Ghoul Attraction (submission from @superryunosukeyuki )
Hello, in the early part of the Tokyo Ghoul manga we're introduced to the concept of chimera quinque (through Hinami). She inherited the Koukaku wings of her mother and the Rinkaku whips of her father. In the anime, Asaki Fueguchi's kagune is revealed to be the same texture and color as his wife's kagune. This suggests that only similar kagune can be fused together to make a chimera.
With humans, research has been conducted regarding the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) gene. This research suggests that humans are subconsciously attracted to one another via smell. The more dissimilar the HLA genes of two people are, the more attractive they will smell to one another. This is because having fewer genes in common reduces the chance of their potential offspring having illnesses caused by recessive genes. This would mean that said offspring would have much stronger immune systems.
Now, with this as an example, do you think Ghouls could be attracted to one another via their sense of smell? Say that Ghouls would be attracted to other Ghouls that had complementary rc cells, and this would result in their children having more powerful kagune. Perhaps Hinami's parents met this way?
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I like this idea! Yes! I imagine that ghouls with he same RC type will likely tend to be less attracted to eachother by smell since having kids with someone of the same type can lead to complications like being born producing too much or too little rc. Couple that with how similarly constructed kagune of other types can lead to powerful chimera children, it would be normal in their culture to take smell and kagune into account when considering attraction!
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Tokyo Ghoul Live Action
I got to watch the Tokyo Ghoul movie yesterday at a local cinema, a bit of a rarity in my country! I wanted to write a few of my thoughts and observations (mostly the latter) before I forget anything.
A few things might have been touched upon in @makyun ’s own writeup, so I suggest checking hers out as well.
The movie spans chapters 1-28, right up to the Anteiku crew leaving the scene of Kureo’s death. Chapter 29, the final chapter of volume 3 where Amon reminisces about his time with Kureo, is not included.
Extremely spoilery spoilers ahead.
I will not make a linear summary of the movie, but this does go heavily into spoilers. Unless you a) can't watch it b) won't watch it c) don't mind spoilers, I recommend skipping the first section.
My sister and her boyfriend watched the movie with me, so I was able to discuss with people who don’t know the series.
Thoughts on events and changes
The movie starts out with a narration about what ghouls are and how they became a threat to Tokyo, and how the CCG came to be. It sounds like a very much like a narration of the past. No mention of OEK, Washuus, or RC cells (I think?).
RC cells, kagunes, kakuhous, quinques, aren’t explained at all because there’s a sense of normalcy about them. (My sister called kagunes “quinques,” actually.) Ghoul regeneration is subtly explained by Touka just by saying to fight without fear because it’s possible.
I though the film did much better than the manga at showcasing just how cunning an investigator Mado was, and how good Amon was at following his lead.
To go further in depth, when killing (Fueguchi) Asaki, whose kagune we get to see on screen, Amon cracks open his hands with a rock (thankfully offscreened) and retrieves his wedding ring, which serves to Mado/Amon to figure he has a wife (Mado refuses to say a "wife" and corrects the term with "aging companion" or something). Their only lead is a thread of a woman's dress, for which they track down its selling place and retrieve their security tapes. Ryouko is pinned down as a main suspect due to being out at midnight to visit Asaki's grave, confirmed a ghoul when seeing her ring, and speculated to have a child due to the dress she purchased being XS.
As such, the scene with Kaneki and Touka going to the CCG is completely gone, and Hinami isn't identified as “the girl with clover clothing” either.
It’s made very clear that Hinami running away from Anteiku was a trap set up by Mado.
Amon fights head on and is very work oriented. There’s the rock scene mentioned above, but also him getting his hands dirty to dig Asaki’s grave, and saying he had eaten kitsune (udon?) just because it was quick when he goes out for dinner with Kusaba. Kusaba sort of apologizes for taking his time by ordering fresh fried tempura and Amon said he would try it next time. ;v;
Kaneki is also already suspected to be a ghoul - at Hinami's request, he goes leave coffee beans at Asaki's grave, and because Ryouko had been spotted at that place, Kusaba was keeping watch. He helps Amon dig up Asaki's grave, and is pulled along investigations because he was the only one who had seen Kaneki. So Amon knows of the existence of an eyepatch ghoul, but it isn't certain whether he's aware he's the one he's fighting once their confrontation comes.
The scene with Nishiki, Hide, and Kaneki happens inside the University, in a sort of basement that’s used as a club room. I wonder how they could ever explain that... Hide still tries to hold Nishiki back. Once he uses a kagune, Kaneki is clearly stronger than Nishiki, but he eventually defeats him with wits before Touka arrives (with Yomo!). As a side note here, I thought it was really interesting how Nishiki uses his kagune very naturally for things such as elevating himself into a platform instead of using the stairs. Also, the strength of a ghoul's body is shown here with Kaneki's first attacks without a kagune, rather than with Kaneki trying to stab himself.
