in the sense that even if they are important pieces they are still pawns, so I wonder if the 2 kings will truly be the ones manipulating things or will end up manipulated. Also, I agree about the OEK being a bad idea for Kaneki and I also don’t think Eto and Amon died. I hope we won’t have to wait ages to see them again, Amon especially. He came back bringing a lot of questions about his current state and having him on the shadows again seems to make his character arc more difficult to tell.
Hello Anon!
And I’m sorry, but I will avoid theorizing too much about V and Kaiko since we know even less about them than we do about the Clowns. Besides, we in fact don’t know yet whether Kaiko actually agreed to follow Furuta or if Furuta counts on the Clowns to seize the power within the V organization.
Personally, considering this scene…
And this one…
I was rather under the impression that Kaiko wasn’t really aware yet of Furuta’s… decision to be leading the V organization. Besides why would any member of V would want to follow him in order to try and achieve “super peace” (”super peace” probably having to do with stopping V’s influence and breaking the twisted cage otherwise he and Kanou wouldn’t be such good friends)? So far, the V organization is the strongest and at the top of the world so why would they want to change things?
Sorry Anon, so far I find V to be completely mysterious so I don’t really want to assume anything, but from what I read of the newest chapter, I was more under the impression that Furuta would try to gain the top position by using the Clowns, leaving V no choice. … Though I can’t be sure of that, obviously.
Aside from that, I agree about the Clowns, they like to be involved everywhere too much to just stay forever at Furuta’s side and besides they’re genuinely interested in Kaneki, so, as always, let’s not trust what we think we understand about them 🙂
As for Furuta and Kaneki being king pieces, I also agree with you, I think it’s likely they will be used as pawns themselves, something they might notice or not. In Kaneki’s case, I would see Eto as the manipulating character if she survived, though there could be others, and in Furuta’s case I would say the Clowns are likely to use him too (especially since two of them turned him into a king by helping him kill Tsuneyoshi amongst other things, so…).
Besides, considering Eto’s character, Donato’s, Uta’s… They certainly don’t seem like people who would be devoted to anything but the aim of their goals they believe they ought to reach through Kaneki or Furuta so… the current situation of the new chessboard is bound to change, as always in TG. 🙂
Finally about Amon, I’m so sad. ;_; He came to Rushima hoping to save everyone and in the end, no one managed to help him (I wish Juuzou had gotten there on time)… I miss him already since I feel we won’t be seeing him for a while, but I still hope we will get to have some news about him soon and I also want for Takizawa and Akira not to join Kaneki, but to try bringing him back.
…That or Saiko and/or Juuzou will help him one way or another if the CCG took him back with them. Wah, I know he’s okay because he just can’t die now, but I’m still worried for him.
Aaaah, thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts Anon and I’m sorry for this long answer. 🙂 I wish you a nice day!
@Anon, I just took a look at the chapter and…
That would be Kaiko on the left, so you were right 😀 looks like a faction (or all?) of V decided to betray Matsuri (??) and follow Furuta!
Aaah, that makes me wonder about Furuta’s goal then, why would people from V be interested in “super peace”…? Maybe they’re like Kanou, but in that case I really wonder what the Washuus and the Garden are so horrifying for that they all would choose to follow Furuta…
Looks like Matsuri lost everything in this battle though, so I really want to see what his reaction will be: his father died, his grandfather as well, V members left to follow Furuta and his wife might be dead, like maybe his siblings. Poor guy
In any case, V and the Clowns for Furuta it is then 🙂
Aww Anon um, maybe that’s a difference of point of view?
I personally never considered the Washuus as the main antagonists, far from it, and I was expecting some of them to die at the beginning of this arc so I really am rather enjoying what’s happening and I do think it’s good writing personally.
I mean, with what Eto revealed before the start of the battle, some Washuus had to die for a change in the story to occur and we had many hints it would happen, I just personally didn’t think Marude would be the one to kill Yoshitoki (but I totally liked his hero moment).
After all:
Matsuri seemed like the opposite of his dad and we know he wanted to become the Director, so Yoshitoki had to die sooner or later for that to happen.
