Haise Sasaki (fem)

Ken Kaneki is the main protagonist of the Tokyo Ghoul series. Previously, she was a student who studied Japanese literature at Kamii University, living a relatively normal life. However, this quickly changed after Rize Kamishiro's kakuhou was transplanted into her, transforming her into a one-eyed ghoul. Kaneki is the first known artificial one-eyed ghoul. Her unique half ghoul state is what later inspired the idea to create the Quinx. After joining Anteiku as a part-time waiter, she learns how to live as a ghoul and eventually becomes known as “Eyepatch”.

After being captured by Aogiri Tree, she underwent a drastic personality change and escaped. After escaping, Kaneki formed a group with the goal of protecting those precious to her and exterminating individuals threatening her place of belonging. Her kagune-form's distinct appearance earned her the alias “Centipede”.

Two years following her defeat against Kishou Arima, she lived under the identity of Haise Sasaki, a Rank 1 Ghoul Investigator who served as the mentor of the CCG's Quinx Squad.

Ever after Kaneki adopted the identity of Haise Sasaki, her hair began to grow out black streaks (from the crown). She wore the standard business attire of a ghoul investigator, favouring black dress shirts and pinstripe pants with a knee-length, white trench coat.

Pre-Aogiri Kaneki was a shy and reserved person, with Hide being her only close friend. She usually spent most of her time reading books, mostly novels. She was extremely gentle and appeared to be optimistic most of the time. Influenced by her mother and a true testament of modesty, she willingly took blame and punishment from others so that she can be someone who does not hurt people, but rather absorb the torment. However, this lack of assertiveness normally got her bullied and taken advantage of.

However, beneath her altruistic and gentle nature was an underlying fear of being alone that was aggravated by her mother's death. She despised the idea of solitude, hence she tried to protect those dear to her so she would not have to face her fear of being alone in the world.

This was perhaps her greatest weakness. Since Kaneki was always trying to protect others, she was essentially trying to protect herself from ever being alone again. Therefore, to escape that scenario, she would shoulder the task of protecting others onto herself, without relying on anyone else. This was also why Kaneki rejected the notion of "living," because watching others die reminded her of those lonely days without anyone beside her.

After she was turned into a half-ghoul, she clung to her human side. To keep living in the human world, she began to work at Anteiku and established relationships with the ghouls there. She started to develop an interest in becoming stronger and began reading martial art books so she could protect those closest to her. However, she was still troubled with the fact that she was a half-ghoul and wanted to search for a place where she could belong. As much as she treasured her life, if people close to her were threatened, she would not hesitate to put her life on the line.

Post-Aogiri After being held captive and undergoing intense torture at the hands of Yamori, Kaneki's personality changed drastically. She trashed her previous ideology of "being hurt rather than hurting others," pledging to crush those who dared threaten her place of belonging. She adopted the habit of cracking her knuckles from her torturer, Yamori. In her subconscious, Kaneki ate "Rize," the image of her ghoul self. This displayed that she accepted the "ghoul" within her; instead of being influenced by it, she appeared to have become the one to surpass it. Kaneki became ruthless, cruel, and brutal in order to protect her friends, yet she managed to maintain complete composure. She no longer feared her ghoul side and was more violent during battles, such as when she cannibalized Yamori's kagune in order to strengthen herself, and mercilessly broke 103 of Ayato's bones. By embracing her ghoul nature wholeheartedly, Kaneki gave up on being "human."

Kaneki was still capable of showing her gentle nature in front of people she cared about, but instantly turned merciless against her enemies. She yearned for strength and power, therefore becoming more power-hungry and superficially arrogant. Her new creed—that as "the strong" she had the right to "devour the weak"—was originally an ideology held by Yamori. Banjou assumed that Kaneki developed some form of mental instability during her torture in the 11th ward, and that this would gradually wear her down.

Whenever she was near starvation and losing control of her kagune (or half-kakuja), she behaved in a way that emulated another's, such as Rize or Yamori. She would speak in a crazed disorganized manner, further implying hee mental instability during these periods.

After raiding Kanou's lab and attacking Banjou, Kaneki entered a period of soul-searching. She wished to reclaim her lost "human" side and became uncertain about the path she had taken to become stronger. She started to question and seek answers from individuals such as Uta, Yomo, and Yoshimura in order to understand the incidents that have happened around her since she turned into a ghoul.

While living under her new identity as Haise Sasaki, she was a self-contained and good-natured individual. She was loyal, devoted, and possessed a good work ethic. Sasaki was very cooperative, as she preferred working in a group rather than working alone. She also showed mercy, as she believed that an investigator should not annihilate ghouls unnecessarily. This was sometimes to the chagrin of her fellow ghoul investigators. Sasaki enjoyed reading books in her free time and had a habit of using puns, shown by her conversation with Akira Mado in the curry restaurant. She tended to scratch the back of her head when she was thinking hard or feeling uneasy. She still had her old habit of scratching or rubbing her chin whenever she was hiding something or lying from her days as Kaneki.

