Katharsis Opening Analysis
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In Aristotle’s Poetics, he describes the format of a perfect tragedy. In tragedy, when a hero succumbs to their flaw for the audience to see, he labels that stage as Catharsis. Tragedy was not just mere entertainment for greeks, it was a social and societal experience, you saw characters fall to those flaws on stage to purge yourself of your own flaws and then return to your daily life.
Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation [catharsis] of these emotions. By 'language embellished,' I mean language into which rhythm, 'harmony' and song enter. . . .
In other words, Catharsis refers to the point within the play at which the flaws become clear and brought to the open, of which they are purged, and acknowledged the audience is then able to get up from the seats and move on purified of those emotions. In order to move past those flaws, they must be first brought to the forefront, acknowledged, felt. Which is most likely why this final opening is an obvious reference to dragon, the greatest moment of catharsis in the manga where the protagonist’s flaws are acknowledged, brought to the forefront, and then the protagonist and audience both are finally allowed to step away from tragedy. Katharsis as an opening, depcits Kaneki’s emotional Katharsis and his journey away from tragedy and to the blue sky which is always next to tragedy as seen at the beginning and end of :Re.
Fatal Flaw, tragic reasoning, looking away from the reality, but thou must. Catharsis, and then a step away from tragedy.
The characters on stage fall to tragedy, so the audience can step away purified from that tragedy, that’s the greek approach to tragedy in a nutshell, that is katharsis. Tragedy was written to be applied to the every day life of every person in the audience.
With the connection to the title out of the way, let’s move onto the song itself, the combination of the lyrics and the visuals pay homage to all the previous openings. We’re going to discuss recurring motifs. Originally named after repeating themes in music, (like the fifteen second song that plays when you open a chest in zelda for example) that were meant to carry meaning through association with their preposition. It can also apply not only to reoccurring notes, but reoccuring imagery, patterns, themes, ideas, words. Repetition brings about meaning, basically, for a recurring motif.
mo·tif a short succession of notes producing a single impression; a brief melodic or rhythmic formula out of which longer passages are developed.
With the start of the opening we’re shown raindrops falling on water and rippling the surface of pitch black water, in time with the musical notes. Dark waters which slowly pan out to reveal another sky split in two.
It’s a bit hard to notice with how dark the animation is, but Kaneki is standing right on the horizon line, and everything below him is reflecting up. It’s the same as the intro to Unravel with Kaneki standing on a clear blue sky with the colors inverted. However, not only does it connect to unravel it connects to Asphyxia as well. In Unravel the entire time Kaneki stands on the clear blue sky, however in Asphyxia Haise begins in the clear blue sky, and by the end of the opening he’s moved to a red and black night sky. The colors of blue and white are associated with not only the “sky next to a tragedy is clear blue”, but considering the motif of water and illusions are recurring throughout pretty much every single opening, the blue sky is the conscious mind, while the red and black murky sea is the unconscious, primal shadow in a Jungian sense. I will get to this later, but the use of the horizon, and the water reflecting the horizon that Kaneki stands on top of is also Jungian symbolism, the water being again a symbol for the hidden depths of the shadow, an apparently shallow stretch of water that when you stare at it hides much deeper and murkier depths underneath. The moon in association with this is the card of illusions, dreams, delusions, a motif shared also in the lyrics in all four openings Unravel, Munou, Asphyixa and Katharsis.
Say I woke up and everything was an illusion I’d want my miraculous delusions to come true
Lyrics by @kenkamishiro here [x].
Kaneki referencing his own purposeful deluding of himself that led to Dragon.
The illusionary world is once again referring to the world that Kaneki wants, a world where he belongs and a world where someone will want him. Tokyo Ghoul is a story that starts out with two distinct worlds, the surface world where humans live in comfort, and the primal and hidden world of ghouls that most are not even consciously aware of. This is also, another reference to the Jungian idea of shadow, a split world one human and one ghoul, one conscious mind, and one hidden concealed and much more primal. Pretty much every opening addresses these two worlds in a way, or discusses being stuck in a world where you are helpless or you don’t know what’s going on what Unravel is primarily about, and what Asphyxia begins with. They also, use the motife of illusion, and water when addressing this, Aspyhxia is literally about drowning but I’m getting ahead of myself again.
