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A review by gikairan
Tokyo Ghoul: Days by Shin Towada, Sui Ishida
4.0
The first of the Tokyo Ghoul light novels, Days shows us 6 short stories that happen either alongside the first series of the anime, or before.
The 6 stories are:
The Bible - Hide joining a paranormal investigation society who are investigating ghouls in Kamii, after its revealed Kaneki is one of their investigation targets
Lunch boxes - Touka and Yoriko as Gals Being Pals and going to the Zoo
Photos - Tsukiyama as he meets his "pet mouse" Chie Hori (The inspiration of the Pinto OVA)
The Big City - A new character- Ikuma, a ghoul raised by a human nurse, moves from the countryside to Tokyo.
The Bookmark - Kaneki suggests Touka takes Hinami to the library
Yoshida - The story of the ghoul that Nishiki kicks very early on in the series.
None of these stories are essential to understanding any part of the anime or manga series, but instead serve as extra material for anyone as hopelessly in love of the world of Tokyo Ghoul as I am. It offers additional exploration of certain characters and their relationships, as well as an explanation of how Chie Hori is allowed to know just about Everything (To those who are reading :RE). It also shows a broader view of the ghouls of Ishida's world, rather than just the violent kind the anime and manga focus on (Yoshida and Ikuma)
Before the light novel was translated into English, I had personally read free summaries of all the stories online. The official translation was way easier to read than these summaries, so if you also read the summaries its still worth picking up the official translation. However its not flawless, and a few of the sentences here and there are still awkwardly worded and it can be sometimes unclear which characters are speaking which lines of dialogue. It also seems that whoever translated The Bookmark didn't know a lot about the series to begin with as they had translated Sen Takatsuki, the in-universe famous novelist who is extremely important to the story, as Sen Takatsugi. All fan and official translations have used Takatsuki.
Despite the awkwardness of the translation at time, its a simple read without any in depth descriptions to bog you down. Its good to pick up for a few minutes at a time, rather than any long reading sessions. But you do sometimes have to re-read sentences, or dialogue, because it doesn't make perfect sense in English.
If you've never heard of Tokyo Ghoul before, this book won't be for you. You need to check out the manga before reading (The second season of the anime followed an alternative storyline created by Ishida Sui, however most of his storyboards that kept the plot intact were discarded by Pierrot. Seriously, the manga is better in every way). Even then, casual fans probably won't find much joy in the light novel(s to come). If you like the series for its violent fights, where no one is safe, this probably isn't for you. If you like the grey morality, the character relationships and dynamics, and eagerly await the new Japanese chapters, its absolutely worth picking up.
The 6 stories are:
The Bible - Hide joining a paranormal investigation society who are investigating ghouls in Kamii, after its revealed Kaneki is one of their investigation targets
Lunch boxes - Touka and Yoriko as Gals Being Pals and going to the Zoo
Photos - Tsukiyama as he meets his "pet mouse" Chie Hori (The inspiration of the Pinto OVA)
The Big City - A new character- Ikuma, a ghoul raised by a human nurse, moves from the countryside to Tokyo.
The Bookmark - Kaneki suggests Touka takes Hinami to the library
Yoshida - The story of the ghoul that Nishiki kicks very early on in the series.
None of these stories are essential to understanding any part of the anime or manga series, but instead serve as extra material for anyone as hopelessly in love of the world of Tokyo Ghoul as I am. It offers additional exploration of certain characters and their relationships, as well as an explanation of how Chie Hori is allowed to know just about Everything (To those who are reading :RE). It also shows a broader view of the ghouls of Ishida's world, rather than just the violent kind the anime and manga focus on (Yoshida and Ikuma)
Before the light novel was translated into English, I had personally read free summaries of all the stories online. The official translation was way easier to read than these summaries, so if you also read the summaries its still worth picking up the official translation. However its not flawless, and a few of the sentences here and there are still awkwardly worded and it can be sometimes unclear which characters are speaking which lines of dialogue. It also seems that whoever translated The Bookmark didn't know a lot about the series to begin with as they had translated Sen Takatsuki, the in-universe famous novelist who is extremely important to the story, as Sen Takatsugi. All fan and official translations have used Takatsuki.
Despite the awkwardness of the translation at time, its a simple read without any in depth descriptions to bog you down. Its good to pick up for a few minutes at a time, rather than any long reading sessions. But you do sometimes have to re-read sentences, or dialogue, because it doesn't make perfect sense in English.
If you've never heard of Tokyo Ghoul before, this book won't be for you. You need to check out the manga before reading (The second season of the anime followed an alternative storyline created by Ishida Sui, however most of his storyboards that kept the plot intact were discarded by Pierrot. Seriously, the manga is better in every way). Even then, casual fans probably won't find much joy in the light novel(s to come). If you like the series for its violent fights, where no one is safe, this probably isn't for you. If you like the grey morality, the character relationships and dynamics, and eagerly await the new Japanese chapters, its absolutely worth picking up.