Ikuma Momochi

Ikuma is a lean young man who favors relaxed streetwear and is often seen in a beanie. His hair is short and dark, and his expression tends toward the friendly and approachable.

Warmth defines Ikuma. He pours himself into his music and longs for an untroubled life, carrying a compassionate heart that aches at the necessity of preying on humans to survive. In the manner of many ghouls tied to Anteiku, he lives as a scavenger and steers clear of confrontation whenever he possibly can.

His story begins in tragedy. Dr. Momochi, recently widowed, found her baby boy lifeless in his crib one night and wandered out into the rain cradling the body. There she came upon a female ghoul fleeing investigators, one who had been fatally hurt shielding her own baby. Moved by the moment, the grieving doctor agreed to trade her dead child for the living ghoul infant. She carried the boy home, raised him as her own with her parents' help, and used her medical standing both to secure flesh for him and to forge records of severe food allergies so he could avoid human meals.

Once grown, driven by his love of music, Ikuma left his hometown for Tokyo and settled in the calm 20th Ward, keeping his distance from other ghouls and taking odd jobs to get by while busking with his guitar for spare change. He once sought food at a mountain suicide site but gave it up after running into Renji Yomo and fearing a clash over territory with a stronger ghoul. His performances introduced him to Hideyoshi Nagachika, who confided his worries, and the two struck up a friendship as Ikuma offered the younger man encouragement; Hide thanked him with instant coffee, which Ikuma gratefully took since he had gone hungry for a while. On his way home he was set upon by Shuu Tsukiyama, his guitar smashed in the scuffle, until Chie Hori stepped in and shamed Tsukiyama into apologizing and promising to replace the ruined instrument out of respect for a fellow music lover. Badly hurt, Ikuma staggered to Anteiku, where the staff took him in, and there he met Ken Kaneki, sharing his past as a ghoul brought up by a human and bonding over their shared wish for peace, later discovering they both counted Hide as a friend.

Six months on, in the span between the 11th Ward Battle and Kaneki's raid on Kanou's underground lab, Ikuma was dragged back into ghoul affairs. He mentioned an idol festival to Chie, who photographed the idol Mitsuba there, an image that made Tsukiyama resolve to devour her. While Chie hid the girl in the 23rd Ward, she recruited Ikuma as an errand runner, fetching groceries and gathering information for her search into Mitsuba's missing family. Just as they located Kazene Mitsuba, Tsukiyama tracked them down and forced them out a window, and Ikuma revealed himself as a ghoul, using his kagune to break the fall and carry both women to safety. Cornered, he tried to face the Gourmet alone and was swiftly beaten, but Chie's scheme to draw in Kaneki spared them all and drove Tsukiyama off. Ikuma then helped bring mother and daughter back together, and in gratitude Mitsuba guarded the secret of his nature.

Later, Ikuma numbered among the ghouls who volunteered to aid the human authorities, guiding evacuations and reassuring frightened civilians. When agents of V struck the evacuation and began killing officers, he threw his kagune up as a shield to protect Detective Kyouhei Morimine, only for the attacker to crack it and knock him down; the timely arrival of Takeomi Kuroiwa scattered the V agents before they could finish him. His kagune is of the koukaku type, a shell that wraps around his left arm, though as a comparatively weak and inexperienced fighter he leans on avoiding battle rather than winning it.