She showed appropriate respect and great concern for her colleagues, especially her underlings. She complied with orders assigned by her seniors and carried them out without hesitation. However, Sasaki's gentle nature often led her subordinates to constantly disobey her, rendering her ineffective in controlling their actions; she was left to worry about their safety.

In contrast to before her memory loss, Sasaki rejected her ghoul side and was afraid of it. When analyzed by Arima after her capture, Sasaki appeared to retain her introverted nature and lack of assertiveness as Kaneki, along with her yearning for a motherly figure.

However, Sasaki was still prone to losing control, as shown when she fought the Serpent, where she also cracked her fingers during the fight—a habit that she had originally developed as Kaneki in the past. Donato Porpora noted that Sasaki was curious about her memories but also afraid of them, as she worried she could no longer keep her current life in the CCG should she ever recover her memories. Sasaki feared that relying on her ghoul side would make her disappear. After being rescued from Takizawa by Hinami, Sasaki's perspective on her ghoul nature changed. She concluded that the Kaneki of the past must have been a good person because Hinami cared for her a lot, even though she did not remember. She eventually accepted this ghoul side in order to protect Hinami and Saiko, with the risk of her personality disappearing. She learned about Kaneki, who appeared in her subconscious as a mental construct where "Kaneki" admitted that she was also scared and asked Sasaki to not erase her. After the auction, Sasaki was friendlier towards her ghoul side. However, "Kaneki" said the relationship could not last forever, as they were two beings fighting for one body. Sasaki was told to "not erase her" but misheard it as "disappear." She then remained conflicted about her past, actively searching for information about herself.

Powers and Abilities Ghoul Physiology: After inheriting Rize Kamishiro's kakuhou, Kaneki has displayed a unique healing factor, as well as a rinkaku kagune consisting of tentacles and increased physical power. Due to the hybrid vigor, Kaneki's abilities are said to be more potent than those of a natural-born ghoul.

Superhuman Strength: As Banjou paid a visit to Anteiku, Kaneki accidentally knocked him unconscious with an elbow strike (an inadvertent headbutt in the anime). Kaneki was able to rip a lamp post from asphalt and strike one of the Bin brothers with it. When fighting Ayato Kirishima, Kaneki forcibly smashed Ayato through multiple floors of the 11th ward building. During her sparring sessions with Banjou, Kaneki threw the ghoul around without much effort. Superhuman Speed: Kaneki was capable of evading Narukami's condensed projectiles, while assaulting Arima. While she engaged Yukinori Shinohara in a fight, Kaneki was traveling at immense speed, quick enough for Shinohara not being able to track her location. In her fight with Karren, Sasaki was able to maneuver and dodge her rapid kagune attacks, swiftly approaching her from behind towards the end of the motion. Sasaki has also shown the ability to parry Arima's numerous Owl attacks while facing him in Cochlea. Superhuman Endurance: During her second encounter with Nishiki, Kaneki was able to endure multiple blows from the ghoul in her weakened, starving state. When she was fighting Shachi, Kaneki maintained consciousness after being smashed through the floor and walls of Kanou's Underground Laboratory. After being pierced through the abdomen by Amon, Kaneki was still able to survive and recover from her injuries, albeit through consuming parts of Hide. During her encounter with Arima at V14, Kaneki continued fighting despite her critical head injures, which would be fatal even to a ghoul. As Sasaki, she survived being pierced by Serpent's kagune, and eventually overpowered the ghoul despite being grievously wounded. Immense Pain Tolerance: Kaneki has always shown strong tolerance to pain, being able to continue fighting after withstanding multiple blows from Nishiki. This was heightened tremendously after Kaneki's torture at the hands of Yamori, where she managed to withstand twisting and breaking her own leg in order to land a blow on him. Superhuman Regeneration: During her torture at the hands of Yakumo Oomori, she continously regenerated her fingers and toes for ten days. She easily recuperated from the injuries inflicted by Shachi, and recovered from a hole she received upon fighting Amon through consuming the flesh of Hide. She survives her fight with Arima, and heals her injuries, albeit with the cost of losing her memory. In :re, she recovers from being consecutively pierced by Nishiki's kagune, as well as surviving an attack from Takizawa. Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Kaneki is extremely skilled in close combat. With her four-tailed Kagune, she can easily match Yamori's attacks but soon overpowers them. This is also proven when Kaneki twists and breaks her own left leg after Yamori grabbed it to land a hard right knee strike from her right leg to knock him back. As Haise Sasaki, she was able to fight the entire Quinx squad with the exception of Urie at once during a sparring session, and later during a sparring session with Urie she proved to be heavily superior.

