Hi I have a few things to ask. Why do Touka and Yomo sometimes kill for food when there's morally superior alternatives, even though they clearly resent having to kill as a ghoul? Is it because there's simply not enough "moral" meat to go round? Was it ever explained why Nishiki was killing ghouls and was after Torso at the start of :re? And would you say cafe re was a true successor to Anteiku in the way Anteiku helped out fellow ghouls, or was it just a home for Kaneki to return too?
Hi anon, sorry for the delay. I'm going to answer these questions out of order for ease and flow.
Was it ever explained why Nishiki was killing ghouls and was after Torso at the start of :re?
;re 150
Yes. Nishiki said he learned that Kimi was kidnapped and being held hostage by Aogiri Tree. It's never explicitly stated how Nishki learned of it, but the source was most likely the Clowns. Most of the information the Clowns gave out is partially true at best, and it's entirely in character for the Clowns to try to get Nishiki to go after Aogiri and Eto. Telling Nishiki that Kimi was with Aogiri (which is true) because they kidnapped her (which isn’t true) is 100% in character for them. They did that in TG with Kaneki; they helped Yamori commit treason against Aogiri to torture Kaneki, and then they gaslit Kaneki when confronted about it.
TG 43, ;re 4
A bit of an aside, but related to the Kimi point. I think early on, Touka’s visit to the hospital, and the reveal of Torso’s love for women with scars, was meant to be a red herring about Nishiki’s motivation. I believe this was to give the impression that Nishiki was hunting for Torso specifically because Torso got Kimi, and I've seen quite a few people argue that this was 100% Ishida's original intention until he changed it in the Dragon Arc.
;re 98
There are a couple problems: first, Kimi shows up on Rue Island. Also, it doesn’t make sense from Nishiki’s end. He'd abandon the one who went attacked Kimi to fight the Quinx? After everything he’s done for her on panel? Letting Torso go at that point makes sense because Torso isn't a member of Aogiri, just forced to cooperate with them, so his value would be limited to Nishiki; meanwhile, rumors about new OEGs would be of emotional interest to Nishiki because of their relationship to Kaneki, even if Nishiki didn’t know about Haise.
But on to other questions:
Why do Touka and Yomo sometimes kill for food when there's morally superior alternatives, even though they clearly resent having to kill as a ghoul? Is it because there's simply not enough "moral" meat to go round?
TG 13, 130
Touka and Yomo elaborate on their reasoning for not having moral meat at times, and it's because they're struggling with their emotions. Anteiku itself also doesn't have a policy against killing non-combatant humans, it has a policy against killing members of the CCG. For civilian humans, it’s fine for ghouls to prey upon them. In fact, it’s part of Anteiku’s rules.
TG 5
Anteiku set up and regulated feeding grounds for ghouls. They didn't really mind civilian casualties, it was just CCG casualties that they didn't want to incur. Even breaking those rules didn’t really seem to incur much of a penalty, if at all; Touka only butted into this situation because of Kaneki, and only went beyond words because of Nishiki then attacking her.
And would you say cafe re was a true successor to Anteiku in the way Anteiku helped out fellow ghouls, or was it just a home for Kaneki to return too?
I would say that it was a true successor to Anteiku in that it actually attempted to achieve the goals that Anteiku supposedly had. Ostensibly, Anteiku was meant to be a home for Eto to return to and a place for ghouls to help other ghouls and be a beacon of cooperation. However, in effect, it fell short of that.
Anteiku was, by all indications, approved by V, and was Kuzen's "nonviolent" means of carrying out V's agenda through appeasement. Kuzen remained a member of V and helped support it by convincing ghouls that fought against the CCG, such as Yomo, Kaya, and Koma, not to do so because their actions would never work out. He also attempted to kick out any ghouls he thought were found out by the CCG or fought against them, like Touka or Hinami.
;re is completely different. Touka actually set up ;re as a place for Kaneki to return to, and the primary reason she didn’t go after him was because she believed Haise Sasaki the CCG Investigator was safer than Ken Kaneki the One Eyed Ghoul. His own free will also factored into the equation. It was both a beacon for mutual cooperation, and it’s implied to be the same set-up as Anteiku collecting suicide victims, while it outright assists Tsukiyama when he’s in need even though it was against the CCG.
