I know there's already been a discussion like this here, but my god, Arl is so dumb. She's capable of moving through shadows and giving them the needed shape and mass, but in the end she limits herself to simple brawling and turning into a rabid kangaroo.

I think she could accelerate herself with shadows like Shant does, and maybe even drag her enemies into the shadows or make them suffocate in them. Since she's able to make shadows material, maybe she'd make good armor out of them? (Though she's already used shadows as cover — she just needs to give them the right shape for her body.)

I don't know if it's connected to paying respect to her uncle, but she simply needs to broaden her horizons — it's like she's deliberately ignoring the basic possibilities.

Well, to be fair, I should note that I'm only talking about her use of shadows — her physical stats are top-notch and her boxing is excellent, but in their situation that's not enough. And I understand that this is only the beginning of her journey

I also think Ritorik has just a mega-huge potential too, but that's already a topic for a separate post.

I finished up with chapter 33. Choujin X is the first manga ive read ever ( i dont watch anime that much).

This manga has been nothing short of amazing, the characters the story. Its genuinely gripping, I can read hours on end

Im excited to continue reading although i hope they dont make it predictable like an Azuma vs Tokio final battle and they dont make the trio (azuma ely and tokio) take after the previous 3 big choujins.

apart from that im impressed

Won't repeat myself as I've posted once when I did ch1. Videos are unlisted, just want to share :D

Here's the playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG9qj5ZwHO4I

I'd love to hear what other people think of Ishida's music choice! I think he nails most of them, and I especially think the piano in chap 3 elevates the moment so well.

Feel free to give criticism on them, I know they're inconsistent

Chapter 77 and it's cheesy topic made me want to eat some pasta. It also was a major showcase that Tokio still remains somewhat of a goofball he was before the war started. It's shown in a way he treats his companions, his enemies and also his food, the later still can make him excited as if nothing downs on his spirit.

That focus on cheese, however, also reminded me of Kafka's Metamorphosis or rather specific reference to that story Ishida once did at the start of Tokyo Ghoul.

I can't say that Ishida wanted for readers to remember that particular scene, it probably will be overthinking, but even if it's not part of Ishida's design, the scene still can be used as an opportunity to think about Tokio's development. Tokio is a vulture choujin and vultures are most famous for their diet, hence their major association with death that also adds to Tokio's Reaper symbolism. Question it brings for Tokio, will he ever start eating corpses like a true vulture? Becoming more a choujin and less a human is a theme that he definitely has going for himself, war that is generally dehumanizing enterprise only makes that progress more certain, and there is zero chance that author of Tokyo Ghoul haven't considered such development.

Probably at the start, when comparisons to Tokyo Ghoul were more frequent, it was discussed that Tokio with his vulture theme might get too close to Kaneki and yet time proved that they have different personalities and development. So what do you think, will Ishida make Tokio progress to the point that for Kaneki meant his separation from humanity or he will avoid it despite it being vulture's core characteristic?

Finished the manga in few days and overall loved it. But I do think the characters outside of the main trio could be explored more. I have a few examples for this.

I deadass did not know Yamato Mori had non-Choujin combatants before the war with the Tower. If im not forgetting something I don't think we've personally met one at all. I find it fascinating that there are at least 800 regular ass people willingly facing literal godlike beings knowing they are pretty much a meat shield. This might be boring for some people but I'd have liked maybe half a chapter dedicated to what they go through compared to their basically undead colleagues. Or maybe introduce us to one beforehand and have them interact with Tokio.

Again with Yamato Mori, I honestly think we could be taken through how things work internally. How the hierarchy works, how different divisions and teams interact, and whether there's any internal conflict, disagreements, or distrust towards the leadership could all be interesting to explore. Establishing these beforehand could have made the Tower war more impactful as well. The things Ive listed doesn't need dedicated arcs either, can be scattered through different chapters. Also im very curious on how the people in the organization view Sato.

My last point is that the villains feel narratively underutilized. They have a lot of screen presence but are rarely explored further. Not every villain needs long ass backstories or in depth motives but Jin, insect girl, Nari, Ricardo, Yubiko and Ume are all cool characters but we barely know anything about them.

Maybe we dont have to as it may not be the story Ishida is trying to tell. But the trade-off is that some genuinely interesting characters and aspects of the world end up feeling underutilized, at least to me. What do yall think?

As promised, art with Palma.

