Tokyo Ghoul by Sui Ishida| Manga Series Review

Ohayo! This is my first time reviewing a manga series, but I guess it can’t really be that different from reviewing a book… right? I have decided this year to discover and read more manga, so I have kicked off this year by reading one of the manga on my list, which is Tokyo Ghoul. I have started by watching the anime, but couldn’t move from the second episode because the main character got on my nerves, so I thought, “why not read it instead?”

Shy Ken Kaneki is thrilled to go on a date with the beautiful Rize. But it turns out that she’s only interested in his body—eating it, that is. When a morally questionable rescue transforms him into the first half-human half-Ghoul hybrid, Ken is drawn into the dark and violent world of Ghouls, which exists alongside our own.

No. of volumes: 14

No. of episodes: 24 (spread into 2 seasons)

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This is one of those animes which was so hyped I was like, I have to know what this is all about. I watched the first episode and thought it was a really good introduction, but when watching the second, I grew bored with the main character and closed the app after watching 6 minutes. That’s when I thought about reading it instead.

The story starts out strong, with action, mystery and a whole new world ready to be explored. I really like the whole premise of ghouls eating people and living unnoticed, in the sense that, you can meet someone on the street and you’ll have no idea whether s/he is a ghoul or not. That’s seriously creepy, but interesting nonetheless. I only know ghouls as in “incomplete vampires” or things like that, so having another version of those creatures was very refreshing.

The characters, in particular the ghouls, were each unique and amazing. There is a wide range of different characters and I think they were really well thought of… until I kept reading and realised that some of them share more or less the same “past”, that is, a particular person close to them died and that event changed them forever. Nonetheless they were interesting to read about and I enjoyed my ride with them. Ken Kaneki, the main character, goes through a lot of development throughout this series and it was really impressive to read about that.

The plot was very interesting, but as you progress into the story, especially after the Aogiri arc, becomes a little… boring and flat. Nothing really interesting happens and you left wondering if it is the same story from the beginning. There’s less action and the plot is more about the CCG; not that I have anything against them but… it wasn’t interesting. At all.

And can we talk about how this series ended please? I am not happy. At all. I feel like it was too rushed and there are things that could have been done better. The finale was a massive letdown for me, who had hoped that it could be redeeming from all of the boredom of the last chapters before that.

My thoughts about the series as a whole? Bof. For something so hyped, I am not happy at all. What started as an interesting and intriguing story finished rather poorly. I know there is an ongoing sequel, but I don’t know if I’ll read them or not. Maybe. But right now, I am just letting the disappointment sink in and I am going to stop having high expectations for hyped anime. Ugh. I should have known better. *sigh*

What about you? Have you read or watched Tokyo Ghoul? Have you enjoyed it (unlike me)? Tell me in the comments below!