So now we know for sure that Rize– a full ghoul– was bred as a brood mother, most likely to be paired off with Furuta. In an arranged coupling, her sole purpose would be to create more half-ghoul children against her will. All of her strength was just a tool for someone else, to be funneled into a child she wouldn’t want, for a family that denies that they’re just like her.
The psychology behind her binge-eating young men clicks now: it’s her proof that she can “have” whoever she wants, whenever she wants, as many times that she likes– that all her strength is for herself, and that she’s the one in control.
I also think that with Furuta’s misogynist, hyper-masculine quirks, he tried to kill her and take her kagune out of greed and jealousy. If he was promised her, I’d be convinced that he felt that her body belongs to him. It’s his birthright as a man and a Washuu to “dominate” her, so he believes. Things could be even further complicated by the fact that he was nothing but a tool, too; an unloved donor with a purpose greater than himself. Just like Rize.
I have read the chapter and I wonder where it said Furuta was destined to be Rize partner? I presume it was the breeder line that caused the confusion but I think he asked Rize whether she was also a breeder, the another one maybe Washuu ghoul parents because they father half blood children – in a sense, they are really the breeders but they have full control of who they breed with.
That also questions me why V wanted to breed Rize with Furuta in the first place, becauae we have not seen V arranging marriage of the half human children. They are just there, used as a tool, but not for breeding, becaue their bodies are weak and they don’t even have a kagune. In term of qualifying as ghoul parent, they fail as no kagune can be inherited. In term of qualifying as human parent, they also fail because their bodies age fast and die young, a huge failure in gene. Hypothetically speaking as a scientist, why would they try to breed Rize, a functional and healthy full ghoul with a sick child like Furuta as he offers no value to the gene pool? And we don’t even know if they are fertile at the rate of their bodies dying. Aa Furuta qualifying as a candidate instead of Arima, what makes him different? Sure he is a Washuu but we know that Arima and Hairu can also be half blood of Washuu too, as they have been fathering many children. Furuta is not an exception out of the group. There is also the fact that Rize can be a legitimate Washuu member, seeing how they are full blooded ghouls and they participate in breeding program.
As for the last thing, we also have to consider the fact that Furuta knew he was dying and if he doesn’t interfere, he would die soon. It is possible that the surgey will give him regenation ability, slowing down his aging process. I will not comment on him being “mysogynist” because I consider him to have a grudge against particular people, who happen to be vile woman, as he has said no mysogynist insult against “other” group of woman like Touka/Hinami/Matsumae. But that is up for another discussion. What we should consider here is the chance that he got the Rize kagune surgery was not purely out of jealousy and greed, it was to save himself. Furuta is someone who is very concerned with life and death, the scheme around his birth, and him working with Kanou to destroy a bird cage, and so those motives can not be ignored and be reduced to simple greed and jealousy.
I believe he is an complex character with lots of flaws, but they are understandable if we view it at different angles instead of labelling him as simple as a mysogynist and jealousy man. Furuta point of view has not been shown yet and I understand why people have limited view of it, but give Ishida time; he will explore the character psyche further, just like how he has always done.
I definitely agree with @nimawalker. I don’t think it makes much sense for the Garden to be promising someone like Furuta anything, let alone anyone. We still don’t completely understand what Rize’s place in the Garden is, and I, for one, am going to hold out for more information on her place within things as a supposedly pure ghoul. (to be honest, there’s even some ambiguity over the term little Nimura used way back in ch. 66 [x])
I do think @actuallyhaise is super on point as far as Rize goes, and I’ve said as much before [x] Rize has always seemed driven by a fundamental refusal to be controlled, tethered, or restrained by anything, be it society or friendship or common sense, in the end. And this makes a lot of sense considering where she came from and the fact that, one way or another, her body was going to be used as nothing more than a tool for V’s aims.
But the same has always been true of Furuta. They are alike that way, and their behavior and their constant struggle to have control over their actions reflects that. We see it in a bunch of characters in the manga who were denied agency early on. Eto, Ayato, even Hinami in her own way – looking to control their own destinies after feeling that it has been denied them. But this is so much more true of the Garden Children.
And just as it would be incredibly reductive to say all of Rize’s behavior had to do with wanting to dominate men (remember, in the Novels, her story is largely about her overpowering women and just ignoring the male ward leader), it is the same to limit Furuta to anything of the sort, I think. Like I think reading him as primarily, or largely motivated by being unloved and destined to be nothing but a tool is a really smart reading, but I’m just confused about where you got the rest of it.
First of all, I’m not entirely sure where you are reading Furuta as having Hypermasculine Quirks? The man makes silly faces and dances away from fights. He spins around on his chair and laughs and cries and screams in fake pain. Other than the “I want to dominate you” panel, which takes place 1) while he is expressly playing the role of the mighty V agent and 2) is part of a power game he is playing with Eto that has been escalating on both sides since the beginning, there really is nothing “hyper masculine” about Furuta, other than maybe his violence. Which itself can be read as “childish,” I think, as easily if not more easily that it can be read as masculine. (He reads more like the American forever-boyish Hyper masculinity than any readings on Japanese masculinity I’ve seen? Both countries have their own issues with toxic masculinities, for sure, but different ones…)
I’m not sure where the readings of Furuta as greedy or jealous come from if not accidentally mistaking him for his masks. Furuta loves hiding behind masks. Playing the part of Comedy King. But people wear masks because they are hiding something they don’t want you to see.
