Ishida trying to kill me lately with images of my favourite squads united when really they’re now all split apart on opposite sides of a war and mixed with the dead the undead and the suffering.
Why would Touka leave flowers at Shinohara’s bedside? I am confused.
So six hours have passed… Urie Hide Marude Matsuri where you at the 24th ward needs you
“His skin was as glossy and supple as ever” so was his hair
I mean my hair and skin don’t look that good after hours working on them much less six hours after getting shot in the head
A mention of Dragon????
This panel of 0 squad has me like
Until you remember that one of the members is dead one is about to be undead one is out for food and the other five are locked in a battle against each other
Tsukiyama telling Kaneki “no” is my aesthetic
Except this is the one time Kaneki should listen to his gut instinct and reconsider a decision he made
NAKI (I’m guessing Miza too)
Dammit
I’m glad you learned a few new word Naki because I don’t have words right now like at all
I’m glad one of us is having fun Naki
Brb, if you need me, I’ll be here ugly crying
(I actually think Naki’s death is absolutely beautiful though but right now I’m going to burrow in my sad mole house)
“Once, they carried zero atop their shoulders. Yet after losing their head, that has all come to naught.”
There’s a lot to decode in this cover page. Let’s start with the first and most obvious, the caption.
It’s a caption that clearly relates to Ui at least. Not only is Arima the leader which he aspired to be like whose now dead, but also Hairu herself died specifically by decapitation and losing her head. It is also quite literally that same head that brings Ui over to Furuta’s side and clouds his judgement. Saying “Ui lost his head” is not even symbolic by this point.
Hinami (so many people have tried to save her so far in this story that it’d be strange to kill her now)
Mutsuki (Shirazu’s revival is plot armor, he likely has to meet Kaneki again, and this chapter really reinforced that he’s out of his mind)
Juuzou (Shinohara is plot armor for him)
Ui (he needs to find out about the Garden, and Hairu is plot armor)
Ayato (if he shows up anyways; they’ve already taken so many loved ones of Hinami’s and given Kaneki’s rapid aging she might lose even more, so I feel like you can’t kill Ayato unless Hinami dies first–regardless of whether you read their affection for one another as romantic or platonic, he clearly means a lot to her)
Characters I’m mildly concerned about dying here:
Hirako (he doesn’t have any real death flags but he doesn’t have very much plot armor either)
Aura (if Mutsuki wins against Yomo I would expect it to come with a cost)
Hajime (but I feel like he has more to do in the plot and might impact Amon’s arc)
Touken baby (I mean she has been stabbed, but not in her stomach, and I think a lot of the foreshadowing plus Yomo telling her to protect “something else” indicates the baby may well survive)
Characters I’m biting my nails over:
Shio, Yusa, Rikai (really only one of them–I don’t think they’ll all die–but not sure which one)
Yomo (that panel when he told Touka to run and she remembered his line about living while people die is a high death flag and I just hope he makes it because I love him; if he could capture Mutsuki like @mercyandmagic was speculating when we were texting this morning, that would be great)
I can’t imagine all of them dying right now, but I am worried for them.
Believe it or not, they’ve actually been pretty relevant (acting as a vehicle for Hajime to talk about the Oggai being different, providing that Arima was well-loved in the Garden, etc etc), but I think they’re about to become even more relevant during the Hirako-Ui fight.
Ui is extremely angry and hurt and depressed, and I don’t know if it’s because he just doesn’t know who they are, but he appears to be aiming to kill two children directly related to the other two people he lost.
I’m… not sure how this fight is going to go. I know there’s been a lot of speculation that the Garden will finally be discussed, but I can’t see Hirako breaking character to talk about it, even if Ui is kicking and screaming and demanding answers.
@linkspooky and I were talking about what Kijima said to Ui
and how Hirako might give Ui a nasty scar.
