So I was reading up on Japanese mythology for anything about centipedes and found out that centipedes were the messengers of Bishamonten, the God of War, and are a sign of oncoming war.
I no longer think the centipede is an omen of torture or anything bad for Touka or Kaneki specifically. Since this chapter was quite peaceful, I think this is a sign that these peaceful days are coming to an end and the humans and ghouls are preparing for battle; the fact that the next chapter narration is “goat moves” leaves me to further believe this fact.
The centipede being a sign of war still makes sense from when we last saw it in part one given that there was a conclusive battle between humans and ghouls not long after.
Headcanon: Lizzy and Ciel were educated together in their youth. Lizzy excelled in French and Latin, poetry, painting, and literature. Ciel mastered mathematics, civil law, history, and philosophy. They would help each other on subjects the other struggled with—such as Ciel teaching Lizzy the principles of bisecting angles in trigonometry while Lizzy tutored Ciel on the works of William Dunbar and Victor Hugo.
Bonus: since Lizzy and Ciel were the children of high ranking aristocrats, both were expected to master the various nuances of music. While Ciel played the violin and piano, Lizzy learned how to play the harp and was also encouraged to sing. As a young girl, she was tutored by a then-unknown Irene Diaz who commented that the young Lady Elizabeth had a lovely soprano voice.
The ending illustration card for Shingeki no Kyojin Season 2 Episode 1, featuring the vets – Hanji, Erwin, Levi, and Mike – drawn by Chief Animation Director Asano Kyoji!
Super badly and quickly done, but I just had to do something about the newest chapter! I’m super excited for the next chapter, and it’s even supposed to come out already in April! 《《o(≧◇≦)o》》
Chapter 126 gave us a very interesting view of Soma. He’s a genuinely good guy, but Agni pointed out that Soma has grown quite a bit as a character.
In fact, Soma has shown more character growth than most of the characters in the series. He was initially immature and somewhat selfish, but he’s learned to be kind and care for others. This wasn’t a surprise. However, up until this point, I thought Soma might be a bit naive. He seems to be innocent in some ways, and there was the way he calmly directed Snake to Ciel. He was sweet, and obviously intelligent book wise, but I thought that he was still a bit naive.
It seems that Soma might have thought that as well. He attempted to get Soma to agree and return home without telling him that Ciel had admitted to only using Soma and didn’t think of him as a friend. However, Soma immediately knew that Soma was worried for him because of Ciel.
He had known all along, but he wasn’t angry at Agni. He understood. Not only that, he knew very well that Ciel didn’t seem to think of him as a friend. He wanted to be there for Ciel not because Ciel wanted him, but because he thought Ciel needed.
This actually reminds me of Lizzie. Initially, she appeared to be a sweet character who had no idea that her actions might annoy Ciel. However, she confessed to Sebastian she knew that sometimes she went overboard and angered Ciel. She just wanted to make Ciel happy.
Both characters appeared naive at first, and it’s possible that Ciel thinks both are, but they are at least partly aware of Ciel’s feelings.
While I don’t think either know precisely how dark Ciel has become, they both are remaining nearby and doing all they can to help Ciel, and they are more aware of matters than Ciel understands.
Thanks! Touka’s acceptance of her situation and the way she is using that acceptance to look for alternate solutions is in line with the concept of Buddhist mindfulness/sati. Now, this isn’t mindfulness as it is often seen in Western interpretations, but an actual lifestyle practice (that is often recommended in therapy for trauma and abuse).
The concept itself is a little hard to describe. It’s one of the 7 factors of enlightenment. It comes along with the abandonment of hatred, greed, and delusion. It acknowledges that everything is impermanent and that you will be dissatisfied with many things. Mindfulness is supposed to encompass seeing the reality of things and accepting them.
Here the monk remains contemplating the body as body, resolute, aware and mindful, having put aside worldly desire and sadness; he remains contemplating feelings as feelings; he remains contemplating mental states as mental states; he remains contemplating mental objects as mental objects, resolute, aware and mindful, having put aside worldly desire and sadness; This is called right mindfulness.
Essentially, Touka’s anger in the past has been fuelled by striving against a system much larger than herself. She fights it and fights it and it just keeps crushing her. She’s a force to be reckoned with, but the things she was pushing against and how she was pushing against it was an immovable object.
Mindfulness is acknowledging that failure. Killing investigators doesn’t give ghouls power. It doesn’t bring back the dead. It couldn’t keep her loved ones safe.
Mindfulness is NOT giving up, though. It is Touka realizing she cannot change the world alone. It is her recognizing that things won’t change right now. It is her finding a path towards change without losing herself.
Touka’s anxiety about losing people is all-encompassing. She KNOWS this, she verbalizes this, and she also knows that people leave. People die. Her fears will be realized. In response, instead of pushing them away or trying to protect them against their will, she’s set up a waypoint. They will leave her, but she’s made a place for them to come back to. They will leave her, but she will accept them in the meantime. They will leave her, but she will go after them when they need her.
Her passive behaviour isn’t really entirely passive. It’s letting go of toxic anger. It’s letting go of how unfair the system is and finding ways in which she can fight it without sacrificing other values. It’s a mindfulness approach.
I hope this explanation made sense. The Satipatthana Sutta is a good resource is my summary was too confusing.
midnight-in-town 
