Tokyo Ghoul

Tokyo Ghoul (Japanese: 東京喰種トーキョーグール, Hepburn: Tōkyō Gūru) is a Japanese manga series by Sui Ishida. It was serialized in Shueisha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Jump between September 2011 and September 2014 and has been collected in fourteen tankōbon volumes as of August 2014. A sequel titled Tokyo Ghoul:re began serialization in the same magazine in October 2014 and a prequel titled Tokyo Ghoul: JACK ran online on Jump Live.

A 12-episode anime television series adaptation by studio Pierrot aired on Tokyo MX between July and September 2014. A 12-episode second season, Tokyo Ghoul √A, which follows an original story, began airing on January 8, 2015 and concluded on March 26, 2015. In North America, Viz Media is publishing the manga while Funimation has licensed the anime series for streaming and home video distribution. The anime was obtained by Madman Entertainment for digital distribution in Australia and New Zealand.

Setting

Tokyo Ghoul is set in an alternate reality where ghouls, individuals who can only survive by eating human flesh, live among the normal humans in secret, hiding their true nature to evade pursuit from the authorities. Including enhanced speed and senses, a regular ghoul is several times stronger than a normal human and have at least one special predatory organ called a "Kagune", which they can manifest and use as a weapon during combat. Another distinctive trait of a ghoul is that when they are excited, the color of their sclera of both eyes turning black and their irises red, or in only one eye in the case of a half-ghoul. A half-ghoul can either be born naturally as a ghoul and a human's offspring, or artificially created by transplanting some ghoul organs into a human. In both cases, a half-ghoul is usually much stronger than a pure-blood ghoul.

Plot

The story follows Ken Kaneki, a college student who barely survives a deadly encounter with Rize Kamishiro, his date who reveals herself as a ghoul, and is taken to the hospital in critical condition. After recovering, Kaneki discovers that somehow he underwent a surgery that transformed him into a half-ghoul by transferring some of Rize's organs into his body, as she died when she attacked him, and just like them, he must consume human flesh to survive as well. With no one else to turn to, he is taken in by the ghouls who manage the coffee shop "Anteiku", who teach him to deal with his new life as a half-human/half-ghoul, including interacting with ghoul society and its conflicting factions, while striving to keep his identity secret from other humans.^[2]

The prequel series Tokyo Ghoul: JACK follows the youths of Kishō Arima and Taishi Fura, two characters from the main series who become acquainted when they join forces to investigate the death of Taishi's friend by the hands of a ghoul, leading to Taishi eventually following Arima's path and joining the CCG (Commission of Counter Ghoul), the federal agency tasked into dealing with crimes related to ghouls as well.

The sequel series Tokyo Ghoul:re follows an amnesiac Kaneki under the new identity of Haise Sasaki, the leader of a special team of CCG investigators called "Quinx Squad", that underwent a similar procedure as his, allowing them to obtain the special abilities of Ghouls in order to fight them, but still being able to live as normal humans.

Characters

Main characters

Ken Kaneki (金木 研, Kaneki Ken)

Voiced by: Natsuki Hanae^[3][4] (Japanese), Austin Tindle^[5] (English)

The main protagonist of the story, he is an 18-year-old university freshman that receives an organ transplant from Rize, who was trying to kill him before she was struck by a fallen I-beam and seemingly killed. After the operation he develops ghoul-like tendencies and characteristics, and his rationality begins to wane. As one that is now both ghoul and human he struggles to keep his ghoul identity secret, always fighting against his ghoul side while trying to continue to live like a normal human. He later works as a waiter for Anteiku under Yoshimura's guidance. After his fight with Amon he gains the name "Eye Patch" because of his mask's design and becomes somewhat famous after a ghoul saw him defeating the investigator. He loves to read and is normally quiet and reserved but can be calculating when fighting. He has a bad trait of easily trusting strangers which sometimes puts him in life threatening situations. After being kidnapped by the ghoul run organization known as Aogiri Tree, he is mercilessly tortured by a sadistic ghoul Yakumo Oomori and later develops similar traits to his torturer. While being tortured he has hallucinations of Rize as she mocks him about his mother which leads to him finally embracing his inner ghoul. His view on strength changes and he goes on a power hungry path by cannibalizing other ghouls in order to get stronger. The continued cannibalization led him to become a half kakuja, where he develops a centipede shaped kagune and gains the alias "Centipede". After the incident at Kanou Lab, Kaneki begins to regret this path and begins reflecting on his actions and motives.

