#anteiku raid arc

[kyanitedragon]

[ipsen]

tg 118 vs re 60

[eltheabberation]

ya know i've gotta ask seiakimon for the bingo

I LOVE THEM ACK <333

Ok uhh fuck how do I talk about them without my brain turning to mush uhh warning for incoherent rambling

okay so the end of the anteiku raid. I have reread that part of the arc so many times cause <33 Like Akira's worried about Amon so Seidou runs off while lamenting how he always watched her from the side and never could really confront his feelings for her and then he finds Amon and then he sees that he's injured and when Tatara shows up Amon tries to tell him to run away cause Amon doesn't want to lose anyone else he cares about but Seidou refuses because he says he's a ghoul investigator and he became a ghoul investigator to protect the people he cares about (his family) right so it also makes sense that he would bring it up here because he's also trying to do that he's trying to protect both Amon and also Akira to an extent because he knows she cares about him and he just wants them to be happy and oh god this whole sentence is an entire paragraph. Anyway Seidou gets chomped and AKIRAS REFLECTED IN HIS EYES BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH HES DYING HES THINKING ABOUT HER. Oh and also the way Amon SCREAMS when Seidou gets "killed." He literally throws away the very very tiny amount of regard he had for his own life and goes in to try and kill Tatara despite literally having lost an arm and also presumably a lot of blood.

Okay uh then we have Rushima which HOLY SHIT. They all tried to kill/save each other which is kinda funny but also SJFSFSFKJL. FUCKING. Okay and Seidou tells Akira that he wanted her to see him as a hero and then Akira calls him a killer ghoul but okay in my head she's not just telling him that she's also trying to convince herself of that and that killing him really is the only option or maybe I'm looking too far into this ANYWAY. And then Amon comes out to save both of them because he cares about both of them and he also closes his kakugan whenever it's in Akira's view because he's scared of her seeing him as a monster or something. And also even though Seidou's killed a ton of people and is probably considered a monster even by ghoul standards Amon's still like "oh he deserves a second chance." Okay buddy. AND THEN THE SCENE WHERE AKIRA SHIELDS SEIDOU BECAUSE DEEP DOWN SHE ALWAYS CARED ABOUT HIM AND SKJLHFIU:OIS:DJH And then Amon protects them to make sure Akira and Seidou get away safely and ACK

Also uh they go on a date that one time :) And Amon is too busy eating skewers to fully notice the extent of the chaos around him :) Ok my brain is mush now there's so much more to talk about but I lost like 12 out of 15 braincells while writing this which is probably nothing compared to the amount anyone who had the misfortune of reading this lost. Anyway uh if you can't tell uh I like this ship :>

[tokyoghoulartfight2024]

What I mean by a theme is choosing a certain time/event in the tokyo ghoul storyline that the participants would then put the characters in when they make art of them. For example, if the theme is "anteiku raid" and a participant wants to make art of a character, they would depict the character in that setting. What they were doing during the raid for example. A writer may write a scene during the raid, of the character and what their role was in it. But you dont have to follow the theme. Opting out of it or simply suggesting the character wasnt involved is possible.

If the winning answer of this poll is yes, we can choose the theme through voting as well. The options would be "aogiri raid, anteiku raid, auction raid, rose operation, dragon arc etc". I can come up with more or take your suggestions as well.

[ipsen]

Gonna stick a read more under this just for convenience.

Most favorite member of Anteiku: Kaya!

Most favorite member of CCG: Amon!!

Most favorite member of Aogiri Tree: Eto!!!

Most favorite member of Clowns: Furuta!!!!

Most favorite member of Tsukiyama household: Shuu!!!!!

Most favorite member of Goat: Banjou!!!!!!

Most favorite character that doesn't belong from the above groups: Shachi...? Does he count? Shachi!!!!!!!

Most favorite canon ship: Don’t have one!!!!!!!!

Most favorite non-canon ship: EtoKen!!!!!!!!!

Most favorite non-romantic relationship: Touka+Hinami!!!!!!!!!!

Most favorite kagune: Banjou's!!!!!!!!!!!

Most favorite kakuja: One-Eyed Owl!!!!!!!!!!!!

she's so big

13. Most favorite quinque: Ginkui!!!!!!!!!!!!!

14. Most favorite clothes:

serve!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

15. Most favorite arc: Anteiku raid or Doves’ Emergence!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

16. Most favorite detail of your blorbo:

this parallel, from re 86, versus re 69. metaphorical quinque buddies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

17. Most favorite headcanon for your blorbo: She’s not a virgin, but she’s never been kissed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

18. Most favorite illustration:

you already know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

19. Most favorite cover:

this one? i'm not sure i haven't really thought about it in-depth. this one's cool though!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

20. Most favorite scene:

exquisite. drives me crazy every time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alright guys, let's fill in the blank

TOKYO GHOUL CHALLENGE

(It is highly encouraged to have a different answer for each of em)

Most favorite member of Anteiku:

Most favorite member of CCG:

Most favorite member of Aogiri Tree:

Most favorite member of Clowns:

Most favorite member of Tsukiyama household:

Most favorite member of Goat:

Most favorite character that doesn't belong from the above groups:

Most favorite canon ship:

Most favorite non-canon ship:

Most favorite non-romantic relationship:

Most favorite kagune:

Most favorite kakuja:

Most favorite quinque:

Most favorite clothes:

Most favorite arc:

Most favorite detail of your blorbo:

Most favorite headcanon for your blorbo:

Most favorite illustration:

Most favorite cover:

Most favorite scene:

[kt-cant-focus]

Is kindergartner Akira cute? I don’t know, I find her still a bit intimidating. I love how she can be super funny and ridiculous, but have a straight face the entire time. So great.

