Hey, so you guys remember the OEK from 100 years ago? We saw both the ghoul and his kakuja form thanks to Matsuri in ch151:
And thanks to Ayato, we also saw the results of the Nagaraj’s rampage in ch131, almost 100 years after the crisis happened:
However, I have to ask: what happened to its kakuja head (the thing in red)? If you look where the kakuja is climbing up in the backgroud, it’s almost as if it was beheaded somehow???
And now thanks to the latest chapters we’ve got this:
Uta’s kakuja doesn’t have a head/face either (it’s just a huge mouth?).
I mean, maybe it’s a coincidence (and Uta’s nickname only refers to the fact he can shape-shift), but anyone remembers what they did to the Nagaraj’s eyes?
Long story short, it turns out that this far in :Re, there are still fans who get confused about the timeline that we were given (I’m aware that overlapping different hints is not always easy though, so no pressure).So, due to a certain post I saw yesterday and that I can’t get out of my head, I decided to make a recap post on the subject to hopefully clear up some confusion.
(Please note that all of this is based on the assumption that the timeline I mentioned is accurate/can be trusted.)
Firstly, there is supposedly no need to wonder about the identity of the Nagaraj who’s a kakuja ghoul who went on a rampage 100 years ago or so, because…
we already know he’s the One Eyed Washuu Matsuri mentioned in ch151 and we even saw what he looked like on the same occasion.
Of course, one could argue that Matsuri is lying/doesn’t know the real truth but… (personal opinion here) it’s not really the kind of plot twists Sensei seems to work with in general?
So, without mentioning theories about a link between Uta & the One Eyed Washuu (if just because of the resemblance in ch151), while I can understand the need to imagine more complicated plot twists, I find it hard to consider that, say Itori, could be the Nagaraj of 100 years ago when we already saw who he supposedly was in ch151.
However, again considering the timeline we were given throughout :Re, since there is another OEG/OEK that started a second rebellion after the Nagaraj’s but before Eto’s, I think it’s legit to wonder about their identity because it’s bound to be addressed eventually.
I personally have 3 suspects at the moment:
Noro
Itori
and Donato
(since this post is a little late, considering the next chapter is soon, more below)
For Noro, I already explained why I thought it was a possibility along with the timeline here.
For Itori, I advanced “arguments” in different posts [x][x][x][x] but to make a really general and superficial summary (something I actually put together for @hamliet who I think love the idea of Itori being a OEG):
This is obviously not something to take super seriously (actually I made this set as some kind of joke compared to the one I had made for Uta a long time ago), but I think that with the posts I linked to above, there is at least a small basis to consider the idea.
In general the second OEG of the timeline was less addressed than the Nagaraj, because they were defeated by the newly created V and didn’t have the opportunity to go on a rampage like the One Eyed Washuu or even Kaneki himself.
So far, Kaneki mentioned them in ch121, Nishiki in ch128 and maybe Roma briefly in ch135 (when she said that she went to Cochlea after “the grand party” and Roma being 51 years old, she would have only bee, born in time for the second rebellion), but as far as I could notice that’s it, which is not a lot compared to the One Eyed Washuu/Nagaraj.
Of course, that’s not the only theory about Itori’s identity and past, another popular one being that she’s a breeder (like Rize was supposed to be), possibly already alive by the time the Nagaraj went on a rampage (@cirrocumulus-cloud made a good recap post on the subject after the latest chapter and you can read it here).
[Additional note: the ending cards of Root A episode 8, which was about Yoshimura’s backstory, were
So as always make whatever you want from that, but Eto and Kaneki are OEGs, there are theories that Uta could have a link to the One Eyed Washuu, so there might be a reason Sensei decided to make a card for Itori at the same time too]
Finally, for Donato, it gets slightly more complicated and symbolic…
…knowing that this is the biggest hint, as far as I’m concerned.
We already know thanks to Itori that the Clowns are ghouls tired of despairing, which means that it would seem legit that Donato lost more than Amon and his orphanage throughout his life, before he ended up in Cochlea for 18 years or so.
However, despite that, he’s also the suspect I am the least sure about because:
I don’t think he’s a Washuu (not that all OEGs have to be Washuus, look at Kaneki and Eto), but he’s also not Japanese, so it’s hard to see why a Russian OEG would come to Japan to launch a rebellion if he’s neither.
