So it seems Eto’s reason for being captured is starting to come together. My guess is her plan is as follows:
Press Conference to cause social unrest and changes in opinion among humans.
Getting close to Kaneki to begin steering him in the right direction.
Tricking Furuta into running his mouth, while recording everything.
Getting into the lower levels of Cochlea, which Aogiri previously couldn’t break into.
Getting Kaneki to “knock” (read: let her out) at the perfect time.
Freeing the prisoners in the lower levels, which Aogiri previously couldn’t touch. (Likely including Arata.)
If Kaneki plays things smart, he should absolutely get that
recording out into the world. I think the best person to send it to
would be Chie, who we already know is not only a prominent blogger but a
hacker and an information broker. If anyone could leak the information
out to the world, it’s Chie.
It also seems like Amon has been biding his time, waiting for all of this to happen.
Oh no, he is in the sense that he’s Souta, but he isn’t in the sense that the newest chapter seemed to reveal that joining the Clowns was just a means of getting information for him, rather than a true allegiance.
His personality seems like a good fit for what we’ve seen of the rest of the Clowns, but it seems like that isn’t where his ultimate loyalties lie, after all, much to my disappointment.
In fact, right now, he seems to be acting loyally to V, even if he dislikes them, aside from the not-so-small matter of helping Kanou, who we know seems to be gunning for V.
With so much of his true motivations and past laid out this chapter, I don’t know how much longer Furuta is going to be around, honestly. Though with two battle arcs coming up and him not actually being featured in either, he might have a little time before someone stabs him through the gut.
I hope I’m wrong about that, too. I’m not all that confident in my predictive ability right about now, so maybe Furuta is in it for the long haul. That’d be fun. He’s a fun character, regardless of who he’s working for.
Hi! Do you mind if I share this thing I wrote about Ayato, Touka and their symbolism with Rabbits and Birds? I read your analysis of them, so I thought you may be interested. It’s pretty long, though and I can’t put images in it because I suck with computers (and I don’t know if I can submit them). I am probably not saying anything unknown or original, but still…
Rabbits
I have read many good metas about the symbolism of rabbits and I am taking inspiration from them.
These are some:
-Tokyo Ghoul Wisdom’s about Touka and Ayato’s masks which concentrates on the meaning of loneliness, family and links the black rabbit theme to the theme of death since some superstitions say that if you see a black rabbit death is close.
–drowningintheories’s one about Touka the Rabbit and Kachikachi mountain legend which is amazing and shows how Touka’s rabbit theme is linked to revenge.
I think all these metas are amazing and I will not repeat all what’s written in them (I would probably do a poor job as well if I did it), so if someone is interested they can read them directly.
Rabbits are generally connected to the idea of family and this is certainly an important theme for both Touka and Ayato since their story starts when they lose theirs. They are also family to each others despite all that’s happened.
Both Ayato and Touka like rabbits as we can see in their profiles. We don’t know why, but at least for Ayato that was a sign he still cared for his sister. As we know Touka loved rabbits even as a small child since she is seen wearing a rabbit-shaped pin, so Ayato liking them could be because he associates them with his sister.
What’s more, it’s not by chance Ayato starts wearing his rabbit mask after the battle with Kaneki where he is forced to acknowledge his tie with his sister. Wearing the mask not only let him protect his sister, but it also means he has accepted his feelings towards her which he was trying to suppress before.
Now let us consider their profiles.
Touka likes rabbits and school life and hates idiots, ghoul investigators and classical literature.
Ayato likes rabbits, tropical fish and brawls and he hates ghoul investigators and weaklings.
They both like rabbits and hates investigators. These are common points highlight the fact that the two siblings are still connected to each other. Their hate for ghoul investigators represents their shared past and their love for rabbits their link as brother and sister.
Rabbits representing a link or a strong bond is not strange if you think at the saying “rabbits can die of loneliness”. From what I understood it’s not that a rabbit will die if it’s alone, but rabbits can form strong bonds with each others and if a rabbit dies or disappears its partner feels it and can become stressed or depressed.
So choosing rabbits to represent the siblings’ bond makes sense since theirs is a very strong one which isn’t broken so easily.
At the same time rabbits’ behaviour when their partner disappears perfectly describes Touka’s reaction when Ayato and Kaneki left and Ayato’s when Hinami was captured.
However, rabbits being connected to family and to bonds is not understandable from outside and investigators associate their alias to two negative meanings which are vengeance and death.
Touka’s white rabbit is associated with the rabbit of the legend of Kachikachi mountain which takes revenge for a friend of his. In-universe the white rabbit ghoul is seen as an avenger as well.
Ayato’s black rabbit on the other hand is seen as a ghoul who hunts and kills a large number of investigators. He is clearly more dangerous than the white rabbit and I think he can perfectly being associated with death.
Hide makes this distinction clear while comparing Touka and Ayato. He says that White Rabbit’s actions were driven by revenge and focused on certain targets while the Black Rabbit attacked and killed indiscriminately.