Kuzen later made minor moves against V, like hiding Rize, and eventually openly fought against the CCG, but I’d argue those two things weren’t actually helping his fellow ghouls. Rize went from being tortured by Furute through Kanou harvesting her body, to being tortured by Kuzen through Yomo subjecting her to starvation and solitary confinement, as well as possible sleep deprivation. There’s nothing ;re does that comes even close to that.
;re 122, TG 124
The fight against the CCG at Anteiku was something Kuzen opted into of his own accord. It was an entirely unnecessary fight, because the shop was just a shop, and nothing else; Yomo points this out immediately, and Touka later points out the fight is meaningless as it’s ongoing. Anteiku literally was rebuilt in ;re, and Kuzen could have spared dozens if not hundreds of ghouls from dying. Although it was Black Goat as a whole that underwent the decision, ;re was definitely the center of Black Goat, and they decided to just abandon the shop.
The little skirmish they had was because Mutsuki mobilized to ;re too fast, and in the end, Kaneki and Touka still focused only on survival and escape, not trying to take down as many people as they could. Meanwhile, Kuzen had enough time that Kaya and Koma cleaned the entire shop and were able to assemble a large chunk of their gangs to fight alongside them.
;re 65, 134
Anteiku was just a shop, it wasn’t like the Aogiri Rue base which lured away a large chunk of the CCG’s military power for a prison break, nor was it the only thing between the CCG and innocent civilians, like the Black Goat base. And in both of those cases, the more context you give, the worse it makes Kuzen’s decision look through the lens of “helping fellow ghouls”.
TG 132, 130
The “original plan” at Anteiku was that everyone who stayed behind, Kuzen, Kaya, Koma, and their followers, to just die; Kaneki’s arrival is what ended up causing the ghouls to try to escape the battle through V14. Staying on Rue was optional for Aogiri members, Aogiri members didn’t have to fight to the death, and Aogiri let members leave without consequence. Black Goat’s primary goal was to stall for time, so the civilian ghouls could escape, even if it didn’t work out as planned.
TG 128
The entire situation with Anteiku was senseless, leaving the survivors to make up rationalizations for Kuzen’s actions. “He’s doing it because he has to make a scene so no one can confirm bodies at Anteiku” or “He’s doing it because the person he created Anteiku for never returned, and this is their fault”. But neither of these reasons make any sense, because Anteiku was being seen as “part of Aogiri” and the fight at Anteiku had nothing to actually do with protecting Eto. Everything was optional, and it traumatized survivors while causing countless deaths.
Which circles back around to ;re being what Anteiku was meant to be. Because ;re’s purpose was to help its fellow ghouls and be a place for Kaneki to return to, and it actually managed to achieve those goals in a genuine capacity due to the difference between Touka and Kuzen. It’s more like Kuzen’s decisions were about Kuzen dodging responsibility more than anything, and avoiding living in the world so many ghouls outside V’s protection did, living being pursued like his daughter did.
Which is a complete inversion of Touka and ;re.
I started to drag on a bit. Again, sorry for the delayed response, I’m not even sure if you’ll see this.
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At the heart of the etoneki conflict/drama is nothing more than culture clash.
Eto may be amazing at studying others and have replicated humanity well enough to be a respected author among humans without anyone finding any clues to her ghoul nature, not even Haise in RE: - but she is still someone who was raised by ghouls. Her base nature is as a ghoul, from the 24th ward specifically. Naturally, there’s going to be some confusion between her and Kaneki, who was raised by humans.
But that leaves the good good question of what those differences should be. Clearly, some should be tiny, but there NEED to be huge misunderstandings bc I live for that kind of drama. Also, it’s a slowburn, so. that’s how it is.
this is long, and tagged for spoilers for a good reason. nothing specific, but if u like being surprised by the plot in ur grapefruit, go no further as of chapter 5
1) Ghouls have ABO while humans do not. Sure, there was a decently long time where Kaneki lived among ghouls, but can u picture early chapter Touka willingly sitting him down and giving the birds and the bees and the grasshoppers and also the spiders Talk? I think not. Maybe Kouma? Itori would. Like, they’d both kill him dead with it, but they would. And knowing the contexts within another culture doesn’t mean that you have assimilated those words/concepts to your own yourself, or that you actually know every single social detail, especially as it applies to others.
