As the assault on Aogiri’s base reaches the climax, we learn about some histories, both personal and to the Ghoul world at large. When brother fights sister, who remains to tell the tale? Let’s find out.
Written & Illustrated by Sui Ishida
The newly awakened Kaneki unleashes his monstrous strength to protect his friend Touka and finds himself irrevocably changed. Kaneki sets out on his own, determined to find out the truth behind what’s happening to him—and what the Aogiri Tree organization actually is.
“Ayato, you fool boy. Go home to your sister.”
After reading this volume, in particular the parts about Touka and Ayato Kirishima’s pasts and their present, perhaps the big thought I had was wondering how 16-year old me would respond to Ayato in comparison to 27-year old me. We learn about his and Touka’s past, about how they were raised by their father, a very passive ghoul who wanted to make nice with humans, in spite of all the really crappy things humans do to ghouls. We see the frustrations of wanting to be able to express your true nature in a society that has a good chunk of people that despise your existence. As the two grow in a variety of environments, I did find it interesting that they both still have a similar anger towards humans yet do they express it in such different ways.
And here’s where that discrepancy in thought as age comes in. I can’t help but feel 16-year-old Ken would be all “Yeah! Go Aogiri! Fuck those stupid ass humans!” and see them as a bunch of freedom fighters. Now, as I see the battle between Ayato and Touka (and eventually Kaneki) unfold, I still feel that same anger (a good chunk being because I find a lot of the Ghoul Investigators boring as hell), but I also see a lot of the immaturity in Ayato. I see a lot of that toxic masculinity in the boy, where you have to be cold and aggressive and uncompromising in order to survive and the weak are just trash. It doesn’t make him cool or “badass” and this volume seems to really acknowledge that and tear at that facade he puts up to make him seem “strong”, whatever that means.
I talk about this because I see an unnerving amount of my 16-year old self in Ayato. That same contempt for a lot of people that treat me like shit. The same awful belief that if you aren’t strong, you’re nothing. The same difficulty with processing emotion and letting people in. And I’m not lying, this stupid culture that cultivates this makes it a long process to tear away those harmful trains of thought. It does scare me that there are those who never get a wake up call from that poisonous logic. It’s why I can’t hate Ayato as a character, despite being really unlikeable. He is a victim of violence as well as a perpetrator of it, but there is glimmers of hope in him. It’s how I reached that conclusion that I started this review with. He needs to get away from Aogiri.
If it seems like I am being a bit too “let’s talk about horrid social issues”, then don’t worry, I’ll get to the rest of this volume. Obviously, events that resonate hard with the reader take a precedent, but the above encounter between siblings isn’t the only going-ons here. This volume concludes the three way battle between Anteiku (originally here to save Kaneki before he saved himself), Aogiri and the Ghoul Investigators. While the Kirishima siblings have their fight, the Ghoul Investigators encounter a blast from the past, an incredibly deadly ghoul codenamed “The Owl”. It also delves into the past encounter some of the more senior members had with this ghoul and dropping hints as to there being more than one Owl and their connection with Aogiri. And if it seems like I’m kind of glossing over this section, it’s because I came to a realization with this book.
“Tokyo Ghoul” is a really good book. It’s one of my favorites coming out, but I’ve come to realize it’s all about the micro with this series. The little bits and details, the relationships between characters. When it starts to go into the macro about the ghoul world and the history, I can’t deny that my eyes can glaze over at time. This volume switches between two scenes in the raid, the more interesting one with Kaneki, Touka, Ayato and the one with the Ghoul Investigators and the Owl. I have to say, while some of the details are somewhat interesting, I keep feeling like I’m getting pulled away from a better story. Even when both these stories have flashbacks, the ones with the Owl are so much more exposition heavy than the ones with the Kirishimas, which are more about the emotional state of those two kids.
Continued belowLastly, the fight with Kaneki, Touka and Ayato is a lot more visually interesting as well. I won’t lie when I say that Sui Ishida’s art has been on an uptick as the series has gone on and it’s in this fight he gets to indulge something he seems to have a love for: body damage. I didn’t review volume 7 because it had some real hard scenes with torture that I didn’t feel equipped to talk about, but Ishida continues to demonstrate Kaneki’s mental state in how he fights Ayato and it is creepy as hell. There is a disturbing methodology to each time Kaneki is depicted attacking, very precise and borderline cruel. It all culminates in a harrowing image of Kaneki overlooking his fallen opponent that makes you feel real bad for the bookworm while being absolutely terrified.
“Tokyo Ghoul”’s biggest strengths are when it gets into the core of characters heads and when the insanity contained within some of these very damaged individuals is allowed to be displayed visually. It’s biggest weaknesses are when it tries to build the overlying world of the ghouls. This volume has major examples of both sides of that equation that still makes it really good if you can get through some of those faults.
Final Verdict: 7.0- The character moments in this volume hit this particular reviewer hard, unfortunately tempered by some tedious exposition.