At the beginning of the song Katharsis, we learn what Kaneki’s Catharsis is, that he wasn’t fighting for his real conscious reasons but rather chasing the world of his delusion, the world of his personal desire that he deluded himself into ignoring, this is also the reason that Dragon manifests in the first place. It’s pure shadow, comes from the depths (v14 and those underground passageway parallels are sewers, Kaneki literally hears water in the original V14, which the Juuzou fight was a parallel for). It’s raining again when Kaneki reappears before Juuzou.
Dragon emerges from the watery depths, in other words it’s the repressed flaws of Kaneki, the repressed shadows coming to the surface of the water uncontrollably. That is the catharsis once again, the flaws brought to the surface and acknowledged so that they can be purified. This is always associated with water, because once again, Jungian symbolism and the metaphor that Rize uses that he only sips “unsullied water” he looked at the pure and reflective surface and ignored the depths. That is also what we’re shown in Unravel and Catharsis, a pure and reflective surface of the water that matches the bright blue sky, that Kaneki eventually plunges into the depths of the water. In Unravel Kaneki starts in the pure blue sky and plunges into the depths of the water just as the opening reaches it’s ending, in Katharsis Kaneki starts in the murky pitch black depths and reaches for the surface and returns again to the pure blue sky. One must confront and accept the shadow, one must experience Catharsis and acknowledgement in order to be purified.
So, returning to the parallels between openings. Not only does Katharsis parallel Unravel, it also works as a continuation to asphyxia. Especially in a motif sense, Asphyxia begins with the clear blue sky that Haise is facing. Haise is remember, Kaneki’s controlled conscious, he’s the happiness that Kaneki wants and desires that is achieved by suppressing completely all his truamas of the past and his dark side. If Kaneki had completely conscious control of himself, he would be like Haise, a nurturing figure who arranges those around him in a family. The conscious mind is not wrong, it is just not the entire picture there is always the unacknowledged shadow.
Everything is hopeless, So, In this unchangeable world, I am drowning.
Lyrics by @lunaamatista here [x]
So, Asphyxia starts on a pure blue sky, but it also starts with these lyrics. Which are not nearly as happy as the imagery, however they do reflect the reality of Haise. Haise is a dream that Kaneki can only achieve if he gives up all of his agency and lets Arima and the CCG control him. “Drowning” is Jungian symbolism, of the unacknowledged depths of his shadow that Kaneki is struggling with, the surface of the water Kaneki peers at which belies an even greater depth. He is drwoning, because Kaneki has repressed his shadow so much he has absolutely no control of that depths.
He doesn’t acknowledge it so he can’t take control of it. Once again the world is referred to as an illusion, because Kaneki has yet to be able to manifest his idea world. In Unravel Kaneki is draggedinto the world of ghouls and has no idea how it works, that’s the point of the song he’s asking about it. In Munou as he leaves behind Anteiku the world of happiness he grasped becomes further an illusion, he refers to his past with Anteiku as a dream. In Asphyxia he’s literally drowning and pulled further into the depths of the world he can’t control. In Katharsis he finally wakes up from the dream and realizes he’s been chasing delusions all along. This is all a metaphor of course, dreams aren’t really controlled by the conscious mind, and therefore Kaneki who does not experience much self control over his own life and is constantly having agency taken away from him as he’s thrown helpless into the world therefore experiences the world like a dream. It’s illusory,it’s a dream, because he can’t seize control of the world. It doesn’t seem real because he doesn’t seem to be a part of it, he’s an outsider being pulled into it.
Anyway, Aspyhixa itself represents the journey from the pure blue sky, to the red and black murky depths we see at the start of Katharsis. It starts with Haise facing the pure blue sky, then he turns away from it to look at the camera.
Then, we see his ghoul eye revealed but the rest of him is covered in shadow. Haise’s ghoul side is repressed, and therefore the hidden, primal, and violent world of ghouls represents the shadow, colored in by reds and blacks while the conscious mind is a clear blue.
After his shadow is shown, the sun sets and the entire city becomes darkened for the rest of the opening.
Then as we see the moon appears again and again but only in association with ghouls. Seidou Takizawa who unlike Akira and Amon acknowledges himself as a ghoul and chooses to live is a ghoul appears looking at the moon, when it cuts to Akira and Amon the moon is out of frame. The moon, and dark colors are heavily associated with the Jungian concept of shadow. So,it makes a good symbol of the hidden and illusory world of ghouls (which is also symbolized by masks, ghouls pretending to be human and therefore having hidden depths and hidden lives, etc. etc.).
The Moon card shows a large, full moon in the night’s sky, positioned between two large towers. The Moon is a symbol of intuition, dreams, and the unconscious. The light of the moon is dim, compared to the sun, and only vaguely illuminates the path to higher consciousness which winds between the two towers.