Not to ramble, but I also don’t think he’s such a strong ghoul. I mean, he’s definitely SS rated but I think his “cloning abilities” are possibly triggered by ghouls who were hinted they could be Washuus (and thus “their blood holds profound power”, by Kanou, ch149), namely Uta for the Clowns’ raid arc and Nico healing him in the last chapter.
best theoretical “proof” I have is that he apparently couldn’t make a clone of himself in order to escape Urie’s father and run away with Amon, which is how he ended up in Cochlea.
Nonetheless, there is also some symbolism that might vouch he’s still a likely candidate for the second OEG of the timeline, but since this isn’t really something I’m good at, I’ll let @linkspooky explain! :3
Okay so, old thought using two different translations, and obviously I might be reading way too much into this, but I find it interesting that flashback!Uta seemed to have been discovering that the “No face” mask/identity was well-known from the CCG back when he was already leading the 4th ward.
I mean, he didn’t even know Arima when the guy was already a legend after defeating Owl…
and also…
he didn’t seem to know why he was so strong. Of course, he could just be bullshitting us and Yomo, but you know, listening to his flashback…
it’s as if he… just popped up one day from wherever he was being kept before (since I still think he’s the most likely candidate to have the biggest link to the One Eyed Washuu) and he had to learn everything as it came to him.
¯_(ツ)_/¯
you know, maybe flashback/young!Uta is to the One Eyed Washuu what Sasaki was to Kaneki?
Because the similarities between Uta and the One Eyed Washuu are real:
And besides, you know how the current situation is similar to the one 100 years ago, because Furuta got inspired by what happened with the Nagaraj?
Anyway, whatever happened, he possibly was held in captivity by the Washuus/the CCG/V for a long while, which could be why (as a parallel to Haise)
he initially had no memory of being the One Eyed Washuu or about his past. This could also explain why his name is simply Uta: he chose a new identity for himself when he got his reboot, just like Haise did.
I also don’t know how he escaped from V/the Washuus but maybe…
So then, Uta found himself leading the 4th ward because he was the strongest around and because he had no idea as to what else to do with his life, but slowly he started getting all of his memory back, the way it happened for Kaneki…
…which would be when, I guess, he started tattooing his body with a lot of extremely significant patterns, that are meaningful regarding the situation 100 years ago but also the current one (since, again, there is a parallel).
Finally, Kaneki as a character does have a lot of parallel with Uta, especially if Uta also used to be the OEK as the One Eyed Washuu, which is why I guess Uta always referred to him as a very special customer (even back as Haise)…
…because he must have seen these parallels as well.
Honestly, I think Uta might have gotten sick of leading the 4th ward for a reason related to his possible past as the One Eyed Washuu & one OEK of the timeline…
…which is literally similar to Kaneki never wanting to become the OEK but doing so anyway, because he had no other reason to live on when Arima & Eto asked.
TL;DR I just wanted to point out the following parallels:
100 years ago, the One Eyed Washuu was defeated by the old CCG and “was driven underground”.
We don’t know what happened afterwards, but maybe the old CCG or the Washuus managed to get his body back and held onto him for years.
But isn’t it interesting that, in the Anteiku raid arc at the end of TG’s first part, Kaneki lost against the CCG (Amon++) and was driven underground too, facing Arima at V14, being defeated and taken by the CCG to become Sasaki Haise?
After escaping from where he was kept (?), “young”!Uta was tasked with leading the 4th ward because he was the strongest around, but this led to a conflict with Arima and the CCG almost destroying the place:
Uta dropped the leader role after the fiasco though, which was 200% fine with him anyway, because he was enjoying working as a mask maker way more.
But doesn’t this remind anyone of Kaneki becoming the OEK as soon as Haise remembered everything, because he was the strongest around, but this leading to a series of misfortunate events too, because Kaneki sucked as the OEK since he never wanted that role?
I’m just saying: Kaneki became the OEK, which ultimately led to a remake of what happened 100 years ago with the Nagaraj and, at the same time, Kaneki and Uta both sucked as leaders, but that’s because both were given roles that they never really wanted => that’s some real link between these two for me.
Bonus: Uta’s reaction to this?
