Summary: Not long after his fight against Heroes Association, Garou suddenly found himself transferred into a realm where flesh-eating monsters became a threat for humanity. Will his journey lead him into a path of redemption or instead drag him into his old monster-hobby?
Written by zhoujianto12, this story can be found here
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Warning: Spoilers will be unmarked for the story.
This fanfic contains examples of:
- The Ace:
- Garou is this among the ranks of CCG, being very intelligent and superhumanly powerful.
- Amon is a less extreme version than Garou, Arima, or Suzuya, but is still an impressive investigator in his own right.
- Adaptational Heroism: Since the story is framed from the perspective of Garou and the human characters, all of the morally dubious, pragmatic, and sociopathic nature of their methods seen from the sympathetic point-of-view of the Ghouls are seen as heroic and necessary from the Humans in order to keep the peace.
- Always Someone Better: Garou is this to every human character in the TG world, with many of the CCG staff believing that he can surpass Arima, who's the strongest CCG investigator. Hell, even Arima himself admits that Garou surpassed him in every way after their brief one-sided scuffle in chapter 4.
- Ambiguously Human: Justified since the only ones capable of Super-Strength, Super-Speed, Super-Toughness, Super-Reflexes, and Super-Senses in the bleak setting of the series are the Ghouls, Half-Ghouls, and Half-Humans, but time and time again, everyone remarks on how Garou is capable of such superhuman feats despite being a "human". It's usually brought up by the characters in-universe, with some thinking he was a Ghoul after his first Curb-Stomp Battle against both Jason and the Binge Eater, but only for that idea to be shot down since he doesn't trigger the Rc Scan Gates set to high sensitivity nor possessing any RC cells in his body.
- Anti-Hero: Garou's currently part of the CCG, an organization that's formed to suppress the ghoul population, meaning that whenever he faces a Ghoul, he will attack and kill them with extreme prejudice.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: To the amazement and skepticism of all the investigators from CCG, as Garou is capable of killing Ghouls without needing a Quinque. That being said, Garou starts learning Kendo while attending the Ghoul Investigator Training Academy and can skillfully use Ui's Taruhi, despite having no experience beforehand, with lethal precision against the Ghouls of Route 14 in chapter 10.
- Badass Bookworm: Despite the fact that he drops out of elementary school as a child, Garou's intelligent mind can apply to higher-level academic courses in the academy.
- Badass Normal: With the exception of Garou, Arima, the Sunlit Garden Alumni, and the entire Washuu Clan, all of the other Investigators are normal humans who are trained to fight and kill Ghouls (whose physical abilities are superhuman along with Combat Tentacles).
- Amon is a notable example where he's able to hold his own against most ghouls despite being a normal, but very athletic human.
- Juuzou spent nearly his whole childhood under the care of Big Madam, being forced to fight and kill other humans as a scrapper to entertain the customers in Ghoul Restaurants and "trained" to Feel No Pain. While this horrible and torturous upbringing greatly affected his psyche, it still gives him quite an edge against Ghouls for his incredible agility and endurance.
- Kuroiwa, on the other hand, is one of the rare humans born with the physical strength to rival Ghouls and kill them with his bare hands.
- The Berserker:
- While Garou is more of an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy, he uses his Supernatural Martial Arts and Fantastic Fighting Style to fight in a brutal manner.
- Amon is a very skilled fighter, but he often flies into a rage in battle thus making him a very dangerous foe.
- Beyond the Impossible: Garou's superhuman abilities and martial arts come across as this for the CCG, and part of the Running Gag comes with Arima trying to figure out "what" Garou is through observation.
- Big Eater: Garou still has a big appetite as part of his Hyperactive Metabolism, and was able to easily wolf down the monster udon and super-hot curry eating challenges in chapter 3.
- Broken Ace:
- Garou is a good looking guy, charismatic, intelligent, and an amazing fighter, who's ultimately the World's Strongest Man and World's Best Warrior in the TG universe. But he also suffers from a plethora of deep-seated psychological issues that make him a very troubled young man. Part of his journey in the TG universe is to figure out his new purpose as an investigator in CCG.
- For all of his skills and talent, Amon is really, really messed up all things considered. 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.
- By-the-Book Cop: Amon takes the discipline and etiquette of a model CCG investigator seriously, which makes it difficult for him to properly guide Garou as a mentor. Part of his Character Development is to loosen up a bit in order for him to be a better teacher.
