Hi! Hmm, well, since V seems to also be a part of this arc, as we saw they attacked both humans and ghouls only to be stopped by Takeomi, I’m worried about things really going smoothly to free Kaneki once the Qs comfort each other.
Anyway, I think the next chapter will be mainly about Mutsuki and Urie, aka Mutsurie because…
it’s wayy past its due time. xD Once Urie will finally speak about his feelings and that Mutsuki will feel like living again though, they should focus once more on the mission but that’s exactly when I think V might show up…
…especially where Touka is, since she’s currently alone and close to achieving her goal (of freeing her husband), while the Qs are together and everyone else is fighting against these humanoid clones Dragoneki released.
Of course, it’s also possible that V won’t intervene, or at least not where Touka is, but there is a reason they were shown to attack both sides in ch151 in my opinion: they don’t want the current situation to end well for the ghoul/human first common front, otherwise their equilibrium will crumble even more. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if we were supposed to fear a little more for Touka’s character, which explains why I think it’s possible she might meet some V dudes.
Similarly, initially I wasn’t really sure of any ideas mentioning Donato’s involvement and him attacking Amon, taking advantage of the general confusion, but…
…since Seidou has yet to appear in this arc and that Amon will probably need help to face Donato, I’m not completely dismissing these ideas either.
In general, I guess it depends on how long the current arc will last. Volume 14 is supposedly over (or we’re missing its very last chapter) since its release is in a week, so Kaneki being freed could not be until the end of vol15 because it would make a good cliffhanger and anyway, narratively speaking, the current common front between humans and ghouls has to last a little for its first time.
So my two takes are as follows:
Kaneki is as good as freed as soon as the Qs comfort each other and are ready to focus on the mission, joining with Touka to help her
Kaneki is not exactly freed as long as the common front doesn’t notice V raising havoc and, in the meantime, we’ll have other issues like a Donato vs Amon little conflict.
Finally, since Dragoneki parallels the Nagaraj…
…who knows if this solution won’t be tried too, especially if the situation doesn’t seem to get solved quickly enough? At least, until the Qs and Touka manage to reach where Kaneki is when it’s almost too late, or something similar. 🙂
So you see, for now I’m really sure. ^^” I think I need slightly more focus being given to characters who aren’t the Qs or Touka, that way we’ll know more surely if Kaneki will be saved “soon” or not yet.
I hope it helps a little, have a nice day Anon! 🙂
Hi Anon! Well, I’m definitely not sure, unfortunately.
As far as we could see of V and their equilibrium, it seems that any hybrid not belonging to V’s side (so, not being from the sunlit garden) is seen as a threat because…
So do you imagine V not seeing Kaneki’s baby as a threat, if they find out about it? Especially since most hybrids in the story had human moms and Touka is a ghoul? That’s why I’m just not certain that V would even try to be helpful.
No, I still think that more about Touka’s pregnancy will come from either Itori or Kimi, or even both of them at different times. 🙂 I’d even consider Nico bringing possible info on the subject. xD
V is always going to be the enemy, at least until we get more answers about them (since I doubt Ishida is going to not give them gray aspects), so nope, I don’t think they’re going to be particularly helpful with Touka’s pregnancy.
I hope it helps, thanks for reading and have a nice day Anon!
Hi! Hmm, well, since V seems to also be a part of this arc, as we saw they attacked both humans and ghouls only to be stopped by Takeomi, I’m worried about things really going smoothly to free Kaneki once the Qs comfort each other.
Anyway, I think the next chapter will be mainly about Mutsuki and Urie, aka Mutsurie because…
it’s wayy past its due time. xD Once Urie will finally speak about his feelings and that Mutsuki will feel like living again though, they should focus once more on the mission but that’s exactly when I think V might show up…
…especially where Touka is, since she’s currently alone and close to achieving her goal (of freeing her husband), while the Qs are together and everyone else is fighting against these humanoid clones Dragoneki released.
Of course, it’s also possible that V won’t intervene, or at least not where Touka is, but there is a reason they were shown to attack both sides in ch151 in my opinion: they don’t want the current situation to end well for the ghoul/human first common front, otherwise their equilibrium will crumble even more. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if we were supposed to fear a little more for Touka’s character, which explains why I think it’s possible she might meet some V dudes.
Similarly, initially I wasn’t really sure of any ideas mentioning Donato’s involvement and him attacking Amon, taking advantage of the general confusion, but…
…since Seidou has yet to appear in this arc and that Amon will probably need help to face Donato, I’m not completely dismissing these ideas either.
