dark and violent world of Ghouls, which exists alongside our own.

Many people know that the part I like the most in the manga, in general, is the first chapters because the characters must have characterization until the end of the respective series and people know that due to my One Piece review.
This manga shows a very specific story due to everything is going on at the same time, like Kaneki being practically forced to live a new and dangerous life and with this, several other developments. Many people refer chapters 60-66 like something outside of this world but that's just an excuse, as always. The manga features the same kind of art to the extent of the tragedy, but the art is retouched to look something different, in this case somewhat improved. Of course, the context that is presented during these chapters is justifiable, but it is nothing out of the ordinary. Ken Kaneki no longer has a student personality to have a half-ghoul personality and this includes his appearance and again, of course, this part of the story is important because it is when the character is accepted as a ghoul, but the story does not end there.

Being art enthusiast in general, I can only say that Sui Ishida's art is not ugly. The context I want to get is that the author's art is almost the best considering that new readers are reading a seinen manga and so they can simply give a high score as a definitive score without justification and this is something that most users do. Being honest, I believe Sui Ishida can get to an 8 but because I like the trait of the beginning of the story, once again.

The goal of the Tokyo Ghoul manga is to bring realism to another level, using fanciful elements just as in works given in compulsory schooling and this is a positive thing, but I believe that the true readers of seinen can not be indefinite with the work of those elements. I like the characters immensely but it would be praiseworthy if they had more closeness to the reader. I realize that the work has excellent characters and well used but I don't understand why the author creates loving bonds if the character ends up dying. Without this, each important character has proper development and significance to the story and that's a good thing.

As my final words, the manga is enjoyable and have excellent adult ideas such as sadism and cannibalism which is something well used. Nowadays, Tokyo Ghoul is a well-known manga because of his anime popularity, unfortunately.

Story: 8 | Art: 9 | Character: 9 | Enjoyment: 9
Score: 9

Personal Note: Still reading Volume 7. Volume 8 will be available soon enough.

This is my first review, therefore I shall make it short:

I have never heard of tokyo ghoul until I have watch the anime, being impatient as one of my characteristic, I started reading the manga ( I'm more of a reader anyway.) and I was instantly hooked with it and formed an attachment to the main character Kaneki.

Kaneki is probably one of the characters that I like and had an attachment and was devastated at the end. ( there is a sequel but i put in on hold because I don't want waiting and it destroys my excitement.)

So all in all, it was a good read and loved the manga :)

To best describe the what kind of series this is Im going to use the following quote from the Main Character "Im not the protagonist of a book or anything......Im just a normal college student who likes to read but If I were to write a book of me as the main character It would be a tragedy"

If you ever have seen tragedies such as Macbeth the main character is known as the tragic hero who gets changed by an event that ultimately leads to his demise. As likely my favorite Manga Tokyo Ghoul is true to being a tragedy to its core elements. Just to note the Manga Is not like the anime which skips a lot of arcs and ignores developing the characters. So if you are a fan of the Anime you should read this Manga as the anime skipped a bunch of important arcs that focus on the main character who is the center of this series.

The story follows Ken Kaneki who lives in a world where these man eating beings called ghouls live amongst humans in disguise. After an unusual accident he finds himself as the first ghoul human hybrid. The story follows Kaneki as he gets more used to the ghoul society while trying to maintain his life as a Human. However this series as a tragedy does not allow Ken to have it easy. Every story that is a tragedy has two key scenes known as the fall of the hero and the true tragedy. The anime has the fall of the hero but not the true tragedy which is the reason people should read this Manga as the true tragedy will either make you give this series a 10 or a 0.

The art in this Manga is good and brutal. The series has lots of fights scenes that go to levels of brutality that make a reader think "ouch" . I rate it highly for its use of symbolism however. As a psychological series there are going be things that are not really there which are used for symbolism such as flowers for example or numbers that foreshadow events. Character designs are great especially the ghoul characters who are wearing all different crazy outfits to hide their identity.

The characters in this series leave you to sometimes question who is the good guy or the bad guy. The series has a bunch of groups most having characters that are mixed bags between good and evil. The main protagonist is probably the only true neutral good guy in this series. Some characters who believe they are doing things that are for the greater good are really just using that to hide their sense of revenge and bloodlust. Some characters who have done bad things in the past with regrets are continually questioning can they do better. These characters who know they were in the wrong are always the more likeable in the series because they are not trying to hide it from themselves. There is other groups of characters who are in the most true sense villains.

The main character Kaneki suits his role as the tragic hero. As the series progresses he develops more and more. The tragic hero is usually a character the audience and other members of the cast hate because he is a good guy turned bad amonst all the good guys. However in this series where everyone is pretty bad the tragic hero is a guy who is the one true good amonst them all making the viewer like him instead of hate him for what he does.

This series is a bit of a roller coaster, the enjoyment of a tragedy is different for everyone as tragedy are not popular compared with mainstream writing where the characters are always winning but its not a continuous series of Ls the characters get a couple of wins to even it out. I will just Say Tokyo Ghoul is the tragedy I had the most enjoyment reading.

Overall score 10/10

Tokyo Ghoul is a story about a dude who gets crazy ghoul powers after one tries to eat him alive. Well, that's the short of it. Most of the time the story focuses on how edgy and angsty everything is. Typical anime stuff.

Between the sad high-pitched anime boy anthem its adaptation generated and Discord creatures lamenting over their unrequited love with Kaneki Ken as their profile picture, that seems to be the reputation the story of Tokyo Ghoul garnered for itself.
But is it warranted? Is Tokyo Ghoul really nothing but an embarrassing cringefest of angsty Hot Topic teens? Well, there is without a doubt that part of its nature that can’t be denied, however if that were all it was it wouldn’t have motivated me to reread it again after all this time to try and ascertain whether I was just in “that phase” to have liked it back then or if it could be that this story actually has some deeper merit beneath its seemingly embarrassing surface layer. After rereading it, some of its flaws are more apparent to me than they were back then, however I was also surprised by how some of its merits shone through clearer as well.

