TOKYO GHOUL CHAPTER 1 Discussion by Urizen

It goes without saying that Tokyo Ghoul is one of my favorite series. I have the manga volumes, anime, extra volumes, figures, statues, and have been to one of the Tokyo Ghoul pop up cafes in Akihabara. Previously I have discussed the one shot manga that started the series. I also had plans to get into all of the chapters of the manga. Given how long that would take, I have decided instead to just do the first chapter as a bit of compare and contrast sort of thing. I have talked a little about the story in that one and won't dive too much into the history with this one, so let’s get into the introductory arc of Tokyo Ghoul

   The story starts the same way in chapter one with a news story talking about the remains of a body being found from a ghoul attack. The ghoul being an eater type. Basically going in line with the 8 people killer things from the one shot. We then get our first glimpse of protagonist Kaneki Ken, 18 year old college freshman. He looks so much better in this than in the one shot. A lot less creepy and with a much better art style. He sits there with his best friend Hide Nagachika, who comments at how scary it is that this is happening so close, then how he Kaneki would be eaten up in a second.

   The two then discuss how ghouls are monsters disguised as humans, and joke about Kaneki maybe being a ghoul. What is cool here is when the two draw what they think a ghoul would look like. Kaneki draws this monstrous, scary thing while Hide draws a goofy face. The thing with it is, when Kaneki changes into his dragon kakuja at the end of the manga, it looks very similar to that drawing at some points. With the idea that a ghoul’s kagune takes shape and changes due to a person’s RC cell count, and imagination, I wonder if Kaneki’s looked the way it did in the end because that was what his image of a ghoul was. It is a very cool bit of foreshadowing that one wouldn’t think about. Then we have Hide, who while not as close for the end result, still ends up dressing like his drawing a bit when he is disguised as Scarecrow. It is really neat! Ishida puts a lot of detail into these things. Between that and the hidden symbolism in the images with the flowers and hidden tarot numbers, it leaves a lot to look into.

   Hide decides to move off the subject of ghouls and asks Kaneki which is the cute girl from the coffee shop that he likes, causing Kaneki to get embarrassed. Hide thinks it is the waitress, a girl named Touka Kirishima. Kaneki says no which causes Hide to take the chance and ask if she has a boyfriend, making Touka run away embarrassed. It is interesting seeing Touka be a bit more timid like her one shot counterpart. Obviously that all changes later on, but having looked back on that version so recently, it is neat to see.

   Right then, a girl walks into the coffee shop, which is named Anteiku, and Kaneki reveals that she is the one he likes. This girl is Rize Kamishiro. Hide tells Kaneki that she is too good looking for someone like him. What I like is, when it came to Touka, Hide said she was cute and was very excitable, yet with Rize, his expression was completely different. Sure he said that someone that  good looking would be impossible, but I think a lot has to do with Hide's intuition.  We are shown multiple times throughout the story that he picks up on things really easily. I think he was able to tell that Rize's personality was fake. He had a feeling something was up with her from the beginning. Besides being Kaneki’s friend and caring deeply about him,  I can't help but wonder if he feels guilt for not doing more to prevent Kaneki’s pursuit of Rize.

   He leaves now that he has seen the girl, while Kaneki stays and decides to read,  taking glances at Rize as he does. He notices they are reading the same book, “The Black Goat's Egg" by Takatsuki Sen. The book is about a son's disgust by his mother's depravity, though he begins to realize the same cruel impulses are forming within as well. He even comments that “Extremely brutal descriptions entwine with a delicate portrayal of the character’s mental state in this." That character is Kaneki. Early on, he loves his mother, following her words of “It’s better to be hurt than to hurt others.” He talks very highly of her. Later though, this changes and becomes closer to the story told in “The Black Goat’s Egg.” He realizes that he is hurt, that he is angry towards his mother. She worked herself literally to death so that she could provide for her sister, meanwhile Kaneki had to suffer for it. Kaneki had to be left alone because she couldn’t choose him over his aunt. From there he also begins to realize that he is no better. His lack of making choices led him to where he is. Then going into his mental state would be a whole ordeal considering there are so many different versions of Kaneki through the series, with each reflecting his mental state. It is again wonderful foreshadowing for what is to come.

