#kanekuinke

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka is German author whose work was publish post-humorously. He’s referenced three times.

Takatsuki Sen‘s debut novel is Dear Kafka.

Chapter 2 references Metamorphosis, where a man wakes up one morning transformed into an insect with no explanation as to why, as his life has been the same every day for years. There’s isn’t any further relation between TG & Metamorphosis than this. I just think Ishida likes Kafka and the opportunity to do some nifty foreshadowing.

Chapter 8 of :re

A prime example of Arima’s lack of tact. Seriously, read TG JACK, he just doesn’t get the concept..

This short story is about a man who inherits a pet who is half lamb and half kitten. It can be taken as a reflection on Arima and Haise’s relationship. This post covers the significance behind this story really well. My only difference of opinion is that I think the ‘milk’ is more likely to be Sphinx’s RC Solution.

Osuma Dazai

Osuma Dazai is famous best-selling Japanese author and is referenced twice in Tokyo Ghoul.

Once in chapter 1 Kaneki quotes him;

He’s still human at this point. This is likely foreshadowing Kaneki’s purpose in ‘breaking the twisted birdcage the world is trapped in’ and/or trying to bring the human and ghoul worlds together.

Then Dazai’s mentioned by Takatsuki Sen in chapter 109 (she makes the same comment twice, once to Kaneki, then to Hide who’s pretending to be Kaneki);

[BTW Dazai's masterpiece is considered to be No Longer Human (Disqualified from Being Human). FYI it has a protagonist who’s incapable of revealing his true self to others and holds up a facade. His schoolmate  who sees through it & they become close friends. Later he acts as a surrogate father to a little girl, but abandons her due to his issues].

Hermann Hesse

Hermann Hesse is nobel prize winning German born Swiss author, known for his works exploring an individual's search for authenticity, self-knowledge and spirituality.

Chapter 8

“The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas.”    

From Demian

Abraxas can be thought of as a "godhead" who represents a unification of the divine and the satanic. The meaning of this quote is taken to be that in order to be truly free, the protagonist must embrace and exalt all of the tendencies of his personality—both those that people consider "good" and those they consider "evil."

A particularly apt quote for Kaneki, who struggles to balance his human and ghoul sides. Even without the Abraxas part this quote neatly encapsulates Kaneki’s growth into a half-ghoul.

It may also be linked to Kanou’s explanation that he’s performing the OEG experiments because the world is trapped in a twisted ‘birdcage’ and he want’s to use OEGs to break the cage.

Hakushuu Kitahara

Hakushuu Kitahara is one of Japan’s most popular and influential poets.

Chapter 118;

tokyoghoultheories did an a thought provoking analyze of the Black Sheep poem here. You need to scroll down to get the poem part, but the rest of the post is worth reading anyway, as it explains a lot of the symbolism associated with Kaneki.

Chapter 139

Oishi Ainu no uta (Ode to an Old Ainu). I don’t think there’s anything significant about the poem itself, but what Arima gleams from Kaneki quoting Hakushuu. Read more about this here.

Cover for TG:re Volume 1

(Sasaki still has Kaneki’s tastes in literature). The poem Haise is reading is Blue Dragonfly.

Blue dragonfly, with emerald eye Silver and green; Blue dragonfly, the delicate wing Glinting on a reed in flower.               Blue dragonfly aloft, Perhaps by sleight of hand; Blue dragonfly caught, Crinkled skin of a diva.               Blue dragonfly beauty Fearful even to touch; Blue dragonfly composure Grates on the jealous eye.               A grinding leather sandal Crinkles the blue dragonfly.

The poem is about a dragonfly that gets destroyed because of someone’s envy over it’s loveliness. I can’t think of any direct correlation at this time, so it might be foreshadowing something, or just a nice poem. (Actually, Arima uses his ‘shinigami skills’ to swot a fly in an omake, but I don’t think that’s what this is about)

Nankichi Niimi

Nankichi Niimi is a popular children’s author in Japan. Considered to be Japan’s Hans Christian Anderson.

Chapter 70;

Gon the Little Fox is a depressing children’s story, whose moral is usually interpreted as ‘everybody has to accept their fate.’  A fox’s simple mischiefs contribute toward Hyojyu’s ill mother’s death. The fox’s attempts to make it up to Hyojyu make Hyojyu’s situation worse. Eventually, the fox finds a way to help Hyojyu out that won’t cause more trouble, only for Hyojyu for kill his benefactor when he lashes out in grief, as he blamed the fox for his mother’s death. Hyojyu’s reaction to his mother’s inevitable death and the fox’s response turn a sad, but normal, event into a tragedy.

Notice how unimpressed Ayato looks while Touka happily asks to have it read out again. This is pretty much a summation of Arata’s philosophy, which Ayato rejects. You can see this reflects Ayato actions - riling against a ghoul’s ‘fate’ by refusing to try to get along with humans, lashing out in anger against the world after his parent’s deaths and trying to help Touka out by taking the blame for the Rabbit murders she committed. [This may be foreshadowing that Ayato will ‘shoot himself in the foot.’ (Possibly by making Touka’s situation even worse, because she’ll get blamed for Ayato’s actions)].

C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis was born in Ireland, but lived in England for a lot of his life. You probably know him as the author of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Was known for his works of Christian commentary.

Chapter 124; (I already did a post on this, but I thought I’d reuse it).

Kaneki is reading ‘The Screwtape letters’ by C.S. Lewis. This book has a demon protagonist who near the end turns into a giant centipede. So, literary joke from Ishida.

Now, I’m probably reading too much into this, but as there’s a noteworthy quote in this novel;

We [demons] want cattle who can finally become food; He [God] wants servants who can finally become sons

Which is interesting when you consider Kaneki’s roles in TG and :Re. In TG Kaneki sided with the ghoul and was the target of cannibalism attempts and various manipulation. In :Re he has been forced to become a servant, however he feels he has a family relationship - that Arima is his ‘father’ and has been told Arima feels parental love for him. (Which hasn’t been confirmed, but nothing discredits this either).

Ernest Hemmingway

Ernest Hemmingway is a Nobel prize winning American author.

Chapter 95

In the abandon mansion above Kanou’s hidden lab Kaneki pulls out ‘The Old Man and the Sea.’ The story is about an old fisherman who is down on his luck, but manages to catch a great marlin after 3 days of epic struggling, only to have sharks come after his prize. He valiantly defends his catch, only to be left with bones. He makes it home and collapses, where other fisherman/tourists marvel at the size of the skeleton.