“If an angelic being fell from the sky and tried to live in this world of ours I think even they would commit many wrongs.”

Part of the reason why TG left a special impression on me is that it genuinely made me question my perception of good vs evil. At its heart, TG is a tragedy, not only of its infamous main character Kaneki Ken but also of the entire world within which its characters, and by extension we, inhabit. As living beings struggle merely to eat, to maintain a peaceful life with the ones they love, and even act with equanimous kindness towards everyone, they may find themselves in conflict with others, right in the center of the worst hell imaginable and, worse yet, having completely failed in what they set out to do while harming exactly who they wanted to protect most, all the while despairing over how things ended up this way.

Of course, moral ambiguity is nothing new in fiction or in general. It’s practically common sense at this point. However, I believe there is a large canyon of difference between knowing something and understanding it, and works of fiction which convey us the meaning of something through the deep and intricate construction of their worlds can help us bridge that gap.

“I must kill, and yet… this is a beautiful thing?”

As a world filled with man-eating ghouls possessing entirely human cognition but no way to sustain themselves other than to eat human flesh, there is no doubt that the world of a TG is a bleak and angsty one. One would expect it to be filled with nothing but meaningless violence, nihilism, and despair. But, is that all that it is? To me, at its best, TG is far from that. Through its wide array of tragic and pathological characters, their thoughts and dreams quite normal and understandable but twisted beyond recognition by the disturbing circumstances of their lives, we are not driven to mindless despair by the world we’re presented with but ultimately to compassion for the surprisingly human characters, even as they commit or undergo complete atrocities. It is this painful mixture of hope and despair that I felt by reading this story that really stuck with me and made me feel a certain affinity to it even though as a whole it may be considered inferior or immature to other stories. However, despite boasting quite a wide array of characters, there is no doubt that the face, heart and soul of TG is the main character: Kaneki Ken, and I can’t properly review it without focusing on him.

“‘Am I embracing the ghoul within me’? ...No, it’s not that. I am a ghoul.”

As I wrote in the beginning of this review, the story is centered around Ken’s Metamorphosis (his words, not mine) from your typical shy and endearing bookworm to a man-eating monster after an unfortunate encounter with a potential love interest. We as the reader are granted front row seats as the initial veneer of Ken as our kind, somewhat dull guide on a journey from our human world into the insanity of the ghoul’s world, is violently and mercilessly peeled off to reveal deep traumas and pathologies, as he descends into pits of madness and suffering deeper than almost any other character in an already very psychotic and damaged cast.

Like all “Breaking Bad”-esque stories centered around a character arc of embracing your “dark side”, or your “shadow” if you’re into Jung, the main draw is the compelling inner conflict of the character between his two sides, the kind but powerless human, or the violent but powerful ghoul?
(Ironically in Tokyo Ghoul the “good” side is visually represented in black and the “evil” side in white, maybe to further mock the distinction)

Still, I’m a firm believer in how the originality of a story isn’t as relevant as how it’s creatively expressed. You can tell the same story in a thousand different ways, and you’ll end up with a thousand different stories. By giving Ken a more intricate psychological profile and some surprisingly grounded human behaviors, which you might not expect from a seemingly grandiose and flamboyant story like this one, I had truly found his character arc compelling.

More importantly however, is that despite its initial seeming simplicity, his arc is actually a structural subversion to what might have looked like yet another “turning into the dark side”-type story. It’s never quite clear which side of Ken is “good” or “bad” or “right” or “wrong”, and it’s not even always clear just which side is which or whether his arc is complete, as Ken inadvertently behaves in ways that walk the line between both, or completely outside of them. Like when his hunger takes over and he loses control over himself, or when he does the “right” thing in a way that his past self wouldn’t, but is ultimately still “wrong” as he’s driven by those same traumas of his past self.

Now, I am definitely not the kind of guy to praise subversion for subversion’s sake, but I sincerely think that the vagueness of the arc here is directly relevant to the story’s themes of ambiguity in a bleak world where it’s unfortunately just never that simple. Like a certain character says: “Kaneki is a man of two worlds”, which means that while he has the most potential, he is also undergoing constant inner turmoil, and for that reason he suffers.

“The settings of fiction have a two-dimensional feeling. ...Naturally. However, real situations, like the ones I’ve been placed in, feel more tragic to me.”

With all of that being said, Tokyo Ghoul is far from a perfect masterpiece. First and foremost a flaw that might be noticed is the art. Now I actually like it quite a lot, even in the earlier parts before it technically improved. I thought its dark messiness and punkish style fit the setting well, and the initial amateurishness of it corresponded to the relative innocence of the early chapters. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t blame anyone for finding fault in it.

But, Tokyo Ghoul’s flaws don’t end on the surface level. While reading, I was 100% convinced that it was a Shounen. Granted, I thought a lot of it was very much Adult Only, but I figured kids these days, you know? I was actually surprised to find out it’s a Seinen, because almost straight from the outset, TG seems just like a Shonen. What does that mean? A requisite battle almost every chapter, gradually ridiculous powerlevels, forms and weapons with “cool” names, and of course, “Friendship, Effort, Victory” trope galore with lines like “I want to get stronger”, “I must protect everyone”, blah blah dropped on cue. Now, a story being Shonen by itself isn’t a flaw, but at least while reading a Seinen whether it’s battle-oriented or even focused on Shonen-like themes, you expect a break from the monotony of formula that Shonen often suffer from. Yet like I said before, even Shonen, as formulaic and product-like as it is, can still provide a good story given enough creative expression. Is Tokyo Ghoul one of those stories? Well, yes and no.

