I wondered why a butterfly was flying through the pages, so I did some research regarding butterfly symbolism in Japan. (In my country, butterfly is a representation of the soul of a departed loved one.)
1. Japanese people believe that butterfly carries the souls of the dead or guide them to the next world.
2. A symbol of transformation since it goes through a cycle, from cocoon to caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly and finally,
3. They believe that following a butterfly can help you uncover a mystery or help solve a problem.
I think pretty much all those three points represents what is happening right now. Let me know what you guys think!
I totally agree with that complaint, and I’m currently screaming so hard at the CCG for allowing Eto to have that press confrence for the same reason.
BUt I think there are valid reasons for what the Hachikawa squads actions.
The task the squad was given was specifically to ind out if Rushima was the main stronghold or Aogiri or not. Seeing a couple of goons in Aogiri cloaks doesn’t prove whether or not the island was important to Aogiri, just that they were using it.
Remember, Urie and his team were also shown taking out a group of Aogiri ghouls, but none of them turned out to be important at all. It was just a sattillite base – at this point in time, Aogiri seems to have bases in a lot of places and the CCG has been slowly weeding them out and pushing them back, but until the Rushima investigation, didn’t really know where the main base of operations was.
At the special classes meeting they made it clear that the goal was to find the King and the Stronghold.
They only knew what they’d come for once they spotted Eto and the other officials. And Takizawa spotted them pretty quickly.
There might have been a small window of time between when they first saw everyone and when Takizawa saw them – we don’t know – and they could have run without listening to Eto’s speech – but at that point they had to weigh the value of the information they could get from hearing what Eto was saying. Which, honestly, was a tough call. As far as any of them knew, if they had made it out with that info, it could have been a game changer. None of them knew that Sasaki already knew all that stuff and was about to bring Takatsuki in. From Hachikawa’s perspective, he had just uncovered the identity of the One-Eyed King. Totally worth waiting for. Unfortunately for him, Takizawa saw them.
The real stupid move wasn’t on Hachikawa squad’s part. The stupid move was just sending three investigators in the first place.
The CCG apparently didn’t want to let Aogiri know they knew about Rushima for some reason – I guess so they could send a surprise attack, so they kept the investigation team small.
Maybe I’m “spoiled” by living in America and being used to the ubiquity of military grade tech, but the CCG needs to seriously invest in some surveillance drones and get a spy satellite up there.
Ishida is a genius. We’ve been asking ourselves what those damn feathers meant all the time. And then it’s revealed that V’s symbol consists of wings, shortly after we learned that Arima is a member of them. I need a minute.
I’m wondering the same exact thing. Having not seen the panel or the context, and just going on text spoilers, we don’t really have much to go on for how that played out.
I’m assuming he arrested her, and that her lines at the end of the chapter were about telling everyone about her being the One-Eyed Owl.
Did they make her or let her have a press conference? I was kind of under the impression that the CCG didn’t offer those sorts of fancy things to ghouls. Like, high profile civilian identities or no, why are they letting her have a press conference? What did you expect that to accomplish in your wider war on Aogiri or war on ghouls? Is it going to intimidate ghouls by saying “No matter how famous you are or how well you’ve blended in, the CCG will find you?” What would be the intent?
At this point I kind of suspect she called a bunch of reporters and they were just waiting outside the interrogation room, in which case, how the hell did you allow that to happen, CCG?
I think, for some reason, Eto herself might want everyone to know that Takatsuki Sen is a ghoul, but I don’t know.
I’m guessing it might be more like one of the scenes out of some police procedural with a bunch of reporter trying to stick mics and cameras in the way as CCG personnel try to drag her to a transport or something similar, rather than the CCG setting up a press conference for her to formally make a statement.
The layout of the building that Sasaki is using for interrogations is weird and makes me think this is the case. The door to the interrogation room appears to lead out onto a covered, outdoor walkway, rather than the interior of a building. Which doesn’t make all that much sense for a CCG interrogation area, really, because ghouls can survive pretty high jumps, but, hey, whatever CCG, you do you. Aesthetics and all.
