Meet Suzuya and Ken from Tokyo Ghoul

Suzuya and Ken Kaneki from the manga Tokyo Ghoul. © J. Ashley Nixon

All Dressed Up: Portraits of Cosplayers

This article is an excerpt from my new publication All Dressed Up: Portraits of Cosplayers. With 97 photographs, the book explores the character within characters; stories from people performing their own versions of other people they have a passion for.

Suzuya and Ken

Tokyo Ghoul originated as a Japanese manga publication in 2011 and later became an anime television series and live-action film. On the left is Suzuya, an androgynous character recognized by the crosses stitched below his/her right eye, bottom lip, neck and arms, as well as the red hairpins shaped like the Roman numeral XIII to hold back his/her white hair.

On the right is Ken Kaneki (later known as Eyepatch), the main protagonist in the Tokyo Ghoul stories. He is wearing an Anteiku waiter uniform and has a medical eye patch over his left eye to protect his kakugan, or red ghoul’s eye, which he is still learning to control. The three-fingered gesture displays Kaneki’s nervous habit of cracking his knuckles (maybe even dislocating his own fingers) which relates back to a time when he was tortured by a character called Yamori.

View or purchase All Dressed Up: Portraits of Cosplayers

You can view (virtual flip page) and/or purchase a print copy or Instant PDF version (viewable on any device) of All Dressed Up: Portraits of Cosplayers via this link.

Copies are also available for purchase at The Camera Store, Calgary.