...but Eto does. And human gender/sexuality is fairly simple on the whole, except when it isn’t, so she has a leg up on him there.
plus, the way I have the ABO structured, it makes a bit more sense for him to be less aware of it, since his gender, as perceived by ghouls, is the most privileged one. Especially since its associated with deliberate power gain, which he totally played into during the later half of the first TG, so it would be a natural assumption for ghouls to make that he understood that he was acting exactly as his gender is socially expected to. and in a way that would socially cement his powerful omega status.
Tsukiyama would totally say something about it, since with the whole affluent family thing he’d probably be very aware of gender and social dynamics, but anything shuu says can be followed by “and he called me a cabbage in French last week, so okay shuu, whatever poetics ‘omega’ means to u, go ahead, have your fun buddy.” Banjou, who was involved with Rize, would be too worried about offending him or making it embarrassing to say anything. and as a ghoul even lower than shuu, he’d be super conservative about getting up in an omega’s business. It would just be this ambiguous open secret that everyone but Kaneki is totally, painfully aware of. the gasmask trio find this hilarious. Hina is a wee bab whose parent was a doctor for ghouls, so she just accepts her big bro as is.
so there’s eto’s expectations to be basically an underling to someone powerful as a normal, comfortable relationship dynamic, pitted against kaneki’s human-embedded inclination toward monogamy and not something that feels like weird bdsm domination stuff. they each are expecting a certain treatment from one another, and not getting it. eto feels neglected, since he isn’t all in her business and allowing her to settle in the shadow of his power and just ride things out, and kaneki, with only human expectations for sex, gender, and whatever the hell just happened, expects the worst from her as the “““male”““ in the relationship who manipulated him.
the conflict is that neither happens.
all of the power is on his side of the court, but in human terms, it feels like the opposite - vis a vis, human misogyny and all the horrible expectations for a sex and reproduction based marriage system that go along with that.
which is why i’ve inverted all that to make myself feel better :)
2) i kicked knots out bc idk about that business, but there have to be other physical differences. there have to be, or its boring. and then again, since both are hybrids, what should either have?
i’ve decided eto will have all physical differences or a learned equivalent due to ghoul socialization, while kaneki should have none but whatever was forced on him through his kakuhou - ie, pheromone stuff, but nothing more.
ghouls can purr, bc i am weak to that shit. Kaneki is aware of this. it’s just a Thing that they do. he’s read to Hina and she’s fallen asleep purring before and it was adorable. irimi purrs very quietly when she cleans things. uta is a purr machine when he makes masks, and it knocks yomo out unless he’s drunk, then he just purrs like a truck engine from the floor near uta’s desk for three hours. touka hasn’t purred since ayato left
eto purrs when she’s satisfied with her writing flow, which is one of the main reasons she prefers to work alone in her apartment and keep shiono out. otherwise, she doesn’t mind company. she also purrs when happy, like most ghouls. kaneki does not. i can site Haise’s RC scan on this: since he never took damage to the throat, he never had a chance to heal ‘more ghoul’ in that area.
so the exchange of a happy eto, deeply content with their uneasy peace, purring to express such delight, meets a blank wall that doesn’t agree. her social expression of happiness clashes up against kaneki only maybe leaning toward physical affection and being quiet. he can understand that she is happy, and she can understand that he can’t respond in the same way, but the dynamics of their relationship make her doubt her actions and get instinctually afraid of doing something wrong and upsetting someone much more powerful than her who also decides if she is allowed to reproduce with him or not. and stops purring and gets unsettled. kaneki is only confused and maybe she doesn’t like being touched? time to touch less. oh no, she did do Something Wrong and now omega is mad at her!! interpersonal drama escalates on both sides >:3c
ghouls have great night vision. kaneki also does and you know why. youve read the series. full ghouls have tapetum lucidum in both eyes, but eto only has it in her single ghoul eye. her vision is unbalanced in the dark but due to her learning to compensate for the slight reduction in light capture on one side she gets by just fine. it also parallels nicely with arima’s poor eyesight and learning to compensate for it.
ghouls are crepuscular while humans are diurnal, but this doesn’t matter since neither of etoneki know what a sleep schedule is. and the 24th ward doesn’t experience day/night cycles, so they have their own issues with sleeping when safe, do not sleep when not safe.
ghouls tend toward pack structure, but not in a rigid way where there can only be one omega/powerful ghoul per unit. as long as everybody gets along personally, its fine. omega don’t see each other as competition. alpha toss themselves at their feet without prompting. they’re not a scarce resource. alpha don’t even really fight over omega unless completely affected by heat and rut cycles and unable to grasp the concept of maybe next time. but even that is rare, mostly only those who are jealous as a person attempt this. if alpha fight over an omega and one wins, the omega might just kill them for taking away some of their prospects, or might be impressed by the show of strength. or annoyed by it, bc they want weak underlings. depends on the person. (eto is more than a bit possessive, at least for his first heat.)
more on this point as i think of it.
