Thank you for the ask! Love your username by the way; Saiko deserves all the love XD
According to Ishida, the reason Saiko, Hsiao, and Higemaru aren’t here is because it’s their hours off. Which is… strange given that it sure isn’t Mutsuki’s hours off or like anyone else’s in the CCG’s, but my guess is Furuta gave them the day off because he knows they aren’t exactly super loyal to the CCG (given Saiko’s friendship with Yoriko, etc.)
But I think there are thematic reasons Saiko isn’t doing much yet in this arc. The Quinxes arcs are all somewhat intertwined, and until recently (with Urie’s development) they were all headed in tragic directions. Saiko’s major flaw is that she sleeps–i.e. passes off responsibility to others in her life. When she had her amazing outburst over wanting to save Yoriko and how she wanted to leave the CCG, afterwards she ends up concluding that nothing can be done.
But when Urie tells her they’ll become terrorists, she smiles. And then she leaves it all up to Urie and Kuroiwa to act to save Yoriko, because that’s what’s comfortable for Saiko. Urie acts for her. Saiko’s never had much agency (her mother signed her up for the Quinx program after all), and while she paradoxically takes her freedom by slacking off on her duties at first, she also happily trades her agency to others, possibly (tragically) because she’s never really been allowed to stand on her own before, and that’s what she needs to learn to do.
Urie, Mutsuki, and Saiko are all still suffering from their tragic flaws, though Urie’s beginning to break out of it in this arc, and that gives me hope Mutsuki and Saiko will soon follow suit (plus, there’s Shirazu’s impending return to shake everything up). None of the Quinx can grow in a positive direction while they’re still aligned with the CCG, as their paths towards becoming better investigators led to Urie’s misery as he focused all on success and lost what really mattered (his family), Mutsuki’s focus on being a better investigator to get Sasaki back and keep his family together has only encouraged his worst instincts, and Saiko’s path towards being a better investigator has led to her submitting to others’ orders and concluding that she can’t do anything. All of these flaws too have hastened the destruction of what they all prize: their makeshift family.
The return of Hide as Scarecrow–who has been foreshadowed to oppose Saiko–probably signifies a coming arc for Saiko.
I think she, Mutsuki, and Urie will be separated for awhile (though quite possibly Urie and Saiko will be together in Hide’s terrorist group, though I’m not sure, but if so, I think they’ll come to opposing opinions because Saiko really does need to learn to stand on her own two feet). I think Saiko will indeed have an arc and it’s coming soon. And I do think the Quinx will unite again… my theory is that Shirazu will be what brings them together again. (But that’s just theorizing and I could absolutely be wrong about that part, though I am confident we will get a more Saiko specific focus soon enough, possibly around the time Mutsuki’s downward spiral ends–and if I may make one more prediction, I think it’s likely to end soon.)
WOW you have good eyes? Like I knew the drawing with Hide shows these three dots, but I never looked at the children clothes in the manga?
I swear I would not be surprised if there’s more to it because I do expect a backstory for Hide for such a long time. The children called themselves “Tokyo Humans” despite using their kagune. So we will see. Thanks for sharing this!
kaneki: touka is my wife now and we’re having a child
scarecrow:
kaneki: well?
marude: he’s gonna need a drawing board
kaneki: oh well, here you go
scarecrow writes on board: GOOD SHIT BRO 11/10 ACCOMPLISHMENT
Just some quick thoughts and theories I want to run through.
Idea one: Throat Injury
The most likely idea at the moment I think is injury to the throat. As I’ve said before there are visible scars visible on the throat at the base of the neck. This could annotate some kind of voice box damage or even tracheotomy.
If it was tracheotomy that could lead into the theory of Hide being the person Touka visited in the hospital. Since there is a fairly high rate of infection and “scarecrow” goes everywhere. it could also explain the strange PlayStation symbols if he had to use something mechanical to help with breathing or speech.
