I’m partial to SeiAki, I’ve always loved the “arguing like an old married couple” trope. I love how Seidou’s envy of her is mixed in with his attraction and, as 115 suggested, romantic feelings for her. The way they’re constantly torn between fighting alongside each other and fighting against each other is really something to watch; which reached its ultimate culmination on Rushima, where he almost killed her only to later choose to risk his life to save her. And Akira’s hidden care for him is also very moving when she lets it show.
But I find it works just as well as an unrequited love – or rather, an unrequited romantic interest, because Akira said herself that she loves both Takizawa and Amon. This is a very angsty ship so the unrequited suits it well. I just hope to see them fight unreservedly on the same side in the future, not fighting amongst themselves or directly against each other. But all that said, I still approve of Akiramon, especially because of all the Touken parallels.
@dreamofcentipedes I hope you don’t mind, but OMG I absolutely agree with you and I just wanted to add, because I see too many people “forgetting” about this ever since ch121, that Akira never indeed to this day made any difference between her feelings for Amon and Takizawa, so it’s not like either ship currently prevails over one another.
Akira may have left with Amon in ch121, but Takizawa had already left first in ch118 and, again, Akira’s feelings never did anything but put the guys on the same level:
Of course, she apparently kissed Amon in ch121 and so she might indeed end up with him, but both Akira and Amon are currently stuck in their character development, which is something that only Seidou can help them with and which means the Seiakiramon dynamic isn’t set in stone at all.
As for Seidou, as you explained in your other post, he needs to confront them again because he’s totally running away from them out of a wrong assumption of still “not deserving to be by their side”, which is yet another argument as to why the whole dynamic is in for more significant developments.
I wouldn’t say that polyamory is more likely as an ending for this dynamic when ch121 did seem to give an advantage (so to speak) to Akiramon, but my point is that Akira’s character has always been Defined by keeping a lot bottled up inside (see Gori’s words in ch143 before she finally starts crying), which means that she’s bound to address her feelings for the two men again (either to finally discriminate between them or to end with both).
Again, I hope you don’t mind my two cents :3 Great post!
…was not ok, M has a serious problem with violence, yes, but it was
also symbolic that people meant to protect him (akira his superior, or
his mother) protecting his agressors instead (takizawa and his father) i
did find karmatic M attacking T bc it was T’s ambush that put M in
torso’s reach, that whole figth was levels of gray with A later
attacking M and the Qs, the fact that S just killed a whole squad is
never even touch after, yet it seams that Ak & A where given the
moral high ground…
… where given the moral high ground after that, after all M is the
monster, M attacked S and Ak, but so did S and houji, M is the one that
goes into a dark path after while Ak, A & S get to peace out the
story & come back as heros later, im not saying that attacking Ak
was good, it was wrong, but everyone there was wrong, and we see M admit
that he killed and that makes him a murderer, and it burdens him, yet
Ak is proud at how many ghouls she killed and using feguchi and that
just bothers me
I don’t hate you, don’t worry! And while I really
love Akira and Amon both as characters, I have similar frustrations with
them. (Amon especially because his arc is pretty pathetic in :re
whereas it was fantastic in TG.)
I mean, I think the moral
high ground examples you’re citing are more problems with the fandom
always wanting to demonize Mutsuki than with how the story presents
them. It wasn’t shocking to me that Mutsuki crushed Takizawa’s balls or
stabbed Akira. It was wrong, yes, but it also wasn’t technically illegal
according to the laws of the CCG (the laws are wrong though).
But
I would say that I disagree about how Akira and Amon are characterized afterwards.
Akira made the morally right (according to the story) decision when she
broke with the CCG to save Takizawa.
Of course that action is perceived
as good by the story. But since then, Akira and Amon have not been
heroes–they’ve needed rescuing from Takizawa, who saved both of them,
because he is the hero in their story, as he always wanted to be. He just hasn’t realized it yet. My guess is he’s going to have to save their asses from Donato pretty soon.
