So we saw everybody band together in an epic feat of teamwork, the question is why exactly did it not work in bringing owl 2.0 down?
It’s probably something as simple as the characters really haven’t grown enough to earn this vicotry. Which is what necessitates the clown shake down in the first place.
Here, let me demonstrate with a breakdown of Kaika vs Yusa, the only real character vs character interaction rather than character vs giant monster that we get in the fight.
First, he calls the two remaining members of Zero Squad Arima’s lapdogs. Not only that but Sheep that he herded himself. That’s a rather thinly veiled and obvious Jesus metaphor.
Remember, Arima Kishou died for our sins. Ishida likes to remind us of it approximately every five chapters that Arima Kishou is indeed dead.
Arima is so universally mourned by everyone it’s almost enough to make you forget that he was a morally ambiguous character to begin with. It’s almost like his death has wiped the slate clean on him.
As I’ve said before though, Tg: Re would never glorify suicide like that. Lately, we’ve been witnessing a slow deconstruction on Arima’s sacrifice. Including the facts that Take clearly does not know entirely what the big picture is, that he relies on Arima’s words too much, and the fact that Zero Squad has been whittled down to its last two remaining members.
Arima’s sacrifice of his own life to make Kaneki the strongest of all ghouls was destroyed when the CCG simply replaced him with Juuzou. Arima’s choice to leave behind the zero squad with Kaneki to protect him, results in two of them dying in an almost direct result of his choice not to tell Ui to avoid confrontation.
Take holds information to himself, and isn’t really super clear anymore on what Arima’s goals were to begin with. So, to summarize the story itself is still framing Arima’s choice to sacrifice himself ambiguously. As in there were some good things, and some bad things about that choice. However, the characters themselves still view Arima in exactly that light.
Yomo even brings up this exact same notion to Take. That Arima did a lot of bad things and hurt a lot of people, even if he was doing it for good ends ultimately those wounds go away, and Take basically says it doesn’t matter because Arima is dead now. He brushes off the opportunity to think critically about Arima, because no matter what he concludes it won’t change the fact that Arima is still dead. However, it does matter for the sake of the living.
Take, while still acknowledging that Arima is dead is still working tirelessly to earn his praise and following the orders of a dead man.
So much so, he fails to grasp entirely what Arima’s purpose in leaving Take the zero squad should have been. Even after losing two members in a pointless sacrifice, Take does not realize he should stop bringing Yusa onto battlefields with him and forcing the child soldier raised from birth to fight, to fight more.
Kaiko takes both Takeomi and Kuramoto out of the fight easily, but from a character perspective it’s clear why. Neither Kuramoto nor Takeomi have grown. Takeomi simply walks straight back into being a CCG officer, not even acknowledging what happened to his father and mourning him, and Kuramoto does not even try to resolve his conflict with Take, simply choosing to make a bunch of passive aggressive comments.
Remember, Kuramoto truly made himself vulernable for a moment when Take left. However, as usual he’s back to just making sly comments behind his fox face.
Kuramoto wanted to believe in him, that he had reasons to do what he was doing. His sense of betrayal came not from Take’s actions, but the fact that Take chose not to talk to him about it beforehand, and Take really hasn’t changed anything in that regard, so Kuramoto simply slinky behind his mask once more.
Then, to the meat of the fight. Kaiko’s not just mocking Yusa here, he’s mocking the pedestal that Arima is put upon by the zero squad. Which is why Kaiko chooses these specific reminders. Arima was a child soldier, just like Yusa, presumably just like Kaiko as well.
Then the juiciest moment of the chapter, while dangling a blade at Yusa’s neck he mutters, “Am I like Arima, yet?”
He’s not making the comparison between Yusa and Arima anymore, but rather Yusa and himself. Kaiko raised child soldiers obediently as a part of V, but so did Arima as well. Not only that, he did the exact same thing to Sasaki. Literally, every flashback we see of Arima presents him as being a cruel and ruthless teacher, even if he was one with good intentions.