What investigators miss is that both Touka and Ayato’s actions have a hidden meaning.
It’s true that Touka wanted revenge for Hinami and even more for herself, but she was also trying to kill all the people who had seen Hinami’s face to avoid her being sent to the 24th ward which is often described as hell.
As for Ayato it’s true he is trying to become stronger and to prove his strength like Demon Yamada, but he is also protecting his sister.
In short Touka and Ayato both decided to take the Rabbit alias in order to protect someone, but by doing so they ended up being associated with violent themes and werecaught in the cycle of violence. Their rabbits selves are masks they put on and not who they truly are. Thus when they are unmasked they are associated by others with different animals which are birds.
Birds
Ayato and Touka have been associated with birds because of their kagune. Ayato talks about Touka’s wounded wing and Kaneki compares Ayato to a bird locked in a cage during their fight.
What’s more, they are associated with the little bird they found and took care of as children. I could think of two meanings for Chunta (but there are probably more).
1) Their relationship with Chunta may mirror their relationship with other characters.
Touka took care of him and fed him only to be left and hurt by him in the end. She also took care of Ayato, Hinami and to a certain extent Kaneki and was left by all of them. We know that even if they didn’t hurt her physically when they left she was deeply affected by being left behind. What’s more, all these three characters like Chunta were trying to find freedom and their own way and place in the world.
Ayato is the one Chunta got attached to and the one who insisted for going back and freeing him. We know that when he gets attached to someone Ayato will always go to help them even if this isn’t rational or goes against his objectives. This was shown during the auction when he left Big Madam to go help Naki or when he wanted to go back to help Hinami. Now there is the fact he wants to free Hinami (whose name means little bird) from Cochlea.
Another little thought about Ayato’s relationship with birds. It seems birds are really fond of him for some reason. We were shown Chuunta loved him and the calendar shows us a picture of Ayato with a chicken enjoying itself on his shoulder. Considering the birdcage theme in TG I wonder if the fondness birds show him mirrors the role of middle management he has taken up in Aogiri. I think the majority of Aogiri mooks are pretty desperate and ignorant ghouls who joined the organization out of necessity or following the promise of a better world, so in a sense you could say they are birds in the birdcage as well.
2) Chunta may be a associated with a part of themselves the two siblings lost when their father disappeared.
Touka may have lost her willingness to fly (metaphorically speaking of course). After that day (in which we must remember she killed for the first time) and because of Chunta she developed ornitophobia which is ironic if you think that she is associated with birds as well, but it becomes sad if you think at the fact she has shown traces of self-loathing many times. Her fear for birds may symbolize her fear and hate for her ghoul side as well considering her kagune is winged. In short what she lost is the ability to accept and love herself fully and until she doesn’t do it she may not be able to show her full potential and to freely take flight.
Ayato lost his trust towards others after he was betrayed by Satou. After that experience he wasn’t able to interact with others (be it his sister, humans or ghouls) the way he used to. He started acting like Chunta who hurt Touka because of fear despite the fact the little girl had helped him up until that moment.
In short the two siblings are two little birds in the birdcage which is the world and they have taken two completely different viewpoints about their situations.
Ayato’s viewpoint in TG is the one many other characters have taken. When he met Touka again he made it clear he wanted to change the world. In other words he wanted to destroy the birdcage.
Touka’s viewpoint is pretty original and we get a glimpse of it while she talks with Kaneki about Loser. She notices how the bird is pitiful all crumpled in the cage, but she also reflects on the fact that the world outside the cage is difficult to live in. These words describe perfectly the difficult relationship man has with society. Sure society can be oppressive and destroy the single man, but what would we do without it? I think Touka’s thoughts show the limit of Eto’s vision which simply wants to destroy the current status quo without thinking (or caring) about what to do after.
A LITTLE EXTRA: TOUKA AND AYATO’S PROFILE
The two siblings profiles are symmetric and at the same completely opposites.
Some considerations:
1) Touka has two things she likes and three she hates while Ayato has two he hates and three he likes. Their symmetry keeps going.
2) As said above they share one thing they like and one they hate and these two things are linked to their past and family.
3)Touka likes school life and hates idiots while Ayato likes brawls and hates weaklings. It seems to me as if in this way Touka has been associated with knowledge while Ayato with strength. This describes perfectly their respective choices. Thus, Touka decided to learn about the world and pursued knowledge while Ayato decided he wanted to change the world and to protect his sister and pursued strength.
And that’s all! I hope you enjoyed it and I am sorry if some parts are redundant or confusing.
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!
Hairu had a huge desire that she would be praised by the CCG`s Reaper, Arima Kishou, one day. We know that Arima hardly praises anyone, so this seems like an impossible task. But what if our First Class investigator thought she had found a way? Maybe by becoming more like Arima? If my memory serves me correctly, Hairu already demonstrated she is capable of doing the Arima dodge, so she surely is a very capable fighter. But what if she also wanted to copy Arima`s weapons?