I feel like up to just past the midpoint of the story and in the final showdown, each fight is properly paced, stakes feeling relatively high, and most importantly progressing the plot, themes, and character depth and relationships. However, from the midpoint of the story until the beginning of its final stretch, as Ken’s character arc slows down a little and becomes more plot-driven, our focus shifts farther somewhat from him and onto other characters, which I actually appreciate because it fits with him growing more distant from the world as well as the reader and allows other characters, especially in the CCG, to shine. With that being said, while the focus shift is generally a plus for the other characters, simply too many new ones are introduced and too few are properly developed, and as a result the story begins to drag as it devolves into fights between characters about plot points that we, or at least I, don’t care that much about.

Now, while I’ve successfully avoided talking about it until now, this story does have a sequel. I really would’ve liked in this review to treat this as a completely standalone work, however this mid-endgame story lull makes it feel impossible, as the only way which makes sense of the amount of characters introduced and plot threads opened and left unclosed, as well as the destruction of the fairly tight pacing the story had until this point, is if we read under the assumption that this story is merely one part of two. But, for various circumstances, I definitely do not intend on reading the sequel, and I have to treat this story as standalone in this review anyway, so there’s no way I can’t treat all this as a major flaw.

Going back to the themes of Shonen, I do find some of the plot points repeated and certain phrases copied pretty much verbatim between entirely different stories disturbing in a way that ruins my immersion of a story and makes it seem like just another product. With that being said, I do feel like TG actually utilized these themes to a minor point of brilliance, maybe “earning” its Seinen classification. If you’ve read or watched some Shonen before, you’re probably already well used to braindead heroes touting off lines like “I’m gonna protect everyone” for people they’ve known for all of 5 minutes and brawling off against those moustache-twirling meanies who actually believe nonsense like “the strong rule over the weak”, all the while destroying world regimes with a fist after ironically beating the Darwinian villains into submission. In Tokyo Ghoul, Kaneki Ken, our Shonen hero, is actually driven to act the way he does by past trauma and a selfish desire not to be alone, a very human motivation in what is otherwise a mostly shallow power fantasy character archetype. And while he does get more powerful, perhaps to slightly overblown levels, as the story goes on upon embracing some Darwinian aspects himself, in the grand scheme of things he is not much more than a pawn vying for some control in a world in which he has anything but.

“He is an Ainu.
His eyebrows shining,
White beard falling upon his chest…”

In the end, I think that Tokyo Ghoul is ultimately, and ironically enough, a story about being human. To live in a world that forces you to eat other living beings, while being self-aware, is at the essence of humanity. Whether you wear the mask of a monster in order to live despite others’ will, risk it all for your faith in something greater than mere survival, or try to balance the two sides while bearing the burden of the sins and suffering you incur, these are all valid human courses of action while being alive. In a world like this, is it wrong to live?

“...I think, if this world is wrong, then the things corrupting it
are everything that exists in this world.”

I thought I was going to have a bad impression about Tokyo Ghoul because of the gore and others, turns out I was wrong. This manga was amazing.

Story : Ghouls are humans that eat another human in order to survive and live. Technically, since they are cannibals, they are different from humans. Really? When I first read the manga, I thought ghouls were disgusting and such, but the mangaka showed me--us the "human" side of ghoul. Ghouls are able to have family, to love, to protect, to socialize, to feel like a real human being, even though they ate other humans. That's one of the aspect that I love about the story.

The story set up nicely. A human, college student, namely Kaneki Ken who became a ghoul due to organ donations from another ghoul, Kamishiro Rize, also known as "the binge eater" and then led his life as a half ghoul, half human. He was forced to eat humans meat in order to live and learned fight how to protect himself from the ghouls investigators. It was a 9/10.

Art : The art was great and nicely drawn. There are some time where I'm not a big fan of the arts but the mangaka had work hard on this so I appreciated his hard work. It was a 8/10.

Characters : I gotta say that Kaneki Ken is not your typical shounen protagonist. At my opinion, Kaneki seems have no goals or anything. He tried to accept his life as a half human, half ghoul and lived with it. But, he then gradually improved. He began to fight, and wanted to protect everyone, even though he knew it was selfish for him. Kaneki was one of the character that had a really great character development. Also, don't forget about Touka, Nishio, Yomo, Tsukiyama, Amon, Mado, etc. All of the characters in this manga are unique and also fascinating in their own way. It was a 9/10.

Enjoyment : I enjoyed reading it. It was sure, one of my favorite manga. I like how the manga gave me this chill vibe and sometimes anxious feeling wondering what's happening right now. It was clearly an enjoyment for me so it was a 8/10.

Overall : Tokyo Ghoul was a very interesting manga with a great story concept and the progressed of its story. It shows you the "human" side of a 'monster', it also shows you a different kind of protagonist and then have you witnessed his development as the story goes on, it shows you so many dangerous conflicts and that sometimes even enemies can become your allies.
So, if you're searching to read a manga that has fighting, family drama, a super character development, with a little gore and blood and organs here and there? Tokyo Ghoul is indeed, your choice.

Also did I mentioned about the bloopers of the manga being super funny?

It was a 8/10 for me.

Just a heads up before reading, this review came from my anilist account, but i thought i would post it here as well

Setting
Tokyo Ghoul surprisingly enough is set in modern day Tokyo, where creatures with unknown origins known as Ghouls, plague the world and their only means of survival is consuming Humans as food. In response to the Ghouls, the Humans created an international organisation known as C.C.G, Commission of Counter Ghoul, who specialise in investigating and exterminating ghouls

Story
The plot of Tokyo Ghoul without entering spoiler territory, is basically about the young adult Kaneki (18-19yrs) whom after experiencing an unfortunate turn of events is turned into a ghoul after having another ghouls organs implanted in him. The story in part 1 basically revolves around the ordeal Kaneki now faces being stuck between 2 polar worlds, the world of the Humans and the world of the Ghouls.
As Kaneki begins to live his life as the only hybrid Ghoul, he begins to see the true nature of both Humans and Ghouls; he sees the barbaric, vicious and cruel side of Humans and the compassionate side of Ghouls who are forced to kill to survive.
The great thing about this manga is the "grey area" that exists, the lack of a definitive right or wrong, good or evil; At times you as the reader begin to wonder, who are the real "monsters" of the story, is it the Ghouls? or is the the Humans?
Sui Ishida excels at this, humanising the side of the ghouls, but never forgetting to show their violent tendencies, as well as dehumanising the Humans showing but always reminding readers of what drives the Humans to be like this whether it is personal loss, to protect others etc.