- Character Development:
- For Amon, it's in a different way compared to canon, since he has yet to meet Kaneki in order for him to start questioning his stark view of the world, but Amon slowly starts to learn the "patience" of being a mentor in order to guide Garou properly as well as become more sociable with others.
- Charles Atlas Superpower:
- This is pretty much an unwritten mandatory for all CCG Investigators, with Amon being such an example as he developed an incredibly tough body and other Investigators are in awe of him as a result.
- For Garou, it's played with. When often asked of how he became so strong, Garou's answer is always "training in the martial arts." Much like the situation when it comes to the origins of Saitama's overwhelming power, those who asked either flat-out disbelieved Garou or is thinking there's something else involved.
- Chick Magnet: It didn't take too long for Garou to become this in the academy for his physical prowess, intelligence, and a perfect record for killing Ghouls without any casualties. By chapter 9, he had already by gain the affections of Ihei Hairu and even Aura Kiyoko. Of course, he's quite oblivious to this sort of attention.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Garou dishes these out a lot in the TG universe, where the stronger Kakuja Ghouls only survive due to their Healing Factor, Super-Toughness, and Instant Armor.
- Deuteragonist: Since Garou is the focal character and the story is framed to show his journey of finding his new purpose in the TG universe as a CCG investigator, then Amon is the second important character of the CCG side with him learning to become less strict and much more sociable as a person.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Garou faces this problem after being beaten by Saitama, along with having to confront his half-hearted monster hobby being born from his true desire to be an Ideal Hero.
- The Dreaded: Garou quickly becomes this for the setting of Tokyo Ghoul, as both allies and enemies are shown to be terrified of his combat prowess and excessive use of violence against the latter group.
- Expy: For being a very popular student among his peers in the academy, having a trio of male admirers, and displaying such supernatural feats in his everyday life; Garou becomes one for Sakamoto, which helps since they both share the same seiyuu which is also lampshaded by the
author. - Everyone Has Standards: It says a lot that Arima, who's described to be "sadistic and massive" by Sui Ishida, despite it revealing to be a lie in :Re, is disturbed by the amount of carnage and brutality that Garou is capable of and rather eagerly able to inflict onto the Ghouls of Aogiri Tree.
- Face of a Thug: Garou tends to give this vibe towards others for his scary-looking "demon" face. Although subverted as he's quite handsome if it weren't for his Death Glare.
- Faster Than They Look: Arima notes that Garou's extremely nimble and could as fast as an SS-Rated Ghoul despite his extremely muscular built since none of the CCG investigators he knew could achieve such speed despite possessing a similar built.
- Lighter and Softer: Compare to the Psychological Horror of the original manga, the fanfic focuses leans toward the action and comedic tones of the OPM webcomic.
- Muscles Are Meaningful: Investigators like Amon, Shinohara, and Kuroiwa are such examples as muscular strength and endurance are vital to a human being able to fight a Ghoul, and focuses on keeping their bodies in peak condition. It's played with, however, since all of their physical prowess pales in comparison to Garou.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Played With. While Garou is extremely muscular, he doesn't possess the same larger frame as Amon, Shinohara, or even Kuroiwa despite his superior strength and agility. Considering the setting of the TG universe being radically different in logic and realism compare to the OPM universe, it's justified. That being said, it's still played straight as he surpasses all three of them for being able to easily kill Ghouls with his bare hands.
- The Obiwan: Amon serves as this to Garou, making sure that the latter doesn't become a Military Maverick (or too much like one) and is trying to guide him to be a respectful investigator.
- Odd Friendship: Considering Garou's personality and his interaction with the characters living in a Crapsack World, any friendship he makes would be considered odd, but two notable examples are best shown in his interactions with Amon Koutarou and Suzuya Juuzou; the former is a model Investigator who always mean Serious Business while the latter is an unhinged, socially inept Psychopathic Manchild.
- Tall Poppy Syndrome: Much like with Arima, Garou's good looks, intelligence, superhuman physical prowess, and fighting skills leads him into being admired by many other students in the CCG Investigator Training Academy and some of the veteran Investigators (such as Koori) being Driven by Envy.
- Token Super: Being the only guy who's physical prowess surpassing every human character in the CCG along with being a prodigious martial artist, this places Garou firmly in this trope.
- Training from Hell: Garou's daily training consists of this, to the point where Arima was left astonished from getting his Quinque broken and a scratch on his cheek so easily in his brief scuffle against the latter despite his own inhuman speed and reflexes; all while the former was blindfolded and casually seeing the attack as nothing more than "helping" to the routine. Humorously, Arima Jaw Drop from Garou's words and wonder if the latter is joking.
