Characters / Tokyo Ghoul (Original): Humans

Tokyo Ghoul Main Character Index
Ken Kaneki
Original Series: Ghouls | Humans
Tokyo Ghoul:re: Goat | Quinx | Humans | Ghouls
Tokyo Ghoul [Jack] | Spin-Offs

Humans introduced in the original Tokyo Ghoul series.

CCG

In General

The Ghoul Countermeasures Bureau (Commission of Counter Ghoul) is a government agency that investigates and hunts Ghouls. Their members are divided into office and research staff, and field agents are known as Investigators.

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• Badass in a Nice Suit: Investigators usually wear tailored suits, even when battling Ghouls. The men often wear a trench over their suits when out in the field.
• Badass Normal: Investigators are ordinary humans, but take on and frequently kill dangerous Ghouls using Quinques. These specialized weapons are developed from the unique predatory organ found in Ghouls.
• Creature-Hunter Organization: The CCG hunts Ghouls.
• Cynicism Catalyst: Children orphaned in Ghoul attacks are typically placed into CCG's academy and trained to become future Investigators. As a result, almost all Investigators have lost a loved one to Ghouls at some point in their lives.
• The Dreaded: The local Ghoul population gets very nervous whenever news of Investigators becoming active in their Ward, with some outright fleeing the area.
• Feudal Japan: The CCG date back to as far as the year 1890, when the Counter Ghoul Institution was founded.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Several Investigators shown have become just as brutal and merciless as the Ghouls they hunt, whether torturing their targets or being willing to disregard the safety of human civilians caught in the crossfire.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: They embody this trope to the greatest degree, encouraging a mentality that views all Ghouls as monsters and only giving token lipservice to sparing them from "extreme" suffering. When Kaneki and Touka visit the headquarters to give false information, the secretary they speak with reassures them with a bright smile that it's fine for Investigators to hunt down and slaughter a 13-year old girl, since she's just a Ghoul. Their organization regularly eliminates entire families (including children), arrests any humans that dare to befriend Ghouls, and are hinted to be engaged in horrifying experimentation on captured Ghouls. As a result, many Ghouls view humans with fear or disdain, with Tsukiyama even pointing out that humans are the species most responsible for death and destruction in the world.
• Hunter of Monsters: The Investigators are a mixture of this and Police Officers, enforcing the law by hunting Ghouls.
• Hypocrite: Everything about the C.C.G. is hypocritical as they say they protect the innocent from ghouls but they murder ghouls who are innocent which makes them more evil than Aogiri Tree and paint themselves as the true monsters of the story.
• Insane Troll Logic: They believe that all ghouls are monsters, even the ones who don't harm innocent people which shows that not only are the C.C.G. investigators delusional, but that Humans Are the Real Monsters.
• Knight Templar: Determined to eradicate the entire Ghoul species, including those who are actually peaceful. Humans who sympathize with Ghouls are shown no mercy.
• Lawful Stupid: Their unyielding insistence on hunting down all ghouls (even the peaceful ones who pose no threat to anyone) spreads them thinner than is strictly necessary, leaving them with fewer resources to combat Aogiri Tree. Aogiri, of course, exploits this mercilessly.
• Red Baron: A group-wide example. Ghouls refer to the Investigators as "Doves", in reference to the organization's seal.
• Tarot Motifs: V. The Hierophant. It represents learning, law, tradition and heirarchy.
• Too Dumb to Live: Their raids against ghoul strongholds would probably go much more smoothly and have fewer casualties if they didn't insist on broadcasting the news of their upcoming attacks across the entire city. This does have a practical purpose, however — they need to evacuate the human residents ahead of time.
• Uncertain Doom: The fate of numerous Investigators remains ambiguous at the conclusion of the series, with many reported dead but their bodies never recovered. Their comrades even question the official reports and are left with a sense of unease, knowing on the one hand that battlefields with hungry Ghouls mean that some bodies will inevitably go unidentified, but suspicious of events relating to the operation. It is then revealed that Aogiri has provided Dr. Kanou with Investigators as subjects for his next round of experiments, using Yoshimura as the new donor.
• Van Helsing Hate Crimes: Quite a few Investigators will show no mercy to a peaceful Ghoul, viewing them all as monsters.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Case in point: when two ghouls asked a secretary if she feels guilty about having to hunt down and kill a little girl, said secretary, with a bright smile on her face, says outright that she doesn't because the girl in question is a Ghoul, not a human.

20th Ward

Koutarou Amon

Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi (Japanese), Mike McFarland (English)

Played by: Nobuyuki Suzuki (Film), Yūki Kimisawa (Stage Play)

"This world is wrong."

^{click here}  to see the film version

A CCG rank 1 Investigator, and deuteragonist of the series. He was raised by a Ghoul pretending to be a Priest and becomes curious about Kaneki after being spared by him in battle.

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• The Ace: He's a less extreme version than Arima or Suzuya, but he made First-Class at the young age of 27. Many don't ever get to that level, especially when you consider that both of them come from special and odd backgrounds, whereas Amon, despite his rough past, is a regular person.
• An Arm and a Leg: His third fight with Kaneki ends with him losing his right arm.
• Archnemesis Dad: It's... complicated. The priest that raised him is a Ghoul, currently being detained in the 23rd Ward. However, he refers to Kotaro as his "beloved son" and when CCG requires information they send him to speak to his father.
• The Atoner: He sees himself as this, feeling ashamed for not being able to stop the priest that raised him from eating many of his classmates. He works for the CCG to prevent similar events from occurring.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: While previously overshadowed by his partner, Kureo Mado, after the time skip, Amon shows off his detective skills by linking the Binge Eater case with Kaneki and suspecting that Kaneki may be involved in the ghoul world.
• Badass Normal: Like all the other Doves, Amon is human but is able to hold his own against most ghouls.
• Empowered Badass Normal: He gets his own Arata Quinque which gives him the strength and speed of a ghoul.
• Berserk Button: If any of his allies are hurt, he becomes a berserker.
• The Berserker: While Amon is a very skilled fighter anyway, he often flies into a rage in battle thus making him a very dangerous foe.
• Black-and-White Morality: He starts out this way, having believed all Ghouls to be monsters. Meeting Kaneki changes his worldview and leads to him desperately wishing to speak to him again. By the end, he doesn't outright change his views on them, but he does acknowledge that is isn't as clear-cut as he thought it was.
• Broken Pedestal: His foster father, a Priest that turned out to be a brutal Ghoul preying on the orphans in his care. He also initially feels this way about Kaneki after he witnesses Kaneki seemingly eating Shinohara.
• Broken Ace: For all of his skills and talent, Amon is really, really messed up. Not only does he inflict massive self-deprivation, but he's so utterly devoted to ridding the world of Ghouls he has no real individual happiness. Considering how he tends to be the Sole Survivor of many things in his life, it's not hard to see why.
• Cannot Tell a Lie: Or at least Can't Lie to Dad. His foster father can easily tell when Amon is lying.
• Celibate Hero: He seems to have no real interest in romance, rejecting Akira's advances. It's implied this lies with both his own guilt for not being to save her father, and also because of Harima.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Through rigorous physical training, Amon has developed an incredibly tough body and other Investigators are in awe of him as a result.
• Character Development: Over the course of the series, he comes to reconsider the stark view of the world he once held and questions everything he thought he knew. He also becomes a more open, warmer individual through the friendships made.
• Combat Pragmatist: He learned this valuable lesson from Mado, understanding that humans can only win against Ghouls by using their wits and whatever dirty tricks are at their disposal.
• Comically Serious: He is exceptionally serious, especially when Akira teases him.
• Cool Teacher: He tries to be this to Akira, to questionable effect.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Raised by a Ghoul passing himself off as a Priest, using his position to eat the orphans put into his care. For some reason, Dontaro spared him out of all the children, even when he learned his foster father was a Ghoul.
• Defrosting Ice King: When he first appears, he is very quiet and doesn't seem interested in socializing. But as the series continues, he opens up and becomes a very reasonable and gentle guy.
• Determinator: Amon believes in the CCG code to keep fighting even if it costs one every limb they have.
  • Show in the final arc after losing an arm, he gets back up to fight Tatara
• Deuteragonist: Although Kaneki is the main character, Amon is the focal character during chapters about the CCG. In general, his role is exactly parallel to that of Kaneki's, although on the opposite trajectory.
• Donut Mess with a Cop: He loves donuts, and several pieces of art show him snacking down on them. An omake features Juuzou using donuts to get on his good side.
• Dual Wielding: He can do this with Kura, splitting it into two blades.
• Eyepatch of Power: He's wearing gauze over his right eye when he first meets Kaneki due to a run-in with Touka, further drawing parallels between them.
• Fair Cop: He's quite handsome, something more than one woman comments on.
• Final Boss: Technically he's this for the original series as he is the last opponent Kaneki fights and in general the only fight to conclusively be shown from start to finish.
• Freudian Excuse: Inverted. His messed-up childhood is what motivates him to protect others, driving him to attempt to prevent more children from losing their parents to Ghouls.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: When really mad, he's shown with these.
• Government Conspiracy: He begins to suspect one after his conversation with Takatsuki, but is uncertain who he can trust with his suspicions.
• Harmful to Minors: He walked in on his foster father eating his friend, and remains traumatized by this even as an adult.
• Hero Antagonist: He is a model Investigator, showing no mercy to the Ghouls he encounters in battle.
• Heroic Build: Under that suit is a body built like a ton of bricks. Its also Justified, as because Ghouls are so strong a normal human has no hope of winning head-on, Amon trains as hard as he can to be able to match their strength.
• Heroic Willpower: He runs on it, and it is part of what allows him to get back up to fight Tatara after losing an arm.
• He Who Fights Monsters: When first introduced, he firmly believes in throwing away morality and doing whatever is necessary to fight Ghouls. He desecrates a gravesite in search of clues and is partially responsible for orphaning Hinami. After meeting Kaneki, however, he finds himself beginning to question this way of thinking.
• Hypocrite: He's driven by his sympathy for orphaned children, but does not stop to consider when he helps orphaned Hinami because she's a Ghoul. Part of his development is understanding that the whole Ghouls vs humans conflict is more complicated than he thinks.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: He embraces this as a valid tactic, having been taught that trickery is a valuable tool in fighting Ghouls. Most notably, he reveals that Kura can be split and dual-wielded while fighting the Bin Brothers, immediately turning the tide of the battle and winning despite the initial disadvantage.
• It's All My Fault: How he feels about Mado's death, blaming himself for not arriving in time to save him.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Like many Investigators, he deeply admires the legendary Arima.
• The Lost Lenore: Harima. Her death continues to haunt him, especially when Akira makes a move on him. He becomes one to Akira at the conclusion of the series, after being declared dead.
• Made of Iron: He's noted for his incredible endurance, which is theorized to allow him to bring out the full potential of the completed Arata Armor.
• Manly Tears: He weeps when he discovers Mado's body, screaming in grief.
• Muscles Are Meaningful: He states that muscular strength and endurance are vital to a human being able to fight a Ghoul, and focuses on keeping his body in peak condition. The first time Kaneki fights him, he tries to rely on his Ghoul strength and more-or-less bounces off Amon, who initially thinks he's met a human pretending to be a Ghoul.
• Never Found the Body:
  • Invoked. Misato questions the report of his death because no one actually saw a body. In the following scene, it is revealed that many of those declared dead are actually missing, with Aogiri Tree preparing to begin new experiments using Investigators. It later turns out he was indeed made a Half-Ghoul.
  • Played even straighter in the anime: Akira finds his bloody and broken Quinque and armor, but there's nobody or hint of what happened to him.
• Nice Guy: He is kind to everyone in the CCG. During his first job, he even hesitated to kill a crazed ghoul when she begged. He also puts more value in saving human lives than killing ghouls, and he greatly cares for his comrades to the point of being willing to put his own life on the line for them.
• Oblivious to Love: In the novels, Morimine calls him on being this.
• One Head Taller: With his current partner, Akira. He towers above her.
• One-Hit Kill: With his large Quinques and muscular frame, this is his usual MO.
• Orphan's Ordeal: After the death of his parents, he thought he'd found a new family at the orphanage. However, learning the truth about Donato and being essentially orphaned a second time has left him with deep emotional scars. He cannot even recall his parents' faces and struggles with conflicting feelings about his foster father. This drives him to fight for the children orphaned by Ghouls, wanting to prevent other children from experiencing the pain he endured.
• Orphanage of Love: His childhood was spent in a Catholic Orphanage, where the priest that ran it loved him like a son.
• Orphanage of Fear: However, Donato Porpora was actually a sadistic Ghoul that enjoyed eating children. When Amon walked in on him eating, he learned the horrible truth and remains haunted by it.
• Rank Up: After the Aogiri arc, he becomes a First Class Investigator.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: He regains his respect for Kaneki when Shinohara wakes up and states Kaneki only ate the Arata while restraining himself.
• The Secret of Long Pork Pies: It's implied his foster father was secretly feeding him the flesh of the other children disguised as a favorite snack.
• Ship Tease: With his new partner, Akira. She's tried to kiss him more than once, only to be rejected.
• Super Prototype: He's given an Arata armor II for the raid on Anteiku.
• Sweet Tooth: He loves sweet foods, and hates anything spicy.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He is very tall, wears mostly black and has been called handsome before.
• Took a Level in Badass: He's granted his own Arata armor, as well as a lance that allows him to face Kaneki on equal footing.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Donuts.
• Tragic Keepsake: He has several significant items kept to remind him of past losses. The cross he wears comes from his time at the orphanage, and he states he wears it so he will never forget. Doujima 1/2, the Quinque he begins the series with, was a keepsake from his sweetheart from the Academy. Later, he inherits Kura after Mado leaves it to him in his Will.
• True Companions: He sees all of the CCG as this.
• Uncertain Doom: It was originally unknown whether he actually perished in battle with Tatara, or ended up as one of Dr. Kanou's new test subjects. RE answers this by confirming he became a Half-Ghoul.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: With his second partner, Akira. Her one attempt to resolve things was rejected by him.
• Unusual Eyebrows: His eyebrows curve back in.
• Villain Has a Point: During his first confrontation with Kaneki, he points out how the world is twisted because of the ghouls. Kaneki is forced to admit that he isn't wrong.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: He starts out this way, seeing nothing wrong with killing a mother and child because they are both Ghouls. His views begin to change after meeting Kaneki.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Shinohara especially says his eyes still have the same shine as when he was in the Academy.
• Workaholic: He lives and breaths his duty as an Investigator, pushing himself to the limit. His apartment is little more than a bed, a desk to work at, and workout equipment to maintain his Heroic Build.
• Worthy Opponent: To Kaneki. He has an obsession with being able to talk to Kaneki one on one, in hopes of making sense of an event from his childhood. There were a couple of twists and turns, but he also stopped considering Kaneki a monster. When Takizawa begged Amon not to die after he was seriously wounded by Kaneki, Amon said "Don't be absurd. If I die here, he'll become a murderer".