Characters - Mainish
Kaneki Ken
The main protagonist of the story, and although intially introduced as a wimpy, reserved character who is reluctant to fully commit to any one side, it is his character development as he progresses and witnesses/experiences the horrors of the conflict between Ghouls and humans that should be noted. Never before have i seen character development as intense or extreme as in Tokyo Ghoul. If i ellaborate any further i would be spoiling some of the greatest scenes in the manga.
Touka Kirishima
She is Ghoul who is currently under the guise of an ordinary human attending highschool, who works at cafe Anteiku which is run by Ghouls. Touka has been a Ghoul from birth and as expected experienced a very traumatic childhood, where she was forced to kill to survive.
Hideyoshi Nagachika
Hideyoshi or Hide (as referred to by Kaneki) is Kaneki's childhood friend who is very intelligent and is basically a Japanese Sherlock Holmes to simply put it. He plays an essential role in the story serving at Kaneki's time of need as his moral compass and only connection to the human world.

Art
The art of the series from about chapter 1-30ish is pretty meh, and nothing too good but from about 30 onwards the art picks up a lot and very appealing.

Writing
Tokyo Ghoul's writing is superb and is leagues above most mangas to date. It is riddled with metaphors, allusions, and so many motifs. Take for example the metaphor/motif of the red flower blossoming which represents Kaneki's madness and his Ghoul side i could go on for another couple humdred word on that one just alone but i'll stop here before i get carried away.
Ishida's use of visual metaphors as well as symbolism is to be commended, and they do not feel forced at all and fit along with the story perfectly. Although most readers don't pick up on these, it doesn't take away from the experience of the manga at all.

Other
Tokyo Ghoul has just recently ended on what has to have been the biggest cliff hanger of all time and the collective readership went crazy for about a month or so until Sui Ishida answered everyone's prayer with Tokyo Ghoul Re:, a part 2 and continuation to the series.

Final Verdict
For me this series was a spectacle, it is by far one of the most well written manga's that i've read to date and would have received a 10/10 however due to its art and the fact that it is only the first part of an epic, it received the generous score of 9/10.
I highly recommend reading the manga before watching the anime as the anime is very fast paced and glosses over some details in story and covers about 60 or so chapters in 12 episodes

To be fair I didn't finish the manga, so maybe halfway through something interesting happened to a new character that had meaningful implications. Though I doubt it.
This manga is I think a pretty good first seinen, or transition seinen for someone who has only been reading manga about joyful worlds of superpowered pirates/ninja/cowboys with cartoonish fights (nekketsu).

I think that's why the manga is so overrated. I kept hearing about how the story was really cool, the characters well built and felt like a literary masterpiece turned into manga form or something because it's a "TRAGEDY". But none of that is true, the literary reference are forced and stinking, almost cringey in all instances : "THE OTHER DAY I WAS READING KAFKA'S METAMORPHOSIS, STORY ABOUT A MAN TURNED INTO A MONssteRRRRR. AND NOW I AM A MONSTERRRRRRRRR". "I READ SHAKESPEARE, THE GREATEST BRITISH ENGLISH EUROPEAN GREAT CLASSICAL AUTHOR TRAGEDIST, AND MY LIFE IS NOW A TRAGEDY" even though his life is just the one of a regular shounen protagonist but he has to eat people or something. The supporting cast is one-dimensional and gets emotional for no reason.

Maybe it's because I'm not used to shounen but the whiny characters, predictible cast and story tropes are just too visible to be considered anything more than a shounen with some gore, although it tries to be much more.


In short, its a great first "seinen", but an awful, awful read for anyone looking for something stimulating or original.

On a side note :
I like to think of media has being "witty or not", ergo, is what I'm looking at feeling organic, natural,inspired ,artistic, or is it simply a frankenstein recombination of tropes with themes mecanically throw in and no true creative process. And while it's not as bad as most other mangas nowadays which are mostly the equivalent of netflix series in that they are solely there to satisfy an audience, a market share, looking for specific themes ("I like video games and I'm a loser, so I'll read this manga about a VR game that makes me forget my shitty life and not try and make myself a better person"), it's still a very mecanichal and unnatural story.
The author is not trying to tell a story, and it's very aparent. "Now kaneki is sad and he has to build himself again", "now ghoul girl is not sad at kaneki because they feel compassion for one another", "now side character 5 will have his story building arc about how he's sad and in pain".
But the characters feel more like living tropes than real people with subtelties, so I personnally find it very hard to emphasize with crying, hyper-emotional robots.

For people looking to dig deeper into real seinen themes : "GTO" is not well know by the newer generations but it's fun as fuck and talks about real stuff in a relatable way.
"Shamo" is the other side of the seinen, it has the story structure of a shounen, a bit like T.Ghoul, the themes are rather dark, like TG, but the way it's approached is entirely different, and I personnaly find, more intense while being more realistic (no super-power).

Tokyo Ghoul is a seinen manga series serialized in Young Jump, the most prestigious and well-known seinen magazine in Japan. Around 2014, when the anime had started, the fandom increased rapidly and endless screams of the internet community were heard about the "superb" quality and characters of the series. So, being a fan of seinen manga (Berserk, Kingdom, etc.) myself I decided to dig in.

There are MINOR SPOILERS in the following review

What I expected? Maturity, epicness and quality violent fight scenes
What I got? Well..., the above in pretty SMALL proportions, a feeling of pseudo-darkness and worst of all a taste of wasted potential.