Also
Akira has not expressed pride in her actions since 120, though we have seen her express that her father wouldn’t be happy with her. She expressed a very conflicted
worldview at that point, because it was undeniable to her that ghouls
were not monsters after Hinami and the Aogiri kids, but to admit that
you’re a murderer–just like we’ve seen with Kaneki–is not easy to do.
Plus, if this happens as Akira says, her father’s legacy is tarnished
forever… which is what Touka told her to do, but Touka also needs to do this with Kaneki who is a parallel for Arata (admit that what he did was wrong).
It’s no coincidence this was said in a conversation between Touka and Akira because this is a way they still need to grow, both of them.
Yes, I am bothered that they just get to waltz
back into the story after abandoning Goat, because the right thing to do
is not to run away, it’s to create a better world and if you don’t know
what that looks like (see Akira and Amon’s emptiness talk in 121) you
figure it out.
But then again, what they did is not much worse than what
Touka and Kaneki did, because they also made no effort to find out what
that might look like as recent chapters have bluntly stated to us.
Akira thought Kaneki killed Arima too because he lied to her about that,
so she probably had a hard time coming to terms with that (and yet Hinami was forced to hug it out with her, so ughhhhh there’s definitely hypocrisy there). I’m not saying it’s right.
I’m saying it’s understandable.
Along those lines, Akira
and Amon foil Kaneki in that aspect: always seeing themselves as better
than, because that’s how they cope with what they’ve done. It’s a coping
mechanism as much as Kaneki’s brokenness is a coping mechanism. It’s
their way of feeling as if they deserve to live, because to live they
need a purpose, and their purpose for Akira was taught to be being liker
her father, and for Amon atoning for what he helped Donato do. Except
Akira does not want to be like her father, not deep down, and Amon
cannot atone for that because a) he was a kid and shouldn’t be faulted
for it, and b) you can’t bring back the dead.
Now as a
ghoul, Amon can’t see himself as morally superior, though he tries.
Hence why he can’t actually accomplish anything–not saving Takizawa,
not saving Kurona. He refuses to acknowledge that he’s been made into a
representation of what he’s always been: a murderer, and just like
Donato (and Mado) a child murderer. He’s not better than Takizawa. (This is why I think Hajime is very
important to Amon’s arc.) Until he accepts this, he’s stagnating. At least
currently he and Akira are trying to help ghouls, but like, they can’t
really help them from a moral high ground that is built on sand because
they don’t actually have a moral high ground.
Since Kaneki’s recently made progress, I really think Amon and Akira are next on the docket to get that revelation. I also believe Akira will have to give Fueguchi back to Hinami and apologize. At least. She better. And Amon better apologize as well.
Akira and Amon have not been heroes–they’ve needed rescuing from Takizawa, who saved both of them, because he is the hero in their story, as he always wanted to be. He just hasn’t realized it yet. My guess is he’s going to have to save their asses from Donato pretty soon.
I mean, I know. I’m impatient too. But Touken took about 272 chapters to become canon and it was foreshadowed since chapter 1. Akiramon was foreshadowed since chapter 81 and took 182 chapters to become canon. Ishida’s in no rush when it comes to ships; even with all the hope and happiness lately he’s gotta leave some things unanswered for the time being.
But I think it makes narrative sense how the confrontation went down–not perfectly since I wanted Urie and Saiko to acknowledge their flaws then, but it isn’t completely nonsensical. It reminds me in some ways of Touka’s “I’ll see you later, okay?” to Kaneki which jarred him into reconsidering his suicide plan, and his memories of Hide turn him away from suicide.
Urie here told Mutsuki he wasn’t going to let him die no matter what, and Saiko acted on it to thwart Mutsuki’s suicide attempt.
Touka could have told Kaneki I’m in love with you right then–it might have been her last chance–but she didn’t because crisis management =/= not the time. Therefore it actually makes some sense to me that Urie does not tell Mutsuki then. The time isn’t now.
I do think Urie telling Mutsuki will be highly, highly important to him overcoming his flaw in the end, but that may not happen until later on, post-Dragon–like, say, if Shirazu returns. Considering all of Mutsurie’s parallels with Ayahina, and how Akiramon and Touken parallel each other and Akiramon and Touken became canon around the same time, I wouldn’t be surprised if these two ships get resolution around the same time… sometime before the end of the manga, lol.