[midnight-in-town]

I'm still curious why touka doesn't has her own arc like hinami tsukiyama or nishiki . Her development always be in other arcs but she has no her own arc

Hello! But Anon, the story isn’t over yet, is it? ;) Touka’s character development is not over anyway and there are a few aspects that need to be addressed where she’s concerned. It’s like saying that ch125 solved every issues between Kaneki and Touka, that just isn’t true: Touka, like Kaneki, still has to grow.

Please refer to the following posts to understand what I mean:

Thoughts on Kirishima Arata and Touka’s emotional repression by @linkspooky

About Touka’s fatality in regards to the world and the rebellion

Have a nice day Anon!

[linkspooky]

Was the black reaper Kaneki is the most interesting or is it the aesthetics?

It’s because he’s sexy. Just kidding. Black Reaper Kaneki will always be the most interesting, because it’s when Kaneki is at his most raw, and honest as a character. I’ll explain more under the cut. 

As I said above, Black Reaper is Kaneki at his most honest. It shows Kaneki’s behavior, the effects of his behavior on other people, and also how incredibly unhealthy this behavior is for himself without sugarcoating it at all. It has been established several times that Kaneki, even around his closest friends will be hiding things and wearing a mask at all times. 

Kaneki, is avoidant. Rather than directly confront his problems he’ll tell himself little lies to avoid them and pretend that there is nothing wrong. Kaneki, is a lying, liar who lies. Black Reaper is the result of several of Haise’s lies becoming undone. Haise is the lie, and Black Reaper is the truth. Black Reaper’s trigger is several of the lies Haise told to himself becoming undone. Haise as a character continually repeats to himself over and over again “I’m fine with this, I’m fine with this.” When he is in fact: Not fine with this. 

Haise’s relationship with the Q’s. 

Haise’s relationship with Arima. 

Rather than confront the truth of his behavior Haise tries to content himself with a lie. What makes Black Reaper appear is several of the things Haise had been telling himself coming undone at once. First, his relationship with Arima. Haise sees Arima as his protector, and the one watching over him. He ignores the violent side of their relationship. 

Right before Black Reaper appears and Kaneki’s memories come back. Haise remembers that Arima killed him, and is using him practically as a quinque against ghouls. While it’s true Arima has genuine affection for Haise and views him as a son, he also violently killed him, used a psychologist to manipulate him to become more complacent, and trained him up as a tool against ghouls at the same time. Both of these things are true that’s what their relatinoship complex. However, rather than confront the truths, Haise has instead been ignoring the darker side of their relationship. This is the nature of Haise and Arima’s relationship. 

This is the surface. Edit, by Makyun. 

This is what’s underneath. 

It’s commented multiple times that instead of looking at the whole picture, instead of looking at the ugly parts of his relationships with other people Haise will instead try to ignore the bad and only look at the good. He wants to only look at the light, and avoid the shadow behind it. Even though both are true, both are equally important. 

Rather than confront an uncomfortable truth, Kaneki will often choose to delude himself and tell himself he’s fine with something when he’s not. The problem with lying to yourself is that it merely avoids and looks away from the problem rather than try to confront it. Reaper shows us the truth of several of Kaneki’s behaviors. First, he’s at his most violent in Black Reaper. Haise pretended the CCG was a happy little family, whereas Black Reaper shows us that Kaneki’s role in the CCG is to slaughter ghouls en masse.

Black Reaper also shows us the truth of Kaneki’s relationship with the Q’s. He distances himself and avoids them, because he doesn’t think he’s worthy of being around them. This is a behavior that Kaneki repeats with all of his loved ones. He desires to be close, but ultimately he’s the one who pushes them away because he thinks he’s unworthy of that closeness. The result is nobody takes the Q’s away from him, Kaneki makes the decision to abandon them himself. 

Not only is the audience confronted with the reality of Kaneki’s actions, as raw as possibly without any pretty little lies but also we see Kaneki’s loved ones being confronted with what he did. Mutsuki is trying to reconcile the differences between who Haise was, and Black Reaper’s actions, how he could suddenly turn so cold as to cut off all of them without even a word or explanation. 

Kaneki views himself as a protector, fighting to protect all of these people. That’s why he throws himself into all of these conflicts. However, Black Reaper is the closest we come to Kaneki admitting the truth to himself. It starts out with once again a reveal of a truth. Kaneki believed he jumped into the Anteiku raid in order to protect everyone at Anteiku. 

However, just before Kaneki’s memories return he admits to himself that his “attempt to protect everyone” was really just a suicide attempt. Not only are we shown the truth of his suicidal behavior but we also see the way it affects the people around him. 

His actions aren’t going to protect Hinami, he’s going to hurt her. She never wanted Kaneki to commit suicide in her name. His “Dying in a cool way” isn’t going to protect or save his loved ones, just harm them. His way of carying for Hinami this arc is to, abandon her in the cochlea and cut off all communication to the point where she’s slowly going insane. Show up at last moment in an incredibly risky jail break that Kaneki himself doesn’t even plan on surviving. Then inflict the pain and guilt of his suicide on her, in the likely event she does survive. 

