Sui Ishida’s Tokyo Ghoul was a hit manga series, and now, fans can look forward to a physical release for Ishida’s next series Choujin X from Viz Media. It seems that, like its predecessor, Choujin X will be a hit, as the series is already set to receive a physical volume and English translation after just 24 chapters. The physical volumes will be available for purchase early next year.
Sui Ishida is a fan of dark fantasy and horror, and this is reflected in Tokyo Ghoul. First published in 2011 in Weekly Young Jump, the story follows Ken Kaneki, a young man living in Tokyo who transforms into a ghoul after a fierce encounter with one. From that moment onward, Kaneki lives as manga’s most tortured hero, battling an onslaught of terrifying characters and creatures up until the series conclusion in 2014. The manga series was a huge hit, earning an anime adaptation, a handful of video games, and even a live-action film based on the series. Even though that series wrapped up, fans wanting more of Ishida’s uniquely dark edge have Choujin X to look forward to.
Now, Viz Media is releasing a physical volume collecting Choujin X‘s opening chapters on February 21st, 2023. Choujin X continues Ishida’s love of dark fantasy. The series revamps the standard shonen formula and a lot of Ishida’s own Tokyo Ghoul tropes. This time, the story follows best friends Tokio and Azuma who volunteer to investigate a plane crash and join the search and rescue team. When they find that everyone on the plane survived, the pair heads home. On the way they encounter an old enemy with bizarre new powers and a yearning to kill them. In order to survive, Tokio and Azuma are forced to become choujin – horrifying creatures with absurd superpowers from which the name of the series is derived. Just from the cover alone it’s clear that series id just as twisted and unsettling as anything found in Tokyo Ghoul.
Despite falling into the horror genre, there is plenty of dark and quirky humor from the young heroes to lighten things up for readers. As it was mentioned above, the series also features many of the same ideas from Tokyo Ghoul, albeit presented from a new angle and perspective. While redoing certain tropes might not be the most captivating thing to readers, Choujin X knocks them out of the park. Many of the issues faced by Ken and Hide are reexplored with Tokio and Azuma. The gruesome transformations are outdone. Ishida even goes as far to have Choujin X reinvent the shonen character transformation formula. How does he do all of this? One will just have to read the rising hit manga to find out.
The first 24 chapters of Choujin X are available to read now with a Shonen Jump subscription, so fans curious to see how Ishida followed up Tokyo Ghoul can already take a look at Choujin X.
Be sure to pick up Volume 1 of Choujin X, by Tokyo Ghoul creator Sui Ishida in bookstores on February 21st, 2023.