And this is super funny because if Uta really was the One Eyed Washuu, he got a second chance at life, even after fucking things up 100 years ago and with the 4th ward: now he does what he likes, which is being a mask maker and just clowning around with his old pals…
because he’s always been “quite the reprobate and that’s why [he] wants to stay in the thick of it” (from :Re ch116). Kinda reminiscing of Kaneki hopefully getting the future and family that he desired as long as he can find a way to solve the current crisis and despite failing terribly as the OEK, no?
how come a ghouls as powerful as Noro didn’t have any?
@kingkishou OKAY SO I just remembered that Noro wasn’t the only one who showed no eye pattern:
remember Uta (always hinted to be a strong ghoul or OEG) and as if his kagune/kakuja was made of empty eye sockets, back in ch110?
So in Noro’s case, I’m pretty sure it’s not random either, especially since Furuta said in ch121…
Initially I was thinking that maybe Noro was Eto’s foster parent whom she mentioned in ch66 and that maybe she kept him “alive” after he was killed (by injecting her kagune into him? I mean, she did leave a “gift” to Kaneki and Banjou used his kagune for the first time after she stabbed him too) and that was why Noro was so monstrous despite not showing any eye pattern of Rc cells clustering?
Now though I wonder…
if there isn’t some link to the Nagaraj.
I mean, fom the way I understand it, I think no eye pattern possibly means…
…no Rc cells clustering and/or no kakuhou and it’s true that it wasn’t really Uta in ch110, since it was a clone he made from one of his piercings…
…so maybe that could explain the empty eye sockets pattern, if the clone thingy had no kakuhou in the first place.
Thus maybe it was the same for Noro, if somehow he was just a shell or even a clone of who he used to be…
that could explain the emphasis on a big mouth rather than on an eye pattern, just like Uta’s clone…
or even Kaneki’s, more recently.
(this one kinda looks like Noro in his final battle, just saying…)
Besides, Noro never seemed to particularly react to anyone stabbing him or cutting him in two (Aogiri arc), pretty much like Uta’s clones (”Arima” & “Sasaki”) who just kept up the sarcasm, so maybe the Noro we knew was just some kind of empty shell or clone from the beginning and the skull we saw in ch55 was just the proof that V really killed him many years ago?
TL;DR
eyeball pattern = Rc cells clustering and Rc cells cluster more densely around the kakuhou, according to Kimi => Dragoneki
big mouth pattern = Uta’s clone when he faced Juuzou & co, Kaneki’s current humanoid clones => so Noro = clone of Eto’s foster parent?
Hi! Ohhh, I had forgotten about that, thanks Anon, but actually I’m not surprised at all that Hide plays Go (I’m not sure that Matsuri playing shogi is related to any of this though, since he’s less mysterious than Hide, but it does attest to his intelligence too). :))
Of course, there is literally 0 hint that Hide and Uta ever played chess…
…but considering @kingkishou‘s theory about what happened in the sewers before V14 being way more significant than we could have initially thought, I’m not trusting either Hide nor Uta, because they’re way too shady and mysterious as of right now.
And even if somehow it turns out that Hide and Uta were playing chess together (if just because Kaneki’s mask and Eto’s book were sent at the same time in ch31.5, which could allude to Hide and Uta having a few plans in common), it doesn’t even automatically mean that Hide belongs with the Clowns.
Speaking of “recruitment” now (even if again, Hide might not be a Clown at all), Spooky-chan likes to say that I play a lot with clown conspiracy theories but…
by now, there is a possibility that Uta is the Nagaraj (or has a strong connection to him) and Furuta said something about the Nagaraj “sharing his life force”…
so I wonder if several blond kids with apparently no parent but a connection to the 24th ward might not be a hint to some kind of link, as I proposed here.
So maybe Hide comes from the 24th ward
(as in, maybe all those blond kids were somehow born from the Nagaraj’s kakuja which would be what Furuta meant, even if I have no real idea as to how it’d be possible) and it’s not that he was recruited, but rather that maybe, like Roma, Itori mentored him for a while when he escaped the 24th ward (which would explain why he knows how to collect and use information).
After all, I always wondered about that scene…
…because, aside from Donato in Cochlea, all the other Clowns (including Furuta) were listening to her answering “what happened to Kaneki”, so who provided that information about the CCG in the first place? I mean it’s not like Hide wasn’t by Marude’s side until the Anteiku raid arc.
It’s just a theory though, nothing confirmed at all and maybe I’m just reading wayyy too much into it, so please take it all with a grain of salt. :3
Have a nice weekend Anon!
