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ghoul-caps · 7 years

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Chapter 141: The Eve of Parallels

So as @i-b-a-r-a-h-i-m-e told you in our answer to a recent ask, this chapter is crucial for the development of numerous characters, mainly for Hina-chan :,(

So in this meta, I will try to explain my personal thoughts on the chapter for all the characters involved, and here I want to say that I do not share Viktoria’s opinion on HInami’s part in TG. For me she has always been of great importance and despite being used as a plot-device several times, her development and personal road are not to be neglected. Now here are my thoughts about these characters!

Tooru Mutuski

I’ve talked about Mutsuki’s twisted personality before, and this chapter shows just another step downwards the spiral of despair, the hopeless journey of Eyepatch 2.0. There was another meta floating around that stated the obvious parallel between Kaneki and Tooru, which differs only in its end - basically, it predicted that Mutsuki would die in a final battle against Suzuya. I adore that meta cause the symbolism is absolutely on point, but I will not expand more on that. I’m just pointing this out cause I will talk about parallels a lot now, hence the title.

Just like Kaneki, Mutsuki was associated heavily with eyes and eye-motifs. In chapter 141 of the original, the first words in the chapter are Kaneki’s last “dying” screams, after his eyes were gouged out by Arima. Well, this chapter starts with Mutsuki vs Yomo, and more specifically, Yomo’s eye being hit by Tooru’s knife.

We have seen this before already. Mutsuki always aims for the eyes in battle. They are his strong point, cause he has an amazing visual perception in battle, and is already wearing an eyepatch, so by blinding his opponent, he instantly raises his chances of winning a lot. In his confrontation with Torso in the taxi, he sliced up his eyes. He later gouges them brutally out after he escapes the cave in Rushima. He then makes his re-appearance by shooting Seidou straight in the eye with Juuzou’s knife. And now again, he aims for the eye of Raven-kun.

On this panel, we have emphasis on Mutsuki’s ghoul eye, or in other words, he is completely blinded by his psychotic urge to spread terror and kill everybody against him. This was what lead to Kaneki’s demise as well, he wanted to eradicate every evil ghoul on his way. This could mean that Mutsuki will frame-out soon, probably feasting on the almost surely dead Aura, and rampaging towards Touka, where he would find Juuzou who will have to kill him. That’s what I believe will happen, I do not have any evidence, it just feels plausible.

Shinsanpei Aura

Sigh, one of my least favourite characters, if I have to be honest. But again, his story is not to be neglected and for all we know, he might retreat to his old self soon enough, once he finds his inner peace, maybe by understanding the ghouls’ position.

This whole chapter has been about tragic paths and Shinsanpei’s path is marked by his suppressed inferiority complex. Once he was given the power to murder as an investigator, he gave in to it and embraced the pleasure of feeling stronger than the ghouls he killed. When I read this chapter I wondered, why did he not run away? Tooru was immobilized and he had little chance of defeating Yomo. Was he scared of the shame, the guilt? My theory is that his character’s role is a “Hide wannabe”.

While Hide offered his comfort to Kaneki while he was lost in the sewers (and maybe even let him take a bite out of him?), Aura saw Mutsuki becoming a mass murdered and decided to just play along - because that was a convenient way to get to Kaneki. It was too late to help Mutsuki, or at least that’s what he thought, so he just hopped on the “Kaneki will die” bandwagon and now we’re here. I am not saying that he follows Hide’s steps. He just fits into the role. Kaneki is to Hide what Tooru is to Aura. Not exactly though, and this is why they will both reach their endgame pretty soon, at least in my opinion.

And just something I noticed, I am almost 100% sure that Aura has been cannibalizing as well, cause there is no way he learnt how to use a detached kagune or form an eye on his kagune just by looking at Mutsuki.

Renji Yomo

As for Renji - ouch. All that beating must have hurt a lot. But anyway, with him there are less parallels than with the other characters. The only thing I can personally think of is this - he is Touka’s uncle, and even if Mutsuki doesn’t know this, he is still fighting so Touka can escape. Which makes him another obstacle in Tooru’s way to reach Touka, and by extension - Kaneki.

In a similar manner, Amon was in Kaneki’s way in TG and they both suffered severe wounds after their battle. Afterwards, Kaneki was defeated by Arima and Amon was defeated by Tatara. Now we have a similar situation. If Renji is Amon and Mutsuki is Kaneki, then the parallel is a bit grim, cause that means that Yomo will soon take part in another battle, only to be defeated there. I predict that he will be subdued by Suzuya Squad, and I am not sure whether or not he will see Touka ever again.