Kureo Mado

Voiced by: Tōru Ōkawa (Japanese), Kenny Green (English)

Played by: Yō Ōizumi (Film), Jiyū Arima (Stage Play)

“To see a mother sacrifice her life to save her child…it truly disgusts me, seeing you ghouls imitate humans.”

^{click here}  to see the film version

A CCG First-Class Investigator, and partner to Kotaro Amon. He is a ruthless individual obsessed with amassing a large collection of Quinque, and harbors a deep hatred of all Ghouls. However, in stark contrast to his behavior in the field, he is a devoted family man and supportive partner.

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• Adaptational Badass: He's able to fight Jason to a stalemate and gain his respect in a scene that's exclusive in the anime.
• Alas, Poor Villain: While he's represented as an absolutely vile character who hates Ghouls and takes every opportunity to torment them, his demise is rather pitiful, with him bemoaning the fact that he didn't live long enough to kill the One-Eyed Owl. Touka is visibly horrified after ripping Mado's gloves off of his corpse in disgust, only to see his wedding ring, and Amon is grief-stricken by his death.
• An Arm and a Leg: He ends up losing both his right hand and right foot to Hinami.
• Arch-Enemy: The One-Eyed Owl, an infamous Ghoul that slaughtered many investigators and his wife.
• Arc Villain: The main antagonist on the CCG's side for the first three volumes of the manga.
• Asshole Victim: A rare example that's both played straight and subverted. From the perspective of ghouls, he was basically a serial killer who preyed upon innocent ghouls such as Hinami's parents and Touka's father, making his death pretty much deserved. From the perspective of other humans, however, he was a genuinely good-hearted family man and mentor who was devoted to protecting innocent humans. Interesting, neither view is treated as incorrect.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: A master at tracking ghouls and nearly exposes Kaneki as a Half-Ghoul. The only reason he failed was because of something neither he nor Kaneki knew about.
• Ax-Crazy: Only while in the field. He seems to enjoy killing and torturing ghouls a little too much... Not to mention the perpetual Psychotic Smirk he has on his face
• Backstab Backfire: After Hinami spares his life, he tries to attack her in disgust. This leads Touka to finish him off to save Hinami.
• Badass Normal: He is a normal human, but his experience and pragmatism allow him to easily go toe to toe with Ghouls.
  • This is exaggerated during his first fight with Touka, where he's able to dodge all of her attacks with ease whereas Amon couldn't even see her coming.
• Bait the Dog: Tells Mrs. Fueguchi before he kills her that he's willing to hear her last words. She just manages to smile and get out "Hinami, li-" before he cleaves her brutally in two, shouting manically "time's up!"
• Benevolent Boss: Despite being clearly unhinged, he's rather polite and supportive of his co-workers, particularly Amon, frequently offering him advice and going out of his way to protect him during their ghoul hunts.
• Blood Knight: Loves to fight ghouls as it allows him to see and take away their kagunes.
• Brutal Honesty: Asks Marude to cut a meeting short so that he can go do something more productive. Marude even lampshades this.
• Combat Pragmatist: He prided himself on being one, even carrying multiple weapons.
• Conspicuous Gloves: He always wears gloves, something that Touka assumes meant he couldn't even stand to touch Ghouls. This leads her to rip them off his corpse, revealing heavily scarred hands and a wedding ring. Later on, Amon is seen looking sadly at his gloves and wedding ring.
• Covered in Scars: His hands turn out to be heavily scarred, possibly one reason he always wore gloves.
• Crusading Widower: His hatred of Ghouls is driven by the death of his wife, leaving him to raise their daughter alone.
• Deceased Parents Are the Best: Played with. While alive, he seemed like a fairly vile character. However, after his death, we learn that he was a devoted father to Akira and several omakes show them to be a surprisingly normal family.
• Determinator: Even after being disarmed and losing An Arm and a Leg, he still tries to kill Hinami.
• Disc-One Final Boss: He dies fairly early on in the series, though the most formidable Investigator at the time. His death also results in the 20th Ward falling under greater scrutiny.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: See his page quote.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He's a monster without a doubt, but he was also a devoted family man.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: His hatred for Ghouls runs so deep that he's completely incapable of understanding that Hinami is a genuinely kind-hearted and innocent girl, who refuses to kill him and avenge her parents because revenge means nothing to her. Thus, he just keeps going after Hinami and Touka until he gets himself killed.
  Mado: To see a mother sacrifice her life to save her child… it truly disgusts me, seeing you ghouls imitate humans.
• Evil Genius: He is fascinated by ghouls and becomes delighted when he meets particularly unique or strong ghouls. He was steadily developing a large collection of unique Quinque from his study of Ghouls.
• Evil Gloating: He does this a lot. But his repeated taunting of Hinami over her parents' deaths at his hands really takes the cake.
• Evil Is Hammy: He becomes significantly more loud and melodramatic, the viler his deeds.
  Mado: Say hi to Momma! And here I thought you'd be happy to see her one last time!! My mistake!!! HA!HAHAHAHAHA!!!
• Face of a Thug: Played with. When he's hunting ghouls, he's exactly as much of an insane, sadistic monster as he looks, but when he's off the job, it makes his genuine kindness to his friends, family, and co-workers look a lot more sinister than it actually is.
• Fantastic Racism: He's anti-Ghoul even by CCG standards, to the extent that he is disgusted when they "imitate" human emotions.
• Fatal Flaw: His obsession with Ghouls' kagune and making quinques out of them... which caused him to let his guard down when he saw that Hinami had inherited two types of kagune from her parents.
• Foil: To Yoshimura. Both are older and wiser mentors to the younger members of their organization, and both men were changed by the death of the woman they loved. Both also have a very significant daughter they are devoted to. While Yoshimura's loss makes him more humane, Mado's loss twists him into a brutal sadist.
• Freudian Excuse: His cruelty towards Ghouls and obsession with making Quinques was because he was determined to gain the strength necessary to avenge his wife.
• Good Parents: He was a shockingly devoted father that did everything for his daughter Akira. Including coming with her to buy underwear.
• Gut Feeling: His instincts are very sharp and he can often identify a Ghoul based solely on outward appearances and vague behavior.
• Handicapped Badass: He's got a hunched back, he's Covered in Scars, his white hair seems to be due to Disease Bleach, and he's generally not the healthiest-looking guy, but his job is to hunt down and kill superhuman ghouls, and he's incredibly good at it.
• Hidden Depths: While he tries to eradicate ghouls with great glee, he is devoted to the cause of CCG and his co-workers, and a good husband and father to his family. This is particularly prominent in his interactions with Amon and his relationship with his daughter, who both look up to him as a model investigator.
• Hero Antagonist: Despite his sadistic methods, Mado is technically on the right side of the law. As a CCG Investigator, he fights and kills Ghouls for the public's safety.
• He Who Fights Monsters: By relentlessly pursuing the One-Eyed Owl in the name of vengeance, he becomes just as brutal and remorseless as the ghouls he kills.
• Hypocrite: Believes that all ghouls are monsters because they kill, this is coming from the guy who is far from good and who murders tons of ghouls out of petty vegenance.
• Irony: He despises ghoulkind because a Ghoul killed his loved one. Plenty of Ghouls come to hate humans for that precise same reason.
• Kick the Dog: Repeatedly during the Arc, he's featured in.
  • He starts out by gleefully showing Mrs. Fueguchi the weapon he intends to kill her with, which was made from her husband's kagune. When she breaks down in tears, he openly relishes her suffering.
  • He lures Hinami to the waterway with bait — namely, her mother's severed arm in a duffel bag. And while fighting Touka, he proudly shows Hinami his newest Quinque, explaining to her that he made it from her mother.
• Knight Templar: He believes that all ghouls are scum and deserve horrible deaths and torture and that whatever atrocities he commits against them is justified, no matter how heinous.
• Lack of Empathy: He has absolutely nothing but contempt and disgust for all Ghouls no matter what, rubbing in Hinami's face about how he killed her parents and turned their remains into his Quinques, and openly expressing disgust at how Ghouls "imitate" human feelings. Case in point: after Touka gives him a heartfelt speech about how she just wants to live like he does and points out that she only eats humans because she can't survive on anything else, Mado is completely unmoved and tells her point-blank that he can't bear to hear another word out of her mouth.
• Loves the Sound of Screaming: He freely admits as such to Hinami while he's trying to kill her using his newest Quinques, made from her parents.
• Mad Eye: Constantly. It underlines his unstable, sadistic personality, but hides the fact that there's a little more to him than that.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Before he can kill Touka, he remarks that he'd lost his Quinque before correcting himself that it was his hand he lost. He doesn't raise his voice or anything.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: The more experienced partner to Amon, and killed in action. His death leads to development for Amon, as well as a complex relationship with his daughter Akira.
• Moral Myopia: He and his wife’s job essentially boils down to ‘exterminate all Ghouls indiscriminately for the crime of existing.’ But a Ghoul murders his wife indiscriminately? Clearly the entire race is to blame, and Mado treats every Ghoul he encounters like they are personally responsible.
• Nightmare Face: His face becomes very contorted and nightmarish during both of his fights with Touka.
• Obviously Evil: He's one of the cruelest, most sadistic Inspectors, and looks the part, with a Mad Eye, Slasher Smile, lank hair, and hunched back. He does have Hidden Depths and is a dramatically different person when off the clock, but he's still a villain.
• Parental Substitute: For Amon. Although he never calls him one, Amon was devoted to him and seemed to genuinely love the man. Considering Amon's life it's a heartwarming relationship.
• Perpetual Smiler: He is almost always seen wearing a Psychotic Smirk despite the serious and dangerous nature of his job.
• Pet the Dog: Even before his relationship with his daughter was revealed, he showed signs of being a protective mentor towards Amon, saving him from Yamori and Touka before advising him to rest during the battle.
  Mado (After saving Amon from Yamori): "How are we doing over there, Amon?"
  Amon: I'm fine, sir!"
  Mado: "Good, then sit back and catch your breath!"
• Police Brutality: Uses unnecessary force when dealing with ghouls and even kills ghouls who are harmless and peaceful.
• Psycho for Hire: Need an Investigator to hunt and kill ghouls? Why not hire a man who desperately craves to exterminate them?
• Properly Paranoid: When Amon is assigned to be Mado's partner, he initially believes Mado is just a weird, fanatical creep harassing an innocent old lady. When said old lady turns out to be a particularly violent Ghoul (Mado's odd behaviour was a means to draw her out), and Mado saves Amon's life from her, Amon starts to take his partner much more seriously.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Ax-Crazy, racist and sadistic Rabid Cop when on the clock. Loving father and attentive mentor when off the clock.
• Rabid Cop: He is an investigator for the CCG and is completely out of his mind.
• Sadist: He derives amusement and pleasure from slaughtering Ghouls, even helpless ones.
• Sociopathic Hero: While he is dedicated to keeping the city safe and is committed to the CCG, he is incredibly ruthless and sadistic, and is just as brutal as the ghouls that he hunts. However, this is downplayed as he shows that he is capable of love and empathy, given his relationship with Amon and his daughter.
• Starter Villain: He is Amon's mentor and Akira's father, both of whom succeed him as the true Hero Antagonists of the series. And his presence, while brief, was very significant to both our heroes and the CCG.
• Terms of Endangerment: In at least the anime's English dub, he repeatedly refers to Hinami as "honey" and "sweetheart", urging her to give in and die so she can be reunited with her parents.
• Too Dumb to Live: When he's at Hinami's mercy, she decides to let him live and does not give in to revenge. Mado's reaction? Immediately try to attack her the moment she seemingly lets her guard down.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Though ugly, it seems he had a very beautiful wife and his daughter looks just like her.
• Van Helsing Hate Crimes: He wants to kill all Ghouls, including those of the more peaceful kind.
• Villain with Good Publicity: He was absolutely bonkers when it came to fighting Ghouls and enjoyed torturing them till they died, but despite all this, his colleagues greatly admired his work (even if they watched how he fought).
• Walking Armory: He had MANY Quinques because he was trying to gather the strength to kill the One-Eyed Owl.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: He views all manner of cruelty towards Ghouls as justified, and expresses disgust over them displaying positive traits such as familial love or mercy. His views seem to be normal for most humans.
• Windmill Crusader: It appears that he genuinely cannot comprehend that ghouls are anything but monsters, even ghoul children. It's to the point that he's convinced himself that ghouls only fake human emotion rather than feeling anything genuine. His sadism may well have been contingent on his deluded belief that ghouls couldn't really feel love or bereavement — we'll never know.
• Would You Like to Hear How They Died?: He invokes this during his first fight with Touka, rubbing Ryouko's death in her face in order to make her lose control.
  Mado: Would you like me to tell you how that pathetic sow met her demise? She was so weak and helpless... but I put her out of her misery!
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Correctly guesses that Kaneki isn't human but dismisses his hypothesis when his Rc scanner doesn't work, never stopping to think that hybrids could fool such testing equipment. Justified because hybrids were regarded as myth since the probability of a hybrid fetus being carried to term is essentially non-existent. Also, Kaneki's case was completely unheard of, and any previous instance of a researcher bringing up this theory was quickly shot down and halted.

