Read History

2026 | Score: 7

The first manga I have read, it was recommended by a friend. I enjoyed it, thought it set up a cool story and am excited to see where it goes. Not a ton happens in the first book because it is fairly short but still established everything needed for a cool plot down the line.

Format: Book

Days: 1

Date: 8/19/2026 -> 8/20/2026

Summary (Spoilers)

Tokyo Ghoul 1
Sui Ishida
Tokyo Ghoul #1

Tokyo Ghoul 1 Summary

A ghoul kills someone near the Takada building in Tokyo.

Ken Kaneki and his friend Hide are at a coffee shop discussing ghouls, when Hide asks Ken about the cute girl he likes before asking their waitress, Touka Kirishima out on a date. After Hide leaves, Ken is fantasizing about the girl he does like, Rize, because she is pretty and they are reading the same book by Sen Takatsuki. Rize ends up asking Ken on a date, but she takes him to a back alley and reveals herself to be a ghoul. She attacks Ken and he is saved by some steel beams falling from a construction site and killing her.

When Ken is at the hospital he needs an organ transplant so the doctor takes Rize’s organs and uses them to save Ken. The doctor faces a lot of criticism for this and has to defend himself in an inquiry. Ken lives but can’t make himself eat any of the hospital food since it tastes terrible to him, but his appetite seems to be shrinking so he is fine. When he gets out of the hospital Hide invites him to go to their favorite restaurant, Big Girl. They go but Ken can’t make himself eat the food without throwing up because it tastes so bad.

Later, Ken is watching TV and hears a ghoul expert say how human food tastes rancid to Ghouls. He tries everything in his apartment but it all tastes terrible so he goes to the store. On the way he sees Touka, the Anteiku waitress, and she kills and eats a man, revealing she is also a ghoul. Ken can’t make himself eat human flesh but is getting hungrier.

Hide is worried about Ken since he has not been coming to class, but Ken is horrified as he starts to see humans as meat. He tries to cut the ghoul organs out of him but the knife just bends on his skin. He goes to Touka for help but she gets mad at him, until the owner of Anteiku steps in and offers to help Ken, but Ken still can’t make himself eat human meat. He learns on his own that coffee still tastes good and goes to buy a ton. One the way home he smells something good and finds a ghoul eating a human. Another ghoul shows up and kills the first, saying this is his feeding ground, and is going to attack Ken until Touka shows up and hurts him so he leaves.

Ken tries to go back to school to regain some normalcy and hang out with Hide. They head to pick something up from Nishio Nishiki for Hide since he is on the event planning committee, but when they get there Ken learns Nishio is the ghoul from the night before who tried to attack him. Ken stays with Hide to protect him but Nishio still attacks. He is stronger than Ken and beats him up, then brings out his Kagune (A weird tail thing) and is about to kill Hide. Ken thinks of their life as friends and manages to use his own Kagune to attack Nishio and defend Hide.

Ken beats up Nishio but then is so hungry he is about to eat Hide until Touka stops him and takes him back to Anteiku to recover, and feeds him while he sleeps. When he wakes up he is offered a job at the coffee shop. THE END.