But it would mean that Eto would have to leave facing the public, and would have been able to call ahead and have reporters with cameras pointed up at said walkway from the public street below, so she could totally smile at them from her quinque steel handcuffs.
Good going, CCG. Aren’t you supposed to be making everyone think ghouls are emotionless monsters incapable of basic human empathy? Now everyone knows ghouls can also be 14 year old prodigies with incredible insight into the human condition – nice job guys.
Although it’s also possible that Eto tells Kaneki something that makes him not arrest her just there because she wants to hold her own press conference and know that the CCG isn’t going to let her do that. Like at the end of the last chapter, she makes it very clear that she has something to hang over Kaneki’s head.
If she has some reason to want the public to know that Takatsuki Sen is a ghoul, and if she wants to make the announcement her own way, with as many fun manipulative words as she can, then maybe she tells Sasaki that he doesn’t need to arrest her because she has this press conference and if he doesn’t let her do it, *insert whatever it is Eto has on Kaneki that she was threatening him with last chapter*
i’ve been thinking about this, and I do find it unusual that Urie 1.0 got actual facial features
Well… maybe it isn’t all that unusual because it’s usually maternal figures (and other female characters as well) who end up not getting their own facial features. Off the top of my head, I can name a few:
Kasuka (but she does look a lot like Akira, I mean a lot like her)
Ukina (anime only)
Kaneki’s aunt
Hikari was on this list for a while, but we got a small profile pic of her later
And as for male characters who haven’t gotten facial features, I supposed we have all the fodder male characters and Kaiko from V:
Unless you count the awesome lipstick game/aquiline nose
Anyways, I hope that means we will learn more about Urie and his father
I’m just hoping that this picture and how Urie speaks so highly of his father aren’t deceptive. Here’s to hoping Urie’s father was a positive influence in his son’s life up until his death
I was planning
to write a meta about Eto’s plan to turn Kaneki into the OEK but while researching for it, I noticed something fishy going on… and, unsurprisingly, the
Clowns are involved.
Before we start, there are two things I have to make clear:
1)
The One-Eyed King was a half-ghoul that lived over a hundred years ago.
He doesn’t exist at the moment. He’s a legend and a symbol for
“revolution“.
2) It’s extremely likely that Eto is trying to turn
Kaneki into the OEK ‒ basically, she’s trying to turn the legend into a
reality.
It’s interesting to note that Ishida said that :re will be the story of a legend. → The OEK is a legend in the ghoul world. → Kaneki taking the title of the legendary OEK would result in him becoming a legend himself. It fits perfectly.
Also, Kaneki becoming the leader of such a revolution would fit the whole thing about :re being a fucked up comedy ‒ Kaneki, who wanted to take down Aogiri, ends up becoming the “leader“ of their revolt.
The title of Chapter 56 was “The Second King“. → Kaneki becomes the second OEK.
Eto has been testing Kaneki’s strength the whole time (his fights against Seidou and Karen) and watching his progress. She also gave him a part of her kakuja ‒ a “gift“ that will surely make him stronger. It’s like she’s making all the preparations to turn him into the King.
Eto is treating Kaneki as if he’s her child which makes perfect sense because in a way… Kaneki’s full kakuja form would be born
after eating Eto’s one. And considering that during The Raid on Kanou’s Lab arc, she called Kaneki “The Kakuja’s Egg“, we can say that she’s the mother and he’s her “egg”.
(Here are a few interesting metas that are focused on the whole Kaneki-becoming-the-OEK thing: x ; x ; x)
And now let’s start with the main question of this meta: how are the Clowns related to the OEK?
In TG, we have four main organisations and we know the goals of three of them:
CCG → exterminate all ghouls
Aogiri Tree → (1) create a world in which ghouls can live freely ; (2) “smoke out the liars“
V → keep the balance between ghouls and humans
Clowns → ???
