The first Story Arc of the Tokyo Ghoul series consisting of chapters 1 - 3 from the original manga, and episode 1 of the first anime season. The arc revolves around the introduction of the main character, Ken Kaneki, being transformed into a ghoul.
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Short Summary
In the modern universe of Tokyo, Japan, where man-eating ghouls exist, the main character, Ken Kaneki, scores a date with a beautiful girl named Rize Kamishiro. To Kaneki's surprise, she turns out to be one of such ghouls who had set her sites on him as the next target to be eaten by her.The ensuing attempt to play with her food leads up to a freak accident that injures the both of them, which has Kaneki forced to undergo surgery to save his life. However, it turns out that Rize's organs were used to replace his damaged body-parts, and as a result, Kaneki has been turned into a half-ghoul. Kaneki then spends the next moments of his life trying to make sense of the ghoul situation that has been forced upon him.
Long Summary
The story opens up by establishing this world's setting by stating that humans are considered the top of the food chain, but there are also beings who hunt them as a food source: ghouls.
Ken Kaneki and Hideyoshi Nagachika (Hide) are seen at Anteiku listening to a news report, that a person's remains have been found along with fluid from an eater species at the Takada building on the 28th.
Hide remarks that it's off-putting and that Kaneki would be eaten in a second being a scrawny bookworm. Kaneki remarks that he's never seen a ghoul and questions if such monsters could really exist. He goes on to mention that the common understanding is that they disguise themselves as humans, but what if that's not so? Hide remarks that Kaneki might be a ghoul and Kaneki points out that Hide would be dead if he were.
Then Kaneki poses the thought: What if they weren't disguised as humans but were actually monsters in the shape of man? Kaneki submits a drawing from something out of an alien movie as a depiction of what the ghouls might look like. Hide submits his own drawing of a rather plain but rotund looking man, resembling Kaneki - much to the latter's annoyance.
Hide then shifts the conversation away from ghouls and asks Kaneki which one of the people in the shop was "the cute coffee shop girl" that Ken has had his eye on. Touka Kirishima comes around and Kaneki thinks that Touka is cute after denying that it's her to Hide.
Hide then calls Touka over for an order and begins hitting on her. He even asks her if she has a boyfriend causing her to become embarrassed and run away after saying she doesn't.
Kaneki then chides Hide for being so rude and asks him what if he gets banned from the only place he can meet the girl. As Hide is apologizing Rize Kamishiro walks in to Anteiku. She looks like a dainty prude and Kaneki, with his head lowered in embarrassment points her out to Hide. Hide tells Kaneki to give up on her because she's out of his league. Kaneki says he gets it, but keeps getting attracted to her because she smiles at him when he glances at her. He's confused as to whether she reciprocates his feelings. Hide says he's delusional and then leaves to go to work.
Kaneki thinks about how, like him she is reading, The Black Goat's egg, a psychological novel on depravity, by his favorite author, Sen Takatsuki. She approaches Kaneki and then suddenly falls down, dropping the book. Kaneki picks it up and a conversation starts.
Soon, Kaneki tells Hide that he is going out on a date with Rize to enjoy books. Hide comments that he doesn't understand the fun of a date in a bookstore but wishes Kaneki luck anyway. During the date, Kaneki starts choking a bit on his food. Rize leans in, asking if he's alright, and he gets a direct look into the boob window. Embarrassed, he mentions that she isn't eating much. Rize replies that she is on a diet, then she goes to the bathroom.
After the date, Kaneki and Rize walk the streets back and pass Touka and her friend Yoriko Kosaka. Touka stops walking and glances at Rize and Kaneki. Yoriko asks her what is wrong and she replies that it's nothing. Back to the couple, Kaneki says they should head home but Rize stops him, and asks him to walk with her because she lives near where the attacks have been happening, and she's afraid to go alone. Soon, she starts flirting with him in a seductive manner, commenting that she knows he was watching her, and as she tells him she was watching him too. She claims that she wants him just as bad as he wants her. Suddenly, she takes a bite out of his shoulder, revealing that she is a ghoul.
She starts talking about a literary scene that makes her "shudder" along with Kaneki. Kaneki gets shocked after that and tries to run away. Rize goes after him and wounds him a fatal injury in the abdomen with her kagune. As she starts to continue hunting him while "teasing him", metal support beams suddenly fall on her from far above, killing her. Mortally wounded, Kaneki loses consciousness, and people soon notice the injured Rize and Kaneki and call for an ambulance.