The build-up for Mutsurie is so strong, as is the build-up for Ayahina, that it has to be paid off at some point. If I had to venture I think they’re likely endgame, but it’s also true that payoff for build up doesn’t have to mean that, so you never know. (The other ship I think might get a canon moment is Uihai, if Hairu is revived, and I think the Seiaki build up needs to be paid off as well, though I am not optimistic about Seiakimon so more likely one will be endgame and the other won’t be.) At the very least, Urie and Ayato are not going to just forget that they had feelings for Mutsuki and Hinami respectively.
Btw guys, it’s not because I say I find Seiaki to have a slightly more fulfilling development in :Re so far that you can send me ship-biased asks about wanting Amon to die so that the ship can be canon.
Seriously, grow up.
Me liking a ship, canon or not, will never be about erasing “competition” for that ship, especially when I’m a huge supporter of Seiakiramon in the first place.
I’m pretty sure I’ve briefly mentioned this theory here on tumblr a long time ago, but I’m bringing it back, because it’s still relevant even after all these months and is related to the latest chapter. Now to start off, Ishida has very blatantly connected Touka and Kaneki’s relationship to Yin and Yang before:
Yin and Yang is about two halves that together complete wholeness. When the halves are separate like this, they are the starting point for change. Both halves are chasing after each other as they seek a new balance with each other. That basically means that Touka and Kaneki’s relationship together forces each other to change and pushes both of them towards wholeness. Yin and Yang can be seen in the color choices and the use of opposite elements for the characters designs. While in this picture Kaneki has pale hair and dark clothes, Touka has dark hair and pale clothes. More commonly Kaneki also has the eyepatch on his left eye while Touka has her hair covering her right eye. A moment in which this Ying and Yang symbolism becomes especially important is in chapter 122 when Kaneki and Touka talk together.
Touka’s hair is black while Kaneki’s is white, her shirt is white while Kaneki’s is black and her stockings are black while Kaneki’s pants are white. The color palettes are the polar opposites and meant to indicate how they are the opposing halves of Ying and Yang. Another moment where this can be seen with other characters is just briefly before this scene when Akira and Amon talked.
All their pieces of clothing (apart from their shoes) and hair have opposing colors. What these scenes have in common is that in both cases the two people were separated for years before reuniting and also after that were immediately unable to to properly communicate each other and sort their relationship out.
However, they some time after that had their talk together and managed to connect with each other . Both couples still have plenty of issues and miscommunication to fix, but according to Ying and Yang, they should be able to eventually overcome those issues thanks to each other.
Now, the reason why I wrote this post today is, because of Urie and Mutsuki who funnily enough fit into this template we saw with Touka/Kaneki and Akira/Amon. They were both separated after Shirazu died and Sasaki left, because Mutsuki left the Qs squad as well to aid other squads on their missions. After that they only ever occasionally met each other before Mutsuki was kidnapped for months in Rushima. After that they got their reunion when Mutsuki was rescued, but had no chance to communicate properly with each other. Their miscommunication issues were seen at their strongest in chapter 126 when Urie was too afraid to properly confront Mutsuki and Mutsuki refused to listen to him.
After that nothing really happened with them until we get to the scene in chapter 154. The panel that made me remember this old theory of mine was this one where them being the opposites couldn’t be any more blatant:
They are also right now wearing clothes that make their color palettes the polar opposites and actually have been doing that since chapter 105.
All of Mutsuki’s clothes and hair are white while Urie’s are black. Urie/Mutsuki take this even further than Touka/Kaneki and Akira/Amon by having even different skin colors with Mutsuki being tan and Urie being pale. What makes me believe this was intentional even more was the fact that literally nobody wears the type of coat Mutsuki has apart from Aura in the CCG so I always found it rather strange.
