Sui Ishida’s Tokyo Ghoul became one of the most popular anime and manga franchises to date. One of the more darker anime and mangas to follow, with an extremely complex plot to follow and lots of interesting characters.
As this is such a popular franchise, fans are constantly wondering about the future of Tokyo Ghoul, can we expect more anime and manga to be released or is it over for good. Keep reading to discover the future of Tokyo Ghoul in terms of its anime and manga.
Tokyo Ghoul has become one of the most popular horror anime to watch right now. It is based on the manga of the same name. Created and illustrated by Sui Ishida, both the anime and manga follow Ken Kaneki. Set in an alternate reality, where humans and ghouls live together.
Ghouls are creatures that look human but they must eat flesh in order to survive. They live among humans but hidden as they don’t want to be detected.
Ken Kaneki goes on a date, which ends horribly. As his date is discovered to be a ghoul. Ken survives the attack, however the only way that he can survive is by having ghoul organs transplanted into him.
This then causes Ken to be half ghoul, and unfortunately now he has to eat human flesh in order to survive. Ken now has to adapt to his new lifestyle and leave his old life behind. This new life is a difficult one to get used to and nothing goes easily.
Has The Tokyo Ghoul Manga Finished?
Sui Ishida started publishing the manga in February 2012, in Weekly Young Jump magazine. The main Tokyo Ghoul series carried on for 143 chapters and an epilogue. The main series finally finished in October 2014. All 143 chapters were published in 14 tankōbon volumes.
This followed Ken Kaneki and the events surrounding him becoming a half-ghoul. We see him become a half-ghoul and how he deals with transition. In these chapters we watch Ken become a half-ghoul and then we witness him almost dying after his battle with Arima.
Alongside that, in 2013 and 2014 two light novels were released. These were called Tokyo Ghoul: Days and Tokyo Ghoul: Void. Tokyo Ghoul: Days, tells stories of the daily lives of ghouls and humans.
Tokyo Ghoul: Void are another bunch of stories, however these take place during the six month gap between the Aogiri arc and the Raid of Kanou’s Lab arc.
A third light novel was published on the same day that sequel manga began. The third light novel was called Tokyo Ghoul: Past, which focuses on stories that happened before the main Tokyo Ghoul story began. Hence Ken is still human.
The sequel manga was called Tokyo Ghoul: re, which is set two years after the end of the original series. Tokyo Ghoul: re started in December 2014 and lasted for 179 chapters and finally ended in July 2018.
In this story we followed Haise Sasaki, otherwise Ken Kaneski’s new identity, as Ken tries to regain his memories. While also attempting to become the One-Eyed King that would bring peace to humans and ghouls.
Another two side stories were then published, these were Tokyo Ghoul: Jack and Tokyo Ghoul: Zakki. Tokyo Ghoul: Jack is another prequel to the Tokyo Ghoul storyline. It follows the character Kishou Arima.
They are by day a high school student and at night they are a ghoul investigator. The story revolves around ward 13. While Tokyo Ghoul: Zakki, this book just contains comments and artwork by Sui Ishida.
In 2016, a tie-in novel for the sequel was published called Tokyo Ghoul: re: quest. This short novel contains six short stories about the everyday life of the characters from Tokyo Ghoul: re.
All of the Tokyo Ghoul manga ended in 2018, when Tokyo Ghoul: re ended. Sui Ishida concluded the story by giving fans an epilogue that showed everyone what happened to all the surviving characters.
This epilogue is set several years in the future, after Ken defeats the Dragon. We can say that mange is definitely over and Sui Ishida has no plans to continue anyone’s story at the moment.
Sui Ishida stated in an interview that he was tired of writing and drawing the manga. As a result, at this moment in time there are no plans for any future Tokyo Ghoul manga to be released, and nothing is in the works either.
Has The Tokyo Ghoul Anime Finished?
Overall, the anime ran across four seasons. Each season had twelve episodes, thus there are 48 episodes in total, including two OVA episodes.
The first season ran from July 4, 2014 until September 19, 2014. This first season was called Tokyo Ghoul and adapted about half of the Tokyo Ghoul manga. The first season followed Ken Kaneki who only just survives his date, who turns out to be a ghoul.
Ken recovers and discovers that he is now half human and half ghoul.
The second season ran from January 9, 2015 until March 27, 2015. This second season was called Tokyo Ghoul √A. This second season had an original story written by Sui Ishida.
There are some similarities with the manga. Yet really this is more of an interpretation of the second half of Sui Ishida’s manga.
Six months after Tokyo Ghoul √A was over, the first OVA episode was released. On September 30, 2015, Tokyo Ghoul: Jack was released. This is a 30 minute episode that is based on the manga of the same name. Tokyo Ghoul: Jack is a prequel to the Tokyo Ghoul series.
It follows the young Kisho Arima, before he joined the CCG.
Three months after that, the second OVA episode was released. On December 25, 2015, Tokyo Ghoul: PINTO was released.
With a run time of 25 minutes, this episode is based on the Tokyo Ghoul: Days novel. In this episode we met Shu Tsukiyama and Chie Hori and discovered how they met and why they became so close.
It is then three years before the third season is released. This time it is called Tokyo Ghoul: re, which ran from April 3, 2018 until June 19, 2018. This season was a direct adaptation of the first half of the manga of the same name.
Finally the fourth season of Tokyo Ghoul, which was also the second season of Tokyo Ghoul: re was released on September 29, 2018 and ran until December 25, 2018. This season adapted the second half of the Tokyo Ghoul: re manga.
It was heavily focused on Ken Kaneki becoming the One-Eyed King. He’d become the leader of the ghouls and work on creating a relationship between ghouls and humans.
Each season consisted of twelve episodes and overall the Tokyo Ghoul anime ran from 2014 until 2018. We can confirm that the anime is also over, as all Tokyo Ghoul stories have been told in full.
Nothing has been left out, the anime and manga both needed in the same way. There are no stories left to tell.
The Future Of Tokyo Ghoul
At the moment there is no future for Tokyo Ghoul. Both the anime and manga have been closed in a very clear way, nothing has been left for fans to hold onto. Everyone got an ending that needed one and there doesn’t seem to be any way of continuing the story.
Sui Ishida has said that he has grown tired of the manga and probably the anime, so it seems pretty unlikely that he’ll return to the franchise.
There may be elements in the side novels that could be adapted for the anime, but there is no central story to push the anime on. Hence it is unlikely that we’ll see any new anime.
Sui Ishida could change his mind and come back to this world in a few years, however at the moment it seems very unlikely. Who knows we may see some new work, when there’s a special anniversary, but really Sui Ishida deserves a break from this franchise for a while.
Conclusion
Sui Ishida’s Tokyo Ghoul franchise began in 2012 with the manga and ended in 2018 when the final season of the anime ended. There are over 30 volumes of manga, 4 side novels and 4 anime seasons.
Tokyo Ghoul is truly a popular franchise that has given its fans a lot of content over the past few years. However, now all the stories have ended and there is nothing left to talk about. Ken Kaneski’s story is over and nothing has been left unsaid.
Sui Ishida has even stated that is done with this series. Therefore, as it stands right now, the manga and anime are definitely over. There isn’t going to be any more right now and there is nothing planned in the future.
However, who knows what the future holds, one day Tokyo Ghoul may grace our screens again. Although right now it is over.