Tsuneyoshi was too old and mainly represented the Washuu family’s power, so again, since this arc sounded like it was the turning point of TG :Re (with Kaneki becoming the OEK, people switching sides, Aogiri being annihilated and the CCG losing a lot of good investigators), it was obvious to me he was going to die, either in this arc or in the following one.
I personally make a difference between the Washuu family, V, the sunlit Garden and generally the “twisted cage” that’s surrounding this world: they all represent something different
in the story
(for example: Washuu family -> CCG) and I believe they’re all a part of the “main antagonist” you were talking about.
However, I think “the main antagonist" of the story isn’t just about characters but also about the situation this world is in: the conflict between ghouls and humans is beyond 100 years old, many things are unfair and
So it’s the world that needs to change for Tokyo Ghoul to end on a positive note, otherwise no matter how many antagonists there are in the cast, the situation will stay the same. You’re right, the Washuus help make this world the way it is and they’re a main reason as to why it’s chaos, but that’s not all there is to it (look at Kanou, he technically wants to make the world better but his method is beyond horrible).
I know many weren’t fond of the arc, it was longer than usual, almost every character made an appearance making it extremely intense and since it was a turning point a lot of things happened to create important changes, but I think that aside from a few parts here and there, Ishida did rather well for how important and overwhelming this arc was supposed to be.
I think it’s important to make a difference between TG and :Re, since even though :Re is TG’s sequel, TG was depicted as a tragedy when :Re wasn’t. So some of Ishida’s narrative choices in this arc that made everyone frown still make some sense if you consider that TG could have stopped with ch143 (even though we wouldn’t have had all our answers). However, from the moment :Re started, it was a different story, one that can possibly end well, that’s why the Anteiku raid arc was a bit desacrated recently and why so many characters returned (*cough* Irimi and Koma apparently) or switched to a “better” side (the survivors of Aogiri, Seidou, Akira, Hirako…).
Anyway Anon 🙂 I’m not going to ramble forever. I found that some parts of the arc were definitely not as good as Ishida could have made them (the Houji/Tatara fight especially) but narratively speaking, I didn’t find anything to be that out of proportion or badly written.
That’s just my opinion, you don’t have to agree: Ishida had a lot of things to change with this arc and it was intense, but when I look at the results, I’m rather happy. Now that the arc is over, I advise you to maybe reread it thoroughly and perhaps you’ll change your mind about the Washuus. 🙂
Just please don’t think the big bad is one character or an organization. The entire world needs to be changed and that’s not because V or the Washuu family will be annihilated that everything is suddenly going to become better. It’s much more complex than that.
I am sorry for this huge answer Anon but please don’t be too disappointed by Ishida’s writing, or maybe take a break from TG if you need it?
Have a nice weekend Anon. 🙂
You’re welcome Anon, thank you for reading! 🙂
And yes exactly. I think categorizing the characters and attributing them defined roles or sides will just make TG’s story a mess and that’s how we have disappointed readers like the previous Anon, unfortunately.
The world is “wrong” and the Washuus, V + the Sunlit Garden definitely are one of the major reasons it’s that way but we do also have villains who technically want to make things right (you rightfully mentioned Kanou and Eto), that’s why keeping an open mind in how you assess the characters’ roles is important too.
Taking even the example of the Clowns, we cannot start to guess what their goal is, what they want and even less what side they’re possibly on (if they will take a side at all), so let’s not focus too much on roles and sides.
And look at Kaneki, even him losing himself into the OEK role hasn’t completely happened yet but we all know it’s not going to be a good thing at all, haha. ^^
Thank you for passing by Anon! And have a nice weekend 🙂
This is probably the most inappropiate time to discuss this, but I think this whole chapter might parallel real life incidents.
For example his whole research lab consists of imprisoned people, just like Unit 731 that experimented on Chinese, Russian and the Allied prisoners during WW2.
“Unit 731 was set up in 1938 in Japanese-occupied China with the aim of developing biological weapons. It also operated a secret research and experimental school in Shinjuku, central Tokyo. Its head was Lieutenant Shiro Ishii.
The unit was supported by Japanese universities and medical schools which supplied doctors and research staff. The picture now emerging about its activities is horrifying.”
And Kanou does seem to resemble Shiro Ishii, the Japanese medical officer from Unit 731, who was previously a surgeon.