After all, his life philosophy is to “live while losing others” and if he loses everything, then he will not have anything to live for. I just hope that Mutsuki does not creep behind him in the next chapter while framing out,cause that would not be pretty.

Juuzou Suzuya

He is the new Mr. Reaper. I don’t really have anything much to add here, to be honest xD

There were already tons of metas about him and Arima and the overall parallel is pretty well-outlined. The only difference that exists here is that Juuzou has no personal motivations. I hope he gets to spare Touka and Hinami in the battle, but I doubt it. He will fight with whoever becomes the main threat, whether it is Touka and co. or Furuta starting to get on his nerves. Which means that if he encounters Mutsuki in a deranged frame-out state, he will not hesitate and will murder him on the spot.

I’ve always personally rooted for Juuzou going astray and becoming a solo player, because neither side fits him too well. He has said it himself, peace is not really his thing so I bet that he will play on his own agenda at one point or another.

Touka Kirishima

As for Touka, the poem about the rotten womb may still be in game, the fact that Hinami got a blow to the abdomen instead does not guarantee that Touka will escape totally intact from this fight. I am sure that somebody will come to the rescue and help Touka and Hinami, because otherwise they are done for. Ishida said it himself, a force that can stop the S3 Squad is not to be found underground.

I find it kinda ironical that this time Kaneki is above while Touka is underground, not the other way round. Kaneki is actively being kept away from the fight, but I think this will lead to his reunion with Hide, cause he is also above the surface this time.

And maybe, just maybe, Hide and Kaneki will both get to Touka in time, cause we don’t really know where Kaneki is during Touka and Juuzou’s fight (in that 6 hours interval).

So back to Touka, I think there are numerous ways the next chapter can go:

1) Hinami will fall down and Touka will have to rush to her side. Just as Juuzou’s blade hits her, somebody will intervene - Ayato, Kaneki, Amon, Akira, the list is long.

2) She will be forced to retreat and will wander in the sewers only to meet Mutsuki and we will have another epic fight and here the baby might be in actual danger. But still, we need to know why she brought flowers to Shinohara so I think she will stay where she is for now.

3) Juuzou will somehow change his mind and will attack Furuta, and here Touka and Hinami will both have a chance to escape.

Hinami Fueguchi

I saw many people saying that Hinami has been practically useless in the long run and has only been used as a plot device and a damsel in distress. I can see why some people think so - the Doves arc in the original and the Cochlea arc in :re were both centred around Hinami being saved/protected.

But many people fail to notice her amazing development and her overall place in the story. Strength-wise she has matured a lot and can now use her kagune better than ever.

Personality-wise, she has become the complete opposite of what many people bring her down to. She has joined Aogiri Tree for the sole purpose of learning how to be strong enough to protect her loved ones. She musters the courage to become an integral piece of Aogiri, as she is promoted to an executive in just 2 years. She appeared to save Kaneki from Takizawa, a very powerful ghoul as well, and despite the fact that she did not manage to defeat him, she smacked him well enough for him to use his kakuja. On several other occasions, she was the main protection as well. She defended Ayato and the others when fighting Kiyoko and Mougan, she defended Touka from Hajime and now she took another blow by Juuzou to help the others survive.

I find some symbolism in her kagune. She inherited both the defensive kagune of her mother and the attack kagune of her father. While we did not get to see her father fight, we saw her mother against Mado, and Ryoko showed that all she cared about was protecting Hinami. While every mother would do this, this left Hinami traumatized and made her lose her belief in her own strength until she had to defeat Mado on her own. And the fact that she has an offensive kagune as well makes her an even more dangerous opponent. And this is why she will live on, unlike her mother, cause she has been born into this world to become better than her parents. She will not only defend her loved ones but she will also live on for them and won’t become a tragic memory.

As for this chapter as a whole in her development, I think that she will recover from the wound and as I said, somebody will interfere. That’s just Ishida’s style ;)

And one last thing towards the Hinami-antis, I think that her role in TG :re is far from over, and she is not there just to serve as Touka’s walking “plot armour”. She will become one of the faces of ghouls in the future, serving as a bridge between humanity and ghouls. She has been more humane than most human characters and her weaknesses have always turned into strong points eventually.

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