In the foreground, there is a small pool, representing the watery, subconscious mind. A small crayfish crawls out of the pool, symbolising the early stages of consciousness unfolding.
The Moon can indicate a time of uncertainty and illusion, when nothing is what it seems.
Furuta, the character most associated with the moon and the shadow appears onscreen and not only is the city darkened, but it turns it’s most red, the deepest part of the shadow.
@tgcalendar2016
Then, by the end of the opening we see an explosion of Eto’s Kakuja in front of the pure red moon, and Haise as well standing in front of that same moon. By the end of the opening, Haise has turned away from the pure blue sky and instead has fallen into the world of illusion and shadow, forced to use his ghoul side entirely.
He’s now turned away from both the audience, and the pure blue sky and only sees the black and red one.
So symbolically, Asphyxia starts with Kaneki in the world of humans, and has him fall face first into the watery depths of the world of ghouls, which is where Kaneki starts at the beginning of Katharsis. This is also a journey that is encapsulated in Unraveling. Unraveling is one again, I’m not going to go lyric by lyric because I’m going to get to the lyric by lyric breakdown of Katharsis later but it’s primarily about Kaneki falling into the world of ghouls and realizing that the world is much more broken than he realized, but also believing the world to be imaginary because he has no control over it. Once again, the dream as a metaphor for Kaneki’s lack of perceived control over the world and his own trauma. He describes it as a world of someone else’s imagining. Unraveling the world has two meanings, Kaneki’s own perceptions of the world breaking down and being shown to have been an illusion to begin with as a result of living in the human world where he did not have to acknowledge the violence of ghouls, but also the world being so genuinely broken that it breaks Kaneki hismelf causing his mind to unravel. He learns about the world, he has to unravel the mysteries of the world, but while he does so he himself becomes unraveled by it. The darker things he learns about the world the darker things he lerans about himself as well, this is once again a journey of acknowledgement of the shadow.
Here in this broken down world, You laugh without seeing a thing. [...]
I don’t wish to hurt you in a world, Of someone else’s imagining.
Translation used here [x].
Unravel also starts with an inverse of Katharsis. In Katharsis the world is black and eventually becomes bright blue. In unravel, the world starts out colorless, because once again in the beginning Kaneki knows nothing of the world, and then suddenly the blue sky appears. The same motif in Katharsis of a hroizon split down the middle with the top representing the clear blue sky, the conscious world, while the bottom reflecting the consciousness is water the unconscious, primal, shadow world of ghouls that Kaneki will eventually plunge himself into.
Who is that inside of me?
Once again, that motif of Kaneki being unaware of his shadow. Learning more about the world, plunging into the depths of his world doubles as a journey where he plunges into the depths of himself.
Finally, a brief mention of Munou. This is still connected to the others, but it’s the least connected to the other three so I’m only going to mentionit a few times. Munou also, starts with a mention of a dream of an illusory world, and uses the same kind of dream logic for its lyrics.
I had a dream. It was of the time we were born. We lived such a beautiful life. In a city of wonbs.
So, that’s what I mean by recurring motif. Now that that’s elaborated on, let’s return to the step by step breakdown of Katharsis. The water cuts to a shot of a bare foot dancing on the surface of the water, I thought this was Rize at first but she’s wearing shoes lateron in the opening. Some people think this could be Ichika. Symbolically, the most important thing of thisshot is that it’s what Kaneki wants to achieve, to be able to walk on the surface of the waters of conscious mind without plung in. As seen in the Toriii gates sene where Rize can walk on the surface of the water that Kaneki just barely struggles to swim in.
I still think it’s Rize’s foot because she’s shown to be barefoot in the Torii gates scene, even though she’s wearing shoes in the opening (Kaneki is barefoot in the Torii Gates scene as well). Kaneki can barely swim in this water, because he hasn’t acknowledgedhis depths, and therefore can’t control it.
The next shot is Kaneki standing on the split horizon sky once again, though this time the sky is pitch black, and dark red, symbolizing the shadow and unconscious. It’s also an inversion of the way that Unravel ends, with Kaneki standing up on the surface once more after plunging into the depths of the ghoul world, his white haired form believing after facing those depths he now has control of them. Unravel ends with Kaneki standing in front of the pure blue sky, whereas Katharsis begins with Kaneki standing in the same position in front of the shadow black and red sky.
Kaneki then when he’sfinally shown in front of the screen, is shown with the broken glass motife behind him.
