Hi Anon! Conclusion before the explanation but basically no, I don’t think that ch125 was the time Touka became pregnant. xD
Here’s the thing, the Clowns’ arc took place on February 9th:
and then approximately a month passed until ch122 happened, which is when Kaneki and Touka talked but also when they had to go into hiding because of the Oggai. They decided…
to all meet again, probably to depart to the 24th ward, on March 13th. So ch125, which happened on the same evening as ch122, happened before March 13th.
Now, considering Touka’s delivery date by her own calculations…
and the fact that at the time of ch130 we were in mid-April, you can do the maths and you’ll see that Touka is in her first month of pregnancy, which makes the baby’s conception date during the las days of March/first week of April (unless a ghoul pregnancy doesn’t last 9 months of course).
Aaaah, the wonders of nativity…! Hmm, I’d like to help you Anon, but considering that we can’t be exactly sure of when ch125 happened (mid February/end of February/mid march?), I can’t exactly tell you if that is the time Touka got pregnant. Might be or not, we will probably never know.
Here’s the thing, we were mid April when Touka realized that she was pregnant apparently. However, we also know that she’s in her first month because the delivery date is 12/28 and a pregnancy last basically 9 months. So, seeing as she’s at the beginning, her only way of finding out that she was pregnant was noticing that she missed her last period, which makes the conception date two to three weeks before mid April, so basically during the last week of March.
Now, I unfortunately can’t tell you when ch125 happened since we don’t know how much time passed between ch116 (happening before Valentine’s day) and ch122-125, which means that I can’t confirm or deny that the baby was conceived during ch125. Honestly though, I really don’t think it matters. 😉
Sorry I can’t be more helpful but have a nice day.
This deserves a more proper meta, really, but it’s a lot of mostly reiterating things I’ve been suggesting since 101, now with even more evidence, and the rest is too real world politics for comfort for me too go into a long detailed post about, but I wanted to mention these things at least a little.
We already know, curtesy of Kaneki’s interrogation of Shiono, that the penalty for these sorts of things has always included the option of death.
So if Furuta is strengthening these penalties, it must mean that he’s reducing the burden of proof and the severity of the involvement needed.
And seeing as Yoriko’s death sentence was carried out entirely within the CCG, based entirely on Mutsuki’s word, without any sort of trial, we are seeing a system by which human beings can be executed entirely on suspicion, whether or not this is true. It’s not just guilt by association – it’s guilt by the perception of association.
In a way, It’s a move that has the CCG treating humans very much how they treat ghouls – able to be killed without trial at the whim of the CCG regardless of how they actually live or what they actually do.
Furuta is well versed in the methods those in power used to maintain that power. He tells Eto as much. But its worth noting the language Eto uses, of a revolution. It’s inherently political and historical. It cannot help but evoke revolutions past, and Eto, of all people, certainly knows the power the words she uses carry.
The manga even brings such things up, right as things are really starting to escalate:
Hakatori’s lines tie Furuta’s words from 66 to real world conflicts. Conflicts between humans and humans, between nations.
And her lines, in turn, all called back to here
The scale of this conflict, of what will fall or rise here, is of civilizations and revolutions, and Furuta’s tactics and aesthetics have been scaled up to fit.
I’ve seen people mention pretty much since 98 that Furuta reminds them of some real world fascist or another. That is entirely intentional – not just on Ishida’s part, but on Furuta’s. The CCG is no stranger to the aesthetic and tactics even before him. All he’s doing, as I’ve said several times in previous metas, is turning that up to 11, making it explicit and obvious. If Furuta is planning to make of himself an enemy worthy of this revolution, it makes sense that he’d take cues from historical villains over thrown by revolutions in the past.
Furuta, in 101, suggests creating an enemy so great, a threat big enough to both ghouls and humans, that they will unite to take it down. And here we see him, as the CCG’s chairman, going after humans, as well, and picking a family that has come to “bear the ccg atop [its] shoulders” as his shot over the bow.
We still have yet to see if this is actually what he’s trying to do, intentionally, of course. But Furuta knows the rules of the game quite well, and he seems to be making very purposeful moves to position himself this way.
But we still have to wait to see the actual answer to Uta’s question here.
I’d bet that “I just want everyone to come back home to that house” isn’t just referring to Sasaki but also to Shirazu. It doesn’t mean that Mutsuki knows that Kanou is bringing him back, but simply ever since Shirazu died, Mutsuki never really was a part of the Qs squad anymore: they were constantly affiliated to other squads, which is how they ended up on Rushima before everyone else.
To Mutsuki, “home” was the time they spent with everyone at the chateau, that’s when they appeared to be happy the most (despite keeping their tendencies to attack animals, but I’d say that attacking animals at least isn’t on the same coping scale as attacking humans), when they and Urie were closer than they are now, and when Saiko wasn’t so sad about them.
At this point, Mutsuki’s possible redemption won’t only come from one person, but I also doubt that it will come from Kaneki because Kaneki has his own family-to-be to take care of (and he wants to be with Touka), which means that there is a high chance he will never be back, so if Mutsuki is to change positively, then it will be (in my opinion) mostly on Urie and Saiko to help them.