He developed an interest in biological weapons and
bacteriology and advocated to continue researching after he came back from Europe and developed a purifification water filter. During WW2, Ishii constructed an installation called Ping Fan and continued his unethical experiments on wartime prisoners (he basically injected horrific diseases like gas gangrene into them).
“Victims were often killed before the diseases had run their course, so autopsies could show their progress through the body. Ishii’s men also supplied the Japanese Army with typhoid, cholera, plague, and dysentery bacteria for battlefield use. In addition, they contaminated water sources, released disease-carrying fleas, and dropped contaminated wheat from airplanes.”
After the war ended, Ishii faked his death and went into hiding. He was later captured and made a trade with the Allies: he would reveal the details of his experiments in exchange for immunity. And they agreed. Ishii died 14 years later.
If you have managed to read it that far, thank you. I can tell you, what I wrote is just an oversimplification and sugarcoating of what happened over there.
But here are some sources if you want to find out more about what happened.
Reblogging again this because I just realized something 😮
Kanou’s current lab is on Rue Island as well and I seriously doubt that Aogiri and Kanou built it when they were decided to use that as their base (I really really doubt that aogiri has the right resources to build a fucking laboratory for human experimentation, like come on). It’s possible that the island might already have a lab in the first place.
What I find really interesting is that Rue Island was used during the war in TG, after which I assume it was probably abandoned or something. The original post might explain why there’s a lab there (in other words, it was used for activities mentioned in OP) and it might also explain why aogiri chose rue as their main base of operations
I mean like islands are good for isolating yourself and all but considering that most of their missions happen on mainland Tokyo, it is rather inconvenient to travel to and fro and not to mention, it garners a lot of attention as well. Hiding, let’s say, underground or in a less populated area of Tokyo, would be so much better than having to take boats and sail across the sea every now and then for missions.
This doesn’t really explain anything big or something, but I just thought it was interesting. I’m sorry my ramblings kinda made it long though. ^^“
That’s okay, my entire blog consits of rambling. :’)
Well, apparently their first camp was located 60 miles away from Harbin and Ping Fan was located 14 miles away from Harbin.
So while they have been still not been next to the sea, they were pretty close (and just had to go through Korea a bit in order to travell back), which parallels a bit with his base in Tokyo and then Rue Island.
But I thank you so so much for what you said because that is what my next post was basically about to be. Wartime and warcrimes in WW2, related to the Washuus.
I think it is pretty interesting because Unit 731 does not have only to resemble Kanou’s situation, but also real time events in the Tokyo Ghoul universe. I mention this due to the following.
To revise things, Adam Gehner and Yoshiu Washuu, Tsuneyoshi’s grandfather, were the ones who invented the Quinques. Now, because he was Tsuneyoshi’s grandfather, we can fairly asssume that Adam and Yoshiu still lived and were pretty much active in WW2.
If “our” history is pretty similar to Tokyo Ghoul’s ones, that could mean that both Yoshiu and Adam have been actively doing such things what Mengele (a German Nazi) and Ishii (a Japaense) did, doing unethical experiments with ghouls and people alike, that is.
It would also perfectly tie in because the Japanese and Germans were allies during WW2 (and, well, Italy).
Then we this person who stronlgy resembles the man above. In my opinion, this might have been indeed Adam, simply because he uses a movie projector, which, mind you were still popular in the 80s and certainly used during the 30s and 40s (and it was invented in 1879, so there’s that). And here we can see Adam proposing unethical researches that were apparently halted, but during WW2 it would have been certainly possible to invoke them again. (The Nazis surely would have been in favour of such things, considering that it would have brought successful results, which it did, in the end). And that’s how he could have met Yoshiu as well.
But seriously though, what a great example of the hypocrisy of the CCG, having an investigator spout off about how important it is for the people left behind that they have a body to mourn, while the CCG keeps ghouls locked up in Cochlea partially for the purpose of having easy access to the exact type of kakuhou they want for making new quinque, and takes the bodies of ghouls they kill in the field for the purpose of turning them into quinque.
I think this is a really interesting point, which has only been touched on a little in-series. Shirazu’s own struggle reflected the truth about the Quinque and how fucked up they are. It gets acknowledged by Fura, who is carrying around a Quinque made from his first love. He points out how the CCG discourages thinking about it, but also how NOT realizing and struggling with it is mentally unhealthy.