So, what Kaiko is taunting Yusa about is that by drawing out the fight to test his strength, by holding a blade at his throat, really he’s acting exactly like Arima as well. “Am I like Arima, yet?” He’s challenging Yusa’s perfect image of Arima.
However, Yusa really does fail to respond to that in the fight way. Take just sinks once again into calling that name an honor. He adopts his perfect image of Arima that he’s using to fight for once more. Literally what Take should be saying to counteract that is “You’re not Arima, you’re you Yusa…” but Take can’t really grasp that, because Take himself keeps dragging Yusa into combat because that’s what Arima told him to do.
Which is why Ui fails to think critically as well. As touching as his rememberance of Hairu and Arima is, and also even though he’s leagues above Shuu who refuses to remember even Matsumae and Karren’s name, we should remember that Ui was given the oppurtunity to tell the CCG the truth about Furuta, Arima and Arima’s legacy and he chose to lie instead.
Even though, Ui himself much earlier was the one who grasped the nuance of the situation, that people were allowing Furuta to take power, not just Furuta being the only bad egg in the CCG. Blaming it all on Furuta, is probably something that Ui did to protect both Take and Arima’s name, but utlimately it’s the wrong choice, and one that brings him farther away from the truth.
Which is likely the reason why Ui is still smoking as well. His smoking is a sign of his own personal emotional repression. After Take tells him at least part of the truth of why he left, Ui says he’s going to be smoking a lot more now. He really hasn’t come to terms with it, and probably won’t until he’s set up confront Hairu, which may come soon.
However, at the end of the day the characters have failed to grow which is why instead of banding together to heroically defeat Owl, they’re exposed to round two. The heroic blow that Yusa dealt Kaiko essentially meaning nothing as it stitches itself up right away, the owl exploding and killing more just like when it looks it might be detained.
As per the usual in Tokyo Ghoul these problems can’t be overcome with fighting and strength alone.
As for what will happen next, considering this is an owl kagune I wonder if it’s bait to lure Amon out. After this explosion there probably won’t be many ground investigators left that can match it.
Amon showing up to help his comrades (and “for peace!”) against Owl 2.0 would make a lot of sense, especially considering that the current situation is rather strongly reminiscing of what the CCG tried to do with him in ch114/115 (with another parallel once Seidou hopefully shows up).
it would be interesting to see Amon trying to face the one who’s possibly Eto and thus half the responsible party behind him becoming a OEG, something he still can’t fully accept to this day.
I was discussing this with @amonmahboi yesterday but actually, Donato having “fun” with someone who’s possibly Eto (other strong possibilities being Hairu and Karren) as payback for what happened to Amon between TG and :Re would be a very ironic development, especially if Amon indeed shows up to fight that Owl 2.0.
It would be like “I’m stuck in the past because of my horrible father figure and despite becoming a OEG, but here I am fighting for peace against a monster who’s threatening my comrades, not knowing that this monster is actually the result of my horrible father figure seeking revenge for what happened to me”.
It makes a good setting for Kaiko’s round two when round one seemed rather hopeless. At least to me. Oh well, just some thoughts. :3
So the funny
thing is, in any other story, I… would hate zombies. Resurrections
are like time travel as a trope for me: can be great when done well, but
like, less than 1% are done well. But fakeout deaths are A Thing in TG,
and they have always been a thing in TG (I don’t understand complaints
about it; it’s not anything new). So resurrections would kind of work
like that, except I sincerely doubt it would be all peachy and everyone
would just live happily ever after. Resurrections also do fit with the
theme of living not matter what, and it might also address how we should
view death, since I don’t think Ishida wants people to be afraid of
death so much much as he wants them to value life.
So let’s
address the characters that are possibly returning here, and let’s
address them with a PACT analysis: Plot reasons they might return (aka what’d it offer other characters), Arc (was their arc complete?), Cathartic (was their death emotionally cathartic?), and Thematic
reasons (would them returning fit thematically?). (I just made this up lol don’t take it too seriously but it’s
how I think about it.) Also this is from most likely to least likely (in
my opinion).
Ihei Hairu:
She has the most foreshadowing for returning. Furuta’s directly stated it and so has Ui multiple times.
