Well confronting her is certainly his
means of bringing the chaotic life she threw him into to a close, but he
doesn’t necessarily need to kill her.
Like both Kaneki and Furuta, Rize is looking for a life of normality, at least subconsciously. Like Shironeki she is controlled by the very tragedy she believes she is rebelling against, and like Furuta she succumbs to it further in aiming to master her tragedy by inflicting it on others. Both these characters became very isolated as a result, and it is the same for Rize.
The friendships Kaneki forged beforehand helped to bring him back from the brink. Furuta only forged a relationship with someone who had already adopted the same selfish attitude he would develop, so he had no such luck. Rize is an in-between case. At various times people who care about her have tried to bring her back into normality:
However, she has always rejected them. So unlike Kaneki and like Furuta, she never sees any value to her life’s chaos, because she has not allowed it to forge for her any kind of lasting community or home.
The compulsive need to be tied down by nothing whatsoever comes from her terror of being trapped, but it’s this same recklessness that has led to her being trapped in the worst way possible as an immobilised experiment. It symbolises how she was never really free despite all her struggling, because she was still trapped in her mind, always focused on the fear of her past.
:re is about moving beyond one’s past, preventing the original series’ tragedy from repeating and moving beyond the parallel arc structure altogether (Kaneki does not die in 143). It is breaking the cycle of the Black Goat’s Egg where one is forced to repeat history, whether of their parents or their own. This could not be the case with Furuta because unlike Kaneki and Rize, he never even tried to fight against his fate. But this reason I think Kaneki has a good chance of getting through to Rize – many have already tried, so she just needs one last major push.
It’ll be a difficult one though. Rize has lived this way for a long while, and with Furuta and Kanou gone and Kaiko surely on the way out, she’ll see the opportunity for boundless freedom in her new form and threaten to consume all of Tokyo in the greatest binge-eating of all.
Furuta’s death is likely to play a a part in communicating to her, as I believe she must have cared for him at least somewhat; and it is direct evidence that burying her grief by inflicting more tragedy like he did is just going to send her further down into the abyss.
Kaneki does not need to kill the chaotic element to return to normality; making it cease to be chaotic and normalising it works just as well, as he has the same attitude to death in 176. There’s still room for the wandering Rize to find a home too.
I do think the last chapter might be 40 pages like the first chapter, so keep that in mind! Yeah, I figure a chapter (roughly) for Kaneki-Rize, a chapter for quinque battle, a chapter for moving on with panels of perhaps burials, Akira Amon & Seidou in a panel talking, Kurona appearing with all her problems fixed off screen or I riot, Touka & Yoriko, Saiko waking up, hopefully Ayahina and Mutsurie, and it depends on if Kaneki makes it back or not because frankly I’m a bit worried. Maybe a timeskip with a baby?
I think we don’t need any further background on the clowns, tbh, Uta and Itori handled that, but yeah, otherwise all these conversations should be had. Plus Kurona needs to come back, Marude and Matsuri should talk more, Hinami & Ayato need to talk, Mutsuki & Urie need to talk, as we need closure for those relationships, we need Tsukiyama development and Ui development… we still have a lot to go, lol.
I think Kaneki-Furuta is tomorrow which will change the tide of the story imo–as the cover implies, Kaneki is going to leave tragedy behind for good, which means he can actually make meaningful change to help the story reach its resolution.
Going narrative-wise (since the announcement apparently concerns the second season of the anime) I think 206 still seems likely for an end. But disregarding that theory, at a minimum, two more volumes, because I cannot see payoff for the zombie quinques, Sunlit Garden, Saiko’s illness, Mutsurie, Ayahina, where Kurona’s at, Shinohara and Juuzou, answers about what happened to Eto, Touka’s pregnancy, & conclusions to everyone’s arcs, in one volume. Like Ishida would really have to rush that and I can’t see it being satisfying. Two more volumes could happen but again, pacing would be really rapid-fire. Three seems likely to me.
I think 176 is almost certainly Furuta’s demise which should get the vast majority if not the full chapter of focus. I highly doubt the quinque battle + Dragon Rize is going to be wrapped up in a chapter, and then we have the fact that this is a really good point:
There need to be a LOT of conversations. Seidou, Akira, Amon. Kaneki & Touka. Kaneki & the Qs. Ayato & Hinami. Matsuri & Marude. Etc.
