You know, I think I’m pretty good about remembering that Tokyo Ghoul shouldn’t be read with a Western lens, but then we get this panel
and I just.
Really? Whaling?
How am I supposed to read this, Ishida?
Japan is famously brazen about it’s rejection of international whaling laws. Like basically the rest of the world is like “these are environmentally important, amazing, and basically harmless creatures that we, as the dominant species on this planet must fight to keep from going extinct”
And Japan is like “No, whales are evil and also we like hunting them, so we are gonna keep doing that. If anyone asks, it’s uh… science. Yes. The science of killing all the whales.”
Like, maybe in Japan, this metaphor makes sense, but to me, it’s just confusing.
Is Urie saying that people who are fighting for ghoul rights and/or against violent whaling practices are guilty of other kinds of violence and are thus hypocrites, or is he saying that being kind to ghouls and/or whales(???) is a form of violence because it leads to violence?
It’s so hard to know how to read this panel from a Japanese mindset. Because to me, it’s like – as much as I think ghouls deserve rights and freedoms and stuff, I think the case for ending the Japanese whaling practices is significantly MORE clear cut.
Oy.
You can read more about whaling in Japan on wikipedia here [x]
Urie isn’t the most open minded or sympathetic person to other people’s concerns (him calling Saiko lazy, calling Mutsuki a ‘whore’, seeing Haise as only a ghoul after he was ‘outed’, etc.), so I thought it was in-character for him to support a political opinion common among conservative political activists. He compares ghouls to whales because he thinks that humans should benefit before ghouls, just like people who support the whaling industry do.
This is a good insight into Urie’s character, I think, but it still doesn’t clear up what confused me about the metaphor.
Because I don’t think even Urie would be so cynical as to think of giving ghouls rights primarily in terms of cutting into profits or a break down of tradition. And in fact he specifically refers to it as cruelty. And while I suppose in a cynical sort of way, I can imagine conservative traditionalists calling the breakdown of tradition or a loss of profit a sort of cruelty, that seems like a strange comparison to make when talking about ghouls who, you know, literally kill people.
I could be misreading Urie’s character – after all, there are two other characters within the CCG who refer to their task of killing ghouls as “just business” – Suzuya and Washuu Yoshitoki. But their circumstances are very peculiar and it’d be concerning if Urie were in a place to be mirroring them.
Suzuya says it to Shiro and Kuro down in Kanou’s lab after all three of them realize that they used to be school mates. He says “oh, don’t hold it against me, it’s just my job.” He says it again to Big Madam. I’m not going to go into analyzing what it means that he says it (I think I’ve talked about it before a little) but needless to say, there are a lot of layers there, and it is intimately connected to his upbringing and his understanding of life and death.
Yoshitoki says it to Yoshimura right at the start of the raid on Anteiku. It could have all sorts of meanings there, but right now, the most likely seems to be something involving the fact that both of them know this is just V balancing the scales again. “Don’t hold this against me, Kuzen. We are both just puppets in this farce.”
If Urie is so cynical or removed from the cycle of death that the CCG and ghoul world are a part of that he’s comparing what the CCG does to whaling – a change in how ghouls are treated to a change in the whaling industry, than either he is posturing here for Sasaki more than I thought, or he is further gone that I thought?
I think, if this is how we are supposed to be reading this line, than it has to be posturing, because I think it’s clear that Urie still cares immensely. He wants to pay for Haru’s treatment. He promises to get Shirazu’s body back and rescue Mutsuki no matter what. He cares, despite himself, that Sasaki still thinks about them.
Poor broken hearted boy. Is this just you trying to act all tough and cynical? Can’t you see that Sasaki is just as broken inside?
Sorry if the way I tried to explain Urie’s perspective was confusing, but there was an anon who explained my viewpoint better. I was trying to say that I think Urie thought that people were hypocrites for sympathizing with ghouls and whales. Although people say that they both deserve protection, Urie has always favored his own protection over the ghouls, and believes that killing both would benefit society.
Ah! Don’t worry! Thanks for clarifying what you meant, regardless!
Relatable FE Quote or Something 