A lot of people will probably say that the goal of the Clowns is “to have the last laugh”, however, I don’t fully agree with that. While I do think that this is probably one of their goals, I think that their main objective is actually something way bigger.
I mean, they have people in the most important places of the TG universe:
The Clowns have also been responsible for some of the most important plot points of the story ‒ Souta pushed the steel beams over Rize, Itori made Kaneki go to the Ghoul Restaurant with Tsukiyama, Nico took part in Kaneki’s abduction by Aogiri, Itori helped Kaneki find Dr. Kanou and Nico told Kaneki the identity of the OEK.
They have such a carefully crafted plan that it would be weird if their only objective is to have the last laugh. And not to mention that they were revealed as “bad guys“ in the very last chapter of the first series.
That’s why I think that their real goal probably has something to do with the OEK (and Rize is somehow connected to this whole thing).
The Clowns have talked about one-eyed ghouls and the OEK on three occasions.
(1) Itori’s first meeting with Kaneki
I was re-reading that scene and a panel caught my attention. The words they exchange seem like insignificant gossip but we all know that nothing the Clowns do or say is simply a coincidence.
Before Kaneki, we know about the existance of two one-eyed ghouls. The seemingly random things Uta and Itori talk about actutually fit pretty well:
The OEK ‒ probably “male” ; “an old man“ (he lived one hundred years ago)
Eto ‒ “female” ; “a small child” (compared to the OEK, she really is a small child ; plus, a lot of characters have commented that she looks like a “child” ; she explained that her God was a child with a lot of power right before refering to herself as God)
Don’t you feel that in this scene Itori and Uta already know everything and are giving Kaneki the answers but at the same time trying to make their conversation seem unimportant in order to mess with his mind??
Maybe Eto’s trying to get arrested so she can break Hinami out of Cochlea and gain Kaneki’s trust.
At this point, I don’t even care how Hinami gets out of Cochlea, so long as she does.
It’d be interesting, because “Eto” would go on the S floor, but “The One-Eyed Owl” would go in the lowest, most secure cell they have.
It’d be funny if she turns herself in as Eto and Kaneki has no way to prove that Eto = the One-Eyed Owl.
It makes you wonder if Miza and Ayato were looking into Cochlea as a side project for getting Hinami out on there own against Tatara’s orders, or if it was actually something Eto asked them to do…
Probably right? I’m not sure about the Miza and Ayato thing because the way they talked it sounded like Ayato wanted to break from the outside in, and then said it would be extremely difficult. (Perhaps foreshadowing Eto breaking from the inside out).
It would explain why it was important that Eto retained her S class status to possibly make herself be put in an area she could more easily break out of in Cochlea. (Plus Aogiri’s strength is apparently wearing down so even without Hinami hitting Cochlea might be a good idea.)
But there’s something worrying me I don’t think Mutsuki and Hachikawa squad made it off the island.
Because if they did the CCG would already know who Eto really is after Mutsuki and CO. heard her speach. And if the CCG knew this there is no way they’d just let her walk into the where Eto’s editor is being questioned. Plus she’s getting convicted based on her editor’s evidence not what was heard and seen on the island So it’s probably extremely unlikely Mutsuki made it to mainland.
(X) Even if the space was just one Kaneki and Furuta knew about, I think she could be making Kaneki keep the Owl part about her a secret when she says it’s best if you “Keep your mouth shut.”
Time has to have past since the island, because obviously Eto is not on the island. I think she may be holding Mutsuki hostage in order to buy Kaneki’s silence. Using his connections against him.
Anyway it would make sense with the way the arc are set up in parallel of the original Aogiri Raid for Eto and Mutsuki to be captured. After all the aogiri raid originally was a two part raid of an Aogiri hideout and Cochlea.
