As for the character I would pick, it would have to be Ken Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul. To me, he is someone who I like a lot, given his whole deal, with that being having to navigate his life as a half ghoul after being human for nearly all of his life. Even if he is considered “edgy” or “emo” by those who know the media, to me he is a wonderfully written character in regards to his trauma and eventually finding the will to live.
Alongside that, he is a character that has a vast array of sort of iterations as he constantly transforms across the main series and its sequel, with that being Tokyo Ghoul: Re. He also is someone who likes to read a lot, with that being shown plenty within the manga, alongside all the references made in regards to books. For instance, the most obvious one would be The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, as he likens himself to Gregor Samsa with his transformation into a half ghoul. Overall, he’s a character I would love to be in terms of cosplay for a con.
As for my favorite iterations, it would have to be his life as Haise Sasaki, along with his transformation as the Black Reaper. For Haise, it was him living under a false life, with no memories as his life as Kaneki. He is considered as the sort of “dream” to allow Kaneki to cope with the events of the end of Tokyo Ghoul and with nearly dying. Eventually, as Haise begins to learn more about his life beforehand, he does eventually learn about his own traumatic past and thus, wakes up from the “dream,” marking his transformation as the Black Reaper. With that, it came with his own sort of acceptance of his wish to die as a hero as he becomes deadset on fulfilling that wish as the Black Reaper. Eventually though he does soon gain the will to live, which I found to be wonderful. Below is a picture of the Black Reaper form.