Juuzou Suzuya

Voiced By: Rie Kugimiya (Japanese), Maxey Whitehead (English)

"Dying or not dying is trivial."

A strange and psychotic Investigator, partnered with Shinohara. He can be prone to acts of violence, against Ghouls and Humans alike. At the same time, he can be whimsical and almost childlike.

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• 13 Is Unlucky: His hairpins form the Roman numerals for 13, an early hint that he's a troubled character.
• The Ace: He became an investigator simply because of his fighting skills. While others had to spend years in an academy, he's one of the fastest third rank investigators to be promoted besides Arima.
• Ambiguous Gender: Invoked. While at the Academy, his gender was listed as "Unknown" and people sometimes comment wondering about him.
• An Arm and a Leg: He loses his right leg to Yoshimura during the attack on Anteiku. Even so, when the Owl appears and kills Shinohara, he gets back up and keeps trying to fight. Unlike the manga, in the anime he merely breaks his leg as opposed to losing it.
• Ax-Crazy: Definitely unhinged for the most part.
• Badass Biker: He steals Marude's bike and flies it into the air in order to land inside the building where the sniper ghoul was hiding, killing him and clearing the way for his comrades to storm the building. The previously mentioned bike is wrecked in the process. It's like the bike's theft was in revenge for the time Marude made fun of his girly looks.
• Badass Normal: Like other ghoul investigators, he has superior fighting abilities. However, he also uses more force than necessary when dealing with humans, unlike other investigators.
• Blade Enthusiast: His primary weapon, an assortment of blades called "Scorpion". He was also very fond of knives during his childhood serving as an expert Scrapper in the Ghoul Restaurant.
• Body Horror: His former "Mama" hung him from hooks in his back, and had his genitals smashed with a hammer to prevent him from maturing. It's probably best that it isn't further elaborated on.
• Book Dumb: He doesn't know any of the CCG rules. It doesn't stop him from being an extremely effective murder machine.
• Character Development: His unhinged behavior lessens as the story goes on, with Shinohara helping him to develop into something closer to a normal person.
• Child Prodigy: There's no denying that he's an incredible fighter for someone his age and size, and he's been one since he was very young. This is because he spent his childhood as an elite Scrapper for the Ghoul Restaurant.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Has many quirky moments under his belt like using his hands as binoculars among many others.
• Combat Sadomasochist: During his battle with the twins Kuro and Shiro, he seems equally excited by hurting them as he is them hurting him.
• Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: He always looks exhausted and/or strung out.
• Crippling Castration: His "Mama" wanted him to remain beautiful and doll-like, so she castrated him to prevent puberty. For bonus horror, she did it with a hammer.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Raised by a Ghoul as a Scrapper, and regularly subjected to torture to make him Feel No Pain. She also castrated him to prevent him from becoming too masculine, hinting that she may in fact have also been sexually abusing him. After the Doves found her, he was rescued and placed into the Academy. There, he became a scapegoat to cover up the crimes of the instructor that once tortured Yamori.
• Death Wail: He gives a heartbreaking one when the real Owl kills Shinohara.
• Determinator: Despite losing his right leg, he tried to fight Owl until he fainted.
• Disproportionate Restitution: He himself never apologizes since he doesn't care at all. The apologies are made by Shinohara on the CCG's behalf, along with monetary restitution. He never faces retribution for his violent actions and behavior. Most likely, this is because his fighting abilities are too good to consider throwing him in jail.
• Disproportionate Retribution: If you make him even a little angry, he's liable to do something horrible to you as revenge. Something as small as getting detained by a policeman who didn't believe his claims of being a ghoul investigator ^note Reasonable, given his dubious appearance and the fact he was carrying a bloodied weapon resulted in said policeman getting his eardrum sucked out and crushed for his trouble. This isn't the first nor the last time things like this have happened.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Everyone that met him has had trouble guessing his gender. In a dark twist, this was a deliberate effect of prepubescence castration.
• Effeminate Voice: Juuzou is voiced by a woman in the anime to complement his feminine looks. It's also justified in a disturbing way; being castrated at a young age kept him from properly going through puberty and developing a manly voice.
• Enfant Terrible: Even as a child, he exhibited psychotic tendencies.
• Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: He's repeatedly described as looking like an angel, with his beauty contrasted against his tendency towards terrifying acts of violence.
• Feel No Pain: He's been conditioned since a young age not to feel pain, and as such can shrug off even horrific injuries.
• Foil: To Yamori. Both are associated with the number 13, and both became sadistic monsters as a result of extensive abuse suffered at the hands of the opposite species.
• Freudian Excuse: His unhinged behavior is almost certainly a result of the trauma he went through as a child.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: It is very easy to anger him. Does not mix well with his axe crazy tendencies.
• Hyper-Awareness: On multiple occasions, he displays an unusual ability to pick up on small details.
  • While visiting Anteiku with Shinohara, he startles Touka by commenting that she'd thrown up recently.
  • In the Joker one-shot, he's able to identify the leader of the Skulls gang because he'd previously caught a whiff of her perfume at a crime scene.
• I Call It "Vera": Names his scythe Jason, after the Ghoul used to make it.
• It's All My Fault: He blames himself for what happened to Shinohara, apologizing to his wife for his failure to protect her husband. She reassures him that it wasn't his fault.
• Lack of Empathy: He angers others with his inability to comprehend emotions like sympathy or grief, blatantly declaring that he doesn't care if the people around him die. By the end, however, he's learned how to care about others.
• Major Injury Underreaction: When he loses his leg, he barely reacts. He's even surprised when Shinohara begins to cry over his injury, not understanding the reason.
• Momma's Boy: An exceptionally twisted example. Even after being rescued and trained by CCG, he still loves his "Mama".
• No Social Skills: He's utterly lacking in the most basic of social skills, with no concept of how normal humans behave.
• Not Growing Up Sucks: Especially when you take into account why he still hasn't hit puberty.
• Older Than He Looks: He's 19, but still looks like a preteen. Justified, since his "Mama" castrated him to prevent puberty.
• One-Man Army: In his first combat operation, he takes down an entire snipers' nest by himself in mere seconds. His strength is the only reason the chairman made him an Investigator.
• Parent-Induced Extended Childhood: Along with other tortures, his ghoul mother castrated him before he hit puberty so that he wouldn't properly grow up and lose his childish good looks.
• Pet the Dog: His relationship with his partner and parental surrogate, Shinohara, reveals that there is still a good person buried deep beneath his psychotic personality.
• Psychopathic Manchild: His appearance and strange, child-like behavior are disturbing, to say the least. He is noted to be deeply disturbed, prone to bouts of violence and sadism that frighten even other Investigators. Even former classmates are not given much consideration, and he seems to genuinely enjoy the suffering of others when fighting. At the same time, he seems to have little comprehension of social norms or empathy — he doesn't understand the grief of others when a classmate dies, but likewise is unable to understand Shinohara's concern for his well being. He's even suspected of torturing animals during his time at the Academy. In truth, he was innocent of those crimes and his behavior is because of the horrific abuse he suffered as a child. Under Shinohara's care, he begins to stabilize and is genuinely horrified when his partner is horrifically wounded in action.
• Raised as the Opposite Gender: A truly chilling example, as it turns out. The Ghoul that raised him castrated him because she liked to dress him up as a girl and never wanted him to look like a man.
• Raised by Orcs: He was raised by a female Ghoul, and still thinks fondly of her as his "Mama" even years later. It is the cause of all his disturbing tendencies.
• Red Baron: CCG's "Jason".
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Hinting at his unstable, oft-times violent personality.
• Saved by Canon: Since he's a major character in the one-shot Joker, we know that he survives to become a 1st class Investigator.
• The Scapegoat: He never really tortured animals at the Academy. Instead, the staff decided to blame him for the actions of an instructor to avoid the potential scandal.
• Sinister Scythe: His anti-ghoul weapon, Jason, which he promptly named after the Ghoul it was made from.
• Slave Collar: As a child, he wore a collar with a bell on it. He seems to have kept the bell.
• Smells Sexy: After passing each other on the street, Kaneki looks surprised and comments on how incredible Juuzou smells. Of course, it's not exactly because he smells sexy, so much as he smells tasty.
• Sociopathic Hero: He hunts ghouls because he enjoys violence and he likes the hunt, not because he believes in protecting the public.
• Sticky Fingers: He's prone to petty theft, stealing Kaneki's wallet in his very first scene and later reveals he's been stealing Quinque knives from headquarters to create a MASSIVE collection of them in his jacket.
• Tarot Motifs: XIII. Death, though in the final chapters he comes to be associated with XII. The Hanged Man.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: He's prone to doing this to Ghouls, as illustrated during the raid on Aogiri's hideout. More than one Ghoul is stabbed again and again and again, while he tells them to "hang on" and is disappointed when they die too soon.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Thanks to Shinohara's influence, he has slowly begun to become a more stable individual. In stark contrast to his early behavior, when he meets Mrs. Shinohara, he expresses sympathy and remorse over his partner's fate.
• Too Kinky to Torture: A horrifying version of the trope. His "Mama" trained him to Feel No Pain by doing things like suspending him with fishhooks through the skin on his back and arms. As such, he no longer responds to pain like a normal person.
• White Hair, Black Heart: Played with. Juuzou's white hair hints at his violent and unstable personality, with great difficulty understanding empathy or kindness, but he is capable of them with help.

