Manga Madness: Tokyo Ghoul

Hello

An nyeoung

Konnichiwa

Ni hao

This weeks Manga Madness has a slight change, normally I post about the manga series, telling you what the series is about and giving out character info but this week I'm going to do more like a review of what I've read so far, mainly because I've heard many reviews and praises for both the manga and anime for Tokyo Ghoul, so when the manga finally got released in my local bookstore I thought I'd succumb and see what the big deal was but first let me give a short intro to what the manga is about and a few facts.

Tokyo Ghoul is a manga series written by Sui Ishida and was serialised in Shueisha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Jump between September 2011 and September 2014 and has been collected into 14 volumes that are being released worldwide, an anime has also been created from the manga. In 2013 the series ranked 27th best-selling manga in Japan with 1,666,348 estimated sales, as of January 2014 Tokyo Ghoul has sold 2.6 million copies of the manga and was the 4th best-selling manga series in Japan, with 6,946,203 copies sold.

The series follows a college student by the name of Ken Kaneki who barely survives a deadly attack by a ghoul named Rize Kamishiro, whose way of living is by feasting on human flesh to survive. Ken Kaneki is on deaths door when he is admitted to hospital and his only way of survival is an organ transplant, an operation that would change his life forever. Kaneki discovers that Rize's organs were transplanted into him, making his body change and adapt to the way of a ghoul, like them he must consume human flesh to survive. He is taken in by a group of ghouls that run a local café shop called Anteiku, who teach him to deal with his new status of half ghoul, half human. Can he keep his identity as a ghoul secret from rest of the human race?

So far only two volumes of the 14 have been released in the UK, the third volume is set to be released towards the end of this month and I can't wait for it's release. The artwork used for the covers are amazing, I would happily have the cover of the first volume as a canvas and I can't wait to see what the others will look like.

So far the story has been easy to follow and I can't help myself from guessing the outcome of the series, as expected for the beginning many characters have secrets that will probably unfold as the story goes on, for example will Kaneki's friend Hide found out he's now half ghoul and what's Touka's story. The writing keeps you in suspense throughout and if a translated version can keep you hooked and on the edge of your seat wanting to read more what will the original be like.

I was hooked from the first chapter of the first volume to the final chapter in the second volume and I'm eager to carry on reading but want to wait till the next volume is released.

The colours used for the colour pictures are really pretty, even down to the black and white pictures throughout the manga are breath taking and plenty of detail to explain even without the words what is happening. I'm guessing too that from each volume there will be character info as in both volume one and two there are stats on both Ken Kaneki and Touka Kirishima. The series also seems that it will be quite fast paced in what will happen with Kaneki, which I enjoy, I may be a fan of series' like Naruto and Bleach but some of it can be quite dragged out where Tokyo Ghoul seem to be like Sailor Moon, short and sweet that makes you want to read it over and over again.

KEN KANEKI

BORN December 20th, Sagittarius

Kamii University, Freshman

Department of Literature, Japanese Literature

BLOOD-TYPE A B

Size: 169cm 55kg FEET 25.5cm

Likes: Reading, beautiful words, intelligent women, hamburger steak.

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 - in eating it, that is. When a morally dubious rescue transforms him into the first half-human, half-ghoul hybrid, Ken must survive ghoul turf wars, learn more about ghoul society and master his new powers.

TOUKA KIRISHIMA

BORN July 1st, Cancer

Kiyomi High School, Sophomore

General Education Curriculum

BLOOD-TYPE O

Size: 156cm 45kg FEET 22.5cm

Likes: School, Rabbits

Hates: Ghoul Investigators, Dimwits, Classic Lit.

KEN KANEKI is an ordinary college student until a violent encounter turns him into the first half-human half-ghoul hybrid. Trapped between two worlds, he must survive ghoul turf wars, learn more about ghoul society and master his new powers.

Unable to discard his humanity but equally unable to suppress his ghoul hunger, Ken finds salvation in the kindness of friendly ghouls who teach him how to pass as human and eat flesh humanely. But recent upheavals in ghoul society attract the police like wolves to prey, and they don't discriminate between conscientious and ravenous ghouls.

If I can highly recommend this series after two volumes then I have high hopes for the series in all, if you like anything that's weird and wonderful related, have an interest in vampires, monsters and the undead I really think you will enjoy this series, let it take you to another world where anything can happen and is possible. What would you do if this happened to you would you like Kaneki strive to keep your humanity or fall prey to becoming a ghoul and eating anyone that passed you by, let me know below in the comments.

GHOULS LIVE AMONG US, THE SAME AS NORMAL PEOPLE IN EVERY WAY-EXCEPT THEIR CRAVING FOR HUMAN FLESH.

See you soon!

An nyeoung

Sayonara

Zai Jian

Bye