So now I’m thinking that Ui will hurt one of the kids, Hirako will have a flashback of cutting off Aura’s legs for hurting the two lost 0 Squad members, and Ui will walk away from all of this wondering why Hirako maimed but didn’t kill him (enter: Ui looking into the Garden, Marude finally pulling Arima’s medical records, *fingers crossed* Sunlit Garden Arc).
so yeah. sorry I went off on a tanget but let’s have a prayer circle that Hirako, 0S and Ui will all be okay ToT
Okay. I’m gonna ramble a bit, so hold onto your shorts because Arima must have been counting his lucky stars to have found a person as perfect as Hirako to be his right-hand man.
First and foremost, I think Arima felt a certain kinship with him. We don’t know much of Hirako’s background, other than that he was a sub-par student at the Academy, that his dog (or future dog) is very important to him, and that he’d leave all his savings to his grandparents if he died. But despite that, it doesn’t take much to understand that Arima and Hirako share a very special bond.
Arima took him under his wing at 22, and thereafter the two of them shared an almost unheard of six-year long partnership. Hirako avoided promotions by flying under the radar, but it’s evident by his accomplishments and the degree of his fighting prowess that it was just a ruse to stay in training under Arima.
Inevitably he was unable to keep avoiding a promotion, and since First Class investigators are given their own squad, Arima and Hirako were split up until the Rue operation.
Side not: I’ve read theories proposing that Hirako fills the role of the Fox in The Little Prince, and I personally think it explains his quiet, loyal relationship with Arima to a tee:
“My life is very monotonous,” the fox said. “I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others.”
“You must be very patient,” replied the fox. “First you will sit down at a little distance from me–like that–in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day …”
“Goodbye,” said the fox. “And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
Anyway (sorry I have a lot of feelings about them)! Arima trained Hirako to essentially be his right eye. If all official art and panels, Hirako is almost always shown standing on his right, just a little to the back. That was his blind spot, and it shows the intensity in which he placed his trust in Hirako.
Hirako chastized Hachikawa, his superior, for endangering the life of a civilian while pursuing Irimi. He then tried to spare her life, and is ultimately responsible for granting her the time to get away safely.
Other than trust and empathy, Hirako has proven to be one of the most level-headed people in Tokyo Ghoul. Little by little we’re granted his terrifying ability as a fighter– a plain human able to keep up with Arima Kishou and the agents of V– as well as glimpses at the surprising depth of his wisdom.
He admitted to Yomo that he wished for Arima’s praise just as much as anyone else. But, ironically, I think he missed out just how much he loved and depended on him.
My understanding is that Arima meant for Hirako’s emptiness to be filled by putting the care of Zero Squad in his care. We can see with his old reputation and emptiness that Hirako is capable of letting himself slip away without goals or direction. Hirako needed a tether to this earth, and so the kids and Kaneki– Arima’s legacy– became his reason to continue on.
“That’s actually the reason I’m even here today.” – Hirako admits that Arima gave him a reason to live.
Arima was already in contact with Eto by the time their partnership began, and it’s within reason that Hirako has been trusted with the details of this huge operation for over ten years. Arima chose Hirako because he’s a talented fighter, a good person, and an unquestionably loyal friend.
On the other end of the spectrum, Ui would not have been able to do what Hirako does. He’s an incredible warrior and investigator (if not better than Hirako) but harbors a stubborn, negative bias against ghouls which I doubt Arima felt he had the time or ability to reverse.
Arima obviously cared deeply about Ui, but probably couldn’t risk including him in his plans. He treated Haise like a subhuman from the get-go, and he was so horribly tied up in his image of the “hero of justice” that it’s possible Arima was almost ashamed to tell him the truth about himself and the Garden kids.
Plus, Ui has been convinced by Furuta to bring Hairu back. Even if Ui was okay with Arima’s predigree, there isn’t a doubt in my mind that he’d snap over the knowledge that his beloved mentor would willingly die.
But! I don’t think Arima left Ui without a purpose. Ui’s a tenacious little shit, and he’ll find a way to move forward– even if death is the only thing left he has to cling to. Even though he’s still living with a lot of anger towards Hirako and Sasaki, I believe that somehow, some way, he’ll be there to fulfill the prophecy of “The Hope of the Arima Squad”.
hamliet 