Yukinori Shinohara

Voiced by: Yutaka Nakano (Japanese), Brandon Potter (English)

A former academy instructor for the CCG and a special investigator. He is currently investigating the binge eater.

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• Adaptational Heroism: Compared to his one-shot version, who is closer to Mado in his overall demeanor in contrast with his present caring and jovial personality.
• A Father to His Men: He is a kind and caring superior, playfully teasing Amon and later takes Suzuya under his wing as both a partner and a father figure.
• An Arm and a Leg: The One-Eyed Owl slices off his leg, then slices it into neat little pieces in order to eat it. It mocks him, stating that now he "matches" the similarly-wounded Suzuya.
• Badass Normal: Much like other members of the CCG. He's a special investigator, meaning he's a top-class combat specialist.
• Big Brother Mentor: He acts like this to his partners, offering them advice or doing his best to reign in their worst behaviors.
• Boring, but Practical: He's called this compared to Arima and Mado. While he isn't flashy and hasn't completely mastered his Quinque, he nevertheless gets results.
• By-the-Book Cop: He dislikes when people get out of hand, and attempts to prevent Ghouls from suffering unnecessarily cruel deaths.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: He mentions liking to drink with his comrades, stating that someday he wants to drink with Juuzou. However, Amon comically recalls an occasion when a drunken Shinohara beat up 20 of his buddies.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Activating his Arata quinque gives him strength and speed of a ghoul, but in exchange, the armor slowly attempts to consume him.
• Decomposite Character: The Tragic Bigot and Knight Templar aspects of his one-shot version are carried over to Kureo Mado in the main series.
• The Dreaded: He has earned a reputation among the Ghouls, and is feared by them as a result.
• Empowered Badass Normal: His Arata quinque grants him the speed and strength of a Ghoul, but it also begins to devour him in the process.
• Foregone Conclusion/Doomed by Canon: He does not appear in the "Joker" one-shot, a future story focused on Suzuya. As such, it's clear the two are no longer partners and something happened to him. In the final chapter, he is left on life support in the hospital, comatose likely permanently due to the injuries inflicted on him by the One-Eyed Owl.
• Friendly Enemy: With Yoshimura, who became his Worthy Opponent during the Aogiri Tree raid. He visits Anteiku and later realizes that Yoshimura is the Owl he fought previously. Despite this, he returns to have a conversation with Yoshimura just before the raid to destroy Anteiku is launched. It's easy to imagine that he and Yoshimura could have been close friends had circumstances been different.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: He blames himself for Suzuya losing his leg, even crying over it. He also has a tendency to make jokes at his own expense whenever he's injured in the line of duty, such as referring to himself as "Futon Shinohara" while recovering in the hospital.
• Like a Son to Me: He comes to see Juuzou this way, with his wife telling Suzuya that he loves him like his own child.
• Major Injury Underreaction: He survived getting predated by Kaneki. He's lucky his armor protected him, as well as the fact that Kaneki barely held himself back from actually devouring him.
• Made of Iron: He's famous for his tough body which allows him to use the Arata Armor.
• Manly Tears: He weeps openly when his partner is injured in combat.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Acted as a surrogate father to Suzuya, and ends up being brutally maimed by the One-Eyed Owl while his partner watched on helplessly.
• Morality Chain: To Suzuya.
• Morality Pet: After Suzuya's Character Development.
• Mysterious Backer: Suzuya's back story reveals that a single person was responsible for him being accepted into the Junior Academy when everyone else was in favor of writing him off as a monster. Though only the lower half of his face is shown, it's clear this single voice of reason that protected and supported Suzuya's second chance in life was Shinohara, years before they would be partners.
• Nice Guy: He's very kind and polite. It's due to his influence that Suzuya is slowly reforming.
• Not Quite Dead: Twice he's seemingly been killed in action, only to turn out to have barely survived. The second time leaves him on life support, comatose likely for the remainder of his life.
• Only Friend: To Suzuya. Shinohara is perhaps the first person to show him genuine kindness, treating him with respect and encouraging him rather than fearing or rejecting him.
• Parental Substitute: To Suzuya, offering him both moral guidance and emotional support.
• Red Baron: "The Invulnerable Shinohara".
• Super Prototype: He has a full body armor quinque made from kakuja, which is a new type of quinque that seems to share its original incarnation's tendency to consume the user.
• Younger Than He Looks: He looks middle-aged, but he's only 33.

Akira Mado

Voiced By: Asami Seto (Japanese), Morgan Garrett (English)

The daughter of Kureo Mado, and a Rank 2 Investigator assigned as Amon's second partner. She is highly talented and has keen intuition, but has a tendency to mess with people. While she initially blames Amon for the death of her father, she begins to develop feelings for him.

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• The Ace: She graduated at the top of her class in every subject.
• Action Girl: She's an exceptionally skilled fighter, able to use an infamously difficult anti-ghoul weapon type few can master.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: When confronted over her seemingly cold behavior after Amon and Takizawa are reported dead, she breaks down and states she loved them.
• Awesome by Analysis: Even her father says she inherited his intuition.
• Badass Normal: She's an investigator of great skill, able to take on S-rated Ghouls even though she's a normal human.
• Beneath the Mask: Although she acts calm, she is still deeply upset over her father's death.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: She got drunk with one glass.
• Combat Stilettos: She wears high heels with her work attire, and isn't hindered by them in the least while in combat.
• Combat Tentacles: Her anti-ghoul weapon is essentially a tentacle used like a whip, with a blade built into the handle.
• Daddy's Girl: She loves her father very much, as he raised her on his own after the death of her mother.
• Death Glare: She's pretty good at giving them. It was played for laughs when she gave one to Amon when she found him collapsed in her hallway drenched in sweat.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Over time, she begins to warm up and shows far more emotion, even gently teasing Amon.
• The Faceless: Before her full appearance, she has a small cameo in season 1 of the anime, visiting her father's grave. Her face is partially hidden in this scene.
• Fair Cop: She's very beautiful, something commented on by others on more than one occasion.
• Foil: To Touka. They are both women who are lonely due to their families but mask it with cold indifference. They both deeply respect their fathers and look very similar to their mothers. They both inherited their fathers' defining traits. Akira, her father's intuition. Touka, her father's love for humanity. As well as having ship tease with the leads of their stories Amon and Kaneki respectively. To make the comparison even more apt, Touka's father Arata was killed by Akira's father Mado. And Mado was killed by Touka.
• Gaussian Girl: Near the end of the series, this effect is used when Takizawa thinks back to their early days at the Academy. It contrasts with a much harsher image of her when she was first introduced.
• Generation Xerox: Like her father and mother she became a CCG Investigator.
• Gut Feeling: She is noted for having exceptional intuition, something that her father believed was important for an Investigator. She even predicts that Amon had been seriously injured long before anyone had reported it. Unfortunately, voicing this uneasy feeling results in Takizawa going off to find Amon alone, resulting in his supposed death.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: She was deeply annoyed at her youth forcing her father to take care of her instead of working on his revenge.
• Ice Queen: Acts rather coldly to her partner and coworkers, though this may simply because she is still coping with her father's recent death.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: One of her early moments revealing a softer side to her is showing her pet cat. During a mission, she even quips that she cannot die yet because her cat is waiting for her at home.
• Lady of War: She's quite beautiful and graceful, with the skill necessary to wield a compound Quinque and make it look easy.
• Not So Stoic: After defrosting a bit, she is much more emotional.
• The Rival: Takizawa considers her to be his rival, and when drunk she starts egging him on over it.
• Science Hero: She often cooperates with the research division, helping in the development of new Quinque and testing their experimental RC gas in the field.
• The Smart Girl: Using old data, she was able to correctly pinpoint where Tsukiyama is hiding. She's also been stated to be a genius Quinque designer, and Amon's final Quinque was designed by her.
• Strong Family Resemblance: She looks quite a bit like her mother.
• Shared Family Quirks: Like her father, she has a fascination with Quinques, but her's is not as extreme as his. Takizawa even calls her an "Asexual Weapons Fanatic", like how others mockingly called her father a "Crazy Old Quinque Fanatic".
• Ship Tease: Quite a bit between her and Amon, especially when she gets drunk and he's forced to look after her. While drunk, she hugged him. Prior to the raid on Anteiku, she tries to kiss him again and is stopped by him. After his apparent death, she breaks down and confesses that she was in love with him.
• The Stoic: She rarely changes her expressions.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She's expressionless and professional most of the time and usually won't admit her feelings regarding a subject unless pushed, but she shows her kinder side to her pet cat and Amon after defrosting.
• Troll: Nearly everything she has said to Amon is a joke.
• The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: She definitely did not inherit her father's looks.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: With her partner, Amon. Her one attempt to resolve things was rejected.
• Volleying Insults: She apparently gets into it with Takizawa whenever the two are in the same room.
• When She Smiles: She finally smiles when she force-feeds Amon some of her very spicy curry. Amon is stunned by how beautiful the smile was.
• You Killed My Father: She blames Amon for the death of her father, stating she hates him for this reason.

Seidou Takizawa

Voiced By: Shinnosuke Tachibana (Japanese), Micah Solusod (English)

"I am...always second best."

A Rank 2 Investigator, assigned to investigate the Gourmet Ghoul alongside Houji. He deeply admires both Amon and Arima but harbors something of an inferiority complex towards Akira.

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• Always Second Best: The source of his inferiority complex, as he's always ended up coming in just behind more talented individuals like Akira or Juuzou.
• Always Someone Better: Akira and Juuzou are always this to him, leaving him with serious feelings of resentment.
• An Arm and a Leg: Noro bites his arm clean off, mortally wounding him in the process.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: He frequently talked about wanting to get out in the field. He finally gets his wish, and ends up being mortally wounded by Noro.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Hide and his mother both suggest potential attraction towards Akira, an idea he immediately rejects. Later on, however...
• Bring My Brown Pants: When Tatara grabs him, he's so terrified that he wets himself.
• Butt-Monkey: Due to his inferiority complex, he frequently tries to look cool or assert himself as a senior to people like Juuzou. It always backfires in his face.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: When he has an after-work drink with Amon and Akira, he quickly ends up plastered.
• Cowardly Lion: Though weeping with fear, he refuses to abandon a wounded-Amon and faces down Tatara, who had just finished slaughtering his squad.
• A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 123, Homefront, focuses on him. He spends time with his family and struggles to deal with his upcoming participation in a major combat operation.
• A Death in the Limelight: It may also count as this since he's listed among the deceased at the conclusion of the operation.
• Defiant to the End: In contrast to the manga, in the anime when Tatara demands to know where Houji is, he defiantly shouts that Houji won't be beaten by him.
• Delinquent Hair: He responds with shock and criticism upon seeing that his younger sister has bleached her hair, and her shallow, mocking attitude fits the stereotype of delinquent schoolgirls.
• Fed to the Beast: Tatara casually tosses him into the air, and simply calls for Noro. Noro's ever-hungry Combat Tentacles do the rest.
• Gory Discretion Shot: While the manga shows it in graphic detail, the anime cuts away to a shot of his shocked face when Noro maims him.
• Green-Eyed Monster: He's jealous of people like Akira and Juuzou, that surpass or overshadow him.
• Heroes Love Dogs: In contrast to Kind Hearted Cat Lover Akira, he's shown to adore dogs. His focal chapter features him going home and briefly playing with the family dog, to really push what a normal kid he really is.
• Hesitant Sacrifice: While putting his affairs in order prior to a major operation, he spends quite a bit of time pondering what to write in his Will. He starts out writing a normal letter but then ends up writing "I don't want to die" across the entire paper. Later, he sacrifices himself trying to protect a wounded Amon from Tatara, weeping in terror the entire time.
• Idiot Hair: He has a single lock sticking up straight in the air, hinting at his excitable nature.
• I Just Want to Be Badass/I Just Want to Be Special: He desperately craves attention and the chance to prove himself.
• In Vino Veritas: When he gets rip-roaring drunk, he ends up screaming challenges to Akira and answers his phone by calling the person (his partner) names.
• Kill the Cutie: He's reported among the dead at the conclusion of the Anteiku Raid — or so we thought.
• Kinda Busy Here: Parodied. While drunk and arguing with an equally-sloshed Akira, he answers his phone by demanding to know what "bastard" is interrupting his "battle against destiny". He's horrified when he realizes it's Houji.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": He's one of the top graduates of the Academy, but absolutely worships truly skilled individuals like Amon and Arima. He even goes on about the clippings he keeps of Arima's cases.
• Love Epiphany: Hinted at. While abandoning his post to look for Amon, he thinks back to his days at the Academy with Akira and realizes he only ever "looked at her from the side". He calls himself an idiot for this, smiling bitterly. Later, as he's mortally wounded, an image of Akira is reflected in his eyes as he (seemingly) dies.
• Momma's Boy: He spends his day off with his mother, getting badgered at about not having a girlfriend and generally fussed over by her. He originally became an Investigator because of how frightened she was after a Ghoul killed one of their neighbors.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: His decision to go help Amon ends up having horrible consequences for him.
• Oh, Crap!: The look of sheer horror on his face, upon realizing the person he just called a "bastard" is Houji, is priceless. He staggers out of the shop, mumbling that he's doomed.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Little surprise he's got an inferiority complex when quite literally every other Investigator in the office is The Ace.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Right up until the final arc, he's primarily there to be the butt of the joke. Then things quickly get bad for him.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Emotional, immature Takizawa is the Red to Houji's cool, composed Blue.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: He decides to ignore a direct order and break rank, in order to go rescue Amon. It does not go well for him.
• Ship Tease: With Akira, especially during the finale. He comes to a realization about her and calls himself a fool, while in the final chapter Akira makes an Anguished Declaration of Love concerning both Amon and Takizawa.
• Tarot Motifs: XV. The Devil, and its cross-sum, VI. The Lovers.
• Tears of Fear: While working on his Will prior to the operation in the 20th Ward, he ends up huddled in a corner weeping in fear. Later, when facing down Tatara on his own, he's so frightened he begins crying hysterically.
• Uncertain Doom: Like many characters, his ultimate fate is left unresolved at the conclusion. The sequel, though...
• Unknown Rival: Downplayed. He maintains a certain level of jealousy towards Akira, the top of their class. But his sense of rivalry doesn't really come out until both end up roaring drunk, at which point he declares it a serious battle.
• Volleying Insults: With Akira. It's noted this happens whenever they're in the same room.

