Tokyo Ghoul

Synopsis

Setting

Tokyo Ghoul is set in an alternate reality where ghouls, creatures that look like normal people but can only survive by eating human flesh, live among the human population in secrecy, hiding their true nature in order to evade pursuit from the authorities. Ghouls have powers including enhanced strength, speed, endurance and regenerative abilities—a regular ghoul produces 4–7 times more kinetic energy in their muscles than a normal human; they also have several times the RC cells, a cell that flows like blood and can become solid instantly. A ghoul's skin is resistant to ordinary piercing weapons, and it has at least one special predatory organ called a Kagune (赫子), whi…

Manga

Written and illustrated by Sui Ishida, Tokyo Ghoul was serialized in Shueisha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Jump from September 8, 2011, to September 18, 2014. Shueisha collected its chapters in fourteen tankōbon volumes, released under the Young Jump Comics imprint, from February 17, 2012, to October 17, 2014. In North America, the manga was licensed for English release by Viz Media. The volumes were released from June 16, 2015, to August 15, 2017.

In 2013, a prequel spin-off manga titled Tokyo Ghoul [Jack] was released on Jump Live digital manga service. The story spans seven chapters and focuses on Kishō Arima and Taishi Fura twelve years before the events of Tokyo Ghou…

Anime

A 12-episode anime television series adaptation by Pierrot aired on Tokyo MX between July 4 and September 19, 2014. It also aired on TV Aichi, TVQ, TVO, AT-X, and Dlife. The opening theme song is "Unravel" by TK from Ling tosite Sigure and the ending theme is "The Saints" (聖者たち, Seijatachi) by People in the Box. A second season, titled Tokyo Ghoul √A (read as "Root A"), aired between January 9 and March 27, 2015. The opening theme song is "Munou" (無能, Munō; lit. 'Incompetence') by Österreich, while the ending theme is "Kisetsu wa Tsugitsugi Shinde Iku" (季節は次々死んでいく; lit. 'The Seasons Will Die Out, One After Another') by Amazarashi.

Funimation licensed the anime series …

Light novels

Four light novels have been released thus far and all are written by Shin Towada, with illustrations done by series creator Sui Ishida. On June 19, 2013, Tokyo Ghoul: Days (東京喰種トーキョーグール［日々］, Tōkyō Gūru［Hibi］) was released, Illustrations were done by the series creator Sui Ishida and written by Shin Towada and serves as sidestory/spin off that focuses on the daily lives of characters from the Tokyo Ghoul series. Tokyo Ghoul: Void (東京喰種トーキョーグール［空白］, Tōkyō Gūru［Kūhaku］) was released on June 19, 2014, and fills in the 6 month time gap between volumes 8 and 9 of the first series.

The third novel Tokyo Ghoul: Past (東京喰種トーキョーグール［昔日］, Tōkyō Gūru［Sekijitsu］) was released on Decembe…

Video games

A video game titled Tokyo Ghoul: Carnaval Color by Bandai Namco Games was released in Japan for Android smartphones on February 6, 2015, and on February 9 for iOS. The player builds a team from a number of ghoul and investigator characters and explores a 3D map. Another video game titled Tokyo Ghoul: Jail for the PlayStation Vita console was released on October 1, 2015. It introduces a protagonist named Rio, who interacts with characters from the series. The game was developed by Bandai Namco Games as well and is categorized as an adventure RPG where players are able to explore Tokyo's 23 wards. The mobile game Tokyo Ghoul: Dark War, released in 2018, focuses on the conflict…

Reception

Tokyo Ghoul was nominated for the 38th Kodansha Manga Award in 2014. Tokyo Ghoul was chosen as one of the Best Manga at the Comic-Con International Best & Worst Manga of 2016. The Young Adult Library Services Association in the United States named the series one of its "Great Graphic Novels for Teens" and "Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults" in 2017. In 2018, it was nominated for the 30th Harvey Award for Best Manga. On TV Asahi's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150,000 people voted for their top 100 manga series, Tokyo Ghoul ranked 41st.

Tokyo Ghoul was the 27th best-selling manga series in Japan in 2013, with over 1.6 million estimated sales. By January 2014, the manga …