So, the broken glass and characters being overlaid over the city of Tokyo is a recurrring motif once again in Unravel, Aspyhxia and Katharsis and once again the meaning changes slightlyover the three of them. This breakdown is going to be shorter because I already covered the Jungian concepts involved I promise.
So, in unravel the glass windows are another form of the surface of the water reflecting the horizon symbolsim but showning the depths. Reflections are more illusory moon symbolism, once again water reflects light, the moon can only reflect it generates no light of it’s own. The shadow is a reflection of the subconscious mind, but in the low light it can reveal certain hidden aspects. The glass in Unravel always reveals the hidden ghoul side of the ghouls who appear through it. Kaneki appears as a human in both eyes on one side of the glass, his reflection reveals his ghoul eye, the same for every other ghoul character, the ghoul side is the concealed shadow, and the city of Tokyo reflected in the glass is the second hidden world of ghouls not seen by those who live and dwell on the surface of Tokyo. By reflecting the city of Tokyo on the glass, a symbol for the larger world in general, we are once again making the distinction between two worlds.
The glass is the neat and tidy lines between the two worlds, like the border on the horizon that Kaneki stands on between the opening drawing a line between the sky and the water. When the glass shatters, the two worlds become confused, and the ghoul side is revealed. When character faces are shuffling through the broken glass at the start of the opening, their ghoul side is revealed.
Because once again, the point of the series is to shatter this boundary between the human and the ghoul worlds, break the cage because ghouls should not have to hide their ghoul sides and exist within a secondary hidden world. The fact that there are two worlds is just an illusory distinction forced upon them by V, and the CCG and Washuu who forcethem into hiding. There is only one world that is carved up into two.
However, once again the central metaphor of unravel is once again the more the world becomes broken, the more you become broken by it as well. So, the cracks in the glass that come about by characters embracing their ghoul side are also superimposed on them, especially Kaneki and work as symbols for their own fracturing psyche as well. Then once again returning to Katharsis, the cracks are not superimposed on Kaneki but rather he stand in front of the cracks and the cracks are behind him. Because Kaneki has moved on, taken control of the world and using that power to shatter the cage of the world behind him. However that also has a double meaning, because in order to do that Kaneki had to first break the world further, which creats thedragon that attacks and literally breaks Tokyo, which is the sin the lyrics of the opening elude to. The cracks are behind him, because Kaneki is no longer being broken by the world, he breaks the world.
Just one more mention of Asphyxia, in TG:RE season one Kaneki is working with the CCG to defend Tokyo, so the city is shown in a much less darker light, and Kaneki and the Q’s are superimposed over the city to symbolize their job of protecting it.
In re2 he becomes the enemy of Tokyo, first as the one eyed king, and then as Dragon to shatter the world for the sake of ghoul kind and therefore the city is instead painted blood red as Kaneki is juxtaposed over it.
Oh, don’t disrupt the conclusion. Oh, with these sins I’ve painted
So, once again returning to the lyrics. Don’t disrupt the conclusion sounds like th mindset Kaneki had towards the start of Dragon, that he had to keep going forward to the ending no matter what.
Or, a more optimistc reading, Kaneki’s realization that with all the bad things that happened, there were good things that happened as a result of his life and what he had done as well which finally eases his burden and lets him continue forward for the sake of those good things. So it makes sense that even though he’s sinned, he wouldn’t want the conclusion to be interrupted.
With the sins I’ve painted. The clips that flash by at this point are animation from the first and second episode of Re, where Haise (the conscious mind) is haunted by his repressed memories in the form of an illusory Kaneki.
All three of these are reused animation from Re: season 1, Kaneki’s shadow imagining of his past self reaching forward with the chains from Yamori when he breaks down while preparing to fight Nishiki, Sasaki’s kakugan being shown to us for the first time, and Kaneki crying from the same eye (his ghoul eye) when he sees Touka again after having forgotten of her. All three of these scenes relate to repressed aspects of himself, his repressed trauma from the past, his repressed ghoul eye (Kaneki is most often seen covering it with an eyepatch) and even his beautiful memories from the past ended up being repressed as a result of this, as Kaneki’s desire is to repress his sins, but he can’t because say it again with me this is Katharsis and they come to the surface.
Kaneki falling backwards is once gain, the recurring motif of Kaneki falling and immersing himself into the watery depths of hisshadow, which he also associates withhis repressed ghoul side. It’s not only used in Unravel, it’s also used at the end of Re:1 when Haise finally goes to sleep and allows Kaneki to wake up from his dreams. Falling back helplessly into sinking waters, falling into a dream, all of this imagery repeats itself and is connected.
