Hey Anon! And hang on, Imma put on my shipping goggles 😀
Soooo…
HideKane -> platonic OTP ‘cause I value friendship as much as romance, even more sometimes depending on the characters. I think it’s great there are so many Hidekane shippers around, but while it’s cool to have someone to love, I think it’s as cool or even better to have people you can trust with your life and sanity, even if they’re not particularly the one you’ll fall in love with. That’s how I see Hide and Kaneki right now but that’s probably because myself I’ll do anything for my closest friends.
TouKen (or Tousaki for that matter) -> romantic OTP for lots of reasons I won’t bore you with (I’m sure you know why Touken shippers exist) although I’d say getting a good idea of what their feelings towards each other are right now besides confusion would be difficult, hahaha. Still they give me a lot of feels and I really like whatever interactions they have (+ Touka being one of the few characters who really understands Kaneki) so they’re cuties :3
EtoKen -> Hmhm, complicated but incredibly interesting relationship to say the least, though if Eto is still alive at the end of the arc (something I believe in) I could see it becoming some kind of mentor/student dynamic (or a mom/son one in Kaneki’s head) with maybe some unrequited feelings on Eto’s side if they work together for a while. Kaneki is hard to read on this one because Eto is Eto from Aogiri but also Takatsuki Sen and Yoshimura’s daughter so… I’m really interested to see how this will develop if they stay side by side in the next arcs.
Besides, he is also comparing himself to a child hating on adults currently so Eto becoming his mom rather than his lover sounds more accurate to his development. I’m thinking Kaneki is at a point where he went through so much shit that he has a set of parents for every part of him (Kuro/Shironeki/Haise/Black Sasaki). When he decides he doesn’t need to have parental figures, I’m thinking that’s when he will be able to start figuring things out better (i.e namely that he can’t side with anyone).
Very nice theory, thanks a lot for sharing and I agree 100% to this interpretation, except that, as much as I love this theory, I also get the point of view of EtoKen shippers. 🙂
Because, remember Rize? She became Kaneki’s first mother figure after TG started when initially he had a crush on her. So what I’m trying to say is that people looking at Eto and Ken’s interactions and thinking “romance” (especially on Eto’s part) aren’t necessarily wrong currently, and that’s without mentioning what “Takatsuki Sen” represents to Kaneki.
Honestly, I think the development you’re talking about is definitely the most likely to happen but only for Kaneki’s point of view. When it comes to Eto, she might think of herself as his guide, since “Nameless” in her new book is definitely based on the next OEK (aka possibly Kaneki) and she also said…
but Kaneki made an even stronger impression on her in the last arc (when she already was interested in him since the raid on Kanou’s lab), and so I wouldn’t be surprised if the “I love you” of the last arc had an extra connotation of possible romance from Eto’s part (aside from her being excited that he could be the guy who will change things I mean). Especially because of that poem…
Only people dull to pain hurt me. She truly loved me, Only she didn’t know how to love. What a stupid God.
I do think he meant Eto there and not his actual mom and, even if there are different forms of love, for now I still feel that Eto’s “love” for Kaneki (since she described it herself as such) can border on romance. There is the apple metaphor too, shared by Touka (towards Kaneki as well) and Kanae (towards Tsukiyama), and considering that Eto doesn’t even believe her mother wanted her…
…I feel the best way Ishida could give her a bigger character development would be for her to know that she can love too.
This might sound very clichéd, but love and belonging are recurring themes of the manga, and considering all the characters are very complex, I just feel those themes also include possibilities of development for a villain or antagonist.
Still, I think it would certainly be very interesting to watch Kaneki starting to think of Eto as yet another mother figure, because we never really got to see the transition from one mother figure to another: Rize became Kaneki’s ghoul “mom” but we knew nothing of his real mom at that time, and we didn’t see the development since day 1 between Akira and Haise, so I would like to see Kaneki adopting a new parental figure (even though I’m not a fan of the idea that he will join Aogiri to be the OEK for a time).
I’m also personally fond of the possible love triangle between Kaneki, Eto and Touka (though it’s hard to say whether Touka still holds the exact same feelings as 3 years ago), especially because Yoshimura had a deep link with the three of them and is himself associated with a tragic and forbidden love, so I might be a bit biased. ^^
Basically, I’d like for Kaneki to see Eto as a mother figure if he somehow decides to let her “guide” him, but I’d also wish for Eto’s personal feelings to go deeper than that, since he seems to be the first one she really connects with on different levels.
Aside from that, I agree with your final point 🙂 Kaneki thinks he needs parental figures because of the way he built himself, mainly because he lost his dad at a young age and because he had an abusive mother (and this also goes with the love and belonging themes), and I also think that he will stop being someone else’s pawn the moment he gains his independence the same way a child does by becoming an adult and living their own life.
Parental figures are needed for his development, especially when he’s not always emotionally stable but the moment he will realize he doesn’t need to only rely on them, for example the way he did with Rize…
or when he thought of Akira and Arima during his fight against Nishiki (”Akira-san, Arima-san, give me courage”), that’s when he’ll be ready to walk on his own as Yomo once said and I personally believe that’s when he’ll potentially be able to find love.
Anyway, I feel like I just rambled my way to the Moon, so I apologize for going off my own way and adding my thoughts to your own. Once again, it’s a really nice theory and I’d like to see it happening which is somehow paradoxical, since I’m not fond of Kaneki becoming the OEK, haha!
