As a child, Kaneki had all the same features he has now as an adult. As a normal university student, Kaneki is a scrawny young man with little to no athletic background who prefers to read books. In his free time, he wears casual clothes.
At work, he wears the standard Anteiku waiter uniform, consisting of black trousers and a grey waistcoat over a white dress shirt, and a brown necktie. Because he couldn’t properly control his single kakugan that manifests in his left eye, he wore a medical eye patch to cover it.
His ghoul mask shows resemblance to a leather gimp mask with an eye patch. It bares a lipless mouth that shows large, gnashing teeth, much like a restrained asylum monster. The bolts sticking out of his neck and the fact that he is an artificial ghoul gives him a Frankenstein theme.
After being tortured by Yamori for a period of ten days, his hair became white and his nails turned black due to heavy stress, anxiety, and continuous bodily regeneration. He also began wearing a form fitting black outfit when he had the intention of fighting as a ghoul, both for intimidation and practicality.
After the timeskip, his white hair is now adorned by black streaks which have grown out from the center of his head, and his nails are no longer black. Similar to the other Ghoul Investigators, Kaneki is seen well dressed in the standard suit and tie most of the time. When embarking on missions, he wears a white trench coat over his uniform and occasionally carries a briefcase with him.
During and after his battle with Kanae and Eto, Kaneki would return back to his original black hair color, dons eyeglasses, a black investigator trench coat, and red gloves (black in the anime). Kaneki is often to have dead stares on his face. His hair would go back to being white after his fight with Arima.
After being free from the dragon, Kaneki’s hair is longer in length, dragon markings under his eyes, neck and limbs. In the 6 year timeskip, Kaneki hair gets cut back to its original length, has a scar on the left side of his face from Furata’s attack, and now wears casual clothing.
In the oneshot, Kaneki’s appearance is relatively the same, except has a more muscular build, and instead of a leather mask with an eyepatch, he wears a plan white mask with exaggerated teeth and lips with one eye in the form of a plus, and the other a heart. It strangely resembles a clown mask.
Powers
- Ghoul Physiology: After the Steel Beam Incident, Kaneki transformed into an artificial one-eyed ghoul, developing ghoul powers and abilities after receiving Rize’s kakuhou. He struggled to control his powers, due to his mental state, and started off as being rather weak. Overtime, however, he has learned how to control them and eventually surpass his opponents.
- Rinkaku Kagune: Kaneki received a rinkaku kagune, after having Rize’s kakuhou transplanted inside of him. He initially had trouble adapting to using to them, but was fully able to make good use of them once he fought Yamori. Kaneki’s rinkaku has changed throughout the series, in which he’s been to grow more tendrils and they would develop different visuals to them, depending on the amount of humans and ghouls he’s consumed. His kagune has also developed unique abilities as he was recently able to develop a sword in the shape of his quinque from his kagune.
- Rinkaku Kakuja: Ever since his first consumption from the ghoul, Yamori, Kaneki has developed a rinkaku kakuja, which has went through various changes from the amount of other kakujas he’s consumed. In addition to this, his kakuja has developed into becoming stronger and more powerful than before.
- Superhuman Strength: Kaneki seems to have a high-level degree of superhuman strength due to Kaneki, ability to lift heavy things. And survive when fell into a rock or a hard concrete wall.
- Superhuman Mobility: Kaneki has developed speed that surpasses humans. His speed allows him to blitz through large groups of opponents in a matter of short time. Very few people have been to rival with and surpass his speed and those that do are usually half-human and half-ghoul hybrids such as Furuta, Arima, Takizawa and Eto.
- High-Level Pain Immunity: Kaneki has developed a large resistance to pain, ever since his transformation into a ghoul. While he can still be injured, he has taken injuries that can be considered fatal, such as having his limbs sliced off, his eyes stabbed out completely and more.
- High-Level Pain Tolerance: Ever since he was tortured, Keneki was able to handle a lot of pain without showing signs of pain such as when Yakumo Oomori twisted his leg, breaking it but Keneki was still able to kick him.
- Supernatural Regeneration: Kaneki inherited this power to Rize Kamishiro due to Kamishiro’s ability to regenerate faster to avoid death. He has been to regenerate both massive wounds done to him, as well as limbs. He initially had difficulty regenerating certain parts of his body, as his arms were not fully healed when they were cut off by Arima, but after his experience as the Dragon, he was able to fully regenerate them.
Abilities
- High Intelligence: Kaneki is an extremely intelligent person. Most his knowledge comes from his fixation on reading books. He has also been able to connect reality with the novels he reads from Sen Takasuki. He is also cunningly smart and tactical when in combat, which is one of the few reasons why the CCG looks at him as an impressive ghoul investigator.
- Martial Arts: Kaneki is extremely aggressive fighter due to his ghoul physiology and always reading about martial arts and other defensive skills. He is an excellent combatant when it comes to swordsmanship, as Arima trained him well and noted his improvements.
Equipment
- Eyepatch Mask: Kaneki’s iconic ghoul mask, made and given by Uta. He wears this mask whenever he is in combat with ghoul investigators, as well as to hide his identity. It is designed with an eyepatch that covers his regular eye, while his ghoul eye is left exposed.
- Yukimara 1/3: Sasaki’s personal quinque weapon, which he received from Arima. It is a long-bladed weapon that can cut through ghouls easily.