Previously, it was four days. For Choujin X Chapter 7, it’s five. Five days for Viz to release a translation. You’re supposed to go in the opposite direction Viz, and not increase the time gap. Oh what the hell, I’m guessing it’ll take them 6 days to translate Chapter 8.

Speaking of time predictions, this chapter (raw) dropped on 21st August. Three days earlier than I expected. And it was longer than the previous one. The next chapter will focus on the lore more than action so, I think it’ll have the same number of pages as Chapter 7. I’m guessing… September 5th. Yes, Chapter 8 will come somewhere around September 5th. Fingers crossed.

Coming back to our main topic, Chapter 6 introduced us to a new transformation – full Beastification. The snake Choujin and beauty incarnate, Nari, literally toyed with cuteness incarnate, Ely, tossing her up and down. With no other option, Ely told inferiority complexion incarnate, Tokio, to make a break for it.

Getting inspired by the buzzard flying above him, Tokio decided to not be a coward and unleash his own full beautification mode.

Now the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Will Tokio change for good? How will the duo escape the clutches of the venomous superhuman? Read on as I review the latest chapter of Tokyo Ghoul’s sister series – Analyzing Choujin X Chapter 7!

Enter Vulture Choujin – Tokio Zaven Kurohara

The chapter begins with Tokio as he embraces the nature of a vulture and its features. If you look closely at the first page, Tokio’s body is getting re-created of sorts. And some glass pieces are falling from the sky. On the left, there’s a glass piece that is cracked.

This is an interesting aspect to ponder. It probably signifies Tokio shattering his earlier persona (inferiority complex) and re-creating himself from scratch. Kinda like what Vegeta is going through in the recent chapters of Dragon Ball Super (If you’re up to date with that Manga, check this link out for more details). But since the glass is only partially shattered, it could imply that Tokio hasn’t re-created himself completely. He still has a long way to go, but it’s is a start.

“One non-stop trip to hell, coming right up!” Damn, this was something I never expected Tokio would say. To straight up attempting to kill someone. Wow, what a jump. Tokio has finally done it! He’s moved on from his inferiority complex. He is not a chicken anymore. He-

Sigh. Why? Why can’t you move on Tokio? How many times will you keep on running? Be a man bruh. Be a man. Even the Loli girl has more balls than you. She prefers to fight than run. And here I was expecting a considerable change after that line. Oh well, post-training arc I suppose…

Speaking of Tokio’s vulture form, its mask resembles the character below from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

It seems Ishida is a fan of Eva as well. That was a pleasant surprise. He really liked Rei a lot. Enough to draw her so damn sexy.

This form in Choujin X Chapter 7 looks slightly different from the one in Chapter 1. He retained his hair in that form. Now he’s totally bald. There’s an increase in the resemblance to a buzzard.

Anyways, as expected, Tokio feels lighter and can fly… to some extent. He’s still getting used to this new form. But no matter how fast he runs or flies, Nari is already behind them. Her snake body is too big to escape from.

Choujin X Chapter 7 mentions the story of the three arrows

Looking for another way out, Ely sees no other choice but to fight. Then out of nowhere, Tokio brings the story about the three arrows. I thought it was weird. But I couldn’t get it out of my head because; knowing Ishida, there’d be a hidden meaning behind it. He won’t just randomly insert that detail without a purpose. I continued reading and saw this.

These are the flags of Yamato Mori, the private organization of nurturing good Choujins. Thanks to Reddit user u/Nietzsche_esque, I was able to get more clues on the whole thing.

According to his findings, one version of the story goes like this:

The name of the organization is Yamato ‘Mori’. The meaning of the word “Mori” is forest. And there’s a big plant in the place where Tokio is asleep. There’s definitely some connection between the organization and the story. Perhaps a backstory is coming up soon… (My guess is Yamato Mori was originally in a forest but was later shifted to its current location).

Regarding the three arrows, it can mean two things:

• Yamato Mori works with two other organizations to nurture and protect good Choujins and capture the bad ones.

• The philosophy of Yamato Mori is – three people as a team can do a better job than a single person (three arrows are stronger than one). It could foreshadow Tokio teaming up with two other people as part of the organization. My candidates for the other two people are Ely, the swords guy and Azuma. I strongly believe Ely will partner up with Tokio. The third person could be the other two or a completely unknown character.

The vulture mask broke!

Tokio comes up with a brilliant idea of burning Nari from the inside using Ely’s high-temperature smoke. The plan is, the Junpei look-alike gets closer to Nari’s face while Ely positions herself.

Before he starts running, Tokio brings up the test. He doesn’t know what it was for but the line “how about you give me my scooore!” is so damn good. The vulture form really improved his one-liners, for better or worse.

To recall, a mysterious man who resembles Furuta appointed Nari to capture and bring Tokio to him. The test was to see whether he’s worthy. I think Chandra Hume tested Ely probably for the same reason. I compared Tokio’s and Ely’s qualities in my Chapter 5 review article and their test results so do check it out.

By jumping all over the place, he slowly makes his way towards the snake Choujin’s mouth and opened it wide. Ely tries to unleash the smoke but nothing happens.

As I mentioned in my Chapter 3 review article, beginner Choujins require a trigger to activate their powers. Ely was able to do that when she pierced herself with a knife to save the goat-masked bikers. Now she has nothing to trigger herself. Training is required to make a Choujin release their powers at will. I reckon it’s a not-so-easy task.