With a half ghoul captured, and the same set up seems to be falling into place once again.
Rereading the manga for a totally different reason, I ended up gathering clues about the main conflict in the world Ishida created, hidden behind Kaneki’s story. Seeing how the fandom is quite big, I have no idea whether or not someone already wrote a similar theory, so forgive me if people already did.
Warning: lengthy post and spoilers for TG’s plot (panels in this post were taken from chapters 34, 87, 95, 99, 103, 107, 115, 119, 125, 140).
First of all, it’s important to remember than since the beginning of the story, four different forces were introduced: the CCG (human organization, directed by the Washuu family, their goal is supposedly to protect humans from ghoul predation), Aogiri Tree (ghoul organization, directed by Tatara and Eto, their goal is “to uncover the liars” (ch87)), the Clowns/Pierrots (ghoul gang, goal completely unknown) and V (goal more or less unknown, supposedly ghoul organization).
–
Now, the explanation can start either with Kanou or V but I’ll go with Kanou. The doctor was affiliated to the CCG in the past and he’s currently in Aogiri, siding with Eto and very taken by his experiments of producing half ghouls, using first Rize and now Yoshimura. He’s best known for being one of the major actors behind Kaneki’s tragic life.
About his goal…
So Kanou is trying to find a way to free himself from this world that he sees as a prison, and to do so he decided to side with Aogiri. The important question is, why would he, a human, join a ghoul organization?
The answer is simple, because they have the same goal and that means the same enemies. And also because Kanou probably can’t win on his own.
Kanou’s addition to Aogiri is vital in their fight against the “liars” they wish to uncover since the very beginning, as already mentioned by Nico in chapter 87.
I’ll come back to that part later, but please remember that Kaneki was taken by Aogiri because they were looking for Rize and Kanou in the first place.
–
Now let’s jump to V. As readers, we only know them through Yoshimura. I’d have a lot to say about Yoshimura’s past with them but I’ll stick to the present, namely their visit to Anteiku right before its destruction.
They’ve been looking for Eto, because “it’s Aogiri tree’s fault that the equilibrium [they] had maintained for so many years is on the verge of being broken” but Aogiri is not their only concern. Her existence in itself is a bother to V and that’s definitely because, so far in the story, she’s the only one being naturally born of a human and ghoul’s union (and she’s insanely strong because of that).
As a result, we can say that V don’t agree to one eyed ghouls’ existence because they’re links between humans and ghouls and because they’re causing the balance to tilt: humans and ghouls are two different species, two differents worlds, and V is responsible for the equilibrium between these two worlds (it’s interesting to notice in that case that Ukina’s character can take on a whole different meaning).
Anyway, after Yoshimura denied his link to Eto…
There is that mention of the cage again, except that this time it’s used to tell Yoshimura that no matter what he does, he’ll never be able to get out of this situation and the guy is right. V could have his head if they wanted (as long as they brought many people along) but it’s not necessary because the CCG is coming on the same night and they’re both aware of it. I think what the guy from V meant here was that if somehow Yoshimura was able to survive the CCG’s attack, then V would still be here to end him.
This world is a prison, but while Kanou hates the cage and wants to break free, it seems that V is the responsible party behind that caged world, especially since they’re maintaining “the equilibrium”.
With all I wrote above, it’s easy to deduce that Kanou and V are enemies, since V are responsible of the “distorted cage” that Kanou desperately wants to open, especially since Kanou said…
I pointed out above how one eyed ghouls are V’s enemies because they’re threatening the “equilibrium”, so obviously by creating more of them, Kanou is causing damage to V’s work which means they can’t be on the same side.
By the way, Kanou joined Aogiri because they have the same goal. Logically that means Aogiri and V are enemies but I don’t think I needed to point that out, especially since V have been looking for a way to take Eto down.
What about the CCG and the Clowns, what are their roles in the conflict?
