Tokyo Ghoul Celebrates 10th Anniversary With Gory Interactive Exhibition

It's been a decade since the original Tokyo Ghoul anime aired and became a major hit. In celebration of this milestone, the "Tokyo Ghoul Exposition TV Anime 10th Anniversary" exhibition has opened for a limited time in Tokyo. Inside, fans can immerse themselves in the world of the anime with displays, key art, and several interactive pieces. Anime News Network was on hand to get a look at the exhibition during its grand opening.

The Tokyo Ghoul exhibition is split into four distinct sections. These sections take guests through all three seasons of Tokyo Ghoul and highlight the pivotal moments of the series. The displays at the Tokyo Ghoul exhibition include panels showing different scenes, interactive pieces, models, and set recreations.

The first two rooms of the exhibition are devoted to the first episode and cover it in relative detail. The first room is one of thematic irony. One side features Kaneki on a wonderful date with Rize Kamishiro, while the other side is gore-filled and bloody. The highlight of the first room is an interactive display where Kamishiro assaults you. It's a cool little opening that puts you in the mood to explore this thematically dark series.

Much like Ken Kaneki, we're left dealing with a new reality where ghouls and humans co-exist. There's a CRT TV playing the news interview with ghoul expert Hisashi Ogura. Astute fans will certainly remember his iconic line of ghouls having a different sense of taste than humans. Experiencing Kaneki's new reality, we see the events of the back half of the first episode play out with a room full of displays. But hidden among those displays is another interactive piece—one that mimics the scene where Kaneki sees Kamishiro in his bathroom mirror.

After reliving the first episode of Tokyo Ghoul, the exhibition takes us to a recreation of the café Anteiku. Featuring several tables, counter seating, replica books by Sen Takatsuki (Eto Yoshimura), and replicas of the café's uniforms. Much like in the series, the Anteiku recreation serves as a bit of respite from previous horror. Unfortunately, fans can't sit in any of the seats in the café.

One of the most memorable design elements from Tokyo Ghoul is the masks the ghouls wear to hide their identities. While the Tokyo Ghoul exhibition doesn't feature all the masks, it features replicas of Kaneki's, Touka Kirishima's, and Shu Tsukiyama's masks. Each is well crafted, and you get a real sense of weight, form, and fit when looking at the display manikins wearing them.

One of the most memorable characters from Tokyo Ghoul is undoubtedly Tsukiyama. With a fascination of Kaneki for being a human turned into a ghoul, we're treated to a summation of the events of the fourth to sixth episodes—including a rendition of Tsukishima's proclamations that he wants to eat Kaneki. The room featuring Tsukiyama is followed by the events of the back half of the series' first season revolving around Hinami Fueguchi. Both the Tsukiyama and Hinami gallery rooms are small, but they help fans relive those episodes of Tokyo Ghoul.

The first section of the Tokyo Ghoul exhibition concludes with three wonderful displays. The first is a replica of the torture chamber Kaneki finds himself in. The replica has a beautifully crafted torture chair, complete with blood stains, and several implements by it. It's a spine-chilling piece to look at.

Next to the replica torture chamber is an interactive gallery hall leading to a small immersion theater. Using projection mapping, the hall recreates the scene when Kaneki accepts he is a ghoul. Thus, we see the floor is covered with white spider lilies. But when you step into the area, those same spider lilies turn from white to red.

The final room of the section is an immersive theater. After donning noise-canceling headphones for crisp sound quality and sitting in rumbling seats, the climatic final battle of Tokyo Ghoul season 1 is projected on three walls. It's a fun experience and worth seeing at least twice.

While the theater experience is the highlight of the front half of the Tokyo Ghoul exhibition, there's still a bit more for fans of the series to explore. The final three areas of the exhibition follow seasons 2 and 3 of the anime series. The first features the Commission of Counter Ghoul's (CCG) attack on the Anteiku café. This section houses two incredible displays. The first is two of the weapons used during the battle. The second is a ruined wall with several monitors screening the battle.

The final two parts of the exhibition focused specifically on the final season. However, there is a beautiful divider between the CCG's attack on the Anteiku and this section. Using projection mapping again, Kaneki appears on a curtain with the text “I guess, it's something like my destiny” in Japanese. Behind the curtain is a broad introduction to the final arc of Tokyo Ghoul and a little surprise for fans: an interactive display shows you your CCG Quinx Squad power.

