#I love baby touka and ayato but I will not tag them I need him to win on his own dilf-ness and harvested kakuja

[captain-astors]

ARATA’S HOLDING HIS OWN SO WELL OH MY GOD I DID NOT ANTICIPATE THIS. The awkward moment when you’re tied for first place in the dilf poll (he probably doesn’t even know what a dilf is) and your main competitor is your brother in law.

Not complaining though.

[lilacflamesss]

kirishima headcanons~

just to lighten things up in my blog a little, let’s talk some fluff. 

i just had this image of touka walking around ccg commanding them and instructing everyone and little brother ayato just tagging along, holding her stuff for her and all. to be more specific, he’s holding some sort of clipboard with plans and whatever. 

they have a meeting with the ccg officials and goat members and whenever she needs opinions on something, she turns to ayato because she knows he has the experience from aogiri and all and he probably can help with organising squads and judging people based on their strengths to allocate them different tasks. when the meeting is dismissed, touka sits down and sighs, rubbing her temples as she wonders if things will work out. ayato just stands behind her, reassuring her. he massages her shoulders a little, trying to get her to relax since he knows she’s pregnant and shouldn’t be stressing herself out too much. ‘aneki, you’re working so hard. i’m sure you’ll get to see him again.’

i also see touka defending ayato especially from the ccg because they’re like, ‘this dude is the aogiri tree’s rabbit’ and everyone in the ccg gives him dirty looks because they know he’s done far more and worse stuff than any other ghoul so they’re really suspicious of him. i kinda imagine some sort of a ‘look how young he is, ghouls truly are monsters from birth’ kind of reaction and touka snaps back at them by pointing out squad zero and the oggai thing. 

touka tells ayato to present some sort of battle plan he has to the ccg and he accepts, except he gets a little nervous about it because there’s so many humans staring at him and he’s never talked to so many humans before.he’s always hiding from them, even back in the anteiku days. i’m also sure his timid side from back when he was a kid occasionally surfaces. touka nudges him like ‘what’s wrong, useless brother? aren’t you supposed to be an aogiri executive?’ her words are harsh but she’s looking at him with that you got this look. 

touka and ayato talking baby names and laughing over their choices because it’s so similar. they come to the conclusion that they really will need kaneki back to name the kid. touka tells ayato whatever has happened between her and kaneki and she apologises for not waiting for him. ayato says honestly that he still doesn’t like kaneki too much and he probably never will and that he is also bitter it had to be kaneki, but if touka is truly happy and if kaneki keeps her that way, he can’t ask for more. though ayato also admits that kaneki isn’t really starting on a good foot by becoming a worm that destroyed part of tokyo. touka tells ayato about what happened with hinami and how hinami stood up to juuzou and squad zero and how she was hurt. ayato says he’s really proud of her and how far she’s come. he’s upset she had to kill people because he knows how much that bothers her and he’s a little annoyed he wasn’t back in time to help her out. but when he compares her to what she used to be, he’s really proud of how far she comes and how she’s able to protect the people she loves and cares about. 

touka remembers the thing about arata and she knows that she probably should tell ayato about it as well since she hasn’t done so. she tells ayato that the him and her have to make it out of this alive because she has something really important to tell him about their father. 

[hamliet]

What do you think of the critism tgre has gotten lately? I see a lot of complaints about charackters never dying, toukens relationship and how the plot isnt as good anymore. I feel the same a bit i do have some issues with how charackters like touka and mutsuki have been handled.

Ugh okay. (Not ugh at you anon, just that I know this can be a sensitive topic; I really don’t mind. Thanks for the ask.)

So before I begin I’ll say I love Tokyo Ghoul. It’s one of my favorite stories ever. Like, I like it as much as I like works of Dostoyevsky, which is saying a lot because irl I never shut up about Dostoyevsky and write essays on his novels for fun. That being said, no story is ever perfect because it is written by a human being, and no human being is perfect. Some flaws in some stories will bother some people more than others, and it’s perfectly legitimate for some people to dislike certain aspects of the story that other people may like, for people to dislike characters others love, for people to be bothered more by pacing than others. People have different opinions, and I’m not going to bother trying to convince people who have made up their mind that they should like something they don’t like. 

