what's going on

Drew the Tokyo Ghoul end cards.

Drew a Tokyo Ghoul flip calendar (366 pages).

Drew the Tokyo Ghouls Trump cards. 

Made a draft for Tokyo Ghoul Root A.

Drew/written the Tokyo Ghoul Jail visual novel (578 pages),

Drew 69 pages of Hunter x Hunter.

Please feel to correct me if there are any mistakes. (source of the afterword)

Heading to Tokyo

After studying manga and heading to Tokyo, I asked if Matsuo-san, who was in charge, to first introduce me as an assistant.

For a period of time I gratefully worked under Hara Yasuhisa-sensei of Kingdom.

I really was a useless assistant and I only caused trouble, but I learned many things.

That was the first time I’d seen a pro mangaka’s manuscript, and I remember being very shocked and impressed by his flaming passion.

From those days, Hara-sensei has always been standing at the top of the magazine, and he is still a huge feature that supports it. He is truly amazing, and I respect him from the bottom of my heart.

Things That Made Me Happy

I’ve listed only hardships so far, but there were lots of good things that happened as well.

I was able to request songs from my favourite artists:

TK-san of Ling Tosite Sigure for “unravel”,

People In The Box for “The Saints”,

amazarashi for “Seasons Die One After Another”,

Takahashi Kunimitsu for “Incompetence”.

And for :re,

Jooubachi for “HALF”

Cö shu Nie for “asphyxia”.

(the songs for the latter half of :re is still in its demo phase, but both songs are amazing).

Even now, when I listen to them it brings back memories. They are very precious songs to me.

Through the Hisoka spinoff project for HUNTER X HUNTER, I was able to meet and talk with Togashi Yoshihiro-sensei. I have many wonderful memories of it.

Togashi truly was a great and cool person.

“I’m always coming up with storyboards,” he’d say, demonstrating it while sprawled on the bare floor, which I would watch while kneeling.

During that time I couldn’t tell whether this was reality or just a dream.

Before we met, he gave me a letter that had a HUNTER X HUNTER storyboard written on one side. It was the storyboard for chapter 351 featuring Hisoka vs. Chrollo. I can’t believe he did something so stylish, I thought, deeply touched.

I look back on it when I need courage, even to this day. It is an heirloom.

…it gives me pure happiness that I could get readers to enjoy themselves. Even though it’s tough for me to draw, if there’s someone out there who can take pleasure in it, I could do my best.

It may seem like lip service, but that is the best reward and means just about everything to me.

Please feel to correct me if there are any mistakes. (source of the afterword)

I’ve already handed in the final manuscript, and I’m now writing this letter.

I would’ve written 4-komas at the end of the volume as usual, but I had a hard time writing “what comes afterwards” in such a format, so I thought that I would write an afterword.

Preface

Tokyo Ghoul began its serialization in September of 2011.

7 years have passed since then. My life had revolved around chasing the deadline, week after week.

I felt that if I took a break I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to draw again, so I didn’t give myself a break.

Now that the series has ended, I’m finally living a life where I haven’t had a deadline looming over me for the first time in 7 years.

I wonder how I used to spend my time in the past.

If I want to be frank about how I currently feel, should I say it feels…liberating?

Tokyo Ghoul was just something that was intimately intertwined with my life, something that dominated my emotions and time, and something that changed my relationship with people.

There was good that came with it, but oftentimes it was more bad than good.

It felt like I was finally being released after being trapped in a cage.

From volume 7, which was previously unknown, onwards, the stance regarding the manga changed.

I worked excessively to try and drive myself.

I cast away all kinds of things in my life, and poured all my time into work.

To the point that I developed complications in my body.

I was scared at first. But all sorts of symptoms showed up every few months, and seeing that that was the kind of body I had, I resigned myself to it.

The most striking to me was that my sense of taste disappeared.

No matter what I ate, everything tasted the same. Even though the symptoms themselves were different, it felt like I’d turned into a ghoul.

I was surprised at just how much the human spirit is tied to the body.

There may be some readers who may be disappointed by this, but I have never thought of drawing Tokyo Ghoul itself as fun. I hate working.

“Why am I drawing manga?”

Kaneki Ichika

• Will be soon 6 years old

• Blood type: B

• Size: 112cm/18kg

• Favorite foods: apples, Yoriko’s bread

Kaneki and Touka’s daughter. She is friendly, and has a lively personality.

Tokyo Ghoul (2011 - 2018) by Ishida Sui