It’s incredibly unhealthy and harmful behavior, and Black Reaper shows us the ugliness behind Kaneki’s pretty little lies. It’s only by confronting this shadow of himself, the absolute worst of himself that Kaneki can start to take the steps towars bettering himself. That’s why Black Reaper is the best phase of his development. 

[abjectaspiringfailure]

I've seen posts arguing that Anteiku (and by extension :re) didn't really practice coexistence. While it advocated peace towards humans it had no human staff, and it's members would kill humans if necessary. That being said, do you think Koma and Irimi secretly despised humans? During the Anteiku raid, Irimi called Hachikawa a "dirty little human" after he insulted her, and Koma mockingly stated humans had such dull senses. In regards to Koma, in :re 104 he agrees when Kaneki tells him to "hold

down the fort,“ and Irimi notes that he didn’t want to go to begin with. This is in contrast with the aogiri arc of the previous series, when Yoshimura told him to stay at Anteiku while they rescued Kaneki, he expressed disappointment that he wouldn’t be able to "go wild.” I think I might have realized why he didn’t want to go. Part of the mission involved fighting the Clowns for the CCG (the organization that destroyed Anteiku and killed all of his old friends), and the other part was obtaining suppressants for Akira Mado (an investigator who fought in the Anteiku battle).

TG 130

So for Kaya and Koma, I don’t think they despised humans. I think they had racial attitudes like most characters in TG, certainly, but I don’t get the impression they despised humanity. Kaya insulting an enemy doesn’t mean much outside of her personal attitude. For example, Kaya saving an elderly woman she didn’t know, even if she’s being disrespectful towards her. Koma’s lamentations seems more like it’s him joking more than anything to me.

It’s possible he didn’t want to be involved with fighting the Clowns for the CCG to save an investigator, but in the end they were being framed for mass bombings so he’d have to get involved. That was the primary reason that GOAT decided to get involved to begin with.

As for the coexistence thing. I think this touches on their attitudes. Anteiku taught people that the system was okay and that rebellion was hopeless, so you should just accept it, so as to minimize casualties. I think Anteiku encouraged complacency and acceptance of circumstances, rather than coexistence. We see this even before we have the bigger picture, with Kaneki being advised by Yoshimura that he needs to accept his circumstances, and we see this with Touka and many other ghouls under Yoshimura, which I’ll get into just below. And the reason why is simple

TG 119, TG 48, TG 124

Yoshimura refuses to actively oppose V for much of the series, directly working for them. I feel like this is skipped over in a lot of discussion surrounding the character and Anteiku’s role in the original Tokyo Ghoul, but it’s very important to understanding the decisions he made.

Anteiku members as a whole are not a part of V, but Kuzen is until he’s excommunicated in chapter 125. That’s why every time he “goes to work” he’s wearing the V uniform, and Kuzen himself makes clear he’s still a member of V, just not as a member of its death squads. You can piece together his role and its philosophy. Kuzen was still acting in the role of a peace maker, just not through violence. He voiced acceptance of living in the bird cage.

TG TG;re 63 TG 112, 113,

All of Kuzen’s recruits from before the series, that is, Kaya, Koma, and Yomo, are either stated or implied to be investigator hunters. These are characters who threaten V’s power and upset the status quo they’ve created. If ghouls are focusing on investigator hunting, they’re weakening the CCG’s grasp and thus causing or increasing the chance of indirect damage to V and its ideology. They’re giving people the impression that rebellion against the status quo is possible.

He made minor rebellious efforts against V, (hiding Rize, for example) but he mostly kept his head down and apparently just did what he was told. That is,, until Aogiri Tree started breaking the cage, and he had already handed over the metaphorical reigns with regards to Eto and the next shop onto Kaneki, Yomo, and Touka. Then he finally made a stand, though it was… pointless.

TG 5, TG 13

Anteiku doesn’t attempt to stop humans from being predated upon, and supposedly Yomo and Touka, who aren’t exactly minor players in the scheme of the Anteiku organization, get their meat from kills. Anteiku does provide “moral meat” but it also designates areas to be hunting grounds for ghouls to predate. It won’t even protect its human customers if they’re being targeted by ghouls, with ghouls being expected to protect humans they didn’t want eaten, like Kaneki and Hide.

TG 52, 16

For what I was talking about above with Yoshimura pacifying members of Anteiku - look at Aogiri Tree’s rebellion. Banjou didn’t think rebellion against the CCG was possible, because defeating the investigators is supposedly something that will just lead to the investigators immediately sending more and crushing you. Except that’s not what happens. It calls back to Touka’s idea that was dismissed as hopeless by Kuzen and Yomo. Except it’s not. Touka’s idea actually could work, to some extent. This is part of her foiling with Eto.

But Aogiri Tree also polices ghouls that don’t join their cause that they don’t go on a rampage, and instead feed on investigators. We can see how bad this policing can get for ghouls with the Aogiri escape arc. There’s a reason why the CCG was able to keep quiet that Aogiri Tree controlled multiple wards and removed the CCG’s ability to fight back, outside of leaks on the internet, and why they covered up Aogiri’s existence as long as they could.

TG 16

Which to Yoshimura isn’t worth it. “You should just accept the way things are now and not try to change anything”. Anteiku’s version of coexistence was given V’s stamp of approval. It doesn’t actually work though, because it’s just concessions in the hopes the people you’re attempting to placate won’t just eventually come after you anyway for reasons outside of your control. Which doesn’t work too well. Especially in a situation where the goal of the organization you’re facing is genocide.