Plot
reasons: She was how we were introduced to the Garden as a concept; it
would make sense to have her arc conclude there. In addition, her return
could give Ui the closure he very clearly still wants. Arc:
Hairu did not finish her arc, which was all about striving to be loved.
In the end, that got her killed and she never received it. Should she
return, however briefly, I would expect her to understand that Ui loves
her as the end of her arc. Cathartic: Her death is the only
one I would say is not cathartic in the remotest sense. Honestly,
Hairu’s, Shio’s, and Rikai’s are the only deaths in the entire manga
that I think have no catharsis to them. Thematic: It’s odd
that Hairu would not receive love at the end of her arc, because every
other character–Mutsuki, Kaneki, Tsukiyama–who desperately craves love
and human connection and pursues it, no matter how messed up said
pursuit might be, has received it. It’s weird that Hairu’s pursuit of it
led to her death.
Shirazu Ginshi:
Plot
reasons: Urie is still desperately clinging to Shirazu, and Mutsuki and
Saiko are still reeling from his death too. Shirazu in particular
prompted Saiko to develop in the past; should he return, that could
happen again. Additionally, Urie vowed to get his body back so that
needs to be addressed. Arc: Shirazu didn’t finish his arc. In
the end, he bore the burden for them all and died, and told them to let
Haru die because he didn’t trust them to bear the burden. Should he
return, I would expect him to die in peace at the end, trusting Urie,
Mutsuki, and Saiko to care for Haru. Cathartic: Yes, his death was cathartic.. but unlike say the others on this list (besides Hairu) he still died feeling alone and unable to hear or see his friends. Thematic:
If all the other Qs are overcoming their flaws, it’s possible Urie
could overcome that “bear the burden” flaw in Shirazu’s stead–except no
one is calling him out on it. However, we haven’t seen Haru addressed
since he died, and there are lingering questions about his request to
let her die. Karren von Rosewald:
Plot
reasons: Tsukiyama has not addressed her death since a brief reference
during his fight with Ui on Rushima, even though it clearly devastated
him. Arc: Her arc was indeed complete. Cathartic: Very much so. Thematic: The two most likely to return are Hairu and Shirazu, who also died in
the Rose Arc with Karren. Additionally, TG is generally quite negative
about martyrdom, but then again, it hasn’t painted Karren’s negatively,
so idk.
Shinohara Yukinori:
This really depends on if he is actually dead as Furuta implied, or not.
Plot
reasons: Juuzou is still desperately looking for his approval, and a
simple word of advice from Marude is not a satisfying conclusion to his
arc. Arc: Yes, it’s complete. Cathartic: Yes. Thematic: Forcing Juuzou to come to terms with himself as the Reaper and whether or not that’s a label he wants.
Arima Kishou:
Plot
reasons: a return could shatter Hirako’s and Ui’s and Yusa’s constant
wondering about what he wanted. Also it might come out that Kaneki did
not kill him. Arc: his arc was complete… ish. It could be taken further. Cathartic: Yes. Thematic: The manga is very anti-suicide and this could be a chance to address that.
Right! It sounds like they are mostly human, but still have that extremely powerful kakuja “blood” running through them.
It’s been hinted that there are people much farther above the Washuu, and in a way are being used by the higher-ups in return for wealth and political power. After all, the Washuu are only a subset of V, not the other way around.
Interesting social study, isn’t it? How a powerful family can despise and feel ashamed of their origins, but exploit themselves and others who share it all the same…
I have to admit that initially, I was confused about why Arima told Kaneki that the Washuus/V wanted to be “more human” in ch83, but I guess what Rize said now explains why V decided to get rid of them recently and how they mostly succeeded.
The main Washuu family having a “powerful kakuja blood” but being mostly humans…
in other words having maybe special Rc cells but otherwise human biological features might explain their strength but also why we never saw their kagune.
“V” was initially created by the Washuus to annihilate the second OEG of the timeline, the one who almost destroyed the CCG in the past, but it seems that the organization ended up backfiring against their creators and, if it’s indeed because the power balance tilted over the years, I’d really be interested in knowing how V is different from the main Washuu family, biologically speaking.
