This is a review of the first 12 episodes of Tokyo Ghoul.

Tokyo ghoul is gratuitously violent, very disturbing, and rather dark. Ghouls are just like humans, except they need to eat human flesh or they'll die. While most ghouls dislike killing people, eat as little as possible, and try to fit in with the rest of society, there are 'binge eaters' and 'gourmets' who enjoy killing and eat for pleasure. These ghouls have caused humans to think all ghouls are simply monsters without souls or the ability to feel human emotions. So, there are ghoul hunters who are specially trained to kill ghouls, and they will kill any ghoul no matter who they are. Kaneki is the only half-ghoul half-human, so it is his duty to end the war between the two and bring them to an understanding.


Violence/Gore:
The ghouls have to eat human flesh in order to survive. Human organs are shown, as well as dismembered body parts. Ghouls are shown eating and attacking people, including a scene where a human willingly allows a ghoul to take a chunk of flesh off her shoulder in order for him to survive. A ghoul is shown sipping human blood from a wine glass. There is an enormous amount of blood, just PUDDLES of it, and it's very realistic. A character goes through intense, disturbing torture, as well as being severely beaten. There's more, but let's just end it by saying there is a lot of bloody violence.

Nudity/Sexual Content:
In the first episode, Kaneki sees down the front of Rize's shirt. Later, in a dream-type scene in Kaneki's brain, a naked Rize grabs onto him from the back.

Problematic Themes:
The fact that ghouls are 'basically humans' is an issue for me. The fact is, entertainment has a way of making things that are certainly evil, like vampires or demons, appear to be 'not as bad as we once believed'. I got that feeling from this anime - though you relate to these ghouls, who are just like normal people doing what they must to survive, it's important to understand how evil eating human flesh and drinking human blood is, and not become desensitized to things that are, though portrayed as 'not-so-bad', in essence completely evil.

On a more positive note, the relationships between some ghouls and humans is touching at times, and Kaneki is a really good guy, with good morals.

Overall, I'd say it's worth a watch if you're not easily disturbed. Actually, scratch that, it's worth a watch if you're OKAY with being disturbed. The plot really has something going for it (I believe a second season is coming out)and the characters, though nothing extraordinarily special, are likeable and unique in their own way.