Sorry this took so long. I know you were more focusing on Kaya and Koma in your question but the Anteiku coexistence thing really caught my attention and I think it directly relates. I don’t think Kaya and Koma despised humans. I think they had their racial biases, and I think there were humans they made clear they hated, but they did things that are inconsistent with a general hatred of humanity. Kaya in particular.

[kyanitedragon]

I love this panel so much. The same chapter as their fight, Kaneki still with the bruises from her punches, and he comes back home like, "...Damn, she was right." and immediately disbands his group and decides to come back to Anteiku.

Meanwhile, Touka thinks he hates her. And she never found out he was going to come back...!

(Well, maybe Yomo told her eventually. Hopefully.)

[blvvdyindustries]

Anybody else feel like instead of outright killing Touka, Mutsuki will instead lead the Oggai to :re?

That way everybody dies again, the cafe is destroyed…again, and Kaneki might be captured…AGAIN. It would be a parallel to the Anteiku Raid Arc.

[gourmetbooty]

Also, IS Tokyo Ghoul even a tragedy? Kaneki presents it as one, but maybe that's just him being Emo. For a violent tragedy, a happy ending that involves very few impactful deaths feels ill-fitting. I still haven't read Re but I have read up on it and yikes, I'm glad I didn't waste my money. I personally dislike the Kaneki makeovers as a part of a tragedy, too, but that may have more to do with my personal tastes in a tragic protagonist (Light Yagami, Joe Goldberg, Dexter Morgan, ect) - 🥀☘️🌹

ew don’t read re!! up until ch50/60 i think, until the end of the tsukiyama extermination arc, i thought it was going to be the perfect sequel, since that arc to me has pretty much no faults, but after that, it’s just... whew.

at the start of the goat arc i was super excited, since all the ghouls were living together, preparing for the big show off and everything (and honestly tsukiyama and kaneki were growing closer and closer and my little gay heart was happy), but as we know after ch125 both fandom and manga crumbled to pieces.

one of the things i didn’t like is that during :re pretty much all of the characters that “died” during the anteiku raid either didn’t die, or were humans who came back as ghouls, so basically only yoshimura died in the raid, which to me lost all its tragic potential, since we find out later that almost no one died. and the “kill a human off and bring them back as a ghoul” got pretty old soon.

[superryunosukeyuki]

Kaya Irimi’s True Relationship With Chuu Hachikawa

One of the most overlooked battles in the Tokyo Ghoul series is Kaya Irimi’s battle with Chuu Hachikawa at the end of Part 1. This may be since they both have limited screentime (Irimi only appears personally in around 30 chapters, and Hachikawa has far less). In particular, Hachikawa only appears for a few chapters in the final arc in part 1, and then for even fewer chapters in :re before he is killed off by Rio on Rushima Island. However, in what time he has important information is provided about his past, and how it’s linked to Irimi’s.

Ten years before the end of the original series, Hachikawa was part of an operation against Irimi and her old gang (the Black Dobers). However, his entire unit was wiped out with him being the sole survivor, and his face mauled. This led to him bearing an intense grudge against Irimi that culminated in his battle with her. However, information given during their battle and subsequent information hint at a deeper relationship between them.

Firstly, it’s mentioned that his superiors were with him in the unit that was wiped out (meaning, investigators more skilled than himself). Not only that, but as we see during the battle at Anteiku, the Black Dobers as a group were fully intact.

So, not only was Hachikawa’s unit entirely wiped out, but they caused little if any damage to the Black Dobers. So, if at the end of this operation the Black Dobers lost few if any members and Hachikawa was all alone (and not even the strongest investigator who’d been present), what stopped them from finishing him off? As Ghouls are much faster than humans and have heightened senses, it’s doubtful that he could’ve escaped. So, what then?

Well, during Irimi’s fight with Hachikawa, we get subtle hints as to why. Firstly, before their fight Irimi hears a familiar sound.

This sound stops her in her tracks, but what was it? It wasn’t the incoming shots being fired at her, because those are what snaps her out of what she was focusing on. So, what was the sound? Well, first we need to review how a ghoul’s sound detection ability works. As revealed by Kaya herself earlier in the manga:

Ghouls can determine who a person is based on the sound that their bodies create. So, during the Anteiku raid when she stopped dead in her tracks when she heard “that sound” is must have been made by someone she was familiar with. After she dodges the bullets shot at her, we see who it is:

Hachikawa was supposedly just a member of an investigative team that Irimi once fought. However, she’s able to notice his presence among all the other investigators just by hearing the sound his body makes (after not seeing him for ten years). Not only that, but she even knows him by name. She also refers to him by the nickname “Hachi,” which is the same nickname his subordinate Ayumu Hogi refers to him by.

So, she not only knows him by name, but she can even sense when his body is present after being apart for a decade. She refers to him by the affectionate nickname of “Hachi” and they even engage in playful banter while trying to kill one another. This all points to one thing: they were lovers.

Further Evidence

Now, you may be thinking this is crazy, but there is additional evidence. In the Tokyo Ghoul novel, Past, in one chapter it goes over Enji Koma’s first days at Anteiku. He was Yoshimura’s first employee, and after a while Kaya Irimi started working there as well. He is extremely surprised by this and wonders why she chose to start working there. He also mentions that when she started working there is around the time that the CCG became aware of her gang. If the CCG hadn’t become aware of the Black Dobers yet, then they couldn’t have performed any operations against them. So, the first operation against the Black Dobers (where Hachikawa’s face was mauled) actually happened after Irimi started working at Anteiku.