So for covers, speculate. Who would you like to see? Ishida doesn’t really repeat solo character covers in the same series except for Kaneki (Tsukiyama, Touka, Rize, Arima, and Juuzou got one in TG and one in :re; Hina got a back cover in :re and Amon a back cover in TG; Touka shared a second one with Ayato in TG) so I’m thinking Yomo on this one, and Touken/Kaneki on the last one. My guesses for the other two are Shirazu and Ui (I need an Ui cover, please)… but Nishiki also deserves one and so does Hirako so.
I think there isn’t much narrative point to killing off Yusa at this point! If Hirako didn’t learn child soldiers r a bad idea from the deaths of Shio and Rikai I don’t think he would learn from the death of Yusa. Seeing Shio and Rikai–or even just Arima and Hairu–quinques on the other hand? That might do it.
Because the reality is, Shio, Rikai, Arima, Hairu, and Yusa were all bred to become weapons in a war and then eventually to be consumed. But using their dead bodies (Hairu I consider a guarantee, Arima likely, the others… not so likely but it’s possible) makes it very, very obvious what they’ve been doing all along, and that it’s a cycle Hirako has not broken. That might give him the motivation he needs to say Yusa go home.
Due to the aftermath of Dragon, there are 8 more oviducts that have made their way across Tokyo. In order for each oviduct to remain in a functional state however, it has to have a nucleus host inside to keep it active as a sort of symbiotic battery. As seen with Kaneki, the host is presumably given a surplus of RC cells which in return keep them alive longer and reverse their telomere to halt or reverse aging effects.
Similar to Kaneki’s relationship with Dragon, there are likely other people inside of the oviducts that are spread throughout the wards as well to keep them stable for an indefinite interval of time as Kimi stated earlier.
Thanks to this, it’s been speculated that a few characters will be revived in a zombie fashion during this final arc of :re to haunt and judge many of the current cast members so they can grow away from their past and make better decisions in the future. This also correlates with the themes of the 20th tarot card in the Major Arcana, Judgement.
“The Judgement card suggests that you have had a recent epiphany or an ‘awakening’ where you have come to a realization that you need to live your life in a different way and you need to be true to yourself and your needs. You have opened yourself up to a new possibility – to lead a fulfilling life that serves your higher needs and that offers inspiration and hope to others. You feel as though you have had a ‘calling’ in life, and you are getting much closer to the point where you need to take action. Something that was lying dormant within you, some unconscious knowledge or truth is finally being awakened and brought into the light.”
The character I’ll be discussing though is of course, Karren/Kanae Von Rosewald, whom we know died earlier on in the manga. The relationship between her serving Mirumo and Tsukiyama Family subtly foils that of Kaneki and his Aunt.
Instead of being welcomed into her new surrogate family at the Tsukiyama’s and shown proper empathy for her loss, she lived under the identity of a male in accordance to her father’s wishes for a heir to carry on the family line since he brothers died protecting her. Thus she sealed off her identity, relinquished her agency to become a servant, and couldn’t embrace who she truly was in her newfound household despite simply wanting to be loved and praised.
While it’s not painted in the same light, this is identical in nature to the time Kaneki started living with his Aunt but couldn’t be himself since she would verbally abuse him to the point where there was no comfort to him living there, and he ended up feeling lonelier than ever when he only wanted to be in a family that accepted him.
The foil between Karren and Urie is prevalent here since the two lost relatives and were moved to new families, Tsukiyama’s for Karren, and the Quinx for Urie, and embraced their professions instead of speaking up about their true feelings.
This is something Karren successfully tore away from towards the end of her arc when she broke free of the stitching that bound her lips and symbolically regained her agency during the dying moments where she pronounced her love for Shuu while saving him so he could live on, and was accepted for who she truly was.
Whereas Urie sadly still struggles to abandon his work ethic at the CCG which comes into conflict with him being able to properly speak up and express his emotions and thoughts to Mutsuki. Because of this he has yet to properly support him and discover each other’s pasts, which gets in the way of them growing closer to one another and forming a relationship.
