Tokyo Ghoul Filler Guide

Tokyo ghoul is a Japanese manga series created by Sui Ishida which is later on adapted to an anime series by Studio Pierrot. The anime series began airing on October 3, 2014. Tokyo ghoul mainly focuses on the protagonist called Kaneki Ken who is a college student that is also an avid reader of manga and novels.

Tokyo Ghoul Plot

Tokyo ghoul follows a boy named Kaneki Ken who is a shy, clumsy, and unsociable young man who is also a book worm. One day, Ken meets a girl named Rize Kamishiro at the Anteiku coffee shop where he works. He quickly falls in love with her despite the fact that she is already dating his coworker, Touka Kirishima.

A short while later, Ken learns that Rize is actually a ghoul who eats humans. Later on, Ken is also attacked by another ghoul called Ayato Kirishima who tries to eat him but fails due to being sick and vomiting blood. Kaneki wakes up in a hospital bed but has lost his sense of taste and smell (which are considered an advantage for ghouls). He then undergoes surgery where his organs are replaced by those of Rize Kamishiro’s.

After the surgery, Kaneki starts experiencing episodic mental breakdowns due to the amount of stress he goes through regarding the aftermath of being involved in an accident as well as trying to integrate into society as well as trying to cope with the fact that he has become half-ghoul/half-human. To make matters worse, he is also forced to hide his new identity from his best friend Hideyoshi Nagachika and his girlfriend Touka Kirishima.

How Much Filler is in Tokyo Ghoul?

The Tokyo Ghoul series has a remarkably low filler episode rate. There are a total of 24 episodes in the series, and no fillers.

Quick Filler & Canon Lists

Complete Filler List

List of filler episodes for Tokyo Ghoul in chronological order – Learn if it is worth watching

Episode 13 New surge

Episode 13 of Tokyo Ghoul is a filler episode. The only reason it exists is to introduce the reader to the fact that Kaneki does not know what is happening in the world after he lost his memory and why he feels his life has been dull. The episode should be called “The Dull Life of Kaneki Ken.”

Episode 13 of Tokyo Ghoul is a filler episode, but it does little more than just that. It introduces a new character without any backstory, and only questions about him are left behind for the audience to try and figure out on their own. As the first episode in over five months to be released with less than an hour, it fails in terms of its length, but still manages to get across its message illustrating how boring Kaneki Ken’s life has become with no excitement or anything else that keeps his heart pumping. Even when Anteiku finally gets raided by CCG, there was no real excitement or any sort of feeling that something big would happen because we all knew nothing was going to happen because if something did happen it would have been revealed at a later date as opposed to being told in such a small amount of time. There was also no real point to the episode, and overall I wouldn’t recommend watching it unless you have nothing else to do in your spare time.

Episode 13 is a filler episode, which means that it is an episode that is not required to watch for the plot. It does not provide any information that would be necessary for later episodes to exist. The only reason it was created was to give the audience a chance to get more information about Kaneki Ken. The episode starts by introducing Hideyoshi, who has been searching for someone all throughout the evening. He finally finds Kaneki at his favorite spot, and asks him why he hasn’t been showing up. Kaneki tells him that there was a big incident with Anteiku, and Hideyoshi is so surprised that he drops his bike and accidentally runs over the bike of another college student who complains about it to him later on. This scene first shows us how uneventful Kaneki’s life is since nothing interesting happens in his life at all, even when he tries to make some excitement arise in his life by going out with friends. Even when he does something exciting like go out with Hideyoshi, nothing exciting happens in his life even though he tries everything possible to make something happen, but still nothing happens in Kaneki’s dull life.

Episode 14 Dancing flowers

In the original manga, there is more than one chapter between the 11th Ward Battle and this episode. This episode focuses on Shinohara and Kuroiwa, two characters who were not seen in the first half of the anime. The meeting is skipped and only 3 people are shown in it: Yoshitoki Washuu, Kiyoko Aura and Mougan Tanakamaru.

It is explained that Kishou Arima was absent from this meeting (his absence from the series will be explained later). There are no mentions of Itsuki Marude or Koori Ui. Kishou Arima is not shown during the whole episode.

The investigation about “the ghoul with the eyepatch” was previously done by Kureo Mado, so this case has already been solved in the manga. As such, this plot development happens after his death and his division’s disbandment (episodes 17-18). Thus, Shinohara and his team are investigating Aogiri Tree instead of Owl (the Owl case will be introduced later). There are no mentions of Itsuki Marude or Mougan Tanakamaru during these investigations (Mougan Tanakamaru will be introduced later).

Yoshitoki Washuu is the one who gives the orders for Shinohara to investigate “the ghoul with the eyepatch”, so there’s no need to discuss about the CCG’s reinforcements. “Owl” is not mentioned at all.

No mention of Cochlea either, as this plot development happens after Cochlea was attacked by Gagi, Guge and Ruki (episode 17). Yoshitoki Washuu mentions he wants to call in reinforcements from all wards except for the 23rd Ward. This means there are only 11 wards left, instead of 13 as in the anime.

Episode 15 Hangman

Episode 15 is the first time we see the more playful and kind side of Ayato, which may be a development for him later on, but he still has his moments which make him seem like an unhinged psychopath.