3) I haven’t specified kaneki’s personal gender identity for a reason. that reason is that i’m not sure what direction i want to go. this is strictly for maman, not Sugar, which is trans girl Sasako forever. for this piece of feti/sh garbage? whom knows! (I know. and until word of god says otherwise - i’m god - every character is trans.)
but really, there’s options. and i love them all.
A) kaneki was trans all along. hide is best bi bud. aunt was a bitch, but nothing worse than canon since he was closeted at the time, although he doubly prepared to never speak to her again. (true neutral)
B) woke up a ghoul and with new parts. why believe a species change but not a sex change, eh? heightens the early game confusion and search for id as a person whose major ids have changed against his will. (lawful neutral)
C) gradual transformation. like how he came into his strength as a ghoul slowly. read a doujin like this once. was okay. quality art, big titties, 8/10. ngl would read the sequel. (Perhaps I am writing the sequel? aren’t we all just chasing our Brands across the lonely internet, hopping from one computer virus to the next? maybe u die reading hentai, or u live long enough to see urself post to ao3.) (chaotic neutral)
D) heals himself a new set of parts due to intense damage. see the haise RC chart, which has a ton of pathways around the hips/torso area. parallels with cutting eto in half?? (also lawful neutral)
E) started happening as a transformation when eto’s pheromones triggered his heat cycle for the first time. boy would he be pissed at her X2 lmao (lawful evil)
F) transformation during #240 time due to losing all memory and only having instinct to structure his body with, and just enough RC pathways to make a hormone based transformation possible. Chiba would have had a field day, but also would have torn out his horrible bowl cut in confusion. get rekt bud. not even #240 knows wtf goin on (neutral evil)
G) maybe he just wanted a vag! thought about that?? learns he is supposed to be able to manipulate his flesh like his kagune, which he is canonically great at, and just Goes For It. it works. he is a strong, dependent idiot who don’t need no dick. (iconic)
H) same as above, but that’s just what Haise does when he has the reigns. looks deep into his pastless self and asks ‘do i have to put up with this cis nonsense? not today.’ (chaotic iconic)
I) it happens suddenly when he activates his kakuja for the first time. queer the monster transformation u wish to see in the world. just. so confused. but also there’s Guilt to be felt about banjou and amon and such, so that’s back burner. (chaotic evil)
okay, so in like fifteen minutes i was able to name 9 perfect opportunities for ishida to carry though the motif of 1)iding with female ghouls 2)paralleling with canon trans man mutsuki 3)litcherally having a female ghoul organ donation fiasco 4)being associated with vacillating between masculine yang and feminine yin black/white 5)having a narrative that revolved around accepting his body and learning to find his own strength and id that is different than what he was born with - but coward ishida stopped sixty miles short of the mark. fool. I Cannot Feast Upon Crumbs, Sir. Sir, You Have Given Me Airplane Peanuts For Supper. Sir, I Am Starving And Antagonistic At Best.
(i shouldn’t call him a coward. three huge series magically having the same Wife And Kids ending all during the time shinzou abe is in office? probably not a coincidence. hope they got a good payout for it. i’d sell out for that $$$ too tbh)
eto is just an alpha. her human social id is a Normal Human Female Who Is Totally Cis and Straight for maximum social acceptance and ease of integration, but that’s only her mask. her personal id is an alpha, which is cis by ghoul standards, and she uses she/her pronouns bc she feels like it. she has the power to id as above alpha, but she enjoys the social invisibility it gives her, since she can blend in the background whereever and noone looks at her presumably weak ass twice. like chie, but for nefarious purposes.