During this chapter, a regular customer who seems to be infatuated with Koma points out his good points to Irimi, and she then becomes jealous of easily he can get along with humans. She then resolves to work harder at this. Why would the leader of a violent ghoul gang just suddenly want to be friendly with humans? Well, in this chapter when Irimi is talking with this customer it’s revealed she had a boyfriend around this time. If this boyfriend were a human then it could explain why she inexplicably started working at Anteiku. She wanted to learn how to live in the human world with him, and so she saw Anteiku as a way out of the life she had been living now that the CCG had begun targeting her and her gang.

Based on this reasoning and the previous evidence, we would assume this boyfriend to be Hachikawa. It would also explain why Hachikawa was spared when the rest of his squad was killed. However, during the battle of Anteiku Hachikawa wasn’t surprised when Irimi was unmasked (he wasn’t surprised to see who the Black Dog really was). Therefore, if they were in a relationship he must have learned she was a ghoul at some point.

However, if he knew what she looked like why didn’t he inform the CCG after his squad was killed by her gang? A textual reason:

If Hachikawa knew Irimi was a ghoul and didn’t report her to the CCG then he could have been punished due to this law. Even if he didn’t know (perhaps he found out during the first Black Dober operation) he could still have been punished regardless. Remember, we see in Tokyo Ghoul :re that Furuta uses this law to have Yoriko imprisoned even though she didn’t know Touka was a ghoul (because there was no way to prove it). There would be no way to prove Hachikawa didn’t know his girlfriend was a ghoul, and so he could’ve been punished regardless. Even if wasn’t punished, if it became public knowledge that he dated a ghoul (the one who killed his team no less) he would’ve become severely stigmatized in the CCG and elsewhere due to the overwhelming prejudice against ghouls. So, Hachikawa was maimed by the woman he loved and all his friends were killed, but he had no chance to take revenge on her for a decade. This is likely what caused him to develop his bitter personality.

Fun fact, Ishida-sensei says he partially named Hachikawa after “Hachiko.” Hachiko was a loyal Akita dog who waited on his dead owner to return for nine years until his death (like Hachikawa waited nearly a decade to try and obtain revenge against Irimi). Takizawa even refers to Hachikawa as this when he spots him on Rushima.

Irimi’s Side of the Story

However, if Hachikawa was Irimi’s boyfriend why would she bite his face off? During the Anteiku battle, she also seems to have great animosity towards him. Perhaps Hachikawa (after learning she was a ghoul ten years previously) leaked information about the Black Dobers to the CCG which led to his squad’s operation against them? This betrayal would make Hachikawa’s desire for revenge rather ironic, as it would mean it was his fault that his squad got killed. However, there is more. After the end of her battle against Hachikawa in the Anteiku raid (when she thinks she is going to die) she tells him she will see him in hell with a knowing smile on her face.

While Irimi spends this chapter reflecting on her own past sins, here she reveals knowledge of something damning she knows he’s done. As for what that is, Ishida-sensei leaves us a clue on the cover page of chapter 131.

Here, Ishida-sensei draws an “X” mark on Irimi’s stomach. He has used “X” several times throughout the story, and it always refers to one thing.

He uses it to refer to a hybrid of the two species. He uses “X” to denote this several times in the story. For example, when Eto Yoshimura (who is a one-eyed ghoul) went on her first rampage, she was titled “X” by the CCG. The title of :re chapter 125 (where Kaneki and Touka have sex and conceive a hybrid child) was also “X.” So, this is Ishida telling that at one point Irimi became pregnant with a hybrid child.

However, when Itori discusses hybrids in the original series, she states it’s impossible for female ghouls to give birth to hybrids.

Here she states a ghoul mother’s body would absorb her child for nutrition. However, the validity of this statement comes into question when her other statement was proven to be false. She states that if a human mother becomes pregnant with a hybrid then that hybrid wouldn’t be able to receive proper nourishment (rc cells). Despite this, we’ve seen that the mother could simply consume human flesh like Ukina did for her daughter Eto. However, we’ve seen in a few instances in the story that Eto (a natural hybrid) is capable of consuming human food, so even this may not have been necessary. Furthermore, Kishou Arima stated that most hybrids were born as half-humans who only required human food, and so they wouldn’t need to be fed rc cells in the womb regardless.

So, since Itori was wrong/lying about human mothers of hybrids, could she be incorrect about ghoul mothers as well? How exactly would a ghoul mother’s body consume her child from the uterus?

Irimi becoming pregnant with a human’s child and then it dying in the womb serves no narrative purpose. So, we presume that she became pregnant with Hachikawa’s child and successfully delivered, but there is no mention of such a child in the original series or the sequel. So, what happened to it?

This “X” on Irimi’s womb is shown on the cover of chapter 131, and this is the same chapter where she states she will see Hachikawa “in hell.” So, what could Hachikawa have done to merit him going to hell? Considering the “X” symbol, he probably killed their child. He figured out at some point that Irimi was a ghoul, and so he killed the child they had together due to his prejudice against ghouls.

Irimi’s Disillusionment with the Past

When Irimi and Koma reunite with Kaneki in :re chapter 99, at first all parties appear happy. However, then Kaneki states that having them all together feels like “Anteiku” all over again. Upon hearing this statement, everyone begins to either smile or reminisce. All except for one:

If you look close enough at Kaya’s hair, you can see a “2,” a “3” to the right of it, and a “J” above the 3. Ishida-sensei commonly places tarot numbers on character in their defining moments.