As Ely raises her hand, that’s when it happened. Tokio’s vulture-like mask shattered into pieces. Now, I’m not entirely sure what caused it. Maybe he couldn’t stay in that form for long. It may have a time limit. And just like most stories, a crucial power-up wears off at a critical moment to increase tension.

But the good news is, he can now go to a convenience store or school without the need of covering his beak. He can eat properly too I suppose. So there’s some light amongst the darkness.

Ely tries to release the smoke from the hand, but it’s no use. Tokio’s about to be crushed by Nari’s rock-hard teeth. Things were about to get worse for our heroes when a member of Yamato Mori arrives to save the day.

A mysterious sword guy saves our heroes

We don’t yet know what his name is. However, based on his words, we can deduce that he is a member of the organization’s upper echelons. He appears to be aware of Nari’s identity, and he intends to coerce vital information from her. The identity of the person who hired her for instance.

Regarding his powers, he seems to be in control of his Choujin powers. He doesn’t need a transformation to activate them. Not a beast Choujin, that’s for sure. Something new comes up every chapter huh.

The move he used to defeat Nari is called “Heaven set”. Not gonna lie, I prefer the fan-translated name – “Heavenly installment”. Anyway, to activate that power, he places two fingers on a sticker or a tattoo on his wrist and spells out the location where he wants to strike his target with a ginormous sword. What’s more, he can duplicate them.

The technique might be a reference to the legendary Japanese sword and one of three Imperial Regalia of Japan called the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. The sword’s original name was “Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi” meaning “Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds” but later changed to the current name which means “Grass-Cutting Sword”.

The God Susanoo wielded this sword to slay the eight-headed serpent demon Yamata no Orochi. Hmm… seems like a connection. If Ishida actually confirms to use this as a reference in upcoming chapters, I’ll elaborate on this then.

Pierced Viscera means to pierce the viscera which, according to anatomy, is the large internal organs of the body collectively, especially those in the abdominal cavity. This resulted in the de-fusion of the snakes which Nari used to enlarge her body, reverting to her normal human form. Poor Nari is now injured on the floor, her face bleeding. Nari simps will be very sad.

According to Prefecture Statutes, Choujins are required to be registered in order to use their powers in full. Nari is an illegal Choujin in that sense. So is Tokio. But he didn’t know. And was using it for self-defense. Funnily enough, he mistakes Tokio’s name for Zaven Kurohara.

That’s because Japanese people would pronounce the word “the” as “ze”. So when Tokio said “my first name is the ven…” and he fell down flat, not completing his sentence, he was referring to the poison that infected him. The sword guy heard “the ven” as “ze ven” which became “Zaven”.

The sword guy calls for a helicopter to pick them up and they all proceed towards Yamato Mori. His attitude kinda reminds me of Kurapika from Hunter X Hunter. I’m more than in for it if Ishida writes a Kurapika-like character.

Tokio meets Hoshi Sandaq

I guess Tokio faces what we all do – the fear of being late for school/college/work. It becomes part of our subconscious after we’ve been shoved into the system.

He looks around with a perplexed expression. Then comes the man we’ve been waiting for since Chapter 2 – Hoshi Sandaq aka personification of Ely’s ideal hubby. Or at least looks like one.

Hoshi gave him a serum to cure the effects of poison. So he’s out of danger. But his arm’s wrapped with bandages so he needs rest. And plenty of it. Considering what and all he’s been through lately, I won’t be surprised if he takes a nap for an entire week.

Sandaq reveals his position at the organization. I reckon he’d be the main mentor or the key teacher of Tokio and Ely.

These scenarios remind me of Tokyo Ghoul a lot. Kaneki waking up at Anteiku after the fight with Nishiki, Kuzen offering him some coffee. Touka, after saving him from Nishiki, training the lad to defend himself. Basically teaching him how to live a life of a Ghoul. A similar set of situations might happen to our main character of Choujin X too.

The sword guy might be assigned as Tokio’s instructor, while being supervised by Sandaq. I think that guy might initially be harsh with Tokio, just like how Touka was with Kaneki.

There are indeed many parallels between Choujin X and Tokyo Ghoul but, I’d like to see Ishida taking a different approach. Tokio might not be as serious of a guy like Kaneki, but the roads they take are similar. Let’s see how this new chapter of Tokio’s life leads him too.

Final Thoughts

All in all, Choujin X Chapter 7 was really well laid out. It paved the way for the story to access the world-building it needs. Now it’s up to Tokio on how he wants to live his life from here.

I didn’t quite find the artwork neat and tidy this time around. I observed some scribbles and patches here and there but Ishida knows how to portray strong emotions in his work and that was the case in this Chapter. Tokio calling out to Azuma while transforming and the shattering of glass conveyed just what the Bestial Choujin was going through, both mentally and physically.

The symbolism in this chapter was just brilliant. Can’t wait to see how Ishida proceeds from here.

This marks the beginning of a new arc so to speak, if we’re keeping in mind how Tokyo Ghoul played out. A training arc featuring Tokio and Ely. They will learn how to embrace their Choujin abilities and use them for the good of society. I’m waiting to see how Azuma will come back into the picture. Will he be reduced as a side character or will he opposing Tokio in some form or the other?

Choujin X keeps the readers on their toes and I hope it continues to be that way.

So what do you think of Choujin X Chapter 7? Let me know in the comments below!