Chapter 1 — Episode 1
The episode opens with a CCG radio dispatch reporting ghoul intruders at the Aqua Building in Tokyo's 20th Ward, while inside, a female ghoul named Rize is shown feeding voraciously. A dangerous ghoul named Jason interrupts her meal, threatening to dismember her before taking her captive on orders from above, but Rize overpowers and humiliates him, escaping the confrontation. First thing the next morning, a news broadcast reports that multiple unidentified male bodies were discovered at the Aqua Building, with ghoul saliva found on the remains. Then the story shifts to a young human named Ken Kaneki, a bookish college student living in the 20th Ward, who frequents a café called Anteiku and becomes infatuated with Rize, a fellow book lover he notices there. He nervously asks her out, and the two share an evening walk together, during which Rize appears warm and interested in him. However, on a dark construction site, Rize suddenly reveals herself as a ghoul — the same "binge eater" from the opening — and brutally attacks Kaneki, tearing into his body. At the end, a freak accident causes steel beams to fall and crush Rize, saving Kaneki's life but leaving both of them critically injured. Kaneki is rushed to the hospital, and in a life-saving operation, Rize's organs — including her ghoul kakuhou — are transplanted into him. Kaneki wakes up in the hospital, apparently recovered, but soon discovers with horror that he can no longer eat normal food, hinting that the transplant has begun transforming him into a half-ghoul.