Posting my responses to the specific issues you mentioned under the cut because we’re going to get into some sensitive topics. Also, it’s important to remember these are my opinions, and people will disagree with me and that is completely and totally fine:

Regarding characters never dying, I don’t see how that’s that unusual. It’s funny that some stories like Tokyo Ghoul, Attack on Titan, hell even Game of Thrones, get reputations for killing lots of characters but really, most stories kill mostly mauve shirts (aka characters they give you enough information about to care about, but were never main characters) along with a few major characters. In Tokyo Ghoul, it hasn’t killed many characters like ever, so this is nothing new. Yoshimura and Rize might be worse than dead, but they aren’t dead. I think Karren and Arima are the only two notable dead characters who most likely aren’t coming back (and jury’s out on Karren). As we get closer to the end, it becomes obvious that certain characters are going to make it to the end, even if they don’t survive said end, and so that suspense is lost which can definitely bother some people if the suspense is part of what you enjoy in the story. That being said, there is something to be said for characters facing consequences, and constant get-out-of-jail free cards become annoying and tend to turn me off to characters (see: Arya Stark in Game of Thrones). In Tokyo Ghoul, Kuroiwa and Roma just died, Naki might be dead (but maybe not), and I do think someone needs to die in this current 24th ward raid and I think someone will. I just don’t think that someone is Mutsuki, Juuzou, or Touka, and think it’s unlikely to be Hinami.

Regarding Touken, I don’t understand people thinking this came from nowhere. It’s been foreshadowed since literally the first chapter of the original manga. 

I think a lot of it really does boil down to people being salty that their ship isn’t canon (which I can completely understand, but it doesn’t make it poor writing, it just makes it writing that is not your taste). Yes, the marriage and baby twist was a bit fast, but during dangerous times like war, it’s not surprising to see people making major life decisions quickly, because they might not have time to ponder it. Regarding the “abuse” allegation thrown around, there are personal reasons why I feel people using the term “abuse” better be damn sure that they are using the word appropriately when they use it. Ishida is clearly portraying the hitting in the first Tokyo Ghoul as a bad thing–Touka hitting Kaneki on the bridge in chapter 120 was a regression for her character–and in :re, it’s slapstick humor. I do think there is a legitimate criticism there that, for someone with Kaneki’s background, that kind of slapstick humor might not be the most appropriate. But it isn’t intended to portray Touka as perpetrating violence against Kaneki like it was in the first TG.

As for how Touka and Mutsuki are being handled… okay, so they are both in my top 5 favorite characters (If I had to rank, top 5 would be Juuzou, Mutsuki, Kaneki, Touka, Ayato). I adore them. I currently don’t like how emotionally shut down Touka is because I worry it isn’t healthy for her, but I think we finally saw her snap in the latest chapter with what happened to Hinami:

And so I’m hoping to see her develop more, not go back to how violent and angry she was in the first TG, but instead grow to the point where she’s able to have emotions and healthily process them.

Regarding Mucchan, if you’ve searched my blog at all, you know how much I love him and that I very much believe he will be redeemed. That being said, I do get why people are frustrated with how his character is handled in that there are more real-world contexts to the things Mutsuki has suffered (namely, sexual abuse) and having a sexual abuse survivor become somewhat like their abuser afterwards is distasteful to many, and if that’s how Mutsuki’s story were to end, I wouldn’t be happy with that. But like I’ve said, I don’t think that will happen. There’s also his mental health issues: I think a lot of the hate for his character in the fandom is ableist based (like I’ve legit seem vomit-inducing phrases like “needs to be put down”), but I don’t think Ishida himself seems to hold that opinion given the fact that Mutsuki’s dissociative issues are portrayed more accurately than dissociation is usually portrayed in media (see: Reiner Braun from Attack on Titan). Again, it depends on where Mutsuki’s character goes. Regarding his gender issues, they’re confusing, and I’m no expert so I’m not going to speculate, but I think it’s legitimate that people who would like to see more trans representation (including me) find the confusion frustrating and off-putting.

I don’t also have any problems with the plot, though I will say that the pacing can be a bit iffy at times. 