After being defeated and captured by Arima, Ken loses his memories and is given the new identity of Haise Sasaki (佐々木 琲世, Sasaki Haise), member and ace of the Mado Squad, and mentor of the Quinx Squad, a special unit composed of artificial ghouls. Despite having a new identity, Haise still retains some traits from his former self, like the love for reading and the determination to protect his companions with his life. When pressured to the limit, Haise has glimpses of his former self and unlocks his powers as a ghoul, forcing the CCG to strike him with RC suppressors to calm him down. Haise usually has an internal conflict with his past self, fearing that one day he would lose his current life with all his new friends and personality, which intensifies as he obtains more information about his former life until the raid at the Tsukiyama Headquarters, when he finally regains his memories and accepts his identity as Kaneki, not only showing a ruthless demeanor when facing his enemies, but a cold attitude towards his current and former allies as well. Haise's achievements allow him to quickly climb among the CCG's ranks, being promoted to First Class after the raid at the human auction and receiving a special promotion to Associate Special Class after single-handedly driving away the One-Eyed Owl during the raid at the Tsukiyama Headquarters, becoming known as the Black Reaper (黒の死神, Kuro no Shinigami).

Kishō Arima (有馬 貴将, Arima Kishō)

Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa^[4] (Japanese), Alex Organ (English)

The protagonist of Tokyo Ghoul: JACK and supporting character in Tokyo Ghoul and Tokyo Ghoul:re, he is a famed Special Class Ghoul Investigator known as the CCG's Reaper (CCGの死神, CCG no Shinigami). He is always seen wearing his glasses, with his face kept in an apathetic expression, rarely showing any emotion if not at all. Arima was hailed as a genius within the CCG, stemming from his affiliation with the organization since his teens and quickly rising to the top. Fighting with multiple quinques, he is strong enough to defeat Ghouls that are too strong to be defeated by anyone else in the force. After defeating Ken, he takes him under his guard while he's under the new identity of Haise Sasaki and becomes his mentor, with orders to kill him should he go out of control.

Taishi Fura (富良 太志, Fura Taishi)

Voiced by: Ryōhei Kimura

The other protagonist of Tokyo Ghoul: JACK, Taishi is a First Class Ghoul Investigator. Fura, as a teenager, attended Seishin Senior Highschool along with Arima. Though he never liked school, he usually went shopping and did all the housework, since his mother never did. He had two childhood friends; Ryō, with whom he played baseball and Aki, a girl whom he had a crush on. When Ryō associated himself with a gang of bikers, this led to his death, as he was stabbed by the Kagune of a killer ghoul, "Lantern," whom Arima was currently investigating. Witnessing his friend's tragic death, Fura grew heated for vengeance, and pleaded with Arima to help with his investigation, wanting to know about ghouls right away. Thus, he eventually undertook the career of Ghoul Investigation. Fura had a minor appearance in Tokyo Ghoul and has appeared in Tokyo Ghoul:re.

Ghouls

Tōka Kirishima (霧嶋 董香, Kirishima Tōka)

Voiced by: Sora Amamiya^[3][4] (Japanese), Brina Palencia^[5] (English)

