ladymoonstache:

Ishida really is a genius when it comes to character development.

All of his characters are realistic and have
complex personalities. They have good sides but they also have flaws.
They have people they love and people they want to protect. But they also have people they resent, people they are jealous of. Sometimes they
hurt others without intending to and do things without realizing what
the consequences of their actions might be. But they are also capable of consciously commiting brutal and horrifying acts of violence. They make mistakes. Some
take responsibility for their actions, others don’t. All of them are
driven by different emotions. Some are fighting for the sake of love,
some only care about themselves and their own selfish goals, and
others are willing to risk their own lives for the sake of something
bigger.  

The characters of Tokyo Ghoul live in a fucked up world but, of course, that doesn’t excuse their actions. Ishida does a very good
job at portraying this – he does not hesitate to show us the ugliest sides
of human/ghoul nature and how the struggle to survive might bring out
the worst in an individual. But despite his story being filled with
violence, he always presents everything so carefully and never glorifies
the destructive behaviours of his characters.

Ishida shows us all of this through the eyes of Ken Kaneki – a completely ordinary person that loses everything not because he was ‘special‘ or ‘chosen by fate‘ but because of an accident. He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong person. And what’s worse – life hadn’t been easy on him even before his humanity – the last thing keeping him together – was stripped away from him. After that it all went downhill. Losing contact with his closest friend and being forced to ‘cast aside his weaknesses’ in order to become strong enough to fit in this world was all it took Kaneki to completely lose his sanity and along with it – his desire to live. He really is the unfortunate protagonist of a tragedy.

The world Ishida created is unfair to some and full of cruelty but it’s also very beautiful. His characters can’t simply be described as ‘good’ and ‘evil’. There’s more to them than meets the eye.

I’m genuinely impressed by how good Ishida’s writing is!