In general, I guess it depends on how long the current arc will last. Volume 14 is supposedly over (or we’re missing its very last chapter) since its release is in a week, so Kaneki being freed could not be until the end of vol15 because it would make a good cliffhanger and anyway, narratively speaking, the current common front between humans and ghouls has to last a little for its first time.
So my two takes are as follows:
Kaneki is as good as freed as soon as the Qs comfort each other and are ready to focus on the mission, joining with Touka to help her
Kaneki is not exactly freed as long as the common front doesn’t notice V raising havoc and, in the meantime, we’ll have other issues like a Donato vs Amon little conflict.
Finally, since Dragoneki parallels the Nagaraj…
…who knows if this solution won’t be tried too, especially if the situation doesn’t seem to get solved quickly enough? At least, until the Qs and Touka manage to reach where Kaneki is when it’s almost too late, or something similar. 🙂
So you see, for now I’m not really sure. ^^” I think I need slightly more focus being given to characters who aren’t the Qs or Touka, that way we’ll know more surely if Kaneki will be saved “soon” or not yet.
Hi! Okay so, I’m not sure of what exactly you’re asking, since you’re wondering about relevance but at the same time all your examples about Touka are relevant to explain her character, but anyway I’ll try to expand.
First of all, maybe it’s a question of word choice, but as an “individual” your only role is to exist and live your life to me, so I’ll personally speak about Touka’s characterization instead:
You were wondering about why Touka fights even though all she wants is a peaceful life? Well, what good is your “peaceful life” if there is no one by your side?
So the reason Touka fights is not because she believes in coexistence and thinks that her peaceful life will come along with it. On the contrary, she sees her own species in a more negative light than humans, going as far as to not even see herself as someone who would ever be “beautiful” because “she’s a ghoul”.
No, the reason Touka fights is because she can’t just live while losing things and people. Not anymore. Initially, this philosophy was one she probably tried to live by between TG and :Re after Yomo told her to run away from the 20th ward:
But after Kaneki/Haise came back, this philosophy began to shatter. She went to help Tsukiyama’s escape during the Roze arc, she went with Ayato to save Hina in Cochlea and now…
She’s most likely going to save her husband.
Again, this has nothing to do with coexistence. She doesn’t want to save “the one eyed king, so that he’ll stop rampaging through Tokyo and kill humans”, rather she wants to save her husband because she loves him and because
…she’s building a family with him.
And I spoke about this before, even if it’s not really the subject here, but Kaneki is exactly the same. The OEK role was initially given to him by Eto and Arima, and the only reason he accepted was because at the time he had nothing else to focus on in order to keep on living. It’s different now, because of his love for Touka and yearning for a future with her, which is the main reason he ended up going berserk recently:
So you could call that “selfishness” if you want, but looking at the whole story, Touka and Kaneki are characters who could be summed up (in my opinion) by “I was selfless for a long time and I really tried to help everyone else, but now fuck it I come first”.
That’s why deep down neither actually give a single care about the current conflict. Or well, they do, because ending it means their friends not dying anymore and that Kaneki will stop being a leading figure, but ultimately it’s about themselves, not about making the world a better place (they might eventually come to that though, for their child’s sake, but it’s not the case right now).
Back to Touka, one of her biggest issues to solve in my opinion before she get to live a peaceful life would be finally accepting that ghouls aren’t inferior to humans, which is something she doesn’t see right now but which might change…
through finding out what happened to Arata, since his fate is one more proof that the CCG, a human organization, did terrible things too
through meeting again with Yoriko, who now knows about Touka being a ghoul and who still sees her as a precious friend anyway
through giving birth to her baby, which would help her with seeing herself in a different light.
Finally, if we were to speak more generally of Touka’s relevance in the story (since it seemed to be your original question), then I think the one mistake not to make on the subject (and that unfortunately more than a few readers do) would be to define her character based on the romance between her and Kaneki.
In fact, both Touka and Kaneki, even if they were described to be a set, are not solely defined by the mutual love they share. They exist as two different individuals and falling in love with each other is but one part of their respective characterization.
Anyway, so if I were to give an image to explain Touka’s relevance from my point of view, I’d describe her as everyone’s pillar of strength. Example: to be quite honest, even as a huge fan of hers, I was almost convinced that Tsukiyama would be the one leading ghouls during that common front with the CCG, but guess what…
I was wrong. And it’s extremely interesting because, as I was saying above, Touka isn’t and doesn’t want to be a leader.
She isn’t even vouching for this common front because it’s important for the ghouls’ rebellion and for coexistence, nope, and yet she’s the current leader figure after Kaneki went Dragon, which speaks a lot about how many characters look up to and respect her because of what she represents and did for them.