  Eventually Rize bumps into Kaneki, knocking down his book. The two talk about how they are reading the same book and are fans of the author before ultimately agreeing to go on a date. They eventually do this, going on a nice date in which Rize hardly eats, saying she is on a diet. This again going back to the one shot with Touka doing the same.

   Chatting on their way back, Rize asks Kaneki to walk her home as she is scared due to an incident that happened with a ghoul near there. The two talk more and she eventually embraces him, saying that she had noticed him watching her, and that she too was watching him. As she does this, her eyes change to their normal black and red kakugan appearance that all ghouls have and she sinks her teeth into his shoulder.

   Kaneki understandably freaks out as he realizes the girl he went on a date with is a ghoul that wants to eat him. Meanwhile Rize's entire demeanor changes. Up until now, she had been more reserved,  friendly, and a bit shy, but now she had turned completely psychotic. She loves toying and playing with Kaneki. She loves seeing the fear and pain in his expression. She could easily end this, but she is a predator who is enjoying playing with her prey.

   Kaneki tries to run away but is caught and ultimately stabbed multiple times with Rize’s kagune. As this is a mix of a review and just a random talk,  I should explain something I didn't in the one shot. In the world of Tokyo Ghoul, there exists a type of cell called a Red Child, or RC Cell for short. Both humans and ghouls have these RC Cells, though the RC cell count in ghouls is much higher. It would almost be more correct to refer to the cells as liquid muscle as they can remain like normal flowing blood cells, or solidify like bone. For ghouls, the cells are concentrated and stored in a sack like organ inside the body called a kakuhou. These cells can then be released from the kakuhou and burst through the skin in a normally solidified shape, which is called the kagune. Kagune are the weapons ghouls use to defend themselves. There are multiple different types, styles, shapes and more. When a ghoul consumes a human, they get more RC cells, providing them with nutrients. On the other hand, if they cannibalize and eat another ghoul, their cell count rises drastically, affected their kagune and eventually letting them achieve a stronger, more monstrous form known as a kakuja.

   So she attacks him with her kagune, tossing Kaneki into a construction site, and commenting that he has the perfect body type to eat. Suddenly, a bunch of support beams fall from the construction site, landing on and crushing Rize. Kaneki in his near death state blacks out, coming to much later as he is being operated on. He can’t tell much of what is happening, only hearing that his organs have shifted and they are going to transplant Rize's organs into him.  We then get this great panel of Rize pressed up against Kaneki from behind, her hands covering his eyes as the two become one.

   With that we get the last bit of the chapter, Kaneki saying “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 arguments sake you were to write a story with me in the lead role, it would certainly be a tragedy.” Kaneki then wakes up, showing one of his eyes being a ghoul eye as he has now become a half ghoul.  From there we get in to the tragic tale of Kaneki.

   I started reading Tokyo Ghoul after seeing an image of Kaneki in his ghoul mask on a scanlation page a while back. It took a bit for me to find out the title, but when I did, I binged the whole series. I have a really bad habit of starting shows and manga, only to forget about them and drop them until later. This was never the case with Tokyo Ghoul. By the time I got to the end, it had been a depressing, thrilling adventure that I was sad to see end. Thankfully a week after I finished the series, a sequel was announced called Tokyo Ghoul: RE.

   The sequel, while for the most part liked, was problematic for many. People didn’t always like the direction it went, and considered it a drop in quality. Personally though, I love RE. Possibly like it more than Tokyo Ghoul itself. While there are some things I wish else been done better,  it gave development to others and brought in characters I love.

   What really shines in all of the series though is Sui Ishida’s talent. His ability to have such good yet not in your face foreshadowing and symbolism is something I wish more authors would be able to do. Then having the hidden tarot card references in the art where if you do dissect everything, you can get hints of the story, but it isn’t necessary. On top of it all, when you get to Tokyo Ghoul: RE, he adds in a bunch of parallels to the first series that make things really interesting as you’re reading.

   Besides talking about Ishida’s amazing story telling, it is also certainly worth talking about his art. While starting off a little rough yet still good, the art throughout Tokyo Ghoul continuously improves. One of the best ways to view this without going through each chapter is to just look at the volume covers. They are all gorgeous, but you can see the improvement as it goes. I think that part of the anime’s problem was that it couldn't fully capture the style and feel that Ishida’s art had. There are just certain panels that even when translated decently in the anime,  still just don't come anywhere near to conveying the feel that the manga does.  This first chapter does a great job with showing that mix of beauty and horror that he is great at,  and while the anime is beautiful for that first episode,  it still doesn't quite capture all of the horror.  Really Ishida is underrated with his artwork, I hope to see more from him in the future somehow.

