Yeah, you're at the part where Kaneki's "struggle" really gets brought to the surface, later on it becomes really fleshed out and he becomes a great MC. From what I know, a lot of people carry the same opinion as you at the start, they're neutral, and then later they became huge fans, which was purposefully done as you mentioned.
I love Touka, she is the queen! Hide is pretty cool as well, and has an impact later on. Hinami is another one that I like, she's pretty cute in terms of her relationship with Kaneki and Touka. My other favs haven't appeared where you're at, so I won't say much.
That's pretty much the effect TG has had on me, it's really made me forget about this trash series. Like I said, OP and TG saved me lol are the japanese fans still pissed, have you heard anything even though you haven't been around as much lately? Oh, and also, do you plan on catching up on TG via the Internet, or just catch up whenever you buy the volumes?
I'm only going to read volume by volume because I definitely don't want to read the translated version.
One thing I like about Kaneki right now is that he's pretty much rational in a way. Like when two sides fight, he doesn't automatically declare one side as wrong. He can see the reasons of both sides. And that makes me think is a set up for some big revelation he will get.