I know the new chapter is soon but I didn’t have time to write this earlier than now so… Well here goes. 🙂
As I noticed, it seems my old metas/answers to Anons on Seidou’s character, his inferiority complex and his relationship to Akira interested a few more people after the last chapter, so here are the links if anyone else wants to (re)read them.
Yeah, I know these posts are old but they still make sense to me and don’t contradict canon for now so… Well, it’s just how I see things 🙂
Additionally, I just wanted to say that, whether you enjoy his character or precisely in case you don’t like him at all, it’s important to remember that he was not initially written to be as likable as Kaneki, Amon, Juuzou and other characters like them.
You know the whole “we can’t all be heroes” trope? Well this trope was almost entirely illustrated by Takizawa back in TG, until he was abducted by Aogiri and turned into a half ghoul.
What I mean by that is that Takizawa, a good investigator, never had extraordinary fighting abilities (like Arima or Suzuya), he never had extraordinary perceptions (like Akira) and he didn’t have the strong heart and iron will others showed (like Amon) because he was a normal human, never meant to become a hero like Amon (whom he saw as such) or someone worthy of so much praise like Suzuya or Akira, despite wishing so much for it.
You could say he was aware he was nothing special or that he had trust issues because of his inferiority complex (or both), but in the end it doesn’t change anything: when the Anteiku raid arc happened, he showed how normal and human he was, scared of dying during the equivalent of a war, even if he initially became an investigator to protect people.
I remember some people called that being cowardly and others just shrugged because Takizawa never had as much presence as Akira, Amon or Juuzou during the first 14 volumes of TG, so he never seemed to be important until he came back as the “Owl”, the crazy but strong one eyed ghoul of Aogiri, even less likable than before for a lot of readers, despite knowing that he probably went through a terrible ordeal when you see what he became.
All that to say… Whether you like him or not (or hate him) is up to you but I just think it’s important to realize that his character, because of the way he was written, contributed like many others to the diversity of the TG cast by Ishida-sensei and for that he is interesting as much as the other characters are, even if he’s not as noble as a lot of them.
But it wouldn’t be funny if we were to only like the hero-types right? 🙂 Although, Takizawa’s fate is hardly something defined right now as everything is possible considering that he’s facing Akira, one of his greatest rivals (in his mind) but also his big crush so… I doubt any characters of Ishida-sensei is bound to stay in only one role anyway, but we’ll see~~
Sorry for this huge thing, I just needed to write it out before the next chapter :)) Let’s wait for spoilers now ^_^
I love how you summed it up. Seidou has been IMO a human and even when he’s a ghoul I want to see how much human he has in him. I mean when Kanou did the surgery and implanted Owl’s kakuhou into Seidou, he still realizes that Seidou just didn’t have that strength and power as his first successful experiment (Kaneki) did, and that’s because I think that in some parts of Seidou he still wants to be human and doesn’t want to give up his past unlike Kaneki (who I suppose has a much darker psyche than Seidou), and plus we know his childhood was insane.
Thank you for reading 🙂 but I think you’re mixing up a lot of different things together.
First of all, as I explained in one of the links above, I just think Seidou’s currently apparent madness isn’t him being gone but him being completely overwhelmed by an inferiority complex that ate him from the inside before even becoming a OEG.
As such I agree, there is still some parts of the old him left, and one of them showed up at the end of the auction arc upon seeing Akira (just like what it looks like in the last chapter, because even if he was strangling her it’s obvious he was also crying so it’s not him being completely transformed by Aogiri, his state of mind from when he was an investigator is also a good explanation as to why he turned out like that probably after being tortured by Eto and Tatara).
However, his strength when compared to Kaneki’s doesn’t have to do with his state of mind for me, because Kanou himself said that Kaneki (who was supposed to be the last test subject before the twins) turned out as his best experiment for a reason unknown to him (his number of RC cells grew a lot from its initial rate and that’s how Kanou explains his strength although he doesn’t know for sure what triggered such an augmentation); my personal guest having to do with Kaneki’s genetics rather than anything psychological (we still have nothing about Kaneki’s father so there might be some things to learn about Kaneki’s past and family).