Besides, I don’t want to ramble too much, but have you noticed how Mutsuki’s words about Kaneki’s fate change constantly depending on who they talk to?
With Saiko…
With Urie…
With Kaneki himself…
With Aura…
Is it a true ambiguity because they can’t forgive Kaneki for leaving them or are they hiding their true feelings (they don’t want him to die) when they know that the person wants Kaneki dead (like Aura)? I can’t say, but that’s why I think that Mutsuki’s redemption doesn’t exactly rest on Kaneki’s shoulders.
Since Urie apparently still has trouble deciding on what to do, I’m hoping that maybe Saiko will do something about Yoriko soon. In my opinion Mutsuki’s redemption follows Yoriko’s fate: if somehow Yoriko dies or is hurt badly, then Mutsuki will never have a possibility for redemption, because there isn’t a more innocent character in the whole story than Yoriko.
I hope I managed to answer your question somehow, sorry if I didn’t.
I know some people have been theorizing that it is possible that Kaneki and Touka will receive help as they fight against Aura & Mutsuki (from characters like Hirako and Yomo), but I am personally hoping for mutual cooperation and support instead of other characters joining in.
And here’s why.
Chapter 122 was great because it helped Kaneki and Touka to realize that they were both fearing the same thing about each other…
…which is to say going to fight on their own while leaving the other behind, and ch123 actually introduced a situation that could result in this kind of ending that they both fear so much, that is to say unless they change the way they both used to act in this kind of situation.
I mean, sure, Mutsuki might want Kaneki back, but they came for Touka in the first place, as “Yoriko’s hand” proves it.
As for Aura, it’s all about getting revenge for his aunt and Touka isn’t his target, which means we have two different one-on-one fights going on right now: Kaneki vs Aura and Mutsuki vs Touka.
Now though, from Kaneki’s point of view, he isn’t as emotionally linked to Aura as he is to Mutsuki, so facing Aura is probably not the problem in itself: it’s Touka being injured by Mutsuki while he has to fight against Aura that is most likely what he could fear the most in this situation.
After all, he’s the one who asked her to come with him, because he wanted to show her that he listened when she said that she felt she always was left behind…
…so, to Kaneki, since he’s the one who asked her to go with him just minutes before the attack, being suddenly unable to protect her would be a very painful and frightening realization (that wouldn’t help his character development at all in my opinion).
As for where Touka is concerned, Mutsuki seemingly showing her “Yoriko’s hand” is a rather sure way to get Touka to become extremely angry, and with anger comes recklessness which could result in…
…what Kaneki told her that he feared about her (the reason he used to leave her behind, really), so Touka getting angry about Yoriko and charging ahead (as the younger her would have) would be the worst way to show Kaneki that she actually listened to him as well when he said ‘I’m scared when you do that’.
That’s why I’m hoping for the two one-on-one fights to become a single two-on-two battle, because mutual cooperation and supporting each other would be the best way that both Kaneki and Touka would have to show each other that the talk of ch122 can change things between them (which means more development for the two of them
👍).
In ch122, we were faced with two characters who were fearing the same thing: being left behind by the other as they went on to fight their own battle. Now ch123 shows us Kaneki possibly failing to protect Touka when he’s the one who asked her to come with him, while Touka might end up acting recklessly out of anger for what possibly happened to Yoriko, causing Kaneki even more reasons to worry, as he always feared when she was charging ahead.
That’s why I want them to realize that this battle is nothing more than a way for the two of them to test what they explained to each other in ch122 and that’s why I don’t want other characters to join in. Besides, the only time Touka and Kaneki actually fought together was in TG vol 5…
…so, in my opinion, the talk of ch122 is a nice introduction to a possible “let’s do this together” kind of fight in chapters to come. And also, no offense but while Aura and Mutsuki are good fighters, I doubt that they could reach the same compatibility level as Kaneki and Touka, were they to fight together, which could make this fight appear less dangerous than it currently seems.
All in all that would also be a good way to confirm that character development for both Kaneki and Touka is currently on-going, without mentioning what it would mean for their relationship (👍
👍) after the talk of ch122.
Bringing this post back 7 chapters later because, even though it didn’t happen in ch124, I still think it could be relevant for the future conflict:
since Mutsuki is definitely still after them
since they are still having trouble communicating properly (Kaneki found out about the baby while Touka found out about Yoriko with neither directly telling each other)
and since Touka has been eating human food (just like before the Tsukiyama arc in TG) thinking it would help her pregnancy
So we’re even more in condition than in ch123 to get at some point a remake of the only time Touka and Kaneki fought together…
…with Touka eating a little of him to gain strength (countering the effect of human food) and be able to face their opponent.
I haven’t seen anyone make a post about this so apologies if someone already has but :
That’s an 8 in Kaneki’s eye.
“The Strength Tarot card represents strength, determination, and power in a manner similar to the Chariot. However, the differences between the two Tarot cards are obvious. Where the Chariot represents outer strength and will, the Strength card represents inner strength and the power of the human spirit to overcome any obstacle. The meaning of the Strength Tarot card is about knowing that you can endure life’s obstacles by drawing upon your inner strength and confidence. You have great stamina and persistence, tempered by an underlying patience and inner calm. You are focused on what you need to do, and you go about it in a way that demonstrates great composure and maturity.”