Now to get to the point, I do think that Urie and Mutsuki’s relationship is meant to parallel the ones I mentioned before so I don’t expect that this fight of theirs will end badly. I actually believe they are able to finally talk properly and sort their relationship out like Touka/Kaneki and Akira/Amon did instead of someone dying or anything else tragic. Ying and Yang is about two opposing halves coming together to become whole and it fits well with Urie and Mutsuki’s relationship. Mutsuki wants a safe environment where they’re loved which Urie can give and Urie wants to belong to a family which Mutsuki can give. They have the power to push each other to change. They are perfect for each other, but due to unfortunate circumstances can’t find each other. While their unfortunate situation is a bit more extreme than Touka/Kaneki’s and Akira/Amon’s, I do believe it will have the same outcome. Maybe them becoming a couple is way too early, but I expect them to talk with each other and communicate properly.
Hi, I love you.
(also, do you think it’s interesting that while touka’s hair covers her right eye and Kaneki’s eyepatch his left, Mutsuki’s eyepatch covers his right and Urie has the moles under his left? Idk it’s just interesting that they both have distinctive eye features)
Thanks for noticing me senpai and pointing that out, because I forgot to add it to the post. Their kakugans are on opposite sides as well actually.
So Akira’s haircut looks suspiciously like her haircut in the first TG.
Add that to the fact that it looks like they’ll be teaming up with the CCG again and the fact that they’re still stuck talking about Kureo, and it seems like they’re trying to go back in time to pick up from where they left off before the Owl Suppression Operation.
Which worked out really well for Touka and Kaneki when they tried to pick up where they left off. It’s not like the new Anteiku got burned down or Kaneki turned into a giant monster.
The CCG as a whole is looking incredibly unsympathetic right now. They’re digging in to their “ghouls are the problem!” rhetoric without taking any responsibility for their own actions, without any consequences, and they’re united for tenuous reasons just like Goat was, reasons that could oh so easily fall apart.
Wouldn’t it be great if this blew up in their faces just like it blew up in Touka and Kaneki’s? (Sorry, but they are either gonna die because they’re not going to grow at all–doubtful and I don’t want them to die–or something bad has to happen to shake up the status quo they’re all content to have continue because they benefit from it.)
All that re foreshadowing around Amon has to be leading somewhere. Dragonamon?
Part 2 of the TG:re volume 12 omakes. I’d post more images at a time, but I have to go to work soon, so might as well post what I’ve managed to finish so far.
Hello! Well, I wouldn’t compare one couple with another, especially since I couldn’t be less sure that it’s all romance and rainbows between Amon and Akira.
I mean, sure, they kissed, but that doesn’t mean that now they’re just enjoying living their peaceful romance, especially when it’s war everywhere else. Anyway, from where I stand, I find that Akira and Amon are lying to themselves way more than Kaneki and Touka, which is why I wouldn’t try to compare their “happiness”, even more Akira and Amon are as involved as Kaneki and Touka with the current war and won’t be able to escape it.
The omake is basically one more indication that Akira and Amon are just… trapped in the past, unable to move on from their days at the CCG and to fully accept their new situation, and I think that because the whole omake for them revolves around Mado Kureo.
I understand that he was and will always be important to the two of them, but we could have had this omake in TG and it would have 100% worked with their dynamic at that time. However, we’re not in TG but in :Re and their situation changed while their old dynamic basically stagnated and thus… this omake is one more hint for me that Akira and Amon are just… refusing to face their issues with their current situations.
Elaborating on that would make this reply ten times longer, so in case you want to read more about why I think like that, please read these posts [x] [x] by @linkspooky and this one [x] by @undergroundsky.
Sorry Anon, you were probably expecting something more light-hearted as an answer but… while it definitely was cute, it isn’t very satisfying when it comes to their dynamic or fulfilling their developments some more.
Thanks for passing by in the first place and have a nice day!
Lol Anon, are you @linkspooky by any chance? xD Nah, but in any case I totally agree!
I absolutely love the way Ishida wrote Mado (first as the worst villain ever in vol2/3 and then slowly we started discovering more about him and how he wasn’t *just* crazy) but I agree: be it for Akira or Amon, they need to start acknowledging that Mado’s way wasn’t the best and they should reflect on how to belong in this world without having to relay on anyone but themselves.