It shows us Akira’s indoctrination and very intentional dissonance, that she can casually select which prisoners she wants to use for parts.
It’s horrifying and even more fucked up knowing the parties that INVENTED the Quinque were ghouls.
I do wonder how long before Urie is forced to confront the truth, that the Quinque and the Quinx are a system that denies ghouls the same grieving process. That what happened to Shirazu is EXACTLY what the CCG has been doing.
And let us not forget the ghoul blender in the basement. Nothing left of those lives and bodies that get turned into liquified ghoul and then later bought and used.
Yeah, there’s a very huge disregard for ghouls, both their lives and their bodies, which is necessary for the CCG to exist as it does. And that’s very unsettling that all these investigators have been trained to see this as normal and not a problem.
Oooh! Nice little crack theory there Anon 🙂 (especially considering that Eto is supposed to be the one who killed Akira’s mom)
But you know, it all depends on whether Marude was inspired by Mado Kureo to follow his own intuition or if he followed a lead that Mado was investigating before dying. Or maybe it was even a combination of both, hard to say at this point (still, considering how Marude had been knowing Yoshitoki for years, being partners and all, it could be that he started noticing things on his own simply because he’s an outstanding investigator or
because of Hide too).
I have to admit though, I’ve been wondering a lot ever since ch61…
because you’re right and Kureo did take his wife’s last name (explanation here and here). And maybe call me paranoid, but I just don’t understand why Ishida revealed such a trivial (on first glance) detail about two characters who have been dead for a long time out of the blue.
I mean I love trivia about characters (everything is welcome) but I can’t help but think that if Ishida felt the need to point out that Mado’s name was actually not his name from birth (when he and Kasuka have been dead for a long time), that could be because his original name… has a meaning for the plot? Maybe?
So I never imagined that he could be related to Ukina (whose last name is also not known) but frankly yeah why not? I really don’t mind envisioning different theories on the subject right now 🙂 Especially since Mado Kureo introduced the concept of intuition and it’s still quite the big deal in the story through Akira’s character and even for badass moments with other characters, like Marude in one of the last chapters.
However, I think for Ukina it had to be more than just intuition for her to try investigating and bringing down such a dark and dreadful organization (covering both the human and ghoul sides of the world as the CCG and V respectively), to the point that she even tried to get closer to a ghoul like Kuzen.
Personally I was thinking that Mado Kureo’s original family name would maybe have to do with old ghoul-hunting clans (if that’s a plot point), seeing as the intuition could definitely be a genetic skill (considering how Akira literally knows things she shouldn’t be able to have a clue about), just like the huuuuge strength for the Kuroiwa family.
There is definitely more to say on Ukina’s character though, so maybe we will have our answers later because I’m pretty sure Ishida will explain just why as a human she tried to do something so dangerous.
In the meantime, I’m open to theories so thanks a lot for sharing! :)) I sure wouldn’t mind knowing more about Kasuka and Ukina anyway, so it’s whenever Ishida-sensei is ready ^^
Now that we know that the Washuus are an old ghoul family, Matsuri is highly likely a ghoul as well… Either that, or he was part of Sunlit Garden and he is a “half human” with short life expectancy, which I highly doubt considering that he is the first born son and thus heir to the Washuu “throne” so they wouldn’t risk something like that.
Even more prevalent is this panel to me, though. And while I am fully aware that another tumblr user pointed it out, I am worried because they might have fed Urie human flesh. And guys, back then he was still a human himself, despite his status as a Quinx.
While I am fully aware that they could have offered Urie just a different kind of meat like pork or chicken, on the other side nobody outside this mansion would know that he ate something dubious anyway. His intuition was probably the reason why he felt uncomfortale eating his meal in the first place.
And then we have Iyo. One could think the “mystery” surrounding her might have dissolved.
Is this very historic family a ghoul family as well? To be honest, I have my doubts. In fact I would boldly dare to claim that Iyo is actually very much human.
It seems the Washuus try to find a perfect method in order to become human. If Matsuri, a ghoul, and Iyo, a human, would have a child together, then this very child might be a natural half ghoul, powerful, but also close to the human species. I think Yoshitoki and Tsuneyoshi planned this kind of arrangement for a long time.