Let's be more specific..

Plot: Tokyo Ghoul takes place in a world where ghouls and humans live together and explores the usually violent relations between the two sides. The setting of the series is very promising as there is always a hostile "war" atmosphere between the ghouls and the CCG (human organization that kills ghouls in the name of justice) even when there is no direct conflict. The series has two underlying themes: Firstly, is that justice is subjective and one-sided and true righteousness cannot be easily achieved as seen by the devastating losses of both sides. Secondly, if you have had psychological traumas or issues in general as a kid you ARE strong. Guess what... The first theme helps the series climb to the top while the second throws it to the pits of hell. Unfortunately many fights in T.G are resolved when one of the two sides remembers the sadness of the past, gains a power-up and demolishes the other side. This trait removes all the suspense from fights. Moreover, with regards to the "sadness of the past", almost all flashbacks are the same: Ghoul loses his family to humans and vice-versa. As far as the pacing is concerned, it is generally decent with the exception of a CCG-elaborated part where it is somewhat slow. The ending felt satisfying but rushed, however, it should not be criticized negatively as there is a sequel.

Artwork: This is by far the strongest point of this manga. At first it might seem simplistic but as the series continues you start to value the detailed and dark artwork. Despite being a few instances of "vague" panels, the fight scenes are really enjoyable to read, the choreography is well-made and the enjoyment is enforced with the detailed design of most kagune and ghoul masks.

Characters: Unfortunately, this is the weakest part of the series and mainly due to the main protagonist. Kaneki is a timid 14-year old orphan of medium built; a typical shonen protagonist you could say. Regrettably being "typical" is probably the smallest of the flaws. After his torture and power "awakening" is when what he had built as a character starts being demolished. After being tied to a chair, seeing scenes of sheer brutality and having his finger toes cut off ( FOR GOD'S SAKE they grew back and he still cried, think about poor Guts for an instant) Kaneki finally unlocks his ghoul potential and a sadistic darker part of his personality. Although the "dark counterpart" is a common and generally favorable trait of manga nowadays it is the bad execution that destroys it here. In Kaneki's case he jumps straight from being a shy kid with no backbone to a blood-thirsty, relentless badass (wannabe). Moreover, this doesn't just happen once, it repeatedly throughout the story making you wonder if there is any actual character development. The palindromic state between an irritating crybaby and a psychotic brutal ghoul is by no means considered character development; it is just putting two one-dimensional characters in the same body and changing between them whenever the plot commands. As for the secondary protagonist Touka, she is initially introduced as a cold-hearted and emotionless emo girl but she soon loses her "roughness" and lightens up to the rest of the cast as the series progresses, only to become a side character on the second half. In spite of being a typical tsundere she didn't deserve this lack of screentime. Most ghouls in the series give off a tone of depression, being prejudiced by humans and often having one of their loved ones killed by humans in the past, a trait that makes them quite repetitive. However, there are of course some very decent ones like Yamori, an old ghoul whose past is a mystery and Sachi a muscular man with a macho mustache (and my image of the average ghoul before starting the series).Finally, regarding the CCG investigators, they also come in all shapes and sizes from the stoic badass Arima to the extremely annoying anthropomorphic creature named Juuzo that wanted to know its gender.

Enjoyment: The series surely had a few memorable scenes(mostly from fights) but regrettably left a bad aftertaste as I said in the beginning of the review. It was really miserable seeing your main character going from a berserk mindless animal in one page to an immature wimp in the next. It is even more miserable when he starts having some weird guilts and monologues with himself just to put reason to his previous rage. In general, it was like the ghouls tried to have an edgy and dark attitude that foreshadowed their harsh past just to look cool, without really having any depth whatsoever; a characteristic that made me take the side of the CCG as the series progress

All in all, had it not been for the cast, especially the annoying main character and the edgy, disturbing vibe of ghouls, this series could have reached the top. It has decent story, very good art but it missed a very importatnt ingredient. It seems that the author tried to fit many shonen-ish traits to a seinen manga and still make it dark and mature through Kaneki's unnatural changes from a normal kid to monster. Unfortunately, it was a failed attempt.

One might find themselves picking this up because of the anime adaptation that has recently started airing. I am no exception when it comes to this. With that mentioned, I am excited to share my review with you all for this totally awesome and unique story.

Let's get into it, shall we? I'll keep this spoiler free, so don't hesitate to continue reading! I'm going to refrain from mentioning actual content (since the synopsis covers it rather well), and instead focus more on the general quality of everything.

Story: 10/10
Tokyo Ghoul / Toukyou Kushu takes place in a world where "ghouls" (flesh-eating monsters who resemble humans at first glance) murder to survive and hide from investigators who specialize in their termination. In order to live more comfortable lives, some ghouls choose to blend in with society and try not to cause any more trouble than necessary. There's a lot going on in Tokyo Ghoul, so it's pretty fast paced. There are hardly any dull moments to speak of, so, expect great things when reading this! You might find yourself rooting for both sides at some point due to the fact that you'll probably end up liking the majority of the characters involved.

Art: 8/10
The drawing for Tokyo Ghoul is quite exceptional. I had no complaints while reading through it. Though, I did notice that some scenes were drawn significantly better than others, it was mostly action and climactic moments. (which is fairly common) For the most part, the quality is consistent and neat. The style itself is nothing out of the ordinary, but it's awfully far from being bland. Don't expect to be disappointed with it or anything.

Character: 10/10
Alright... Here is where I personally feel like Tokyo Ghoul shines the most. The character development is top notch. Over time, you will learn extensively about their daily lives and background histories. The author did an excellent job at being informative and detailed in this area. Any questions you might have about a certain character is bound to be covered at some point.
Now, for the variety of characters in this! You'll see that pretty much everyone has something unique about them. Anything ranging from tattoos, piercings, interesting hair styles, quirks, eclectic personalities, hidden talents, and so much more. Anyone who reads this is certain to find a character they favor, if not many of them!

