Tokyo Ghoul: Recommending or Not?

Tokyo Ghoul Neon Sign - Anime Neon Sign - Polaris Sign

Out of the highest-grossing seinen gore manga of the century, Tokyo Ghoul is way above its competition and for an honest reason: it’s a story that has earned the love and loyalty of its audience.

This work has been written and drawn by Sui Ishida, a young writer who emerged in 2010 together with his first project and has gained worldwide recognition within the medium in precisely one decade, which works to point out what proportion he has evolved in such little time. He's employed with great publishers like Sueisha and Norma, and has also managed to get the variation of his work with the Pierrot Co studio, accountable for the anime adaptation of world famous manga and anime, Naruto, Bleach and Black Clover and etc.

The team behind Tokyo Ghoul has done a wonderful job in terms of storytelling. It’s a plot that's very unpredictable, with an ideal narrative and also the circumstances in each story are developed in perfect synchrony with the plot.

What is Tokyo Ghoul?

Tokyo Ghoul is about during a world dominated by two races: the humans and also the ghouls. Ghouls are creatures with human form, bodies with high healing abilities and supernatural powers. These make them almost unbreakable. Everything could go well, but ghouls are the natural predators of humans and these, being the predominant race, search out ghouls, while they eat them a bit like a delicious pizza.

The ghoul nature is pretty simple. They're hungry. Human food makes them sick and their only source of nutrients is fresh people meat.

The story begins with Kaneki Ken, a fairly nerdy college boy who meets a cute girl at a cafe. He considers himself very lucky when she agrees to travel out with him; yet, his luck ends when the girl takes him to a dark alley where she begins to eat him without mercy.

However, unexpectedly, huge beams fall from a close-by building and crush the girl. Dying Kaneki is then transferred to the hospital, where the girl's organs are transplanted to him, turning him within the first hybrid human.

Although it may well be a standard story between humans and demons, the fact is that there's no good or bad on either side; only people wanting to survive, protect their beloved and avenge people who have lost.

How is the Manga?

The universe created by Ishida in Tokyo Ghoul is totally unique, with a shade of brutality that even the most effective censors haven’t been able to block. There are 2 complete seasons of 14 and 16 volumes respectively while the anime adaptation with 3 seasons of 48 episodes and a couple of OVAs that developed unforgettable secondary characters throughout the story.

What i prefer most about this work is that, from the start, nobody knows what is going to happen. It’s not the everyday fantasy story during which the protagonist develops his skills and becomes a hero for society. On the contrary, Kaneki goes from being a tasteless boy to finish dementia. After being completely crazy, he becomes a fighter for justice and eventually, a bloodthirsty man.

The protagonist's path is totally unpredictable and cruel. The manga gives the opposite characters a formidable personality, connecting the past of every one to the plot. It greatly avoid to have sudden characters, coming out of nowhere, popping out to say hi and beat me. No matter what the character is, if Ishida wants to position it within the foreground of importance for multiple volumes, he is willing to do it which makes this work so interesting and diverse.

What about the animation?

This Tokyo Ghoul project being the creator’s first work, the inexperience in drawing within the first volumes of the manga is notable. Nevertheless, as he progresses, his style is refined and becomes rather more appealing. There gets to some points like the climax of the story loses its visual quality, but immediately recovers it to create greater impact. Besides, it happens just the same ways during the second season of the Tokyo Ghoul: re manga.

On the contrary, we can only appreciate when it comes to the animation of the anime. The drawings matches perfectly with the plots as they are carefully made, choosing perfect colors for every painting and maintaining a 90s anime style.

The battles are also fine developed, both within the manga and the anime. Battles with enviable combat scenes are not confusing at all but specific. Being a gore work, there's blood, mutilations and nibbles everywhere; but all logically done, and at the proper moments.

Recommending or not?

I consider Tokyo Ghoul a mirror showing of our lowest passions. The unexpected is always there, with characters that fluctuate in personality and circumstances that exploit their maximum potential. The 2 races involved within the story show their light and dark in detail; making the foremost ruthless of ghouls compete with the foremost insane human.

Another of my favorite aspects is that the protagonist. I felt bored to death with his simplicity and hoping to see him becoming strong immediately in the beginning. Though it came soon enough, it took too much pain out of expectation. I would wish him staying the same as simple as he can be but even the real world is not treating us like fantasies, so.....just keep going.

Tokyo Ghoul could be a production that i might certainly enjoy several times. It is so neat and tidy without anything unnecessary. Despite the disagreement and even dismissal of the anime or the second season by some of the fans, I appreciate a lot the determination of Ishida as he did not just follow what some of the fans want, but his originality.

Again, I, for sure, recommend Tokyo Ghoul, but only the manga, not the anime. If you have similar thoughts or other opinions, feel free to share and discuss with us.