Even Yomo, who used to be like a mentor figure and who was the one who told her that “they could only live while losing things”, apparently left that philosophy aside too, probably because seeing Touka and Kaneki falling in love and wanting to build a future for themselves changed his mind.
So Touka’s relevance as a character has always been like a huge light shoved in the readers’ face throughout the whole story in my opinion, which is why I’m baffled whenever I read people saying “she isn’t doing anything” or “she’s just Kaneki’s love interest”.
In fact, that’s the contrast with Hide’s own relevance as a character to the story (since people who shit on Touka generally love his character). He’s as relevant as she is, but it’s for different reasons and it’s also not expressed similarly in the story because of his strong shady game, which is why both their dynamic with Kaneki are interesting.
In other words, Touka and Hide are both relevant, but for Touka it’s written in an almost blinding way while Hide shines too, but it’s as if it comes from behind the stage TG’s story takes place on.
There, it was long, sorry for rambling. Anyway, I don’t know if this helps? You seemed to be wondering about Touka’s relevance as a character, so I hope I could at least answer this, if that’s what you meant.
Have a nice day Anon. 🙂
Hi Anon and thanks for reading! 🙂 Actually, it’s as @hamliet explained here.
Both Touka and Kaneki see their own interests in this conflict ending: the sooner, the better and not because it will mean coexistence but because it will mean finally being together without having to fight anymore, as I was explaining above.
The problem is that it’s a narrow-minded vision, at least as long as V still stands. You see, V as an organization is very anti-hybrid, unless these hybrids belong to the organization. The reason for that is the chaos raised by the previous One Eyed Washuu and the second OEG of the timeline, and that’s also why V was after Eto even as a baby.
Back to Touka and Kaneki, not believing in coexistence means not truly fighting for the world to change and for V to be defeated, which means not giving it their all for their own hybrid baby to have a chance of belonging in this new world.
Besides, it’s something I’ve said before and it’s one reason I think Sensei won’t off that baby, but no hybrid child ever had a truly happy life so far in the story, which (for me) implies that Touka and Kaneki will probably end up realizing that it’s very important not to remain fatalistic (Touka) or Touka-centered (Kaneki), because a large part of that future as a family that they want so much is at stake with the current conflict.
However, I think this realization won’t happen until we learn more about the Sunlit Garden, or about how the previous naturally born OEGs were treated, which is surely going to be basically at the same time as we learn about V.
For now saving Kaneki comes first. Touka’s pregnancy will be a focus after, no worries about it. 🙂
I hope it answers your question, have a nice day Anon!
and it’s likely that they’re the series’ big bad because they want to keep ghouls and humans separated, an “equilibrium” that many compared to locking the world in a bird cage:
The only other thing we know is when and why they came to be and that is because of the second OEG of the timeline (ch128) who almost annihilated the CCG, somewhere around 50 years ago:
That being said, since V was apparently put together around the same time as quinques were created (which is to say both were created when Washuu Yoshiu was the director => ~ 50 years ago) and that quinques are the result of a cooperation between Japan and Germany…
As for your other questions about the Clowns, yes I find there are “proof” that they’re apparently against V, even if it wasn’t literally said:
Furuta’s plan for super peace is all about taking V down, using Dragoneki, and he joined the Clowns and helped Kanou with Rize in order to make it happen:
Similarity between speeches: there is what Kanou once said to Kaneki about wanting to break the bird cage that V kept locked and, probably not coincidentally, it sounded familiar to something Itori once said to Kaneki as well.
it’s rather likely that Uta is a OEG by now and most likely a naturally born one (even if for now we can’t exclude that he was also artificially made, ike Kaneki). Anyway, there are so many different theories about him that I won’t expand on that, but V is very anti-OEG in the first place so I doubt V and Uta would be good friends. Again, Furuta was the center figure of the fake alliance (imo) between V and the Clowns. Furuta needed to be backed as the CCG’s director by V which represents a strong authority in the story, but as I explained above, Furuta literally said that he wanted to destroy V to the Clowns’ face in ch128, which is why I think…
…that the Clowns and V never were and won’t ever be good friends (and if Uta is the second OEG of the timeline, maybe that explains why he kept his mask on when they killed Tsuneyoshi, so that V wouldn’t recognize him).
That’s about it out of the top of my head, but I might be missing a few other hints. In any case, I’m pretty sure Sensei will explain more about V when it’s really time to face them though, so don’t worry we’ll get there eventually.
In the meantime, I hope it helps! Have a nice day Anon. 🙂
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 could never escape his Kakuja so he is most likely very old and trapped in the 24th ward.
