Tokyo Ghoul

Tokyo Ghoul (Japanese: 東京喰種トーキョーグール, Hepburn: Tōkyō Gūru) is a Japanese manga series by Sui Ishida. It was serialized in Shueisha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Jump between September 2011 and September 2014 and has been collected in fourteen tankōbon volumes as of August 2014. A sequel titled Tokyo Ghoul:re began serialization in the same magazine in October 2014 and a prequel titled Tokyo Ghoul: JACK ran online on Jump Live.

A 12-episode anime television series adaptation by studio Pierrot aired on Tokyo MX between July and September 2014. A 12-episode second season, Tokyo Ghoul √A, which follows an original story, began airing on January 8, 2015 and concluded on March 26, 2015. In North America, Viz Media is publishing the manga while Funimation has licensed the anime series for streaming and home video distribution. The anime was obtained by Madman Entertainment for digital distribution in Australia and New Zealand.

Setting

Tokyo Ghoul is set in an alternate reality where ghouls, individuals who can only survive by eating human flesh, live among the normal humans in secret, hiding their true nature to evade pursuit from the authorities. Including enhanced speed and senses, a regular ghoul is several times stronger than a normal human and have at least one special predatory organ called a "Kagune", which they can manifest and use as a weapon during combat. Another distinctive trait of a ghoul is that when they are excited, the color of their sclera of both eyes turning black and their irises red, or in only one eye in the case of a half-ghoul. A half-ghoul can either be born naturally as a ghoul and a human's offspring, or artificially created by transplanting some ghoul organs into a human. In both cases, a half-ghoul is usually much stronger than a pure-blood ghoul.

Tokyo

Tokyo (東京, Tōkyō, "Eastern Capital") (Japanese: [toːkjoː], English /ˈtoʊki.oʊ/), officially Tokyo Metropolis (東京都, Tōkyō-to), is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan, and is both the capital and largest city of Japan. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world. It is the seat of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government. Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Formerly known as Edo, it has been the de facto seat of government since 1603 when Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu made the city his headquarters. It officially became the capital after Emperor Meiji moved his seat to the city from the old capital of Kyoto in 1868; at that time Edo was renamed Tokyo. Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture (東京府, Tōkyō-fu) and the city of Tokyo (東京市, Tōkyō-shi).

Donna Burke

Donna Burke (born 12 December 1964) is an Australian singer, voice actress, and entrepreneur. She was raised in Perth and moved to Tokyo, Japan in 1996. Burke has released three albums: Lost and Found (with her husband Bill Benfield) in 2000, Blue Nights in June 2005; a Celtic compilation, Éirí na Gréine (2001) and a maxi single. As a voice actress she is heard on anime and video game soundtracks, including Turn-A Gundam, Haibane Renmei, Vandread, Tokimeki Memorial, Tales of Legendia, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. She has acted in several video games, such as the Shenmue, and the Silent Hill series, and has been credited in several OVA's such as Strange Dawn, Hoshi no Koe and Trip Trek and the anime series Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Burke is the voice of Hel in Boktai, Ursula in Lunar Knights, and Norah in the Sega game Let's Go Jungle!: Lost on the Island of Spice. Additionally, she is the lyricist for numerous Japanese TV commercials, anime songs, and J-pop group tunes.

Ghoul

A ghoul is a monster or evil spirit in Arabian mythology, associated with graveyards and consuming human flesh. The oldest surviving literature that mention ghouls is likely One Thousand and One Nights. The term was first used in English literature in 1786, in William Beckford's Orientalist novel Vathek, which describes the ghūl of Arabian folklore. In modern fiction, the term has often been used for a certain kind of undead monster. By extension, the word ghoul is also used in a derogatory sense to refer to a person who delights in the macabre, or whose profession is linked directly to death, such as a gravedigger or graverobber.

Early etymology

Ghoul is from the Arabic غول ghūl, from ghala, "to seize". The term is etymologically related to Gallu, a Mesopotamian demon.

Middle Eastern folklore

In ancient Arabian folklore, the ghūl (Arabic) dwells in burial grounds and other uninhabited places. The ghul is a fiendish type of jinni believed to be sired by Iblis.

A ghoul is also a desert-dwelling, shapeshifting, demon that can assume the guise of an animal, especially a hyena. It lures unwary people into the desert wastes or abandoned places to slay and devour them. The creature also preys on young children, drinks blood, steals coins, and eats the dead, then taking the form of the person most recently eaten.