Let’s start with the CCG. Does the name Yasuhisa Nanao ring a bell? He was Kurona and Nashiro’s father and also the director of a trading company called “Sphinx”.
So Sphinx was selling to the CCG and do you remember how that director died?
So as readers, we know that a ghoul killed the twins’ parents and that got them sent to the CCG academy to become ghoul investigators. However, we have Amon’s knowledge to consider as well…
As of today, we still don’t know whether the CCG organized Yasuhisa’s death, but he was certainly sheltered by the CCG because he was dealing with important ghoul products.
And yet he was killed by a ghoul.
I should also point out that the way Ishida drew that black silhouette (especially the eyes), it reminds me greatly of…
…And as far as we know, V is a ghoul organization (there could also be humans in the organization but as far as readers know for the moment, they’re ghouls).
This is one of the rare links between the CCG and V so far because Yasuhisa was supposed to be protected by the CCG (important as he was to them) and yet a single ghoul found his way in and killed the one responsible for trading ghoul products. Fishy.
To be honest, that’s Amon’s reasoning right there and I don’t think he’s wrong. Considering that the house was the CCG’s place and that Yasuhisa was under their protection, a single ghoul shouldn’t have been able to kill him.
Besides, Kanou is definitely aware of the identity of the murderer of the twins’ father…
“The true meaning of who killed your parents? Who is the one you should take revenge on?”
He was a part of the CCG before leaving and choosing Aogiri’s side and he’s V’s enemy due to his actions, so by tempting Kuro and Shiro with the answer, it’s obvious he intends to unleash their fury at the responsible party. Which means the guilty party has to be an enemy of his, (so there is a high chance that V is involved in their father’s death but if we follow Amon’s reasoning and consider he’s right, then it’s highly possible for the CCG to be guilty as well).
Which would mean that somehow V and the CCG can see eye to eye sometimes (as illogical as it should be, since technically the CCG fight ghouls and V are ghouls, but it’s not really unexpected since the CCG are doing weird experiments themselves and the Washuus are shady).
By the way, Yasuhisa was definitely not the only human killed to maintain the equilibrium V likes so much.
I think Ukina can also be mentioned here, as a journalist erased because she was researching on them (amongst other things).
–
So that only leaves the Clowns and their unknown goal.
While I believe Aogiri and Kanou are against V and that there is a chance the CCG is cooperating with V behind the scenes, it’s very hard to place the Clowns on the chessboard.
The first thing to consider about them is…
Aogiri was looking for both Rize and Kanou for a long time (since Nico was with them for quite some time) and catching them would have been linked to a huge progress in Aogiri’s goal. And what did the Clowns do?
They “eliminated” Rize.
Oh, I know, the Clown gang is hard to see through, because they often act on their own, but somehow, just by creating the incident with Rize, Souta allowed Kanou to create a half ghoul (Kaneki) before running away and Aogiri never was able to have Rize and it took them a longer time to get to Kanou. An incident creating such an important disadvantage to an organization like Aogiri was more of a strategical move and in my opinion, Souta didn’t act on his own. Itori is the one managing the information, telling people what she wants and manipulating as she sees fits, so there is no way Kanou getting his hand on Rize and disappearing isn’t something that was well thought in advance.
[I can’t say why Kanou ran away for a long time before joining Aogiri around chapter 100 though, maybe because he got false information about Aogiri’s desire and he was trying to stay safe, or because he thought he could fight V on his own?]
Also we can wonder if Kaneki’s transformation into a half ghoul was planned by the Clowns or not. I mean, they planned Rize’s accident and she had Kaneki with her at this moment, but did they know Kanou would operate on Kaneki and turn him into a half ghoul? Well, I think the answer is yes, because Itori probably knew about the doctor and his experiments and it’s hard to see Kanou operating on Rize as a coincidence when they were both searched by Aogiri at that time, and also because…
The incident was planned so carefully that Souta knew exactly where Rize would pass by, which means the plan was perfect and since Rize was the binge eater, it was not hard to be sure she would be bringing a prey around to eat.