Meanwhile, Kaneki in ch121 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 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.
/! if the theory above is accurate (aka if Uta is the second OEG of the timeline, the one who almost annihilated the CCG and led to V’s creation), then that means that these guys…
were put together (ch128)
to fight Uta and his followers at the time (minus Furuta and Roma, too young, but most likely +Donato, Nico, Itori).
Btw, does anyone remember this?
Might just be Ishida’s artstyle, but I find there is a resemblance between Nico and that dude from V, so I was wondering if maybe the V guys don’t age “normally” either (like Roma for example, and maybe some other Clowns)…
Maybe Nico too is from the Garden and this guy is a relative of theirs? Or Nico (like this lookalike dude) was once a part of V and used to do like Kuzen…
…until they ditched V for Uta’s side/the Clowns?
I still think that Furuta choosing to join the Clowns when his ultimate goal for super peace was taking down V (using Kaneki) is not random at all…
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.
Well, now that the entire fandom seems convinced that Uta is the original one eyed king I suppose it’s my job to once again be contrarian and argue the exact opposite of that.
This art itself seems to spoil Uta’s identity as a one eyed ghoul. Rather than have it act as confirmation of him as a one eyed king though, it seems more likely to me that these hints aligning Uta’s true identity as the one eyed king are a red herring. My reasoning being this, what if instead of his ghoul eye the eye Uta is covering in this picture is his human one? As the other eye is visibly red, and Uta intentionally designed Kaneki’s mask to also cover his human eye in favor of his ghoul eye.
By the way, just saying, but this panel is precisely why we shouldn’t take for granted any version of the “truth” about the previous OEK coming from the Washuus or from anyone who doesn’t have a more significant link to him.
Matsuri might be currently an ally, but the Washuus were the winning side against the previous OEK, so the “truth” probably was distorted to fit their interests. So “it was of the Washuus but it hated us”, as if the OEK decided to break havoc for no reason, clearly is not all that there is to it, especially considering the following…
Meaning that “it hated us” in reality most likely was “the Washuus hated, feared and mistreated him for being different and stronger”.
Hi Anon! Actually, I used to hear myself that “history is written by the winners” and I truly believe that, unfortunately. That’s why I agree with what both Kanou and Matsuri said:
I’m pretty sure we don’t know half of the Washuus’ dirty secrets (remember the Garden?) by now and to be completely honest, I might be biased and all, but I think the side that knows the most accurate truth probably is…
…the side that’s still almost as mysterious as the Washuus or V, but for different reasons.
Again, I think there is an actual reason why Furuta went to the Clowns instead of, like, Aogiri Tree, when he too was against the Washuus and V from the beginning…
especially when V and thoughts of OEG and rebellion don’t really go together…
So, you know, I’ll start believing in “the truth” from the moment one Clown or several will speak seriously, be it about the One Eyed Washuu, the Sunlit Garden or V itself.
So it sounds like V’s prerogative is to keep humans and ghouls from cooperating, most likely bc such a large chunk of the worldwide economy thrives on the constant killing and imprisonment of ghouls.
If you think about it, most of the times their agents have appeared has been when the Washuu’s “taboo” was threatening to resurface, or when humans and ghouls were working together.
It makes sense that V wanted Eto– but probably more that they wanted her dead. As a one-eyed ghoul borne of a mother who knew their secrets, she was a danger to their continuation of power. I bet Furuta tipped them off that she’d escape Cochlea, hence why he gave her food and appeared moments before she crashed through the wall of the compactor facility (and hence why he didn’t finish her off).
It also clears up the discrepancy between Kaiko stating that the Washuu’s blood was “in the way” and the fact that Matsuri said that the Washuu’s secret couldn’t get out.
V couldn’t find the route of the leak, so they opted to take out the content of the leak instead. No Washuu, No Norries.
So in an assbackwards way (much like “freeing” Eto), Matsuri is off to “thank” V for bringing about this massive change to the playing field. A lot has been exposed about Matsuri’s bitterness towards his family through the reveal of his sexuality, and I still think the iconic removal of his suit has been symbolic of being freed of the hegemonic hetero-masculinity that his position as an heir to the CCG requires.
(ie: admitting he loves Urie– another man– and again when he wanted to live to see him again)
So anyway, I’m guessing that V is going to flood the CCG to rip apart the human-ghoul alliance that’s currently taken place, and forcefully interrogate those who know how to destroy and/or cover up Kaneki because
if this became public knowledge, the CCG’s design would be shrouded in scandal and V’s control would begin to crumble.
midnight-in-town 