....does that make her the equivalent of a ghoul feminist? i’m getting Too Deep
4) the wards can be isolated and far apart, and its been explored in canon with the Three Blades family and the white suites - congrats u 2 - and ghoul organizations that have a home ward having distinct cultural differences from one another. small ethnic groups and isolated diaspora? natives? subset?? of whatever the 24th ward ghouls - sorry, tokyo humans - are.
this sort of thing is only tangentially related to kaneki. if someone with a texas accent teaches someone to speak english, that person will have that accent, whether they’v ever been to texas or not. so he has some of the social mannerisms of a 20th ward ghoul, but generally still has a lot of ingrained human attributes to confuse them.
5) i’m still fascinated by the half finished thought about there are just some ghouls who become binge eaters in canon. like Rize wasn’t special for it. I think shinohara mentioned this?? but. it makes sense. general food insecurity, lack of permanent social support, total oppression, absurd power levels, plenty of humans to take it out on...ye.
and kaneki has the kakuhou of an adult binge eater. there’s cool hints of the kakuhou being parasitic, so a mature one would def fall into the biological fulfillment of binge eating for strength and carry that genetic knowledge into a new host. and from there, it would induce cravings, serotonin reward systems, and all that good stuff to get what its come to like.... like, mayhaps, a cordycepts? ;)
well, i’ve put ‘binge eater’ down as just a general omega trait, since it feels authentic to do so, so we’ll see what i do with this in the future. i will also see, since i too am ignorant of my own self. what will my horny subconscious do next? i am usually the last to know.
I just want to compare Kaneki and Touka’s relationship with Kaneki’s relationships with other characters in the series. Basically, I’m just saying the latter is the better one.
Take for example, Hinami, Tsukiyama, and Hide.
Hinami blamed herself when Kaneki witnessed the death of her mother, something she had no control over.
Tsukiyama had ruined his own life and went on a rampage on multiple occasions because he felt like Kaneki’s sufferings were his fault, thinking that he could’ve stopped Kaneki and prevented him from making mistakes.
Hide in canon saved Kaneki even before his life changed and became a ghoul. He literally sacrificed his life for him and always did everything he could in his capacity to help Kaneki and make sure he lives. And yet he still felt that he hasn’t done enough for him.
And, Touka? What has she done? I’m sorry but I just feel so bad for these characters (who make so much effort in making Kaneki’s life better) get overshadowed.
What Itori had said throughout this chapter pretty much sums it up. She was basically directing the blame to Touka for leading Kaneki down this path. And it’s true. Did Touka truly ever think about Kaneki’s well-being when she married him? Because imo if it was Hinami, Tsukiyama, or Hide in her place, they would not at all attempt to pursue a relationship with Kaneki. What they would do, and what they have always done, is to watch out for Kaneki’s back - because they had always prioritized Kaneki’s well-being than theirs. They always focus on helping Kaneki solve his problems - not alleviating his problems by offering him company and sex.
Most importantly, they certainly wouldn’t put themselves in a position that will further burden Kaneki. Hinami, for instance, refused to be a liability to Kaneki so she made it her goal to become independent and went to join Aogiri. Tsukiyama, although not at first, did what Kaneki always asked of him whenever he needed his help and never complained. Don’t even get me started on Hide.
These three never put a hand on Kaneki. And they never made him feel bad about himself. But did Touka, after hearing what Itori said, felt bad about herself? No. She was angry and perhaps she refused to acknowledge that it was her fault. Some may argue that it’s not her fault and that it was Kaneki’s decision to become like this but I don’t buy it. Because this is exactly what Hinami, Tsukiyama, and Hide always tried to avoid. They don’t want Kaneki to worry about them because they had already recognized that Kaneki’s weakness is that he always tried to protect the people that he loved, which harms him in the end.
That’s why when Kaneki distanced himself from Hide for his friend’s protection, Hide didn’t complain and instead just watched out for his back - because that would ease Kaneki from his worries.
Touka, on the other hand, left Kaneki behind when he fought Arima in Cochlea, saying that Kaneki would just worry about protecting them if they stayed with him - thus, holding him back. Well, she attempted to avoid that but that’s exactly what happened. They left Kaneki, he heard the noise on the route that they had taken, and then we can see from his subsconscious thoughts through his conversations with Hide that he was worried. And if Touka recognized that they would just burden Kaneki then why the heck did she go to Cochlea in the first place and even made sure to let Kaneki know that they were there? She even told Kaneki she’ll be waiting for him! And then she says she knows she’s a burden. It’s so hypocritical of her, really. Hats off to Itori for calling her out on it. Call Itori a bitch for being like this but she’s right - she’s not even on Kaneki’s side yet she knows this stuff. I would honestly not be surprised if Tsukiyama’s rampage in the next chapter is directed to Touka. I mean, if these three could do it, then why can’t Touka?
