Tokyo Ghoul Creator on Why the Manga Doesn’t Meet His Expectations

Sui Ishida, the mangaka behind the wildly popular Tokyo Ghoul, has a different idea of what success looks like.

Ishida sat down for an interview with Manga Passion Germany where he discussed his works both past and present. His first manga series Tokyo Ghoul ran from 2011 to 2014 before he started a direct sequel titled Tokyo Ghoul: re, almost immediately in 2014. Both series garnered a considerable amount of critical acclaim and boasted high sales with Tokyo Ghoul recording over 47 million copies in circulation as of January 2021.

The mangaka took a three-year break following the end of Tokyo Ghoul: re, virtually disappearing from the manga scene except to emerge occasionally to drop artwork for his video game Jack Jeanne. In 2021, out of nowhere, he released a new series called Choujin X that follows a young boy who injects himself with a serum that turns him into a superhuman. As Choujin X is the first major work from Ishida after the enormous success of Tokyo Ghoul, Manga Passion asked whether the mangaka felt a lot of pressure while working on Choujin X.

Ishida’s Meaning of Success

Ishida paused on the word ‘success’ and said, “I don’t really consider Tokyo Ghoul a success.” For the mangaka, success didn’t mean a huge fan following, impressive manga sales or other more tangible forms of accomplishment. Success was something more personal and something that was much harder to achieve.

“For me, success is when I feel like I’ve drawn something well,” Ishida told Manga Passion. “When I think about it, I don’t actually ask that it be well received in society or that many people like it. So success for me is whether I can praise myself for it or not.”

The mangaka also spoke about his relationship with his readers, in particular the difficulties of connecting with them while maintaining his sense of self as an artist. “I think it’s rather difficult for me to engage with my readership. To be honest, I have no precise idea what kind of people like to read my manga,” he said. “I feel like if I think about it too much I try to be more and more just responsive to the readership and that affects my drawings and makes them weird.”

“The only thing I can do is face my own obstacles and I think that’s the biggest pressure I’m under,” he continued, admitting he hasn’t “really gotten over that pressure yet.”

“So when I draw manga, whether it’s Tokyo Ghoul or Choujin X, I face the same hurdles and pressures,” he said. “If people like what I draw after overcoming my hurdles, I’m happy. I think that’s the first time I can connect with the readers.”

Ishida’s New Work Schedule

Ishida’s first interview after Tokyo Ghoul ended came about in August 2018. In a Yomiuri Shimbun interview, as translated by Tumblr fan Sen II, Ishida said, “During serialization it felt like I’d been taken over by a different person.”

In his afterword, Ishida spoke in-depth about his experience serializing Tokyo Ghoul where his life “revolved around chasing the deadline, week after week,” comparing his time writing it to being trapped in a cage: “I felt like I was finally being released from a cage after being trapped in it for so long.” Tokyo Ghoul essentially took over his life from Volume 7 onwards as Ishida pushed himself harder and harder in his attempt “to get closer to Kaneki who’s been subjected to torture.”

He revealed he had various health complications and even lost his sense of taste — a trait ghouls in his work have.

When Ishida started his new work Choujin X, he consequently opted for a more sporadic release schedule, allowing him to take as much time as he needed before dropping the chapters. The first chapter of Choujin X dropped in May 2021 and currently has 37 chapters out. The lack of a weekly release schedule meant the mangaka could work on it at his own pace.

“I’ve always thought that if I’m not tied to a certain tempo or page number, I could probably draw something better,” he said. “And it’s easier for me to take time off when I need it.”

While Ishida had assistants helping him with Tokyo Ghoul, it’s a different story for Choujin X: he’s doing everything alone. He described his typical work day to Manga Passion where he gets up in the afternoon or evening, working for around 10 hours before taking a break by reading a book or watching a movie before falling asleep. Sometimes, he would continue working if sleep evaded him.

“If I want to make quick progress or if I really want to submit a manuscript, I’ll draw for 20 to 30 hours at a time,” he continued. “If I take it a little slower or if I’m not in a hurry, I’ll only draw for about five hours and spend the rest of the time doing other things. I also do jogging and walking to get my body moving.”

Although Ishida’s new schedule means he has more time to himself, he confessed how even when he wasn’t drawing, his mind was still consumed with work. Aside from physical exercise, Ishida spent his time playing video games, reading books or watching movies, but “since my mind is mostly on work, it’s hard to find a hobby that relaxes me completely.”

Source: Manga Passion Germany