Speaking of that scene, Kaneki did try to eat Hide and licked his face or something. Rize also did this once Kaneki had been injured. There was a scene with eye liking somewhere but I can’t remember who that was. Both scenes did a good job of showing a ghoul's unrestrained hunger.
When trying to eat Hide, Kaneki sees his reflection as Rize instead of as himself.
In Kaneki's and Amon's fight, Kaneki comes back to his senses by himself after seeing his reflection in a pool of blood...
And regarding that scene, Amon isn't wearing an eyepatch, but a drop/tear of blood from Kaneki's kakugan eye does fall directly from Kaneki's eye onto Amon's eyelid, where he does wear the eyepatch after the fight with Kaneki. Make what you will out of that.
Easter eggs + random observations
Hide's famous ugly drawing does make it into the movie, but in a different scene (also, I started crying, don't ask).
Hajime's scene as a small child is in, but he doesn't have his ID tag.
CCG investigators have a small pin they wear on their lapels like they do in the manga, but the design looks more like a circle with wings than the small button-like one in the manga.
Amon does have the cross. You can see the lighter beads/chain, but the cross itself is hard to spot as it's black. As a side note, my sister is a jeweler and said it might be hematite. It is identical in design to the one in chapter 134. As my sister showed me at home, a hematite cross is apparently a thing we own. Other candidates: tungsten/wolfram, but not particularly popular in jewelry; rhodium, apparently a pain in the ass to work with; obsidian, but very frail and would be rare outside of the Americas.
While I did say Hinami wasn't associated with clovers by the CCG, I believe her headband had them.
There is a flashback of Kaneki with his mother. He was a very cute child. When his mother dies, there are flowers inside the casket (I can’t remember, but they might have been daisies).
The reference to The Metamorphosis is in. When Kaneki is realizing he can't eat human food, a bug is seen in place of Kaneki's shadow right before his kakugan activates.
Hinami is reading Demian instead of Monochrome Rainbow.
Sister's observations on literary references: Kaneki mentions Dear Kafka to Rize before the scene with The Metamorphosis is in. Kaneki remarks on Hinami reading Hesse before explaining the analogy of the egg and the world to her. (Basically, my sister is saying the references were so in your face you were supposed to spot them.)
Amon visits Kureo's grave to leave lilies. Ryouko (probably) had planted a lily bud too where Asaki's grave was located.
On the Mado grave, Kureo is stated to have died at 41, Kasuka at 33. Given the timeline of events, I believe this makes Kasuka around two years older. Forget it, I tried to make sense of that here. Also, Akira would've been 21 at this point.
Visual effects + more random observations
Rize is ten times more beautiful moving on screen than you can see on the still shots.
I'll have you know Kaneki bit a sandwich vertically instead of horizontally. (That might be normal somewhere, just not for me.)
Amon drives a very unthreatening looking black SUV, which gets completely wrecked.
The CCG has very interesting, stark white, training/sparring rooms. We are blessed with the sight of training Amon.
The masks look more fitting to real life than the ones in the manga, and Touka's showed signs of wear.
Anteiku looked like a very real, upscale coffee shop, with the kind of cute coffee-related signs you'd usually see in one.
Kagunes seem to be alive and pulsing. Rize's/Kaneki's is kind of scaly and the scales sometimes move with a kind of shiver/twitch. Nishiki's feels very amphibious. Asaki's is a pretty terrifying spine-looking thing (stating the obvious here) with sharp blades on its sides and end. Ryouko's looks like raw muscles/tendons. (Hinami's, of course, are both). Touka's is pretty interesting - a solid wing that shoots off shards. It looks like red candy.
Quinques come in a beautiful black suitcase and expand from the handle. When out of the suitcase, they produce a sort of mechanical buzz.
Doujima 1/2 can activate three spinning sections (two spin in one direction, the middle one in the opposite), but it mostly seems to work with the raw strength of whoever's wielding it to deliver strong blows, as it doesn't have sharp elements to cut. Just how strong was Harima?
We don’t get to hear about Shinohara, Arima, or Juuzou, who I believe had shown up / been mentioned in the first volumes.
Overall thoughts
The movie is 119 minutes long, but I really enjoyed it movie overall and I feel it's worth the time, even if you're a pretty picky viewer. I found the way the events developed to be very well resolved as an adaptation, and despite instances where the CGI does seem to go slightly down in quality, it wasn't distracting at all.
A thing to keep in mind is that Japanese (specifically, live action) acting and cinematography is somewhat different than what you’d expect from Hollywood or European art films, so I just suggest letting yourself get immersed in it instead of getting caught in these subtleties.
As a manga reader, it felt a bit slow paced to me, but as fresh viewers, my sister and her boyfriend thought it was very good at packing the exact amount of information needed, and thus it didn't feel slow to them. My sister also said the first half is excellent and has the feeling of the Japanese horror stories I've made her read. I am pretty used to gore in the story, but neither of us thought felt it was there as shock factor alone and she said it was sufficient to make you buy into the horror of the situation. All in all, all three of us really enjoyed it. /o/
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