The twins are introduced in this episode and give the viewer a great deal of insight into their characters. The twins are also the first ghoul in Tokyo Ghoul that we meet who was born a ghoul. This is where it becomes clear that the ghouls are more than just humans who have cannibalized and became stronger. Ghouls are a different species of human, with different physical abilities and tendencies. This is further revealed in the following episode, in which Nashiro barely even needed to move to kill two investigators.

This episode also gives hints about the hidden nature of Kaneki’s personality/inner conflict. The scene where he writes Yamori’s name on the floor with a black crayon suggests that Kaneki has been thinking about his ghoul side ever since his fight with Yamori, but it is only now reaching the surface after having been pushed down for so long. The scene where Kaneki rescues Naki from the truck fire also seems to be a hint at Kaneki’s feelings of guilt towards Yamori for what happened between them during their fight. While Naki is upset that Yamori died, blaming himself for his death, Kaneki takes time to calm him down and explain that it was his own feelings and not his actions which led to this result, something which he himself didn’t know until recently. The scenes involving Eto and Tatara are rather simple in this episode, as their characters don’t seem to be yet fully developed and their roles are still unclear. They do hint to a larger story going on, but the anime is still holding back information on both of them for now.

This episode is a filler episode because it is a stand-alone side story that doesn’t contribute much to the main plot. It is also a filler episode because it shows what happened to the truck from Yamori’s group, which was the subject of investigation in previous episodes. The anime needed an episode to resolve this case and provide closure for the viewers, which is why they created a filler episode for it.

Episode 16 Deepest layers

Episode 16 is a side story in the series that focuses upon the two investigators, Koutarou Amon and Akira Mado. Their backstory is explored through a flashback sequence where we see their lives at an orphanage, along with another orphan named Noro. The orphanage is run by Donato Porpora, who Amon and Noro refer to as “Papa”. Donato is able to manipulate Amon into thinking he cares for him by convincing him that Noro has no one else who can care for him but Amon. When Amon sees Donato dismembering a corpse, he realizes that all of Donato’s actions were just an act so he could use both of the orphans to his benefit.

Meanwhile, Kaneki and Tatara are on their mission against the CCG in Cochlea. They are able to kill many people before being found out in their location by Kurona and her sister Nashiro. Kaneki tries to convince them to back down from the fight despite having nothing personal against them, but Tatara goes on a rampage against them instead.

The episode ends with Kaneki and Tatara fighting each other while Kurona notices the appearance of Amatsu.

This episode is a filler because it does not progress the main plot. It is meant to show how Kaneki and other characters came to be the way they are now in the series.

The episode also gives Kaneki and Amon more depth as characters by exploring their pasts. Koutarou has an interesting background story as a child, growing up in an orphanage run by a ghoul, who tricked him into thinking that he cared about him when he really didn’t. Koutarou wears a crucifix, which he wears because his past at the orphanage still haunts him to this day. Kaneki’s character has more of his backstory explored in this episode, where it is revealed that his parents were killed when CCG made their move on Aogiri Tree’s headquarters. He had to watch as Tatara and Noro slaughtered all of them in front of him before Tatara took Kaneki and escaped with him during the attack.

Kurona and Nashiro are also given more backstory by explaining why they decided to go after Kaneki. They were working for Aogiri Tree until they heard about their plans for joining forces with humans, which they believe would be a betrayal against ghouls everywhere. When Kaneki decided to try and reason with them instead of fighting, they decided that they could not allow them to live for betraying ghouls.

Episode 17 Rift

Episode 17 is a filler episode. It is used to fill in the blanks that are between the events of the main anime series and the upcoming second season. The episode takes place sometime after the first season and before season two.

The episode begins with Kurona, Nashiro, and Shizuku visiting a grave for Shizuku’s mother. They have all known each other since childhood because they all attended the same Academy. The three of them discuss their futures and Kurona states that her goal is to become a ghoul investigator. Shizuku states that she would like to be an investigator as well but she feels like it is something out of reach for her because she has no mentor or powerful connections in the CCG. Nashiro does not have any goals at all except to stay by her sister’s side until they die together in battle with ghouls.

After leaving Shizuku’s grave Kurona and Nashiro see Juuzou Suzuya walking down the street, who was also part of their Academy class, and start to talk about him when they notice his lack of interest in anything around him. When they call out to him he ignores them until Kurona attempts to touch his shoulder for attention which he slaps away. Kurona and Nashiro confront him about his attitude and he tells them that he only cares about ghouls and because Shizuku died he does not care about her. He then walks away from the two girls and heads towards a group of ants that he is slicing apart with his quinque 13’s Jason.

This episode is a filler because it does not contribute to the main storyline of the show. It is used to fill in the blanks between seasons or story arcs.

Juuzou Suzuya is a character that has been introduced in season one of “Tokyo Ghoul” but has not had a major role until season two began. He is a ghoul investigator and his quinque 13’s Jason is his strongest weapon. Juuzou has a habit of killing without mercy or restraint, even among his fellow investigators. It has been stated that he only cares about fighting ghouls. He does not have much respect for humans and sees them as easy prey and nothing more than food for ghouls. Juuzou Suzuya’s backstory is shown in episode 17 where he was first introduced as a child who would not cry because he was afraid of being eaten by ghouls who would be able to smell his tears.