Hi! I never mind anyone sharing their thoughts Anon. :))
However, even if there are definitely more chances for you to be right than me, I can’t be sure for the moment, because the 24th ward was destroyed after Dragoneki appeared. So even if Touka and co most likely stayed around where their old base was, how would
Hide
have found them since he wasn’t a part of the operation?
And even going with your idea and assuming that Dragoneki hadn’t annihilated almost everyone down there to protect Touka (since we know a part of Juuzou’s men escaped)…
…are you sure that Hide would have asked anyone about where exactly the operation took place, when everyone was panicking and no one back at the CCG seemed to have known about his plan to contact ghouls?
That’s why I’m just not sure, even if you might be right and anyway, it’s also true that Hide could have simply guessed on his own that Touka and co would have been somewhere close to where the old 24th ward used to be. :))
…and that’s why I don’t think he’s on his own, whether it is with Eto and/or one/several Clowns and/or other characters that he shares or shared a plan.
Thanks for your insight though, I really appreciate it! 🙂 Have a nice weekend :3
Hi Anon 🙂 omg though, please relax, I’m not going to kill you and it’s not stupid at all to share. In fact, myself I have something like 60+ versions of the OEK!Uta theory and my thoughts are a mess because there are so many possibilities, so it’s totally okay to write your own take on it, whether I agree or not. xDD
As I explained before though (refer to the links I just gave you), the current problem with the Uta = Nagaraj theory (first OEG) is that Kimi and the 24th ward kids both implied that the huge kakuja down in the 24th ward meant the first OEG was still trapped inside it! So…
…if they’re right, that means this guy is still inside the kakuja down in the 24th ward and, in that case, he can’t be the Uta we know. 😉 Besides Uta doesn’t have a mole on his chin.
Of course, it’s possible for Kimi and the kids to be mistaken, that’s why we need to see what’ll happen to Kaneki’s kakuja when he’s freed before we can decide if the Uta = Nagaraj theory is still possible or not. :)) That’s also why I’m considering the idea that he could be the second OEG of the timeline for now, but as with everything, I could be totally wrong.
About Itori now, until ch151 I too considered her a possible OEG because it’s true we only ever saw one kakugan…
because of her strange mask…
and because of her possible connection to the 24th ward, as you also pointed out. So I didn’t really give up on this possibility, it’s just that Uta is more likely to be a OEG than her considering all the hints we got so far.
That’s why if One Eyed Washuu (Nagaraj) =/= Uta because Kimi and the kids are right, I’d rather vouch for Uta rather than for her to be the second OEG of the timeline. 🙂 In other words it goes like this:
Kimi & the kids are right and One Eyed Washuu (Nagaraj) =/= Uta
then Uta might be the second OEG of the timeline, or maybe a clone or maybe someone who’s directly blood-related to the Nagaraj…
Kimi & the kids are wrong and One Eyed Washuu (Nagaraj) = Uta
then the second OEG of the timeline might be Itori, Noro or someone else we don’t suspect yet.
It’s just impossible to know for sure right now. Though, I have to admit that, narratively speaking, for now it feels strange to think that a single organization would hide two strong and famous OEGs from the beginning, but maybe that’s just me.
I hope I helped a little! Please don’t belittle yourself, especially when no one has any real clue about what’s going with Uta, since Sensei is probably confusing us on purpose. xD
And the official arts by Sensei are just one of the reasons. Initially he had the possibility to be…
either OEG preceding Eto in the timeline. After his birthday art of this year and the recent chapters though, I’m now more tempted to say he’s the second OEG of the timeline, the one who almost annihilated the CCG and who was defeated at the time by the newly-created V organization.
Here’s the general recap post of all my theories on the subject, though some old points might be slightly outdated. I’d advise you to also read this theory by @donatoporpora because it has some good points and interesting observations!
I hope it answers your question, have a nice day Anon!
Hi Anon, and awww thank you very much for reading and for the nice words! ❤
Did you mean this?
It’s too bad I never stumbled on such a post
(if anyone knows who gets the credit for this, please feel free to tell me)
because it’s a very interesting observation and I hadn’t noticed at all! So thanks a lot for pointing it out, because maybe it’s yet another hint indeed, especially considering this post by @eto-when-and-where. :))
That being said, the latest problem with the Uta = Nagaraj theory is what was said about his kakuja not disappearing/turning into stone down into the 24th ward, implying that the OEG who released such a massive kakuja is still trapped inside it.