An eighteen-year-old ghoul of the 20th ward, Tōka works part-time as a waitress in Anteiku and attends high school. She blends in well with human society and believes that keeping one's ghoul identity is of top most priority. She is sometimes vindictive and is usually a very rash and reckless individual with violent tendencies, stemming from the fugitive life she had to live after CCG killed her father when she was very young. She later becomes Ken's training partner, and their movements become in sync when fighting as a team. She is a good fighter and is more than a match for either Shū Tsukiyama or Nishiki Nishio on even grounds, though not nearly as strong as Renji. She later comes to be known as "Rabbit" after her attack on some investigators, killing one of them in the process. She takes up the role as Hinami's guardian after her parents are killed by investigators. Tōka has demonstrated that she has good resolve and is very self-aware. After killing an investigator in revenge for Hinami's mother death she comments on how a murderer like herself should die, knowing that murder for revenge is wrong. In spite of her overall harsh personality she can be very kind and helpful and takes her job as a part of the Anteiku stability team very seriously, helping ghouls that can't help themselves. She also has a younger brother that has joined Aogiri Tree. She appears to have Ornithophobia. After the time-skip, she reappears running a new coffee shop called ":re" with Renji, and is fully aware of Kaneki's new identity, but is not willing to force him to remember his past, although she admits that she is ready to support him should it happens and he decides to reunite with her.

Rize Kamishiro (神代 利世, Kamishiro Rize)

Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa^[3][4] (Japanese), Monica Rial^[5] (English)

Rize is a girl with glasses that Ken encounters, who tries to eat him after luring him out on a date with her. Parts of her body are transplanted into Ken after she is struck by fallen iron construction parts. Before the construction incident Rize was a very powerful, fearless and merciless ghoul, often preventing other ghouls from hunting in areas she stole from them. She came to the 20th ward, after wreaking havoc in the 11th ward attracting the CCG Investigators to it. Before leaving she killed the ghouls that were in charge and caused a shift in power. She is known as the "Binge Eater" by investigators and like Ken she was very fond of reading. Originally believed to be killed during her encounter with Ken, later it is revealed that she is still alive and her body was used to produce materials for Ghoul/Human experiments by Dr. Kanō, and Ken's transformation into a ghoul was the result of one of them.

Shū Tsukiyama (月山 習, Tsukiyama Shū)

Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano^[3][4] (Japanese), J. Michael Tatum^[5] (English)

He's one of the most troublesome ghouls of the 20th ward to the point where even some ghouls wouldn't get involved with him. He is known as the "Gourmet" by investigators and is one of the most difficult ghouls to capture, specially because he hails from a powerful and rich family of ghouls with connections in the government. He is a part of the "Ghoul Restaurant" under the alias MM. He is a very powerful, cunning, smug, and fashionable ghoul and was also an acquaintance of Rize. Like both Ken and Rize he is an avid reader. He sometimes says words or phrases in either English, Spanish, French or Italian and develops an obsession for Ken, because of his seemingly unique quality of being human and ghoul. He is very athletic and proficient in martial arts. After being apart of Kaneki's team post-Aogiri he considers himself Kaneki's best friend, whether he still sees Kaneki as food or really views him as a friend is not clear. After the time-skip, Shū gets devastated with Kaneki's disappearance until he is informed of his new identity as Haise and starts conspiring to have him remember his past, until his family's secret is exposed and his entire clan is put on the CCG's hit list.

Yoshimura (芳村)

Voiced by: Takayuki Sugo^[3][4] (Japanese), Sean Hennigan^[6] (English)

The manager of Anteiku, also known as The One Eyed Owl. He is a very kind and reasonable ghoul that provides aid and food to ghouls that are incapable of hunting on their own like Ken and Hinami. He takes Ken in after he becomes a half-ghoul and teaches him the ways in which ghouls can blend in with humans. He also has a mysterious past related to Aogiri and an elusive organization known as V. After Anteiku's secret is exposed and the place is raided by the CCG, he is captured by his daughter, Eto (Takatsuki Sen), who is the only known natural born half-ghoul and part of the Aogiri Tree.

