Let's get some things clear about Tsukiyama Shuu.
disclaimer: i am not claiming any of the following to be absolute truth, only theory
Ishida writes very intricately; Everything he does is for a reason and for everything that he blatantly points out there’s a different, often opposite meaning to it. He made Tsukiyama out to be the villain, Touka to be the love interest, Yomo to be a back ground character, Arima to be the CCG’s hero, and there’s many more.
This post gives an interesting theory that it’s likely that Arima is the One Eyed King, aka the leader of Aogiri; the ultimate villain. Touka has taken the back seat in importance in Tokyo Ghoul:re; she triggered a feeling of nostalgia in Haise but it wasn’t a groundbreaking event. It’s obvious that Yomo has a bigger role with Rize and his relationship with Ken, he is not a side character by any stretch of the imagination. In regards to triggers for Haise I think it’s important to note that Nishiki’s reunion made him react violently, his memories just barely coming to the surface. He was also one of the people he talked to seriously before he left to the raid that ultimately resulted in his “death”
I’m going to take the time right now to acknowledge that Shuu had every intention to kill and eat Kaneki during the initial Gourmet arc. I don’t think the desire to eat him ever went away, but was curbed by other desires.
With all that in mind, and with Ishida’s style in mind as well, what does all of this make Tsukiyama? Let’s take a closer look, shall we?
Let’s start here: They have the most in common out of every character in the series.
They both had the person they held most dear torn from them leaving them ALONE.
They used books to help them through their loneliest times.
And I don’t think he was lying when he said:
We don’t know about Tsukiyama’s family or his past other than that; for all we know he could have had a similar transformation to Kaneki when he lost his mind- maybe that’s how he learned to ignore his feelings; Maybe that’s why he focused on food to mask them. By chapter 128 he had to say it outloud to keep the lie going; he had to tell himself something to keep the feelings from showing assuming he is lying to himself.
He had no reason to tell Kaneki outright that he wants/needs to eat him. By telling him that did he expect to gain his trust or win him over? Obviously not; he had to have said it for he himself to believe it. No one lies to themselves that harshly unless something happened to make them do that; he must have been damaged by something or someone that made him start lying and deceiving people.
I’d also like to note that after Tsukiyama said “so you won’t give it to me…? my greatest delicacy…?” Not only did Kaneki not acknowledge the fact he just confessed to still wanting to eat him, he assured him that he understood the danger and validated his concern; he saw through the act and the lie.
As we all know Tsukiyama is a very proud man, he thinks highly of himself and takes pride in his title as the Gourmet.
He took pride in serving Kaneki.
He sacrificed his entire livelihood for Kaneki.
He began losing concentration out of concern for him.
He showed visible and audible distress at the thought of him dying by the CCG’s or Aogiri’s hands.
He let his guard down completely and didn’t try to defend himself when Kaneki lost his mind.
The whole group witnessed Kaneki unraveling in front of them, but only Tsukiyama kept his focus on him.
Tsukiyama knew Kaneki felt guilty that he hurt Banjou; it was also indicated earlier in the manga that Tsukiyama knew Kaneki was cannibalizing other ghouls to become stronger, he also knows that makes ghouls insane so we can assume he knows full well how Kaneki must feel. With this in mind, he took the time to comfort him in the best way he knew how: books.
Shuu also said he had the right to the strength he has, and if he let go of his shitty pride he’d be able to embrace that. But what I saw as important was what he said as he left:
At one point he suggested working together with Hinami to help him get back to normal.
On top of all of that, I noticed that Shuu only says “tell me” to his close friends.
He certainly doesn’t see Kaneki as a pet but he does do this:
Knowing this we can assume he genuinely considers Kaneki to be at least close friend.
Looking to post chapter 128, we see the result of Tsukiyama losing the person he held most dear.
He questioned his meaning in life: was living all about gourmet food? What even is gourmet food to him if losing his “greatest delicacy” could do something like this?
We recently discovered his state very vaguely in Tokyo ghoul:re.
The once proud gourmet has starved himself and is withering away. He no longer seems to care for his appearance or well-being. However, we do still see a part of him that stayed the same- his endearing sense of fashion.
No one starves themselves for 3 years;
No one deprives themselves of life’s happiness for 3 years;
No one gives up everything to let themselves deteriorate and die for 3 years unless they were truly broken and hopeless.
A lost meal would not break a confident, powerful man like Shuu.
Now, with everything aforementioned in mind, what can we call Tsukiyama’s role in the Tokyo Ghoul series? In my opinion, with every else’s roles in mind and assuming this series will have all the roles in a typical story, I think Tsukiyama Shuu is Ken’s love interest (at least one sided). Not for the sake of the ship, but based on the evidence in ink on paper.
So what is Kaneki Ken to him? The world; his moon and stars; his life and his everything. There’s no question that his love for Ken is unhealthy and it started out as a sick obsession, but we cannot ignore Tsukiyama’s development as a character. The build up to Haise’s and Tsukiyama’s reunion has been the most intense out of the characters revealed so far.* It’s absolutely essential to recognize the importance of Tsukiyama’s character and his development in regards to the story because obviously he’s going to play a big part solely based on the fact that the entire plot is currently revolving around him.
Thanks for reading and I hope you learned a bit along the way! Let’s begin taking care within our fandom to stick together and stop the hate that’s recently started. It doesn’t matter who we all ship, the fact is we love the series for what it is and that unites us. ♥
*I’m not excluding Hide here, he hasn’t even been mentioned therefore he does not apply to this specific opinion.
Edit: it’s come to my attention that calling Tsukiyama the love interest is kinda pushing it so I want to say he just rreeeaaallllyyyy loves Kaneki. Whether or not he’ll be the love interest is up in the air but there’s no doubt he has intense feelings for Ken.
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