Word count: 1599 (Without bibliography)
(Ishida, 2014)
Tokyo Ghoul KEN KANEKI, GRAPHIC THEMES AND TRAGEDY
Maya Higdon | Storytelling for Animation: Coursework 2 | 06/02/2017 000879626
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Word count: 1599 (Without bibliography)
Abstract
Ken Kaneki is the protagonist of the dark fantasy ‘Tokyo Ghoul’ and its sequel ‘Tokyo Ghoul:RE’. They are Japanese manga written and illustrated by Sui Ishida.
Tokyo Ghoul is drawn in a way that make living in a world of violence, cannibalism, torture, abuse and suicide seem familiar. We look in to the portrayal of Kaneki in comparison to the ideas of tragedy, and why we sympathise with this character. This report explores the mature themes in this world, analysing Ishida’s approach to drawing sensitive subjects and how it raises awareness of such themes for society. Also, how he exaggerates his artwork to invoke pity and fear.
This manga makes us question our morals, wonder what is right and what is wrong. When compared with the real world, does this manga make living in an idealistic world where all beings coexist peacefully seem possible?
What is Tokyo ghoul about?
This manga is set in modern day but dystopian Tokyo, Japan, where the capitol is split into 23 ‘wards’. Tokyo Ghoul was first published in Japan September 2011 and ended October 2014. Tokyo Ghoul:RE followed in December 2014, set 2 years into the future, and is still ongoing.
Ghouls look like humans, but are forced to live as cannibals. They must prey and feed on human flesh to survive. They can choose to blend into society or live in the shadows. Like humans, they just want to survive and hunt when needed to, other ghouls take pleasure and embrace their nature.
Kaneki is a former human forced into living as a ghoul, after a procedure by a Doctor. He implanted a Ghoul’s unique organ into Kaneki, turning him into a human-ghoul hybrid.
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Word count: 1599 (Without bibliography)
How did the manga influence my comic?
In contrast to the dark themes of Tokyo Ghoul my comic is light-hearted. I wanted to create a fantasy world where person and beast are friendly with one another. The dragon is like a dangerous, powerful, but loyal companion to a clumsy mage. I chose to make use of the whole page, like Ishida does in his double page spread.
Drawn so that certain frames grab your attention, but have the text bubbles placed purposefully to guide the story. The text joins from one another, one colour for the beast speech bubble and another colour for the mage.
I took inspiration from how Ishida composes his panels, they often bleed from one to another. There is no standard design. I admire how perspectives are exaggerated and warped, with subtle white outlines around characters to separate the background, middle ground and foreground.
The image below visually inspired my comic to have Pip, the Dragon, fly out of the page.
(Ishida, 2016)
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Word count: 1599 (Without bibliography)
(Higdon, 2016)
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Word count: 1599 (Without bibliography)
What makes Kaneki’s character so tragic?
(Ishida, June 2015)
Kaneki himself believes he is a tragedy character.
Looking at Shakespearean characters in tragedies such as Othello, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. Othello’s jealousy drove him to murder his wife. Romeo and Juliet both ended their own life as they could not bear to be without one another. As for Hamlet,
“Hamlet is not a wise Stoic but a human fool… the fury of his revenge suggests that he has at the last attained the ideal of Senecan tragedy – passionate action. Brutally he stabs Claudius, taunts him, ‘Is thy union here?’, pours the poison down his throat … ‘Follow my Mother’ (v. ii. 326-7)” (Miola, 1992)
Hamlet’s savagery vengeance drove him to self-destruction. Kaneki on the other hand, his kindness and acceptance of bad things is what drives him to the edge. Kaneki was orphaned at a young age, later in life he is subjected to physical and mental torture, and forced into cannibalism. These are themes normalised in this dark world, and seen as taboo in real life.
Kaneki wants a world where both humans and ghouls understand one another, but he just accepts the world is not fair and lets all these bad things happen to him. He supresses memories of his mother beating him, only remembering her for her kindness. He grew up wanting to be like her, to become the person who gets hurt and does not hurt others. Therefore, Kaneki continuously suffers throughout the manga.
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Word count: 1599 (Without bibliography)
Dark themes and art style:
1. Child abuse
Immediately my eye is drawn to the hand raised at the defenceless child. The emptiness of the space around the page makes the reader focus on the bottom panel. The squished, repetitive text intensifies how much fear the character feels, the panel is like a window into his mind. We get to experience the moment Kaneki was traumatised. This chapter was released November 2015. Japan’s records of child abuse have increased year after year, 2015 being the highest recorded. Where “a total of 103,260 cases were handled at child consultation centres nationwide in the year through March, up 16 percent from the year before” (Kyodo, 2016). Kaneki would have been one of the unreported incidents. It is important for a popular medium such as Tokyo ghoul to cover controversial themes, by doing so it raises awareness of current issues. What Kaneki experienced could easily relate to other victims of abuse, we know Kaneki’s ‘kindness’ that drives his to despair, this stems from the abuse he received as a child.
