Kisho Arima
From Tokyo Ghoul
Kisho Arima is a supporting character in Tokyo Ghoul, the CCG's Special Class investigator known as the Reaper, undefeated and unreadable, the strongest fighter the Commission has. He takes a strange, quiet interest in Haise Sasaki. He is voiced by Daisuke Namikawa in Japanese and Alex Organ in English.
About Kisho Arima
Kisho Arima is the CCG's Special Class investigator known as the Reaper: undefeated, unreadable, and so strong that ghouls treat his arrival as a death sentence. The white-haired prodigy has been a legend since his teens, when the Jack case made his name. Calm to the point of emptiness, he takes a strange interest in Haise Sasaki, and the truth about Arima is one of the series' biggest revelations.
Appearance
Arima is a tall, lean man with white hair, glasses and a still, unreadable expression that gives nothing away in conversation or combat. He wears the CCG's formal investigator coat and carries his quinque cases with quiet, unhurried precision. Everything about him is minimal, few words, no wasted movement, no visible emotion, and that blankness is itself his most frightening feature: ghouls who have faced him describe the arrival of death, not a man.
Personality
Arima is calm to the point of emptiness: polite, precise and apparently without ambition, anger or fear. Colleagues admire him and understand nothing about him. That detachment is not simple coldness, Arima carries knowledge about himself and the CCG that he shares with no one, and his quiet interest in Haise, including gifts of books and patient training, hints at a man executing a private plan with his whole life. He is the series' still centre: the strongest person in the war, waiting.
Background & Story
Arima was an investigator prodigy: as a high school student he was already hunting ghouls in the case that became the Jack investigation, and he rose to Special Class, the CCG's highest rank, with a perfect record. Nicknamed the Reaper, he is the organisation's final answer: where Arima is sent, ghouls die, including legends. He crosses paths with the young Kaneki during the first series' climax, and in :re he becomes the mentor and keeper of the amnesiac Haise Sasaki, training the Quinx Squad's leader with the same quiet attention. What Arima wants, and what he knows about the CCG's foundations, is among the series' most guarded secrets.
Powers & Abilities
- Master Quinque Combat: Arima wields multiple high-rank quinques, including the lightning-emitting Narukami and the transforming IXA, which fights at range and as a shield, with flawless, ambidextrous skill.
- Superhuman Reflexes and Skill: Arima's speed, precision and battle reading exceed every other investigator's; he defeats S-rated ghouls without injury and without visible effort.
Key Relationships
- Ken Kaneki: The ghoul Arima defeats and then, as Haise, mentors, the most important and most mysterious relationship of Arima's life.
- Akira Mado: A younger investigator who serves in his orbit in :re, one of the few colleagues who sees the human edges of the Reaper.
- Eto Yoshimura: The One-Eyed Owl, Arima's opposite number, with whom he shares an understanding that crosses the entire war.
Quick Answers
Is Arima the strongest investigator?
Arima is considered the CCG's strongest investigator, undefeated throughout his career and feared by ghouls as the Reaper. Even the strongest ghouls in the series treat his arrival as a death sentence.
Who voices Arima?
Daisuke Namikawa voices him in Japanese. In English, Alex Organ voices him in the first series and Christopher Wehkamp in Tokyo Ghoul:re.
When is Arima's birthday?
December 20, Arima shares his birthday with Ken Kaneki.