Kousuke Houji

Voiced By: Sho Hayami (Japanese), Wyn Delano (English)

An Associate Special Class Investigator assigned to the 20th Ward. He is famed for his exploits in China, and works alongside Seidou Takizawa on the Gourmet case.

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• The Ace: His talents are such that he was scouted by the Chinese branch, and spent time working there before returning to Japan. His exploits are quite famous, according to Takizawa.
• Adaptation Expansion: The anime sees Houji conducting the investigation into Kaneki and Dr. Kanou, as opposed to it being primarily handled by Amon and Shinohara in the manga.
• Arch-Enemy: Tatara seems to harbor an especially deep hatred of him.
• Arm Cannon: His Quinque, Hollow, wraps itself around his forearm and allows him to fire off explosive projectiles.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: An incredibly skilled Investigator, and always impeccably dressed even when compared to other CCG employees.
• BFS: The Quinque, Chi Shi, is essentially this. While he wields it with ease, later Koori Ui notes that it's extremely heavy.
• Dead Sidekick: He's shown wearing a pained expression, while Takizawa's death is discussed.
• Deadpan Snarker: When a drunk Takizawa answers his phone by demanding to know what "bastard" is bothering him, he introduces himself as "Bastard". His smirk as he does this only adds to the scene.
• One Degree of Separation: He was a previous partner of Kureo Mado, connecting him to all of his coworkers save for Takizawa.
• Out of Focus: Out of the main Investigators, he has the least focus in the story.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The calm, unflappable Blue to Takizawa's emotional, immature Red.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Like all Investigators, he wears a suit while working. His hair is always neatly slicked back, and he gives off an air of class.
• The Stoic: His cool demeanor rarely changes, giving the impression of an unflappable and aloof man.

Other Investigators

Kishou Arima

Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese), Alex Organ (English)

"Events that happen in this world, are a continuous series of trifling things, and within those myriad pieces of puzzles, there is always a fragment that leads to the truth."

A famed Special Class Ghoul Investigator said to be the strongest of all. He is considered a genius that can master any weapon, and many Investigators look up to him as a role model. Among Ghouls, he is greatly feared and known as the "God of Death" due to being undefeated in battle.

He is the protagonist of the Spin-Off mini-series Tokyo Ghoul:Jack, which focuses on his teenage years.

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• The Ace: To the Ghoul Investigators.
• Ambiguously Human: Compare to Suzuya and Amon, Arima moves faster than Kaneki could track and displayed inhuman-like agility and reflexes. In the sequel, The Reveal shows that he's actually a Half-Human (a human-ghoul hybrid with mostly human-like traits), which gives reason to his Super-Speed and Super-Reflexes.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: To Kaneki in chapter 138. Poor guy didn't even know what hit him. Please note that at this point in time, Kaneki has become one of the most powerful Ghouls in the setting.
  • Has another, less extreme version against the One-Eyed Owl. He manages to wound it several times when every other investigator's combined efforts weren't even enough to slow it down. It, in turn, can't manage to so much as graze him and it is quickly forced to retreat.
• Disease Bleach: Possibly. Something has made his originally black hair go white.
• The Dreaded: To Ghouls.
• Expy: Let's see, Arima works on an investigation case, wears eyeglasses, has silver-gray hair, is The Ace to their group, has excellent swordsmanship. Even one of his qinques is named "Narukami". To hit the final nail on the coffin of similarities, both characters are voiced by the same person.
• Everyone Has Standards: He admonished Marude for disrespecting the recently deceased Mado.
• Fair Cop: As a teenager, his good looks and mysterious aura earned him admirers at school. Kaneki even describes him as "beautiful", when encountering him for the first time.
• Flash Step: He moves so fast that Kaneki can't sense him at all.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: His expression rarely changes, giving the impression of someone utterly removed from the world. Even at his most outgoing in Jack, he remains very distant and detached from the things going on around him.
• The Gift: Arima is naturally a genius at just about everything he does. And what we are shown of his past indicates that yes, he always has been. A lot of his peers loathe him for it.
• Hero of Another Story: The Spin-Off Tokyo Ghoul Jack follows him as a teenager and rookie Ghoul Investigator.
• Hero Killer: Even the most powerful Ghouls find him a difficult opponent, leaving no choice but to flee. He defeats Kaneki at the end of the original series, and until the sequel reveals it, it's ambiguous whether he dies or not.
• Instant Expert: He can bring out the full potential of any Quinque.
• Invincible Hero/Invincible Villain: Depending on which side the story has the audience rooting for at the time. Kaneki and the One-Eyed Owl, two of the strongest Ghouls in the setting, cannot even touch him.
• Lonely at the Top: Several Investigators discussing what they wrote in their Wills prior to a major combat operation talk about how Arima always hands in a blank paper. One thinks that it means he's confident in his victory, but another state it is because Arima has nothing to write — no one to say goodbye to or affairs to put in order. The next page shows Arima staring sadly at a blank piece of paper.
• Mystical White Hair: His unusual hair color seems to hint at his nigh-superhuman abilities and frightening reputation. It was originally black, but like Kaneki he went through something that turned it white.
• One-Man Army: The greatest example of the series, a man legendary as an undefeated killer of Ghouls. His introduction during the final arc involves him standing in a massive chamber filled with Ghoul corpses.
• Playing Card Motifs: He is referred to as the "Jack", which provides the name of the prequel starring a teenaged Arima.
• Pet the Dog: Has a brief moment of this in √A when Juuzou collapses after attempting in vain to damage the One-Eyed Owl. Arima is the one who catches him before he can hit the ground and takes a moment to gently lay Juuzou down before engaging the ghoul himself.
• Physical God: To the point where people who see him fight, no matter how little religious faith they hold, compare it to a religious experience, and that Arima is the embodiment of the "unfairness of God". He's known as CCG's Shinigami for a good reason.
• Red Baron: CCG's Shinigami.
• Sadist: Described by the author as "massive and sadistic". In Jack, he claims to hunt Ghouls because it is his "hobby".
• Scary Shiny Glasses: And they are splattered with the blood of those he's already killed, for bonus scary.
• Shock and Awe: The other of his two Quinque is a gun-like mirror that fires lightning.
• Slasher Smile: He gives a rather soft, but still disturbing one when Kaneki manages to damaged IXA.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: His glasses only add to his air of intelligence.
• Sociopathic Hero: Possibly more so than Mado and Juuzou. That is if what he says about killing ghouls being his hobby is true.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Very unaffected by violence, to the point where even when he viciously stabs Kaneki's eyes out with his lance, all he does is casually compliment him on damaging his quinque before deciding he needs a new one.
• Stoic Spectacles: When he isn't killing everything in sight, he comes across as a handsome but slightly aloof figure.
• Tarot Motifs: XI. Justice, X. The Wheel of Fortune.
• Teen Genius: He was brilliant even as a teenager, both in terms of raw intelligence and his fighting ability. In Jack, he memorized his textbook and is noted for being an exceptional student.
• The Stoic: Even in the middle of combat, he looks pretty damn bored.
• Underestimating Badassery: Many stupid, proud, or desperate Ghouls initially think that Arima's humanity is a weakness instead of yet another reason why he's a completely terrifying entity.
• Wham Line: "You're good... Kaneki Ken."
• White Hair, Black Heart: His white hair hints at his ruthless nature, showing absolutely no mercy in battle.
• World's Strongest Man: Far and away the most powerful of the Investigators, and a top contender for one of the strongest characters in the series. Possessing extreme strength, speed and reflexes even by Ghoul standards.

Iwao Kuroiwa

Voiced by: Ryūzaburō Ōtomo (Japanese), R. Bruce Elliott (English)

A Special Class Investigator involved in the Owl Incident ten years prior, and Vice-Commander of the 11th Ward Special Countermeasures Unit. He is an old friend of Shinohara, and the two use the same prototype armor.

---

• The Ace: Dealt a fatal wound to the One-Eyed Owl, and established himself as one of CCG's strongest Investigators.
• A Father to His Men: He is well-respected by his subordinates, always leading from the front lines and providing strong moral support to them. They are thrilled when he states his intention to go with them, and participate in a major combat operation alongside them.
• Affectionate Nickname: Shinohara calls him "Iwaccho".
• An Arm and a Leg: Loses his arm below the elbow in the battle with Owl. Others tell him he's lucky it wasn't his dominant hand.
• Bash Brothers: With Shinohara.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: They are enormous and bushy, adding to his bird-like appearance.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The Arata armor is powerful, granting the speed and strength of a Ghoul but it actively attempts to consume the user.
• Instant Armor: He has a full set of armor as his Quinque, though using it is dangerous for all but the strongest individuals.
• Made of Iron: Incredible physical endurance is necessary to use the Arata, since it consumes the user while activated. He's back at work before Shinohara due to how tough he is.
  • Also played for laughs, in the Light Novels. He's the only person capable of eating Misato's cooking without getting food poisoning.
• Major Injury Underreaction: When he loses his arm, he simply states that it was "unavoidable" and keeps fighting.
• Number Two: To Marude.
• Super Prototype: He is the other user of the prototype "Arata" armor.

Itsuki Marude

Voiced By: Yuji Ueda (Japanese), Philip Weber (English)

A Special Class Investigator, and commander of the 11th Ward Special Countermeasures Unit organized to combat Aogiri Tree. He is highly experienced, but also has an abrasive personality.

