Mm, so I have mixed feelings on what you say here, if that’s okay?

PSA: everything I say and will be saying esp. as it relates to quality is my opinion, and you are welcome to disagree, and also my opinions may change over time as I reserve the right to change them. My opinion is not fact, but I also can’t state that every time I write something because disclaimers are exhausting. 

I disagree quite strongly on the Eto and Naki front, especially the Naki front, lol! Eto’s death made thematic sense but not a lot of character sense, and Naki’s death made absolutely no thematic nor character sense. Given the themes of “live” it makes even less sense. Yes, he fake-died because he was clinging to the idea of dying stylishly to impress Yamori, but there was nothing unique about Naki that set his clinging apart from, say, Kaneki’s clinging to everyone, Mutsuki’s to Kaneki, Hinami’s to Touka and Kaneki, etc.–in other words, there was no reason for him to die while everyone else got another chance. 

My honest opinion is that Naki’s sleep and reappearance are handled just fine for the narrative–it’s his fake-out death that, while beautiful, is actually the unnecessary part. I don’t see the point to faking out an audience on a beloved character’s death when it makes so little sense, only to be resolved so quickly with little time left. 

As I’ve said in the past few days, I would rather get the development we need rushed than not get it at all, and this applies to my thoughts on Eto’s and Naki’s returns. I think it’s the right narrative decision for them to return regardless of how the pacing is handled, and of course I don’t like being manipulated for tears with Naki’s fake-out death. Also? We better get Nakimiza hints in the final chapter too that’s all I want. Lol.

As for the rushed pacing–I agree with you completely. I think since the OEK plot point was introduced, the pacing has been poor when compared to the rest of the manga, and the cracks started to widen with each successive arc–little cracks in Rushima and the Clown Raids became larger in the Goat arc and absolutely exploded in the Dragon arc in my opinion. I still think TG and :re are absolutely amazing stories, masterpieces even, but I think there’s a reason Rose is commonly considered the best written arc (of course not everyone agrees, but fandom in general seems to think highly of that arc above all others, and it isn’t even my fave!). 

My personal opinion which no one has to agree with but is mine, is that after the characters from TG and from :re really merged in terms of focus, there were just too many characters to give a satisfactory focus and keep pacing reasonable, and as a result some are lacking development. With the story concluding soon, I don’t think they’ll get a proper focus for completing their arcs, as I also feel Amon’s arc and to an extent Kaneki’s as well arrived at the right destination but without the proper build up. That’s what I expect for the majority of characters who have not yet completed their arcs–Eto, Urie, etc. 

I also think the story focused too little on Touka, Ayato, Hinami, and the Qs post Cochlea (especially Saiko). They were the characters who appeared in the prologue, after all, and it was a bit disappointing to see them take a backseat once the other TG characters returned–Urie and Mutsuki did continue get proper focus, but their arcs were still a little iffy post clown raids. And I’m not saying the merging of the two casts of characters is bad because the TG characters all need great arcs too, but I don’t personally feel as if the suddenly really, really large cast was handled as best it could be.