Hinami Fueguchi (笛口 雛実, Fueguchi Hinami)

Voiced by: Sumire Morohoshi^[3][4] (Japanese), Lara Woodhull^[5] (English)

Hinami is a 13 to 14-year-old ghoul that came to the 20th ward with her mother after her father was killed by ghoul investigators. She is very shy and yearns for knowledge as she isn't allowed to go to school. She meets Ken in Anteiku and becomes attached to him, seeing him as an older brother after he helps her with learning Kanji. She begins living with Tōka after her mother is killed by Kureo Mado, a senior CCG investigator. She enjoys books from one of Ken's favorite authors- Takatsuki Sen (Eto) and loves learning new things. She is shown to have a heightened sense of smell, even more powerful than regular ghouls. In the sequel she reappears as part of Aogiri Tree, and once captured by the CCG, she is put under Haise's care by his request, which is a temporary situation, as Akira intends to have Hinami executed to enact revenge for her father's death.

Nishiki Nishio (西尾 錦, Nishio Nishiki)

Voiced by: Shintarō Asanuma^[3][4] (Japanese), Eric Vale^[5] (English)

A ghoul that is a second year student that attends the same university as Ken. He is arrogant and hates it whenever his juniors talk back to him. He is very territorial and is hostile to other ghouls that invade his space. His hunting grounds were stolen from him by Rize after a fight which he lost and he tries to reclaim it after her death, but is stopped by Tōka. He is a loner and fairly good fighter that even small groups of ghouls tend to avoid. Like Tōka, he blends in well with human society, he even has a human girlfriend Nishino Kimi and is well known at the university. After the time skip, he becomes a powerful S~rank ghoul known as "Serpent", and goes around hunting down and killing CCG investigators as well as other ghouls. He seems to have a great dislike towards both CCG and Aogiri Tree commenting that they are the same and disgusting for creating "fake" ghouls.

Renji Yomo (四方 蓮示, Yomo Renji)

Voiced by: Yūichi Nakamura^[3] (Japanese), Phil Parsons^[7] (English)

Renji is quiet and reserved and usually helps Yoshimura out by collecting food for Anteiku. Before working behind the scenes for Anteiku, he used to have very violent tendencies much like how Tōka is now and would often fight with Uta making the 4th ward uninhabitable. He is known to CCG as "Raven" due to his mask resembling the bird. Regardless of his cold demeanor he does genuinely care about those around him. He is good friends with Uta and Itori. He is later seen again with Tōka apart of a new coffee shop named :re.

Uta (ウタ)

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai^[3] (Japanese), Aaron Roberts^[7] (English)

A ghoul that owns Hysy ArtMask Studio, in the 4th ward, he makes masks for both ghoul and human customers alike. Despite his appearance he is a very calm ghoul, and speaks very kindly, he is also close friends with Renji Yomo and Itori. He is known to CCG as "No Face", because of his mask's design. In the past he would often get into fights with Yomo and this caused the 4th ward to become uninhabitable. He is later revealed to be a part of the Clowns, a mysterious group responsible for the accident that led to Kaneki receiving Rize's organs, having become friends with Kaneki simply so that he could observe him. He and his crew later appear in the sequel as the proprietors of an auction for wealthy Ghouls to buy humans which is later broken up by the CCG.

Commission of Counter Ghoul (CCG)

Kōtarō Amon (亜門 鋼太朗, Amon Kōtarō)

Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi^[3][4] (Japanese), Mike McFarland^[5] (English)

He's a Rank 1 Anti-Ghoul Investigator and was a partner of Kureo Mado up until his death which was when his partner was switched to Akira Mado up until he disappeared. When he was a little boy he used to live in an orphanage managed by the priest, Donato Porpora, until he found out that he was a ghoul killing his friends. He has a very strong sense of justice and believes that he must make this 'Wrong World' right by killing the ghouls whose murders create orphans, he is very dedicated to his job and begins to work even harder after Kureo is killed. He fought Ken but he lost; however, Ken let him go during their first encounter. Despite his initial hatred towards ghouls Amon has shown to be interested in Kaneki’s story and even after getting badly injured and losing his arm to Kaneki when they last meet, he refuses to die, so that Kaneki would not be prosecuted. After the events of the first manga, he was declared KIA after facing Tatara in battle when the Aogiri Tree came while the CCG fought against the One Eyed Owl. His true fate remains a mystery.