I guess we’re eventually coming to that, but it’s lifting something off my shoulders to possibly understand what Arima was trying to say in ch83 + maybe this means that the ghoul parent of the children in the sunlit garden could be the moms? Hence why Iyo “didn’t understand” Matsuri’s job because she’s a ghoul and he’s an investigator (not sure tho because a few things don’t add up, like Furuta implying that Rize was supposed to be r*aped by Tsuneyoshi and co…).
EDIT: rethinking about this, since Yoshitoki showed two kakugan and Matsuri apparently healed from that cut in the head, I really wonder if the ghoul parents of Arima and co are the moms…
Finally, it explains Kanou’s words to the Yasuhisa twins about himself and their father:
if V encompasses the Washuus and the Washuus were ghouls who wanted to become more human, to possibly follow the example of the fearful One Eyed Washu who was a hybrid, then the ghoulification research that Kanou mentioned (which so far is about creating ghouls, not humans, probably by the sunlit society) must have been for the sake of V getting more and more powerful, not the main Washuu family.
It seems it’s finally all adding up. Now what’s left to know is how the Clowns are tying into all of this (since Furuta chose to go to them for a plot-relevant reason surely) +…
why Hide was apparently trying to avoid the Washuus.
real interesting talk there, “Rize”.
tbh though, I wonder if the first OEK…
…who, despite what Matsuri implied, was probably treated like shit by his family for being different + was feared because he was way stronger, isn’t the reason the Washuus/V are trying to be “more humans” in the first place (since it’s also what Arima told Kaneki in ch83):
hence what “Rize” said about pure ghoul blood being inferior to other people who had more “human” in them in this family
In that aspect, I think maybe that’s why the Washuus were so fond of Arima, because of how strong he was even though he was a half human.
A hybrid of a human and ghoul is stronger, it doesn’t even matter if the baby turns out to be a half human (Arima) or a OEG (One Eyed Washuu), overall it’s apparently just better than being a pure ghoul.
OKAY I HAVE TWO QUESTIONS IN PARTICULAR. Uimhir a hAon: fucking, WHAT?
Uimhir a dó: fUCKIN, WHAT?!
Can someone please explain?
If there is an element of truth to the wild accusations of everything being his fault that Rize throws at Kaneki, is that he did not have any clear plans for the future or an idea what he wanted. I went over this before, but basically Rize pokes holes in his plans easily. So much so that it looks like either result for him was not that well thought out.
Kaneki’s decision to wait where they were safe in the 24th ward resulted in all of them being boxed in and raided by the CCG, the so called “Kouryugi” operation. However, even when he suggests that they could have done the total opposite, they could have ambushed the CCG and raided them for real before the raid ever happened he’s met with this result.
What Rize points out is that Kaneki clearly does not want this result either, he does not want to beat the CCG into submission and make them submit to his will. Kaneki abhors violence and bloodshed, so even if he had made up his mind to make the completely opposite decision, because of Kaneki’s own lack of forethought as to what would come next it’s likely he would have resulted in a similiar place.
Kaneki is not thinking things through, it’s a complex problem and Kaneki cannot solve it by simply rushing forward. Even his own choice to rush forward that he had no choice but to keep moving forward is poked a hole in by Rize, who casually points out he could have chosen to do nothing instead.
This isn’t true obviously, but it’s important to notice the contrast. Kaneki insisted he had no choice but to keep moving forward, whereas Rize brings up the opposite. He could have done nothing. It’s to poke holes in that mindset.
The problem this chapter in part is highlighting is that Kaneki does not think things through to their deepest extent, and when he charges forward with these half formed ideals in mind he ends up with results he does not want. Then there is the bottom line, because of this Kaneki does not know exactly what he wants. He knows in vague terms maybe…
The point of paralleling this with what Ui said to Take is that we had a similiar question asked of Take a few chapters ago.
Is this really what Arima wanted? Was this the result of his plan? Take however does not know, because he bases his decisions on what Arima asked of him and Arima is not there. Arima is dead and therefore unable to answer the question. To begin with though, Arima and Eto’s ideal world was extremely vague. It basically went “Not this one.”