Anyway, so yeah I agree Seidou isn’t “gone”. The question remains if he can get rid off the inferiority complex eating him from the inside and pushing him to believe he’s better the way he is by killing for Aogiri though (but maybe he could be ready to reflect upon himself if Akira is involved).
I am sending this as a submission and not a ask to avoid sending you multiple ones. It’s a little confused because I am following a train of thoughts, so some parts maybe should be a little more organized.
I have some thoughts about the “love and revolution” quote. In chapter one Kaneki describes himself as the protagonist of a tragedy and states he wants to be born for love and revolution. In both cases he chooses a narrative for himself and a part of me thinks this is his way to cope with his low self-worth.
I mean, we have seen that it’s not unusual for Kaneki to choose a particular narrative who puts him in the role of the hero and we have seen many times how in each narrative he chooses there are limits and we have seen people who care about him calling him out on it.
Touka does so directly during the bridge scene when she compares Kaneki to one of the heroes of his books.
Hinami as well refuses Kaneki’s narrative where he has put her in the spot of the damsel in distress.
Arima refuses Kaneki’’s narrative as well during their fight showing how faulted it was.
In short I think Kaneki talking of love and revolution and him seeing himself as a revolutionary hero may just be one of said narratives which will lead him to hurt himself.
About it I think it’s relevant the contrast between Kaneki and Haise. Haise never thought of himself as a hero. He didn’t want to realize something big, he didn’t want love and revolution. He simply wanted a normal and simple life with his family.
Basically I think there are two different tendencies into Kaneki: one part of him wants to live with the people he loves and to be happy while the other one wants to be a hero and to realize something big (does it remind you of anything? What about “This time make sure to do something which will allow you to be loved by everyone. A good thing, a bad thing it doesn’t matter”?). I think that for Kaneki’s character arc it will be important to find some kind of balance between these two tendencies.
This train of thoughts leads me to think about other characters as well and about their relationship with literature and how they affected Kaneki.
1) Eto: she obviously loves literature and is a writer herself. I think Kaneki’s tendency to build a narrative for herself and for others is present in Eto as well. She created the idea of the OEK and is trying to shape Kaneki to accept the role.
2) Arima: I think it’s interesting about him that he seems to have become an avid reader only after having met Kaneki. Another interesting thing is that he too, like Kaneki prepared a precise narrative for their battle in Cochlea and that said narrative is the same of Kaneki just with their roles inverted. If Kaneki wants Arima to kill him, Arima wants Kaneki to kill him and in the end he convinces Kaneki in taking the part he wanted him to play. Arima showed his agency in dying and found the strength to do so because of Kaneki and he did so by building a narrative himself. I know that saying Arima was able to do so because he started to read books is stupid, but books were a very important part of his relationship with Haise and it’s interesting how he used his agency to build a narrative like Kaneki usually does.
3) Touka: I have always found pretty interesting that in a world where literature and books are so important and used to explain relationships and connections a character so important like Touka made it clear she can’t stand literature. She also doesn’t have any literary theme going on while Arima for example was full of them (the crossbreed, Chirin, the little prince) and even the poem associated with the picture of her family wasn’t written by her, it was Kaneki’s POV. I think this is a nice contrast with Eto in particular and I think it becomes eye-catching once you realize that Touka directly compares Kaneki to a tragedy hero and aggresively refuses the role he self-imposed.
As I said before I think Kaneki has two tendencies and if people like Eto and Arima encouraged the tendency of himself in which he wants to accomplish something important and big, Touka encourages the part of him who wants to simply live and have a normal life. I think it’s important Haise didn’t like Eto’s book and was shown to be so attracted by Touka even if he didn’t remember her.