In a hospital, Kaneki slightly wakes up while the doctors perform surgery on him. They transplant Rize's organs into him, and Kaneki survives. After that, Kaneki opens his eyes. It is shown to us that his left eye has turned red and takes on the eyes of ghouls.
After Kaneki's operation, the media is curious of the details. Kanou holds a press conference explaining the details of the incident and the measures taken following the operation. The media is curious on why he let the woman, Rize, die as Kanou explains this by mentioning that her death was already certain by the time she was brought in.
Later, Kaneki questions the events from the night of the incident to be a dream, but the scar on his stomach tells him otherwise. As more time passes, Kaneki's health is being reviewed by Kanou, and then he follows up by asking Kaneki why he isn't eating the food he's being served. Kaneki proceeds with tasting more of the food after the meeting with Kanou, his initial reaction is "disgusting", and Kaneki discovers that everything tastes disgusting for him. He notices that even though he never eats anything, he hardly gets hungry. He jokes, and says "Maybe I am turning into an insect too", referring to a book by his favorite author, Sen Takatsuki.
After his release from the hospital, Kaneki gets invited to Big Girl Restaurant by Hide. They order food, and Kaneki proceeds by tasting the burger he once loved. "Chewing pig intestines" is Kaneki's reaction to his first real bite. After leaving Big Girl, Kaneki picks up a ball from the street; returning it to the little girl who dropped it. Kaneki instantly gets attracted to the smell of flesh, but gives his drool a big swallow and returns home.
On the TV there is a broadcast referring to details about ghouls. On the show a "Ghoul Specialist" says that ghouls feels the urge to vomit after tasting food, and all food tastes disgusting to them. This is when Kaneki realizes that the organs implanted in him had an effect on his body. At this moment in time, Kaneki also begins to panic and proceeds to taste everything in his refrigerator, but everything still tastes disgusting.
Kaneki goes outside for a while when he sees a girl being bothered by an adult male. Kaneki recognizes the girl instantly, and gets the urge to taste her meat. The man approaches Kaneki, and Kaneki responds by yelling at him, while unconsciously glaring at him with his ghoul eye. This is when Touka cuts his head in half, in a result from pissing her off. Touka, the girl mentioned, picks up his severed arm, and offers it to Kaneki.
Touka notes that only one of Kaneki’s eyes is red; questioning his refusal to eat the disembodied hand. She then comes to the realization that Kaneki was not eaten, and must have been associated with Rize in some form. Kaneki is broken out of his abstraction by the sound of his ring tone, and goes home to get ready for bed. He listens to the voice message sent by Hide, offering him the notes he missed out from class, also reminding him of Takatsuki’s book-signing event at the bookstore.
Kaneki goes to the bookstore only to see that the event is already over, subsequently deciding to head back home. This is where Kaneki’s hunger strikes again in the form of a craving for human meat. He then starts an internal monologue; pondering over the people who walk by him, and how much he needs their flesh. He rushes to a public bathroom where he lapses into scrutiny of his eye. He angrily punches the mirror, breaking it, and ends up cutting his hand in the process.
Back home, Kaneki studies “The Black Goat’s Egg” trying to relate the novel to his current situation; a mysterious serial killer who’s a female ghoul, and her only son being the protagonist. He finally manages to grasp the fact that Rize’s organs were transplanted to him, and decides to rip them out, aiming for his kidney first. Despite his best efforts the kitchen knife is bent instead. Kaneki’s hunger takes its toll, to the point where he contemplates upon eating human flesh. With nowhere else to turn, he goes to Anteiku, asking Touka for help while saying that his life has been ‘terrible.’
Touka says no and mocks him, informing him that he’s now half-human half-ghoul, then asks him to show her what human food tastes like. She reveals what a ghoul’s terrible life truly is like, mentioning how their lives are being hunted daily by investigators and other ghouls. Touka tells him that she was born into this life, and suggests that he dies on his own.
They’re interrupted by Yoshimura, the owner of the café, whom offers Kaneki help. Touka objects to her boss’s decision, only to be reminded that helping a fellow ghoul was Anteiku’s policy. They lead Kaneki to a storage room underground, where Kaneki is given a small package of human meat.
Introduction Arc Tropes
- Arc Villain: Rize.
- Killed Off for Real: Rize Kamishironote
- Our Ghouls Are Creepier: Setting is introduced with the modern world, but has human-eating ghouls hiding amongst the populace.
- The Protagonist: The arc introduces the reader to Ken Kaneki.
- Super Hero Origin: Kaneki's origin as to how he became a half-ghoul.