I was reading around the TG wiki a few weeks back, and noticed that in Hairu`s page it reads that she had interest towards Arima`s quinque, IXA. Later during the Tsukiyama extermination mission when the investigators face Shuu`s knight, Matsumae, Hairu shows interest towards Matsumae`s kagune. This might just be a normal investigators cold calculating mind in the works, but what if she also saw Matsumae`s weapons as a potential new IXA? IXA is an koukaku type weapon, looking like a lance, but also capable of forming an defensive mode
Offensive IXA
Defensive mode:
Now, lets look at Matsumae`s kagune, which is koukaku like IXA:
Yup, a lance and shield. If I was looking to have a new IXA, that is a kagune I would choose.
Since Hairu already has something that resembles very much to Arimas`s Narakumi qunique, T-Human, an IXA copy is all she needs to become an Arima copy.By becoming a copy maybe she thought the Reaper would finally praise her?
Well, those were my thoughts. This is probably just me overthinking this and even if this was correct, it is a rather small detail in the grand scale of things. Sadly both Matsumae and Hairu are also gone. T-T
This is a totally different and really interesting reading of that line, and it really casts Urie in a totally different light.
I completely agree that things Ogura is saying, while they seem to be kind, are really quite dehumanizing (assuming the translation there is accurate in tone). They pissed me off as well. They make Ogura come off as a real creep.
He isn’t saying “Ghouls are people, too” or “Ghouls deserve human rights.”
So maybe the way we are meant to read what Urie is saying is that he thinks that the protesters sound more like they are talking about whales than ghouls – the things Ogura is saying here are things that you can definitely here at protests of violent whaling practices – people saying that whales are fascinating, intelligent creatures.
This reading makes the other part of what Urie is saying make a lot of sense, as you pointed out, Anon – because they are being just as cruel – by fetishizing and dehumanizing ghouls in their own way.
Part of me thinks this has to be the correct reading, because it fits so well, and it clears up a lot of the confusion with the metaphor.
But it seems a remarkably insightful and compassionate (towards ghouls) thing for Urie to say. While we’ve seen Urie starting to feel a little bit of empathy towards ghouls, saying that it felt “weird” talking to a ghoul whose termination had been decided, he still doesn’t seem like he’d really see the dehumanization of ghouls by Ogura like that as “cruelty.”
But once we clear up the talk about whales – that connection between Ogura’s dehumanizing language and the way people talk about whales during those protests really makes the whole line clearer – then maybe we don’t have to read the “cruelty” so much as part of the metaphor.
If you stop trying to figure out how it fits into the metaphor with whaling, maybe Urie could be referring to how supporting ghouls, who engage in acts of cruelty, is a kind of cruelty itself, and is also a cruelty against those who have lost loved ones to ghouls and to those who risk their lives fighting ghouls.
Thank you so much for this ask. It really clears things up for me.
This is a great bit of insight!
I agree, what fantastic insight that Anon shared.
Criticizing people for hypocrisy is absolutely something Urie would do, regardless of how he feels about Ghouls. It seems very much like him to see through the “good intentions” to the dehumanizing behavior. To look at these protesters and see through them, to recognize that even while shouting for Ghoul Rights……people like Ogura are simply fetishizing Ghouls as some exotic and fascinating animal.
I mean, look at his appearance in that panel. He seems like a standard Otaku, with his “Ghoul Lover” headband and everything. How many of those involved in those protests are like him as opposed to the numerous humans we see in the series that genuinely recognize the humanity of Ghouls? How many are simply leaping into a cause and a bandwagon, but don’t genuinely see Ghouls as equals and fellow people, the way that Kimi or Hide see them?
If you’re talking about root A, it’s a yes – but in the manga, it’s not being said actually about that. The last panel we saw him in TG is where he clutches on his rabbit mask – and muttered “ kaa – kaa –”
I’m assuming it’s Touka –but I don’t know. We don’t really have an exact answer for that but – maybe he does know. I just want them to meet again –but I don’t think Ayato going to lash out or fight her. We see how he meet with Banjou and we can say for sure Ayato really change.
I think too much about this, so I decided to assemble my thoughts into a post. Lets go through the candidates.
Important Note: This is a sort of open post – if you read this and can think of another argument for or against any of the candidates, or think of another candidate you think should be on the list, let me know and I’ll add it with your username (if you want.) Lets see if we can’t collectively solve this mystery.
Or maybe Ishida will tell us next week and this will be a wasted effort. I am so entirely fine with that being the case.
In numerology, this represents the transmutation, metamorphosis, change.
On the spiritual level, it’s the presence of the spirit in the consciousness; on the soul, it’s the awareness and the caution. As situation, it’s time to weigh all possibilities, supported by good friends. A period of change of any kind.
Hmm, well… it’s okay. I’m… I’m fine. I only need Hide comes back.
Relatable FE Quote or Something 