But you know, I can also understand why it’s hard for Amon. I mean, he was raised by Donato who forced him to be an accomplice and to help with killing other children, so it was definitely traumatizing and to this day, Amon still can’t forgive himself for being so weak and not being able to resist him, which is why Mado Kureo was such a great role model for him.
Mado seemed weak, but he didn’t care for promotion and he killed ghouls out of revenge, so that’s why Amon went head over heels for him and why he still can’t be entirely on the ghouls’ side, as he told Kaneki.
I’m awaiting the day where Amon and Akira will finally acknowledge that their situation changing doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It’s only this way that they will be able to go confront Seidou, something that my boy definitely needs as well.
Like, for real, this omake series hurt: Amon and Akira being as if nothing happened in :Re while Seidou was having PTSD dreams all alone. :/// It’s literally such an accurate depiction of their dynamism right now that I could cry.
That’s Sensei, obviously he knows his stuff with his characters, but it still hurt. ;_;
Thanks for passing by Anon and have a nice day! :3
EDIT: well, what do you know Anon, @linkspooky literally wrote a post on the subject!
Hahah xD enjoy their post then, because it’s totally something that they think!
Honestly, I’m glad other people seem to see beyond the omake because it wasn’t just about some cute Akiramon interaction. I legit got called out by a very rude Anon who accused me of only caring about Takizawa but the truth is, I’m all for the 3 of them being happy, together or on their own, romantically or by living in the past, as long as the trio gets closure through interacting.
Because Seidou needs it as much as they do and he is obviously still a part of their dynamism, which is why the way Ishida portrayed their dynamism with this omake is just a brilliant reminder, in my opinion, that the three of them still need to confront each other at least one more time.
As I like to say, it’s never been just Seiaki or Akiramon or even “Seidamon” for these characters, they’re all a part of the same dynamism.
Anyway, enjoy Link’s post Anon! And have a nice day :))
Hey Anon! Yes, I agree with that analysis. I’m not one to say that we should all forgive Kureo or hate on him, everyone in this manga did some morally reprehensible stuff so liking a character or not is really all subjective, and all I tried to explain was that I didn’t read that omake as a simple picture of a happy ending for Akira and Amon. It’s always nice to get some content about Kureo in the first place. xD
Anyway, I don’t think it’s possible for Akira and Amon to become “perfect” characters, which is to say, moving on from the past, acknowledging what they don’t want to acknowledge, becoming more in favor of the ghoul side than they currently are… but it would be nice to see them at least try because their current situation is asking for it (Amon is a OEG and Akira shielded a ghoul, they’re enemies of the CCG as much as Kaneki and the rest).
It’s the case for every character or so in TG actually, not just them. xD It’s just that the current omake was a bit too sweet considering that everyone else is suffering right now. xDD
Hello! Well, I wouldn’t compare one couple with another, especially since I couldn’t be less sure that it’s all romance and rainbows between Amon and Akira.
I mean, sure, they kissed, but that doesn’t mean that now they’re just enjoying living their peaceful romance, especially when it’s war everywhere else. Anyway, from where I stand, I find that Akira and Amon are lying to themselves way more than Kaneki and Touka, which is why I wouldn’t try to compare their “happiness”, even more Akira and Amon are as involved as Kaneki and Touka with the current war and won’t be able to escape it.
The omake is basically one more indication that Akira and Amon are just… trapped in the past, unable to move on from their days at the CCG and to fully accept their new situation, and I think that because the whole omake for them revolves around Mado Kureo.
I understand that he was and will always be important to the two of them, but we could have had this omake in TG and it would have 100% worked with their dynamic at that time. However, we’re not in TG but in :Re and their situation changed while their old dynamic basically stagnated and thus… this omake is one more hint for me that Akira and Amon are just… refusing to face their issues with their current situations.
Elaborating on that would make this reply ten times longer, so in case you want to read more about why I think like that, please read these posts [x] [x] by @linkspooky and this one [x] by @undergroundsky.
Sorry Anon, you were probably expecting something more light-hearted as an answer but… while it definitely was cute, it isn’t very satisfying when it comes to their dynamic or fulfilling their developments some more.
Thanks for passing by in the first place and have a nice day!
midnight-in-town 