Enjoyment: 10/10
As I mentioned before, this is a well paced story. It's hard to stop at just one chapter because there's always something to look forward to in the next. Some parts are funny, some sad... Plenty gruesome. :)
There's a very choice mixture of comedy and tragedy in Tokyo Ghoul. You'll witness lighthearted moments that will bond you with the struggles of the characters and then there is a ton of bloody, psychotic natured action to look forward to. This manga truly has it all.
If you're a fan of horror, psychological, and/or mystery, this is a MUST READ/WATCH!

Overall: 9/10
It was hard for me to not give this series a 10. Honestly, it is so deserving of that score. I haven't completed the entirety of it, though (since it's not finished, obviously), so I'm leaving some room for error in the event that it may occur. I have confidence that Tokyo Ghoul will continue for a long time and likely finish with a nice ending. When that happens, I'll be sure to either type up a new review or tweak this one a bit.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, I hope it encourages you and many others to start reading soon!

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, etc... Let me know! I'm open to critique as long as you're serious and polite about it. This is my first full manga review on this site, so I hope I did well.

"I’m not the protagonist of a novel or anything…I’m a college student who likes to read, like you could find anywhere. But… if, for argument’s sake, you were to write a story with me in the lead role, it would certainly be… a tragedy."
~Ken Kaneki

Story:
===
The story of Tokyo Ghoul is a mystery, a tragic mystery. the story pretty much goes like this : Tokyo is filled with man-eating people called 'Ghouls'. The main character Ken Kaneki finds himself in a difficult situation when he encounters a ghoul. That is when he finds himself immersed in the fine line between Ghouls and Humans. Thus, the tragedy of that unfortunate soul begins. This is basically the premise of the story. In between there are a lot of scenes in which the MC must question his humanity and sanity. The story just feels like a charm, and it wraps the reader into a melancholic dream, albeit filled with gore, pain and sorrow.

Art:
==
Personally, I found Ishida Sui's art quite beautiful. It fills the whole setting of the dark world Tokyo Ghoul.All the scenes are clear and leave a sense of amazement.

Character:
======
Tokyo Ghoul has done character progression really beautifully. While many things are left unexplained, they do create a sense of mystery, and besides there is a sequel. All the characters have a story in them, and have some kind of tragic past which leads them to the never-ending Ghoul-Human conflict.