Of Course there is also just the strong chance that his face itself is disfigured. It would certainly make sense since his face is remaining hidden even after his name was revealed. So it’s most likely being saved for some kind of a shock. (Either that or we find out he’s lying or some bullshit)
Idea Two: Facial injury
If the area near his mouth, (Lips, tongue, jaw, cheek, nose) were eaten it could have very easily effected his speech severely. Though it is like if his tongue was taken it wasn’t the whole thing as he can still form some words though it is clearly difficult. (On a side note if it is facial injury I don’t think it’s just the mouth since Hchikawa had his mouth eaten and could still speak mostly fine.)
Some people have suggested it was some kind of kiss that led to Hide being mauled in this specific way. Which may to some of you just seem like people looking through thick twisted shipping goggles…
However there might be some truth to it. Some users such as Ishida-why suggest it might be a reference to Herman Hesse’s “Demain” since the sewer scene is similar to the final scene in the book. (And we all know Ishida has read Demain). In the scene Emil (the protagonist) receives a kiss from his friend (Demain) on behalf of his mother when he was badly injured in a military hospital. The most interesting thing pointing to this comparison is that Emil mentions the taste of blood and waking up with his injuries treated and his friend gone.
There is a chance it could be a twisted version of the kiss (whether it was a literally or metaphorical one) Just… a much more violent interpretation… with parts of his face being torn out… cough…
Especially when you consider Ishida first quoted Demain when Kaneki saved Hide so it might make sense that Ishida used Demain again when Hide saved Kaneki….
Idea Three: Blood Loss
This is kind of a long shot but as Hide’s injuries seem like they will be found mostly clustered around his face and throat (and he was probably very far from medical care), there is a very high likelihood he suffered severe blood loss.
Severe blood loss can cause many problems such as cardiac arrest and loss of oxygen to the brain. This could have caused some brain damage, which could easily have affected his speech and cause the slurred unintelligible speech.
Also there’s the very small chance that… like some other things in root a Ishida may have made Hide’s “death” at least have some kind of equal outcome. (I know he said he wasn’t going too but… he still did with certain things so I thought it’s at least something to think about).
Idea Four: Sewn Lips
This is in my mind the least likely version of events. Partially because other TG characters with sewn lips were capable of speech. Secondly because It would not explain the scaring near his face.
That being said there is the line of Hide being “the witch’s servant” And one of the most likely canidates for said Witch is Eto. Who had a strange routine of sewing certain follower’s mouth’s shut. (Something we still don’t have real explanation for).
LOL oh, but you’re misunderstanding me Anon :)) Obviously Uta is everyone, including Hide, but still, Uta is no puppetmaster, nor are all the characters that he impersonates. Uta is a troll and an observer, but even if he transcends everything, he’s not 100% responsible of everything that happened which is why he’s no puppetmaster. xDD
MORE SERIOUSLY THO Anon, about the “Uta is the birdcage itself” part of your joke, I’ve been wondering lately about how accurate this kind of statement might be (not in the literal sense obviously), because I’m wondering if the old OEK is not one of the Clowns, since Roma said:
I know that I wrote that crack theory about the old OEK being Noro but I’m not 100% convinced yet, mostly because Kaneki’s side is convinced that the previous OEK is still alive.
So anyway, my initial suspect about the OEK being one of the Clowns was Itori because…
amongst all the subjects that she was knowledgeable about (”the truth”, the hybrids, also her calling Roma “her protégée”), but recently I’ve been wondering about Uta as the OEK because…
because (a tattoo to cover that he had only one kakugan)
Because (the tattoos’ meaning??)
BECAUSE (skull symbolism fits)
BECAUSE
AND
Finally…
…such an ideology would fit the figure of the OEK as we’ve seen with Kaneki who’s striving for coexistence.
SO ANON YOU SEE I DON’T KNOW FOR SURE BUT I’M ACTUALLY REALLY SUSPICIOUS OF UTA BEING THE PREVIOUS ONE EYED KING AND THUS BEING AT THE HEART OF THE CURRENT PLOT.
Of course this doesn’t make a lot of sense with the flashback in TG vol 12 that he told Kaneki about him and Yomo, but it’s Uta and he could have lied, or there is a way around the flashback and we just haven’t figured out what it is yet.