Masks are a huge motif in Tokyo Ghoul, so it’s important to pay attention to ways in which the metaphorical as well as the literal ones both reflect and contrast with the person underneath.
Now that we know more of his backstory, about the truth about the Garden, one he clearly knew from the time he was a tiny child, it becomes easier, I think, to parse out how much of Furuta Nimura is real and how much is a mask or a coping mechanism.
Even Eto has figured out that Furuta’s true loyalties aren’t with the Washuu and V. Furuta, ally of Dr. Kanou, is trying to break this Bird Cage. What exactly his goals are, we don’t know, but at least some of his motives should be obvious right now. If wanting to live past your 20s is greedy, and being jealous of people who will be able to do that and not rot from the inside is what you mean by jealous, then sure, I suppose you can use those words as some of his “true” motivations, but I think that’s awfully unfair.
Besides, he isn’t even sitting back and just hoping Rize’s kagune will slow or stop the process. He’s been actively poking around and making a change. He’s been trying to make something happen. Furuta is going to leave his goddamn mark on the world. When Eto vows to do that, we call it revolution, even if her motivation is largely revenge and spite and jealousy. I think we owe Furuta at least the same courtesy.
I’m still torn on whether or not Furuta sees himself as a Washuu, to be honest. At this point we have no idea what his feelings towards his father are, whether they are a kind of longing for recognition or pure hatred for what he is and for being created and doomed to die. Furuta isn’t not a Washuu because he’s a bastard. He’s not a Washuu because he’s a failed experiment, destined to be used as nothing more than a tool, to rot, and to die, likely before he’s the age Matsuri is now.
I don’t know if he would respect any kind of birthright that house claims they have. He seems to want to destroy their birthrights, rather than uphold them and claim them. But he might feel a sort of extra responsibility or need to act, one way or another. He might feel entitled to do whatever he feels he needs to in order to achieve what he wants to achieve. I think it also depends on what the Washuu’s own history is. Why they were doing what they were doing and how much of that Furuta knows.
Furuta seems like the type to use part of an ideology if it serves his goal, so I can imagine claiming he’s using the long standing Washuu tradition of “keeping the peace” as is his birthright, or some such, if such a tradition does indeed exist. Whether or not he actually will buy into any such thing at all is unclear. (though it is a fun thing to think about…)
As for what he thinks as a man, the only times Furuta has shown that he feels any sort of privilege in that respect is at the ghoul restaurant as Souta, so… count the masks there… (it’s hard for me to judge him based on how he acts while infiltrating the clowns while infiltrating the ghoul restaurant. That’s two levels of kind of sadistic organizations, as much as I love the Clowns…) and in the power play with Eto, which I’ve already talked about. Plus, both he and Eto were playing up the fake romance/sexual tension thing in that power play. By the time she’s chasing him around cochlea in her Kakuja, she’s starting manzai comedy romance sketches with him.
And that’s not even to get into the very particular things shared by Rize, Eto, and Ami, the only women there is any claim towards him acting this way towards. I actually think there is something really interesting going on there that is easy to miss by painting it as an issue he has with women in general.
He makes no comment about or to Matsumae or Hinami related to gender. His relationship to Eto, Rize, and Ami foils Kaneki’s relation to these women and their type. Kaneki, for oedipal reasons, is attracted, drawn to, and even protective of these women at some point. At some point, Kaneki protects or promises to protect every one of these women. And at some point, every one of these women tries to kill Kaneki after he tries or promises to protect them.
That’s not to say Furuta doesn’t hate women. I just don’t think he hates them any more than he hates men. Or any other gender. He just kind of hates everyone. And he’s a cheeky bastard and rude as hell. He uses really informal speech with his superiors, he calls people names, he’s just not really respectful unless he’s playing that role. And I think the combination of these things probably means that he is more likely than a moral formal character to use gendered insults or slurs, simply because he’s a rude, nasty, cheeky, asshole. (keep in mind, of course, that I’m reading in translation and am not Japanese, so some of this might be going over my head.) As Nima said, Furuta has his faults. God does this boy have his faults.
But don’t be fooled by the faults he’s distracting you with. It’s the magician waving a silk scarf so you don’t look at his DEEP INSECURITIES AND SELF HATRED AND DESPERATION. I mean, hell, I’d say the fact that he’s rude as hell and tries to distract from his other issues by being a petty little bitch is a flaw on its own. He also kills people without much remorse. Lots of people. Lots and lots of people. Furuta, along with Kanou, has one of the highest body counts in the goddamn manga. He certainly didn’t ask Kaneki’s permission before COMPLETELY RUINING HIS LIFE. And I’m willing to bet he’s put laxatives in the office coffee creamer on at least one occasion because he’s a goddamn child.
Relatable FE Quote or Something 