The 2 refers to the High Priestess which represents: hidden talents, things yet to be revealed, mystery, spiritual insight, and intuition. While the others remember Anteiku happily, Irimi’s intuition and insight let her know that it was only a happy dream (an escape from the normal, everyday lives of ghouls). She joined to learn how to live with her lover, but that lover betrayed her. And how did this dream end? All her old friends from her gang were slaughtered like animals.

The 3 refers to the empress which represents: pregnancy, a new opportunity, abundance, stability, nurturing, and maternal care. This likely refers to the child she lost, another down side of her days at Anteiku (which further explains why she is unhappy at the mention of Anteiku).

The J is part of the High Priestess card. In the background of this card there are two pillars.

The “B” refers to “Boaz,” which means “to negate.” The “J” refers to “Jachin” which means “beginning.” The beginning of what exactly in unclear. Perhaps she will finally begin to move beyond her past?

Kaya Irimi, The Lord of Ruin, and the Future

Sui Ishida once released a playing card deck called “Tokyo Ghoul Trump.” In it, each playing card has the illustration of either one or two characters (meaning he identified them with that card). For Irimi, he placed her on the 10 of Spades card.

Regarding tarot, the spades suit also refers to the swords suit. Thus, she is also the 10 of Swords, which is also known as The Lord of Ruin.

When it is upright, the 10 of Swords refer to: painful endings, deep wounds, betrayal, loss, and crisis. However, we also see in this card that the sun is rising. It is the end of a dark night and the dawning of a new day. We also see that the hand gesture that is made is the same one made by tarot #5: the Hierophant. Ishida-sensei has also identified her with this number in the past as well.

In addition to the “X” that had identified she had a hybrid child at one point, there is also a “5” here which refers back to the 10 of Swords. She has suffered deep wounds in the past: her lover betrayed her, she lost her child, and she thinks she is going meet a painful ending until she is saved by Kaneki. However, we also see her with this number at the end of Tokyo Ghoul :re.

Here, after rotating this image sideways we can see #5, which again refers back to the 10 of Swords. Here it seems to be in a reversed position, and when the 10 of Swords is reversed it refers to recovery and regeneration. However, Irimi is presumed to have died in this panel, and so if she died how could she recover?

Well, Naki and his White Suits were shown to have died in the 24th Ward, but they later returned. Many fans have theorized that this is because they were exposed to Dragon’s toxin underground, and so this same method could be used to restore Irimi to life. At the end of the original series Irimi stated she felt the need for her past sins with her death. So, maybe dying and then being brought back is exactly what she needs in order to move on?

Sui Ishida has stated that there “probably” wouldn’t be any further Tokyo Ghoul sequels, and recently he has been working on a video game related series called “Jack Jeanne” for the past three years (which is about to be released). However, he has also expressed interest in creating another manga in the future, and him saying “probably” still leaves the option open. If the sun rises on Tokyo Ghoul again, the sun will rise on Kaya Irimi as well.

[xbrokenxtragedies]

(Haruma Mira, bisexual) i saw Ayato Kirishima/Black Rabbit in amber falls yesterday. they look pretty good for being 24! He was listening to Man or Monster by Zayde while on their way to work as a human services assistant. i guess they’re originally from Tokyo Ghoul, but i’ve never heard of there! i heard they remember being recruited into Goat happening from back home

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Ayato is pulled from the ending of the Third Cochlea Arc

The memories of his life are still intact, such as the taunting death of his mother and his father, as well as being subjected to hate and hunted by humans due to Ayato being a ghoul. 

One evening his father never returned home, therefore Ayato and his sister Touka assumed ghoul investigators found and killed him. After their father’s disappearance,  the two of them visited a friend of their father’s and at first, she was kind but when she learned of them being ghouls she sold both of them out. They managed to escape as Touka used her kagune to kill the investigators. This memory still is vivid in his mind. 

After running away from home, they found Anteiku, where they were taken care of. As they grew up, Ayato started to act violently. When Touka started school and began to be more open to humans, Ayato believed they might end up just like their father, therefore left in search of more power. He would have to depend on no one but himself. The human world would result in him becoming weak, and he hated being weak, he hated weaklings and he’d never allowed himself to be one of them.

He wandered the wards of Tokyo where he caused chaos and bloodshed and claimed multiple feeding grounds until he was convinced to join the Aogiri Tree and then became an executive of the organization. This is a substantial part of him. He joins the search for Rize at their request and breaks into Anteiku effortlessly. Ayato is then reunited with his sister but that quickly is interrupted by two other ghouls. When he notices Kaneki smells like Rize, Ayato cooperates with them in taking Kaneki. His sister tries to attack but Ayato effortlessly beats and defeats her.

 When he was a boy he made a promise to his dad that he would protect Touka at any cost whenever she would get in trouble, thus the reasoning behind later taking the alias “Black Rabbit,” and wearing a second mask. This was done to have the CCG mistake Ayato for Touka, and therefore track him instead of his sister, covering up Touka’s actions and cleaning up after her bad reputation. He also often beats her before anyone else can leave her for dead. Though he never told this to her, instead he put on the facade of his hate for her. 

He is one of the strongest ghouls

Despite his complicated past with Kaneki, Ayato partners with him and the two break out dozens of ghoul prisoners. This intensifies the war between Ghouls and Humans. After the occurrence, many raids between both sides take place, a lot of which Ayato is in a charge of in which he kills most of the investigators by himself, as well as some in which his fellow ghouls help.  He also always tries to save ghouls despite always portraying himself as cold. The raids continue for years and in the most recent one, Ayato is struck down and almost killed until his sister comes in and saves him. 