Of course I don’t think it is a rule that whoever likes books will encourage Kaneki to become a hero and that whoever doesn’t will encourage him to live a simple life. The clowns don’t seem to have a literary theme going on, but manipulated Kaneki a lot and Hinami wanted him to go back at Anteiku despite being an avid reader herself.
All in all I think the role of literature inside of the series is pretty ambiguous. Books are used to establish relationships, but also to manipulate others like Eto does with her victims where she uses her ability as an author to her advantage. People are moved by books like it happened with the last book written by Sen Takatsuki, but people can also give books superficial reads and misunderstand them like the ghoul expert who keeps talking about ghouls like animals.
Just a few days ago an anon suggested that Akira might get badly injured in this battle and Seidou will say, "Kanou will fix you, then, we will be the same.“
What if after what happened this chapter… Seidou decides to save her?. So he carries her to Kanou… and remember that Kanou currently has Shirazu’s body and is trying to experiment on humans with the Quinx project. What if… he uses it on Akira???
There are so many similarities between the two of them. The joker cards. Not being welcome at the CCG, especially at first. The hair color changes. The Hanged Man tarot cards at the end of TG. We are regularly reminded that they have remarkably feminine traits. Kaneki is the Fool in the Fool’s Journey that carries through the whole manga but Suzuya may also be associated with that card (Rei = zero). Both of them have been compared to Arima based on their level of skill. They have both had abusive parental figures who they still loved. They have both fought parental figures but never killed them themselves. The found father figures with no biological relation.
And now that Kaneki has inherited Arima’s “hopes” and the OEK title, Juuzou appears with an Arata, similar to what Shinohara had.
Anyone who even has the vaguest idea of who I am must have known that I was ecstatic, ecstatic to see the most recent chapter. When I thought that Juuzou might have been killed, I sort of went into a Tokyo Ghoul holding pattern, emotionally, continuously bracing for the worst. However, after yesterday’s chapter I felt a huge sense of relief, and several budding metas.
Then this morning, I saw this post. And it reminded me of what a genuinely perfect portrayal of warfare Tokyo Ghoul actually is.
Warfare is defined by two sides, both of whom think that they are correct, both of whom dehumanize the other, and both of whom have landed in a “kill or be killed” situation with the other. Beyond that there is truly no end to the solid blanket of moral gray that falls over a literal and metaphorical battlefield. Popular sayings such as “All is fair in love and war” serve only to highlight how traditional senses of morality and empathy go out the window in these situations.
ISTG I’ve never before seen a man as good as Ishida-sensei at hiding things in plain sight…Joker, eh?
Speaking of overlooking what’s right in front of us…this led me to revisit the other Joker Trump art and how hard do you think Ishida-sensei laughed at us that we managed to remain in denial about Arima being the OEK despite him being drawn with a fucking crown in his Joker card art?? OTZ
This has probably been said far before I joined the fandom but oh well. I just wanted to mention about the Rabbit keychain Touka has at the start of the series
‘Kachikachi’ [x] has a zip detail on it’s side to reveal a ribcage (morbid right?). Well guess where Touka was impaled by Mado
Can we talk about how much of a genius Ishida is for a second?
The prefix re- indicates repetition or withdrawal. Continuations of re- in the context of Tokyo Ghoul could be reborn, reunion, or return. The latter is most likely the meaning Touka had in mind when she named her cafe since she was sure that Kaneki would return to Aneteiku. But Ishida also intended re to mean king, which it means in Italian.
And then there’s the bicolored colon, one of them black and one of them red, just like Kaneki’s eyes. If we consider that Touka included it in her cafe’s name, it’s probably symbolic for Kaneki, as in “This is his place to return.” But with re meaning king, it can also be read as One Eyed King.
for “re” puns, now i really have to wonder if 0 squad is a pun meaning “king’s squad” (because 0 is “rei” in japanese, read p much exactly the same as “re” (the i is silent/elongating))
Relatable FE Quote or Something 