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M&C! Licenses Tokyo Ghoul Novels

Indonesian publisher M&C! announced on Friday that it has licensed Shin Towasa's Tokyo Ghoul novels. M&C! did not provide a release date for the novels, but it says the novels are arriving "soon 2018." The novels are based on Sui Ishida's Tokyo Ghoul manga, and tell stories not in the original manga.

The first novel, Tokyo Ghoul [Hibi] (Tokyo Ghoul: Days), shipped in 2013. Tokyo Ghoul [Kūhaku] (Tokyo Ghoul: Void) and Tokyo Ghoul [Sekijitsu] (Tokyo Ghoul: Past), the second and third novels, shipped in 2014. Towasa released the latest novel, Tokyo Ghoul:re [quest], last December. Tokyo Ghoul:re [quest] is the first of the novels to take place in the timeline of the Tokyo Ghoul:re manga.

The Tokyo Ghoul urban fantasy/horror story is set in Tokyo, which is haunted by mysterious "ghouls" who are devouring humans. People are gripped by the fear of these ghouls whose identities are masked in mystery. An ordinary college student named Kaneki encounters Rize, a girl who is an avid reader like him, at the café he frequents. Rize later reveals that she is a ghoul and attempts to kill and devour Kaneki, but fails. Kaneki, waking up in critical condition in the hospital, finds that he is now half-ghoul, and begins to live a double life as a normal college student, all the while trying to suppress his cannibalistic ghoul instincts.

Ishida launched the manga in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump magazine in September 2011, and ended it in September 2014. Shueisha published 14 compiled book volumes for the series. M&C! is publishing the manga in Indonesia, and it shipped the seventh volume on Wednesday. Tokyo Ghoul inspired two anime series, several original video anime projects, PlayStation Vita and smartphone games, and two stage plays.

A live-action film adaptation premiered on July 3 at Anime Expo in Los Angeles, and on July 10 at the Marunouchi Piccadilly theater in Chiyoda, Japan before its wide theatrical release in Japan on July 29. The film opened in Indonesia on September 13.

Ishida launched the Tokyo Ghoul:re sequel manga in October 2014 in Weekly Young Jump. Shueisha published the 13th volume on October 19. The manga is inspiring a new television anime in 2018.