TOKYO GHOUL: CONTEXTUALIZING SOCIAL POLLUTION THROUGH IDENTITY

Abstract

This thesis examines the concept of social pollution within Sui Ishida’s manga series Tokyo Ghoul, investigating how the narrative critiques societal anxieties surrounding purity, identity, and exclusion in a Japanese cultural context. Social pollution is defined as the perceived contamination of normative social structures, which is explored through themes of ethnonationalism, xenophobia, class, and gender identity. By employing a close reading of the full Tokyo Ghoul and Tokyo Ghoul:re series in their English translations, this research contextualizes the portrayal of ghouls and marginalized identities in relation to real world Japanese constructs. This includes ideas of Nihonjinron, the historical discrimination of Burakumin, and expectations of gender conformity. Through this analysis, the thesis argues that ghouls serve as metaphorical representations of those socially excluded, revealing the persistent societal tension between inclusion and the fear of the “other.”