:Re 179 Was Simply Kaneki Dreaming
When the final chapter of “Tokyo Ghoul: re” was released the TG fandom was left divided. While some enjoyed the idea of a happy ending, others were less than enthused. Several plot threads from the series were left hanging. Additionally, while exposition was dumped to reveal the fates of minor and supporting characters, several major characters (Eto, Mr. Yoshimura, Amon, Akira, etc.) had their ultimate fates left unrevealed. Also, the sudden shift from the tragic ending of :re 178 to the rushed happy ending of :re 179 felt rather disjointed, and in 179 itself there are several things that either contradict each other or don’t add up. I have gone through the evidence and come to a conclusion, and a number of others in the TG fandom have thought of this as well: :re 179 was simply Kaneki dreaming inside of Dragon.
I will explain the evidence in the chapter that justifies this, the literary reasons Ishida-sensei did this, and the direction the franchise may go in the future:
Firstly, the narration states that Kaneki was saved by Ayato from drowning in the kagune fluids from the previous chapter. However, if we go back to :re 168 we see that:
As Kaneki and Ayato descended deeper into Dragon, the increasing levels of toxicity became such that Ayato had trouble making it down any further. Here, we see that the toxin is so concentrated that his kagune is breaking apart. So, assuming he defeated the Dragon Orphans here, how could he have descended any further down to where Kaneki was drowning? Even if he could:
Kaneki was drowning extremely deep in this fluid and it was flowing so rapidly he couldn’t swim out. So, if Kaneki couldn’t get himself out of this, how could Ayato have gotten him out without drowning himself, much less carried him out of Dragon while its insides were collapsing all around them? This is the main basis of this theory. Kaneki couldn’t have made it out, and so the final chapter must’ve been him dreaming within Dragon’s depths. Now to the dream itself.
Tragōidia, the Greek word for tragedy, comes from the words meaning goat song. Why name the title of a supposedly happy chapter after a tragedy?
It’s stated that the remaining oviducts continued to produce the “Dragon Orphans,” but despite this these two faceless individuals are just chilling on top of an oviduct even though new orphans could be spawned at any time and attack them? Also, why would these creatures be a common enemy of humans and ghouls? If we go back to chapter 164:
Furuta states that these creatures would only attack and devour humans and makes no mention of them eating ghouls. This is seemingly confirmed earlier in the chapter when:
Furuta, a half-ghoul, is standing amid a group of dragon orphans, but they pay him no mind. The only dragon orphan that acknowledges him is the one he tries to “interview.” After this orphan takes a swing at him, he goes back to ignoring him and eating corpses. Later in this chapter, Kaneki, Urie, and Saiko were set upon by these creatures. However, Urie and Saiko are Quinx (not true half-ghouls), and thus would register as humans because their Kakuho are normally suppressed by their quinque frames. So, this again begs the question of why ghouls would join forces with humans against these creatures when these creatures don’t target them?
Another question is: why allow the oviducts to remain at all? In the final chapters the Goat-CCG alliance put all their efforts into finding and removing Kaneki, Dragon’s nucleus, in order to eliminate the creature. Later, they eliminate Rize, the nucleus of the poisonous oviduct to try and destroy it. So, why aren’t they trying to find and extract the nuclei of the other oviducts? This thought is even mentioned in chapter 165:
They are trying to get rid of these oviducts as quickly as possible. After all, why allow these oviducts to keep producing creatures that will kill civilians? The answer to both this question and the question of why ghouls would join humans in fighting these creatures is simple: Kaneki needed a common enemy for ghouls and humans to fight. In his time trying to find a method for humans and ghouls to coexist, the only time this ever occurred was when the two groups united against the common threat of Dragon. So, in his dream world Kaneki has created a scenario in which the two groups are constantly fighting the Dragon’s remnants together as a common enemy is the only way Kaneki knows how to bring peace between the two groups.
Now, on to the subject of the TSC:
The beginning of chapter 179 states that after the final battle the CCG was disbanded. Furthermore, the officers of the new TSC are called “peacekeepers” rather than investigators. However, at the same time the chapter still makes references to the CCG existing outside of Tokyo, and people who transfer out of Tokyo are still called “investigators” rather than peacekeepers.
Despite the beginning of the chapter saying the CCG was disbanded after the battle with Furuta, here it’s shown that the CCG still functions in areas outside of Tokyo. This may be explained by the beginning saying only “Tokyo’s” CCG was disbanded. However, when Shinohara recovers it states:
Here it simply states the CCG was dissolved in its entirety. Not just the Tokyo branch. So, why is Kaneki’s dream so insistent the CCG no longer exists in Tokyo but is apathetic that it exists outside of the city? Throughout the series, Kaneki has stated that he fights in order to protect his friends and those he loves. However, to others he gives no care. He even admits this while talking to Amon in chapter 119:
Here he admits that he only cares for those close to him, and that most of these close ones just “happened” to be ghouls. And, these ghouls were all located in the city of Tokyo. So, he doesn’t care if the CCG operates as it always has, but only if it’s not in Tokyo. Thus, while his mind envisioned happy ends for his ghoul friends inside the city by having them work with his human friends, ghouls either not close to him or outside of the city get the shaft. This is even alluded to in Kuramoto’s panel where it says he “deals with ghouls.” This is representative of Kaneki’s true feelings towards the Ghoul species overall.
