An absolutely delicious brawl
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Sui Ishida
Translation: Joe Yamazaki
What They Say
Kaneki, Nishio, and Touka struggle to work together to rescue their human friend Kimi while Ghoul Investigator deaths skyrocket in Wards 9 through 12. When reinforcements are called in on both sides, the stakes are suddenly higher than ever in volume 5 of Tokyo Ghoul!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The volume kicks off with a nightmare of the mess from last time, but other than that, Kaneki seems to have come out of things rather unscarred. Things kick up, though, when Kimi comes to ask Kaneki if he knows how to help Nishio. Our hero answers that he’ll ask around, but the real outcome of this exchange is that after they part ways, Tsukiyama snatches her up to use as bait! And of course Kaneki jumps right in, bringing the injured Nishio along with him while Touka tails them.
What results from all this is a seriously intense battle, with Tsukiyama taking on all three at once! Kaneki is taken out rather handily (and quite brutally), and though Touka takes charge and holds on admirably, her eating habits hold her back just a bit too much. It’s then that we get a look back at Nishio’s past that does a great deal to flesh out his character, which is admirable considering how deplorable he seemed in the past. Obviously this doesn’t make him “good,” but it goes a long way towards helping the reader understand him, and it’s a really great sequence overall. And this is followed by some serious persistence on his part in the present, which legitimately slows Tsukiyama down and is pretty impressive to see.
That’s still not enough, though, so Kaneki lets Touka eat a bit of him in order to power up, which gives her the impressive boost needed to finish things off in a flashy and thoroughly enjoyable manner. In the aftermath, Touka prepares to kill Kimi to protect their secret, but some surprisingly direct and touching words from the human girl stop her dead in her tracks. To finish things up, we get a chapter centered around Rize’s past, and then the Investigators start to get organized, which includes the introduction of a manic newcomer know as Juzo Suzuya. Will our half-ghoul hero be able to weather this latest onslaught, or is he finally approaching the end of his rope?
In Summary
With a ton of action and some nice little scenes to flesh out the cast, this volume is great from beginning to end. Especially impressive is what’s done with Nishio’s character, who gets some definite focus here. Though he’s certainly not “redeemed” from his past actions, he gains a lot of depth when his past is more clearly laid out, and becomes a lot more nuanced and interesting as a character in the process. And of course the central fight of the book deserves as a mention, as it pushes the cast involved brilliantly and is easily the best battle the series has had yet. Add to that some minor moments like the one between Touka and Kimi that really resonate, and you’ve got a fantastic little volume. Hopefully the series can keep on rolling with entries of this quality, as this book really shows that it can hold its own, even after the initial burst of uniqueness from the first few volumes has started to wear off.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: October 20th, 2015
MSRP: $12.99
