waraupiero:

waraupiero:

yo i’m actually excited by kaneki and touka matching because in traditional chinese myth (like the oldest iteration) the phoenix (凤凰) is depicted in pairs, facing/mirroring each other – the fèng (凤) is the male bird, and huáng (凰) is the female bird. so what if there are two phoenixes?? both kaneki and touka??

also, traditionally the feathers of a chinese phoenix come in five colours, representing the five confucian virtues (i may be getting the colours wrong because i’m a Bad Chinese Person but here we go):

• rén (仁) [black]: charity, humanity
• [kuroneki????]
• yì (義) [white]: justice, righteousness; can also be doing one’s best (in service of others), loyalty, consideration for others
• [oek??]
• zhī (知) [red]: knowledge; alternatively it could be zhì (智), wisdom.
• [could this be the red of kagune? we are learning more and more about it + it gives the (former) human characters perspective/understanding]
• [alternatively, the red of uta’s eyes?? man knows too fucking much]
• xīn (心) [green]: lit. heart; faithfulness, true to oneself. could also be xìn (信), which is belief, or faith in someone else.
• [since green is eto’s motif, could this be eto’s influence on both kaneki & popular ghoul ideology?? eto is the heart of aogiri and helps make kaneki the heart of goat]
• lǐ (礼) [yellow]: lit. manners, correct behaviour. but it could represent a religious sacrifice; a ritual.
• [you know who’s yellow and a sacrifice? lmao hide]

i’m probably reading too much into this because who knows how relevant chinese mythology is to tg, but yo it kind of fits. phoenixes are actually the oldest sign of chinese imperial power; the chinese emperor’s called huáng dì (皇帝), which is obviously a reference to phoenix (just look at the two characters lmao). the dragon did not come to embody chinese imperial power until the yuan dynasty, a dynasty that was created by invaders, the mongols.

also i’m hoping that the phoenix imagery is going to come to mean that kaneki (& also touka if the fèng huáng is really two parts) is nearing the end of his evolution as a leader. unlike the dragon, which is sometimes a malicious and unknowable force, the phoenix is always a sign of virtue, light, and righteousness. it is said that a phoenix will only manifest in a ruler without darkness or corruption (zhèng zhì qīng míng, 政治清明). exciting. maybe this is when goat will finally come into its own

addendum: dragons in chinese myth can fly, but they are primarily gods of the sea (usually when they ascend to the sky, they cause storms/typhoons, so still watery shit)

do you know who’s watery

also worth noting is the chinese trope character the xiǎo lóng nü (小龙女, ‘little dragon girl’) or lóng ér (龙儿, ‘dragon child’), who is known to be beautiful beyond usual comprehension/imagination, white as snow (REMEMBER THE WHITE HAIR GUYS), powerful so don’t underestimate her!! and cold and indifferent (MY ICE QUEEN <3).

she is a trained master in martial arts (looking at you shachi, father of the entire century), and reportedly will marry/give her power to anyone who manages to defeat her (ha good luck dying trying, folks). in one iteration of the story she ends up falling in love and marrying yáng guò (杨过), whose name literally means ‘mistake’ because his mother regretted having him with his father. he later gets the courtesy name gǎi zhī (改之, ‘to correct’). both he and xiǎo lóng nü in this story grow up as orphans, relying on one another to survive, and thus their relationship is seen as somewhat incestuous.

you know what this reminds me of? furuta.