1. A Wound That Love Had Opened
Tsukiyama met the harbinger of his destruction and waited.
2. Thirst
Dreams, nightmares, fears, desires—there is no difference.
3. Macerate
In that moment, Tsukiyama realizes there are several ways to devour a person instead of just eating them.
4. On Pins and Needles
It was Tsukiyama’s idea to begin with, Kaneki tells himself. He wasn’t anticipating just how troubling having the Gourmet so close could be.
5. Without Words
Tsukiyama still brings Kaneki flowers.
6. From the Shore
Although they are different, Tsukiyama knows they are the same. All that matters is that Kaneki has returned to him.
7. Yield
This time, Kaneki chooses himself.
8. Displacement
Neither of them were supposed to be there. But neither of them can keep away from the other for long, either.
9. the wrong end of a very long tunnel
The night Tsukiyama loses everything, he becomes the newest ward of Cochlea. In the only way he knows how, Sasaki attempts to reach him.
I’ve recommended the first two stories on this list previously, and even though I no longer read anything related to Tokyo Ghoul with real enthusiasm, I can still look back on this author’s body of works and recall fond memories. I always knew who to go to on AO3 whenever I wanted more content featuring my favourite pairing in this fandom. My favourite pairing was not the fans’ favourite, nor is it the currently canon one.
kanekuinke replied to your post “kanekuinke replied to your post “yuri on ice opinions” ...”
dude i'm off the deep end with them XD. oooomg!! i hate the skype app bc it hates my phone - do you have line?? line also works in browser... but if skype is where you're at, i'll try to get on soon!!! <333
my cell ain’t good enough to use line or wechat or anything of the sort. using laptop for all my interwebs chatting. do you use gchat still? ohhhh, are you reading/writing fic for yoi? have any recs?
kanekuinke replied to your post “yuri on ice opinions”
The thing is, though, Victor fell in love a long time before, at the previous year's banquet! He just fell harder/more sincerely as he got to know Yuuri :3
haha. you’re so taken with this pairing. i like them a lot, the stuff i’m saying is just obligatory bitter and jaded old woman talk.
heyyy, why aren’t you around on skype? i have so much dumb drama crap to report. <3 hope you are doing well.
kanekuinke replied to your post “i am not dead :x happy holidays everyone. ”
YES PLS DO YOI IS GREAT (also hello we should chat soon :>)
oh, i just finished it a few days ago. i really like it :x the chars are all so sweet and it flows so nicely. it reminds me of nodame quite a bit in terms of tone and sensibility.
yeah :D it’s been a while hasn’t it? i shall bug you when and if i see you on skype. i hope you are having a good holidays. <3
Literature references in Tokyo Ghoul & Tokyo Ghoul:re
Authors referenced include;
Franz Kafka - Metamorphosis and Crossbreed
Osuma Dazai - Setting Sun
Hermann Hesse - Demian
Hakushuu Kitahara - Black Sheep & Ode to an Old Ainu & Blue Dragonfly
Nankichi Niimi - Gon, the Little Fox
C. S. Lewis - The Screwtape Letters
Ernest Hemmingway - The Old Man and the Sea
If I missed anything, please feel free to add!
Thanks to kanekuinke for pointing out the The Old Man and the Sea.
Thanks to makyun for pointing out Blue Dragonfly.
And thanks to saezutte who pointed out I spelled Dazai wrong in the freaking headers (－‸ლ) (I got it right in other places. I’m dyslexic).
Just a warning - this is a looong post.
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka is German author whose work was publish post-humorously. He’s referenced three times.
Takatsuki Sen‘s debut novel is Dear Kafka.
Chapter 2 references Metamorphosis, where a man wakes up one morning transformed into an insect with no explanation as to why, as his life has been the same every day for years. There’s isn’t any further relation between TG & Metamorphosis than this. I just think Ishida likes Kafka and the opportunity to do some nifty foreshadowing.
Chapter 8 of :re
A prime example of Arima’s lack of tact. Seriously, read TG JACK, he just doesn’t get the concept..
This short story is about a man who inherits a pet who is half lamb and half kitten. It can be taken as a reflection on Arima and Haise’s relationship. This post covers the significance behind this story really well. My only difference of opinion is that I think the ‘milk’ is more likely to be Sphinx’s RC Solution.
Osuma Dazai
Osuma Dazai is famous best-selling Japanese author and is referenced twice in Tokyo Ghoul.
Once in chapter 1 Kaneki quotes him;
He’s still human at this point. This is likely foreshadowing Kaneki’s purpose in ‘breaking the twisted birdcage the world is trapped in’ and/or trying to bring the human and ghoul worlds together.
Then Dazai’s mentioned by Takatsuki Sen in chapter 109 (she makes the same comment twice, once to Kaneki, then to Hide who’s pretending to be Kaneki);
[BTW Dazai's masterpiece is considered to be No Longer Human (Disqualified from Being Human). FYI it has a protagonist who’s incapable of revealing his true self to others and holds up a facade. His schoolmate who sees through it & they become close friends. Later he acts as a surrogate father to a little girl, but abandons her due to his issues].
Hermann Hesse
Hermann Hesse is nobel prize winning German born Swiss author, known for his works exploring an individual's search for authenticity, self-knowledge and spirituality.
Chapter 8
“The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas.”
From Demian
Abraxas can be thought of as a "godhead" who represents a unification of the divine and the satanic. The meaning of this quote is taken to be that in order to be truly free, the protagonist must embrace and exalt all of the tendencies of his personality—both those that people consider "good" and those they consider "evil."
