Tokyo Ghoul Volume 14 (review)

By: EyeSpyeAlex The final showdown is here! The Ghouls face off against the CCG in an all out war. Heading into this volume I was excited and anxious to see how it would all end. I'll take you through the battlefield of the manga and my feelings in this review! Didn't get a chance to read Volume 13? Catch up with my review here!Amon and Kaneki prepare for their final battle. The two prove to be formidable rivals, and evenly matched. However, once Amon upgrades to a kakuja quinque, Kaneki has to step up host game. Kaneki ends the fight by disarming Amon, literally. Amon manages to get a good hit on Kaneki as well, tearing open his side.Fleeing with his wounds, Kaneki heads underground to the sewer. There, he runs into Hide. Hide admits he has known all along who and what Kaneki was. Kaneki passes out, regaining consciousness later, healed and unsure if Hide was there or an illusion.He trudges onward and runs into The Reaper, who is standing among a fresh pile of corpses. The Reaper attacks Kaneki, taking out his Ghoul eye. He continues his ruthless assault on Kaneki, mortally wounding him. As Kaneki lays there dying, his life flashes before his eyes. He realizes that he lived for himself under the guise of doing things for others. Confronted with this knowledge, he faces a younger version of himself. He apologizes for the way he lived, and embraces and finally accepts himself.Things aren't faring too much better on the CCG front. While they are able to kill low level Ghouls, they are no match for Mr. Yoshimura. He makes quick work of Juzo by cutting off one of his legs. With no other Ghoul back up, Mr. Yoshimura is soon overwhelmed and falls. Before the CCG can celebrate, the other Owl appears and takes out Shinohara.Things look even more grim for the CCG when the leader of the Aogiri shows up to enter the fray. Takizawa prepares to fight him, and loses an arm. Proving that it is always darkest just before dawn, The Reaper appears to face the Owl. The two battle before the Owl eats Mr. Yoshimura and flees. In a safer location, Mr. Yoshimura is spat up and is face to face with his daughter, Eto.After the battle ends, both sides are left with casualties. The Ghouls had a near 99% extinction rate, with Kaneki named erased. On the CCG side Shinohara is in a coma with suspected brain damage. Amon has been confirmed dead, but curiously his body is missing. It seems that Doctor Kanou raided the supposed dead for his research. Mr. Yoshimura also appears to be among the victims.Despite all of the despair, hope still exists for our remaining characters. Anteiku has been demolished, but Touka holds out hope that he is still out there. On the other side of things, Mado seems upbeat about her promotion to rank one investigator. Her new partner and shows up while she's there. An investigator known as Haise Sasaki: a reborn Ken Kaneki.The good news with this ending, is that there is a sequel already in the works. Tokyo Ghoul:re is being released by Viz Media on October 17th, 2017. With that being said, I can accept the ending of this arc. I am completely hooked on this series, and this ending left a lot of things open for resolution. How did Kaneki survive? Where is Hide? What will happen to those in Dr. Kanou’s clutches? I am definitely anticipating the second arc to find out!Tokyo Ghoul has been quite the ride so far, and I'm happy that it's arc will be continuing. This manga has had an interesting and unique plot, beautiful art, and deep characters. The struggle Kaneki has with accepting himself is something I haven't seen since Interview with the Vampire. It is a work that empathizes all of its characters, and blurs the line between hero and villain.Tokyo Ghoul Volume 14 is currently available in stores and can be read here on Viz’s website. Those looking for pre-order information for Tokyo Ghoul:re can find it here.[yasr_multiset setid=7]Note: VIZ Media provided us with a digital copy of this manga in exchange for our honest review.