Tokyo Ghoul Volume: 1
Author: Sui Ishida
Publisher: Viz LLC
Pages: 224
Reviewed By: Sandra Scholes
Kei Kaneki thinks he is the sort of guy who will stay a virgin - he'll never find the girl , but as we all know there's someone for everyone and when Rize, a girl he sees around takes an interest in him, he thinks he might have hit the jackpot! He finds out they both like the same book, The Egg of the Black Goat by Takatsuki and it's this interest that brings them together.
They decide to go on a book store date to talk about their favourite books, but on the way out, night draws in and Kaneki gets the fright of his life - as the reason Rize went out with him is...she wants to eat him!
Rize captures Kei when he tries to escape her clutches and intends on eating him, taking a bite, when she is killed in the midst of the fight. When he wakes up in hospital after undergoing organ surgery, he finds out as the medics who arrived at the scene didn't know Rize was a ghoul, they use her organs on him to revive his body. He might be lucky to be alive, but he has been influenced by her, and has become two people in one, part human, part ghoul and now he can no longer eat normal food - the sight of it and the smell repels him - now he can only eat human flesh if he wants to live.
When Kei is discharged from hospital, his friend Hide takes him out to Big Girl, an American style diner with fast food and sexy girls who serve them. Kei's problem comes when he is expected to tuck into the delicious food that gets brought out. He should be ravenous after being cooped up in hospital for so long, but the sight and smell of normal human food still repels him. Knowing he can't properly interact with other humans, Kei stays housebound unless he has to go out, contending with eating raw coffee to stave his hunger for human flesh, and try to find a cure for what he has become. So far, whatever he tries, fails and he has no choice but to search for humans to feed from. This leads him to an old man and his companion, a girl he has met before on the dark side streets. He thinks he can help him and keep his secret safe as he's interested that he is a half breed and worthy of study.
Creator, Sui Ishida knows how to show the anguish and sorrow Kei's character endures as he is aware he is changing into something he hates. This is reminiscent of Shinichi's struggle with losing his more emotional and human side in Parasyte: The Maxim.
