Ken Kaneki/Haise Sasaki (Tokyo Ghoul)

"'If, lets say, you were to write a story with me as the main character, it would certainly be a tragedy. No. Everyone’s the same, in fact. He’s the main character of his novel, and she’s the main character of her movie. All those that walk this earth are the main characters of their own tragedies. All steal, and from all, something is stolen. We can’t help it. That’s who we are. Steal, and be stolen. Imprison, and be imprisoned. Follow, and be followed. Do, and be done. Affirm and negate over and over. We fight ceaselessly to save ourselves from loss. And yet the people and places we love will one day surely be lost. We will all surely be forgotten. Life is sad. Empty. But, despite knowing we will one day be bereft, despite knowing we will one day disappear, we still strive in wretched ways. We still wish to be beautiful. And I consider. “Which one?” I choose. “This one.” Forever choosing, forever being chosen. Nothing more. Nothing less.'" "- Ken Kaneki"

Ken Kaneki is the main protagonist of the dark manga series Tokyo Ghoul, and its sequel, Tokyo Ghoul:re. He is currently the husband of Touka Kirishima, the father of Ichika Kaneki, and the best friend of Hide Nagachika. Previously, he was a student who studied Japanese literature at Kamii University, living a relatively normal life. However, this quickly changed after Rize Kamishiro's kakuhou was transplanted into him and transformed him into a one-eyed ghoul. Kaneki is the first known artificial one-eyed ghoul. His unique half ghoul state is what later inspires the idea of the Quinx. After joining Anteiku as a part-time waiter, he learns how to live as a ghoul and eventually becomes known as Eyepatch (眼帯, Gantai).

Why He Rocks

 * 1) His personality changes after being haunted and traumatized. Kaneki's mental state undergoes extreme changes over the course of the series. Before his torture, Kaneki would at times refer to his actions as "we" or "us," albeit mostly while in a stressed state:
 * 2) * Human Kaneki: A shy college student who just want to read books.
 * 3) * White hair Kaneki: After being tortured by the infamous Jason, he accepts his ghoul side and became cold hearted.
 * 4) * Haise Sasaki: Suffering from amnesia, he is working with the enemy of ghouls. Haise may have his dorky side, but he is actually a reliable mentor. While funny, yet he is haunted by his former self.
 * 5) * Black Reaper: After regaining his memories, in sharp contrast to his previously gentle personality, Sasaki became colder and much more violent. He fought with more brutal force and was willing to put Tsukiyama's life at risk, despite already remembering his old acquaintance.
 * 6) * One Eyed King: He gained a new personality where he will stay alive to protect his friends and loved ones. He needs to be king in order to make peace between humans and ghouls.
 * 7) * Post Dragon: Although not much of a personality change, however, Kaneki realizes his mistakes and search for his redemption.
 * 8) Both Natsuki Hanae (Japanese) and Austin Tindle (English) did an amazing performance voicing him.
 * 9) His character design may start out simple at first, based from his human state, but it it gets better as story progresses. Going from having white hair and monochrome clothing from Jason's torture, black hair, glasses and trench coat as the Black Reaper, then back to white hair, and dragon marks on the eyes.
 * 10) He doesn't hesitate to help anyone whenever they are hurt. For example, Nishiki being beaten up by one of the thieves, he helps him. Despite the fact that both Kaneki and Hide were treated harshly by Nishiki.
 * 11) He gets accepted by people who share a similar backstory with him. Including his own enemies, Kishou Arima and Eto Yoshimura. Which is why he is much stronger than before.
 * 12) The way Kaneki lived through with his upside down life painfully, is how he accepted his tragedy. Making viewers sympathize and feel along with him.
 * 13) * During his final confrontation with Rize, Kaneki reflects on his life. He recognizes that everyone is their own protagonist, and that his tragedy doesn't make him anymore special than anyone else. He knows that the world is a harsh and unforgiving place, but despite it all, people will still strive to be loved and chosen by those around them. As a result, he'll carry on and choose and be chosen, nothing more, nothing less.
 * 14) The relationship between him and Touka is very entertaining. Back when Kaneki had at first gone to her for help when his hunger was becoming increasingly worse, but Touka harshly rejected him after he stated he was different from "monsters" like her. She refused to show any compassion and beat him up, telling him to go and die on his own. She thought of him as a fool for his refusal to eat human meat despite being aware he was formerly human. When Kaneki joined Anteiku, Touka had little patience for his mistakes and lack of knowledge of ghoul-related affairs, much to his dismay, causing him to think of her as scary.
 * 15) His Post Dragon Kagune in the final battle looks awesome. He also has massive cross-shaped blades attached to them that he can swing around as close range weapons or extend long distances. In addition, he can use these as shields to defend against even the strongest of attacks. Their defensive power are great enough to withstand an attack from Dragon with Kaneki sustaining little to no damage.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) While likable, he isn't properly protrayed in the anime. In the manga, he is traumatized, yet he is living happily with Hinami, Tsukiyama, and Banjou. However in Season 2, he is nothing but a sad, yet vengeful young man. Not helping the fact that he almost has the same personality as Jotaro Kujo from JoJo's Bizzare Adventure.
 * 2) * Speaking of the anime, he joined Aogiri. First, he gets kidnapped and tortured by them, then he gets rescued by his friends, then goes back to the organization where he was kidnapped and decides to join them, which was one of the dumbest decisions that any anime character has done.
 * 3) Hypocritical move: He trashed his previous ideology of "It's better to hurt rather than hurting others," pledging to crush those who dared threaten his place of belonging.

Trivia

 * 1) In the Tokyo Ghoul popularity poll, he was ranked 2nd, then  Touka was ranked 1st, while Haise Sasaki was ranked 3rd.
 * 2) His Japanese voice actor Natsuki Hanae, also voiced Kousei Arima from Your Lie in April, and Tanjirou Kamado from Kimitsu no Yaiba. His English voice actor Austin Tindle, also voiced Vali Lucifer from the High School DXD series, Ayumu Aikawa from Is This a Zombie?, and Marco Bodt from Attack on Titan.