Great thinking, thanks a lot for sharing and passing by! 🙂
there is a reason why Ishida likes to draw both women with Kaneki. Someone on batoto on the same page was explaining how Touka was the opposite of Eto in everything and I think they’re right. Eto just confessed her love to Kaneki while Touka never did, but the love triangle is more present than ever in the story.
Hmm, yeah I’m part of the readers who really don’t think that Eto can radically change and become someone better. She’s too far gone and her ego is too big for her to back down any time soon in my opinion. I agree that if we just try to forget Eto’s craziness for a sec though, she and Kaneki are similar on many many points.
…Which is probably why she ended up feeling love for him, once he proved that he was able to be her equal (a thing nobody was able of before -> that’s why she felt so lonely) and why I like the one-sided ship and their interactions, even though I don’t think it’s a good option for Kaneki. 🙂
On another note, I don’t think it is reducing Touka’s character when you call her the other part of the love triangle. After all, a character exists in a story through their actions but also through their relationship with other characters and I agree to the love triangle interpretation, it’s true that Ishida took a liking recently to draw Kaneki either with Eto or Touka.
In :Re, Eto has been way more present than Touka in the plot, but for me Touka remains the one who understands Kaneki the best (Hide aside) in TG and even in :Re when it’s been three years that they’ve been separated. It’s hard to speak of both Kaneki and Touka’s feelings for each other when three years passed since they actually talked for real, however I do think that Ishida is heading towards a possible Eto/Ken vs Ken/Touka conflict since Eto is in love with Kaneki in :Re when Touka surely was in love with him in TG.
The thing is, while TG is not about romance, belonging and wanting to be loved are recurring themes of the series for several characters, Kaneki being the most prominent example in this category. I believe “:Re” the coffee shop might be the theoretical ending goal of Kaneki’s route (in the “happy” ending version), but Eto’s love is a parallel route and since she’s technically stronger and crazier, Kaneki might not really have the chance to escape her when she becomes thoroughly obsessed with him (it already started).
Thanks for the discussion, it’s always interesting to talk about Kaneki’s torments, especially since love with his character has been a big deal since TG ch1 and with the whole thing about his abusive mom. I’m really hoping he does find love in the end, as long it’s not something unhealthy or destructive. 🙂
I’m actually confused about this so-called “love triangle”. There is no love triangle in TG, Kaneki has shown zero interest in anyone outside of Touka…
Ah, please refer to this theory explaining the apple symbolism and the parallel between Touka and Eto when it comes to their feelings about Kaneki’s character.
When the anon and I wrote “love triangle”, we included Eto’s one-sided attraction towards Kaneki: after all, one definition of a love triangle is two characters having feelings for the third one, while he or she shows interest in only one of the other two.
Applying this to TG and :Re you have: Touka <-> Kaneki <- Eto. I agree Kaneki showed interest in Touka (be it in TG or :Re) when he didn’t for Eto, but still, Eto remains convinced of her feelings for him, which is why the anon wasn’t wrong when they called it a love triangle. 🙂 (especially when you include Ishida-sensei’s drawings about the two pairings + the same apple symbolism linked to Touka’s and Eto’s characters)
there is a reason why Ishida likes to draw both women with Kaneki. Someone on batoto on the same page was explaining how Touka was the opposite of Eto in everything and I think they’re right. Eto just confessed her love to Kaneki while Touka never did, but the love triangle is more present than ever in the story.
Hmm, yeah I’m part of the readers who really don’t think that Eto can radically change and become someone better. She’s too far gone and her ego is too big for her to back down any time soon in my opinion. I agree that if we just try to forget Eto’s craziness for a sec though, she and Kaneki are similar on many many points.
…Which is probably why she ended up feeling love for him, once he proved that he was able to be her equal (a thing nobody was able of before -> that’s why she felt so lonely) and why I like the one-sided ship and their interactions, even though I don’t think it’s a good option for Kaneki. 🙂
On another note, I don’t think it is reducing Touka’s character when you call her the other part of the love triangle. After all, a character exists in a story through their actions but also through their relationship with other characters and I agree to the love triangle interpretation, it’s true that Ishida took a liking recently to draw Kaneki either with Eto or Touka.
In :Re, Eto has been way more present than Touka in the plot, but for me Touka remains the one who understands Kaneki the best (Hide aside) in TG and even in :Re when it’s been three years that they’ve been separated. It’s hard to speak of both Kaneki and Touka’s feelings for each other when three years passed since they actually talked for real, however I do think that Ishida is heading towards a possible Eto/Ken vs Ken/Touka conflict since Eto is in love with Kaneki in :Re when Touka surely was in love with him in TG.
The thing is, while TG is not about romance, belonging and wanting to be loved are recurring themes of the series for several characters, Kaneki being the most prominent example in this category. I believe “:Re” the coffee shop might be the theoretical ending goal of Kaneki’s route (in the “happy” ending version), but Eto’s love is a parallel route and since she’s technically stronger and crazier, Kaneki might not really have the chance to escape her when she becomes thoroughly obsessed with him (it already started).
Thanks for the discussion, it’s always interesting to talk about Kaneki’s torments, especially since love for his character has been a big deal since TG ch1 and with the whole thing about his abusive mom. I’m really hoping he does find love in the end, as long it’s not something unhealthy or destructive. 🙂
midnight-in-town 