A particularly apt quote for Kaneki, who struggles to balance his human and ghoul sides. Even without the Abraxas part this quote neatly encapsulates Kaneki’s growth into a half-ghoul.
It may also be linked to Kanou’s explanation that he’s performing the OEG experiments because the world is trapped in a twisted ‘birdcage’ and he want’s to use OEGs to break the cage.
Hakushuu Kitahara
Hakushuu Kitahara is one of Japan’s most popular and influential poets.
Chapter 118;
tokyoghoultheories did an a thought provoking analyze of the Black Sheep poem here. You need to scroll down to get the poem part, but the rest of the post is worth reading anyway, as it explains a lot of the symbolism associated with Kaneki.
Chapter 139
Oishi Ainu no uta (Ode to an Old Ainu). I don’t think there’s anything significant about the poem itself, but what Arima gleams from Kaneki quoting Hakushuu. Read more about this here.
Cover for TG:re Volume 1
(Sasaki still has Kaneki’s tastes in literature). The poem Haise is reading is Blue Dragonfly.
Blue dragonfly, with emerald eye
Silver and green;
Blue dragonfly, the delicate wing
Glinting on a reed in flower.
Blue dragonfly aloft,
Perhaps by sleight of hand;
Blue dragonfly caught,
Crinkled skin of a diva.
Blue dragonfly beauty
Fearful even to touch;
Blue dragonfly composure
Grates on the jealous eye.
A grinding leather sandal
Crinkles the blue dragonfly.
The poem is about a dragonfly that gets destroyed because of someone’s envy over it’s loveliness. I can’t think of any direct correlation at this time, so it might be foreshadowing something, or just a nice poem. (Actually, Arima uses his ‘shinigami skills’ to swot a fly in an omake, but I don’t think that’s what this is about)
Nankichi Niimi
Nankichi Niimi is a popular children’s author in Japan. Considered to be Japan’s Hans Christian Anderson.
Chapter 70;
Gon the Little Fox is a depressing children’s story, whose moral is usually interpreted as ‘everybody has to accept their fate.’ A fox’s simple mischiefs contribute toward Hyojyu’s ill mother’s death. The fox’s attempts to make it up to Hyojyu make Hyojyu’s situation worse. Eventually, the fox finds a way to help Hyojyu out that won’t cause more trouble, only for Hyojyu for kill his benefactor when he lashes out in grief, as he blamed the fox for his mother’s death. Hyojyu’s reaction to his mother’s inevitable death and the fox’s response turn a sad, but normal, event into a tragedy.
Notice how unimpressed Ayato looks while Touka happily asks to have it read out again. This is pretty much a summation of Arata’s philosophy, which Ayato rejects. You can see this reflects Ayato actions - riling against a ghoul’s ‘fate’ by refusing to try to get along with humans, lashing out in anger against the world after his parent’s deaths and trying to help Touka out by taking the blame for the Rabbit murders she committed. [This may be foreshadowing that Ayato will ‘shoot himself in the foot.’ (Possibly by making Touka’s situation even worse, because she’ll get blamed for Ayato’s actions)].
C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis was born in Ireland, but lived in England for a lot of his life. You probably know him as the author of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Was known for his works of Christian commentary.
Chapter 124; (I already did a post on this, but I thought I’d reuse it).
Kaneki is reading ‘The Screwtape letters’ by C.S. Lewis. This book has a demon protagonist who near the end turns into a giant centipede. So, literary joke from Ishida.
Now, I’m probably reading too much into this, but as there’s a noteworthy quote in this novel;
We [demons] want cattle who can finally become food; He [God] wants servants who can finally become sons
Which is interesting when you consider Kaneki’s roles in TG and :Re. In TG Kaneki sided with the ghoul and was the target of cannibalism attempts and various manipulation. In :Re he has been forced to become a servant, however he feels he has a family relationship - that Arima is his ‘father’ and has been told Arima feels parental love for him. (Which hasn’t been confirmed, but nothing discredits this either).
Ernest Hemmingway
Ernest Hemmingway is a Nobel prize winning American author.
Chapter 95
In the abandon mansion above Kanou’s hidden lab Kaneki pulls out ‘The Old Man and the Sea.’ The story is about an old fisherman who is down on his luck, but manages to catch a great marlin after 3 days of epic struggling, only to have sharks come after his prize. He valiantly defends his catch, only to be left with bones. He makes it home and collapses, where other fisherman/tourists marvel at the size of the skeleton.
This is a good reference to what happens in Kanou lab - the prize Kaneki has been turning himself into monster to find, answers from Kanou and Rize, is snatched away from him. Despite his efforts to grow strong enough to fight Aogiri, in the end his sacrifice of self and decent into brutality gained him nothing but more questions.
Gonna try Owari no Seraph, Punchline, Arslan Senki, & OreMono…maybe Kekkai Sensen but not too hyped over any of them tbh.
yamazaki-sousukes answered:
i have no idea what it’s about other than i think there’s a vampire thrown in there somewhere, but owari no seraph looks really pretty—and by that i mean the characters
kanekkiis said:
Owari no Seraph looks really interesting. ^^
Owari no Seraph does sound interesting at a glance but two things about it bother me, lol; I find vampires boring and also the virus kills people over 13 years old and I’m a little tired of anime casts made up out of irritating children.
The only way I can see myself sticking to a show like this is if it turned into some real Deadman Wonderland type shit so I’ll have to wait and see. That said though, I can pretty easily get sucked into a mediocre story if the animation is really nice so we’ll see if that balances out.
