basically everythings the same but living among humans you have these ghouls   who look like humans  but the only thing they can eat is humans

and humans dont turn into ghouls
a ghoul is like  its own species

and a ghouls eyes get red when theyre hungry or emotional or whatever
and ghouls have these powers cause they have these  "kagune" organs that sort of sprout from their lower back or wherever   and they can be like tentacles or swords or wings
but when theyre not doing that they blend in
and theres a special police force to hunt down ghouls and protect people and they use weapons made out of kagunes from defeated ghouls

and other than the eating people thing
ghouls are like fully people
theyre real characters they have real vulnerability


anyway
theres this nothing kid named ken kaneki
who has one friend and no parents left
likes to read books
its hinted hes suicidal

really normal kid kind of shy

he gets a crush on this girl named rize who frequents this same cafe and likes the same author as him

he doesnt know shes like this super powerful ghoul  whos main hobby is mass killing hot young men and binge eating them
one of the worst ones really

so she does her thing and entrances him and lets him take her out and gets him to walk her home
gets him somewhere secluded and this should be the end of kaneki
she goes all manic and takes a bite out of his shoulder
chases him around a little


shipping container falls and crushes them both.
kaneki wakes up in the hospital. rize is dead. to save his life, her organs have been implanted into him, and theyre changing his body. hes half ghoul with one red eye. his moral compass and humanity is fully intact but he cant eat human food anymore, its suddenly disgusting. this creates a lot of really existential terror but it turns out the coffee shop he likes is staffed by friendly ghouls who look out for him   and have   pre prepared food that can sate his hunger without him having to hunt


skip ahead to the end of the first season
kaneki is chained up
big shark looking dude with a ugly tie and a jason mask is a powerful ghoul and high ranking member of this ghoul terrorist organization that aims to eliminate all resistance from humans, including kanekis childhood friend hide and the "friendly" ghouls hes grown close to

yamori or "jason" has a special torture weapon that he uses to continually cut off kanekis fingers, toes, hands, feet, and watch them grow back again, due to kanekis impressive regeneration factor. he fills buckets with kaneki. kaneki begs to die. he puts a neurotoxic centipede in kanekis ear. a man and a woman, a couple, infiltrate and try to rescue kaneki. yamori lets kaneki believe theres hope for a while, then makes kaneki choose whether the man or woman has to die. kaneki cant choose, so yamori kills them both.