I think a lot of the criticism is just because things aren’t lining up with people’s personal preferences. Which is fine, but because this is tumblr, people feel like they have to come up with moral reasons why they don’t like a character and throw the phrase “abuse” and “rapist” and “crazy” around like they don’t have actual real-world meanings, or they don’t like a plot twist and throw the phrase “bad writing!” around like it means nothing. It might not be your taste, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily bad writing. In fiction readers tend to get attached to characters and love/feel empathy for them like they are real people, and I think that’s primarily a good thing and is part of the reason fiction can be so powerful. Therefore it’s completely understandable that people have strong reactions to the fates of their favorite characters, ships, etc. But other people enjoying the same story have different opinions, and that’s a-okay. People in the fandom leaving nasty messages dissing the series or certain characters in tags on peoples’ artwork, crosstagging, and just generally trying to make others feel badly for liking something need to take a step back from fandom because that’s beyond immature. 

Tokyo Ghoul isn’t perfect, but I love it. It makes me happy even when it breaks my heart. It’s introduced me to characters I love, and loving a character is a good thing, I think. I don’t think it’s perfect, but I love it. I’m grateful to Ishida Sui for writing this story and sharing it with us. 

Sorry if I came across as ranty at all; it’s not directed at you! It’s completely fine to disagree with me. Sincerely, thank you for the ask! 

[toukaisbetterthanyou]

The one where anon fumes in rage for the second half of the chapter

After chapter 143, I never thought I would read this looking for some lightheartedness.

I just found out I have a tag on your blog and I screamed to my fiancée happily about it. Once he made sure I wasn’t going into early labor, he told me to stop being a fucking weeb. He doesn’t understand I just made it! This is awesome!

On to the review then, the title does not bode well given the story’s content.

I hope the read more trick works.

He looks over to where she’s pointing, and sure enough there seemed to be a family of squirrels resting on a branch parallel to their window.

Squirrels mean preparation and resourcefulness. I see the symbolism. ;P

“You look like you’re happy,” She murmurs. “What’s the occasion?”

…

He hasn’t seen her look this happy in a long time.

Just how bad were the last 5 months if a simple smile and flush is something he hasn’t seen in a long time? Bitch, your relationship hasn’t reached the 6 months mark yet!

he rarely kissed like this these days.

Hatefucking is now the norm in their sex life. Can’t say I blame them. When your relationship is so fucked up, your only option is to drown out your thoughts in vigorous thrusting and serial orgasms.

She gives him a mockingly surprised look. “You can do that?”

Own him, Touka!

For a moment, he wonders if he would need to speed up his timeline.

Can he even do that? He can’t change the Rushima operation date and it would be stupid to fight Arima with the entire CCG still in Tokyo.

 and transferring a large amount of the money in his bank account into a private account that he had opened earlier that week in his free time.

I swear I need an act of congress signed by Jesus himself to move more than $1000 from my account and this guy is transferring large amounts with a phone app? Into a recently made account? Makes sense since Japan doesn’t have the Patriot Act but still, it looks suspicious and can be traced. He should know better than that.

He frowns, wondering if he would need to hide them. Lock her away, so that no one would be able to find her.

Why not put her in Cochlea with Hinami? At least she will help her with the baby when your ass is dead and gone. The fact that these thoughts are even occurring to him is scary since he can do it if he wants and Touka would be helpless to stop him

Though, that wouldn’t make her happy. 

But this wasn’t just about her happiness, was it?

No, it’s about your selfishness and tragic dark hero complex you moron!

He looks around the space of the living room and can hardly recognize the change from a few months ago when he got the place. 

What had happened?

A woman’s touch.

It felt like home. God, he wanted to laugh at how struck he was by all of this. Would it even matter when he went through with his plans? His child would grow up without him and Touka 

I hate that you are making me sympathize with this fuckboy.

She peers from the kitchen, her hair, falling below her shoulders. She kept it clipped up with a hair claw he had gotten her.

Long hair Touka is a BIG MOOD! Thank you for the image.

but Yoriko had went on and on about how simple it was to make

OMG did my trick with wiping Furuta’s name work and now Yoriko is part of the story? (I know this is from school memories but let me dream I have superpowers)

His fingers twitch, longing to feel the movement of their child. 

Do I even deserve it?

No. You plan to abandon this kid in a world that despises it so you can keep those fingers to yourself.

The baby doesn’t kick when he tries to feel it though. He’s tried, it’s like his child already knew him well enough.

I like this kid. Carlos making me proud.

He didn’t deserve happiness at the expense of her life. 

He didn’t deserve it at all, in fact.

 I hate that you are making me sympathize with this fuckboy.

