Summary

• Choujin X remains low-key compared to Tokyo Ghoul despite Ishida's masterpiece potential.
• Despite potential cancellation fears, Choujin X has crossed 50 chapters with a regular schedule.
• Ishida's low-key approach allows him to create Choujin X on his terms, focusing on personal satisfaction.

Widely considered one of the best manga of all time, Tokyo Ghoul made its author a household name among manga and anime fans. However, since its conclusion in 2014, and the end of its anime adaptation in 2018, author Sui Ishida has not taken much time off. Indeed, over the last few years, Ishida has been focusing on his second manga, Choujin X, a psychological superhero story that, much like Tokyo Ghoul, is showing promise as a groundbreaking masterpiece.

Debuting in 2021, Ishida's Choujin X follows high school students Tokio Kurohara and Azuma Higashi. The best of friends since they were young, they are exact opposites personality-wise. Tokio is quiet, submissive, and always unsure of himself. Conversely, Azuma is calm, collected, and extremely confident in himself.

Their lives and relationships are changed forever when they are nearly killed by a choujin - a super-powered human. Barely escaping with their lives, the two are able to recover a sample of the drug the choujin who attacked them used to give himself superpowers. Worried about further attacks, the two decide to use the drug and become choujin themselves. When Tokio's powers activate unexpectedly before Azuma's, events take an unexpected turn, revealing that being a choujin is not as glamorous, and much more dangerous, than they thought.

Choujin X Remains Outside of the Spotlight

Despite Its Quality, the Series Is not as Famous as Tokyo Ghoul

Choujin X started without the fanfare expected for a mangaka of Ishida's stature. Some of its lack of notice was due to Ishida's irregular chapter updates. Indeed, in a May 2021 post to @sotonami - his X account, Ishida announced that he would be updating chapters, "at my own pace". Another aspect was that fans were expecting more of the same that they'd seen and became entrusted to in Tokyo Ghoul. However, while Tokyo Ghoul was a psychological/horror tale, Choujin X is more of a superhero tale with supernatural elements.

The series' lack of attention has been a cause of concern with some of Ishida's fandom - there are more than a few subreddit threads and other social media postings discussing fans' fear that the series will be canceled for lack of support. However, rumors of its impending demise have been exaggerated. As of May 2024, it's already surpassed 50 chapters, and since June 2023, it's settled into a regular publication schedule with at least two chapters dropping each month, except for October 2023, when only one chapter was published.

Ishida Is Creating Choujin X Under His Own Terms

The Author Is Setting a Precedent for the industry

What the lack of attention has given Ishida is the chance to focus on Choujin X without the push and pull of the spotlight, and to quietly and purposefully transform the story in his mind into the content that he is truly satisfied with and wants the public to enjoy. As Ishida admitted in a 2023 interview with the German-based manga fan community network Manga Passion:

Lately I've been getting up in the afternoon or evening and drawing for probably about ten hours ... When I want to make quick progress or really submit a manuscript, I draw for twenty to thirty hours at a time ... If I take it a little slower or am not in a hurry, I only draw for about five hours.

In the same interview, Ishida reveals that he doesn't consider Tokyo Ghoul a success. Under his analysis, a successful manga is one where he feels he's done well, or when, "I can praise myself for it", regardless of whether it is a commercial or popular success.

According to this logic, as long as he keeps producing content he is personally satisfied with, Choujin X is and will continue to be the more successful of the two works. He's not wrong, however - Choujin X is a solid manga that retains all the elements that made Tokyo Ghoul memorable. There's the dark Gothic ambiance, the symbolism, the emotional and expressive characters, and the psychological heft. What sets Choujin X apart, however, is the underlying story. It's safe to say that Chouin X redefines the superhero manga genre into an elegant yet grotesque exploration of what it means to have great powers and great responsibilities.

While it's a bit unfortunate that Ishida and Shōnen Jump+ are not doing more to promote the series, the quality of the body of work speaks for itself. That is, whether sooner or later, Choujin X should get the recognition it deserves. Regardless of whether Choujin X is as popular and successful as Tokyo Ghoul, Ishida can at least take personal satisfaction in having achieved his desire to produce a manga "his way", against all expectations and obstacles.

Choujin X is now available on Manga Plus and from Viz Media.

Source:@sotonami, Manga Passion