Ken Kaneki

Ken Kaneki (金木 研, Kaneki Ken) is the protagonist of Tokyo Ghoul and Tokyo Ghoul:re. Formerly a human studying Japanese Literature at Kamii University, and first living a normal life, his life was soon changed after he had Rize's kakuhou transplanted into him and became a One-Eyed Ghoul.[2] After joining Anteiku as a part-time waiter, he learns how to live as a Ghoul and became known as Eyepatch (眼帯, Gantai). After being captured by Aogiri Tree, he was able to accept his ghoul side, forming a team under the goal of protecting the ones precious to him and "picking out" people who threaten the place he belongs to. Because of his Kakuja's distinct appearance, the CCG gave him the nickname Centipede (百足, Mukade). He is currently living under the identity of Haise Sasaki (佐々木 琲世, Sasaki Haise), as a Rank 1 Ghoul Investigator, serving as the mentor of the CCG's Quinx Squad and a member of Team Mado. However, his memories of his past have been lost, leaving him unaware of his true self.

As a child, Kaneki had all the same features he has now as an adult. As a normal university student, Kaneki is a scrawny young man with little to no athletic background who prefers to read books. In his free time, he wears casual clothes. At work, he wears the regular Anteiku waiter uniform, consisting of black trousers and a black waistcoat over a white dress shirt and a black necktie. Because he can't properly control his one kakugan that manifests in his left eye, he wore a medical eyepatch to cover it. His ghoul mask shows resemblance to a leather gimp mask with an eyepatch and lipless grin that shows artificial teeth, much like a restrained asylum monster. The bolts sticking out of his neck and the fact that he is an artificial ghoul, gives him a Frankenstein theme. After being tortured by Yamori for a period of ten days, his hair became white and his nails turned black because of heavy mental stress, anxiety and continuous regeneration. He also began wearing a form fitting black outfit when he had the intention of fighting as a ghoul, both for intimidation and practicality. After the timeskip, his white hair is now adorned by black streaks which have grown out from the center and his nail are no longer black. Similar to the other Ghoul Investigators, Kaneki is seen well dressed in the standard suit and tie most of the time. When embarking on a mission, he wears a white trench coat over his uniform and occasionally carries a briefcase with him.

In the first chapter, Kaneki and Hide listened to the news about ghoul attacks in the 20th ward while in Anteiku. Hide wondered if Touka was Kaneki's new crush that he wanted to show him, but Kaneki denied it. Instead, He pointed to Rize as she entered the café. After Hide had left the place, Kaneki ended up being arranged to a date with Rize. However, Rize turned out to be a ghoul targeting Kaneki, which she revealed after tricking Kaneki into entering a isolated alley. During her attack, Kaneki was wounded in the abdomen by her kagune, but steel bars fell on her and apparently killed her before she could kill him. To save his life, the staff of the Kanou General Hospital under the direction of Dr. Kanou decided to transplant Rize's organs into him. From then on, Kaneki became a half-human, half-ghoul. After the accident, Kaneki hid the fact that Rize was a ghoul. He found everything he ate tasted disgusting and he was hardly able to eat normal food, so he started to live only on water for days. Around that time he realized that ghouls were also unable to eat normal food, his hunger struck him. Unable to find anything to satisfy his hunger, he wandered the streets. At that time, he found out that the waitress, Touka, from Anteiku was also a ghoul when she killed a human in front of him. In terror, he ran away. He soon saw that he could barely keep himself in check. Since he thought the organ transplant was the reason for his transformation, he tried to get rid of the transplanted organs, but was unsuccessful. Desperate, he turned to Touka for help. Touka refused to give assistance, but Anteiku's manager Yoshimura kindly gave Kaneki human meat to satisfy his hunger.