There hadn’t been any arguments,

I wish we could have gotten a glimpse to one of these arguments.

“Isn’t Papa handsome, Touka-chan?” She’d ask, and then she’d hug him tightly, drawing both herself and Ayato into the hug as well. It’s the last time she remembers ever feeling so safe.

/UGLY CRYING/

– Right down to the tragic ending.

Is that why you picked a guy who has Tragedy as his middle name? Recreating childhood trauma?

“I do,” he insists. “Trust me.”

If someone insists that you should trust them, you probably shouldn’t.

and lets her pick out the cake she would be having after dinner tonight.

I don’t know if this is intentional or not but it’s an odd choice of phrase “let her pick” as if he is controlling every aspect of her life. Oh fuck, he kinda is, isn’t he?

Ken lets himself in,

Still with that nasty habit of his.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME YOU RUDE ASS BITCH?!!!!! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOR YOUR APPOINTMENT AND YOU JUST BARGE IN YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE OF A NOT EVEN A HUMAN BEING?!!!! LET ME SEE HOW WELL THAT KAGUNE WORKS FOR YOU WHEN YOU HAVE 20 CRANKY PREGNANT WOMEN TACKLING YOU TO THE GROUND!!!!

All my sympathy for this fuckboy just flew out the window.

And clearly terrified.

Doctors can kill you, Ken. Why the fuck are you putting the fear of Ishida into this man? That’s like being rude to your waiter and being surprised when you find out they spat in your food.

What a dick.

There’s a crack.

 WTF?!

He had popped his shoulder right out of place.

Whaaaat the fuuuuck?!

“Do you have any idea the kind of things that this man has done?” He asks, directing his question to her, then. “To ghouls? Specifically to ghoul women?” 

YOU SHOULD BE ONE TO TALK YOU HYPOCRITICAL FUCK! Are you telling me the award winning ghoul killer is now showing concern for his victims?

Ken continues, clearly getting a thrill out all of this

/Insert gif of Selina Meyer’s nervous WTF/

“Are you really in a position to talk? You kill ghouls everyday.”

THANK YOU TOUKA!

No, it didn’t. She likes to pretend most of the times. The last three months had been nothing but a happy dream. Ken isn’t the same anymore, even if he pretended to be meek and gentle with her now, that isn’t him at all. This was him. She just had to accept it.

This just made me depressed. Why does it have to be like this?

He tests her blood and the urine, not waiting for any lab work, knowing that Sasaki would not take that well, he does it himself.

I am fuming right now because I know those need at least an hour so that appointment took at least an hour and all those poor women are waiting outside till they finish.

Fuck you Kaneki.

One of his gloved hands intertwined with hers. She was so warm to the touch.

What kind of flimsy ass gloves are those if you can feel her temperature through them?

 even Yomo-san was excited about the new child, asking her about it, and constantly asking to touch her belly in his shy and quiet way.

Gruncle Yomo hype!

He was more than excited to rush the two of them out of his office.

He’ll be more than excited to rat the two of you out as soon as chance permits.

She doesn’t notice the dark, amused look that Ken casts back on the doctor.

Plot twist: Ken has an affair with the doctor and the whole scene before was part of their kinky SM scenes. (Ignore that)

“I love you,” Ken rasps against her mouth.

Fuck you.

(Well, Touka is doing that but I mean that metaphorically you line-cutting bastard)

just like the ones that make her eyes blank and roll behind her lids.

That’s probably because you shouldn’t be lying flat on your back once you enter the second trimester. The good doctor would have told you that if your boyfriend didn’t terrify the fuck out of him.

The sight of her completely tired and sated because of him, sends a thrill up his spine.

I hate to say this but same, Kaneki, same.

The baby seems to kick him right on his cheek as Ken leans in to nuzzle her belly. As if to tell his father that he was being ridiculous.

At least now we know both Ken and Touka have a recessive gene for common sense since the baby seems to have more of it than they do.

“I hope – that you’re like your mama. I hope I can make you both happy and proud.”

/Insert Kristen Wiig’s Bridesmaids are you fucking kidding me gif/

look over the email he had drafted to his good friend, another Associate Class investigator.

I KNEW IT! THIS IS KARMA! THAT BEAUTIFUL BITCH!