---

• Badass Biker: He likes to think he's this, but instead his motorcycle keeps getting stolen by the real deal.
• Boom, Headshot!: Delivers several in a row to Aogiri's snipers, establishing he's more than a big mouth.
• Gratuitous English: "PEACE IN DEATH!" Also when Juuzou took his bike, "W-W-W-WAIT!"
• It's All About Me: Actually subverted. While Marude can initially seem like he's only interested in himself and getting a promotion, he actually turns out to be a pretty decent and reasonable guy underneath it all.
• Jerkass: He's prone to running his mouth, saying unflattering things about Mado after his death or teasing Suzuya about his youthful, androgynous appearance.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Beneath his rough exterior and loud mouth, he is a good friend and values the lives of those under his command.
• Mission Control: He typically serves as the commander of Mission Control, with several subordinates helping him coordinate the forces on the ground.
• The Neidermeyer: Everything seems to point towards him being one, with him quickly established as a loud-mouthed and insensitive commander interested in making himself look good. But ultimately he subverts it, showing great competence in the field and ordering Shinohara to have anyone not up to facing the Owl retreat to avoid a needless death.
• Running Gag: Suzuya stealing and promptly wrecking his motorcycle while doing something heroic and awesome.
• Tempting Fate: He gets in Suzuya's face and mocks him, but is saved by Shinohara's intervention. The last person to annoy Suzuya got his eardrum sucked out and crushed for his efforts.
• We Have Reserves: Averted when Shinohara's team faces off against the Owl. He tells Shinohara to have all troops who can't hold their own against the creature back down lest they needlessly die.

Take Hirako

Voiced By: Takayuki Kondō (Japanese), Joel McDonald (English)

An Investigator First Class, and former partner to Arima. He is in command of the 21st Ward, and an exceptionally skilled fighter.

---

• BFS: His Quinque is one.
• Book Dumb: His grades were seen as unremarkableas a student.
• By-the-Book Cop: He argues that their regulations call for the protection of human life above all else, including killing a Ghoul.
• Heroes Love Dogs: He has a Shiba Inu.
• Just Following Orders: Discussed with Koori in the aftermath of a major operation. It's clear both have serious misgivings about what happened and how they simply did what they were told.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Discussed with Koori. After the raid on Anteiku and the resulting heavy losses, both wonder if it can even be called a victory.
• Ridiculously Average Guy: He seems like one, even described as being "normal looking with no special characteristics". However, Irimi warns that he is much stronger and far more dangerous than his appearance would suggest.
• Took a Level in Badass: Back when he was a student in the academy, Take's grades were seen as unremarkable. It's only when Arima took him under his wing that he became renowned.
• Van Helsing Hate Crimes: Defied. When Irimi is wounded in battle Taking the Bullet for a civilian, he protests killing her. While he claims that it's because she might be a valuable informant, in truth he's doing it to save her after recognizing her selfless act.
• What the Hell, Hero?: He rails against Hachikawa when the other man nearly kills a civilian.

Koori Ui

Voiced By: Yoshinori Fujita (Japanese), Chris Burnett (English)

An Associate Special Class Investigator, and one of Arima's proteges. He is the Investigator in charge of the violent 4th Ward and has a playful personality.

---

• The Ace: He's highly-regarded for his skill, and called the "Hope" of the Arima group.
• Badass Biker: He helps Juuzou pull off another insane motorcycle stunt, and wrecks Marude's second motorcycle in the process.
• Just Following Orders: In the aftermath of the raid on the 20th Ward, he expresses misgivings about the entire situation and how they all simply followed their orders without thinking.
• Morph Weapon: Taruhi can be converted into a flexible form, and wielded like a whip.
• Pyrrhic Victory: After all the loss on both sides during the raid on Anteiku, he wonders if anyone could even be considered the victor.

Mougan Tanakamaru

Voiced By: Tsuyoshi Koyama (Japanese), Barry Yandell (English)

A Special Class Investigator, assigned as the captain of Squad 2 during major operations. He is highly emotional and prone to eccentric behavior.

---

• BFG: His Quinque, "High Mind", is essentially this.
• Calling Your Attacks: He does this to the extent that Koma actually comments on it.
• Emotional Bruiser: He may be incredibly badass, but he's also prone to overly emotional displays.
• Irony: The guy with a pompadour faces a Ghoul with a pompadour.
• Large Ham: He does everything over-the-top.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: "This is a manga!"
• Manly Tears: He weeps in admiration while watching Arima fight.
• Verbal Tic: Almost every one of his statements has 'boy' in it somewhere.

Chuu Hachikawa

Voiced By: Kenta Miyake (Japanese)

An Associate Special Class Investigator, assigned as the captain of Squad 3 during major operations. He is a deranged individual with little regard for life, whether ghoul or human.

---

• Arch-Enemy: Kaya "Black Dog" Irimi.
• Ax-Crazy: He enjoys fighting, and doesn't seem to care who might get hurt in the process.
• Facial Horror: He tends to pull down his collar to take advantage of this, horrifying people into silence with his scars.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He is a cruel, deranged individual with no concern for human life. Even his subordinates are disturbed by his behavior.
• Freudian Excuse: His extreme hatred of ghouls comes from Irimi killing multiple of his allies and inflicting facial scars.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: He's missing most of his right cheek, exposing teeth and tendons. He usually hides it behind a tall collar.
• Jerkass: Is notably unpleasant with everyone he interacts with and has no problem with killing civilians or collateral damage if it means he'll annihilate Ghouls.
• Kick the Dog: When an elderly woman gets caught in the middle of a fight, the other CCG Investigators back off out of fear they'll hit her by mistake. Hachikawa, on the other hand, decides the innocent bystander (already with "one foot in the grave") can die if it will mean more dead Ghouls. Irimi throws herself in the way, Taking the Bullet to protect the old woman.
• More Dakka: His Quinque is an Ukaku with a high-rate of fire.
• Scars Are Forever: His scars seem to be the result of a past battle with Irimi.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Prone to this, due to his disturbed personality.
• Shoot the Hostage: He doesn't care who gets hurt in the process of killing Ghouls.
• Sociopathic Hero: He may be on the side of the CCG but just look at all of the other tropes on his page.

Kiyoko Aura

A Special Class Investigator, and Division 1 Commander of the 1st Ward. She is the first female Special Class and has many female admirers as a result.

---

• The Ace: Her accomplishments have earned her many admirers in CCG.
• Action Girl: The strongest female Investigator, and the first woman to ever become a Special Class.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She comes across as very prim and proper at the meeting, and is an exceptionally beautiful woman.
• Fair Cop: A stunning and high-ranked Investigator.
• Lady of War: An elegant woman noted to be considered the idol of all of the female Investigators and known for being a deadly warrior.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: She is a classic beauty, with fair skin and dark hair.
• The Smurfette Principle: Among the Special Class Investigators, she's the only woman.

Yoshitoki Washuu

Voiced By: Shunsuke Sakuya (Japanese), Kent Williams (English)

"No need to glare. It's my job."

The Bureau Director of CCG's main office, and son to Chairman Washuu. He is a cool and collected leader, placed in charge of the major operation at the finale of the first series.

---

• Badass Family: The Washuu family has led CCG for generations, with his father and grandfather both legendary figures noted for their strength.
• Good Hair, Evil Hair: He wears a thin mustache and thin beard, giving him an air of authority.
• Nerves of Steel: While his forces are quite literally wetting themselves in fear, he casually reassures a glaring SSS-rated Ghoul that he's just doing his job.
• Nothing Personal: His response to Yoshimura during the raid.
• Older Than He Looks: He has a 29-year old son, but looks more like an older brother than a middle-aged father.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: He's always impeccably dressed, without a single hair out of place.
• Token Good Teammate: He's considered the nicest member of the Washuu Clan, and is at odds with some of the others as a result.

Tsuneyoshi Washuu

The mysterious chairman of CCG.

---

• Badass Family: The Washuu family has led CCG for generations, with his father helping develop the Quinque.
• Good Hair, Evil Hair: He has the long, full beard one would expect of a man with considerable age and authority.
• The Patriarch: The head of the illustrious Washuu family, which hold great rank within CCG.
• Red Baron: Onitsune (lit, Demon Tsune)

Misato Gori

Voiced By: Reina Ueda (Japanese), Trina Nishimura (English)

A skilled Rank 2 Investigator from the 13th Ward. She comes across as harsh, but in truth has a deep admiration for Amon.

---

• Cannot Spit It Out: She's unable to simply tell Amon her feelings for him.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: The tomboyish Misato cannot cook to save her life, in contrast to the more feminine Akira.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": She's a highly-skilled Investigator in her own right, but deeply admires Amon to the point of being flustered in his presence.
• Lady of War: She's very composed and cool in the heat of battle.
• Lethal Chef: Her homemade donuts cause everyone that eats them to suffer food poisoning, though she remains oblivious to being responsible.
• More Dakka: Her Quinque, the Ukaku-type "Emelio".
• Never Found the Body: She Invokes the trope, deeply in denial of the reports that Amon has been killed in battle because no one saw a body.
• Statuesque Stunner: She's almost as tall as Amon.
• Through His Stomach: She attempts to convey her feelings to Amon by cooking donuts for him. It...doesn't go well.
• Tsundere: She's prone to being harsh in reaction to Amon, primarily due to being flustered around him.
• What the Hell, Hero?: She tears into Akira for not seeming sad enough over the reported deaths of Amon and Seidou, only to stop in shock when the other woman begins weeping.

Kouitsu Chigyou

Voiced by: Shinji Kawada (Japanese), Anthony Bowling (English)

The Head Research of CCG Laboratory Division, in charge of all research concerning Ghouls and the production of Quinque. He is an easy-going and friendly individual, and spent time abroad, studying Ghouls in Germany.

---

• Eyes Out of Sight: His eyes are always concealed beneath his bangs.
• For Science!: It has been suggested he's less interested in the ethics of what he does and more interested in seeing whether theory will actually work.
• Just Think of the Potential!: He was apparently one of the major forces behind the Quinx Project, after examining the results of Dr. Kanou's experiments.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: His research seems to involve anything related to Ghouls, including not only the study of their biology but also the production of viable weapons from said biology.

Shinme Haisaki

The current Warden of Kokuria, and head of the 23rd Ward.

---

• Face of a Thug: His face frightens people, even when he's being perfectly friendly.
• Fantastic Racism: Averted. He seems to be one of the few Investigators that doesn't have an issue with the hybrids and expresses his approval for the project.
• Field Promotion: He was one of the survivors when Aogiri attacked Kokuria, making him the new Warden when his predecessor was killed. Two and a half years later, he's still working to rebuild what was left of the prison and its staff.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has scars around his mouth, adding to his creepy appearance.
• Mad Eye: His pupils seem to look in different directions, adding to his very unnerving appearance.
• Science Hero: Studying and researching Ghouls is one of his duties as Kokuria's Warden.

Unaffiliated

Hideyoshi "Hide" Nagachika

Voiced by: Toshiyuki Toyonaga (Japanese), Reina Ueda (Japanese, child), Clifford Chapin (English)

Played By: Kai Ogasawara (Film), Shūto Miyazaki (Stage Play)

"Rabbits die from loneliness, you know."

^{click here}  to see the film version

He is Kaneki's best friend. Although he comes off as a goofball, he is incredibly perceptive and intelligent when he wants to be, so much so that some ghouls see him as a threat since he could expose them.

