It feels kind of weird to review a manga that I've already read. Especially since there is a lot more smaller details that you pick up. This review contains some spoilers till vol. 6. Since there is a shift in story after the Aogiri arc (which ends in volume 8). I will try to remain somewhat spoiler free but be warned.

Ghouls are creatures that look like human, Breathe like humans, Reproduce like ones but are not humans. They have overall physical superiority factor on top of having crazy abilities depending on what they are. However the reason they are exterminated in this society is because they need to eat human meat to survive. Our Protagonist, Kaneki gets wooed by Rize, a ghoul pretending to be human. However before he can get eaten, steel beams fall on her and she dies. Now her organs have been transplanted into Kaneki and Kaneki has become a half ghoul half human.

Kaneki has to get used to what it means to be a ghoul. Since Ghouls can't eat normal food they all taste like hot garbage. He realizes that he is gaining a massive hunger for Human meat, a rabbit hole he doesn't want to fall into. Throughout the series we see Kaneki get stronger by utilizing his Ghoul powers as well as he's demeanor changing due to his Ghoul's desires. He meets new friends, allies and realizing that his organ transplant may not have been a coincidence after all.

I really like this manga. The major aspect of the series that I like is the Dichotomy between Ghouls and the CCG. The CCG are basically an Anti-Ghoul, but they aren't monsters or typical villains. If anything they are the typical good guys. The Ghouls are the ones eating humans, They are trying to do anything to stop him. The person that shows this best is Amon who is Kaneki of the Doves (Specific Name for the Ghoul Exterminators). He represents The good of the Doves. He is what is humanizing the Doves whiles Kaneki is humanizing the Ghouls. They have a rivalry throughout the series. With Amon questioning the disposition of the Ghouls due to him. They have such a good relationship I really hope to see more of something like that in the sequel.

The action scenes of the series is fantastic, bloody, violent every 14 year olds dream. Edgy as hell but in an enjoyable way. The art just strengthens the OMPF moments and does such a good job of it. I've seen people mention that the action scenes are a little hard to follow. I wouldn't really say so. At least not on the level I would say "a little difficult".

The biggest bad of the series relatively is Arima. Which is the No. 1 Dove in the entire CCG. Top dog as it were. And Holy shit does it show. There is just chapters of the author just drawing this guy's dick and swinging it around. When this guy shows up The Ghouls run. That's how fucking intense it is.

The story however and how its revealed to me is the reason why you should read Tokyo Ghoul. It is one of a kind not because it has an original concept, but rather because it utilizes so well. Kaneki's transformation to a ghoul, his choice to what to do next, His mental capacity declining all these things are such a joy to watch. You feel his pain every chapter and its exhausting as it is incredible.

I'm a bit upset on some of the fights and some of the side characters ended up being sidelined. The series obviously also ends with a bunch of questions unanswered with a full intention to making a sequel, But its a relatively small thing considering the series as a whole. Kaneki becoming the Monster he was destined to become is what makes this series.

Tokyo ghoul is fantastic. I've noticed so many little details re reading the manga but even if you didn't you'd still enjoy the hell out of this manga. Addicting, crazy and full of twists and turns to keep you engaged. 8/10 Tokyo Ghoul is one of a kind.

... Last updated on April 19th, 2022, 7:35pm

+ story flows well and (with the exception of a few places) keeps you reading from start to finish
+ interesting story concept

- too cruel and bloody for my taste (explicit torture scenes, deaths, manipulation with bodies). There's quite a lot and I hated it
- poor character development (except for the MC, kinda) I was hoping to see more of Amon and MC interacting and seeing the world from each other's perspective, but the author kind of shoved that idea aside, pity
- nonexistent ending - I finished the manga and started reading the one-shot without even realizing that the main story (the one-shot is like AU) is over, that's how nonexistent the ending was

All in all, a pretty captivating story with a lot of potential, but stomach turning cruelty and poor ending. Would I recommend it? I don't know, give it a try (read 2 volumes) and if you think it's interesting, read on. Just keep on mind that the ending is quite disappointing.

Story: 9/10
Art: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Quality Polish Edition: 9/10
Enjoyment: 9/10
Overall: 9.0/10

>ktomp21 (Known status:Chap53)
"I’m enjoying it. Tokyo Ghoul is kind of a weird one for me because I’m a person that loves romance and have never really strayed outside of that except maybe Slice of Life and horror for me has always been something I’ve absolutely avoided but I decided to challenge myself and read something out of my element and surprisingly I’m enjoying it. So far I’m really liking the psychological aspect of it as Kaneki struggles in fitting in with the world of the ghouls"

>LordTwillyDillydum
About 50 chapters in and I'm not really feeling the hype yet. Its not bad by any means but I find the writing thus far to be pretty average. Despite being published in a seinen magazine it leans heavily on typical shonen tropes, just with more edge (I hate the overuse of the word "edgy" but its the best term to describe it thus far). Not really feeling any of the characters and the central thematic elements of the struggle against your nature and how every side in a conflict has their own perspective has been done better. After having series like <Berserk> and <Attack on Titan> under my belt I find the the worldbuilding of TG to be somewhat lacking and the darkness to be shallow. Good enough that I still plan on completing it but not good enough to stand out, 7/10.