But why didn’t the doctor contact his investigator friend when Ken first threatened him though? His terror means they met before but he needed a dislocated shoulder to ask for his friend’s help?

He would look over the contents in his car and send the email.

What is in his car? Why is it important to check before the email? Does this have anything to do with Kanou’s experiments?

He’s too busy shoving his files inside his briefcase to notice the glint of metal glass frames and a fringe of dark hair.

This is such a well-written line, thrilling.

A smile comes across her lips as she thinks about that.

You’re keeping your expectations pretty low if that is what makes you smile.

of the S ranked ghoul Yotsume

SS ghoul! Put some respeck on her rank!

Touka grips the letter, hard enough to shred the paper. Stupid – she had been so fucking stupid.

Guess who is coming home to a vase thrown at their face? I want Touka to pack her stuff and call Nishiki to come pick her up! Put her stuff in the car and wait to punch Ken in the face then leave. Does he think some baby clothes and cushions will make her ignore her baby sister being thrown in jail? Fuck no, you got a big storm coming, Kaneki.

SO MUCH HYPE FOR NEXT CHAPTER!

By the way, I started writing a review for Aphrodisia but my fiancée heard “impregnation kink” and decided to join me in reading and we uh, got distracted. Future hubby is now a huge fan of yours though despite not knowing anything about the manga besides chapter 125. He says he related a lot to Kaneki in the second chapter (big surprise, huh?) despite not being a king or having any murder tentacles sprouting from his back so great job on that one.

[lilacflamesss]

I have an I M P O R T A N T question/headcanon request! (feel free to return the favor) If less of the TG parents were dead, just forced out of action for various reasons, what do you think they would think of/do about the events of :re? Which ones are up to you, I just need thoughts and feels.

Arata and Hikari would beat Ayato’s ass because what the fuck do you think you’re doing joining that terrorist organization? Go to school you wanna-be edgelord or we’re grounding you for all eternity. 

Okay on a more serious note, I think Arata would like the fact that they’re trying to fight for co-existence but he’ll probably delude himself about it a lot like Kaneki does since they’re so similar and all. Hikari would probably be more wise about it? Like she’s a lot like Touka but I think she’ll have a more impartial view about the situation considering Touka probably is a little more biased to supporting Kaneki-- I imagine Hikari might be similar to what Ayato is right now? (ALSO, please imagine an Ayato/Hikari tag team in the underground sewage fighting off savage cannibal ghouls and finding more underground cities.)

Kureo wouldn’t give two fucks about whatever politics is going on in the CCG. The former Matsuri vs Furuta divide? He doesn’t care-- just give him some ghouls to kill. But, he’d love what Furuta is doing now because a) he can kill ghouls as much as he wants and wherever he wants and b) he can expand his quinque collection by tons. However, I can imagine him being distraught about the fact that Akira saved a ghoul. Akira and Kureo have had a pretty closely-knit relationship and he obviously treasures her so this will be an interesting thing to see, some kind of fallout between the two. He would be disappointed and I wouldn’t put it past him to outwardly disown her, yet when he’s home, he laments about his situation and wonders if he’s brought her up wrongly. Sometimes when he really misses her, or if he’s drunk or something, it feels like he can’t be bothered if she saved a ghoul or even if she became a ghoul herself-- he just wants his baby girl back. Hard to say how her mother might be like though. 

Urie’s father would have stopped him from even trying to go for the Qs experiments, but if somehow it didn’t work and Urie had still ended up framing out, somehow I can imagine him still supporting his son and being there for him despite what he’s become (of course, we don’t know much about Papa Urie so this is mere guesses on my part). I hope Tooru’s family really did end up being killed by ghouls. I can’t really say much about Shirazu’s dad because we don’t really know what kind of person he is. And Saiko’s Mom is still technically alive (when is the other Yonebayashi though).

Hmm... It’s funny because for some reason, I can’t imagine what the Fueguchis would do. If they’re alive, I guess they (along with Hinami) would be more on the sidelines? They won’t be apart of the revolution but I can imagine them being some of the ghouls who were picked off the streets by Naki and co. They’ll probably support Goat, but only because there’s nowhere else for them to go. 

Thanks for this ask! :D It’s really an interesting consideration. I think that’s about it? I’m not sure if I missed out anyone :o but if anyone has anything to add, I’d like to hear about it! ^^ I had fun with this hehe.