Swordsmanship: Using her quinque, Sasaki has been described to have movements as swift as water, being able slice through a ghoul's kagune and also use it efficiently with her own kagune. Yukimura 1/3: A B-rate koukaku quinque passed down from Arima to Sasaki, having a considerably long blade which can easily slice through objects. It was shown to be able to damage Seidou Takizawa despite him being an SS+ rate ghoul. Keen Intellect: When facing adversaries, Kaneki often used her intellect and careful planning to quickly and efficiently take out her foe. Kaneki comprehends Takatsuki's in-depth work, and also understands martial arts moves and styles just by reading about them in a book, to the point where she is able to implement them in her fights not long afterwards. Rinkaku Kagune: Kaneki's kagune is a red-violet color. Kaneki initially displayed her kagune in her fight against Nishiki Nishio, possessing three tails which repeatedly impaled Nishiki before throwing him, saving her and Hide while having little control over them. After her torture, Kaneki was able to produce four tentacles in her battle with Yamori, which were capable of pinning down and overwhelming an incomplete kakuja. During the raid on Kanou's lab, Kaneki's kagune further developed into six tentacles, albeit in an unstable mental state, and while she fought Kishou Arima, Kaneki was able to manifest eight tentacles which are able to be shaped into small hands, which have an enormous range and destructive force enough to damage V14's pillars. As Haise Sasaki, she is able to control and manipulate the shape of her kagune at will, and command the tentacles to process different tasks at once. She is also noted to have a better control over her kagune than natural-born ghouls. Rinkaku Kakuja: After constant cannibalization, Kaneki has developed into an incomplete kakuja. In this form, Kaneki was able to easily overwhelm Yukinori Shinohara, who wielded the Arata armor, and to fight on par with Koutarou Amon while the latter was armed with Arata proto, as well as fatally injure him by ripping his arm off. While using her kakuja, Kaneki goes into a mindless state, losing all aspects of her personality. Her fighting style becomes that of a berserker, fighting without any regards to personal injury. Kaneki's kakuja takes the form of two large tentacles resembling centipedes and a beak-like structure on her head. Ghouls are a species of mutants capable of feeding only on human flesh and sometimes practicing cannibalism by eating other ghouls. Ghouls are very similar to humans; their physical appearance and intellectual capabilities are virtually identical. Their diet, mentality, and internal biology differ. In rare cases and under certain conditions, ghouls and humans can procreate (ghoul with the ghoul). Ghoul organs can be transferred to a human, and in rare cases, a human can become a ghoul. A Quinx is a human or half-human with a restrained kakuhou installed in their body. Since Quinx are able to produce a kagune, they can potentially be mistaken for ghouls and one-eyed ghouls. The Commission of Counter Ghoul, usually abbreviated as C C G, was a federal agency in the Tokyo Ghoul series that serves as a criminal investigative body in cases connected to ghouls. The ghouls commonly call the ghoul investigators Doves. A quinque is a weapon manufactured from a ghoul's kakuhou used by CCG ghoul investigators. A kagune is a ghoul's predatory organ and functions as their weapon and claws. It is usually as red as blood, flexible like the flow of water, but firm and sturdy. When released, a ghoul's physique is strengthened, they are more resilient, and their mobility heightens. A kagune is composed of Rc cells, which flow just like blood, can become as solid as teeth and can be described as "liquid muscles." The Rc cells are released from a kakuhou piercing the skin, and the released Rc cells form the kagune. The kagune are voluntary muscles as ghouls can control them whenever they want and repeatedly harden and soften them at will. Kagune size depends on the Rc cells' quality and quantity while the shape depends on the creativity and intellect of the user. The kagune's appearance and the place of emergence on the body depend on the Rc type of the ghoul. There are four different Rc types: ukaku, koukaku, rinkaku, and bikaku. As a guideline, each type can characteristically subdue another type, although it may be different for two specific opponents. Each Rc type has a set of strengths and weaknesses, each one unique to its type. These are exploited by the CCG in the creation of the quinque and Q bullets.