It’s really easy to argue that Touka barely changed at all throughout this series. I mean we’ve still seen her using Kaneki as a punching bag. I’m glad Itori is here and I hope other characters like Tsukiyama would shed the light on her. Hopefully, Hinami also stops being a martyr and Hide should also recognize that his life is just as important and that he shouldn’t have to put himself in danger for Kaneki all the time.
"In this iridiscent world, the colours are dying out."
This is the phrase that heads the color cover of chapter 144 in which we observe Kaneki wrapped in a grayish atmosphere, which is often associated with sadness or melancholy, and which in turn could be a reflection of Kaneki's emotional state after the events occurred in the 24 ward.
Before the operation in 24 ward began, Kaneki experiences a brief period of happiness as a result of his new relationship with Touka, who accepts him, shows her affection towards him and becomes in his family.
All this as a result gives Kaneki the vision of a promising future full of opportunities (which is linked to his strong will to live), and which gives in turn to him his determination as the leader of Goat, whose position he held more as an obligation than for his own will.
Having hope in the possibility of a world in which both species have room through the coexistence, and in which his family can reside.
This would represent the iridescent world to which reference is made in the phrase on the cover, since an iridescent world would represent one capable of reflecting multiple colors (a world full of color), which is a symbol of hope, opportunity, life and inspire emotions such as joy.
However, that brief period of happiness comes to an end when Furuta attacks Goat's base, killing its members, endangering the lives of his loved ones and definitively dissolving Goat by defeating their leader. Thus destroying all hope and possibility (from Kaneki's perspective) to create a world in which both species could live peacefully.
That's why, as the phrase says, the colours are dying out, since these are a reflection of Kaneki's emotions and feelings, which become sad as a result of a hopeless world that lacks of opportunities.
Therefore, the cover of the ch 144 could be a reflection of the changes undergone in Kaneki at a psychological level, whose perspective of the future has changed thanks to Furuta.
No, Kaneki, but you are the protagonist of a manga.
From the very first chapter Kaneki displays semi-awareness of the fact that he’s fictional, and boy, is that rough for him. Because he’s been landed in the worst possible genre to be the protagonist in - a tragedy.
Kaneki loves to read, and it’s this hobby that makes him halfway savvy to the way his world is written. He draws parallels between his story and other stories that he’s read; the meta-writer is spared the effort, because we have a meta-thinker for our protagonist (Thanks Kaneki!).
He uses stories as his lens to understand the world, and because he himself is in a story, that’s really not a bad approach.
And 98 chapters later...
However, his self-awareness is still limited (even if someone notices thematic trends in their life, no sane person is going to seriously reach the conclusion that they’re made-up), and so despite correctly recognising his story’s genre and predicting his future, when tragedy happens, it’s still unexpected to him...which is all the more tragic. Kaneki and the people close to him undergo a string of harrowing events completely at the mercy of the author. The world he inhabits is dead set against him - for him, the world itself is wrong.
He is both unable and unwilling to do anything to stop his misfortunes because he’s already accepted that his life is a tragedy, and so tries to nobly accept that burden for the sake of others in imitation of his mother. But everyone has their breaking point, and Chapter 63 is when Kaneki says “Fuck you” to the tragedy, symbolically turning the tables on his torturer and using his own methods against him to render him utterly helpless.
This is Kaneki’s revolution against the story. He knows he lives in a tragedy; he knows the world is ‘wrong’ and out to harm him and the people he cares about; but he’s not going to take it lying down anymore. He will revolt against the narrative itself to keep his loved ones safe, and, looking through literary glasses again, become the kind of person Dazai Osamu could believe in.
But little does he know he’s just stepping into the role the author had set out for him from the start.