Now did Kanou have a link with the Clowns, did they tell him what they planned to do? That I can’t say. It’s possible they knew each other and planned the surgery together, but the Clowns could have also just known about his intentions and if he already had his eyes on Rize at that moment, then they used these two information to create an incident they knew he wouldn’t be able to resist using for his experiments.
All that to say, are the Clowns linked to V?
It’s impossible to say. Why?
– The Clowns acted against Aogiri by creating the incident with Rize but at the same time, it resulted in Kaneki’s transformation, and V and one eyed ghouls don’t do well together (so no, if we consider they planned Kaneki’s surgery as well) – Itori mentions how she collected a lot information about both humans and ghouls (and V erase both humans and ghouls getting in their way), and Uta was a strong, violent young ghoul that could have caught V’s eyes just like Kuzen once did; but at the same time, the Clowns were too famous and the CCG ended up annihilating them because they were a pain while V are acting more in the shadows. – Uta’s neck tattoo could be in reference to V’s “equilibrium” and Ishida drew him in what looks like a V outfit after Root A episode 8. – Itori was the one who introduced the “other one eyed ghoul” for the first time in TG and she was also the one who told Kaneki to go investigate the 11th ward, probably knowing very well that Aogiri had settled there. So since Eto has been wanted by V for a long time, if Itori was a part of them, why didn’t she tell them about Eto in the 11th ward?
There are probably a few more examples showing a possible link or going against that theory, but if I had to decide based on what I wrote above, I’d say the Clowns aren’t a part of V.
The final question is, while Aogiri and Kanou take on both V and the CCG, and if the CCG has an agreement with V that’s only known by a few of the highest members, can the Clowns represent yet another group on the side of neither?
Judging by what we saw of their philosophy of life, it’s possible, and maybe that’s even why they’re following Kaneki’s development with such interest, after guiding him several times into dark paths (they’re definitely a group to be feared) but nothing can be said with certainty. The Clowns are still very mysterious to us readers, and even :Re’s last chapter is causing confusion since Itori doesn’t appear with the others (more on that here).
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Thanks for reading and feel free to add/ask anything.
Thanks @midnight-in-town for linking me to this post of yours last night. It’s a great read and really thorough. And in light of the most recent chapter and the reveals about Arima and Furuta’s connections to V as well as a one-eyed-ghoul 100 years back being involved with the current state of CCG, all of this is even more compelling and important.
(I’m curious if you have any thoughts or insights into what could be going on there.)
Everyone should take a look at this post, if only for the background for any of the numerous reveals we are heading towards. This is a great primer in the background politics of the Tokyo Ghoul universe that seem to be finally, finally, making their way to the forefront of the plot.
Thanks for reading 🙂 Um, considering the new chapter (translation by normally-normal here):
Eto: “Aogiri tree’s goal is to create a world suitable for ghouls, where ghouls can have their life here. Our enemy is the doves, and my wish is to wipe out the “twisted source” behind. Kanou describes this world as a “twisted cage”, I think its very fitting so I use it. Break the “twisted cage” means to make the world regains balance again. The existence of CCG is the cause of the presence of an One Eyed Ghoul 100 years ago. Humans had no choice but to form an organisation to fight. Since the past, the presence of one eyed ghoul is signaling a huge change.”
I think V and the CCG are apparently definitely involved with each other behind the scenes. And as someone was theorizing last weekhere:
This is speculation, but the way I see it, V is an organisation of the most powerful ghouls that rose to the top of the Ghoul world in the early days of TG universe. They then established a structure to stay there, at the cost of the lives and happiness of other Ghouls. They established a co-operative deal with the most powerful humans (Washuu > CCG) to keep BOTH parties in their power positions indefinitely. Thereby suspending their useless war against each other, which given the strength of these respective parties, would have resulted in a long drawn out conflict and endless casualties. […] This established accordance between V and CCG I think, is the ‘birdcage’ that Aogiri wants to crush. Because they believe in a free meritocracy and the rule of the strong. And that strength is not necessarily centered on race (ie. not purely related to Ghouls).