Yoriko is such a pure and kind person T_T
When her stomach growls she immediately thinks of Bujin and if he’s been eating well.
She doesn’t even remotely have any negative feelings about Touka being a ghoul. She doesn’t mind at all that she’s a ghoul and never told her. Rather, she blames herself for not having noticed and for putting Touka through so much trouble by making her eat human food and she’s cherishing the fact that Touka still bore is all with a grin.
I’m so moved I teared up.
Hello! I’m not sure I really understand what you’re asking, but considering that you’re talking about the first three volumes of TG, I’d say their personalities were just being foreshadowed, as it is normally the case with the beginning of a series?.
After all, Amon developed way more after Mado died, same for Kaneki and for Touka so… as expected of the first real arc of a series, characters were only getting started and we got to learn more about who they truly were way after these volumes.
And I like it obviously, we got to see a real progression in character development and their relationships all the way until where we are now and it’s always incredible to think back to everything we went through to reach the current arc. 🙂
Sorry if that doesn’t answer your question, have a nice day Anon!
Hello Anon! Yes, I agree it’s one possibility as to what might happen next, as I discussed here. That being said, I think every possibility that I mentioned will trigger confrontation between Mutsuki and other characters likely to save them (Urie and Saiko for example), so that’s why Mutsuki holding Touka hostage is not the only possibility in my opinion.
Hello Anon and actually I was under the impression that Kaneki quit being dense in the new chapter and that he caught on about Touka’s pregnancy. First, Nishiki messed up xD
Then Kaneki ran to Touka and asked her several times about her body and health maybe hoping she’d confirm what Nishiki was implying…
but she seemed not to have anything to say so he thought he misunderstood until he saw the calendar…
And I personally think that’s when he caught on. 🙂
As for why he didn’t talk to her, well, she clearly didn’t want to mention it, seeing how she threw him out of her room when he saw the calendar, so he probably also realized that she had a reason for not mentioning it so far and thus he didn’t press the subject further.
It was also probably a bit of a crazy realization, I mean, did you see how he ran when Nishiki told him? xD If he did realize about what the calendar meant and that he got a confirmation, then his brain might have temporarily stopped working under the surprise and the shock effect! I wonder if it is related to him not being in his room at the end of the chapter indeed, but I’m supposing we will have the answer next week. 🙂
About Furuta: yes, I completely agree with you, Anon! Targeting Yoriko is a move against Kaneki (that’s Mutsuki’s side of the plan) and a move against the Kuroiwa family (that’s more Furuta’s side of the plan). 🙂
Finally, about Yoriko, the thing is, with this official document, Touka knows at least that she was arrested and sentenced to death for the CCG and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why, especially when Mutsuki already tried to achieve the same results with a fake hand.
As for what Touka herself will do, it’s the dilemma that I discussed about here and here:
Touka will have to decide between endangering her baby to save Yoriko or accepting that she doesn’t stand a chance (logically speaking) and thus choosing to do “nothing” and to protect her baby instead.
In my opinion, considering how Touka matured…
…and was able to keep her cool attitude during her fight against Mutsuki, I wouldn’t be surprised if her reaction was to confront Kaneki about it instead of rushing there, but…
she’s pregnant and has mood swings
there is the fact that Kaneki hid that fact from her in the first place
These two points go together, as in, her pregnancy could be the reason she won’t rush to the CCG because she can realize that she doesn’t stand a chance and that it could be dangerous for the baby. At the same time, since Kaneki hid that fact from her, she might believe that he won’t save Yoriko and thus end up going by herself, if she can’t agree to the idea of her friend dying because of her.
Honestly, as of right now time is probably short for reflection (since it took some days before Kou delivered the letter) so if Kaneki can’t be found maybe she’ll act on her own, but I’d rather see her confronting Kaneki first. …Unless we’re supposed to keep going with the miscommunication and that:
Touka, having realized about Yoriko’s predicament, goes to the CCG in Kaneki’s stead, despite her pregnancy
Kaneki, having realized about Touka’s pregnancy, finds out that Touka went on her own to the CCG because he hesitated and that she’s now within their hands
And…
since Kanou is at the CCG, he might be interested by Touka’s pregnancy which would still be a guarantee that she’ll survive despite going to the CCG, because Kanou is interested by the nature of the future baby (V could even do the trick, since they wanted Eto at some point)
or the theories about Mutsuki stabbing Touka in the womb and killing the baby will turn out to be accurate
Furuta’s plan about building his image of the super villain won’t be altered if he allows horrible thing to happen to Touka when she’s a pregnant young woman (remember the Ghoul counter measure law, article 13 clause 2? “It is prohibited to cause more pain to a ghoul than necessary”, I’d say he could have fun with horrifying people with trespassing this one).
Just like last week, I feel that the amount of possibilities is just crazy and I can’t really decide about one that is more likely than the others, so I hope it was understandable, Anon!
Thanks for passing by, I hope you had a nice weekend too! 🙂
midnight-in-town 