As a meta character, Kaneki’s fatal flaw is not that he doesn’t understand that he is in a story but that he misunderstands it. True tragedy relies on complicity; the tragic hero must dig their own grave - it doesn’t count if someone else digs it for them - due to their own sins and deficiencies. For Kaneki, his sins would be his mass cannibalisation, and his deficiencies would be his fear of loneliness and his hubris in his belief that he could fix the world alone - and in the metasphere, his hubris in trying to rebel against the story he was written for. These are all pivotal after Kaneki’s change of heart, not before. Because the ‘tragedy’ of Tokyo Ghoul only starts when Kaneki begins actively rebelling against it - what Kaneki conceived as ‘tragedy’ beforehand was really just horrible misfortune. Kaneki choosing to pursue a darker path in an attempt to escape the confines of his story only leads to him to stumble blindly right into their vicious grasp.
But who is Kaneki really fighting here? Who is the author of the tragedy that he finds himself in? Obviously Kaneki can’t lash out against Ishida Sui - he has to find the author responsible in his own sphere of existence. Kaneki has always been eager to know anything he can about Rize since the tragedy seemed to start with her, and though he believes her dead, that’s the lead he takes at first. The scent of Rize eventually leads him to Kanou, who he then marks as the creator of his misfortune, but his conviction is quickly shaken when Kanou mentions Yoshimura’s connection to Aogiri, presenting another lead to follow to find the source. And where will this lead take him? Who does he discover to be the author of his tragedy?
‘The Black Goat’s Egg’, a clear parallel to Kaneki’s story, was written by the hand of Takatsuki Sen. She is a writer of horror tragedy, and that is exactly the kind of story she has written for Kaneki.
If Kaneki’s tragedy (beginning proper after Yamori’s torture) stems back to the Aogiri Tree, you’ll find Takatsuki - or as we better know her, Eto - at its roots. Even before then; after all, it was Takatsuki’s writings that caused Kaneki to become interested in Rize in the first place.
Eto is the only one to draw a connection between Kaneki and Dazai Osamu other than Kaneki himself, through Kaneki’s name and Osamu’s place of origin.
As she should, since Kaneki it’s her story Kaneki is trying to rebel against. The reason Kaneki connects so deeply with her works is due to their shared life experiences - a half-Ghoul abandoned by their parents who lashes out against a world that seems stacked against them - but while Kaneki is still experiencing that story, Eto is now writing it for him - something that will be expanded upon in :re.
And just as her first book, ‘The Black Goat’s Egg’, symbolises the first half of the manga, Takatsuki’s latest book, ‘The Hanged Man’s McGuffin’ symbolises the second half.
Kaneki’s connection to the Hanged Man is hinted later on with the number 12 on his collar - the number of the Hanged Man’s tarot card.
Kaneki’s demise at the end of the manga is hinted through the perspective of death row prisoners, and indeed, Kaneki is in a prison of his own; the prison of tragedy. He’s been sentenced to death by the author from the start.
He sounds like a ghoul because he is one, Kaneki. That’s you. And of course this is the book that picks him up out of his post-Banjou-stabbing slump and allows him to continue down his tragic path.
A Tragedy can only end with the death of the hero, and that’s just how Tokyo Ghoul ends. In true tragic fashion, Kaneki is warned over and over again about the path he’s walking on - by Yoshimura, by Touka, by Nishiki, even by Shuu - yet he refuses to heed them, sticking to his values to the bitter end.
And in the final chapter, the world remains wrong. The words are repeated like a death toll for all the characters lost. Kaneki was unable to defeat the tragedy he was written into.
But is this really the end?
The final chapter plants seeds of doubt in our minds. Eto wasn’t the only writer to this story. And the Clowns aren’t satisfied with the story ending just yet. Similarly, Eto’s aim in rewriting her own story with Kaneki has not yet been revealed. And there is a whole other writer to this story still concealed, whose input will change everything.
Kaneki, and his story, has died. But they’re ready for a :rebirth.
‘A Metafictive Reading of Tokyo Ghoul :re’, coming soon. If you thought the original series was meta, you ‘ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
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After years of being put through things they never would’ve imagined, not knowing if the other was alive or dead.. Here they both are
Finally, together, on the same side. In the same place. Able to be themselves.
And able to have the conversation they’ve been waiting for and wanting ever since their first meeting. They can finally get to know each other, hear each others’ stories. And turn the understanding they’d reached into a path towards achieving their goal- to change their wrong world.