Hideyoshi Nagachika (永近 英良, Nagachika Hideyoshi)

Voiced by: Toshiyuki Toyonaga^[3][4] (Japanese), Clifford Chapin^[5] (English)

Hideyoshi is Ken's best friend, nicknamed "Hide". He has a sharp intuition, so much so that while Ken tried to keep his ghoul identity hidden from him, Hideyoshi seemed to know something is weird about his best friend. Hide has proven to be intelligent and very observant, even figuring out that Rabbit (Tōka) was not Hinami like what CCG had first thought. He will also go to extreme lengths for those he cares about, like venturing to Aogiri's hideout and putting a tracking device on the torturous Yamori. After Ken disappeared, Hideyoshi joined the Anti-Ghoul forces in order to learn about his whereabouts, eventually being promoted to Rookie Investigator and partnered with Kōtarō and Akira. He eventually reunites with Ken and reveals to him that he knows he is EyePatch, getting himself seriously injured during the raid of Anteiku, and his fate unknown since then. There is a hoaxe that Ishida plans of making Hideyoshi a half ghoul just like Kaneki.

Kureo Mado (真戸 呉緒, Mado Kureo)

Voiced by: Tōru Ōkawa^[4] (Japanese), Kenny Green (English)

He was an Anti-Ghoul Investigator with the rank of Senior Investigator and worked with Kōtarō to try to achieve his goal. A very experienced and ruthless fighter, he was more than a challenge even for the physically superior ghoul and always trusted his intuition, which was never wrong. His ultimate downfall came from the fact that he was obsessed with quinques (weapons made from the ghouls' kagune) and while fighting Tōka and Hinami he let his guard down by his fascination with the latter, being killed by them. His daughter, Akira worked with his partner Kōtarō Amon after his death. His goal was to get revenge on the "One-eyed Owl" ghoul for killing his wife.

Akira Mado (真戸 暁, Mado Akira)

Voiced by: Asami Seto (Japanese), Morgan Garrett (English)

Kureo's daughter and a Ghoul Investigator like him, she became Kōtarō's partner after her father's death. She is an intelligent woman and seems to be always serious about work and her daily routine in general. Like her father, she has deep insight and intuition that helps her in investigation and determining what is going on around her while on the field. After Kōtarō was declared KIA, she became Haise's team leader and the overseer of the Quinx Squad. Despite having high regards for Haise, she is wary of his closeness with Hinami, as she is eager to kill her to enact revenge for her father.

Jūzō Suzuya (鈴屋 什造, Suzuya Jūzō)

Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya^[4] (Japanese), Maxey Whitehead (English)

A young boy with an androgynous appearance. He was raised by a ghoul called Big Madam until he was taken in by the CCG. He was promoted to a ranked 2 investigator within a year, indicating that he's very capable of exterminating ghouls. Jūzō is very independent and tends to not cooperate with his fellow comrades and superiors. His profiles says he likes candy, his Mama (the ghoul that raised him) and ghoul hunting. His behavior is very childish and carefree and he his often seen talking with himself; he calls his other self Rei (his former name). In Tokyo Ghoul:re, Jūzō rises further in the CCG's ranks and becomes leader of his own squad, having matured more thanks to Shinohara and become a responsible, if eccentric, adult. Juuzou is promoted to Special Class at the age of 22, the first to reach the rank that young since Arima.

Yukinori Shinohara (篠原 幸紀, Shinohara Yukinori)

Voiced by: Yutaka Nakano^[4] (Japanese), Brandon Potter (English)

A Special Class Ghoul Investigator. He instructed Amon at the CCG Academy and later becomes Jūzō's mentor. His quinque is a large butcher knife called the Demon Yamada 1. He survives the fight with The Owl and Eto, but his injuries are so severe that he ends up in a vegetative state.