So a few chapters later in an arc where it was asked the question “Is all of this destruction what Arima, wanted?” and pointed out that without Arima around the two heads of Zero Squad fell into a needless conflict with one another. An arc that’s been establishing so far that maybe it’s a good idea to figure out what you want before running into the fight.
We have a ghoul and human alliance being formed for the reason of “mmmmmhhmm” and the goals of “mmmyeahhhhh.” The fact that Ui asks again if this is what Take wanted and Take kind of… doesn’t answer is more evidence that these characters aren’t quite there yet.
It wouldn’t make sense to punish Kaneki to such an extent for not having what he wanted, and what he was trying to accomplish figured out if we see characters acting similarly now and banding together on equally flaky ideals. I think it’s meant to be ominous, not that the ghoul alliance is bad per se because it’s a step in the right direction but also they just like Kaneki are banding together only for vague ideals and nothing concrete and no solid plans beyond the one obvious obstacle in front of them.
If you think everything that Furuta and Kanou have done so far is wrong, then we really should not be following Fruuta’s scenario and script so closely to a T. I think after this dragon is resolved, the next arc will be about that, characters realizing they have to break free of Furuta’s script and take control of the narrative for themselves and for their own reasons. Not just platitudes like “protection”, “duty”, “human”, “ghoul”, “ghoul investigator”, “peace” etc, because they are people outside of these words.
Nah, you nailed it and I don’t really have much else to add, other than to emphasis the point that Kaneki isn’t entirely to blame for Goat’s failure – in direct contrast to what ‘Rize’ tells him, and he reaffirms himself – and that there are other players who share responsibility in encouraging and allowing him to make decisions that they actively disagreed with.
It’s a conflict the organisation faced from its very inception: it can’t decide whether it’s a collective of oppositional factions who unite in pursuit of a broad ideological goal, or just a devoted entourage to the OEK [you wrote a great post on this before so linking again in case anyone else wants to read]. The majority of Goat is made up of weak, starving ghouls and there’s no real reason to begrudge them for simply seeking out a guardian (in the short term) but it also has a functioning executive of smart, skilled actors who consented to an alliance, and who (mostly) have repeatedly failed to oppose Kaneki – and not even out of fear, just… comfort or reckless obedience – even at the expense of the wider community they claim to be fighting for, and at Ken’s own detriment too.
I think (or hope?) that was a deliberate parallel encouraging us as readers to remember that, and hopefully it’s a sign that those characters will be forced to confront their culpability and take the steps necessary to addressing that idk. It seems like Hirako might be contemplating that after both Yusa and Ui hit him with questions he couldn’t answer (I wish he’d just talk fs), and Tsukiyama has also started to doubt his own passivity (“If only I had…”) so I’m optimistic.
To explain simply, while thinking about Touka’s pregnancy this afternoon, I realized something I hadn’t noticed before:
See, the reason Touka’s body has the risk to mistakenly recognize the baby as nutrients and absorb it is because, as a ghoul, she feeds on RC cells and…
humans have a low rate of RC cells
=> human meat is edible! (and tasty :D)
ghouls have a high rate of RC cells
=> ghoul meat is edible! (but disgusting, ew :/)
which means that human, ghoul and hybrid babies (like Touka’s) have RC cells too!
..But then in that case (which is what I realized today), how comes that only a hybrid baby has the risk to be mistaken as nutrients by its ghoul mama when a ghoul baby also has RC cells? In other words, why is Touka’s body possibly going to recognize her baby’s RC cells as food when her own RC cells in Hikari’s womb weren’t?
Hi Anon and well, logically that’s what you’d think with what I said above, isn’t it? 🙂 However, since I’m pretty sure that Sensei won’t kill that baby, if somehow I’m correct (big big if there), then there must be a catch somewhere.
I do have a theory to answer you, the problem is that…
Itori possibly losing her own hybrid babies in the past is not 100% helping me.