... Last updated on September 30th, 2019, 7:45pm

Tokyo Ghoul starts off really strong with an interesting premise and awesome characters. The series gets progressively weaker in terms of story as the series goes on. The first part of the story focused quite heavily on tragedy and emotional aspects with the morality of ghouls and whatnot. However, the latter half of the manga is basically nonstop fights.

That being said, even with the deterioration of the story, I enjoyed Tokyo Ghoul a lot.
The characters are kickass. Kaneki Ken is one of my favorite male MCs. He's nice, insane, sometimes brutal, and a huge ball of sadness. Similarly, the female MC Touka is badass in the beginning. Sadly, her screentime deteriorates, and she turns into a backdrop character. Tsukiyama is one of the craziest characters ever. I adore him.

I''m pretty much on par with drunken.dx. One thing I can't understand - why is this tagged as seinen? There's nothing mature in this. It's as shoujo as one can be. Quite ok read, but nothing spectacular or even unique.

At first, it looks awesome, with interesting premise (secret ghoul society among humans).
But as story goes on, we get more and more shonen elements... And less and less seinen mystery
And plotholes... Oh, man, those plotholes... (still not as bad as Death Note, ugh...)

If story went as it has in first few volumes it would get much higher score, but adding multiple types of kagune was first step towards bad parts, then we get to know ghouls are almost wholly immune to normal weapons (unless you stab them in mucous membrane), and they are only vulnerable to quinques, weapons made from ghouls (plothole: how did they made first quinque? some nice ghoul sacrificed himself?).
Then we get inconsistency in treatment of ghouls...
Since start of manga it has been made clear that ghouls are killed on sight, as soon as someone is confirmed to be a ghoul, they move in for a kill, as seen with "mother ghoul", no attempt was made to even offer capture. But late in manga we find out there is a "ghoul prison" where they kept multiple highly dangerous ghouls...
Errr... I quite don't get logic behind killing peaceful ghouls and keeping violent ones alive... At least that priest ghoul was informant, but that "fanboy" ghoul... Why keep psycho like him alive?
No logic...

And fights...
It's like watching some mecha manga, but instead of mechs and weapons we get kagune and quinques...
At least kagune designs are plausible, but quinques...
I've seen bad weapon designs, but Tokyo Ghoul tries really hard to get into top 10 worst weapon designs...

If this manga tried less to appeal to shonen genre, with flashy skills, err... kagunes and weapons, err quinques, and kept it's starting premise of hidden ghoul society shunned by humans (and not that CCG Anteiku war...) it would actually be good.

Art style is actually good, especially covers.
Although, for a "bloody" manga, it's quite tame...

Shame...
And prototype chapter was excellent...

I've been skipping this manga for quite a while due to the "horror" and "psychological" categories that come with it, as I'm not really good with stuff of that kind. Gave a few horror manga a try and they were too creepy or outright scary for my tastes.

Oh, how wrong I was! I'm really glad that the horror part related to the slightly gruesome scenes and the psychological to the MC's troubles.

The manga is beautifully fleshed out, the mangaka paying a lot of attention to every scene. Throughout 143 chapters of this well-built story, you'll encounter a wide variety of interesting characters in difficult situations. It deals well with "racism" of sorts, from both sides; are ghouls and humans able to live side by side?

Fight scenes are short and to the point, while the plot will devour you right from the first chapter, making you itch for answers and explanations; head on to the next chapter. Does the MC find the peace he is looking for? Is he able to contribute to a world in which he'd be happy to live in? I can't stress enough how well-crafted the scenes are, with a lot of hints about future events. Do yourself a favour and read this one carefully, engross yourself in the wonderful art by the mangaka and don't worry - there is an equally good (so far) sequel!

... Last updated on December 11th, 2015, 3:26pm

This manga flowed very nicely. It had really good fight scenes that you could easily follow and it was overall a very nicely put together story. The characters developed a lot throughout the series because of all theyre going through, especially Kaneki. Even the minor details were interesting and made me curious. Was I the only one that actually wanted to read the books involved in the story like the black goats egg? If these are real books Id really like to read them. If not then that just shows how great of an author Ishida is.

Honestly I was a bit hesitant at first to read this due to whatching the anime first but after trying it out it is fantastic at the beginning though I never liked it due to Kaneki,s personality of how didn't want to kill and he wanted to protect the people he loves but because of that after being tortured by Jason he finally snapped and realized what the reality of this world is.To live is eat to die is to be eaten the strong eat the weak and the weak get eaten in order to protect what you love and cherish you have start eating because if you are weak you are eaten.after learning that lesson he ate and ate and ate until he became strong and mad.