One month after the raid, Ayato was brought to a place where Kaneki declares the Black Goat, a ghoul anti-human organization that would fight against the CCG and force other organizations to create a world where ghouls and humans can live in peace together. All these recollections still sit in his mind vividly. 

In the face of everything that Ayato went through, he still has anger over his past, as well as anguish over the lives he did loose. Although he is trying to be a peacemaker now, Ayato has no problem still striking and killing humans if it comes to that, even in this new city, 

[lurkerwithcomputer]

Can I add to this? Because. Whoo BOI, do i have some ideas about this stuff! ESPECIALLY the lab invasion one, oh so many characters put in one place, so much potential. (After working on this for a bit: It's gonna get LONG, buckle up.)

So I'm gonna say this is far enough into the story to have Hinami and Ghoulzawa as Aogiri members who could show up to cause extra carnage.

So, On the idea of the CCG raiding HySy studio: Y'know how Aogiri like to show up and rip into the CCG while they're busy trying to attack some other ghoul group? Yeah. If Eto sends Hinami with followers, along with Ghoulzawa to disrupt the the HySy raid: Hinami sends her followers to attack the CCG's supply lines and communications and cut off CCG reinforcements, breaking up their containment line and preventing the CCG from sealing off escape routes, stuff like that. Meanwhile, her and Ghoulzawa target the CCG's on-site HQ, using Hinami and Ghoulzawa's senses to find the command post.

Takizawa has an, uh, painfully intimate knowledge of psychological warfare (gee thanks, Eto and Kanou), and Eto's probably taught Hinami about how to demoralize her enemies. So Hinami and Takizawa open all the CCG's comm channels, set the volume to MAX and the radio to "transmit". And then they noisily murder the CCG's field commanders while the boots on the ground can hear all of it. Because Hinami's fighting style, which she's had since she was like 14, starts by cutting at her opponent's limbs. It's a fighting style that's brutally effective yet gives your opponent plenty of time to scream while you kill them.

I'm also thinking of the violent 4th Ward ghouls being kinda impressed watching this shy, quiet girl going hard murder, Hina-chan might end up with some admirers among the younger part of the 4th Ward crowd.

So with that plus Asa and any crew she might have picked up, and that the 4th Ward has a high population of violent ghouls who have reason to intervene, I could see the CCG marching into a wasteful, bloody, costly, militarily disastrous slaughterhouse.

If Eto brings Hinami and Takizawa along to the lab attack instead: There is, of course, all the angst and carnage potential of putting Tatara, Houji and Takizawa in one place, with many possible results.

But I'm thinking about Akira vs. Hinami angst potential, Takizawa vs. Akira angst potential, and the... "ex-Anteiku crew seeing Hinami not being the gentle, squeamish-about-violence girl they knew" angst potential, the "I didn't realize seeing Hinami grown up (by ghouls standards) would feel like grief" potential.

Akira being called in as backup, hearing "Owl", "Black Rabbit" and "Yotsume" (or maybe even "Fueguchi" if they've been an investigator long enough to remember that name and recognize the distinctive kagune) on the radio. Akira running through hallways with increasing levels of blood, bodies, and battle damage, getting a bit fixated on finding the ghouls who killed her father, that vengeance motivation coming out more. Until she rounds a corner into a hallway and there's Fueguchi, in a hallway that's become a meat grinder for the CCG (like Hinami does in the Dragon Arc). Maybe Hinami has a corpse impaled on one of her spine tentacles, that she's biting pieces out of - she's not just trying to be horrifying to the CCG (although a bit of psychological warfare isn't out of the question), Hinami is a ghoul who needs to replenish herself mid-fight because such a massive kagune tires her out quickly. (Hina and Saiko are mirrors on opposite sides: super-hearing, scent-oriented to the point of being able to identify and track people across distances, being the "heart" of her crew, fairly tanky and a devastating kagune, but lacking stamina and overall combat experience).

Of course, Akira just sees her father's killer, amidst a sea of carnage, chewing on a fresh kill. (And Hinami's mask is one that makes her look spookier by covering her expressive, emotive eyes, combined with her grim, detached "Here On Business" face.)

Akira of course pulls Fueguchi One, lashing out with it - and maybe we see Hinami's Business Face crack? Hinami now with her posture more aggressive and showing teeth, a bloody grimace across her face. Since Hinami wants what's left of her parents back, she meets and grapples Akira's quinque with her own kagune, tangling it with a spine tentacle so that Akira can't use it anymore - and then yanking it in. Either this breaks Akira's grip and disarms her, or if she keeps holding onto it, it's a hard enough pull to yank her off her feet and dislocate her shoulder, leaving her face-down in the blood and guts, at Hinami's feet... I think I like the second option more. Akira, a vengeance-driven professional paramilitary/ paid killer, being so attached to her weapon (made of Hinami's dad) that she gets injured, soaked in blood and at the mercy of one of the targets of her vengeance? it's thematically delicious.

Akira's lying there in the carnage, And Hinami is like "I told myself I don't hate you, I just want what's left of my parents back" while Akira's down in the gory muck, and then showing off that ghoul strength by lifting Akira up close and personal at eye level, so that Akira can see maybe red glow behind the mask, maybe tears of grief and rage leaking from under it. Hinami, angrier now "But you know what? You're a professional killer, you're not better than us ghouls" and tosses Akira back down...