See, initially with what I explained above, I was considering the following: Touka aside, the common point toall the previous hybrid pregnancies in the story is that the mothers always were humans. Eto’s ghoul parent was Yoshimura…
and for the sunlit garden, the father of every child in there (be it “half human” like Arima, or ghoul like Rize) is from the pure Washuu bloodline who are, as we learnt recently, kakuja ghouls from birth.
However, now we have Touka who is the ghoul parent of her hybrid baby, which makes her case pretty unique so far in the story (Itori aside). Touka who, as a ghoul, is supposed to be eating a lot of RC cells both for her sake and her baby’s, but who also has higher RC cells rates than a human mama, as well as a kakuhou to regulate these high rates.
In other words, her own RC cells needs (and body rates) are different from a human mama carrying a hybrid. That’s why her case is interesting, because the maternal environment that she provides to her hybrid baby is different from what Arima’s mom provided to fetus!Arima, or what Ukina provided to fetus!Eto.
=> so my theory is that the maternal environment during the pregnancy plays a part into the development of the kakuhou for hybrid fetuses.
In the first place, kakuhou development is correlated to high RC cells rates, which is the difference between humans and ghouls as @mawjaw explained here; that’s also why ghouls can develop multiple kakuhou in order to regulate their high RC cells rates, when one kakuhou on its own is overwhelmed.
Anyway, so far in the story, we got numerous examples that a hybrid baby carried by a human mama has more chances to be born as a half human (no kakuhou) than a OEG (kakuhou), and it’s interesting because the human mama herself has low RC cells rates and thus no kakuhou in the first place.
So in Touka’s case, the fact she’s a ghoul means that she needs to eat a lot of RC cells, that she has higher RC cells body rates and a kakuhou, which may just favorize the kakuhou development for her hybrid baby.
In other words, a maternal environment
exposing the hybrid baby
to more RC cells because the mama is a ghoul (or in Ukina’s case, because she ate a loooot of human meat) might just positively influence the development of the baby’s kakuhou (in order for baby to regulate all the RC cells reaching it).
And if Touka’s baby develops a kakuhou, then my theory above that it will protect the baby from being seen as food by Touka’s body works too. 😀
In conclusion, about hybrid pregnancies:
mama = human = no kakuhou
maternal environment = low RC cells rates
=> “half human” baby (no kakuhou) more probable than OEG baby (kakuhou), because no need for baby to regulate RC cells while in the womb => Arima.
unless mama eats a lot of human meat and increases the RC cells rates in the maternal environment => that’d be Ukina & Eto.
mama = ghoul = kakuhou
maternal environment = high RC cells rates
OEG baby (kakuhou) more probable than “half human” baby (no kakuhou) because there is a possible need for baby to regulate RC cells while in the womb
OEG baby’s kakuhou will then provide protection against being seen as food by the ghoul mama’s body
That’s the theory. However, as I was saying, Itori might be failing me here, because TG ch34 seems to imply that she might have lost her own hybrid baby/babies, meaning that it’s probably quite complicated for hybrid pregnancies to succeed at all. So I don’t know
¯_(ツ)_/¯
maybe hybrid pregnancies will fail more often than regular pregnancies in general (which would mean that Itori is right when she says that the chance of successful pregnancy in itself is extremely slim)
but when they’re successful, the baby’s nature as a half human or OEG is strongly correlated to its mama’s nature, because kakuhou development is also
mediated
by maternal environment.
I really think Sensei won’t kill off that baby, so there must be a way for Touka to make her pregnancy viable and I’m just rambling around with all my ideas. :3
Still I hope it made sense, thanks for reading Anon and have a nice weekend. 🙂
Anon-chan, for everyone’s sake I’ll make this extremely simple. :)) If Touka’s baby can be born then, according to the theory above, it means that:
it will most likely be a OEG
it will most likely be heatlhy/okay and Touka & Kaneki will be happy parents!
Here are the two possibilities for Touka’s baby in my opinion, considering what I said above (please keep in mind it’s just a theory and I could be totally wrong):
In terms of probability though, I guess it depends on if you’re taking Itori’s words seriously or not. She said that chances for a successful hybrid pregnancy are slim and frankly, I don’t think she’s lying.