Seidō Takizawa (滝澤 政道, Takizawa Seidō)

Voiced by: Shinnosuke Tachibana^[4] (Japanese), Micah Solusod (English)

A Rank 2 Ghoul Investigator that was Akira's classmate and rival at the Academy. Deeply insecure, he had a tendency to bicker with Akira or Jūzō because of their superior abilities. He deeply admired Amon and defied orders out of concern for his safety, leading him into an ambush by members of Aogiri. He was mortally wounded by Noro, and declared KIA. In Tokyo Ghoul:re, he returns as a major antagonist after being turned into an insane One-Eyed Ghoul by Aogiri. Takizawa's deranged appearance and mindset are made to mirror Ken's, and have made him a manifestation of Haise's fears of what he could one day become should he ever regain his memories.

Kōsuke Hōji (法寺 項介, Hōji Kōsuke)

Voiced by: Shō Hayami (Japanese), Wyn Delano (English)

An Associate Special Class Investigator, and partner of Takizawa. He gained considerable fame for his exploits against the Clown Gang, and was recruited to work in China for some time. During this time, he eliminated a major Chinese gang and gained the hatred of Tatara.

Kuki Urie (瓜江 久生, Urie Kuki)

A Rank 2 Ghoul Investigator who was the Squad Leader of the Quinx Squad until he was replaced with Ginshi, but he regains the post after Ginshi's death. Kuki often displays himself as a cool-headed individual, but is reckless and vicious when confronting Ghouls, as he hates them with a passion, as his father was a special class investigator in charge of the S3 squad, who ordered his team members to retreat while he stayed to fight the One-Eyed Owl to the death. This hate also extended to Haise after he discovered that he is a half-ghoul instead of just a Quinx. He constantly acts reckless when facing ghouls to gain credit from his superiors; he wishes to be the best ghoul investigator ever. After the battle at the auction, he is promoted to Rank 1. Initially he was cold towards his comrades and did not care for them, seeing them as a nuisance and as tools for him to use to gain promotion. His obsession with promotion drives him throughout earlier parts of :Re. However after going berserk and nearly killing Mutsuki he slowly becomes less obsessed and starts to care more about his comrades, specially after Shirazu's death.

Ginshi Shirazu (不知 吟士, Shirazu Ginshi)

A Rank 3 Ghoul Investigator and the Squad Leader of the Quinx Squad. Like most of his teammates, Ginshi is shown to have great respect for Haise. However, this doesn’t stop him from going out of his way to execute missions without Sasaki’s permission, and so he is constantly seen accompanying Urie, on dangerous assignments without support. His primary motive for joining the Quinx Squad is to get fast money to treat his sister, who is ill with a rare disease, but his determination to help others earns him Haise's respect, to the point of nominating him the new leader. After the battle at the auction, he is promoted to Rank 2, but during the ambush at the Tsukiyama Headquarters, he dies from his wounds after confronting and killing Noro from the Aogiri Tree. His body is later stolen by the Aogiri Tree and given to Dr. Kanō for the sake of his research.

Tōru Mutsuki (六月 透, Mutsuki Tōru)

A Rank 3 Ghoul Investigator, Tōru was assigned female at birth, but after losing his family to the Ghouls, requests the CCG to let him live as a man, thus it is unknown if Tōru is his birth name or a chosen one. Tōru struggles to keep his one eyed kakugan under control and has a recurring case of Anemia. Ironically, he feels repulsed when he comes in contact with blood. Despite that, he is the most diligent and reliable member of the team. After the battle at the auction, Tōru receives a double promotion to Rank 1, for putting himself in dire risk in order to grant the success of the operation. After Ginshi's death, Tōru leaves the Quinx squad and uses his enhanced sense of smell to assist with other squad's operations.

Saiko Yonebayashi (米林 才子, Yonebayashi Saiko)

A Rank 3 Ghoul Investigator, Saiko dislikes having to work, as she prefers having a peaceful and carefree life, playing video games and eating junk food excessively. She often oversleeps, which earns her the absence from most missions. She has the strongest kagune among the Quinxes but she doesn't use it often because it wears her out quickly, thus Haise only sends her in combat after the others wear out the enemy enough for her to deal the decisive blow. After the battle at the auction, she is promoted to Rank 2 and after Shirazu's death, becomes vice-captain of the Quinx squad.

