Here’s my take after reading 144 dark and melancholic chapters of Tokyo Ghoul by Sui Ishida.
I was a little bit hesitant to read Tokyo Ghoul at first because I watched around 2 or 3 episodes of the anime and at that time I was looking for a similar tone of the story as the masterpiece Kiseiju (Parasyte) by Hitoshi Iwaaki.
So to make the long story short, the anime fell short of my expectations so I had to drop it. Then after more than a year, I decided to give Tokyo Ghouls manga a chance and it did not disappoint.
Tokyo Ghoul is a story that revolves around the timid bookworm Ken Kaneki who was trapped in between the world of humans and the world of ghouls after being lured by the ghoul Rize to be one of her “meals”. Everything goes wrong and it ends up with Rize dying and Ken being alive.
The main narrative of the story in my opinion is about Ken and his metamorphosis from humanity to monstrosity, and the struggle, doubt, and confusion he undergoes in the process.
And this narrative is encased and adorned by its supernatural ghoul universe, lore, and abilities.
Art-wise, the manga was drawn in a dark semi-gothic grunge style that perfectly matches the setting of the story which gives you a gloomy melancholic feeling. I believe that this was intentionally done to immerse you more in their world.
Speaking of the characters, there are a lot of characters that inhabit the world of Tokyo Ghoul: We have the Doves which are similar to ghoul hunters/police, we have the ghouls and the different ghoul group organizations, hybrids, etc.
But what I can say in general is that the main characters in the story are strategically fleshed out through the story which makes you feel that you are growing with the character, especially with the protagonist Ken so it is worth investing in the characters emotionally as it would not disappoint.
There are a lot of shonen-type battles in the story that showcase the supernatural abilities of the ghouls as well as the counter arsenal of the doves.
What I like the most is it balances out the drama and action quite well although I did not enjoy the parts that had a ton of dialogue that I thought was not that necessary to move the plot and just make the story hang a bit.
It’s not a masterpiece but! I would like to emphasize that Tokyo Ghoul is an ongoing story that has the potential to grow into a well-established manga like Hunter x Hunter or One Piece knowing that Tokyo Ghoul RE is still going strong with 147 chapters published.
So with that said, I would give Tokyo Ghoul my manga review rating of 9 black goat eggs out of 10!
