Warning! SPOILERS for Choujin X chapter 30.2Mangaka Sui Ishida of Tokyo Ghoul has finally created redeemable villains in his new manga Choujin X. Although some fans might be able to find the good in a few of Tokyo Ghoul‘s antagonists like Shuu Tsukiyama the “Gourmet Ghoul,” these characters’ redemptive qualities aren’t that obvious while the rest of their peers are irreparably and unequivocally evil.
From the very beginning of Tokyo Ghoul, every Ghoul who wasn’t part of Anteiku, and definitely anyone who was a member of Aogiri was just inherently deplorable. Although these attributes made it easier for fans to truly despise Tokyo Ghoul‘s villains, their lack of goodness negated the depth of these characters since fans never questioned whether their actions were justified or not. Of course, these characters still had very intricate and nuanced views of the world, ghouls, and humans, so saying they weren’t three-dimensional at all is disingenuous.
But Sui Ishida is now flipping that dynamic in his new manga Choujin X. In chapter 30.2, an unidentifiable woman who could actually be Choujin X’s most terrifying monster to date tells the villain Chandra Hume that capturing the beast of salvation will save the land and Yamato from destruction. Failing to do so will lead to the world becoming completely uninhabitable for a century. So when Hume finally catches up to this beast of salvation, who is clearly the beast choujin Tokio, Hume literally freaks out at the prospect that he may have inadvertently killed him and tries to revive his opponent.
Hume’s Actions in Choujin X Make Him More Redeemable Than Tokyo Ghoul‘s Villains
The fact that Hume is only going after Tokio to avert disaster definitely works in his favor. But the fact that Hume’s method to reach this goal aren’t inherently evil is fresh for Ishida’s work. If Hume was slaughtering choujins and humans to get to Tokio, then that would be another story. As of now, there’s nothing suggesting that Hume collecting Tokio will lead to him getting hurt. It’s also interesting that the unidentifiable character who requests that Hume acquire Tokio for her mentioned Yamato since the base of operations for the “good” choujins is called Yamato Mori. Moreover, Hume’s associates have in fact captured Tokio before and treated him kindly. This initially shocked readers who were also familiar with Tokyo Ghoul since his apprehension originally reminded them of Tokyo Ghoul when Aogiri got their hands on Ken Kaneki, and he wasn’t treated well at all. This isn’t to say that every antagonist in Choujin X is “good,” however, for many of them have committed acts of extreme violence. Moreover, one of Tokio’s colleagues has actually been portrayed as more of a villain than the actual evil-doers like Hume with his character actually torturing one of his victims so badly that Choujin X had to edit out the twisted scene.
In regard to Tokyo Ghoul itself, many fans regard Shuu Tsukiyama the “Gourmet Ghoul” as a redeemable villain. But is he actually bad? Even though Tsukiyama’s kindness towards Kaneki can be easily attributed to his desire to devour him, his actions and mannerisms actually come across as genuine and sincere. This is why Tokyo Ghoul‘s villains, like Tsukiyama, are intrinsically complicated and nuanced but aren’t nearly as redeemable as the antagonists of Choujin X thus far.
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