Enjoyment:
=======
Personally, I loved the manga. So much, that I finished it in 3 days. The reason: Because the manga was so enjoyable and varying in depth, that it kept me immersed throughout the manga.

~~~~~~~Thank you for taking the time to read the review, hope it was helpful~~~~~~~~``

Tokyo Ghoul is really something -- I haven't been so in love with a series in a long time. When the original series (this one) ended, and it wasn't clear that there would be a sequel, I was legitimately distressed. When the sequel was announced, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief and excitement. That's how emotionally invested I have gotten with this manga. I don't want to raise a potential reader's expectations to the point where it will be impossible for TG to live up to them, but I have a long list of good things to say about it, so that's going to be tough.

Story: 10/10
The story in Tokyo Ghoul is truly outstanding. It seems simple, but the devil is really in the details here. Seriously, there are bits of foreshadowing from the very first chapters that I'm only noticing upon re-reading the manga, because without knowing what happens, these details seem mundane and unimportant. But everything has a meaning in Tokyo Ghoul. Ishida (the mangaka) plants a million seeds in the storyline, and you don't even notice until they grow into major reveals. There is symbolism in the imagery, the dialogue, everything. There are minor events that you forget about until they pop up again in Tokyo Ghoul:RE, the sequel series. The planning, pacing, and buildup of this story is just amazing. Ishida really planned this out beautifully. There are bits of dialogue that read like poetry, especially in the latter half, and I found myself breathless a few times. The best part is that there are so many hidden clues and possible outcomes to unanswered questions that there's always room for theories and analysis, which for me is a lot of fun. It makes the story very engaging, and when questions are answered it makes the reveals all the more satisfying.

Art: 10/10
The art seems mediocre at first glance -- not bad, but nothing special either. However, once the characters start to develop, it becomes apparent that Ishida is a master at nailing characters' emotions and development through gestures and facial expressions. Kaneki especially gets some devastating expressions, and even his body language changes as he develops. Pay attention to how black-haired pre-Aogiri Kaneki fights compared to white-haired post-Aogiri Kaneki -- the difference isn't just that he's stronger; his stance becomes wild, animalistic, desperate. He looks older in the most subtle of ways. It's subtle but explosive, just like the story. Ishida knows just what to show and what not to show for maximum impact. The art isn't perfect standing alone, but it's perfect for Tokyo Ghoul, if that makes any sense.

Character: 10/10
The characters in this manga are almost never what they seem, and I love that. Everyone is complex, and all the characters that count get development. They're very lovable, too, even those that do horrible things. The character development is really great, and it goes both ways -- some characters become better, others become worse, and many pull surprises that no one saw coming. Relationships between characters are all very interesting too. When characters care for each other, they care deeply, and Ishida uses that to tear your heart to pieces with later events.

Enjoyment: 10/10
Honestly, Tokyo Ghoul is depressing. It's absolutely miserable. If you want something happy, or at least a storywith a light at the end of the tunnel, then I don't recommend it.When Kaneki states in an early chapter that a story about his life would surely be a tragedy, he was right. But it's so, so addictive and exciting. The quality of Tokyo Ghoul has carried on into Tokyo Ghoul:RE, and with each weekly chapter of :RE, I find myself on the emotional roller coster again. It just doen't stop surprising me. So if you want to read something dark and gruesome that will give you something to think about, Tokyo Ghoul is my first recommendation.

This is my first review on MAL and I'm pretty excited that it's about my probably favorite finished manga of 2014!

Let's start!

Story - 10

Ken Kaneki, your average shy and bookloving collegestudent gets plunged into the world of the creatures called ghouls - who feed on humans. He learns of the life as a ghoul and being the kind and righteous guy he is, he cannot ignore nor accept the fact that they kill humans to devour them. But little does he know what it feels like to be driven to insanity by your own hunger, and little does he know of what it really means to be a ghoul.

We get all the information needed to understand what kind of creatures the ghouls are at first, but only enough to still keep them as somewhat mysterious beings. As the story progresses we see our main protagonist's struggle to remain "human" and the psychological pressure he receives from that.

On the other side we have the humans who are the prey of ghouls but there's also investigators who hunt ghouls because of the danger they poses against the human population. Interesting is that we can see it from the viewpoints of both sides, their struggles and the reason behind their hate for each other.

All I can say is that this story was planned very much in details and a lot of time must have been spent of developing the story, which is always a big plus!

Art - 9

The first few chapters I found the art at some points somewhat messy. Especially the action scenes were very difficult to actually interpret, like is that an arm and did he just punch him or what etc.
It doesn't happen too often and you can actually skip those pages and won't miss anything important. It gradually gets better I promise, which is why it didn't bother me too much later.
But the art is perfect to actually display the setting which is horror and mystery.

Characters - 10

This is where TG really shines!

Kaneki is your shy-bookworm-too kind for his own good kind of guy who literally get's thrown into the world of ghouls. His extremely kind and righteous personality is not fit for the world of a ghoul and yet he can nothing but comply with it. We get to follow his life and what it means to be a ghoul and... are they really what everyone think they are?

You get introduced to a lot of characters and most of them remain relevant until the end which not many stories can do. What I hate is when you get introduced to a character and then suddenly after he/she has done her part of her role she suddenly just disappears!??
Thank god that doesn't happen in TG.
There's not many characters who play minor roles, a lot of them have significant roles and if I were you I would pay close attention to their actions and words because Ishida has really planned this story in details!!
We get a lot of background informations to many of them which gives the characters so much more depth.

But the best part of the cast in this story are their character developments!!

Especially Kaneki's one of the best character developments I've seen in a manga and I'm not even exaggerating. Truly impressive. That must have landed him a good spot on my fav list of manga characters.

Enjoyment - 10

It's been a long time since I last stumbled upon such a great manga (and I've read many), truly magnificent. This story has it all, action, horror, mystery, comedy, romance, drama and the psychological things brought up really makes you think. This was just really good, hands down.

Overall - 10

I don't have much to complain about in this story. All I can say is that you should read it yourself and then you'll understand what I've been talking about.
Funny is that, as you re-read it you will always find something new, maybe a clue that tells you a little bit about the future events, it is THAT amazing and well-planned.

Oh yeah, did I mention that the author is a master at drawing parallels? Because he is.

This is definitely a story that will keep you at the edge of your chair until the very end. :)

Tokyo Ghoul is a worthwhile read because of the fact that the reader becomes so involved with the individual characters emotionally, and struggles to discern which side of the conflict is fighting for the right reasons. For me this was exceptional because it is synonymous with conflicts in the real world; nothing is black and white. We just have varying shades of gray.

The story is dark one, and may not be for the feint of heart. The art expands upon the story as a whole does a great job of adding another dimension for the reader's enjoyment because it truly resounds with the mood of the story and characters.

Definitely worth a read!

//SPOILERS(Sort of)//

This is why I gave the manga an 8 overall.
First the ending is abrupt, very out of place, and quite frankly ruined the whole story for me.
The last few chapters seem to me like they are forced, like the author wasn't prepared.
I hope there is a follow up because the ending is so abrupt, there are way to many unanswered questions.

At first this manga might not have the most original concept or story. However, the way in which it is executed is excellent. There are no such things as 'black and white' in this manga.

Each important character has proper development and significance to the story, and none of them are there just for the sake of them being there, nor are they useless. The characters have realistic personalities, and none of them are just 'good' or 'bad'. Each character is well developed and continue to develop and none of them are completely innocent just like how it is in real life.

I appreciated the fact that the characters are like this and this manga understands this perfectly. Characters that may seem shallow at first actually have depth to them.

