What manga are you reading now?
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Spark_Heal
Student Council President
Choujin X by Sui Ishida Chapters 1 - 43
Ishida’s successor to his international mega-hit Tokyo Ghoul. The artist has been very open about the stress that working under tight deadlines caused him. To the point he claims that he'd lost his sense of taste during Ghoul's publication. Fortunately Choujin X being released on a digital platform has allowed him to have a more sporadic release schedule with varying page limits. Some chapters can be 20 pages and others 100 pages and a new full length volume being collected and released every 5 months. Ishida’s consistent yet inconsistent output is resulting in the same amount of work while (hopefully) allowing him to prioritise his health.
This lack of pressure can be felt all in the opening chapters of Choujin X. Tokio Kurohara’s listless existence in a world radically altered by super-humans known as Choujin remains chilled out and even meandering. Despite awakening his powers as a Buzzard Choujin and the occasional bouts of life-threatening danger Tokio has no great calling or moral compulsion to use his powers for anything. He has to muddle through his daily life and figure out what is best for him. The leisurely pace of these earliest chapters might discourage readers expecting a more action packed or sad series. Eventually when it comes time to put his cards on the table Ishida makes the journey worth it. There's a set of very impactful chapters that pull these desperate events together into a clear picture of the central conflict. A conflict more layered and entertaining in ways that would have been impossible if the series rushed to get into it.
As somebody with a very scattershot experience with Tokyo Ghoul it feels as if Choujin X (while having the same basic premise of a boy who is turned into an inhuman monster by the whims of fate) was designed to address many of its predecessor’s weaknesses. Or more likely just trying something different now that he's more seasoned and coincidentally landing on something I like more. Tokyo Ghoul it was dead-set on being a tragedy where poor sap Ken Kaneki was crushed over and over, always shaping himself into whatever he needed to become for the sake of survival. Certainly tragic yet not someone I found especially engaging as a lead. Despite sinister plots taking root and infecting the lives of the characters Choujin isn’t married to being constantly foreboding. Resulting in Tokio’s life feels more textured. He has good days and bad days but when Tokio finally commits himself to a course of action he always feels like he needs to take accountability for it. He’ll panic in a crisis or ruminate on his ennui but never feels like he’s resigned to fate or solely relying on external pressure to develop his perspective. The irony of his biggest fault initially being choice paralysis mean is that Tokio Kurohara is aware that he has multiple options at all times. That awareness leads him to being indecisive but also be open-minded about ways he could help or try to improve the situation. Which is very optimistic for a horror fantasy series and allows Ishida’s oddball humour to breathe.
So I’m looking forward to reading more of this at some point. Volume 11 releases in English in February, Volume 15 is set to release in Japan. Incidentally, the volume covers use a pattern of covers being red, blue, yellow and then green before starting over again. If the pattern maintains that the series will likely end on a multiple of four, I'm guesstimating Volume 24. Possibly Volume 25 with the final book having a completely new look to give it some finality.
Ishida’s successor to his international mega-hit Tokyo Ghoul. The artist has been very open about the stress that working under tight deadlines caused him. To the point he claims that he'd lost his sense of taste during Ghoul's publication. Fortunately Choujin X being released on a digital platform has allowed him to have a more sporadic release schedule with varying page limits. Some chapters can be 20 pages and others 100 pages and a new full length volume being collected and released every 5 months. Ishida’s consistent yet inconsistent output is resulting in the same amount of work while (hopefully) allowing him to prioritise his health.
This lack of pressure can be felt all in the opening chapters of Choujin X. Tokio Kurohara’s listless existence in a world radically altered by super-humans known as Choujin remains chilled out and even meandering. Despite awakening his powers as a Buzzard Choujin and the occasional bouts of life-threatening danger Tokio has no great calling or moral compulsion to use his powers for anything. He has to muddle through his daily life and figure out what is best for him. The leisurely pace of these earliest chapters might discourage readers expecting a more action packed or sad series. Eventually when it comes time to put his cards on the table Ishida makes the journey worth it. There's a set of very impactful chapters that pull these desperate events together into a clear picture of the central conflict. A conflict more layered and entertaining in ways that would have been impossible if the series rushed to get into it.
As somebody with a very scattershot experience with Tokyo Ghoul it feels as if Choujin X (while having the same basic premise of a boy who is turned into an inhuman monster by the whims of fate) was designed to address many of its predecessor’s weaknesses. Or more likely just trying something different now that he's more seasoned and coincidentally landing on something I like more. Tokyo Ghoul it was dead-set on being a tragedy where poor sap Ken Kaneki was crushed over and over, always shaping himself into whatever he needed to become for the sake of survival. Certainly tragic yet not someone I found especially engaging as a lead. Despite sinister plots taking root and infecting the lives of the characters Choujin isn’t married to being constantly foreboding. Resulting in Tokio’s life feels more textured. He has good days and bad days but when Tokio finally commits himself to a course of action he always feels like he needs to take accountability for it. He’ll panic in a crisis or ruminate on his ennui but never feels like he’s resigned to fate or solely relying on external pressure to develop his perspective. The irony of his biggest fault initially being choice paralysis mean is that Tokio Kurohara is aware that he has multiple options at all times. That awareness leads him to being indecisive but also be open-minded about ways he could help or try to improve the situation. Which is very optimistic for a horror fantasy series and allows Ishida’s oddball humour to breathe.
So I’m looking forward to reading more of this at some point. Volume 11 releases in English in February, Volume 15 is set to release in Japan. Incidentally, the volume covers use a pattern of covers being red, blue, yellow and then green before starting over again. If the pattern maintains that the series will likely end on a multiple of four, I'm guesstimating Volume 24. Possibly Volume 25 with the final book having a completely new look to give it some finality.
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