Aogiri Tree

Eto Yoshimura (芳村 エト, Yoshimura Eto)

Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto^[4] (Japanese), Lindsay Seidel (English)

The founder and leader of Aogiri, she is the half-human daughter of Yoshimura, and the infamous Ghoul known as the One-Eyed Owl (隻眼の梟, Sekigan no Fukurō). When she is not working with Aogiri, she lives under the human identity of Sen Takatsuki (高槻 泉, Takatsuki Sen), the author of Kaneki's favorite horror novels.

Tatara (タタラ)

Voiced by: Koji Yusa (Japanese), Christopher Wehkamp (English)

The Second-in-Command of Aogiri, a cruel and cunning Ghoul with former ties to a group of ghouls known as Chi She Lian, originating in mainland China.

Noro (ノロ)

A strange Ghoul noted for his enormous appetite and complete silence, he is almost always with Tatara. He possesses an unusual level of regeneration, allowing him to reattach his upper body when sliced in half. He is finally destroyed by a suicide attack from Shirazu during the raid on the Tsukiyama Headquarters, just to be revealed as nothing but a corpse, belonging to the former surrogate parent of Eto, under the control of her detachable kagune, which is retrieved by the CCG and converted into Urie's new Quinque.

Yakumo Oomori (大守 八雲, Oomori Yakumo) / Yamori (ヤモリ, lit. Gecko)

Voiced by: Rintarō Nishi^[4] (Japanese), Christopher Sabat (English)

A deranged Executive of Aogiri, nicknamed "Jason" due to his brutality and habit of wearing a hockey mask. While imprisoned by CCG in the past, he was tortured by the point of insanity and developed a love of torturing others. He was known as a serial cannibal, and targeted other Ghouls to torture and devour. Yamori tricked Kaneki into surrendering to him in exchange for sparing hostages, and tortured him for 10 days straight. After breaking free, Kaneki defeated him and devoured his kagune before leaving him to die. He was found and killed by Jūzō Suzuya, and turned into Jūzō's Quinque, "Jūzō's Jason".

Ayato Kirishima (霧嶋 絢都, Kirshima Ayato)

Voiced by: Yūki Kaji^[4] (Japanese), Todd Haberkorn (English)

The youngest Executive of Aogiri, and the younger brother of Tōka. He is a troubled and rebellious teenager, and resents his sister's choice to live among humans. However, Kaneki suggests that his true reason for joining Aogiri is to protect his sister from afar. Later in the series, he adopts the identity of Black Rabbit and takes credit for his sister's crimes. He also becomes Hinami's partner after she joins the organization.

Naki (ナキ)

Voiced by: Hiro Shimono^[4] (Japanese), Josh Grelle (English)

A member of Aogiri, that served as Yamori's right-hand man. He is emotionally unstable and extremely childlike, with complete devotion to his late boss. In the sequel, after Yamori has been killed, he has become an Executive of Aogiri.

Akihiro Kanou (嘉納 明博, Kanō Akihiro)

Voiced by: Kenji Nomura^[4] (Japanese), Mark Stoddard (English)

The only human among the Aogiri's top members, Akihiro was the surgeon who transformed Kaneki into a half-ghoul. He used to perform illegal experiments with humans and ghouls in secret using Rize's body as a source of material until drawing the attention of Aogiri. Since then he continues his research, now sponsored by the organization with a yet unknown objective.

Media

Manga

Tokyo Ghoul started as a manga series, written and drawn by Sui Ishida. It began serialization in 2011's 41st issue of Weekly Young Jump, published by Shueisha on September 8, 2011,^[8] and the final chapter appeared in 2014's 42nd issue, released on September 18, 2014.^[9][10] The series has been collected in fourteen tankōbon volumes, released under Shueisha's Young Jump Comics imprint between February 17, 2012,^[11] and October 17, 2014.^[12] The series has been licensed for an English release by Viz Media and the first volume was released on June 16, 2015.^[13]

In August 2013 a prequel spin off manga was released on Jump Live digital manga. The story spans 7 chapters and focuses on Arima Kishou and Taishi Fura 10 years before the events of Tokyo Ghoul. The manga features several characters from the main series including the above stated Arima Kishou, Taishi Fura and future key characters Itsuki Marude and Yakumo "Yamori" Oomori.