...right into Takizawa's grip. I'm thinking he chokes Akira like he does in canon, and in this AU bites a piece out of her between her neck and shoulder. Which makes Hinami comment about whether or not Takizawa knows how ghoul marriage works.

Akira, now kinda delirious, tries biting Takizawa in the same spot, even though her human teeth just slide off his ghoulified skin. The blood on her face, though, leaves a very clear bloody mouth ring where the tried (symbolic/non-literal bite mark). Just YES on the "it takes Akira being extremely drunk or otherwise delirious to admit her feelings" stuff.

Now, of course, Hinami and Takizawa COULD leave Akira behind, leave her wondering why the hell a ghoul would spare her life... but I think "A ghouls fights Akira but chooses to spare her" is a role better filled by Touka. SO. I think Hinami and Takizawa should take Akira with, as a captive. After all, I did just have Takizawa and Akira symbolically marry each other in TG-language.

(Who from the Anteiku crew do I want to witness this scene? Touka? but she'd be busy trying to jailbreak her dad and find the quinque made from her mom. Irimi or Koma? Renji's busy finding out where the hell Uta's locked up, so not Renji unless he stumbles into this scene as the various ghouls retreat with what they came for. HEY. Yeah, I like this one, the timing is better with this scene be right before they retreat from the lab.)

And then we can have the "seeing Hinami grown up as a ghoul feels like grief (and I don't want to admit that seeing how much she changed scares me)" conversation, as part of the emotional reunion after they're back at they're hideout (because, they can't go back to HySy, it's been raided.)

...Man this has gotten SO LONG and I'm still overflowing with ideas for thisssss, asdjkfhlkjfdsghf

If Tatara got caught by the doves I think they will try to make armor quinques from him like Arata since his kakuja also looks like an armor. Plus he is second in command of Aogiri Tree so he has informations. Therefore they keep him alive.

Idk, Houji is the one who can get the most information from Tatara to everyone's surprise so Marude keeps sending him. Houji wearing armor made from Tatara and it makes him sick because he looks like Yan now. Houji joking about how he is finally inside Tatara after all these years and he's grateful there's a wall between them. Houji pitying Tatara for being in the most dehumanizing place because he always sees Tatara as a person. Houji refers to Tatara by his real name while the rest calls Tatara by his number. Tatara gets rehabilitated as an investigator okay i stop now

[dreamofcentipedes]

Kuzen’s Legacy

I find it pretty awesome that Kuzen’s small act of defiance against V has sprouted into a full-fledged rebellion against them. By abandoning them and their values to try to create a small locus of peace in the world they corrupted, Kuzen proved another world was possible - the world that his friends and pupils are struggling to create now.

Kaiko realises the connection when Yomo mentions Anteiku, and much like Furuta’s criticism of Kaneki in the preceding chapter, Kaiko’s criticism reveals much more of his own flaws than those of his enemies. He can only see the world through a lens of manipulation and domination, and since his foes aren’t controlled by him, he assumes they must be controlled by Kuzen. He fails to understand their individuality and independence of thought and action, inspired by Kuzen rather than manipulated by him.

Kaiko’s obsession with the order of the herd is seen in his frequent use of the ‘we’ pronoun, referring to the collective interests of V. This is in stark contrast to the selfish Furuta, whom Kaiko naturally did not get along with - particularly in regards to his bad manners, which defy Kaiko’s orderliness and propriety.

The uniform faceless mass of black hats, coats and katanas that makes up V emphasises this collective, with Kaiko acting as the spokesman of the whole. He cannot stand rebels. Even now he resents Kuzen for breaking from the collective, disrupting its perfect unity, and still wishes to force him back into it. In fact, nearly every time we see Kaiko he’s mulling over Kuzen. That’s one hell of an axe to grind.

In the first, he joyously proclaims that Kuzen’s rebellion has come to nought, laying his anxieties at rest, while in the background Kaneki and Eto, the successors of Kuzen’s legacy, talk; thereby proving Kaiko wrong. In the second, his frustration is so great he breaks even his own rule of manners by swearing at the effect of Kuzen’s legacy in fermenting rebellion and disturbing his ‘peace’.

But his paranoia is justified - that single act of rebellion has caused his entire house of cards to come tumbling down. In the first series’ final arc, V’s control seems an unbreakable birdcage.

It’s implied in this scene that V orchestrated the Anteiku Raid to punish Kuzen’s insubordination, placing their well-polished heel firmly over Kuzen’s head. But in the final arc of :re, it’s Kuzen’s legacy that triumphs over V, and as for their birdcage...

Eto reveals the fragility of their seemingly solid control in the panels below. It rests precariously on a balance that is bound to eventually be overturned by the legions of oppressed beneath it, both the ghouls being slaughtered and the humans tricked into an endless war.

The return of Eto, as Kuzen’s child, is the most explicit symbol of the triumph of Kuzen’s legacy. Kaiko even refers to her as ‘Yoshimura’. 

The importance both of Kuzen and Eto herself in this arc reflects their significance in the Anteiku Raid. Eto was the first major destabilising element created by Kuzen’s disloyalty, and Kaiko directly attributes Eto’s actions to Kuzen:

So Eto’s victory over V is Kuzen’s victory as well, and like him, this chapter she has finally broken free from their control. 

The spectre of revolution has long been coming for V, and Kuzen’s small disruption of the system has led to its full-scale collapse.