Kaneki’s True Feelings Towards Ghouls
While Kaneki cares for his ghoul friends, he doesn’t hold their species in any regard. Throughout the series, on many of the occasions that he thinks or talks about the differences between humans and ghouls, he refers to humans as “people” and ghouls as “ghouls.” After initially becoming a one-eyed ghoul, Kaneki actively tried to prevent himself from killing anyone (human or ghoul). However, after being tortured by Jason he adopts a much more ruthless persona and begins killing his ghoul opponents. Nishiki is even surprised by this when Kaneki kills a group of Aogiri soldiers after defeating Jason.
This continues in the following months where he kills and cannibalizes ghouls in order to increase his own power. However, he never shows this same level of ruthlessness towards his human opponents. He still tries to prevent himself from killing them, and at most just disarms them. He doesn’t view humans and ghouls different based on their biology, but based on which is a “person,” and most ghouls don’t fall in this category to him.
This hypocrisy of willingly killing ghouls while abstaining from killing humans never truly leaves Kaneki. This is evident after his final battle with Amon in the original series, where he begs him not to die.
He despairs at the thought of killing a human like Amon, even though he’s already killed dozens of ghouls. Even after becoming the One-Eyed King and forming Goat in the sequel, this attitude doesn’t change. The organization’s first mission is to aid the CCG in killing members of the Clowns (fellow ghouls), and simultaneously Kaneki risks his best fighters to raid the CCG laboratory to retrieve RC suppressants in order to save Akira (a ghoul investigator who wishes to eradicate the ghoul species). Later when his group arrives at the lab, he risks the entire mission in order to confront Amon just because Amon saw him as a “person.”
Later, when Furuta begins using the Oggai against Goat, Kaneki still refrains from any confrontations with the CCG that would result in human casualties. This results in Goat being forced underground into the 24th ward, and the organization slowly begins to starve. Even near the edge of ruin Kaneki continues to assert that they must not kill humans.
It’s only when Furuta attacks their base and he is about to lose everything that he finally breaks this rule by eating the Oggai in order to heal himself. This results in him becoming the Dragon and ravaging the surface (resulting in countless human deaths). You would think that after staining his hands with the blood of both humans and ghouls that he would finally view the two species equally, but you would be wrong. In Kaneki’s final battle with Furuta, after he declares he will defeat Furuta he will protect everyone, he states:
Here, he still refers to humans as “people,” but not ghouls (implying that he still doesn’t see ghouls overall as “people.”) Also, the way he says “ghouls, too” shows he still views them as secondary to humans. This attitude is evident in his dream chapter (:re 179) as the actions undertaken by several characters are biased towards human benefit (as opposed to equal benefit between the two species):
Here, for some reason Takizawa is hunting renegade ghouls even though it goes against his previous character development. During his battle with Amon in chapter 115, Takizawa in his inner monologue states he has decided to be a ghoul.
After he completed his first mission for Goat, Takizawa said he was going to go off own his and live normally as a ghoul. In chapter 145, we even see a silhouette of him hunting humans.
So, why at the end of the story is he hunting ghouls who attack humans when that’s exactly what he’s chosen to do, and that’s what he’s been doing? Also, why are he and Hakatori both all alone when they joined with Amon in chapter 178?
Kaneki was in the oviduct when they joined forces with Amon, and so he wouldn’t have known. Therefore, in his dream he has both them and Kurona alone in the end. Also, the actions he has them perform (fighting ghouls who attack humans, sheltering ghouls who can’t fit into human society, etc.) are what he thinks they should do to atone for their past misdeeds. Because Kaneki doesn’t view humans and ghouls as equal, they aren’t equal in his dream. Rather than both sides coming together and creating a new world, ghouls merely acclimate to the human world. Those that are either unable or unwilling to do so are shunned and killed as ghouls always have been. So, for many this world hasn’t changed at all. This is Kaneki’s happy ending. His dream only extends the benefits of peace to humans and his loved ones.
Whew. So far, I’ve discussed all the inconsistences regarding the overall themes of this chapter. For finishing the evidence, I will merely go over small inconsistencies and errors in this chapter.
What happened to Hide’s scarred throat and face? In this chapter is stated that ghouls have started being researched for medical purposes. Thus, this could be the reason Hide has healed, but if this is the case why is he still wearing that mask?
In Fura’s panel, he calls his wife “Maki.” However, the “Tokyo Ghoul: Jack” series stated her first name was “Aki.” At first, I thought this might be a translation error, but then I looked at the raw and it indeed gave the characters for the name “Maki.” This is likely due to Kaneki either mishearing her name or not truly caring to remember it from when he was colleagues with Fura.