Besides, in a human mama’s case, both half human and OEG babies can be born, it’s just that she’s more likely to have a half human baby than a OEG. Whereas in Touka’s case, in this theory it seems the only way for her baby to survive in her womb is if it’s a OEG, which is what Itori probably meant when she said that chances of success were slim.
I’m sorry it sounds so hella complicated, but I hope this sums things
and how he’s covering his right eye, as if indicating that his only kakugan is on the left side?
Well, what if he was the second OEG of the timeline instead of the first?
The first OEG (the Nagaraj, the One Eyed Washuu) was this guy…
but as explained twice in the last two chapters, he apparently didn’t escape his Kakuja so he could be very old and trapped in the 24th ward.
Meanwhile, Kaneki in ch121 and Nishiki told us in ch128 about a second OEG who threatened the CCG and led to V’s creation…
…and as you can see, his left eye is emphasized on. So what if the Uta we know is the second OEG who “was a hero of ghouls who led the CCG to destruction”?
As to whom he would be to have a Washuu kakuhou (special kakuhou with cloning abilities?) and look like the One Eyed Washuu…
how about a rare hybrid (i.e natural OEG, like Eto) born in the sunlit garden?
Uta being responsible for V’s creation because he raised havoc around 50 years ago would also explain this:
since Roma was sent to prison basically around 20 years ago (and they apparently knew each other from before) and since she said that she knew the “king of the underground”.
For the record though, at this point, this title might refer to either of these two OEGs, since both were apparently driven underground:
…And in fact, Matsuri wouldn’t be against doing the same to Kaneki:
Finally, Uta being the second OEG would even go with @kingkishou‘s theory that Uta somehow passed on the OEK title to Arima at the time of the Clowns’ annihilation and it also allows me to introduce one of my untold crack theories…
…which is that the reason Uta is the only one who kept his mask on during ch98 was because he didn’t want to be recognized by Kaiko from V (since V defeated him 50~ years ago).
TL;DR Uta is probably a (natural) OEG if just because…
…and several birthday arts that imply he only has one Kakugan.
However, considering that the One Eyed Washuu’s kakugan was on the right side while Uta’s might be on the left (+ he doesn’t have mole), maybe Uta is another OEG from the Washuu family, except that he came into the picture half a century after the first one.
In other words he’s the OEG Nishiki talked about in ch128.
Hey so you guys know how bothered I am by how exactly Arima got the title of OEK, right? By the way he passed it onto Kaneki, it sounded like it had to be inherited. rather than him and Eto just deciding to use it. So I’m wracking my brain for hints I could’ve overlooked when it dawned on me…
… if we’re all picking up what Ishida is apparently putting down, it’s possible that it was given to him by Uta. How?
Arima was 22 when he and Hirako fought Yomo and Uta. He was 22 again when the above panel mentioned the Clown extermination. Arima and Eto met about three years before then…Those are Aogiri leaves diagonal from the mask…
It’s also implied in that same chapter that Hirako already knew that Arima was a demi-human, and that they worked as partners exclusively for six years (Hirako avoiding promotion to avoid splitting them up as a First Class)…
until about two years before Kaneki underwent the operation.
There’s some pieces missing (or maybe I’m forgetting something), but I think if this part of the story ever gets told, it will have to do with the Clown’s involvement with Aogiri.
It’s also possible that Uta and Arima were in each other’s orbits far before any of that happened.
Kanou stated before that Yasuhisa Nanao was involved in some “research” within the CCG, and I’ve theorized before that he may have lead some of the operations surrounding the Sunlit Garden, as a man previously described as “Sunshine Itself”.
If Uta was really ~20 here (cough ~120), then Arima would have been around 19– close to the time he met or Eto.
SO YEAH. This is probably not a very important detail to some people but I’m really interested in learning more about the Garden, Arima’s OEK title, Uta’s involvement in this mess, and how it all comes together >:)
That would also explain why the Clowns’ annihilation left a few of them alive and well. :))
midnight-in-town 