Tokyo Ghoul #1-6

Tokyo Ghoul #1-6

Originally released in 2011

Written by Sui Ishida

Art by Sui Ishida

I regularly play a game called Dead By Daylight, and when they added DLC based on Tokyo Ghoul, I read the first chapter to see what it was like. I haven't read anything of it since, so I'm taking a deeper dive today.

As the title suggests, the series takes place in Tokyo and involves Ghouls, flesh-eating monsters that are akin to vampires in that they can pass as human. A little surprisingly, their existence is common knowledge, with experts on the subject going on TV to inform the public about them. (The expert is so smug that I'm tempted to believe that he's secretly a Ghoul himself)

Ken Kaneki is a shy bookish young man who has a crush on a girl that goes to a specific cafe.  A chance conversation leads to her agreeing to go on a date with him, and she's seemingly nervous about the rise of Ghoul attacks in the area.

As it turns out, she has nothing to worry about, because she's the Ghoul in question.  In her eagerness to eat Kaneki (where the double entendre is played up as much as possible), she loses track of her surroundings and is crushed by a girder.  Badly injured, Kaneki has to undergo a kidney transplant, with the Ghoul's kidneys being transplanted.

This turns him into a part-Ghoul, with one eye turning black whenever that side takes over to serve as a visual that the transformation is not complete. This comes with almost all food tasting disgusting along with a craving for human flesh, though through experimentation (by trying just about every kind of food that he has), he discovers that he can subsist on coffee or water. (Sprinkling coffee beans on other foods doesn't work, though)

At this point, it feels like every single person that he bumps into (aside from his best friend, apparently) is secretly a Ghoul in disguise. The woman who works at the cafe, the owner of the cafe, a person that he bumps into while buying coffee at a convenience store...

Kaneki's condition is definitely a disturbing one, with him fighting against his urges with all of his determination. However, he does come across as being insensitive towards the people who are trying to help him (even if their method of help isn't one that he's a fan of); it would be like if someone found out that they're a mutant, only to refer to the X-Men as "muties" when they come to help the person.

Ken, now wearing an eyepatch, tries to return to some semblance of a normal life, but it's easier said than done. He's glancing at other people eating almost enviously, and he feels like he doesn't fit in with either humans or Ghouls, terrified of what will happen if his childhood friend Hide finds out the truth.

I'm curious to see where the series goes, as my experience with horror manga is limited and I'm curious about the tone of it going forward. (If Hide is going to survive, for example, or be turned into a Ghoul; I'm guessing he won't become a Ghoul since that would mean that virtually every major/named character is one)