If Kanou had stabilizers they could use to prolong their lives, why did they work for him as long as they did? Why not steal these stabilizers as soon as possible?
It took me a while to figure this out, but why would Urie have to search for Shirazu’s body at all? Kimi and Kanou’s other assistants worked with Dr. Kanou on everything, and so they would undoubtedly know where Shirazu’s body is. Why not just ask them? Also, why place Shirazu’s body in the cemetery for the CCG’s “heroes” after the revelation in chapter 175?
So, the graveyard for CCG investigators was empty. Why would they could continue to maintain an empty cemetery, and why would they place Shirazu’s body there when it was only a place for the Washuus to gather food? Kaneki wasn’t present when this information was revealed in chapter 175, and thus didn’t know.
Next, we have Naki’s henchman Hooguro. The epilogue states he married a human girl in the ghoul fashion, but this requires bitemarks. How could an ordinary human bite with enough force to permanently mark a ghoul (whose skin is super hard). They could us an rc suppressant for this, but after it wore off he should have healed.
Then, there’s Ayato who commands operations “at high altitudes.” Are there Dragon Orphans who can fly?
This was the most obvious example that something was off. Right before the Dragon arc we saw that Kuroiwa was stabbed through the side of the neck in a way that would be a death sentence. Indeed, we see him stop breathing and die. However, Kaneki may only have heard that Kuroiwa was stabbed, not that he was killed. Since he didn’t see Kuroiwa, he would have assumed that he was injured and thus would recover. However, another thing to notice is Kuroiwa’s wife. Here she is depicted as having long, light-colored hair. However, when we saw her at Takeomi and Yoriko’s wedding:
She is shown to have short, dark hair. Kaneki probably never actually met Kuroiwa’s wife, and so in his dream he created a vague mental imagery of her.
Finally, there’s her. On Amino Apps someone did a translation of Ichika Kaneki’s character profile, and one usual aspect was missing: a birthdate. Practically every volume character profile gives the character’s birthday. Touka calculated her due date to be 12/28 but calculating this can be inaccurate. Even if it was accurate, why not still put it in her profile? It seems to be Ishida giving us a subtle hint that she hasn’t actually been born. Another thing is: why would Kaneki and Touka (who are genetically dark-haired) have a white-haired child? Indeed, with her sesame pudding hair and left kakugan she appears as a carbon copy of someone we already know: Haise Sasaki. Haise was Kaneki’s dream of human happiness where he is surrounded by those who love and cherish him. In the same manner that she is surrounded by people who love and cherish her at the end of the chapter.
Now that I have gone over all the evidence implicating the final chapter as a dream, I will discuss Ishida’s likely reasons for making it this way. Throughout the original and :re, references are made about a number of literary works. The most commonly referred to work is Franz Kafka’s “Metamorphosis,” but another work referenced is Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”
In the sequel “Through the Looking Glass” Alice is transported to a new world where she is caught in the middle of a chess battle between white and red sides. In the original story, Kaneki learned of the ghoul world. In the sequel, he is originally a ghoul investigator and must pick which side he will ultimately be on. In Tokyo Ghoul, the white side is composed of humans (as shown by the white coats of the CCG), and the red side is composed of ghouls (as shown by the red robes of the Aogiri Tree).
There is also a chessboard theme that is repeatedly shown throughout the manga, and this represents the characters who are pieces in the game. Furthermore, in place of the tea party from the Alice novels, coffee is instead used for the theme of eating.
Finally, several ghoul characters wear animal themed masks that represent the animals from the Alice series. Touka’s mask represents the White Rabbit, Nishio’s serpent mask represents Bill the Lizard, Ayato’s mask represents the March Hare, Koma’s mask represents Pat the Monkey, and Irimi’s mask represent the Puppy.
Now that we established the parallel, I shall get to the point: the Red King. In “Through the Looking Glass” the king of the red pieces is sleeping throughout the game. Different characters believe that Alice herself is part of the Red King’s dream and that she will disappear if he awakes. At the end of the story, she questions if this was indeed the case. So, the same thing applies here. At the end of :re, we are left wondering to ourselves if the ending was a dream.
Ishida’s Personal Reasons and the Future
Now, why exactly would Ishida-sensei end things on a dream chapter you might say (aside from literally reasons) and just quit the series he’s worked on for so long when there are still many plot points left unanswered? Well, in interviews done after :re’s ending Ishida says that he has been working himself almost non-stop since the second half of the original series, and this has led to issues with his health. If he had shown Kaneki still trapped in Dragon, people would have demanded he make a third and final part (which he is in no condition to do).
However, in one interview he states that he now “hates” working after doing it so hard for so long now, and that there “probably” wouldn’t be any more sequels. He needs time to rest and recuperate. However, him saying “probably” still leaves open the option for a final part. Once he fully recovers, he could reveal the finale of :re to be a dream and then continue the series. As to whether or not he actually will, I…..
I believe he will return to our place, Tokyo Ghoul.
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