In Unravel, Katharsis and Ep 12 what Kaneki is falling into is always the same. it’s his ghoul side, which is symbolized by an inversion and reflection. In Katharsis when he fells, we’re shown clips of things Haise associated with (Kaneki) his ghoul side, his torture under Yamori, his kakugan, his memories of Touka.
I kept destroying, even when I’m trying to save something Before long it completely changed, the knife of revolution
Once again, this is Kaneki’s flaw. He wants to protect but he only knows how to fight what’s in front of him. It’s what causes Dragon, and what is acknowledge in the Torii gates scene.
He ends up with a result he didn’t want.
Kaneki wasn’t fighting for the sake of ghouls, and therefore his revolution changedout from under him and he got a result he didn’t want. His revolution was seized from him by Furuta.
The first image we see as these lyrics play is Touka, witnessing Kanekiand the city of Tokyo turn into dragon a clear reference to this panel in the manga. She’s even wearing the same clothes. Dragon is a direct result of Kaneki’s failed revolution, and that revolution being stolen out from under him the lyrics are rather clear.
Kaneki shows up within the water, because he’s disappeared inside dragon. Not only is he inverted to show he’s separated from Touka, but he’s submerged into the water because he’s disappeared inside the ghoul world of shadow entirely now. When he wakes up inside dragon not only is he in a the same utfit, a collared shirt and black pants, the first panel we see with him he’s also inverted.
This is also another reference to Unravel. Kaneki sinks into the depths, while Touka and Rize stand on the surface.
Rize is also wear
Rize and Touka also face opposite directions, because they have the same role but inverted. Both of them are Kaneki’s guides to the ghoul world, but Touka is his passive and willing guide the high priestess, whereas by attacking him Rize forcibly drags him into the world of ghouls. They also represent opposites as well, Rize wants to embraceher ghoul side and might makes right side of ghouls, whereas Touka wants the peaceful side of humans and cares more about a peaceful life where she can live without losing anybody than her strength as a ghoul.
Opposite desires that Kaneki at times finds himself being pulled back and forth between, Kuroneki takes the pacifist approach of Anteiku and simply wants to pass for human, Shironeki tries to live entirely as a ghoul and seize control and power in the ghoul world through might makes right philosophy.
It’s on Rize first that the glass shatters in Unravel, because Rize herself is Kaneki’s violent introduction to the ghoul world, she literally shatters his ignorance by attacking him because he was oblivious to the fact that she was a ghoul and living peacefully as a human. Rize also at times appears as a hallucination to point things out for Kaneki, shattering his own pre conceived notions.
However, the Rize in Katharsis offers a hand out instead. Because once again the Torii scene is about Catharsis, it’snot traumatic for Kaneki to acknowledge his flaws, he’s not further broken by them, they’re necessary for growth. So rather than breaking the world for Kaneki, this time around the image of Rize holds her hand out and invites him to the shadow. It’s also important that Rize and Touka both stand on the water but Rize herself is able not only to walk on it, but dance on it. Walking on water is bilbical symbolsim for one of the absolute control Christ had over himself, but also it’s symbolism for how Rize as a symbol of shadows is aware of these baser desires and embraces them rather then repress them like both Kaneki and Touka do, therefore on the surface of the water she has the most freedom of motion.
Water flashes by again as Kaneki accepts Rize’s invitation and plunges into the depths of his shadow, once again Jungian symbolism Brain Ghost Rize (not real Rize Kaneki’s perception of her) guides her into seeing his unseen thoughts.
Then, Kaneki cracks his knuckles and his kagune appears.
Pierce it so that it can be unraveled, a farewell full of light
The lyrics themselves are more Kaneki’s self discovery and Jungian symbolism. The farewell full of light is probably a reference to this scene. Kaneki says goodbye to Rize, and reaches towards the light immediately afterwards.
But that’s also the symbolic Jungian journey, to reach the light in the first place you had to travel through the shadows. Even if it’s always darkest before the dawn.
THe clips that play accompanying those lyrics are Kanekicracking his knuckle, which is another reference to season one of :Re where Haise did it.
The animation itself is a reference to asphyxia as well as Kaneki is shown in the exact same position, standing with his kagune emerging from his back at the end of the opening. However, Haise is quickly shown to have his image severed because Haise wished to separate himself from his ghoul side as much as possible.
