I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the manga version of Tokyo Ghoul considering I felt as if the anime was filled with flaws. The animated version of this creative and compelling manga honestly doesn’t do it justice, and now that I’ve read this, I’ve actually found myself becoming a fan of the franchise in general.
The characters in the Tokyo Ghoul manga are nowhere near as one-dimensional, mundane and generally painful to follow as they are in the anime and this is really why I loved this so much. No, they aren’t perfect, and there are a few flaws regarding the characters and the development of them as such, especially Kaneki’s - but they are good from what I could see, and I think they deserve a decent rating because I actually grew to like these guys. It takes a special kind of show or manga for me to start caring about the characters, and with this, I honestly did. Something about the constant moral dilemma between the ghouls and human society that the reader is forced to face is extremely compelling and I found myself at a conflict over whose side I was on because, to me, so many of the people were just loveable despite all the horrific things they’d done. I never once felt this way when I watched the anime. For me, the anime was just another show. But this certainly wasn’t just another manga for me.
One thing that bothered me slightly was the way our protagonist suddenly changed into an entirely different person at the flick of a switch. Now I will admit that he looks seriously badass but it also makes him incredibly cliche. He starts out as a meek, timid but generally friendly young man and ends up this super edgy lord of darkness glorified vampire who can beat anybody. To me that’s just really unrealistic development and should have at least happened over a longer period of time than a few days. Surely if someone was tortured nearly to death, they’d end up being more scared of other people rather than braver and more powerful? Maybe it’s my misunderstanding or me being pedantic, but I just never really understood the way in which he changed.
The artwork is great, and it certainly fits well with the plot and genre, that’s for certain. The whole aesthetic is incredibly sharp and works far better in black and white and on paper than it does in colour and on my TV screen. At some points in this story it almost has this crazed, psychotic and horrific feel to it, which actually works really well and was very well suited to the state of the characters and their intentions. The physical character design was just fine too; they were nowhere near as painful for me to look at as they were in the anime, probably because of the lack of luminescent sickly hair colours, for one.
The plot diminished a little here and there, but for the most part made for an incredibly interesting and wonderfully horrific story. Some parts were very confusing and, while this might just have been because some of the chapters I was reading online were badly translated, around a quarter of the chapters just weren’t that enjoyable for me. To me, a plot that is not difficult to follow and immerse yourself in is one of the most important aspects of a good manga or anime, and while Tokyo Ghoul was fine in this area for the most part, I can’t ignore the chapters that just made me want to quit reading because I was losing track of the story. But like I’ve said in the review I wrote of the anime version (first season since I couldn’t stand Root-A or whatever it’s called), the actual story and the idea behind it is pretty damn genius. It may not always be portrayed perfectly but the whole concept of this war between ghouls and humans is undoubtedly interesting, and was the main drive that kept me reading.
So... a lot better than I was expecting. Not amazing, but darn good. Something about it seemed as though it was focusing less on trying to be edgy and appealing to gore-lovers than the anime did, with more work put into telling an enjoyable story that keeps you turning the pages. I’d actually recommend reading the manga first and then trying out the anime because to me - and a few others, it seems - the anime just doesn’t do it justice, and to an extent ruins the story a tiny bit.
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