That’s why recently I was rather considering the idea that Uta was the second OEG of the timeline, the one who almost annihilated the CCG and was defeated by V, even if nothing is sure at this point.
There is definitely something up with Uta and “eyes” though, which relates back to how the Nagaraj was apparently defeated… I mean, there is what you pointed out, the holes in his kakuja during the Clowns’ arc as @eto-when-and-where noticed and all the times he was associated with eyeballs…
…In other words, Sensei is definitely trying to confuse us with the different possibilities xDD To sum up all the different ideas for now:
Uta is the One Eyed Washuu/Nagaraj but it means that Kimi and the kids are wrong about what the remains of the huge kakuja down in the 24th ward imply
I guess this is something we’ll know for sure once we see what happens to Dragoneki when Kaneki is released from his kakuja.
Again, the general recap post of all my theories about Uta as a OEG is here, but I’m sorry that all the possibilities have to be so approximate for now. We’re surely getting closer to the truth, I just think Sensei is really enjoying giving us so many different hints in the meantime. xD
Thanks a lot for sharing this great observation, Anon and also thanks again for the very nice words! ^3^ Please have a nice day :))
And the official arts by Sensei are just one of the reasons. Initially he had the possibility to be…
either OEG preceding Eto in the timeline. After his birthday art of this year and the recent chapters though, I’m now more tempted to say he’s the second OEG of the timeline, the one who almost annihilated the CCG and who was defeated at the time by the newly-created V organization.
Here’s the general recap post of all my theories on the subject, though some old points might be slightly outdated. I’d advise you to also read this theory by @donatoporpora because it has some good points and interesting observations!
I hope it answers your question, have a nice day Anon!
Due to Uta’s recent birthday art, there’ve been many theories regarding his identity as the original OEK floating around. My favorite one so far, by @midnight-in-town, is putting the various hints into a coherent order and solving the problem with the kakugan differences.
There’s also the possibility that Uta is the original OEK’s kagune clone, which I personally don’t want to believe, since I find it questionable if a kagune clone can actually stay operational for such a long time.
Here I want to propose another theory regarding Uta’s identity.
I also think the two birthday illustrations from 2016 and 2017 are meant to confuse the readers about Uta’s actual connection to the OEK. About the ghoul that killed the Yasuhisas, I too am positive that it was V who sent him there, I just couldn’t really figure out a reason why Uta would help out V, if it was him.
I have to partially disagree with you on the page from chapter 14 though.
Certainly, the Washuu in the front looks like the OEK, with the scar over his right eye and the chains around his neck, but the figure to his left resembles Uta in my opinion. His left eye is covered as well. Matsuri might not know everything about his family’s history, or maybe some details have been lost over time. Another possibility is that their mother (or someone else) has hidden the fact that the child is a successful hybrid, like his twin.
Of course I could be wrong about everything here, but I’ve always been suspicious of the fact that Uta’s tattoo on his right arm is depicting two snakes.
@donatoporpora I’m still not convinced but that’s partially because I really dislike the whole “twin (mostly) coming out of nowhere” trope, especially when Matsuri spoke of one guy a few chapters ago, not two. Not saying your hints are off the mark, because they do make the possibility interesting (especially the two snakes tattoo) but I’m personally not a fan of such plot twist. x)
In fact, considering the parallels between Kaneki and Uta in general I like the theory that Uta might be the second OEG because of what it means towards these parallels:
Kaneki parallels the one eyed Washuu => the previous OEK became the Nagaraj, destroyed the old Tokyo and created a conflict that’s been going for 100 years now, while Kaneki became Dragoneki but will most likely end the war
meanwhile, if the second OEG who led to V’s creation is Uta, that means that, while Uta almost destroyed the CCG, he failed to take on V which is precisely where Kaneki is in the plot. I mean, the old CCG is no more, there is only V left so, with all the parallels between Kaneki and Uta, I’d actually love it if Kaneki were to succeed where Uta failed (especially since Uta loves to describe Kaneki as a special customer and all the Clowns always showed the greatest interest in Kaneki, to Furuta even foreshadowing that he wanted Dragoneki to put an end to V in ch128)
That’s just me though!
And anyway, we’ll see, I’m trying to keep an open mind on my end until it gets solved. Thanks again for tagging me. :))
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.
midnight-in-town 