On October 17, 2014 a full color illustration book known as Tokyo Ghoul Zakki was released along with the 14th and final volume of the manga. Zakki includes all promotional images, Volume covers and unreleased concept art with commentary by the creator Sui Ishida.

A sequel titled Tokyo Ghoul:re began serialization in 2014's 46th issue of Weekly Young Jump, published on October 16, 2014.^[14] The series is set 2 years after the end of the original series and introduces a new set of characters.^[15]

Light novels

Three light novels have been released thus far and all are written by Shin Towada, with illustrations done by series creator Sui Ishida.

On June 19, 2013 Tokyo Ghoul: Hibi (東京喰種トーキョーグール［日々］, Tōkyō Gūru［Hibi］, Lit. Days) was released, Illustrations were done by the series creator Sui Ishida and written by Shin Towada and serves as sidestory/spin off that focuses on the daily lives of characters from the Tokyo Ghoul series .

Tokyo Ghoul: Kūhaku (東京喰種トーキョーグール［空白］, Tōkyō Gūru［Kūhaku］, Lit. Blank Space) was released on June 19, 2014 and fills in the 6 month time gap between volumes 8 and 9 of the first series.

The third novel Tokyo Ghoul: Sekijitsu (東京喰種トーキョーグール［昔日］, Tōkyō Gūru［Sekijitsu］, Lit. Old Days) was released on December 19, 2014. Sekijitsu takes place before the events of the main series and focuses on further backstory of certain Tokyo Ghoul characters, including Touka Kirishima, Ayato Kirishima and series protagonist Ken Kaneki.

Anime

A 12-episode anime television series adaptation by Pierrot aired on Tokyo MX between July 4 and September 19, 2014.^{[1][10][16][17]} It also aired on TVA, TVQ, TVO, AT-X and Dlife. The opening theme song is "unravel" by TK from Ling Tosite Sigure, and the ending theme is "Saints" (聖者たち, Seijatachi) performed by People In The Box. Funimation has licensed the anime series for streaming and home video distribution in North America.^[18] A second season, titled Tokyo Ghoul √A (root A) premiered in Japan on January 8, 2015.^[14][19] The opening theme song is "Incompetence" (無能, Munō) by österreich, while the ending theme is "The Seasons Die Out, One After Another" (季節は次々死んでいく, Kisetsu wa Tsugitsugi Shindeiku) by amazarashi.

Video games

A video game titled Tokyo Ghoul: Carnaval by Bandai Namco Games was released in Japan for Android smartphones on February 6, 2015^[20] and on February 9 for iOS.^[21] The player can build his or her team from a number of ghoul and investigator characters and explore a 3D map.^[22] Another video game titled Tokyo Ghoul: Jail for the PlayStation Vita console was released on October 1, 2015. It is set to introduce a new protagonist by the name of Rio, who will interact with characters from the anime/manga. The game was developed by Bandai Namco Games as well and is categorized as an adventure RPG where players will be able to explore Tokyo's 23 wards.^[23]

Reception

Tokyo Ghoul was the 27th best-selling manga series in Japan in 2013, with 1,666,348 estimated sales. As of January 2014, the manga had sold around 2.6 million copies.^[24] Tokyo Ghoul was the 4th best-selling manga series in Japan in 2014, with 6,946,203 copies sold.^[25] The whole original series sold over 12 million copies,^[26] while the sequel series, Tokyo Ghoul :re sold over 3.7 million copies in Japan during its debut year in 2015.^[27]

References

External links

• Tokyo Ghoul at Weekly Young Jump (Japanese)
• Official anime website (Japanese)
• Tokyo Ghoul (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia