#I have hide spoilers I have kaneki spoilers I even have the one-eyed ghoul spoilers

[no-brain-just-akutagawa]

Assumptions ohoho! Well! 1. You are brunette (I'm projecting Akutagawa onto you even if you're actually blonde). 2. You are shorter than me (yeah you assumed my height too and were wrong! Mwahah I will answer that later, but for reference I'm 170cm tall). 3. You watched YuGiOh, and if not, you should at least start watching YuGiOh The Abridged Series by LittleKuriboh (jojosis rec). 4. You prefer pants rather than skirts. Slim pants maybe? Edgy fashion? I have no idea lol 5. You are a water or earth sign (oh no astrology noooo). 6. You already like Hide from Tokyo Ghoul lmaooo (yes I am so excited you started reading the manga !!!! Aaaaa, I wish you happy suffering!! 💜🐁)

Jojosis coming here with a whole collection of assumptions fshksjsgs alrighty let's go one by one:

Having a "brunette energy" is such an achievement (because I always wanted to have dark hair), but I'm actually blonde ksjsbxhsh though I die my hair a lot, so it doesn't matter that much. Currently I'm faking having dark roots, but I'm 100% blonde haha

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? I'M 170CM TALL!! What are the odds ksksjcdhfg I could've sworn you're taller than me!!

I've just learnt that yu-gi-oh isn't a card game that has a show to promote it but a manga that has a card game done after it... the more you know! (I'll put it on my to watch list but it's never ending so we will see we will see haha)

You're absolutely correct. I really dislike wearing any skirts/dresses unless they're more fitting for the situation (e.g I'd much rather wear a skirt for a summer exam than spend the whole time sweating in pants) and as you know, my emo phase never really went away and so I still well black skinny jeans for like 90% of the time. I wish I had the budget (and confidence) for edgy fashion especially punk fashion but for now it's either sweaters of hoodies haha

Tell me how to calculate my sign and I'll tell you, because right now I genuinely have no idea 👀

That's true! Right now my fave is Touka, but I'll see how it changes. Also fun fact I read chapters 67-70 instead of 37-40 and I was so lost for a good hour frantically googling what's going on, because I thought I didn't notice something important and as you can imagine I spoiled so much for myself before I realized I clicked the wrong chapter skdjshxgsb

[ghoulromantism-moved]

SYSTEM KANEKI HC: an explanation post

rewrite of this post from a few months ago!! im posting it on this sideblog this time bc i keep changing my main’s url

disclaimer again: im a singlet but my gf @ditzgf​ gave me some info abt systes and answered some of my questions, and i did a lot of research abt systems b4 writing this post, but yea if i say anything bad tell me bc idk everything sdfghjklmù

this post will contain spoilers and will contain themes of abuse, torture, death, etc. 

it’ll also be kinda messy and unorganized bc im bad @ putting my thoughts in2 words

kaneki is probably a system bc he has childhood trauma (his mother beating him up), an inner world (as depicted in a few chapters of tg and tg:re, during his torture or when haise and kaneki were communicating prior to the rose extermination operation), and in tg, Banjou once says that he still has his tender heart from be4 being tortured by Yamori, but he sometimes turns merciless like an on/off switch (which could just be a different alter)

two of the most striking pieces of evidence are tg:re chapter 144, where kaneki talks to different versions of himself,

and tg chapter 140, where kuroneki hugs shironeki and thanks him for always fighting for the “weaker him”

these panels both seem to show the different alters communicating in some sort of inner world.

the alters

i think we can easily identify a few different alters.

one of them is Rize. (not exactly the “real” Rize. this alter would be an introject of her) 

At certain points, kaneki is seen talking to her despite her being supposedly dead. In the manga, he talks to her when he’s being tortured, and when he’s “dragon”. in the anime, she is much more present, seemingly tormenting him after his transformation into a ghoul. when fighting amon for the first time, kaneki even says he’s letting her take control of his body. I think Rize is a persecutor because she is very often tormenting kaneki, probably with the goal of making him “stronger”.

another easily identifiable alter is Haise. He doesn’t remember anything of his life as “kaneki”, and he seems to be struggling with the fact that many people see him as kaneki and not as his own person, 

I think there was also an introject of Hide at some point, since when Kaneki fights Arima in tg:re, Hide appears and tells him to keep on living. 

Another important thing to note is that all these different alters seem to have “appeared” during stressful times. Rize -> when Kaneki was turned into a ghoul Shironeki -> when Yamori tortured him Centipede -> after Kanou tells him a ghoul named Yoshimura is the leader of Aogiri and Kaneki believes he is talking abt the manager 240/Haise -> after Arima “kills” Kaneki Black Reaper -> almost dying during the Rose Suppression Operation One-eyed king & Hide-> fighting against Arima a 2nd time

anyways those r my thoughts dxgfhtguyuhjikolp

[the-phantom-peeves]

Some thoughts on Tokyo Ghoul hair symbolism

I’m sure there’s probably like, 49602693 confirmed theories on Kaneki and other characters’ hair changes, but someone was asking me about this the other day and I had to write down my own thoughts. (This is phrased in a way that’s friendly to anime-onlys who are caught up as well, since that was the person asking me). 

In terms of Kaneki’s hair turning white, I think Marie Antoinette syndrome is only a fitting trope for the first time his hair turns white-- after being tortured-- as other situations like his fight with Arima in Cochlea would /not/ cause Marie Antoinette syndrome (his hair changed colors before the fight truly began) and it still wouldn’t explain why his hair suddenly turns to black again and so on. But alas, anime does exaggerate things so who am I to totally out-rule this idea. Also I don’t even know if tg fans still bring up Mary Antoinette Syndrome.... I may just be old..

Anyway, moving on to my personal thoughts on the hair dilemma. 

Whenever Kaneki’s hair turns white it represents him accepting the half of himself that’s a ghoul, or acceptance of his place in both worlds/responsibilities towards them. When his hair turns white the first time, the kind boy in denial changed into something more ruthless, and he immersed himself entirely into the ghoul world (in the manga this symbolism makes more sense, because instead of joining Aogiri like the anime, he creates his own band of close friends who are ghouls to work with). 

His black hair, conversely, represents his feelings of obligation towards his human half. So, back to the whole in-denial thing at the very beginning of the series: his hair remains black even as a one-eyed ghoul, because he is clinging desperately onto his humanity. His hair turns black again sometime in :Re when his memories return, as we’ve just seen in the anime, because he decides to fully devote himself to acting like a human investigator at the CCG (again, this makes more sense in the manga where we see more scenes of him coldly exterminating ghouls and carrying out his missions, instead of skipping straight to the Black/White Reaper fight scene). 

After seeing Touka and getting a mental scolding from Hide in that arc, he is convinced not to throw his life away and live with the people he cares about, as a one-eyed ghoul once more-- and so his hair turns white.

 I left an explanation of Haise’s hair for the end so that I could explain the two colors separately first, but now that I have I think it’s pretty straightforward. Haise’s hair is half black and half white because of his identity issues, struggling between living as mainly a human in the CCG and clinging to his past as a ghoul in Anteiku. 

Very simply put; Black = humanity. White = ghoulhood. (Those labels are relative to whatever they might mean for Kaneki at the time of him donning them).

To add even further support of this, it happens with Juuzou too. Juuzou has white hair in the beginning while he’s a bit off his rocker/inhuman, and with Sonohara’s guidance (and eventual death) he sets himself on the right path/becomes more human, and by the time we see him again in :re, his hair has been changed to black to represent that humanization. We also see the white hair repeat in other characters like Takizawa and [Minor manga spoilers -->] Tooru when they either get turned into ghouls or start using their ghoul abilities to the fullest. In the end, unlike Juuzou whose hair became black after his redemption, Tooru’s hair remains white like Kaneki’s, because he is able to be himself with his, “family,” while still utilizing his ghoul abilities.

Anyway, these are just my independent thoughts on it all, not having bothered to look up discussions about it in my many years of reading Tokyo Ghoul. What do you guys think? Is there any artistic meaning at all to Ishida’s black/white hair choices? Or am I just a fool because there’s already a confirmed explanation somewhere? Let me know (ﾉ ´  ◡ ` )ﾉ*: ･ﾟ

EDIT: to clarify, I’m talking about the possible literary/artistic symbolism in hair colors of tokyo ghoul. There are in-story explanations involving rc counts to rationalize these changes within the narrative, but this post’s theories and the canon “scientific” explanation are not mutually exclusive. Also removed a whole section about marie antoinette stuff because these were just shower thoughts that I didn’t expect to blow up and now I wanna refine them.

[eduardomeneses]

Coming To Terms With Tokyo Ghoul

*There are spoilers in the following text for those who have not kept up with the anime/manga*

It’s been about 4 years since the first season of Tokyo Ghoul premiered and I can’t say that I’m satisfied with where it has ended up thus far. In very few words, since the end of the first season, the show has taken a messy turn for the worst.

It’s been difficult to enjoy Tokyo Ghoul re: because of the technical missteps with regards to how the story is being handled. 4 seasons in, the art, for the most part, has remained the same, if not a tad darker. The soundtrack is just as good as it ever was, much of the music being carried over from earlier seasons as we still have Yutaka Yamada, composer from the first two seasons, handling the score. The problem I have with Tokyo Ghoul re: is the disconnect between these last two seasons and the first two. It may be useful to note that for Tokyo Ghoul:re, there has been a change in the director as well as the lead character designer. I’m not sure of how much this truly affects the show, but it clarifies some of the lack of continuity within the show and its struggles with crafting a fluid narrative from previous seasons to now. Like the change in director, the jump between Tokyo Ghoul and Root A to Tokyo Ghoul:re has been a drastic one.

These past two seasons of Tokyo Ghoul:re have not done a good job of making the anime progress logically for those not immersed in the manga. The beginnings of Tokyo Ghouls:re feel like a totally new show altogether, even though it is meant to be a continuation of the events that ended vaguely with Tokyo Ghoul Root A. I’ll acknowledge that this idea of starting anew could have been interesting, considering we start with a Kaneki Ken who is living in his new identity as Sasaki Haise. Since Kaneki(Sasaki) is oblivious to his past, the show and its audience should be as well. The issue with this is that they unraveled and revealed too much in too short a time. The show never gave Kaneki nor the audience the proper rollout or time to process the new reality of its central character. The first few episodes of Tokyo Ghoul:re feel similar to they way Tokyo Ghoul transitioned into Tokyo Ghoul Root A.

To compare to the first season, what I appreciated so much about Tokyo Ghoul is how the 12 episodes take us on a winding path down Kaneki’s adjustment and rejection to life as a half-ghoul. It was heartbreaking and beautiful to watch him deny himself as an act of self-preservation and self-righteousness, just to abandon it all in the end to save himself, and subsequently those he cares about. To this day, episode 12 of the first season of Tokyo Ghoul is without a doubt of the highest quality in any anime to exist at the time. All the reaction videos and reviews of that episode alone provide evidence to that. It also ranks highly in my catalog of episodes and the last 5 minutes is one of my favorite sequences of all time. The emotions surrounding Kaneki and his upbringing and then the catharsis in Kaneki’s acceptance of Rize and the life of a ghoul. It all set up Kaneki’s further fall from humanity that would come in Tokyo Ghoul Root A. The transition to the second season was choppy at best. The second season did very little to transition the story and provide a way into understanding more of Kaneki’s decision to abandon his humanity, his friends, his morals that he held onto so tightly in the first season. We never got to join Kaneki is his descent to madness as he consumed other ghouls, we never get glimpses in his decision to throw away most of what he knows and abandon his new found family at Anteiku. We were forced to take the transformation as matter of fact, and this brings us back to Tokyo Ghoul:re Tokyo Ghoul:re suffers from the same lack of transition. Kaneki is a shadow of his former self and the same goes for how the show deals with his new realities as a member of the CCG and his struggles with his former self.

With Tokyo Ghoul:re we are given a new central cast that feels removed from the universe we were presented with in the first two seasons. We slowly learn that this new group surrounding Sasaki(Kaneki) is an experiment in trying to form an anti ghoul squad made up of artificial one-eyed ghouls like Sasaki(Kaneki). As the season progresses, we get glimpses into Sasaki’s identity struggles as he communicates with his former selves in his head in moments of need. His true self locked away only until he is on the verge of death. Most times he speaks to a childhood version of himself, but after a while, different versions of himself pop up, (the centipede aogiri tree Kaneki, the broken by Jason Kaneki, etc.) But they are only ever glimpses. Brief moments where he surrenders his identity as Sasaki to allow Kaneki to come forth and handle the situation at hand. These questions and struggles of identity I can only assume are never pretty or clear to understand, but the show never made it any easier on the audience. This also applies to the larger plot elements that transpire as the season progresses. From Arima and the One-Eyed Owl’s plot to have Kaneki become the next one-eyed king, the Washuu Clan’s ultimate desire to take over the CCG and rule Japan as ghouls, to the conspiracy surrounding the doctor behind Kaneki’s beginnings as a one-eyed ghoul. The way the show presents the story is like they expect the audience to have some prior knowledge of all the events. It feels like they approached these two seasons of Tokyo Ghoul:re with the assumption that the audience has been keeping up with the manga between the end of Root A and :re and are aware of everything that is going on.

This is where my biggest gripes with the latest seasons come from. The story feels choppy, jumping from one event to the next without explaining anything in between. The show is all over the place, and nothing feels like it’s important or should be cared about. The erratic pace of the show struggled to establish any sort of hierarchy in the events and reduces the potency of anything that happens. These two seasons of Tokyo Ghoul:re have done very little to make the audience care about Kaneki and his rekindled relationships with those he forgot, particularly Touka and Hide, who was thought to be dead, in his absence while assuming the identity of Sasaki Haise. There is no consequence when Kaneki decides to leave the CCG to form and head the Ghoul organization GOAT.  The gravity in the change of power at the CCG when Arima kills himself is nowhere to be found. If any word comes to mind, it’s nonchalant. A nonchalance towards the characters and their feelings, a nonchalance towards the power struggle that is happening between the humans and the ghouls, the nonchalance of how lives have been dealt with over the last 23 episodes. The characters they’ve kept from the first two seasons are hardly recognizable. it’s frustrating that the quinx squad, the four newest characters to the show have had the most development, at times overshadowing, Kaneki, the most nonchalant of them all.

In all, I wish they had taken their time. Taken their time to let the events flow into one another. Taken their time to allow characters to process the tumultuous events. Taken the time to explain the situations so the audience can care about it all. Taken the time to carefully think through the jumps in time. At this point I’m committed to the train wreck that is Tokyo Ghoul:re and with the final episode a few days away, I don’t expect much. I just wish I could have enjoyed the journey a little more.

[shslmahoushoujo]

Covering the rest of :RE in 12 episodes

Well, I did say I wanted to sit down and figure out how you could possibly do chapters 59-179 in 12 episodes. What I’m running with here is the assumption that it’ll hit the same major plot points without being exactly the same plot, in fact, I did a fair bit of cutting and changing things to lead to the same ending, and I thought also about which cuts could make this ending feel more satisfying, too. General outline and explanation of why I’d do certain things a certain way like this. And no, this is not the 10 chapters an episode solution you’d need to cover it otherwise. And of course, needless to say, after the cut I’ll be going into spoilers, so if you’re anime-only, I’d advise staying away from this post.

So let’s start with some general notes: First, I’d cut Koma and Irimi except for their reveal as living Quinques. Kaneki's fast aging and weaker regeneration would not be addressed, and he’d never turn into Dragon, avoiding a fair bit of issues raised with the finale. Tooru’s downfall storyline would be cut off preemptively by the Qs confronting him, parts of the Clown Siege would make their way into Rue, and the recording of Eto-Furuta conversation would be made public following Cochlea/Rue, allowing compression of content between 100-156. The Clown Siege and Dragon arc would be merged heavily, with only some aspects of the 24th ward arc remaining. Urie and Kuroiwa would join Amon and Yomo in going after the clowns, Saiko wouldn’t get infected and would have a more active role, and since we’d have aspects of the Clown Siege, Touka and the White Suits would be busy aiding people and rejoin the fight at the end rather than a sudden Naki revival and Touka just waiting. Anyway. Here’s how I’m thinking it could work.

- Episode 1: Chapters 59-63. Set up the upcoming conflict, set up the idea of humans and ghouls coming together through Eto's book and the concept of the One Eyed King.

- Episode 2: Chapters 64-68. Beginning of the conflict, first proper look into Kaneki's mindset, promise to kill the One Eyed King, Kaneki's martyr complex.

- Episode 3: Chapters 69-74. :RE enters the fray, battle against Arima, Furuta makes his move, Kaneki's new kakuja, crusher cliffhanger.

- Episode 4: Chapters 75-76, Cochlea parts of 81-86. Defeat and death of Arima, defeat of Eto, truths revealed (Marude and Yoshitoki scenes from Rue remain), reveal of the One-Eyed King and the meaning of :RE.

- Episode 5: Chapters 77-80, Rue parts of 81-85, 87. Tooru's transformation, mystery of the dead Special Class and follower's suicide, Suzuya vs. Kurona seen through to the end, cliffhanger with Seidou and Akira.

- Episode 6: Chapters 88-95. End of Tatara. Akira's inner conflict and Tooru's descent into darkness, fights with Seidou and Amon. Battles in Kanou's lab and the playground. Arrival of the Qs to the scene.

- Episode 7: Chapters 96-98, Clown Siege and Dragon aspects. Battle between the Qs and Amon, but Amon escapes. Kaneki's part of the group that arrives in Rue, so Kaneki and Amon's encounter from the lab arc happens here. Kanou's suicide from 149, Kimi and Nishiki reunion. Conflict between the Qs and Tooru over Tooru's actions against Akira (new version of Dragon arc event).

- Episode 8: New version of chapters 113-120, last page of 98, chapter 99. Attack on Matsuri from 116, battle between Takizawa and Amon; conversations between Kaneki/Touka and Amon/Akira, Furuta obtaining power and reveal of Rize alive, formation of Goat.

- Episode 9: Furuta and Kaneki conversation from 100/101, some major plot points between 121-149. Recording forces Furuta to force his hand and unleash dragon, destruction of :RE, Touken happens. Humans turning into ghouls, dragon orphans appear, chaos in the streets. Goat reconvenes in the 24th ward, Hide finds them and begins arranging the alliance.

- Episode 10: Aspects of 127, major plot points between 150-168, aspects of Clown Siege. Kimi determines the origin of Dragon and that humans are suffering from ROS. Goat rescues people above ground and forms the alliance with the CCG. The alliance unites against Furuta/Clowns/V, Clowns and V attack with some controlled humans and controlled Eto (mix of Clown Siege and Dragon fights). Urie, Kuroiwa, Amon and Yomo go to face off against the Clowns. Kaneki and Ayato head underground and are forced to separate.

- Episode 11: Chapters 169-174, new version of the office fight with Roma and Shikorae. Climactic battles against the clowns. Urie and Kuroiwa face Roma and Shikorae, and Urie faces the truth about how he felt about his father. Yomo and Uta face off, Amon stands up against his own demons and defeats Donato. Kaneki fights and overcomes Furuta.

- Episode 12: Chapters 175-179. Furuta's death, human-ghoul alliance takes down V thanks to the assist from Eto and the White Suits, humans controlled by Donato are saved following his death. Kaneki faces off against Rize/Rize's death, finale happens.

Would it fix all of the issues? No. But a few. Kuroiwa would certainly be in bad shape following the fight with Roma and Shikorae, but without Furuta stabbing his neck, his survival is more believable. And having Urie be part of the group fighting the clowns would succeed at having Donato address the stuff with Urie’s father (which could connect with Amon’s development) while still allowing him to reach his development from 137.

You might notice there’s also another glaring omission: The oggai. I thought a lot about this, and frankly, I think cutting them is for the better in this case. For one, because of time; but two, because their death is never really addressed the way it should’ve been and I think Kaneki not going on his dragon-transformation rampage would make the ending more palatable without that one issue.

Then there’s Tooru. Having Urie decide to act when he thinks about it in a prior chapter and confront him on his actions rather than just staying quiet and fighting Amon is a perfect way to cut off that storyline before it really gets moving, and it both avoids controversy and makes it possible to compress a hell of a lot of content.

Kaneki’s arc would be the most interesting to work around. The main thing is that he stagnates a lot between 100-159 and he makes a lot of bad choices due to it. It’d take some finesse, but I think it’d be possible to have him get to his post 159 self not long after Cochlea. My idea has him showing some presence in Rue (which I feel was originally meant to happen but never did, but that’s another topic) which gets some of his Clown Siege development set, he internalizes it and is a bit more mature when forming Goat, and by the time Touken happens he’s got a better head on his shoulders than when it happened in the manga.

There’s probably more I could say about my reasoning here, but I think I’ll end this here before I lose my train of thought. Even if the anime doesn’t go this direction (it could go for 144+movie or even the dreaded 10 chapters an episode) it certainly was a fun exercise in thinking and I honestly just really want to see how it actually plays out. I’m pretty damn excited!

And just a little final addition. One of the main things I tried here was adding actual original content, but rather just recontextualizing, merging, and reordering canon events to make this work out. And working this like a puzzle in a way is fun. If the screenplay is any similar to this, I can see why the writer would call it a bold arrangement though. It’s not just slap things together, understanding the manga nicely makes it easier to know what to cut and so on. It was good times.

[hidewari]

Your review for chapter 143 please. No Hide in this chapter but I suppose it's not a big deal. It means he's still safe and sound.

@nitsuki-baka said:I think this abrupt ending is pretty good and strong, even if everyone seems to hate it. There is Kaneki who worked so hard for this moment but has still has to realise that everything can be gone within a second. And the desperation that he still had to make him crawl, I cried my eyes out. Hyped for the next bit we’ll get.

anonymous said:do you think the “GAME OVER” could have meant that there is going to be a new start/new beginning for kaneki? the caterpillar thing also makes me think he’ll change again into smth else and have a new beginning. And that that’s what we’ll see in part 3? maybe one where hide shows up and instigates a reform in kaneki’s group and leadership into something better yk?

anonymous said:Reading the spoilers of chapter 143 makes me feel like we’re going to have a trilogy. Especially the way Furuta is acting.

Alright, so I read both the MS and JB translations twice to try and understand the chapter as well as I could and hopefully catch on to anything I might have missed and I think I have a bit to say on the direction I think the series is going to take now.

This chapter has been the big turning point that I think Kaneki really needs to push him in the right direction. He took up the role of the One Eyed King, and that means that he has a whole lot of responsibility on his shoulders whether he likes it or not, and I’ve mentioned before how most of his decisions as King have mostly just been influenced by his emotions. (I’ve given these examples before, but for those who haven’t seen, a couple examples would be when Kaneki wanted to endanger their mission by talking with Amon and another would be his refusal to kill Hajime which essentially lead to the twenty fourth being attacked. Both times Kaneki’s actions have been criticised by Ayato and Tsukiyama respectively. To me, this shows an awareness by the series that this is a major flaw of Kaneki’s which he’s chosen to ignore.)

Kaneki made yet another decision based on his emotions to return to the twenty fourth ward (because he has a “bad feeling”) and that decision went abysmally wrong. To me, this is actually a good thing for Kaneki’s character. This devastation has now been a direct result of his original emotionally driven decision not to kill Hajime, and now, his second emotionally driven decision to return to the twenty fourth ward has resulted in Furuta’s supposed victory.

He’s now not only having to face the fact that he has these flaws as a result of the situation, but it’s also blatantly laid out for him by Furuta himself.

Kaneki is finally being forced to face these flaws that he has in his leadership and the way that he approaches and tackles situations. Even as King, knowing that he’s responsible for the lives of hundreds, even thousands, he still too often thinks of himself and does things for selfish reasons, even if he doesn’t know it.

He only takes the side of ghouls because he wants to protect those who are close to him. He doesn’t really care for the unification of species in and of itself, he only cares about it because it would put the people he cares for in a better position and make them safe.

And this always reminds me of the scene in chapter 120 of Tokyo Ghoul where Touka confronts Kaneki about this exact motive and indicates exactly how it is driven by Kaneki’s own selfishness.

Kaneki still hasn’t moved on from this mindset, and even he himself acknowledges that this makes him a terrible leader, yet he appears to have no desire to change this, presumably because he doesn’t realise that it’s the exact reason why he could be putting the people he cares about in trouble.

In fact, I think it still isn’t clear to him what his role as leader should be. He still isn’t looking at the big picture, and seems to only focus on his own role within all of this, which is ironically inhibiting him from being able to take up the position that he wants to and become the leader that he has to in order to achieve his goals.

He touches his chin when he tells Hinami that he’ll be right behind her; at least a part of him knows that he isn’t going to make it out of this, but I think he’s made himself content with that. This is the moment he claims to have been living for; this is the moment he finally gets to protect everyone he loves. This is the moment that he shows himself as a true leader, by becoming a martyr to protect the ones he loves.

It may have appeared that he had chosen to live alongside Touka, but the reality is that he never really moved on from that mindset he had back in cochlea; wanting to die “in style” for the sake of someone else.

This much is clear in his dialogue in this chapter.

He says he’s been living for this day, this day that he seems to apparently realise he won’t be able to survive, but he’s content with that. All this time, he never really moved on from wanting to protect others with his life; that’s been his motivation since the beginning of the series, and it still is, and although this isn’t exactly a negative thing, it is preventing him from seeing the bigger picture. His desire is still the same, just he’s shifted his focus from death to life.

He’s so concerned with himself in this situation; he wants to defeat Furuta, and in his death, he’ll be able to protect all those who are close to him, but he isn’t considering what his role as King really means beyond this. Killing Furuta isn’t just going to magically bring about the unification of humans and ghouls; it isn’t going to guarantee the safety of those close to him. As King, as a leader, there is so much more work to be done, but Kaneki fails to really see his role in this in perspective as a result of his bias.

That’s why I think this whole chapter’s themes have been a pivotal point for Kaneki’s character. Not only is he forced to come face to face with the fact that his methods are inefficient, but we also get more subtle symbolism.

Firstly, as some have pointed out, Furuta’s referral to Kaneki as a caterpillar could be foreshadowing of a coming transformation he may make, a metamorphosis, which links to Franz Kafka’s story of the same name which Kaneki’s story has been compared to before.

Not only that, but the butterfly has been a symbol of positive change in the series before, and assuming we are currently in the Judgement arc, this points to significant development and flourishing in Kaneki’s character to come, which brings me onto why I think there will be a third part and how this will line up with the Fool’s journey.

Judgement is a card which calls for a period of self-reflection and self-evaluation. Kaneki is now being forced reflect and evaluate his approach, and this is the key to his fulfilment. The Judgement card calls for a moment in someone’s life in which they “come to a point of deep understanding about the common themes throughout [their] life and what [they] can do or change to avoid these situations in the future.”

“The Judgement card suggests that you have had a recent epiphany or an ‘awakening’ where you have come to a realisation that you need to live your life in a different way and you need to be true to yourself and your needs. You have opened yourself up to a new possibility – to lead a fulfilling life that serves your higher needs and that offers inspiration and hope to others. You feel as though you have had a ‘calling’ in life, and you are getting much closer to the point where you need to take action. Something that was lying dormant within you, some unconscious knowledge or truth is finally being awakened and brought into the light.”

“The Fool has been reborn.

His false, ego-self has been shed, allowing his radiant, true self to manifest. He has discovered that joy, not fear, is at life’s centre.

The Fool feels absolved. He forgives himself and others, knowing that his real self is pure and good. He may regret past mistakes, but he knows they were due to his ignorance of his true nature. He feels cleansed and refreshed, ready to start anew.

It is time for the Fool to make a deeper Judgement (20) about his life. His own personal day of reckoning has arrived. Since he now sees himself truly, he can make the necessary decisions about the future. He can choose wisely which values to cherish, and which to discard.”

To me, this is reminiscent of this piece of art which foreshadows this awakening with the caption “I stand here with my past self,” indicating that Kaneki has moved on from his past self and his old mindset, ready to start anew.

Tokyo Ghoul and Tokyo Ghoul:re are the stories of the Fool’s journey on his path to personal development and self-fulfilment. Judgement is the second to last stage of the Fool’s journey, so that may leave you asking, what could come after this to warrant a third part?

I believe a third part to the series would serve as “the World” stage of the Fool’s journey. Though Kaneki’s journey of self-development and fulfilment comes to an end in Tokyo Ghoul:re, the third instalment should be about how he uses this fulfilment and flourishing to make his influence on the World and finally pursue the goal he’s established as the One Eyed King. The Fool’s own personal journey ends with Tokyo Ghoul:re, but that just means that he’s now ready to begin his influence on the world.

“The Fool reenters the World (21), but this time with a more complete understanding. He has integrated all the disparate parts of himself and achieved wholeness. He has reached a new level of happiness and fulfilment

The Fool experiences life as full and meaningful. The future is filled with infinite promise. In line with his personal calling, he becomes actively involved in the world. He renders service by sharing his unique gifts and talents and finds that he prospers at whatever he attempts. Because he acts from inner certainty, the whole world conspires to see that his efforts are rewarded. His accomplishments are many.

So the Fool’s Journey was not so foolish after all. Through perseverance and honesty, he reestablished the spontaneous courage that first impelled him on his search for Self, but now he is fully aware of his place in the world. This cycle is over, but, the Fool will never stop growing. Soon he will be ready to begin a new journey that will lead him to ever greater levels of understanding.”

[zeartpit]

Tokyo Ghoul :re Chapter 131 Sad Analysis *SPOILERS*:

So I just read Chapter 131 of Tokyo Ghoul :re. I was happy that Touka finally told Kaneki she was pregnant and that both of them are married in ghoul terms, but it just makes me a bit uneasy about the flashback in that chapter. I found it weird that Ishida-sensei just through this into this chapter. It really made me uneasy and a bit sad. 

Kaneki is supposedly aging at a rapid pace and he needs to limit his Kagune use, avoid dangerous fights, and cannibalize ghouls so he could age and heal normally. Kaneki mentions that about a month ago he began getting black tears. Could that be his red arms from chapter 125 are what he was describing?

This is a case similar to Arima, in my opinion. 

He was already losing vision in his right eye due to glaucoma, which is a disease only the elderly or older people get as they age. But since Arima is a demi-human, he was already using way too many RC Cells even though he didn’t exactly have a kagune. As mentioned in early chapters, humans have a small amount of RC Cells. He was one of the few hybrids that was able to eat human food rather than how ghouls eat. Armia had a ghoul parent in which allowed him to gain highly developed physical abilities but also a shorter life span.

I wonder if Eto had a short life-span because of her RC Cells or if the reason she had consumed many ghouls in order to become a Kakuja was to extend her life span and appearance. She may have been aging just like Arima and Kaneki, but she was born as a half-ghoul, which makes me wonder greatly about this.

Moving on to Dr. Kanou’s ghoulification test subjects:

Kaneki originally got his white hair color after undergoing torture by Yamori. And so did Seidou. Since RC pathways open up from repetitive torture or from previous inflicted wounds, there comes the rapid growth of RC Cells, thus shortening the lifespan of an artificial half-ghoul. Could that be why all of their hair was white? 

Amon is a different situation though. He refused to eat human meat and was very weak in the fight against Seidou. Amon doesn’t have white hair and he doesn’t show any signs of being tortured in the past, rather he gained the power of a Kakuja just like Seidou. Seidou underwent torture to develop his ghoul and Kakuja abilities, but Amon just developed his immediately. Did Amon finally decide to eat human meat or did he cannibalize other ghouls to gain the power of a Kakuja? This was just strange. Maybe something in the chemical chamber gave him a boost or he went berserk with a rapid RC Cell production throughout his body? Could the rapid RC cell production be from his fight with Seidou? It doesn’t add up very well. It could be possible that he developed more RC pathways, but if you remember, Amon went berserk after his fight against the CCG and his Kagune took over transforming him into a Kakuja for the first time shown. He has shown no signs of aging or white hair. 

And what about Kaneki? It was strange when they fought, his hair shifted from black back to white in an instant. It was because Hide came to him in the form of an apparition, but there is more to that than you know. It could be that he had an overgrowth of RC Cells from his fight with Arima which explains how he was able to use his kagune as limbs. This causes his hair to turn white as he was supposedly “aging.” It would also explain why his arms are taking a while to heal. Kaneki is still regenerating from his fight with Arima and since the RC Cell separation is getting smaller and more rapid, Kaneki is aging fast. Kaneki has a lot of RC pathways as shown in his x-ray from his previous fights. The RC Cells are killing him as well as the other artificial half-ghouls and it really makes me sad. I still don’t know about Eto though. From where she was last mentioned she stated she was dying, but who knows?

Why does this story have to be a tragedy? Why can’t Kaneki and Touka just live in peace man? I want the series to end with ghoul equality where humans and ghouls can live among society. And the CCG is destroyed while the production of cloned human meat or something exists. Pffttt. I love that they are happy within that moment, but I feel that there is a 0.001% chance that the manga will end with a happy ending. *Sigh*

I guess Kaneki can live a normal life span if he cannibalized ghouls willing to sacrifice themselves to him. But who knows? How the heck did the One-Eyed King survive through all of this? Hopefully everyone else will live a normal life span too... *Sigh*

As for Kaneki’s and Touka’s baby. I dunno how they’re going to work it out. Is it possible Touka could eat human food mixed with human meat? Can she use RC suppressants to be able to eat human food for the baby? Or is she going to lose it? 

Man I want a happy TouKen (KaneTou) Family for a change. My Direct OTP Syndrome is killing me! 

My analysis could be wrong. But I tried informing ya’ll about the possibilities that could happen.

[jooniereflection]

(Spoilers) Shipping wars & is Touka abusive towards Kaneki?

*Tokyo Ghoul spoilers ahead*

I’ve talked about this in another plataforms (such as Reddit), but I feel the need to make a whole post about this subject in here. Since I’m giving my opinion (that is, by the way, supported by facts), I need to say that since I’ve got in touch with Tokyo Ghoul, both the manga and the anime, that I could see Kaneki and Touka getting together at some point of the story, and yeah I ship it, but I don’t think that it matters tbh. A lot of people liked what has been happening in recent chapters of TG:re (Touken having sex *cough*), and a lot of people hated it. For me it doesn’t matter if you ship it or not, but see that’s exactly the point in here: people read a manga, watch an anime or watch a TV show and everything they care about in the series is based on shipping and that gets kinda stupid, especially when “fans” start to hate on the artist (in this case, mangaka Ishida Sui), destroy merch, etc, just because their ship didn’t sail, or because the ship they hate is now canon. Don’t get me wrong, people can enjoy stuff in their own way, but at least don’t harm the author like this? And why are people making everything about shipping wars? And why are people mad because Kaneki turned out to be straight, when the whole story started with him going on a date with Rize, who happens to be a girl? And why are people saying Touka is abusive (and messing with her Tokyo Ghoul Wikia page, for example) just because they don’t like Touken to be canon? I’m not gonna lie: I loved chapter, why? Because regardless of me shipping Touken (because what I ship doesn’t fucking matter now), this is probably the first time Kaneki is happy since the WHOLE series; and as everyone knows his life was never good at all (especially because of his mother abuse). About Hidekane: Hide was (is, I want him to be alive as well), Kaneki’s best friend and probably the only person he has ever received love from in his whole life. He was with him since childhood and a very special person for him. But, once again, it is pretty obvious since the beginning of the series that Kaneki isn’t gay, and Hide also supported him going on a date with a girl (he even thought it was Touka at first lol), and I’m 100% sure Hide would be 100% for Kaneki right now. Although I don’t care if someone ships this or not, I think we also should try to understand that there is a difference between friendship and romantic relationships. There are m/f friendships too. Not every human interaction means a romantic relationship, keep that in mind.

About Touka and Kaneki’s relationship: I’ve seen people making biased statements saying Touka is abusive towards Kaneki, because she hit on him a few times. I highly believe it isn’t abusive and this is my point based on what I’ve read in the manga: First time we saw Touka hitting on Kaneki and being truly violent towards him was in the beginning, when they first met after Kaneki was turned into an One-Eyed Ghoul. He called her a monster, saying he wouldn’t eat human meat because he wasn’t one, she got mad because she wasn’t used with One-Eyed ghouls (can’t explain this any better sorry D:). Well, we can see where it went right? (Surely Touka wasn’t the only one who got violent with him when they first met, we got Nishiki, Tsukiyama, etc). Then she rejected him for a while when he joined Anteiku, but it isn’t like Kaneki liked her too the firsts times they were together, he even said she was kinda scary. Then they started to get into a better relationship, mainly when he helped her when Hinami’s mother was killed. The story goes on, and I think the next time we saw Touka hitting on Kaneki was when he went to Anteiku first time after he left (edit). She went after him and ended up being bitchy, calling him trash and hitting on him. I believe she was truly mean that time, but there is something that needs to be pointed out: in TG Touka was pretty mad, with an angry personality (just like Ayato did and something she changed in TG:re), she was indeed a bitch that time. But I also remember that she regreted acting bitchy with him, because she thought that after being a total bitch he wouldn’t be coming back to Anteiku at all. Personally, I see this as a growing character: fucking things up and regretting it in a second. She has flaws and made mistakes just like anyone else. Deep down she just wanted him to be back. She was hurt because he left her behind, and mirroring her personality, she raged over him. TG ends with Touka hoping Kaneki will come back, and as a consequence for that she builds :re, a home that he can come back anytime. She didn’t force him to get his memories back as Haise, even though he went to the café and she knew Haise was Kaneki. But she simply didn’t want to force it on him, she didn’t want to do it for her own happiness, and that’s why I think that statements saying she forced herself on him are also biased af. And then she hit on him again after the Cochlea raid… And I have to say that it isn’t abuse either. I’d call it tsundere behavior tbh… I’m not even get deep into this, I’ll just say that it happens in many manga / anime. I just wanna state that Touka was always there for him. Even though he left her behind (because he wanted to protect her), she built a home for him waiting for him to come back, trained him in the beginning even though they didn’t get along very well (something he mentioned somewhere in TG:re), showed deep concern when he was kidnapped by Aogiri and risked her life to rescue him. His mother abused him. His mother was agressive and left him alone. Touka hit on him a few times of course, but it is lame to just see it as abuse (and say it is the same as his mother's​ behavior) when there is so much more to be seen. I think people need to understand her behavior better. The sex scene was, well, beautiful. I’ve seen people explaining it better than me tbh so I’m gonna skip this because it wasn’t the point of this post anyway. I just wanna say that for me it was more than sex and more than romance. It was development for both of them. I think their relationship is very complex and not perfect at all. It is about two people who have walked a long road, two people who acted bad towards each other, two people who were apart for quite long time. But not an abusive relationship.

[the-bejeesus]

My Thoughts on Tokyo Ghoul: Re

Spoilers for Tokyo Ghoul: Re

     So right now I’m on chapter 82 of Tokyo Ghoul: Re. Haise is back to white-haired Kaneki but is also back to fighting Arima. Juuzou is in fight with those twin one-eyed ghouls from the first manga. But a plot-twist: They’re the same person now. Tooru killed Torso, after realizing that she has a condition where she psychotically kills and then forces the traumatizing memories of being a monster out of her mind.

     In hindsight, it wasn’t really that bad that I had to deal with several arcs of Haise doing stuff seemingly unimportant to the Tokyo Ghoul storyline. When I think about it, the original manga was like that too. The arcs about Nishiki, Hinami’s mom’s death, and Tsukiyama, they all felt unrelated to Aogori. I probably just wasn’t bothered because I wasn’t expecting Aogori. And while those arcs were irrelevant, the main arcs wouldn’t have had the same power without them. The same is the case here.  The moment Haise starts acting like Kaneki again, tragedy starts right back up the track. The arc with Torso affects Tooru now. The clown auction too. Shirazu’s death is probably half the reason of Haise being open to Kaneki (what’s the point of avoiding your tragic past if you have a tragic present?). The Tsukiyama arc was the main push for getting Haise’s memories back. Although Haise was a real bitch about it and acted like he let the Kaneki within him disappear. Fucking Haise, trolling the audience like that.

     I love the fight between Kaneki and Arima right now. For one, because of his new form. Two, I really don’t know who wins. Three, gore and flowers underground somehow. Four, Arima is actually challenged this time for two reasons: he’s trained Haise for years and also doesn’t want to kill him. At first he was all like “642 times I could’ve killed you. How much luckier do you think you’ll be?” but then he was like “You were the half-ghoul Kaneki! It was said that you would bring power to the CCG not sabatoge. You were my son, Haise. I loved you.” and then Kaneki with no legs or arms and potentially burning from the indoor heat was all like “I HATE YOU!” and then Emperor Palpatine came and saw him an— wait somewhere I started talking about Star Wars by accident. Anyways it’s really awesome and I love it.

      Juuzou fighting the twins I don’t really care for. Urie invading that island sounds interesting but they haven’t really shown anything happen yet. I don’t like the plot twist with the Tooru-Torso arc because Tooru was a nice little cinnamon roll and I liked her. Now she’s a sicko. I also don’t like the vaguely suggested plot-twist that Hide died after letting Kaneki eat him so that Kaneki could win a fight we know he loses. We don’t see Kaneki accept the offer nor see him eat Hide, so it could potentially be a corruption of the mind either from brain damage or Arima lying to Kaneki (He told Kaneki back when Kaneki was held up in Cochlea that he killed everyone Kaneki loves himself. If Touka, Nishiki, Tsukiyama, Banjou, and Yomo are any indication, Arima was being a lying little bitch. And also the entire scene where Kaneki encountered Hide, he was in kakuja form, which causes psychedellic problems. He could’ve easily been hallucinating Hide. But if this Hide death does end up being confirmed later in the manga, I hate it. Absolutely hate it. My guess is Ishida didn’t even want to do that until the anime killed Hide off. Unless he wants to put Hide in the plot and make it impossible for a season 3 to get written, he’s gotta sweep Hide under the rug somehow in the manga too. But this is horrible. Horrible. In all of my anime/manga viewing days, there has been no worsely portrayed death than Hide’s in Tokyo Ghoul √A. Hide drinks coffee for awhile. If injured, he’s had plenty of time to seek medical attention. He starts bleeding out. He says “ouch, oof. My organs. They must’ve been wounded after that nonspecific thing happened to me back there that the anime will not show nor will I explain. X_X I’m dead.” Then Kaneki bleeds out of his ghoul eye which makes no metaphorical nor logical sense. But Ishida, if you do not discover that the Hide’s death that you wrote is false, you have officially written the worst death in all of manga. “Touka, you’re weak, bite my shoulder but don’t eat me alive.” “Eat me alive Nishiki, although you love me so much that you will deny my offer.” “Hey ol’ ghoul buddy ol’ pal, I know that investigator. He’s tough and you’re injured. Whaddya say you eat me so that you have a fighting chance? Ha ha! Whoag what? Ow! Hey I was just kidding! Kaneki wtf owwwwwww.” Dear God I hope that that is not what happened in reality. You could’ve gotten away with this if Nishiki decided he should eat his girlfriend to death. You could’ve gotten away with this if Kaneki wins the fight instead of losing his eyes and half his brain while Arima stays unscratched. But you didn’t do either did ya?

     I didn’t mean to rant on Hide’s death. Most of this was supposed to about how I’m starting to really like :re now, which is still the case. Like, just after 50 chapters of what felt like nonsense. Tokyo Ghoul feels like it’s back. I finally read :re and feel like I’m reading Tokyo Ghoul again. It’s great. I can’t wait to see what Kaneki has in store for me later in this plot. (If :re up to this point has been any indication, I can’t nearly ever predict what Sui Ishida has planned for Tokyo Ghoul.)

[the-bejeesus]

One last thought on the Tokyo Ghoul manga

     Okay so I know I said my last one was my last “Thoughts on Tokyo Ghoul (manga)”, but I just wanted to make one last one. I’m on chapter 142 so I’m practically finished with the entire part of the series that has been adapted as of now. The reason I’m making this is because my opinion greatly changed from “the manga is superior to the anime” to “the anime is trash.” What I’m first going to show is a list of all the things the anime did better and then a list of all the things the manga did better. Spoilers for seasons one and two of Tokyo and for Volumes 1-14 of Tokyo Ghoul.

What the anime did better:

Established Hinami’s mom as an innocent ghoul.

Established the theme that even though Tokyo Ghoul is the most tragic setting in all of anime, it’s also the most beautiful and that’s what’s strange about life.

Established Jason better.

Kaneki has a good voice actor.

Unravel

Pretty colors.

Unravel Acoustic Cover

Focused on Rize being Kaneki’s subconscious rather than Kaneki’s actions being of his own fault.

Kaneki’s hair is white because of his acceptance of Rize, rather than from fear of torture.

Anteiku gets fucked when Kaneki accepts Rize and therefore it’s his fault, adding to the idea that this is a tragedy.

What the manga did better:

Established RC cells.

Established the doctor.

Had a nice covert scene where Kaneki and Touka sneak into the CCG building.

Shows a bit of Juuzou’s counterpart, Rei.

Black and White has a horror theme.

More blood and gore, which is a neccessity when the show is about cannibalism.

Established how the kagune works and different types.

I actually knew who Shinohara was this time.

I actually knew who Arima was this time.

Arima is a fucking legend.

Kaneki isn’t a dick when he becomes white-haired.

Kaneki and Tsukiyama and Banjou and Hinami work as a team.

I knew who Banjou was this time.

Aogori had members that weren’t willing.

Nico actually has a personality and reasons for liking Yamori; it wasn’t just “oh he’s gay”

That clown was behind the construction messup. And he’s friends with Nico so what the hell, a conspiracy is unraveling here.

Kaneki doesn’t team up with Ayato.

Kaneki fucks up Ayato.

Amon doesn’t look fucking stupid.

We actually expand on his priest/legal guardian whatever. In the anime I thought he was just a stereotype of “all priests are gay pedophiles.” No, he’s actually a creepy dude with depth.

I actually knew who Sachi was this time.

Kaneki loses to Sachi the first time and barely survives the second time and it’s epic.

Kaneki kills a hundred ghouls at the gourmet restaurant by himself and it’s fucking epic.

There’s a scene where white-haired Kaneki is dressed all petit and fancy and I want it as my screensaver.

Kaneki’s training montages were better.

Touka is a human being and not just that girl you saw at Hot Topic.

I played my music on Spotify when reading Tokyo Ghoul, and my playlist fits better than half the original soundtrack for the anime.

The art style is leagues better than the anime.

You actually learn about Dr. Kanou and why Kaneki was made.

You actually learn what the fuck those two one-eyed twins were about.

You actually see Juuzou’s knives go into the twins.

Kaneki investigates about Dr. Kanou, rather than pointlessly working with Aogori and pretending he’s dark and brooding like Batman.

You can’t hear Naki cry in ear rape in the manga.

Naki is somewhat nice to see.

And for the moments that Naki is still fucking annoying, at least it wasn’t Kaneki who was responsible for tying him into the plot.

Rize is still fucking alive.

Hide is still fucking alive.

Kaneki broke 103 of Ayato’s bones.

I actually understood the plot of the second half of Tokyo Ghoul.

I like the way everyone’s noses were drawn.

There is a “fight” between Arima and Kaneki in the sewers, and it is the best thing I have ever seen in anime and manga. It was so thrilling. The only thing almost as good was the eclipse in Kenpuu Denki Berserk.

There were still a lot more differences between the manga and the anime than that, but those were the ones that I felt were the most important to me. As you can see, the pros of the manga outweigh the anime’s pros significantly. The only thing I am thankful for about the Tokyo Ghoul anime is that it helped me find out about the Tokyo Ghoul manga.