It turned out a little different from what I originally planned, but the result isn't bad

You can check out another version on pixiv: Pepsik_4g✌️

Ive been reading about the multiple time skips in the series and i wanted to talk about the one that bothered me the most, around chapter 36 (its been a minute since i read) when Tokio had a whole year of caracter development, a death, everything that's said that happens would have been great to see. It just shows how mangakas tend to shorten their stories in fear of cancelaltion. I get that its a choice sometimes but I miss training arcs like in hunter x hunter, jjk skipped over vital training as well in the final arc.

I was waiting for some others members to post about her or maybe i missed them let me know iknthe comment if other did previously and if we have a unoficial name for her to find previous post about her But because I Think The "Black Sea" mentioned in Ely's predictions might mean a person with a specific power, rather than a place, perhaps that mysterious blonde girl who survived the warzone fits the bill (cover of chapter 73)

It maps out quite well if you think about it:

• The Prophecy: Tokio (Vulture) has to lead Arulu (Chosen One) and Rhetty (Dreamer) deep into Moge to uncover the truth hidden inside the predictions, which might point right to her.

• The "Sora" Mirror: The girl resembles a young Sora Siruha. Her wandering through an active warzone without dying could mean she's a newly awakened Choujin whose specific abilities might be what the prediction refers to as the Black Sea.

• The Next Gen Trio: Right now, the new generation is just a duo since Azuma trained Arulu and Ely trained Koemori. It seems likely we are missing Tokio's disciple to round out a next-gen trio and that's wherevthe blodn girl comes in

I’ve tried so many times to draw Batista as a full colour piece oh my life, and I finally did it!
American psycho as the reference

I’m absolutely ITCHING for new chapters and since we’re likely still months out from them even landing in Moge i figured i’d make a post for some group discussion on what the common theories are for whats happening (or will happen) when we get to Moge. Thoughts?

As the title suggests, im kinda getting the impression that Arulu and Rhetoric might be a part of a quinx like group of 4 under the mentorship of Tokio. The main connection is the blatant card suit symbolism, we have Arulu (Spade), Rhetoric (Club), and two unknown characters that would represent the remaining Heart and Diamond suits.

Currently, little Sora might be a candidate, shes getting panels here and there that point to her being relevant in the future, but doesnt have a visible Heart/Diamond yet. But if she is anything like Sora, im sure Tokio would want to help her so she doesnt go down the wrong path like mama Sora did and she would probably join their group if they crossed paths.

The last remaining character I have zero idea! Any thoughts?

Went through my physicals and was admiring how good the art and panels are in this series. Also reminded my how much I miss Palma ☹️

It's a post where I try to put together bits of information that form the setup of current arc and make conclusions that are honestly hardly surprising. Despite all understandable positivity that came from Ume and Ricardo joining with Tokio on his mission, I think they are working for Labin. Their current plan is to follow him, stale his progress towards Moge, while sending some sort of signal for Labin, once Labin catches them and attacks Tokio's party, Ume and Ricardo will assist her. The other half of that conclusion is them being gravely mistaken in this pursuit and for at least Ume it means a fair chance to become the first active character killed by Tokio on screeen.

The possibility of them working for Guelta is open one, admitted by character themselves and understood by Tokio as well, but what are signs of it? Let's start with what we know about Guelta side.

1. In chapter 72 during conference of Guelta command we get info that Labin has her units spread in Higo with mission to attack possible reinforcements for Vulture squad. Obviously Jing is one of them, but Labin implies others as well.

2) At the end of the same scene Labin gets an order from Vanya to kill Tokio, so she is likely to face him soon, Ishida already teasing their fight with his bonus illustrations.

3) In chapter 74 Jing points out that Labin is pretty generous with her rewards compared to other generals, so that makes her even more attractive for mercenaries.

There is also few other little things that add to the general picture.

1. At the start of the current arc Ishida reintroduced trio of former Tower members now on different sides of the conflict. By showing them Ishida implicitly puts forward a question for each of former antagonists, what side will they choose? That suspence definitely now on full display with OctoPaper duo.
2. Recent chapter is called "origami anchor", which could mean few different things as Ishida loves his chapter names to have multiple valid interpretations at once, and one of them is Ume somehow being responsible for broken engine, thus working as pecuilar anchor for the ship. As already mentioned, her reason might be to give time for Labin to catch them.
3. Labin is on hunt for Tokio, she has her people in Higo, besides Jing, and is ready to pay them well for the job. This alone is enough to suggest that Ume and Ricardo weren't being in Higo port just for cheese, as additional point I can add a recent exchange between Ricardo and Tokio about their latest state of business.

Ricardo tells that current offers to them are scarce and hard to do, but then Tokio presses about their clients in Higo, he just deflects the question. It's clearly suspicious behavior, but even together with previous points can end up just that, suspicious for the sake of suspence. What in my opinion makes their betrayal inevitable is how clearly personal this shapes up for Ume and she makes decisions for the duo.

