The mid-2010s marked the dawn of anime’s shift from a niche interest to a mainstream fixture of pop culture. Attack on Titan dominated the zeitgeist, sure—but if you were into anime and manga back then, chances are Sui Ishida’s dark fantasy series, Tokyo Ghoul, had you in a chokehold. It’s also a series that inspires complicated feelings when you look back in the big 2026.
On paper, the anime had everything going for it: a killer opening theme, a modern spin on a criminally underused creature of the night, and wanton gore and violence to satisfy any horror-leaning fan. Unfortunately, much of its plot-essential brutality was smothered under heavy censorship, with whole scenes obscured in shadow, and its second season wandered off on a tangent before the sequel series finally found the plot again. In practice, you were better off reading the manga if you wanted to experience its story. But even then, some of the late-stage action of its intricately designed characters was notoriously hard to parse. Sure, you knew the characters looked cool; you just couldn’t always tell what they were actually doing.
None of the above diminished the manga’s accolades. Tokyo Ghoul is still a modern classic—just one that leaves you with mixed emotions. It always felt like a series that needed more time, more breathing room, and more love than a weekly manga release schedule would allow. Tokyo Ghoul‘s anime may never get a Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood-style redo, but the next best thing has quietly been happening under everyone’s noses: Ishida’s new dark fantasy series, Choujin X. And folks, it’s got the juice.
Choujin X reads like a soft redo of Tokyo Ghoul. Like its predecessor, the series follows a mild-mannered protagonist who stumbles into a supernatural world hidden from humans. Instead of ghouls, Ishida introduces a new beastie into the fray: choujins. Choujins are beings with bestial or elemental powers tied to their personalities, fueled by their emotional states. There are cool fire-powered choujins, choujins who can multiply their body parts, and choujins who can manipulate materials into anything within the scope of their imagination.
Looking at the bigger picture, there are factions of good choujins and bad choujins who have been warring with each other for a grip. Their beef isn’t over Twilight-esque etiquette on eating people like Tokyo Ghoul; they’re fighting over consequences on a grander scale. A prophecy details a deified being called Choujin X that comes around every generation. It’s a coin flip whether Choujin X will use their powers like a Christ-like figure bringing peace or as a calamitous harbinger of ruin.
Our hero, Tokio Kurohara, isn’t built to be a protagonist for such a story. His best friend, Azuma Higashi, fits the bill better. Tokio’s no leader; he’s a follower who’s far too comfortable hitching himself to someone else’s dreams rather than aspiring to something of his own. The irony of his choujin powers manifesting as a bestial ability to transform into a vulture is just one example of the series’ wealth of comedic moments amid its battle-shonen horror. It’s also what makes the series such an engaging read on a narrative level. Ishida shows off his knack for writing intimate, inspiring human dramas set in a supernatural world. Only here, thanks to Choujin X‘s irregular release schedule, does Ishida have more time to cook up. The result is a series whose dynamic paneling and body-horror-rich artistry grow exponentially more impressive with each chapter.
That isn’t to say the series isn’t without its meh moments. As much as I love a series that endears you to both its heroes and villains, the manga’s opening stretch bogs itself down a tad with a shonen-style training arc. Likewise, the series leans into another shonen trope: explaining how its characters’ powers work in real time. Mercifully, Choujin X‘s exposition breaks aren’t anywhere near as “break out your quantum physics” levels of dense as Jujutsu Kaisen. To keep its read from feeling like a chore, the series keeps its exposition dumps pretty light. Narration boxes act more like a commentary track that occasionally razzes its ensemble while keeping you abreast of where all their sudden power-ups came from. Still, not everyone is as gifted at crafting a railroad track while its locomotive barrels down like Wallace and Gromit‘s cunning pooch. So again, your mileage may vary with the series’ first couple of arcs.
But rest assured, that nagging feeling that Choujin X is going to be a pseudo-school training arc series forever dissipates pretty abruptly when Ishida turns the series on its head by introducing a phenomenon where choujins can steal each other’s powers. Likewise, the series expands its scope narratively by moving to a global stage after a time skip. Good things are ahead, but keep in mind that the series’ reputation for irregular updates might require you to exercise restraint and avoid binge-reading. Still, the manga is awash with really cool character designs, a well-thought-out power system, and lore. As someone whose main gripe with Ishida was the occasional illegibility of his artistry in Tokyo Ghoul, Choujin X feels like an apology and a kiss on the forehead. Now that I’ve caught up, I’m pretty much counting the days until Choujin X gets an anime adaptation with an animation studio that can do it justice.
Whether you miss Ishida’s horror, humor, and action from his Tokyo Ghoul era or are hunting for a new manga series with grassroots buzz as one of the medium’s best-kept secrets, you should check out Choujin X.
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