   Since this isn't quite just a review, but me going over what happens in that first chapter along with my random thoughts and comparisons, there are other things worth noting. First, I’m glad we were given this Kaneki  over the one from the one shot. While this Kaneki is obviously flawed,  especially with revealing later on that he is incredibly selfish which leads to many bad things, it is still realistic.  He has mental health issues,  he wants to be loved. Kaneki in the one shot was creepy, more sinister,  and very unlikable plus hard to sympathize with. These are not traits a main character should necessarily have.

   It is also worth mentioning Touka. In the one shot, Touka is portrayed as this more innocent,  young timid character. She eventually shows she has this tough side, but easily slips back into that almost childlike role.  In the main manga, while she is younger than Kaneki by a little, she is shown to be more mature really.  We get her acting a bit embarrassed around Hide, but that was because he was so forward and over the top. Throughout, we get glimpses of her showing that she knows something is up with Rize and we eventually see that is because she too is a ghoul.  Everyone working at Anteiku is and Rize is pretty well known in the community. It doesn't take long until we get to see main series Touka as she really is. She is a tougher character,  because she had to be. She wishes she could be a normal human.  She views herself as a monster, getting very confused when someone calls her beautiful, not understanding how anyone could see her as that.  She is a great character,  and the one shot certainly didn't do her justice by making her basically a freshly turned Kaneki that had issues with his hunger.

   The big one for me though is Hide. Hide not being in the one shot is very much felt as I go back and read it. Logically, it makes sense for Hide to not be there. He isn’t necessary at all…but that is the problem. Hide is Kaneki’s anchor, his light. When Kaneki struggled with his ghoul side, Hide was his humanity. Whether he was actually there or just in Kaneki’s thoughts, he had a major impact on the story and Kaneki’s character. By not needing him, it not only takes away one of the best characters in the series, but also one of the major things that makes the story interesting--the conflict and struggle between ghouls and humans. Kaneki, being forced into being a half ghoul, is the personification of this struggle, eventually leading him to try to bring about the unification of ghouls and humans. Having all of this change,  while maybe could’ve led to something interesting, I doubt would have worked as successfully.

   I think it is also worth mentioning the fictional story of “The Black Goat’s Egg.” The way it is described as  “while the son is disgusted by his mother’s depravity he begins to realize that the same cruel impulses are budding in himself. Extremely brutal descriptions entwine with a delicate portrayal of the characters mental state.”  If you look at Kaneki throughout the manga, his violent personality shifts come into being usually in response to issues with his mother. With his change from black haired Kaneki to white haired, there was torture and his acceptance of being a ghoul, but a lot had to do with his mother. He had realized that he was doing the same thing she was, with them both having an inability to choose. For Kaneki’s mom, she couldn’t choose between her sister and her son and ended up working to death. For Kaneki himself, his lack of being able to take action and choose, it was leading to more death thanks to Aogiri and also the death of Hinami's mother. So with that, we got white haired Kaneki, one that was instantly more violent and cold. A more minor instance would be when Kaneki started cannibalizing and became his psychotic, violent, half kakuja state, he started making insane ramblings about his mother among other things. Finally in Tokyo Ghoul: RE, when Haise gives into Kaneki and gains his memories back, this resulted in him remembering that his mother used to abuse him. When Haise gave in, going to sleep and letting Kaneki gain control of his body again, it led to the coldest, most violent persona yet, The Black Reaper. It is fascinating how much Kaneki’s mental state can tie into memories of his mother. I love the foreshadowing we can get of that just from a simple book description in the very first chapter.

   I think if one is a fan of anime and manga, it is worth checking out Tokyo Ghoul for a dark, fascinating, well written, beautiful story. If you don’t like manga, you can check out the anime though it would be for a much more condensed version of the story, resulting in an incomplete, not as good experience. With well written characters that, despite a supernatural setting, have relatable, realistic issues, there is sure to be a character for everyone to latch onto. Currently, the manga series and anime are both complete, and the second live action movie is coming out this year. If you want to take the opportunity to check out Tokyo Ghoul, this might be the perfect chance to sink your teeth into it, you won’t be disappointed.