Ken Kaneki

Ken Kaneki, also known as Centipede, Dragon, Eyepatch and The Black Reaper, is the main protagonist from the Tokyo Ghoul series.
== Charactah Account ==
Originally born as a human, his encounter with a female ghoul under the name of Kamishiro Rize forced him to undergo emergency surgery procedures after his assault by her. Cunning and manipulative, Rize uses her charms and Kaneki's attraction toward her as a means of getting her next "meal." After the attack, Kaneki is rushed to the hospital in a half-dead state with Rize. A doctor of the name Kanou, who secretly experiments with ghouls, humans, and half-ghouls, transplants what Kaneki believes to be a kidney into his body as a means of saving his life in the dire situation. Soon he learns that he had part of Rize's kagune transplanted into him, becoming the first of many human-ghoul experiments Kanou will conduct.
Due to the unnatural abundance of RC Cells now present in his body because of Rize's kagune, Kaneki loses the ability to stomach human food, often getting sick or vomiting when ingesting any, and gains the powers of regeneration and kagune usage as a result. Because of his morals and attachment to humanity, Kaneki refuses to consume human beings as a means to sustain himself, even when the meat is obtained through non-violent means, rather he consumes large amounts of coffee, and, when absolutely necessary, will cannibalize other ghouls.
Later, he joins with several ghouls, Banjou and Tsukiyama Shuu, in order to reduce the number of ghouls that cause havoc in the world to make the lives of humans better. Due to the nature of his ghoul mask and physical features, Kaneki earns himself the name "One-Eye" among the ghoul-community, and eventually "Centipede" when his kagune takes the form of one after he is put under immense stress, pressure, and anxiety. The CCG eventually dub him to be an SS-Rated ghoul.
== Appearance ==
=== Anime ===
* Tokyo Ghoul
* Tokyo Ghoul Root A
* Tokyo Ghoul:re
* Tokyo Ghoul:re 2nd Season
=== Light Novels ===
* Tokyo Ghoul
=== Manga ===
* Tokyo Ghoul
* Tokyo Ghoul 0
* Tokyo Ghoul:re
=== Video Games ===
* Tokyo Ghoul: carnaval
* Tokyo Ghoul: Dark War
* Tokyo Ghoul: Jail
* Tokyo Ghoul: The Fool
* Tokyo Ghoul:re Call to Exist
* Tokyo Ghoul:re Invoke
== Trivia ==
* The name "Haise" was created by combining the kanji from "coffee" and "world". The kanji used for "Ken" is the same one used for "to sharpen" i.e. sharpen one's fangs.
* "Kaneki" translates as "gold tree" while "Sasaki" translates to "Helpful Wood".
* Kaneki has a habit of touching his chin with his left hand when he is hiding something. This habit appears to be subconscious, as he still does it even after his memory loss.
* In the first character popularity poll, Kaneki was ranked first. In the latest, he was second while Haise Sasaki came third.
* Kaneki shares the same birthday with Kishou Arima.
* Kaneki likes reading, beautiful language, intellectual women, and hamburgers.
* Beginning with the Aogiri arc, Kaneki has been repeatedly associated with the number "12" in panels.This is a reference to the tarot card The Hanged Man (XII).
* Right before fighting Arima for the first time, the number seven can just be seen on his forehead meaning the chariot card which is about moving forward, determination and strength which is a theme of Kaneki moving forward despite everything(also possibly the line one thousand minus seven also ties into this). There are likely other numbers, but the one he is mostly associated with and seen the most is twelve as previoiusly mentioned, but seven seems to be the second most associated number with him.
* His quinque, Yukimura 1/3, has been used by both Kishou Arima, as a teenager, and Take Hirako, when he was partnered with Arima.
* Kaneki compares himself to Gregor Samsa, the unfortunate protagonist of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis. In the sequel, he briefly discusses Kafka's A Crossbreed with Arima — another story with strong parallels to his situation.