---

• Amateur Sleuth: He admits that he enjoyed bugging and tailing anyone he thought was suspicious, in the hopes of solving crimes. When he tails Yamori and discovers the existence of Aogiri, he leaks it anonymously to CCG. Later, he officially joins them as an Intern and gets promoted to an assistant in the Investigation department due to his great intuition.
• Ambiguously Bi: Has expressed interest in women, but confessed in chapter 148 that he does so much for Kaneki because he loves him, using phrasing specific to romantic love.
• "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: In a side story from the novels, Hide blackmails Kaneki's abusive aunt after learning about her mistreatment of him.
• Body Horror: :re chapter 164 reveals that Hide's jaw is heavily damaged and he has no lips, leaving a large gaping hole that bares his teeth, and some sections of his lower row are missing as well.
  • In the epilogue everything but his lips are shown to have fully healed thanks to what is implied to be Ghoul-based cellular regeneration therapy and he no longer needs his artificial voice box. He still wears a surgical mask over his mouth but it isn't clarified if was to cover damage that wouldn't heal, because he just happened to be sick, or because he became so used to wearing one.
• Boy Meets Ghoul: He jokes with Kaneki that he wouldn't mind dating a Ghoul, as long as she was cute.
• Character Tic: He tends to scratch the side of his face while nervous or uncomfortable.
• Childhood Friends: Kaneki's best friend since elementary school.
• Death by Adaptation: While his fate in the original manga is ambiguous and is later revealed to be alive in :Re, he apparently dies in the anime, though the :Re adaptation still has him survive.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: In the anime, he dies in Kaneki's arms after having one final talk.
• Fun Personified: He goes out of his way to be bright and cheerful, in contrast to his more quiet and reserved friend. People noted he's all about social activities.
• Genki Guy: He's noted for his energetic, social personality.
• Genre Savvy: Nishiki warns Kaneki that Hide is actually more clever than he seems, something that proves to be true. He figures out how to pass through an area with a high concentration of Ghouls by stealing clothing off a dead Ghoul, masking his scent.
• Guile Hero: What he lacks in physical ability, he more than makes up for in cunning. He's able to elude Ghouls hunting him, as well as manipulate events to gain himself access to the inner-workings of CCG and place himself on the front lines of a major operation as part of Mission Control.
• Headphones Equal Isolation: Subverted. Hide wears large, bulky headphones around his neck but is known for his outgoing and bright personality.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Kaneki. He happily accepted Kaneki despite knowing that he's a ghoul. The anime blurs the "heterosexual" part somewhat in the finale, with him choosing to save Kaneki and spend his final moments with him rather than seek medical attention for his injuries.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: Marude is shocked when they realize the mystery informant they've spent six months looking for has been working as an intern there for about the same amount of time.
• Hyper-Awareness: He shows incredible intuition, and follows these hunches to great results. He's exceptional at picking out suspicious people, noting that he always found Nishiki to be an untrustworthy person and his skills are eventually recognized by Marude as exceptional enough to earn him a promotion to Investigator Assistant.
• Locked Out of the Loop: After Touka threatens to kill Hide should Kaneki ever slip up, the friends slowly begin to see less and less of each other. Kaneki actively shuts Hide out of his life to protect him, leaving him unaware of all the things going on in his best friend's life.
• Milholland Relationship Moment: After months of Kaneki fretting over Hide learning his secret, Hide tells him he already knew and that it doesn't matter.
• Mission Control: During the CCG raid of Anteiku, he's assigned to help out at the on-site communications base.
• Mortal Wound Reveal: In the anime, he's revealed to be bleeding to death from a stomach wound partway through his reunion with Kaneki.
• Muggle Best Friend: He is Kaneki's best friend, but he worries about what would happen if Hide were to discover his secret.
• Mysterious Informant: He turns out to be the one that leaked the location of Aogiri's base to CCG.
• Mysterious Past: Almost nothing is known about Hide, in sharp contrast to every other major character in the series.
• Nerves of Steel: In the side novels, a Ghoul notes that he is unusually calm and composed for a human about to be eaten.
• Nice Guy: He's an extremely upbeat and kind fellow, something that gave Kaneki comfort on multiple occasions.
• Non-Action Guy: He can't fight to save his life. Instead, he relies upon trickery, misdirection, and just plain outwitting threats that come his way.
• Noodle Incident: In the first chapter, there's a snippet of conversation during Kaneki's date with Rize, with him telling her a funny story about Kaneki and some other kids shooting fireworks at Hide. Since it's only a random piece of the conversation, there's no further context or explanation.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: He intentionally plays up his more goofy behaviors, to throw people off. When discussing with Kaneki his theories about a peacekeeping organization of Ghouls in the 20th Ward, he suddenly switches into cheerfully talking about a book (by a known hack) about Ghouls.
• Only Friend: Hide reached out to Kaneki upon seeing the other boy always alone, and remains his only friend until Kaneki decides to stay away from him for his own safety.
• Out of Focus: Kaneki's relationship with Hide is vital at the beginning of the series, shaping much of Kaneki's struggle with his changed nature. However, as Kaneki became more involved in the ghoul world, interactions between the two became scarce and we didn't see Hide for many, many chapters. After the timeskip, he becomes an Intern at CCG and begins working with Amon's team.
• Playing Possum: Nishiki suspects him of doing exactly this, and in the anime at least he was correct.
• Playing Card Motifs: Ace of Spades. Usually known as the "death" card.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red to Kaneki's Blue, being the more bright and energetic of the pair.
• Refuge in Audacity: How he manages to accomplish some of his more extreme stunts because no one would expect a mere human to do things like pretend to drop change so he could plant a tracking device on a particularly vicious Ghoul or wear clothing stolen off a Ghoul's corpse to scout out the base of a dangerous organization. When Marude is shocked he would do such a thing, he simply claims that playing detective is his "hobby".
• Robbing the Dead: He explains that stealing clothing off a dead Ghoul allowed him to travel through an area with numerous Ghouls without being noticed since it concealed his human scent.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He's the more confident and aggressive guy, in contrast to Kaneki's gentle and submissive personality. It makes an intriguing contrast with their respective capabilities as well — Hide is just a reasonably clever human, while Kaneki slowly becomes a powerful and violent flesh-eating ghoul.
• Tagalong Kid: He's eventually promoted from an intern to an actual employee, and assigned to work with Amon on his investigations. He's not actually trained to do anything related to CCG's work but proves to be exceptional at it anyway.
• Tarot Motifs: I. The Magician.
• Teen Genius: For all his goofy behavior, Hide is actually one of the most intelligent characters in the series.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: He is one of the only characters in the series with no ulterior motives and is mostly driven by the fact that he wants to find out what mess Kaneki had gotten himself into and help him. In the anime, he also dies after trying to carry Kaneki to safety and taking a mortal wound in the process.
• Uncertain Doom: He is officially Missing in Action after the battle in the 20th Ward. He was last seen comforting a wounded and hallucinating Kaneki, leaving the possibility that his best friend ate him. :Re confirms that Hide did live through the incident, albeit he's missing the majority of his mouth.
• Undying Loyalty: Suffice to say, there's nothing he wouldn't do for Kaneki.
• Unfazed Everyman: Discussed in the Light Novels. Hide's blasé reaction to being attacked by a Ghoul is so unusual, the Ghoul actually stops to ask about it.
• Wham Line: "I already knew."

Sen Takatsuki

Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese), Lindsay Seidel (English)

"But next time, I thought I would write something about Ghouls."

A famous author noted to have published her first work as a teenager. She is Kaneki's favorite writer and has several fans among the Ghouls in the story. In-person, she is easy-going and somewhat quirky, but far more insightful than it would seem.

---

• The Ace: A beautiful, brilliant young author that has had several bestsellers at the age of 24. Her first book, written as a teenager, was highly regarded and marked her as a talented newcomer. She's also the most powerful Ghoul known, and the true mastermind behind Aogiri Tree while concealing her identity with multiple false identities.
• Beleaguered Assistant: Her manager spends most of his time desperately trying to keep her on track, and getting ignored for his efforts. She even seems to enjoy teasing him, suggesting he should go find her a Ghoul to interview by "walking alone at night while looking delicious".
• Big Bad: She’s Eto, the One-Eyed Owl.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She acts sweet and dorky in her civilian identity, but she’s a vengeful genocidal maniac.
• Covert Pervert: During her autograph session, her hand wanders suspiciously low while posing with a fan for pictures.
• Chekhov's Gunman: She's the author of Kaneki, Rize, Tsukiyama, and Hinami's favorite books. As a result, she's been discussed repeatedly throughout the story and begins playing a role in the plot once she finally appears in person. Turns out, she's actually not only Eto of Aogiri Tree but the infamous One-Eyed Owl.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: She comes across as very quirky and strange, cheerfully ignoring the rules of her own autograph sessions. Later her quirkiness takes on a darker nature.
• Cool Big Sis: She takes an immediate liking to Hinami, and offers her advice. Except her motives weren't exactly pure...
• Evil All Along: She is actually the mastermind behind Aogiri Tree and many of the story’s events.
• Finger-Tenting: She does this frequently while talking to people, especially when she's deep in thought. It turns out to be one of several subtle hints that she's the villain.
• Foreshadowing: Multiple pieces easily missed the first time. Yoshimura states he has "no son", because of course, he has a daughter. As Sen Takatsuki, she shows an unusual insight into the events going on behind the scenes and interest in the RC sensors at CCG headquarters- because she’s behind them. She also expresses interest in writing a book about a Ghoul after talking to Kaneki, because of course she already knows all about him.
• The Glasses Gotta Go: She doesn't wear her glasses when making public appearances, as opposed to wearing them when on her personal time. Considering her image as a great beauty is one thing Kaneki mentions she's famous for, this is probably intentional on the part of her management.
• Government Conspiracy: She seems to believe there is one, offering Amon hints that CCG may have a hand in the creation of Ghoul Hybrids like Kaneki.
• Lampshade Hanging: She wrote a book about MacGuffin. Later, she was revealed to be the One-Eyed Owl, the Living Macguffin.
• Living a Double Life: When she isn't working on her latest novel or doing publicity events, she's Eto, the real leader of Aogiri Tree. One wonders when she finds the time to get anything done.
• Messy Hair: She shows up to her official autograph session straight of bed, with a huge mess of hair.
• Most Writers Are Male: Averted. However, it is notable that both unofficial translations and Funimation fell victim to this trope.
• Mystery Writer Detective: At least in that she managed to dig up some interesting information, offering it to Amon while interviewing him for her new book.
• Parental Abandonment: Like most of the cast, she lost her parents early on. Or rather, her father was forced to abandon her in the 24th Ward to protect her from the organization known as "V".
• Pen Name: Sen Takatsuki isn't her actual name, but rather the one she uses as a professional writer. Her real name is Eto Yoshimura.
• The Reveal: She's the Half-Human Hybrid child of Yoshimura, the One-Eyed Owl. Not only that, but she is also the Aogiri Tree executive, Eto.
• Sherlock Scan: She has an exceptional talent for reading people, picking up on small details about them simply through observation. She demonstrates this to Hinami during their second meeting, pointing out her nervous Character Tic and correctly guessing not only her general upbringing but how it compares to Kaneki's past. Hinami notes this is probably part of what makes her such a talented writer.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: She wears large, rounded frames while gathering material or writing.
• The Storyteller: Her novel, The Black Goat's Egg, seems to be a reflection of Kaneki's unfortunate circumstances. After meeting him, she becomes interested in writing a story about a Ghoul.
• Strong Family Resemblance: She bears a striking resemblance to her Missing Mom.
• Teen Genius: She published her first book as a teenager, and it went on to be a best-seller. She's published 8 works total, and she's only 24. Also an evil example.
• Unkempt Beauty: Though we've never seen her anything but disheveled, Kaneki states that she's admired by fans for her great beauty.
• Villain with Good Publicity: To the world, she’s a kind and lovably awkward author, but in secret, she’s the One-Eyed Owl, hellbent on humanity’s destruction.
• Walking Spoiler: Learning anything about her background reveals her as the One-Eyed Owl, the Big Bad at the center of a number of mysteries in the series. In the anime, the fact she is Eto is more heavily foreshadowed.

Akihiro Kanou

Voiced by: Kenji Nomura (Japanese), Mark Stoddard (English)

Played by: Ryō Iwamatsu (Film)

^{click here}  to see the film version

The doctor who performed the operation that transformed Kaneki into a One-Eyed Ghoul. He acts as a kind and innocent doctor, but in truth, he has his own plan and has strong ties to Aogiri Tree. Though he left them in the past, when located by them he chooses to side with them to continue his research.