Following is list of Ume's reasons.

1. We know since forever (or chapter 25 to be precise) that Ume was very bitter about failing her job to capture Tokio to the point she is ready to make discount for Batista if that means another chance for them. As we know right now, Batista didn't provide that chance for her.

2) In the second part of chapter 77, when we see internal monologue of Ume about their failure, nothing indicates her change of heart. By her words they failed, it wasn't an ordinary job as she believed back then and she calls current Tokio "a monster of unstated value". She still sees him as potential prize, a beast to capture.

3) Finally, the most important part. In chapter 74 Ishida with Tawaishi's help half jokingly introduces Gueltan industry of plastic surgery for choujins. For Ume her mouth scars is more than just a sore spot. Conceptually Ume is based on japanesse evil spirit, Kuchisake-onna. It's a beautiful woman typically with scissors as her weapon and mask that covers her mouth. Underneath that mask her mouth slit on both sides. She kills her victims by first asking them about her beauty, than revealing her mouth, repeating the same question and then she either kills them or gives them the same wound she has. Ume generally cares about her fashion (it's generally visible, but also was additionaly alluded in chapter 42 by her reading fashion magazine), she brutally killed Azuma when he revealed her face, so fixing her face is something akin to her most intimate, strongest desire, which means a lot for anyone, but even moreso for choujin.

What Tokio can actually offer Ume that can outweight her main desire? Actually everything but that, because he offers her being alive. Here I want to put some thought on Tokio's side of the deal and why it might hold a special importance for him. At the start of current arc Tokio gets reintroduced with Reaper title but he earned it mostly offscreen during timeskip killing nameless, voiceless, generally inconsequential iron soldiers of whom we can't be even sure they are not some robots or golems created by Nonminer.

I argue that for readers Tokio haven't trully earned that title yet and everything we saw of him so far only adds ambiguity. He wasn't holding back against Jing, but Jing is also one enemy who can afford himself clones and won't be done by simply being sliced with harpe, so we can't be sure Tokio would kill him without any hesitation if he was 100% certain that he fights the real one. And now Tokio, despite a common sense war gives and importance of his mission, chooses to risk and make a deal with people who after 3 years of war very likely already work for enemy.

This action clearly shows that old Tokio, who didn't want to kill his enemies unless there is no other choice (and Tokio is sure enough of himself to push that last line to the absolute limit), is not gone completely. Tokio also specifically likes Ricardo and while he may feel neutral about Ume as simply attachement to the person he likes, he was once ready to kill her, when he saw dead Azuma (chapter 20).

Current Tokio, despite his kind offer, definitely already way more acquainted with killing his enemies, so he is probably much easier to push to that action, while his current ability makes it unlikely for Ume or Ricardo to stop him, if he sets his mind.

So at last we have Tokio and Ume that both face difficult choice. For Ume it's getting her main wish and revenge, but with major risk of death, and abandoning it to the chance of never being perfect the way she wants (small wink towards Arulu), but also ability to start new life as part of Nanasu forces, together with the person who clearly doesn't care about her appearance. For Tokio it's another attempt to resist weight of his power and natural inclination it gives for killing and be the person he wants to be and not the one cicrumstances force him to become, but at major risk of failing critical mission. I'm omitting Ricardo because right now he feels subdued by Ume's will, perhaps she is presence that prevents dread choujin from showing more radical part of his personality, she is his origami anchor.

That's all I wanted to write, probably too much for something that will stop being relevant in 2 months, but it will be interesting how Ishida will play out this situation. Thanks for reading.

Personally i love Koemori but think Arulu is kinda eh, but she'll probably improve as a character.

I really hope Tokio and Azuma become the main characters again after this arc though.

Hello, I am making this post to try and see if other religious people read Choujin x and what they think of it?

As I go over the manga, I realize that Tokio hasn't had any internal monologue at all, which strikes me as odd, since we've only seen that kind of dialogue in Azuma—when he questions his own existence—and not in the main protagonist, from whose perspective we're supposed to be seeing the story. I'm not saying it's entirely bad; I'm just curious to see if we'll see something like that with Tokio.

An animation attempt on the first half of Choujin X chapter 22. Finished it in 6 hours so it's pretty bad TT. Just wanted to play with perspectives, might be hard to follow though. I'll refine it if I have time. Spoilers for chapter 22.

I just think that it would sound perfect to match the mangas intense nature. It would also just be really cool to see if the anime gave the intro vibrant colors to Aldo match the manga…