* The sudden color changes in Kaneki's hair are caused by the suppression of his Rc cell activity which has caused temporary melanin production that causes his hair color to change.
* His surname is a reference to novelist Osamu Dazai, who was born in Kanagi and most famous for his novel No Longer Human. When they meet at the book signing, Eto briefly discusses this with him.
* The relationship between Sasaki and his mental projection of "Kaneki" is akin to his relationship with his projection of "Rize" in the past as Kaneki. "Rize" would often tempt Kaneki to give in to his ghoul self, while "Kaneki" tried to have Sasaki accept him. Both projections represent the ghoul side of himself.
* Both Kaneki and Yamori went through similar torture methods and were both completely changed from their previous selves. Yamori turned into psychotic killer who killed more for fun than to eat, while Kaneki became cold and ruthless, but retained his desire to protect his friends.
* In Tokyo Ghoul Trump, Kaneki and Sasaki are each featured as the "Ace of Hearts" and Kaneki is also featured on the "Queen of Hearts" card alongside Rize. In a redistributed version, he is also featured as a "White Joker."
* In the anime, Kaneki joined Aogiri at the beginning of the second season, which differs greatly from the manga in which Kaneki forms a group with Banjou, Hinami and some other ghouls.
* In Tokyo Ghoul √A, according to Sui Ishida's rough drafts, Tatara insisted that Kaneki eat Taguchi to prove his loyalty to Aogiri Tree. However, Noro ate her before Kaneki and Tatara had finished arguing. This scene was cut out from the finalized work.
* Because of Tooru Mutsuki, Ishida has stated that he often forgets over which eye he needs to put the eyepatch on Kaneki.
* In the official English translation of :re Volume 1, Haise Sasaki's birthday is incorrectly given as April 22nd.
* Kaneki joined Aogiri because they were the only group who posed a threat to Anteiku.
* Kaneki never actually ate Yamori. He only ate his Kagune and left him for dead, thus allowing Juuzou Suzuya to recover the dying body of Yamori and to make a Quinque of it.
* Kaneki may no longer be a ghoul after being rescued from the dragon due to people who have studied ghouls not recognising his organs. And the fact his kakuja(debatable if it is even a kakuja or a higher level above it) seems to have all four Rc cell types and can switch between them as shown right before he slays Dragon Rize. Along with his immunity to the dragon toxin from said organs which does affect artificial one eyed ghouls and quinx, his entire body apart from the head seems to be made of something similar to a kagune when first rescued.
* Kaneki's hair being white may be based on the Japanese trope in media that half demons have white hair.
* Kaneki's appearance resembles the character Hiroto from Sui Ishida's previous work from the Penisman manga. He has black hair which then became white and an eyepatch.
* Kaneki, like Eto, resembles a character from the Japanese horror visual novel Saya No Uta. Fuminori and Kaneki both have had their sense of taste altered by an accident and eventually change to begin eating humans. The hair colour(black) and the fact that his black reaper persona somewhat visually and emotionally resemble him. It is a likely inspiration considering said horror constantly deals with flesh a lot(also both Fuminori and Kaneki are both main characters).
* Fans tend to compare him to Alex Mercer a lot, considering his flesh tendril based abilities, black hair and hoodie are all possible inspirations.
* People also compare him to Parasyte's protagonist Shinichi due to his black hair and becoming less human, as it is also a dark story that questions humanity also another likely inspiration.
== Gallery ==
File:Ken Kaneki Render 01.png
File:Ken Kaneki Render 02.png
File:Ken Kaneki Render 03.png
File:Ken Kaneki Render 04.png
File:Ken Kaneki Render 05.png
File:Ken Kaneki 01.png
File:Ken Kaneki Fan Art 01.png
File:Ken Kaneki Fan Art 02.png
== External Links ==
* Ken Kaneki at Tokyo Ghoul Wiki
Category:Characters
Category:Males
Category:Tokyo Ghoul