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• Above Good and Evil: He views himself this way, at least. He knows his research will be viewed by others as evil, but believes his work transcends normal standards of judgment.
• Big Bad Ensemble: As the doctor responsible for Kaneki’s condition, he is one of the main antagonists alongside, Eto, Rize, and Souta.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He presents himself as a kindly doctor when in reality, he's running illegal experiments on humans and doesn't even seem to care about how his actions hurt others.
• Break Them by Talking: After Kaneki meets Kanou a second time. Kanou tries to get Kaneki to join up with him by telling him Yoshimura was the reason for creating Aogiri Tree.
• Demoted to Extra: An interesting case in the anime's second season. Whilst it is still revealed that he intentionally made Kaneki a ghoul, and also did the same with Kuro and Shiro, the full investigation into him and his motives for doing so that were shown in the manga are kept a mystery in the anime that is alluded to a number of times. Kanou himself only appears in person twice. However, he returns to his full role in the :Re anime.
• Evil Plan: Kaneki's transformation into a ghoul was no accident nor was he the doctor's first or even last attempt to create one-eyed ghouls.
• Good Samaritan: During Kaneki's operation, we see that he is dedicated to saving the other's life despite not knowing him. He even breaks hospital policy and operates without notifying Kaneki's family. Later, we see that he treats Kaneki kindly and seems worried about his overall well being. This is because he wanted to use the other to create a one-eyed ghoul. He was also involved in the accident that incapacitated Rize so that he could use her organs in his experiments. Since he also considers Kaneki his "ultimate creation", he wanted to check his development and gain his trust.
• Gone Horribly Right: He never intended for Kaneki to be anything but a prototype for his Kakuhou Transplant procedure. Instead, he ended up creating one of the most powerful Ghouls in the series. One that is hell-bent on stopping his plans and destroying Aogiri, and ends up providing vital research data as well as a living weapon to CCG in the sequel.
• Light Is Good: He wears a white lab coat for the entirety of the series, and is an utter bastard.
• Labcoat of Science and Medicine: He wears a white lab coat in all his appearances since he's a doctor and has a very kindhearted face and demeanor. In contrast, many of the other characters wear dark clothes and scary masks.
• Mad Doctor: He said he gave Kaneki a kidney transplant but in reality, he transplanted Rize's kakuhou into him. It seems that he is purposefully turning humans into ghouls.
• More than Mind Control: He manipulates the twins into working for him, preying on their emotional vulnerabilities and getting them to eventually think of him as their father. He tries the same thing on Kaneki but is interrupted.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He saves Kaneki's life but unintentionally causes Kaneki's body to undergo a physically and mentally taxing transformation that removes any chance of continuing a normal life. As more information is learned about ghouls, the clearer it becomes to Kaneki and the audience that there's no way he could have performed the surgery by mistake.
• Punny Name: His name "Kanou" sounds like the Japanese word for possible. Fitting, as he seems obsessed with the opening up the world's potential.
• Walking Spoiler: That kind-hearted doctor Kaneki meets sure has a lot of spoiler tags...
• We Can Rule Together: He offers Kaneki a chance to become a part of his plans and seems impressed with how far Kaneki has come considering how most of the people he experimented on became nothing more than mindless monsters.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The anime skips over his arc in the first series, instead of combining parts of it with the Cochlea raid, an event that occurred in the background during the Aogiri arc in the manga.
• Worst Aid: Putting the organs of a victim that was pulverized by steel beams into a patient in critical condition is an extremely high-risk procedure, and in a normal operation would likely kill the patient, not save them. Although he already knows Rize is a ghoul and that her regenerative abilities would likely save Kaneki's life, regardless of his reckless procedures.

Yoriko Kosaka

Voiced by: Chinatsu Akasaki (Japanese), Jad Saxton (English)

Played by: Seika Furuhata (Film)

^{click here}  to see the film version

Touka's best friend at school.

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• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Touka.
• Innocently Insensitive: Since she doesn't know that Touka is a ghoul, she doesn't realize how much trouble she gives Touka by feeding her normal food. Touka has to force herself to digest her food to not hurt Yoriko's feelings.
• I Will Wait for You: Implied. Our final glimpse of Yoriko is her waiting at the zoo for Touka, looking sad. Notably, it takes place after Anteiku is exposed and the public learn the staff was Ghouls.
• Muggle Best Friend: She is unaware that Touka is a ghoul and seems to be an average high school girl.
• Shipper on Deck: The one time she and Kaneki appeared on the same scene, she mistook him for Touka's boyfriend/the boy she likes and encouraged her to use the food she made for Touka to conquer Kaneki's heart.
• Supreme Chef: She's an excellent cook, and always brings Touka things to try.
• Through His Stomach: She believes in this idea, suggesting that Touka share a meal with Kaneki.

Kimi Nishino

Voiced by: Yurie Kobori (Japanese), Caitlin Glass (English)

Played by: Kasumi Yamaya (Stage Play)

The human girlfriend of Nishiki Nishio. She discovers that he is a Ghoul after he is seriously injured, but accepts him regardless of the risk to both their lives.

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• Because You Were Nice to Me: Her love for Nishiki resulted from him unknowingly giving her comfort after she lost her entire family in a plane crash.
• Berserk Button: Played for Laughs. Nishio insults the gift she gives him, leading her to lose her temper with him.
• Damsel in Distress: Kidnapped by Tsukiyama in order to lure in Kaneki.
• Despair Event Horizon: The death of her family left her suicidal, and only meeting Nishiki gave her the strength to go on living.
• Freakiness Shame: She calls Touka's wing-like kagune beautiful, startling the other girl so much she flees rather than carrying out her threat to eliminate Kimi to protect their secrets.
• Interrupted Intimacy: Kaneki and Hide walk in on her and Nishiki getting hot and heavy, to her great embarrassment. In the manga, she's topless, while the anime tones things down considerably by giving her a shirt.
• Interspecies Romance: She's a human dating Nishiki, a ghoul, though she wasn't aware of it until after the series began.
• Morality Pet: To Nishiki. She initially seems like nothing but part of his cover, but he changes his ways for her.
• Orphan's Ordeal: Losing her family left her suicidally depressed, and completely alone in the world. As such, she latched onto Nishiki when he asked her out and he became the one thing she had to live for.
• Scars Are Forever: She has an ugly scar on her shoulder, from encouraging Nishiki to feed on her to save his own life. It's the only time he's ever hurt her.
• Secret-Keeper: She hides the fact that her boyfriend is a ghoul and also agrees to keep secret the fact that Kaneki is one too.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Kimi mentions the forbidden nature of her relationship with Nishiki means they're both in danger if he's discovered. CCG will kill him, and she'll be sent to prison for the crime of helping a Ghoul.
• Static Stun Gun: When Kaneki brings a wounded Nishiki back to his apartment, Kimi greets them at the door... and promptly attacks Kaneki with a taser for causing his injuries.
• Understanding Boyfriend: Gender-Inverted. She loves Nishiki and stays with him despite finding out he's a ghoul. Though she dislikes how Nishiki kills and feeds on human victims, she tolerates it since he needs human flesh to live and as long he doesn't feed on anyone she cares about. No matter what Nishiki is, it doesn't change he gave her back the will to live after the death of her family.
• Voluntary Vampire Victim: She's willing to let Nishiki eat her if that would save his life. This is fair in her eyes since his being there for her when she lost her family is what saved her from her despair.

Ukina

Voiced by: Minako Kotobuki (Japanese), Martha Harms (English)

The human lover of a young Ghoul that would eventually become Yoshimura. She was a reporter investigating a certain organization and was murdered to protect its secrets.

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• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Before he met her, Yoshimura was a ruthless killer who lived in solitude while cursing his fate. With her kindness, Ukina managed to get close to him and she became the first person he let into his heart.
• Determinator: When told it would take a miracle for her baby to survive, Ukina made one by forcing herself to eat human flesh during her pregnancy.
• The Faceless: The flashbacks of her never show her entire face, obscuring or omitting her eyes entirely. The anime, however, averts this.
• Flower Motifs: Pansies, which symbolize Remembrance, Forbidden Love, and Fond Memories.
• I'm a Humanitarian: In desperation to save her child, she resorted to cannibalism during her pregnancy.
• Interspecies Romance: The human lover of a Ghoul, and the mother of the half-breed child that would become the One-Eyed Owl.
• Intrepid Reporter: She was actually a reporter looking for information on a certain organization, though the couple had no idea the other was involved.
• Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: She was killed as a result of investigating the organization known as "V".
• The Lost Lenore: To Yoshimura.
• Missing Mom: To Eto/Sen/Owl.
• Morality Pet: She became this to her lover, a formerly ruthless killer. Long after her death, Yoshimura continues to seek a way for humans and Ghouls to coexist.
• Plot-Triggering Death: Her death led Yoshimura to leave the organization, and forced him to abandon their Half-Human Hybrid child alone in the 24th ward.
• Posthumous Character: She's been long dead by the time of the series.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Yoshimura. When the truth came out, the organization forced her lover to kill her.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Likely one reason her face is never shown is that her child seems to look quite a bit like her.
• Understanding Boyfriend: Gender-Inverted. When she found out her lover was a Ghoul, instead of getting scared Ukina accepted him and comforted him after realizing the lonely life he must have currently lead.
• Walking Spoiler: We only learn about her very late in the series and her existence ties into several major reveals.

Ken Kaneki's aunt

Kaneki's abusive maternal aunt, who was indirectly responsible for his mother's death.

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• Abusive Parent: She abused Kaneki out of jealousy that he was academically better than her own son. Eventually, she stopped feeding him and just gave him money to fend for himself. When the series begins, Kaneki lives alone and seems to have no contact with her.
• Evil Is Petty: She once threw out the books Kaneki inherited from his father, and then cheerfully told him that she'd cleaned his room for him. She did this for apparently no other reason than to hurt him.
• Greed: She constantly went to her sister for money. After coming to live with his aunt, Kaneki discovers they never needed the money, to begin with, and lived incredibly comfortable lives. She just wanted more, and knew she could use her sister to get it.
• Green-Eyed Monster: She was deeply jealous of her sister, who was apparently more academically gifted.
• Kick the Dog: She regularly engaged in this, yelling at Kaneki whenever she noticed his presence and doing petty things solely to hurt him.
• Jerkass: She regularly took advantage of her sister's generosity, to the point where she literally worked herself to death in order to provide for all of them.
• Taking Advantage of Generosity: Did this to Kaneki's mom to the extent that she worked herself to death.
• Ungrateful Bitch: Her sister worked herself to death, providing for both households. How does she repay this kindness? By constantly talking trash about her sister and abusing Kaneki.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite playing a huge role in Kaneki's backstory, she doesn't make any further appearances in the original series and the sequel.
• Wicked Stepmother: Her behavior heavily mirrors the classic Evil Stepmother after she took in Kaneki. She began to resent him, slowly and systematically abusing him out of spite.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: She pretended to be in dire need of money, in order to milk extra cash out of her sister. She used it to do things like buying fancy new appliances.

Ken Kaneki's mother

Kaneki's late mother, who died when he was 10.

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• Abusive Mom: It is revealed later that Kaneki's memories of his kind, gentle mother are extremely repressed and seen through rose-tinted glasses, to say the least. She could be prone to flying into rages and physically abusing him.
• Advice Backfire: She always told Kaneki that it's "better to be hurt than to hurt others." Not only did following her own advice result in her literally working herself to death to provide for both her own home and that of her Jerkass sister, who took advantage of her at every opportunity, and not only did she herself repeatedly disregard her own advice in favor of beating her own son, but following it himself resulted in Kaneki being captured and undergoing ten days of Cold-Blooded Torture at the hands of the crazed ghoul Yamori, resulting in him discarding his humanity altogether.
• Asshole Victim: Considering she abused her own son and gave him extremely dumb advice she hypocritically didn't follow herself that caused him to discard his humanity later in the story, it's easy to rejoice in her karmic demise.
• Death by Origin Story: Her death changed the course of her son's life in many ways.
• Deceased Parents Are the Best: Zigzagged. Initially, Kaneki's fond memories of her paint her as a gentle and loving mother... but he's eventually forced to admit how lonely he actually was growing up. Because she was constantly working, she neglected him by leaving him alone most of the day and barely having any time to spend with him. He's finally forced to admit that he resented her, feeling that she abandoned him by not choosing him over her sister. And eventually it's revealed that she wasn't gentle and caring all the time and that Kaneki's good memories of her are largely a product of him repressing the real ones.
• Dirty Coward: She ran away from any responsibility of raising Kaneki and doesn't stand up to her sister on making her work for her own money, so she worked to support both households and abused Kaneki to keep running away from her problems till she died from overwork just because she couldn't tell her sister off.
• Extreme Doormat: She repeatedly expressed the belief that "it's better to be hurt than to hurt others." Her case of this is a deconstruction, since her sister took advantage of her at every opportunity and caused her to literally work herself to death. And she didn’t even follow it, unfortunately for Kaneki.
• Hypocrite: She drilled into her son that it's "better to be hurt than to hurt others", but the sequel reveals that she failed to take her own advice and was prone to flying into rages and physically abusing Kaneki.
• Love Martyr: Her devotion to her sister eventually led to her death.
• Posthumous Character: She died nearly a decade prior to the series.
• Small Role, Big Impact: While she is tragically dead by the start of the story, a large part of Kaneki's life and character are changed by her actions. Namely her beliefs listed above. Due to her advice, Kaneki is broken by Yamori and becomes more ruthless as a result, giving up his humanity.

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