Ken Kaneki is by far one of the best developed characters I have had the pleasure of seeing. He is not just the 'nerd' or the 'cool emo badass'. Just like any person in real life, he does have secrets he wants to keep buried and not willing to accept. He has various stages of development that actually makes sense in the situations he is in. His motives and thought process is excellently displayed.

Another good thing is how the manga does not just spoonfeed you the facts. They are foreshadowed with various references to numbers, tarot cards, symbolism and metaphors, but unless you pay attention to what you read you will not notice them and not be able to appreciate the manga in its full glory. I would recommend not just reading the manga just once but at least several times to get what you may have missed.

Overall an amazing manga, and the cliffhanger ending was actually the best way to end the first part.

This review is spoiler-free.

One thing I must say, THIS IS A GOOD MANGA, WORTH READING AND REREADING. Although it seems a little boring at first, it turns out really interesting. In my humble opinion, Tokyo Ghoul demands a patient reader.

Story: 8

it is just as complicated as it needs to be, or a little more. Ishida Sui hates plot holes from what I see. Also the psychological part of the story is detailed and quite interesting, and it doesn't involve just the protagonist, it involves many other characters with their various twisted personalities. I liked the fact that Ishida uses Tarot Cards meanings. This is why I said it demands a patient reader; the mangaka includes numbers into some details like hair cliffs, tattous, nickle belts... sometimes you can't notice them until you reread it, but they give you a better understanding on the character or what happens next.

Art: 7

this is one manga where you can see art improvement between the first volumes, and fight scenes art improvement in the last volumes and the sequel. Overall the art style is more human-like than manga-like, and I praise Ishida San for his work on the backgrounds and the general views which many other mangaka find boring and don't give to it much effort.

Characters: 9

Ishida Sui's strengths are mostly character design and character developement. Each character is unique and even the minor ones got a detailed design. The only flaw is that there are too many of them that sometimes I forget their names.

Enjoy reading this manga while listening to the soundtarck of the anime, because that's the only thing the anime is good for :) and don't forget to read the sequel.

"If for argument's sake you where to write a story with me in the lead role. It would certainly be...a tragedy."

Tokyo ghoul is a masterpiece even with its flaws and short comings. It is a dark and gruesome world, where the light can still be found, but it is fleeting. For in a world that is wrong can you really do anything to change it.

Story=10
I am not going to bother with a synopsis since that is available already and I will try avoid as many spoilers as possible but i do have to spoil some events so i can talk about them just giving a fair warning. The story of Tokyo ghoul can be a little misleading at first, but I mainly blame this on bad or inaccurate advertising. I am mainly referring to the fact that Tokyo Ghoul falls under the horror genre, but I wouldn't consider it scary what so ever to be completely honest. The horror is of a more disturbing and or gruesome nature. With that out of the way I can get to actually discussing the story. The story starts off particularly well in my opinion. It establishes a interesting and dark world with many interesting characters. It is also interesting to see Kaneki start to adapt to his new life style and deal with the monster he has now become. If it does have a low point it is probably the area around chapter 30-60. These chapters are still interesting, but there isn't really much of a story going on and it is really just there to build up into what is coming next and is also used to introduce characters and in passing mention important plot points for later on in the story.

Now this is where I get into some spoilers so skip ahead to characters if you don't want any spoilers what so ever. Now where the story really picks up and becomes a amazing example of writing is the introduction of Jason. With Jason's introduction the story takes a even darker turn. This leads into Kaneki's torture scene which changes are main character into a much darker MC. It is hard for me to give this scene justice by writing about it, but i could easily use it as one of my favorite parts of a manga ever. What follows afterwards is a amazing story of Kaneki going on an insane trip of murder and relentless investigation into the mysterious Aogiri Tree as he deals his own interpretation of justice and attempts to fix the world he sees as being wrong. This is also filled with numerous unseen and spectacular plot twists that keep you on your toes and always guessing.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!This is going to be a super spoiler so seriously don't read this if you haven't finished the manga i will be discussing my opinion on the last chapter.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and so with the last chapter we the readers are left with many many questions unanswered. These questions could always go unanswered it really depends on the if the author wants to write a sequel or not. He is easily could if he wanted to, but at the same time the ending is so well fitting to the world he created in Tokyo Ghoul. As he said the world is wrong and it shouldn't be surprising that the ending it self is wrong and isn't even a true ending. The world keeps going and that's just the way it is. We may never know why Uta did what he did, what Aogiri tree's ultimate goal is, or if Kaneki who we have spent so much time seeing grow is really died. This was a bold and unexpected choice and I think in the end it might have been the best one, but I would be just as happy and not surprised if a sequel where announced.

Characters=10
Ken Kaneki
Kaneki is probably the most interesting MC I have ever seen in manga this is even more amazing considering this is a 14 volume series. We see Kaneki as a normal everyday person become a monster. This transformation is at the core of the entire series as Kaneki constantly deals with psychological problems that only worsen as time goes on. Kaneki's downward spiral and the resolution he makes with himself at the end is really what makes the manga. Even with Tokyo Ghoul's amazing storyi I would consider Kaneki's journey the true story of Tokyo Ghoul and also one of the best stories I have ever read.

Touka Kirishima
The main Female protagonist and a ghoul Touka serves as the Kaneki's window into and as the guide to the life of a ghoul. She starts off the series hating Kaneki and slowly gains more and more feeling for him as the series goes on. by the end Kaneki is the most important person in the world to Touka and this is where her character development throughout the story is rooted. Besides her feeling for Kaneki she doesn't really have much other character development. She like most of the other characters simply matures over time and starts to act more and more like a adult. Her personal growth is shortened because for a chunk of the story doesn't appear very much. While she can in no way shape or form compete with Kaneki as a MC she makes up for it by being a strong female character who evolves in her own way.

Koutarou Amon
I am given Amon his own personal spot, because his main role in the series is to act as the eyes of the other side. He is the viewpoint of the CCG and the humans of the world. He like most of the characters receives a decent amount of character development and even gets multiple chapters that entirely focus on him. He also acts as a kind of rival to Kaneki as they clash multiple times throughout the series.

Side characters
I am not going to get very into this part. I could honestly write a entire paper on all the different side characters of Tokyo Ghoul and how they grew and changed over the course of the story. Tokyo ghoul has a larger cast than normal and some how manages to give all of them a purpose and most of them even get character development. This is once again only done in 14 volumes which is a amazing feat.

Art=9
Now don't misunderstand me Tokyo Ghoul has amazing art work...when it works. The author has some problems with fight scenes at times as he wants to show alot of movement and it just ends up making it hard to follow. The author will also occasionally draw a character and it will just look bad. This is however made up for. The artwork is dark and creepy and has a distinct style to it and when the fight scenes are done well they put most other artist to shame. Also I wanted to make a quick mention of the cover artwork for the volumes. while there few I don't really like a majority of them are a beauty with a amazing look and a original design. So in closing if the author had been a bit more consistent I would have no problem giving the art a 10, but even so the art work is still beautiful.

Enjoyment=10
It is very rare for me to run to my computer after receiving a notification that a new chapter had been posted, but I found my self doing that every time. There are a few slow points that broke up the ride, but they where also very enjoyable so i have no problems giving a 10.

Overall=10
Tokyo ghoul starts off as a dark story of a descension into darkness and it is given a ending that fits it perfectly. I think it will be a long time before anything as interesting and entertaining as Tokyo Ghoul comes out again. I look forward to the author's next work and hope that he decides to grace us with a sequel to this amazing work.