Just look. Look at the way Amon turns toward that familiar voice, how he looks at Kaneki
He looks at him with his entire soul in his eyes. (Seriously what a gorgeous panel.) He’s finally seeing his full face for the first time :’) but you know he recognizes those eyes, that voice, that white hair. His eyes are so gentle, and tired, and full of emotion. A little haunted. But he looks so beautiful.
And he calls Kaneki by the only name he knows him by.. Eyepatch :’) Just like old times. If that doesn’t bring a smile to Kaneki’s face I don’t know what will.
He still doesn’t even know Kaneki’s name, but here they are. Finally able to have the conversation that’s been led up to for years. With this, so much can change, including each other. I’m sure Kaneki will help Amon to accept what he is now, and control his new strength and grow into it. And Amon will be able to give Kaneki the same guidance that he has ever since their first meeting.
On this little bench is where I’m guessing their conversation will happen. On the rooftop of the building, under a night sky (something that was always associated with their relationship).
This is seriously too beautiful. This means absolutely everything.
In the last chapters Touka seems to always be wearing the same white T-shirt, however, depending on the time and situation, Ishida decides to emphasize the forms that are include on the top:
In chapter 122 Touka wants to have time alone to talk with Kaneki, therefore the shirt that she wears consists of shapes similar to those of an hourglass
Hourglasses are often used to symbolize '' time'', even at windows computers one can set the mouse so that the waiting icon takes that form.
In chapter 125 Touka wears the same t-shirt but with Y forms at the top, this could be linked to the chapter title "X:"
In genetic, the masculine gender consists of XY chromosomes, this could be indicating two things to us: first that probably the son was conceived that night (good job Kaneki), and second that probably the child will be a boy.
In chapter 135 Touka wears the same T-shirt with four-leaf clover shapes at the top
As i explained in an earlier post, the four leaf clovers are representative of good fortune and hope, indicating a possible positive result to the conflict that is happening right now.
Although one might think that the forms on that T-shirt are due to the artistic style of Ishida, in my opinion and based on the approach that he puts while drawing them, makes me think that not only aren't for chance, but that they intend to launch a concrete message depending on the situation and the moment.
Similarities and contrasts on the cover of volume 11
The cover of volume 11 featuring Mutsuki has some similarities with another Touka color illustration launched by Ishida around the same time:
This far from being for chance is done with premeditation. If we look at the circular forms located behind Mutsuki, we will see that there are written some letters that form the word "aktor"
Aktor is an Indonesian word that in english means actor.
Mutsuki just like Touka feels a deep love for Sasaki, which being aware of the type of relationship that they both share leads him to suffer an intense jealousy towards her. This is reflected in this illustration, in which we can see how Mutsuki tries to act as if he was her:
Mutsuki tries to be someone who he isn't, imitates both her body posture and her facial expression, covering the same eye as her, placing a crown on his head (clearly alluding to the fact that Touka having married with the king acquires the queen status on a symbolic way), arriving so far as to change the color of his own skin
or putting a "wing" where is frequently represented Touka's kagune
This wing-shaped figure was used before in the cover of volume 3 (from Tokyo Ghoul) to reflect that Hinami's kagune had in its upper part the form of butterfly wings:
and also in the illustration of Tokyo Ghoul Past novel to reflect that the kagune of Touka had the shape of a wing:
However, as we know, Mutsuki doesn't have a kagune whose shape has the form of a wing, that's why it's represented by a black liquid emerging from it, indicating that it has been put there forcedly.
Despite Mutsuki's efforts to resemble Touka, some differences still remain. As we can observe in the diferent illustrations, despite tilting their head in the same way and having the same look, they do it in opposite directions; while Touka's smile is itchy, Mutsuki's smile seems to be malevosy; even though he wears the same clothes as her in this illustration:
We continue visualizing them from different perspectives, while we see Touka from her back, to Mutsuki we visualize him from the front.
Meaning that for him is impossible to totally be her.
These differences that are contrasted in the two illustrations with Mutsuki's one, can have in turn the purpose to make us compare both forms of loving Kaneki, because despite sharing the same feelings towards him, Touka would sacrifice her happiness for Kaneki, meanwhile Mutsuki for the sake to make him return to the Chateau, would sacrifice Kaneki's happiness for his.
Thus the Mutsuki cover of volume 11 was made in such a way that it could be contrasted and compared with both Touka's colour illustrations.