Tsukiyama ( )

This series just gets more insane with each volume. I'm really enjoying it! ( )

The Gourmet has shown up and his craziness is fun to read about. I forgot that there was another half ghoul and half human that came from parents. I'm very curious to see who it is. I hope that Kaneki knows not to trust The Gourmet once again and that his fighting skills develop more soon. ( )

We get a glimpse of Touka's school life. As anti-human as she has previously seemed, it turns out that she actually really values her best human friend, to the point of regularly choking down the food her friend makes for her. Kaneki visits Hinami at Touka's place, learns more about how to fight, and meets up with Yomo, Uta, and their friend Itori (the owner of a bar called Helter Skelter). Itori wants to know more about a special ghoul restaurant, so she offers to exchange info about the person who killed Rize - it turns out that Rize's death was not an accident like Kaneki had previously thought. In order to learn about the restaurant, Kaneki has to get closer to Shu Tsukiyama, nicknamed the Gourmet. Unfortunately, he is soon betrayed. Instead of taking him to the restaurant as a guest, Tsukiyama brings him there as an exciting new entree.

I wish these volumes came with translator's note and/or a bit more information about the world terminology. So far words like "quinque" and "kagune" have been thrown about with little explanation. In the previous volume, Mado's last words were something to the effect that he wanted to bury the "Sekigan" with his own two hands. In this volume, the translator opted to translate "Sekigan" as "one-eyed king." Why not translate it this way in the previous volume as well, or include a brief note?

We see more of Nishiki in this volume (who, since I took crappy notes, has not been mentioned in my summaries at all - I'm not even entirely sure I have his name right). He hasn't been doing too well since he was injured. Kaneki saves him and learns that he has a human girlfriend who knows he's a ghoul and doesn't seem to mind. I suspect that this will end badly.

Kaneki is kind of dumb. He knows that Tsukiyama is a flashy killer, and yet he's still drawn in. I wouldn't be surprised if Tsukiyama manages to trick him again.

Again, this series continues to throw characters at me that I don't really like and don't necessarily care to see more of. Part of me is still tempted to get the anime, to see if aspects of the series go over better in that format, and part of me is just not into this series enough for that.

One thing that surprised me: apparently this series is digitally illustrated, and Ishida only has one assistant.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

I have been a bit off and on about this series. I don't love it but I think it's okay. I thought volumes 1 and 2 were okay, I really liked volume 3...and this volume was back in the okay realm.

Kaneki is dealing with some of the fallout of the last book (having killed a counter ghoul agent). Hinami has moved in with Touka and they are trying to adjust to that change. Then Kaneki meets a ghoul known as The Gourmet who introduces Kaneki to a very disturbing and vicious part of the ghoul underworld.

There is some implication that Kaneki, as a one-eyed ghoul, has some special powers in some way. This is discussed some but we never really fully understand the connotations of this.

The book was okay. I like Kaneki as a character but have trouble engaging with the other characters. The whole deal with Kaneki and the Gourmet was a bit...well..eh...for me. I thought it was kind of silly and didn’t really enjoy the plotline that much.

Overall this was an okay installment in the Tokyo Ghoul series. The whole series is just a bit blah for me; the characters are okay, the story is okay but I never really get drawn into it. The whole thing is fairly forgettable. It’s not a bad series but I probably won’t continue reading it because there are just more interesting manga series out there.