Tokyo Ghoul Overview

Tokyo Ghoul (Tōkyō Gūru) is a manga series by Sui Ishida, serialized in Shueisha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Jump since September 2011. The story follows Ken Kaneki, a young man who receives organ donations from a "Ghoul" after he is nearly killed. Ghouls are creatures that look human but need to eat human flesh to survive. Kaneki soon realizes he is now half-human and half-ghoul. The manga has been collected in twelve tankōbon volumes as of June 2014. An anime television series adaptation by studio Pierrot started airing on Tokyo MX on July 3, 2014.

Funimation has licensed the anime series for streaming and home video distribution in North America.  
Characters

Ken Kaneki (Kaneki Ken) Voiced by: Natsuki Hanae

The protagonist of the story, he is a 18 year old university freshman, that receives an organ transplant from the deceased ghoul, Rize who was trying to kill him before she was killed by a fallen i-beam. After the operation he develops ghoul like tendencies and characteristics, and his rationality begins to wane. As one that is now both ghoul and human he struggles to keep his ghoul identity secret always fighting against his ghoul side while trying to continue to live like a normal human. He later works as a waiter for Anteiku under Yoshimura's guidance. After his fight with Amon he gains the name "Eye patch" because of his mask's design and becomes somewhat famous after a ghoul saw him defeating Amon. He loves to read and is normally quiet and reserved. He has a bad trait of easily trusting strangers which sometimes puts him in life threatening situation. After being kidnapped by a ghoul run organization known as Aogiri Tree, he is mercilessly tortured by a sadistic ghoul and later develops similar traits like his torturer. While being tortured he has hallucinations of Rize as she mocks him about his mother which leads to him finally embracing his inner ghoul. His personality gets darker and he becomes a ruthless anti-hero.

Tōka Kirishima (Kirishima Tōka) Voiced by: Sora Amamiya

A sixteen year old ghoul of the 20th ward, that works part-time as a waitress in Anteiku and attends high school. She blends in well with human society and believes that keeping ones ghoul identity is of top most priority. She is sometimes vindictive and is usually a very rash and reckless individual with violent tendencies. She also isn't afraid to let anyone know when she is not fond of them. She later becomes Kaneki's training partner, and their movements become in synch when fighting as a team. She is a good fighter and is more than a match for either Tsukiyama Shū or Nishio Nishiki on even grounds, though not nearly as strong as Yomo. She later becomes to be known as "Rabbit" after her attack on some investigators, killing one of them in the process. She takes up the role as Hinami's guardian after her parents are killed by investigators. She appears to have ornithophobia.

Rize Kamishiro (Kamishiro Rize) Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa 

Rize is a girl with glasses that Kaneki encounters, and triesto eat him after luring him out on a date with her. Her organs are transplanted into Kaneki after she is killed by a fallen i-beam. Before the i-beam incident Rize was a very powerful, fearless and merciless ghoul, often preventing other ghouls from hunting in areas she stole from them. Before she came to the 20th ward, she wreaked havoc in the 11th ward attracting the Anti-Ghoul Investigators to the ward. Before leaving she killed the ghouls that were in charge and caused a shift in power. She is known as the "Binge Eater" by investigators and like Kaneki she was very fond of reading.

Nishiki Nishio (Nishio Nishiki) Voiced by: Shintarō Asanuma 

A ghoul that is a second year student that attends the same university as Kaneki. He is arrogant and hates whenever his juniors back talk at him. He is very territorial and is hostile to other ghouls that invades his space. His hunting grounds was stolen from him by Rize after a fight which he lost and he tries to reclaim it after her death, but is stopped by Toka. He is a loner and fairly good fighter that even small groups of ghouls tend to avoid him. Like Toka he blends in well with human society and is well known at the university.

Yoshimura Voiced by: Takayuki Sugo

The manager of Anteiku, he is a very kind and reasonable ghoul that provides aid and food to ghouls that are incapable of hunting on their own like Kaneki and Hinami. He takes Kaneki in after he becomes a ghoul and teaches him the ways in which ghouls can blend in with humans.

Renji Yomo (Yomo Renji) Voiced by: Yūichi Nakamura

Yomo is quiet and reserved and usually helps Yoshimura out by collecting food for Anteiku. Before working on the behind the scene for Anteiku he used to have very violent tendencies much like how Toka is now and would often fight with Uta making the 4th ward uninhabitable. Regardless of his cold demeanor his does genuinely care about those around him. He is good friends with Uta and Itori.

Uta Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai

A ghoul that owns Hysy ArtMask Studio, in the 4th ward, he makes mask for both ghouls and human customer alike. Despite his appearance he is a very calm ghoul, and speaks very kindly, he is also close friends with Renji Yomo and Itori. In the past he would often get into fights with Yomo and this caused the 4th ward to become uninhabitable.

Hinami Fueguchi (Fueguchi Hinami) Voiced by: Sumire Morohoshi 

Hinami is a 13-14 year old ghoul that came to the 20th ward with her mother after her father was killed by ghoul investigators. She is very shy and yearns for knowledge as she isn't allowed to go to school. She meets Kaneki in Anteiku and becomes attach to him, seeing him as an older brother after he helps her with learning Kanji. She begins living with Toka after her mother was killed by Mado. She enjoys books from one of Kaneki's favorite author and loves learning new things. She is shown to a have a heighten sense of smell, even more powerful than regular ghouls.

Shū Tsukiyama (Tsukiyama Shū) Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano 

He's one of the most troublesome Ghouls of the 20th Ward to the point where even some ghouls wouldn't get involved with him. He is known as the "Gourmet" by investigator and is one of the most difficult ghouls to capture. He is a part of the "Ghoul Restaurant" under the alias MM. He is a very powerful, conning, smug and fashionable ghoul and was also an acquaintance of Rize, like both Kaneki and Rize he is an avid reader. He sometimes says words or phrases in either English, Spanish, French or Italian and develops an obsession for Kaneki. He is very athletic and proficient in martial arts.

Hideyoshi Nagachika (Nagachika Hideyoshi) Voiced by: Toshiyuki Toyonaga

Nagachika is Kaneki's best friend. He has a sharp intuition. Kaneki tries to keep his ghoul identity hidden from him.

Kureo Mado (Mado Kureo)

He's an Anti-Ghoul Investigator with the rank of Senior Investigator. A very experienced and ruthless fighter, he is more than a challenge even for the physically superior ghoul and always trusts his intuition, which is never wrong. His ultimate down fall came from the fact that he is obsessed with ghouls (or rather dissecting them) and while fighting Toka and Hinami let his guard down by his fascination with the latter and is killed by them.

Kōtarō Amon (Amon Kōtarō) Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi

He's a Rank 1 Anti-Ghoul Investigator and a friend of Mado. He has a very skewed sense of justice and believes that he must make this 'Wrong World' right by killing the ghouls. He is very dedicated to his job and begins to work even harder after Mado is killed. He fights Kaneki but loses, however Kaneki lets him go.