His aversion for his father might therefore stem from this fact. Maybe he is genuinely opposed or even disgusted of those experiments. Maybe he also feels that his family shouldn’t become human. Therefore, now I am even more curious how Matsuri feels being surrounded by humans.
Hey Anon 🙂 Well, the thing is, there are so many theories going around that I think the fandom has pretty much thought of all the possible options for Kaneki at this point haha!
Kaneki totally is a wild card, I mean… with what happened within the CCG and with Eto too, it feels as if every group want him and I think the Clowns might not be any different, even if they’re more cryptic on the subject 🙂
If the Clowns intend to take on an active role towards the conflict when it comes to V and the CCG (because of the Clowns’ annihilation 11 years ago), then maybe they would want to recruit Kaneki, especially since he probably fits their standards with a position towards the whole plot more neutral than most characters.
In fact, they might have a real plan about him, depending on whether Uta said the truth or not in that scene.
Because either they have a plan or he said this only to see what Yomo and Co’s reactions would be about the possibility of Ken being involved with the Clowns. The latter is very possible too though, considering that…
…Uta seems to enjoy watching Yomo’s reactions when it comes to Kaneki. So they might have a plan about Kaneki, or it’s all lies and if Kaneki ever becomes involved with the Clowns it will mostly be his decision.
I think such an association is possible for the moment actually. I mean, the Clowns might have a slight grudge against V, or they might just have enough info for Kaneki to use against V, but there is a slight possibility Eto might not make it out of Cochlea and despite knowing more about the twisted cage than most characters, I’m pretty sure there are still aspects Kaneki knows nothing about so he still needs “guidance”/”knowledge” when it comes to V from how I see things.
That’s why he could associate himself with the Clowns, if just temporarily, in order to learn more about the twisted cage. Maybe. But before that he could join Aogiri too or play the role of the OEK for a while, if an actual person actually had that title before, he definitely isn’t limited to one possibility.
I do think that, out of all the Clowns, Uta has some kind of particular importance to the plot and he and Kaneki have a rather good relationship
so it might start with another visit to Uta, like it happened in TG: Kaneki asking for info and this would lead somehow to learn more about the Clowns and then about V.
Eto told him about the Washuus, the CCG and the OEK but V and the Garden are still rather mysterious so the Clowns could be the missing piece in the bigger plot. Itori does seem to know a few things after all…
So I think that, if anything, the Clowns are bound to reappear to play a bigger role and, no matter if Kaneki actually joins them or not, he will probably have to renew with them at some point.
…..Sorry for all the rambling, did that make sense? I hope so.
Thank you for passing by Anon, I sure wouldn’t mind the Clowns and Kaneki interacting personally. ^^ Have a nice weekend!
(part 2) i guess a better way of putting it would be her legs and head symbolize she physically and mentally can’t leave the ccg?
I know I said I was ignoring my askbox, but this is a good meta and I will cling to it with every fiber of my being.
I think that this is a very likely and very interesting place for Akira to end up. We know that the CCG is rotten to the core, and now, with Eto’s book, there is a window into that corruption available even to investigators. And there is unrest growing.
And no one has better intuition than Mado Akira. It’s her defining trait. She walks into the 20th ward board room and deduces that Shuu is following a dish he wants but cannot have that is centered around the 6th ward just by his kill pattern.
Her intuition is borderline magical. She knows Amon is in trouble in the Anteiku raid.
There is no way Mado Akira doesn’t know that she’s working for something rotten. But she’s also been raised her whole life to serve this place. Her mother was from a legacy CCG family. Both her parents literally gave their lives for the CCG. She worked her every waking moment to be the investigator she is.
It’s also worth remembering how much cognitive dissonance is required to be the kind of investigator Akira is to begin with. Fura explains it well to Shirazu. They take lives. There’s no way around that. And quniques are body parts. No way around that either.
Akira, true to her father’s legacy, even works on quinques. Selects prisoners to send to Dr. Chigyou to be cut open and turned into weapons.
But she is also ordered by Arima to be a mother figure to a half-ghoul. And one who “killed” her partner.