And all these new info are totally highlighted by a peculiar moment with Washuu Yoshitoki in vol 14 that I discovered after writing my initial post (ch133):
So yep, there is a definite link (or agreement) between the Washuus and V, now canonly and obviously proved by Eto with the last chapter.
The only thing I am wondering about is Furuta’s actual place as well as the Clowns’. 🙂 (Since I have an exam tomorrow though, I’ll concentrate on that with the new chapter starting on Tuesday haha. If I make a post on it, I’ll let you know)
If you have some speculations once the chapter is out, feel free to send me the link(s), I’ll be happy to read it 🙂
Hi 😀 I’m guessing this was brought on by this post [x] I reblogged where it was mentioned about the Aogiri tree symbol being associated with both the One-Eyed King and Kaneki in his school play?
If you piece together all the scenes from the play you can get a very basic and shallow idea of the plot [x][x]:
Kaneki plays the lead role
The Witch and Kaneki have a confrontation
Hide, the Witch’s Servant, shows up
He comes between the Witch and Kaneki, appearing to be on the Witch’s side
That’s all there is in canon about the play, but in the drafts Ishida wrote for the second season of the anime (that were never used) it’s elaborated on further (which was kindly translated here [x] by @makyun!!). Because the anime was meant to be an original ending I don’t think it’s technically canon in the manga universe, but it might give us some hints about what Ishida is thinking. From the anime drafts we’re told that:
Kaneki plays a Prince. Considering he’s a Prince associated with Aogiri’s symbol, can we speculate that this means he is the future King?
The Witch’s servant (Hide) was a friend to the Prince (Kaneki)
Hide was tricked by the Witch to betray Kaneki
Hide asks for Kaneki’s forgiveness
Kaneki makes Hide promise to never betray him again, to leave the Witch’s side and become his ally/fight by his side
There’s a touching forgiveness scene
Really all you can take from this is a lot of speculation and I’ll be the first to admit that, at this point, Hide is so mysterious you can make compelling arguments for both ‘Hide is a good guy’ and ‘Hide is with the bad guys’. There are so many Hide theories out there it’s not even funny- he’s a Washuu, he’s a Clown, he’s working for V, he’s working with Eto, he’s just Kaneki’s helpful best friend. You can find an awesome in-depth compilation of some of these theories by @sans-san here [x].
From the anime drafts it makes it seem as though Hide betrayed Kaneki. I’ll never rule a theory out completely (especially after the bombshell that Eto isn’t the OEK!) but I’m not 100% sold on this idea. Hide spent so much of the manga waiting, searching and looking out for Kaneki all at his own risk which goes against the idea of treachery. At this stage, I think if there was any ‘betrayal’, it was because Hide was tricked into thinking it was best for Kaneki, that there was no other way out. Like the Witch’s Servant in the play.
Perhaps the ‘betrayal’ was Hide sending Kaneki out to fight Arima?
As discussed in the Hide theory compilation post I linked, there is the idea that Hide made a deal with the CCG to save Kaneki and that’s why he told him to fight one last time- that he thought it was the only way to save him. His dialogue certainly supports this:
But then who is the Witch in this case? Is it the Washuu family (Hide is a Washuu theory)? Is it the CCG? Is it Arima? Is it the V organisation (after the reveal that Arima could possibly have ties to V)? Who knows.
Here’s some more theories/analyses on the play I could find:
This is getting much longer than I intended but I’ll just leave you all with a little food for thought.
If Kaneki has been likened to the symbol of Jesus Christ [x] then who plays the role of his traitorous bestie Judas, whose actions set into motion Jesus’s death and resurrection? >:)
Relatable FE Quote or Something 