Ukaku An ukaku kagune is spread out like feathers and is released from the shoulder area, it specializes in high speed attacks, most of the users seeming to have highly enhanced speed. The kagune is lightweight and can be used to deliver high-speed attacks against an adversary, the primary method of attack is crystallizing their kagune to deliver a high speed torrent of spike-like projectiles, however whilst crystallized they are much stiffer and cannot be used for short range combat; at least one ukaku-type can generate powerful lightning-like bolts, a possible rare ability. While the kagune is suited both for short-distance and long-distance attacks, short-range is considered their weakness. They may use their kagune as a shield and several are capable of shaping them into sharp blades reminiscent of a koukaku to aid in close quarters. Many ukaku-types are able to increase the flexibility of their kagune for short-range combat, though this makes it ill-suited for their distinctive long-range attacks. Altogether ukaku-type ghouls have a high chance of ending a battle quickly as releasing Rc cells depletes stamina. Thus, ukaku-type users lack endurance and are at a disadvantage if the battle drags on for a long time. Ukaku-type users can use their speed and mobility to shoot down bikaku-type users from afar. However, a koukaku-type user can suppress an ukaku-type user by successfully guarding against the ukaku-type user's attacks, leaving them vulnerable to counterattacks and exhausting the ukaku-type user in the long run. Koukaku A koukaku kagune is released below the shoulder blade. Due to its high density of Rc cells, it is heavy and extremely robust, giving it the greatest sturdiness and making them very well suited for defense. Normally, they are generally shaped into armors or shields, but on the offense, they can be shaped like melee weapons such as drills, hammers, blades, and swords. Due to its high weight, a koukaku's speed is inferior to all other Rc types and the kagune is difficult to wield.

A koukaku can fend off an ukaku onslaught using its guarding capabilities. However, a rinkaku kagune can deliver severe strikes against the slow koukaku, breaking their kagune and breaching their defenses. Rinkaku A rinkaku kagune has an appearance similar to scaled tentacles and is released at the back around the waist. A rinkaku wielder has powerful regenerative abilities and some could even survive the most critical of damage. Its peculiar appearance and structure yields superior striking power and they excel in brute strength. Some rinkaku users are able to manipulate the shape of their kagune, such as changing its usual tentacle form into swords or claws. This type's regenerative power is a result of the Rc cells easily binding together. Their Rc cells are similar to liquid. However, this means that the binding force among the Rc cells are weak, therefore making the kagune very soft and easy to break. But because their Rc cells bind so easily, some rinkaku can bind their multiple tentacle-like kagune together to make a larger, stronger kagune. So far the number of tentacles that rinkaku users can create are from one to eight tentacles.

A rinkaku kagune can deliver severe strikes against the slow koukaku, penetrating the kagune and breaching the koukaku's defenses. However, a rinkaku has serious problems fighting against the balanced bikaku kagune: A bikaku has comprehensively high power, allowing them to fight against the brute-force rinkaku, and the rinkaku kagune softness makes it comparatively easy for the bikaku to cut the kagune off. This disarms a rinkaku no matter how much strength it may possess, leaving the rinkaku at a disadvantage on the defensive. It has been shown that in some cases, a bikaku attack can disable a rinkaku's regeneration. Bikaku A bikaku kagune typically has a tail-like appearance and is released around the tail-bone/coccyx. It is good for medium-distance attacks and has decent offense, defense, and speed. Thus, they have no notable strengths or weaknesses like the kagune based on other Rc types, meaning the kagune itself is treated as a surprise "trump card." The number of tails a bikaku user can create is usually one, but some can create more. A bikaku has better speed and durability against the brute-force, breakable rinkaku, allowing them to cut off the rinkaku's kagune. However, a bikaku will be overwhelmed by the faster ukaku-user and will lose against the ukaku's long-range attacks.

The balanced characteristics makes the kagune a preferred quinque type for inexperienced investigators. A kakuhou is a sac-like organ that is only present in ghouls. The purpose of the kakuhou is to store Rc cells. The nutrition contained in the Rc cells are absorbed by the ghoul. These cells are transported to the kakuhou in the blood and stored inside.

The Rc cells can be released from the kakuhou piercing the skin either consciously or due to excitement. These released cells form the kagune. A damaged Kakuhou can not form a kagune until it has healed.

The kakuhou of a ghoul is used to build quinque.

Rc (Red Children) cells are certain cells that exist only in the story of Tokyo Ghoul. The origin of the name comes from how each individual cell looks like a curled up fetus. They exist in both humans and ghouls Rc cells flow like blood but can become as solid as teeth, and could be called "liquid muscles". Typically, a ghoul gains Rc cells by eating (human) flesh. The Rc cells are concentrated and stored in a sac-like organ called kakuhou that is only present in a ghoul’s body. When the kakuhou releases the Rc cells into Rc cell vessels, a kagune forms.

Kakuja is a kind of ghoul with a transformed kagune that clads the ghoul's body. Though it is rare, it can occur through repeated cannibalism. When a ward has a higher ghoul to human ratio, cannibalism is more common due to turf wars and limited food supply.

Sometimes, the transformation is incomplete, and such individuals are called half-kakujas.

It is said that through cannibalism, a ghoul absorbs Rc cells, and this increases the concentration of Rc cells within a ghoul's body. If the concentration becomes high enough, it may trigger a mutation and lead to the formation of a new kagune.

A kakuja can further evolve by continuing to cannibalize their kind. For instance, while the One-Eyed Owl had a human-shape and size before its disappearance, it eventually developed into a much larger and more monstrous form during the Owl Suppression Operation in the 20th ward.