Ages of investigators in Tokyo Ghoul

harostar:

seigetheshark:

So I’ve noticed in the manga how characters constantly remark on the young age of the Quinx and several other investigators, like Juuzou. Some of these investigators are first-class as young as 16, and they don’t even seem to be as prodigious as Arima.

However, it wasn’t always like that. In the earlier volumes of Tokyo Ghoul we get many examples of middle aged or older investigators, like shinohara, or Mado. Even Amon seems much older than the kids in :Re. The examples of younger investigators were all third or second class, and they were considered the best of that age. (Think Mado Akira)

And then I realized that the excessive promotions and advancement of younger investigators is out of neccesity. There’s no one left. The heavy tolls of the 20th ward battle, the raid on the ghoul prison, the invasion of the auction, all of these forced the CCG into taking younger and younger students into their ranks; propelling them upward before they are ready. Some students don’t even want to be investigators or fight, and have little drive because of it. (Saiko)

Let’s compare Tooru and Amon. When Amon is given Akira to be her mentor he is a first class investigator with multiple large cases under his belt. He’s killed multiple important ghouls and taken part in multiple larger operations, is renowned for his physical strength and achievements, And is in his mid to late 20’s
When Tooru is made a first class, he has taken part in one large scale investigation, has killed no notable ghouls, has very little combat prowess, and is only known for being a quinx (and can’t use his kagune), and is 20 years old.

The CCG took a younger, weaker, less experianced investigator and put him at the same rank as what a senior investigator would have been at a year before. It shows that during the early events of :Re the CCG is begining to fall apart, unable to survive the constant battles and war with the ghouls.

This is such an excellent observation of how much things have changed for the CCG.

During the original series, Amon being promoted to First Class at 27 is considered an enormous achievement. Takizawa states that many retire at that rank. Veteran Investigators near the end of their career are First Class, with it nearly impossible to make the leap into Associate Special Class or Special Class.

There’s mention in :Re that the growth of Aogiri Tree has resulted in many more chances for achievement and promotion. They are indeed promoting people are a much faster rate than any other time in CCG’s history. They are scrambling to manage to deal with the threat of Aogiri, and the overall increase of Ghoul Aggression thanks to the destruction of Anteiku. Good going, guys.

And indeed, it seems like they are suffering much greater losses per operation than at any other time. Thanks, Matsuri. They simply cannot keep up with the demands, and it seems that rookies are being shoved into dangerous operations sooner and sooner. It seems that major combat operations were uncommon in the past, but it seems very common in :Re and there is little effort to minimize the risk to rookies in comparison to the past. (Marude didn’t put less-capable folks on the front lines, but Matsuri throws bodies at the problem like human life means nothing.)