(Ishida, 2016)
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Word count: 1599 (Without bibliography)
2. Torture
During volume 7 of Tokyo Ghoul, Kaneki is tortured over several days by a sadistic ghoul. One method, forcing a centipede down his ear. The topic of torture questions our morals, arguably Kaneki needed a trigger to be able to fully accept his life as a ghoul.
(Ishida, June 2016)
Although in modern day, ideas of legalising or normalising torture is controversial.
For example, water-boarding is a modern technique that simulates drowning. Current President of the United States, Donald Trump wants to reinstate waterboarding to combat Islamic terrorism "I have spoken with people at the highest level of intelligence and I asked them the question 'Does it work? Does torture work?' and the answer was 'Yes, absolutely'.” Arguing that if ‘ISIS’ can behead and gun down our people, we should fight fire with fire. (BBC, 2017)
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Word count: 1599 (Without bibliography)
3. Cannibalism
At the end of chapter 63, Kaneki accepts his fate as a ghoul. Ishida glorifies gore in this manga. Although the mass amount of visible blood splatter allows us to see the aggression and the emotion the character feels. Here Kaneki is hunched over, clenching his face, almost gouging out his eyes. The tears from his one human eye illuminate the page and draw in focus. Without the eyes, it would be difficult to identify the subject of page. Despite knowing that Kaneki will now have to hurt others, we still root for the protagonist because we sympathise with the hardships he went through.
(Ishida, June 2016)
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Word count: 1599 (Without bibliography)
Real life famous Japanese cannibal Issei Sagawa, whilst studying in Paris, in 1981 he murdered and ate raw flesh of a fellow student. Although confessing guilty, he was unable to be fully prosecuted for the crime due to being ‘mentally ill’ (KUCHIKOMI, 2015). In 1984, he had already returned to Japan and by 1986 he was a free man, and still is.
(VICE, 2011)
In ‘Interview with a cannibal’ Sagawa explain how a book he wrote caused trouble with the publisher, he used his translated psychiatric examination report, and images of the victim were used. Tokyo Ghoul does is not censored when published into English volumes (By ViZ Media), despite its themes.
From Aristotle’s second observation of tragedy characters, if Sagawa were the protagonist then the audience would not pity him. Kaneki’s misfortune is undeserved, whereas with Sagawa it would be deserved. (Brereton, 1968)
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Word count: 1599 (Without bibliography)
4. Dreaming of death
This page you can see the emotions going through Kaneki’s head. The aggressive self-choking, the hand is drawing the character to the other side of the page. The panels are closing in, Kaneki has limited time to think it over. The flower bed full of Red Spider Lily’s, Japan’s flower of death (Tokyo Times, 2012). These lilies would be planted around graves. Kaneki kneeling in them, begging for death, he embraces it but there is always something holding him back – and that is himself.
(Ishida, 2016)
Kaneki’s mentality here is like Sagawa’s current mentality. “I want to die suffering… slowly torn apart alive… But that’s just my fantasy” (VICE, 2011). Unlike Sagawa, Kaneki continues to look for a reason to live. He endures all the suffering because he wants to survive, hence why we the audience keep supporting him.
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Word count: 1599 (Without bibliography)
Conclusion
In relation to the principles of tragedy, once it becomes reality as opposed to fantasy it changes how the audience feels about the story. Catharsis is difficult to achieve when the barrier between the two worlds thins. As Kaneki is the tragic protagonist, we can predict Tokyo Ghoul:RE will end – with his demise.
Despite knowing this, as a reader we have been following his emotional progression and still hope for a ‘happy ending’. Kaneki is a symbol of salvation for both humans and ghouls, someone who could unite both sides, his endurance is admirable and he represents hope.
Tokyo Ghoul, even with its dark themes, is entertaining. We gain personal attachment to different characters. Arguably, Kaneki is living the nightmare so we do not have to. Another occurrence heavily promoted in the manga is the support for the LGBT+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and transgender+) community. The characters in this manga are diverse, there is at least one character that each reader would related to. It is important that Tokyo Ghoul continues to include its mature themes, to remind us that these still do exist in the current world.
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Word count: 1599 (Without bibliography)
Bibliography
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Brereton, G., 1968. Principles of Tragedy. 1st ed. Frome and London: Butler & Tannger Ltd.
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Ishida, S., n.d. s.l.:s.n.
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Kyodo, 2016. The japan Times. [Online] Available at: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/08/04/national/social-issues/child-abuse-japan- reaches-record-high-fiscal-2015/#.WJhGhPmLRPY [Accessed Jan 2017].
Miola, R. S., 1992. Shakespear and Classical Tragedy. In: The influence of Seneca. Oxford: Clarendon Press Oxford, p. 63.
S.H Butcher, J. G., 1951. Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art. 4th ed. New York: Dover Publications, INC.
Sui, I., 2015-2017. Tokyo Ghoul:RE. [Art] (https://mangastream.com/manga/tokyo_ghoulre).
Tokyo Times, 2012. Tokyo Times. [Online] Available at: http://wordpress.tokyotimes.org/the-beauty-of-autumns-red-spider-lily-japans-flower-of-death/ [Accessed January 2017].
VICE, 2011. Youtube - Interview with a Cannibal (Issei Sagawa). [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BosZxa1bYcE [Accessed January 2017].
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