TL;DR the previous OEK seems to be the reason the birdcage was created so if Uta is the previous OEK then “Uta is the birdcage itself” isn’t a completely wrong statement in itself Anon.
So you see that’s why I really like to prank people with Uta because I’m quite sure that he has a big role to play aaaand the fact that he’s currently my n°1 suspect for “who’s the previous OEK” isn’t helping.
Thanks for passing by Anon and nice try with the joke-that-might-in-fact-not-be-one. :3 Have a nice day!
It’s really involved, but has to do with the theory that Hide is Rio’s mysterious “big brother” and a ton of other subtleties that Ishida has worked in, including:
Kijima cutting out Yuuma’s tongue, being maimed in general
Hide speaks in Playstation symbols – Rio and Kijima are crossover characters from the TG videogame, Jail, and there is an ambiguous ending where the brother may not be dead
Also, in the light novel Days, Hide became friends with a ghoul named Ikuma who’s adoptive parents were human. That could be a sign that Hide’s family (or vice versa) adopted one or the other.
Mutsuki cutting out tongues as his calling card
Mutsuki (a Kaneki lookalike) ripping the jaw/tongue out of Haise (a Hide lookalike)
The severe focus on Kaneki’s right eye towards the end of the sewer, V14, and the eye Uta was holding at the end of the first series
We’ve got scars on Hide’s throat. We know he can say a little bit, although not without great difficulty. So, best-case scenario, that means his tongue and jaw are still intact, and it’s only his larynx that’s been crushed/ripped out.
Worst-case scenario, he had his throat ripped, taking a mass of muscle and skin, parts of his jaw, cheek and tongue along with it.
Medium-case scenario, it’s a little of both. Although, you can’t say “M” without both of your lips, and you can’t say “N” clearly without your whole tongue.
in the raws, it looked like it took him a moment to force out the “n”. It’s like “ahmogh…n”
Hello 🙂 and as I already explained here, we can’t be sure that Hide and Amon are currently working together. Scarecrow saved Amon a few years back but that doesn’t mean that Amon automatically joined his side, it’s only a possibility.
Last time I checked, this is what Amon was saying…
So I’m currently unable to say whether or not Amon is working with Scarecrow on trying to get the CCG back…
because he might tell himself that as a OEG that’s none of his concern anymore
because I’m more drawn to the idea that Amon wants to help Akira find her way first anyway, which is why he stays with Kaneki until he left with her
I’m pretty sure Amon will reappear soon though and it seems more logical for him to join Hide’s side indeed since he doesn’t really want to fight for the ghoul side, but all I’m saying is that now that we know that Scarecrow is Hide, it doesn’t mean that we can be sure that all the people he interacted with are now on his side.
For now Amon is with Akira and what they are doing is currently not certain
(just like for Saiko), even if it’s possible Amon decided to work with Scarecrow.
Hello! Well, this is how Furuta introduced Dragon:
And Hide looked to be leading Furuta’s opponents in the latest chapter…
Besides I’m fairly convinced that he’s human, so unless he has a double agenda, no I don’t think he is “Dragon” since “Dragon” is Furuta’s ally.
Which leaves Dragon to be:
Furuta himself
“it’s an ally of mine” and he doesn’t answer Uta’s question as to who Dragon is supposed to fight against (and we know that Furuta is fairly strong even if he doesn’t like to fight) + it fits with his possible plan for super peace
in that case “Dragon” is the enemy of the “good side” who strives for coexistence and a happy ending
Kaneki
I was joking here (Rinkaku, like Kaneki = “Shining scales” = Dragon) but actually not really + it would fit with what I believe is Furuta’s plan for super peace (and the joke works with Furuta as well btw)
in that case “Dragon” is the final enemy of “Furuta’s side” and since it seems Furuta is building himself as a super villain, it would make Dragon as the hero who will defeat him and “save the world” (aka Kaneki).
a yet unknown character
but completely anti climatic seeing the cast, so not my thing
the previous OEK
but for now we don’t know if this guy is even alive and I fail to understand what’s the link and why s/he would help Furuta
midnight-in-town 