Wheras, Kaneki in Katharsis who is embracing his ghoul side even to the point of overembracing it, has all of his connections to the ghoul world that he reconnects with through Goat reappear in his kagune itself, because it’s his connection to the ghoul world that allowed him to meet all those people appear in his kagune.
Again, the metaphor from this point forward is rather simple. The light Kaneki sees at the end of the tunnel that is worth persisting on this journey for, is the bonds he made along the way that gives meaning to his life.
It’s a light he only realizes after plunging to his lowest point. Also important to mention is that the Q’s don’t show up in Kaneki’s kagune, because they’re associated with his human side,his time at the CCG, and he represses his care for them during his time at Goat which is part of what leads to his downfall. That’s why the Q’s which were so important in Asphyxia the first Op of the season, are completely nonexistent in the second one, not even showing up in Kaneki’s kagune because Kaneki is repressing their importance to him.
Also, the use of the world unravel returns to that central metaphor of unravel, to understand the truth you must first be unraveled by it.
I’ll miss you, I’ll miss you Grant me punishment
The lyrics that play through the Kaneki progressiong through the individual stages of Ken scene, there’s a couple of different interpretations I have.
First, the scene itself start with Chibishiro standing in a field, not of spider lilies which is often associated with him, but rather Bletilla Strieta which are associated with Arima. The reason being that Arima is what ushered in Kaneki’s finalmoment of growth in the manga and ascension to his white haired form. His moment of self actualization. Chibishiro is also heavily associated with Arima. He received a color illsutration in the Christmas chapter which heavily featured Arima.
Then, the “I miss you, I miss you” could also be a reference to Kaneki initiating dragon to save Touka. His wish to be punished being shown in the Torii gates scene after that fact in the manifestation of his guilt for his role in dragon.
Can you still understand me? Reaching out to the light for the immaculate conception: If it’s not me, it can’t be me If it’s not me, collapse it
Kaneki reaches out towards the light, it’s a reference to this scene in the manga pretty clearly.
Also, a lot of people are saying the light Kaneki is reaching up towards is Ichika. That’s a lie, it’s actually the light of an eva reference. (Joke). Jokes aside though, reaching up towards a single point of light is a very clear eva reference to End of Evangelion with the scene in Asuka vs the Mass Production Evas, and the animators most likely intended it that way.
A hand reaches down between them and the light is shared. Once again a lot of people are saying this is Ichika, that’s probably right but not for reasons you think.
The immaculate conception is actually mistinerpreted a lot. A lot of people believe that it’s Mary giving birth to jesus while still a virgin, but actually that’s not it at all. The immaculate conception refers to the fact that Mary herself in order to be capable of giving birth to jesus, was born without original sin. Immaculate conception. Thematically, this is what Tokyo Ghoul is about the concept of Original Sin, that people can’t help but become sinners in such a twisted world.
Immaculate conception doesn’t mean virgin birth, it means being born without original sin. So, it means the future that Kaneki and Touka are both reaching towards, a future where they can have a child born into a world where they won’t be automatically born and forced to sin just because of how broken the world is. Where they’re not born into a life of violence, but born pure instead.
Even a knife pierced here will someday shine with light one day
The final part of the opening, which plays over Touka’s reappearance, and the return of the blue sky. In the sense of Jungian symbolsim, after journeying through the shadow, Kaneki is able to see the light once more and return to the conscious mind having learned something.
As for the themes of the series, once again repeating myself but the lightwhich Kaneki reaches towards is the friends he met along the way as a part of the ghoul world, and he considers that worth enduring the pain for.
Even if a knife pierced here, is a clear line for the wounds he suffered in the past, but he’s still able to look past to see the light. In 178 he reaches for the light, and it cuts to Touka gazing towards the sky.
And, we end finally on a shot of Kaneki at peace with his ghoul self. Compare this to Asphyxia when he uses his ghoul eye his entire human self is covered in shdaow, and Munou when he uses his ghoul eye he sheds a tear of blood, and Unravel where his ghoul eye is only shown when he plunges into the depths and his human eye is never shown at that time and they are seen as entirely separate things.
At the end of his journey, Kaneki is able to stand on the surface of the water again but this time he’s reconciled both parts of himself so standing on the surface of the water he does not have two human eyes, but rather one human eye and one ghoul eye shown in balance.
Thus, Katharsis not only pays tribute to the first opening but rather all four openings and shows us the conclusion to Kaneki’s journey to find balance within himself.
