Tokyo Ghoul:re Chapter 161 Review
Where do we even begin? The series has been going well with things looking bright in Tokyo. We got Human and Ghoul united albeit under circumstances, we got the Qs Squad back together at last, and finally, Kaneki is out of his slumber. Those are the ingredients for a pleasant ending. Hell, I was ready for the Arc to close with a good ending and a triumphant return to happy life. I was a damn fool to think itās good to be true. This chapter had me broken, confused, and shocked to see how it begins to fall into pieces.
The last chapter had me floored with tensed emotion from Toukaās struggle and determination. Naturally, I rooted for her to retrieve Kaneki by any means necessary and with the help of Qs Squad, it made it special. You would think Kaneki would wake up eventually and sees Touka around the same time she finds him. What we are rewarded instead is a disturbingly haunting image of his body.
It could disturb people with its holes on the chest region, deep display of emptiness with that shot, and what tops it to me is his left eye open, showing lifeless sign. Ā He looks dead. Is he though? I donāt think so, but it is eerie on how the imagery paints Qs Squad and Touka have to carry a distracting figure body.
The difference of reactions is clearly significant. People celebrates that they found Kaneki in which Dragon will vaporize, yet when the news broke out about him being lifeless, they still celebrate like itās all good news. Hideās reaction says otherwise. People often selfishly think one part matters and nothing more. I understand that they donāt know Kaneki, but the sign of importance differs greatly. At the very least, they are still tasked to retrieve Kaneki for further analysis.
The reaction from Touka and Qs Squad stung me severely. The first couple of pages have them quietly look at Kaneki like we have been restarting the first reaction. Itās mainly due to how stunned they truly are; creating this sensation close to home with the realism of a personās reaction. The mission was to find Kaneki; they should be happy that they found him. So why does it feel like they lost? Itās mind numbingā¦
I do like the small moment with Mutsuki still trying to make up for her past action. Since they were quietly cutting the surrounding of the body, she let Urie knows that it was her fault that Aura got twisted in the first place. At least, she is willing to take the blame for that as well. Urie, however, just doesnāt have time to process the thoughts with everything going grim even when succeed. The page of him removing the body is such a grim and sorrow tone feeling. Urie is freeing his old mentor.
Thereās a last hurdle they have to deal with, but it does provide a nice teamwork from Kanekiās beloved people. Itās rather tensed with Dragon going out of its way to keep him together, so it got them all worked up with Saiko ready to protect Urie and Touka. They do make a really good team; I would like to see them all work together under different circumstance. Urie is great as ever with his quick reaction and plan to retrieve the body.
The one part that got me very puzzled, that is until the ending which we will get to very soon, is Saiko. Dragon didnāt aim to attack her with its Kagune, but instead, it randomly exploded and shoots out spores. What terrified me is how it injected to her Kagune and suddenly, she has two Kakugan. Not to mention, she kneels down in pain. What happened?
The mission is over and Dragon is vaporizing. The sad part is Kimi and all the other people that know Kaneki arenāt celebrating. The atmosphere is incredibly dreary. Itās like watching a funeral or a tragic ending ongoing process; itās uncomfortable to see Kaneki all wrapped around like a body bag. Thatās the point of this chapter. Not once I was relieved or happy while reading this chapter. Thereās no sense of accomplishment. You win some, you lose some. I felt like we lost the main game.
Have the chapter ended there I would have been satisfied for my need. Granted, I would have been broken to see how it played out, but for the content and its delivery, it would have been outstanding. Thenā¦we got the grand master of twist. We are going to full analysis mode with this part of the review, but I would comment on the whole twist. It does answer many questions yet it leaves many new ones, mainly what does this all mean on some regards.
The big twist begins with Furuta reprises his role as a sneaky bastard, along with V Organization and find a giant egg-shaped thing somewhere in 19th Ward. It hatches and then the megaton bomb is dropped. What awakens from it is Rize, Furutaās precious Dragon. In other words, Kaneki wasnāt the Dragon that we all thought. He was only a vessel for this particular creation. I had to read this a couple of more time as well as rereading the previous chapters. What I got is confusion but amazed by all the clues that were spread out all this time.
That said I can now conclude that Furuta is a fucking mad man!
For those who were wondering about Furutaās main goal, that may be answered entirely in the next chapter. However, I can pinpoint that it made sense on how and why this even happened. When you recall Kaneki and Furutaās meeting back in Chapter 101, it all revolved with Rize. Even that subtle hint of his main target has and always will be her.
Furuta only mentioned once about Dragon that aimed towards Kaneki or so we were left to believe. Itās not a moment of Ishida changing his mind; itās our thought process that fell for it. While Furuta couldnāt predict Dragonās reaction to be this devastating, it didnāt matter to him because he knows that his āpreciousā will be waiting. To make things easier, no one is focusing outside of the area of Dragonās location; therefore, no one will be disturbing the egg. Thatās why his plan went smoothly once Dragon was created. This is probably why Furuta had that nucleus; for this purpose most likely.
I called him a mad man because it clearly comes with a great price that he has no care to pay for. It turns out that 19th Ward is undergoing through an awful process of change. People are becoming a ghoul. People are losing their mind, eating their friends or family, or feeling sick; all because Furuta wants to bring Rize to life. If this is the price to create Dragon, then my God, thatās madness. That would mean Kanou knew this would occur as well; died with glee, what a monster.
This connects with those kids from the 24th Ward underground. Thatās why they act like human; they were human before. The sickening part is if everyone turns into a ghoul, how they will survive if thereās no human flesh. Eating a ghoul is still harmful because not only they will lose their mind eventually, but it still boils down to cannibalizing. Theyāre going to either wipe out humanity or die from starvation.
The saddest part is Saiko is the prime example. One would be a bit confused on what just happened to her earlier. The last bit, while being subtle and yet to explain the symptom, connects to her and the conclusion I got is that she has become a Ghoul. Thatās messed up. Itās not even on her will, yet it spread to her like a virus. I donāt want to see her reaction of never able to eat normal food again.
The perplexing part is the V Organization aligning with Furuta in this experiment. I thought they would go out there and destroy Dragon, but not this time. Exactly, what did they do with the first Dragon victim? They seem fine with this one apparently. Could it be that first Dragon was their idea but a failed one, hence they had to get rid of it? Was it natural that they had to get rid of it but thought it was interesting, which let Furuta to utilize his plan? What is their agenda?
As for Rize, is this the real one or a newly created self? If the latter, was his plan have to do with creating a new life rather than bringing it back? Does this mean Rize who talked to Kaneki earlier was actually her? That could explain on why she appeared out of all times; itās no wonder Kaneki didnāt understand her presence. Could it be possible that the nucleus has to do something with her? Something tells me that the original is dead and now we have new one.
I do believe a lot of questions will be answered in the next chapter. Otherwise, weāll be so lost in what just happened. This chapter was very interesting in many ways. It begins with a tragic and eerie vibe of defeat despite the mission was a success. The twist is mind numbing yet brilliant in what got me fooled to focus solely on Kaneki and nothing outside of him. If people didnāt remain focus on Kaneki, they probably would have seen something bizarre and evenly twisted. This hell hole is not ending any time soonā¦