Akira is a queen of cognitive dissonance. She has to be. We see it with the grief she feels about her father, about Amon and Takizawa, about Sasaki.
And as you’ve said, we see this idea of reckless obedience and harmful loyalty come up again and again. Not only where you mentioned, but in the conversation I mentioned above between Fura and Shirazu about Arima and Sasaki and with Karren as well and the Tsukiyama family in general.
So I suspect, if Ishida allows her to live through this arc and into the era of the fall of the CCG, her legs and her head will remain loyal – she will march to the orders she is given, and she will use that power of cognitive dissonance to the best of her ability, but her heart will long have figured it out and defected.
It’s rare that I really disagree with you on something to be honest 🙂 but I guess there is a first to everything, so I hope you won’t mind if I throw in my two cents.
On the subject of Akira knowing about the CCG being rotten: you’re right, considering her intelligence and her intuition, I doubt she wouldn’t have her suspicions, especially as Haise’s mentor/partner/mandatory mother figure (since Haise totally was a special case). However one can wonder if she knows how much it is actually rotten. It could be she knows about V and the Sunlit Garden for some reason, but I doubt she would know the details or, even if she’s suspecting something bigger than the Washuus just being shady, she might not know yet what other side she’s supposed to choose.
As you also said, it’s true she’s caught in the system because of her parents working for the CCG before her and because both were killed by ghouls, so she’s typically supposed to be one of the CCG’s most fervent followers because of those two points.
However (and this is where I start disagreeing), she has currently way too many reasons in my opinion not to stay a passive follower with a defected heart but to take on a more active role for a change in the CCG soon in the future:
Her character development between TG and :Re is way too important for it to simply stop there.
We went from cold!Akira who couldn’t do anything but worry for Amon during the Anteiku raid arc to her leaving her position as squad leader in the auction arc to go search for Haise because she was worried for him.
We also went in the Haise/Akira dynamics from her enforcing the Haise identity on him in the first arc to her acknowledging that names weren’t anything important when it came to Haise’s true identity, so this makes me think that she’s able to change constantly because she follows her heart and not the CCG’s discourse (you said it yourself, she didn’t hold
Amon’s “death” against Haise probably because she came to know him better during these 3-4 years).
Her many links to characters who were ousted (lacking a better term) by the CCG and who are aware of the reality of things probably better than she is.
Namely Amon, Seidou and at the end of the current arc probably Haise/Kaneki as well and that’s the most important point for me.
I mean, it’s obvious (and you said it well) that Akira joined the CCG in the first place because of her parents (as she said to Amon, she wanted to hurry and grow up so she and her dad could avenge her mom together), but that’s the thing, her parents are dead now and since then she formed new bonds, and 3 of the most significant being to one eyed ghouls, who all know better than her that the CCG is rotten to the core.
What Akira fears is to be left alone (she’s like Touka on this aspect, and that’s funny considering how deeply they’re linked) and so far it was easy to keep on fighting ghouls for the sake of the people she loved and lost as she only felt like Amon and Seidou were alive with no certainty (the extra of TG vol 14). Until she saw Seidou during the Auction arc that is.
However, now that it’s Haise/Kaneki’s turn as well, it might be the last straw for her (maybe pushing her to really reflect on everything), especially if she meets with Amon on Rushima as many theorized.
Her intuition (and it made me smile when you called it “magical” because for me it’s pure genetics xD)
This point is completely theorethical but, considering how impressive her intuition is and how her dad was the same, I feel the situation is similar to Takeomi’s huge strength that he got from his dad. Of course like that it doesn’t seem important, but I think it plays a role towards the Washuu family.
We know the Washuus are an old ghoul hunting clan who associated with V 100 years ago, but they were not the only ghoul hunting clan back in the days and I always found curious how no one ever briefly mentioned the other clans.
So, considering the Kuroiwas and Akira and her dad, I think those four might be remnants of two other old clans, but that the Washuus most likely erased the other bloodlines when they allied with V, so they could get supremacy over the human side of the world (that or simply the other ghoul hunting clans didn’t want to ally with V, leaving the Washuus no choice).