Instead of Shuu living on for the sake of the Tsukiyama Family like Karren had died to achieve however, he is abruptly saved by Touka and Yomo, and greets his father who actually broke out of prison to survive the the raid so he could see Shuu. As a result he treats everything that happened as water under the bridge and goes back to following Kaneki once more while completely avoiding confronting him about everything that took place.
After flying from the Lunatic Eclipse Building with her body perfectly intact, she was likely scooped up by the CCG to be made into a quinque. Around that same time period though, Aogiri swooped in and attacked the CCG transport trucks that were also holding onto the deceased Shirazu and countless other bodies.
Since we know his body was moved to Kanou’s lab for experimentation, it’s entirely possible that her body was also taken in the process as well and is likely being used as a host to keep one of the eight oviducts functioning currently.
With that out of the way, guess who made his reappearance in this final arc after being missing since the earlier half of :re during his prime relevance? Mirumo.
So to make a wild prediction for how her revival sequence will play out.. Karren will lash out and kill Mirumo in the process of the fight since father figures and mentors typically die for their sons or other characters to grow in their absence, which will then result in Shuu being forced to put her to rest.
In the aftermath Shuu will replace him and adopt the mantle as the head of the Tsukiyama family since he previously resolved to live on for their sake during the climax of the Rose arc, and also mourn Karren’s death and erect something to remember her by in return.
This will lead him to grow away from viewing Kaneki as a master whom he has to serve and dedicate himself to as his sword, but more along the lines of a friend and ally. He also needs to confront him about being responsible for the death of Karren as well as his family associates since he was an active member of the Tsukiyama Family Extermination, and never said sorry or made proper amends for what transpired.
Something else worth mentioning is, during the middle of the Rose arc after Kanae clashes with Urie, she states “That damn triangle eyed bastard… next time I meet him… I’ll kill him… for sure!” but never faces him again after that instance because of her death.
So perhaps Urie will be present alongside Shuu to aid him against a revived Karren, since he as well lost a family member that he promised to honor but forgot about after the events of said arc. This will hopefully allow him to take ques from her, and develop the ability to express his feelings properly.
Her brothers Nathanael and Arunolt, who died while defending her during their escape from the CCG’s grasp bear an uncanny resemblance to both Urie and Shuu, two characters who can be coded as knights symbolically in the manga. This is ironic since in fairy tales, knights are typically sent on quests to slay the dragon so they can unite with the princess, and the two of them will have their own personal “dragons” to defeat later this arc.
Credits to @hamliet for pointing this bit out, but another nice detail worth bringing up is that Karren’s mask after being “Noro’d” via Eto’s Kagune, shares resemblance to Dragon.
Well considering everything we’ve learned about zombie quinques today I would not be shocked at all and I’m gonna cry.
Mostly because it seemed to be setting Mutsuki up for development. Remember how Mutsuki seeking strength literally led to him spiraling? The end of his development can’t be “I was strong enough to save everyone!” as a result. The look on Juuzou’s face–a child should not have to save their parent, and Juuzou is kind of a father figure to Mutsuki, as Juuzou himself has acknowledged. No doubt he’s remembering himself and Shinohara vs. the Owl back at the end of part one.
Like, Mutsuki’s kagune is legit their ace card right now.
All to say, I’m seeing this as a scare flag for Mutsuki. No, he won’t die, that would make no narrative sense, but I can see harm coming to him soon, or at least his strength failing him, especially if quinque Shirazombie shows up as he’s almost certainly going to do. And, like, we all know the situation will have to be dire for Urie to open his mouth, sooooo. Yeah.
Kaneki empathizes with Furuta and admits his own flaws and that they are not much different. Kaneki then offers him an encouragement to live. We might get another Furuta flashback, or not.
Rize might appear in the last panel for a cliffhanger to kill us all
Yes! So here is @linkspooky‘s meta on who might turn into a ghoul, and her summary of Yoriko is pretty much why I think Yoriko has a chance of turning into one. Some development in that aspect for Yoriko would help Touka’s arc (Yoriko doesn’t really have one because she’s a side character but that could be interesting in terms of what it would suggest thematically.)
Yes, that’s what I meant, sorry if that didn’t come across! I would like to see Kaneki parallel Hide’s figment in his mind and encourage Furuta to live, but Furuta find that a part of him wanted to live all along–because a part of him does want to live.
He might need help escaping though, which is where I’d want Kaneki to intervene if so.
hamliet 