bardoftheunknown | How Tokyo Ghoul's stylistic choices tells its story

The stylistic choices that an artist choses can help the audience gain the same information that they would receive through makeup. An anime that I believe does this very strongly is Tokyo Ghoul, and this “makeup” story blends incredibly well with their hair story. In this case, I will be looking particularly at the main character Kaneki Ken.

Kaneki starts off as a very normal college student. He has short black hair that’s kept relatively neat (for anime standards), and his face looks perfectly healthy. He’s shy, awkward, and a little closed in. He’s the opposite of a lot of main character in anime tropes.

He doesn’t stick out at all, and blends into one of the first scenes he’s in because he is so normal. He isn’t the main character with neon pink hair, he’s just some guy.

Well, he’s some guy until he gets mixed into everything.

To put it simply, at this point in the story (about halfway through episode 1) Kaneki is now half ghoul. He is no longer completely human. You can probably guess which eye is meant to represent which side. Hint, the blood shot black eye with veins traveling beyond it is the ghoul eye. We see ghouls later in the story have two eyes like this, Kaneki is the only half ghoul to exist. It’s helpful for us as a distinction, but it also serves as a story telling tool. It helps ghouls recognize one another when they’re hungry.

Beyond the obvious, we can also tell how extremely strained he is in this situation. He’s in the hospital, and he has lost the ability to eat human food. Kaneki’s tousled hair and extreme dark circles gives this all away to us.

All of this in the first episode! Now, let’s go ahead and skip to the end of the season.

So, a lot of things happen. But, other than the eye that occasionally flairs up, Kaneki goes through no other cosmetic changes. That is, until we see him being tortured again and again.

This is the ghoul who tortures him. Kaneki up to this point has done his best to reject any violent urges that his ghoul side wants him to fulfill. That is, until he is left with no other choice but to be violent. The ghoul who tortures him is depicted in mostly whites. Other characters like Juuzou, Mado, and others who are known for their violence are also depicted with white clothing and white hair. So, when Kaneki choses violence, his hair turns white.

Tokyo Ghoul’s story focuses on the black and white. Between ghouls and humans, what side is good, what side is bad? Are humans wrong for not wanting to be hunted by ghouls? Are ghouls wrong for eating the only thing they can (humans)? Is choosing violence bad, or is letting yourself get hurt for the sake of others bad?

The story telling this series does through hair and “makeup” is incredible, and that’s not even getting into MOST of it.