I have no idea if this point will make sense to you, but if this little idea is correct, that could create a peculiar situation between Akira & Takeomi vs the Washuu family, especially since the CCG needs an internal change (the Washuus are the core of the organization but they are just hiding way too much). However for things to change, we need a few members to give the example to others and open a different path and I think Akira is one of those people, if just because too many characters she’s strongly associated with joined a side more or less opposed to the CCG (because of V and the Garden).
And besides, I just can’t imagine the CCG staying an obviously rotten organization with no possibility of amelioration, especially when we know that a part of the organization isn’t inherently bad (or unless there is a schism at some point). Taking Akira’s example (or Shinohara or even Amon back in TG), she might not like ghouls but she’s not as sadistic as her dad was, and so I could see Ishida giving her a path different from her parents’ (who lost their lives, her mom for following the CCG’s ideals and her dad for revenge) simply because she’s definitely not her parents.
There, I think that’s basically what I wanted to point out. Sorry if this is slightly rushed or doesn’t make sense but I didn’t have much time.
Also just know that I’m not trying to change your mind with this (and feel free not to answer, etc), especially since it seems we don’t conceive her character the same way, but to read about a different opinion never hurts, if just for argument’s sake. 🙂
I could be completely wrong but he does have certain traits that make me wonder. There are some weird similarities
Emotional dissonance –
Most of the garden kids we’ve met share this trait. While fighting especially Characters such as Furuta, Hairu and Arima show little reaction. And even outside of fighting they all show strange emotional traits.
Uta has gotten close to people sheerly for interest, not personal companionship. Just curiosity
Uta show next too no emotions himself even though he seems to amuse himself screwing with the emotions of others.
Also Furuta clearly enjoys violence or he wouldn’t be laughing while dropping metal bar on people or generally causing suffering. And Arima is said to be a sadist. Uta is shown joyfully fighting as a teen/young adult.
Hand to hand fighting –
Not all but Furuta and Shao are both known to be particularly strong in hand to hand combat. We’ve only ever seen Uta fight hand to hand.
Uta’s past
Uta’s past is an absolute mystery. The first time we see him he was beating the crap out of a large group of ghoul. And that as a young adult/teenager he was the strongest ghoul in an entire wars and was made the leader (That alone speaks to him being at least a prodigy if not more)
Biology
Uta’s eyes are a really strange trait we’ve never seen in a single other ghoul. Hell the only person we’ve seen with a constantly active kakugan is Mutsuki who is purposefully modified human.
And no matter what anyone says NO I do not believe his eyes are just tattooed, it definitely points too something weird in his biology. Which could point to him being modified or “bred”
Plus Uta’s just plain powerful, we’ve never even seen him have to use his Kagune once which make me wonder…
Clowning
Uta seems to be a powerful member of the clowns and knows “Souta” how well I have no clue.
And there was that time Uta teased Hirako about Arima like he might actually know something (though he might have just been screwing with him for the sake of it)
But again I could be completely wrong. So yeah now I’ve got that off my chest.
Ah well, I believe the current arc will answer your question of whether Arima can be beaten or not. Personally I think that if it’s Kaneki then it can be done, even if I don’t know if Kaneki will need help (from Eto for example) or not in order to do that (otherwise if Kaneki isn’t strong enough to face him then I really wonder what this arc was building to).
As for your other question about Arima: yes those drawings were actual foreshadowing because it was confirmed by both Shachi (:Re 65) and Kaneki (:Re 73) that there is something wrong with Arima’s right eye. 🙂
And I also think that the OEK really doesn’t have to be a OEG considering how many OEGs there are in the stories, haha! Especially if it’s Arima I think, and especially since after believing it was Eto, readers are indeed expecting a OEG to be the OEK Eto mentioned, which is why it’s the perfect opportunity for Ishida to surprise us. 🙂
I personally have my own theory about Arima’s eyes and why he might have a problem with his right eye, and if he’s indeed the OEK, then I’m thinking he can be either a OEG (like Furuta, and in that case V knows about Furuta being a OEG) or
an artificially enhanced being due to the experiments done in the Sunlit Garden (and in that case, V might not know that Furuta is a OEG probably thanks to Kanou, more on that here).
I hope it answers your question? 🙂 I’m pretty sure we will get more info on Arima before the end of the arc anyway.
midnight-in-town 