Beyond the Quinx Squad interactive display, the exhibition highlights the events of the final season of Tokyo Ghoul. With some videos and stills from the series, it's a fun way to relive the excitement of the climatic events of the story. But that's not all you have to look forward to, as almost every still shot also features the key art alongside it.

The Tokyo Ghoul exhibition concludes with an epilogue focusing on the final moments of Tokyo Ghoul: two original pieces of art by Tokyo Ghoul's creator Sui Ishida, popup stands of the major characters, and autograph boards from the cast and staff. It's a great close to the exhibition and shows the love for the franchise the creator and those who worked on it had and still have.

As with many anime exhibitions, the Tokyo Ghoul exhibition also has a small gift shop. While many items are shirts, pins, stickers, treats, and books, the exhibition gift shop has several unique and high-priced items. The most notable is a replica of Ken Kaneki's mask, a decorative display plate featuring Rize Kamishiro, traditional Japanese indigo-dyed kerchiefs, and glassware featuring color-changing spider lilies. So, there is something at the gift shop for fans of all budget ranges.

Following the grand opening of the Tokyo Ghoul exhibition, we attended a short opening ceremony event featuring Natsuki Hanae (voice of Ken Kaneki), Sora Amamiya (voice of Touka Kirishima), and comedian Yūsuke Inoue of the comedic duo NON STYLE. The three guests bantered a bit before the ceremony began in earnest, specifically noting Inoue was dressed as Tokyo Ghoul character Shu Tsukiyama.

Hanae, Amamiya, and Inoue were then asked about their favorite scenes from Tokyo Ghoul and their thoughts about the exhibition. Hanae selected the scene where Kaneki was tortured. Not because he liked the scene, but because it left an impression on him. He also noted Tokyo Ghoul was hard to voice record for due to the amount of screaming he did and that other series really don't compare to it in this way. He also reflected on how the series was both difficult and fun.

Amamiya didn't have a specific scene in mind but stated for the first episode that she was asked to use a deeper timber for her voice. As one of her first major roles, she reflected on how deep she could go wasn't that much. Because of this, Amamiya said she had to do multiple retakes to the point she was unsure if she could properly voice Kirishima. Thankfully, she was eventually able to find the right timber for the director.

When asked about the Tokyo Ghoul exhibition, Hanae, Amamiya, and Inoue raved about the viewing experience and noted the sound-dampening headphones and the shaking seats added to the whole experience. They also enjoyed the Anteiku replica. Amamiya was ecstatic about it, saying it's a great place to soothe your soul during the exhibition. Hanae made a little joke of this saying it was a good respite for Amamiya as she had the perfect reactions to the interactive displays. The final display piece the three enjoyed is Tsukiyama's proclamation of wanting to eat Kaneki. Hanae reminisced that Mamoru Miyano, Shu Tsukiyama's voice actor, held a kerchief to his nose while voicing one of the sections.

The opening ceremony ended with a celebratory breaking of a sake cask. Like ribbon cutting in the United States, this is a traditional way for Japanese people to celebrate a joyous occasion. The Tokyo Ghoul exhibition cask breaking did not disappoint. While a sake cask was used, it was modified to resemble a coffee cup (since coffee is the only “normal” food or beverage a ghoul can consume in the world of Tokyo Ghoul). While the breaking of a sake cask is generally followed by distributing sake to the guests, the one used for the opening ceremony was a prop and used more as a visual. Nonetheless, the cask breaking marked the official opening of the Tokyo Ghoul exhibition. (The full opening ceremony is available through the Cinema Today YouTube channel, though only in Japanese).

The "Tokyo Ghoul Exposition TV Anime 10th Anniversary" exhibition is a fun experience for fans of Tokyo Ghoul. The interactive nature of many of the pieces, especially in the beginning sections of the exhibition allows for some nostalgic moments as you explore each area in detail. The recreations of the Anteiku café, the room Kaneki is tortured in, the masks, and the weapons add that perfect bit of spice to the whole affair. If you're a fan of Tokyo Ghoul and have the opportunity, be sure to drop by.

The "Tokyo Ghoul Exposition TV Anime 10th Anniversary" exhibition will be running in Tokyo until December 1, 2024. It will then move to Osaka and run there from December 14, 2024, and December 29, 2024. Ticket information can be found on the exhibition's official site.