Inspired by Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis", Sui Ishida's Tokyo Ghoul series is known for similar themes: humanity, suffering, mutation, purpose, etc. The boiled down story is about a young man who finds himself the victim of a not-so-accidental accident resulting in his unwilling participation in a surgical experiment; after which tragedy, torment, and death ensue. The manga to anime adaptation was not entirely faithful, ranging from omitting entire scenes, tweaking certain events, and even completely changing a storyline.
These are some of the most evident differences from manga to anime, however, there are doubtlessly more. If you haven't read or seen Tokyo Ghoul, there are some potentially major spoilers ahead!
10 Different Order of Events
The arcs were switched! Alright, this was small and not altogether that important, although readers of the manga knew that two of the early arcs are in a different order.
In the manga, the events with Tsukiyama happened first and the Dove Emergence Arc followed after. For some reason, the anime switched, putting the events with Amon and Mado before introducing Tsukiyama. The reason for this flip was unclear, as there didn't seem to be much reason for it. Perhaps it was because Kaneki and Touka's respective fights with the Ghoul Investigators were debatably more exciting than those with Tsukiyama, but it's hard to say for sure.
9 Undercover at the CCG
During the Dove Emergence Arc, Kaneki and Touka decided to sneak into the CCG, the headquarters of their enemies. This somewhat comical moment (what were they thinking with those outfits?!) did not make its way into the anime, most likely because it was perceived to be unimportant.
However, there is one very relevant detail that would have been good for anime-only viewers to know. In the manga, when the pair snuck into the CCG disguised as high school students, Mado forced Kaneki through an RC detector, suspicious that he was hiding a ghoul identity. However, the gate did not go off, indicating to the investigator that his suspicion was false but also allowing the viewer to realize just how different Kaneki was from other ghouls. This seemingly minor but crucial event, unfortunately, did not make the cut for the anime.
8 Amon's Arata
The final fight between Kaneki and Amon in Tokyo Ghoul had a lot of anticipation surrounding it. Since their first fight, the two had been intrigued with one another, often questioning the other's motive and blocking their clashing paths.
In the manga, we got to see Amon equipped with the Arata armor going all out against Kaneki. The battle left Amon without an arm and Kaneki with a gaping wound in his side. In one of the final episodes of Tokyo Ghoul √A, Amon did not fight with the Arata Proto II, only using his quinque.
7 Explanations in Tokyo Ghoul:re
In the beginning chapters of Tokyo Ghoul:re, anime-only viewers were likely to be a little lost. New characters, a different environment, and confusion from the final events of Tokyo Ghoul culminated in a need for explanation. However, these details and key explanation, are overlooked, essentially skipping character backstories and details specifically in regards to the Quinx squad.
Moreover, the final season of Tokyo Ghoul:re followed this pattern, skipping more key information about events and characters. Haise/Kaneki leaving the Quinx squad, Takatsuki's characterization, and basically the whole Operation Rushima, were overlooked. This overall lack of depth made the plot super hard to follow and left many viewers more perplexed than invested.
6 103 Bones
After Kaneki's transformation in the Aogiri Tree arc, he was a bit stronger than before. When he finally broke free from his imprisonment and found Ayato nearly killing Touka, he didn't take too well to it.
Kaneki and Ayato fought, but Kaneki gained the upper hand and decided to give Ayato a taste of his own medicine. Since Ayato half-killed his sister, Kaneki thought it was only fair that he would half-kill Ayato by breaking half of the bones in his body.
We did not get to witness Kaneki calmly destroy Ayato in all its would-be animated glory. Instead, one of Ayato's fellow members of Aogiri intervenes in the fight, forcing him to retreat.
5 Rize's Whole Character
Rize appears to Kaneki more in the anime than she does in the manga. Through hunger-induced hallucinations, Rize taunted and mocked Kaneki for struggling against his new ghoul identity. However, in the manga, the hallucinations don't appear until his torture. This change is interesting because it's one of the first additions instead of an omission. Potentially, it adds more dimension to her character in the first season.
However, in the later seasons, her fate becomes a bit iffy. In the manga, Kaneki finds Rize in Dr. Kanou's lab, where he was using her to make more one-eyed ghouls. Before the 4th season of the anime, it was unclear if Rize was dead or alive as it did not include these events.
4 Chin Touch
Let's face it: Kaneki lies a lot. Whether it's when he was talking about Rize, Touka, his mother, Hide, or even himself, he had a habit of touching his chin whenever he lied. This little indicator was pointed out by Hide when he told Touka about it, but we didn't get to see Kaneki do it in the anime as much as we did in the manga.
It's honestly a shame because it was so subtle and well-placed throughout the manga that many readers didn't notice until it was revealed, which was just darn good writing. It really felt like the anime was missing an element of Kaneki's character by not highlighting this attribute more.
3 "I am a ghoul."
During Kaneki's torture at the hands of Aogiri's Yamori, the one-eyed ghoul underwent a transformation both physically as well as emotionally, eventually coming to acknowledge his existence as a ghoul. However, the anime takes liberties in the way the scene is portrayed. The difference is starkly obvious when comparing the two scenes side by side.
In the anime, Kaneki appears calm, collected, even resigned to the inevitable acceptance that he is a ghoul. Additionally, his hair changes from black to white very quickly, as if the transformation was instant.
The manga, on the contrary, did not originally represent the integral moment in this way. When he finally comes to the reluctant submission of "I am a ghoul", he quite literally looks like he's ripping the skin off his face, digging his fingers into his eyes, and appears anything but calm. Seriously, this difference was terribly anticlimactic in the anime and was a disappointment, a letdown, and ultimately a misrepresentation of Kaneki's character.
2 Hide's Fate
This difference is fairly clear. Hide's fate in the Tokyo Ghoul manga was unknown; a mentally fragile Kaneki found him underground and it was implied, though not confirmed, that he may have killed his best friend in his instability. In the animated version of the series, Hide died from a fatal wound he received in the battle. A heartbroken Kaneki carried Hide's lifeless body to Arima, where he too had his final moments.
This major inconsistency was an enormous problem considering *spoiler alert* Kaneki didn't actually eat Hide. Well, not completely anyway...Really though, the anime had to backpedal hard to fix this mistake.
1 Tokyo Ghoul √A
The entire second season of Tokyo Ghoul deviated completely from the plot in the manga. It was considered the worst season and for good reason. All of the anime events essentially work to eradicate Kaneki's character development from the manga. Many fans ignore the second season, regarding it outside of canon.
In the manga, Kaneki fought against Aogiri Tree with his ghoul comrades, but in the anime, he joins Aogiri instead. So, in the animated version of the series, Kaneki does the exact opposite of what he did in the manga.
Though technically √A leads to the events in re, it's still a devastating loss that the chapters of the manga between the Tokyo Ghoul and Tokyo Ghoul:re seasons did not receive the animation they deserved.
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