Kamishiro Rize

Overview

Kamishiro Rize is a central character in Tokyo Ghoul whose fateful encounter with protagonist Ken Kaneki initiates the story's overarching events. Outwardly posing as a refined, book-loving patron of the Anteiku cafe, she is actually an exceptionally dangerous SS-rated Ghoul notorious among both humans and her own kind as the Glutton. After attempting to prey on Ken Kaneki, she is crushed in a staged construction accident. Her harvested organs are subsequently transplanted into Kaneki, transforming him into a half-Ghoul. Throughout the narrative, her residual phantom presence hauntingly shapes Kaneki's psychological transformation and acceptance of his Ghoul nature.

Appearance

Kamishiro Rize is a tall woman with long purple hair and matching purple eyes. She wears red-framed under-rim glasses that accentuate her intelligent facade. Her wardrobe consists of feminine garments such as elegant dresses, high heels, and ribbon decorations, giving her an alluring and sophisticated appearance.

Personality

On the surface, Kamishiro Rize maintains a polite, intellectual, and modest demeanor, using her passion for literature to charm potential prey. Beneath this facade lies a deeply cruel, selfish, and hedonistic nature. She views Ghouls as superior predators entitled to harvest humans at will, completely ignoring Ghoul territorial boundaries and rules out of pure impulse. Her ravenous appetite stems from childhood trauma involving confinement and starvation. She holds a cold philosophy that attributes all misfortune and disadvantage in the world to an individual's lack of capability.

Abilities

Classified as an SS-rated Ghoul, Kamishiro Rize possesses extraordinary physical strength and powerful combat capabilities that strike fear into other Ghouls. Her Kagune is of the Rinkaku type, manifesting as powerful tentacles capable of devastating attacks. The quality and potency of her Kakuhou are exceptionally high, making her organs the primary donor material for creating artificial half-Ghouls like Ken Kaneki and Nimura Furuta, as well as serving as the ultimate core for the Ghoul virus organism known as Dragon.

Background

Born into the influential Washuu clan as a womb destined for breeding, Kamishiro Rize escaped her predefined fate with the assistance of her childhood friend, Nimura Furuta. She was subsequently fostered by Kamishiro Matasaka, known as Shachi, taking his surname before abandoning him to indulge her uninhibited hunting habits. Her rampage came to a halt when Furuta engineered a steel beam accident during her attempt to consume Ken Kaneki. Kept alive in an underground laboratory by Dr. Kanou to breed artificial half-Ghouls, she was later rescued by Yomo Renji. Ultimately, Furuta utilized her to anchor the monstrous organism Dragon, leading to a tragic final conflict where Ken Kaneki defeated her to end the disaster.

Relationships

Her relation to Ken Kaneki begins as predator and prey, but after her Kakuhou is transplanted into him, her phantom presence deeply influences his transformation, culminating in Kaneki ending her life. Nimura Furuta was her childhood friend who helped her escape the Washuu clan; his obsessive attachment later drove him to orchestrate her accident and use her body for his schemes. Kamishiro Matasaka acted as her foster father and provided her surname. Additionally, Dr. Kanou exploited her as an organ donor, Yomo Renji harbored her under restraint to prevent violence, and Banjou Kazuichi held an unrequited admiration for her.

Trivia

In the asymmetric multiplayer horror game Dead by Daylight, where Ken Kaneki was added as a playable Killer, Kamishiro Rize features as a legendary skin that alters Kaneki's appearance and changes his voice lines to a female voice. Additionally, her surname Kamishiro was taken directly from her foster father, the Ghoul known as Shachi.