#tg speculation

[lacuna-matata]

Uhh...”NEXT ISSUE: END CREDITS”...I still can’t decide if it’s a fakeout...H E L P

[hamliet]

In a mirror, darkly; but then face to face

This is based on an earlier meta I wrote that I decided to clean up a bit in light of what's happened recently in canon. Take it with a lot of salt because it contains a fair amount of speculation.

The Quinx are foreshadowed to play a role in bringing down Dragoneki. As we're still in the moon arc, that means Kaneki hasn't been able to look at himself or his flaws properly. Fortunately, we have the literal embodiments of three of those flaws and the possible undead embodiment of another flaw trained specifically to take down Sasaki (aka Kaneki's illusionary self). Ishida kind of outlined these flaws for us pretty early on in :re:

Urie: will keep his mouth shut again

Mutsuki: will lie again

Saiko: will sleep again

Shirazu: will carry the burden again

In some ways these are contradictory flaws. Urie's is the passive version of the same flaw as Mutsuki's, which is the active version. Saiko's is the passive version of Shirazu's active one. If we wanted to break them down a bit more I'd say it's kind of like this: 

Urie: I can't face the truth, so I will keep quiet about it (passive)

Mutsuki: I can't face the truth, so I'll lie about it (active)

Saiko: I can't bear to lose anyone else, so I will ignore it by giving up my burdens/agency until I have no options left (passive)

Shirazu: I can't bear to lose anyone else, so I will take on everyone's burdens (active) 

Kaneki's embodied all of these flaws in the past arc. It's true that these flaws seem to be paradoxical in that Urie's and Mutsuki's are inverses of one another's, and Saiko's and Shirazu's are as well, but Kaneki is often a paradox of a character anyways. In this arc he can't face the truth, and he can't bear to lose anyone, and so he can't make a decision, flounders, and faces severe consequences for it by becoming Dragoneki. He's essentially be consumed into his worst nightmare by refusing to acknowledge his flaws. 

He didn't tell Touka about Yoriko but instead passive-aggressively left the papers for her to find, and he also kept quiet about the fact that he's literally dying:

He lied to the ghouls he was supposed to be leading by pretending to be something he's not (a king):

He tried to carry the burdens for everyone:

And he surrendered his agency to Furuta, who literally warned him about his plan:

But if a sun arc comes and Kaneki can look at his flaws/the Quinxes, and accept them and accept that he is both ghoul and human, both capable of good and capable of evil, he has a chance to grow as a character and to actually make a decision about what he wants in life. And he would still have a place with Touka and their baby, since her character is uniquely positioned to understand him and to help him recover from Dragoneki, because he's kind of switched roles with Touka. At the beginning of TG, Kaneki's and Touka's fears and resulting flaws could be summed up as:

Kaneki: don't hurt my loved ones, hurt me instead (passive)

Touka: don't hurt my loved ones, I'll hurt you instead (active)

Like Urie and Mutsuki, and Saiko and Shirazu, they're inverses of each other. And by this point in the story they almost seem to have switched places: Kaneki's become more active, willing to hurt ghouls but not to kill until recently, when he committed the ultimate act of hurting to protect his loved ones by savagely eating a hundred children: 

Whereas Touka's been passive for quite awhile now. Her forgiveness of everyone is a good thing in some ways, but it also fits a pattern among members of Goat (Tsukiyama, Hinami, etc.) in that she's prioritizing others' wellbeing above her own, and I think the narrative suggests kind of a gray view of that rather than a wholly positive or wholly negative one. She cut Yoriko out of her life like Kaneki cut Hide out and now the Quinxes, and will have to reckon with that. Which is to say: Touka and Kaneki have each been in each others' place before, and therefore are positioned to understand each other and help each other move forward. (And also, Touka's now going to have to become more active. Her husband is destroying Tokyo and that's not a story you'll want to tell your kid.) 

But back to the Quinx. They are kind of a major mess right now. Like, I feel like they all need saving before they can save Kaneki. This is definitely speculation, so take this with like a huge dose of salt, but it is also true that Mutsuki and Urie have also kind of switched places in terms of how their flaws affect them: Mutsuki's inability to face his violent nature firstly drew people to his meek persona, and now his inability to face the truth is pushing everyone away; Urie's inability to face his own weakness led to his desperation to become strong, which pushed everyone away, and now everyone (read: Saiko) is clinging to him because he's focusing on trying to be Shirazu. 

Through looking at each other, they might be able to accept their flaws and grow (this doesn't have to mean romance, I know I love Mutsurie and talk about it a lot but that isn't what I'm saying here).

Saiko and Shirazu haven't switched places... yet. But I'm curious because Saiko’s development essentially completely stalled curiously after Shirazu's death. This is definitely speculation, but were he to return--say, without much agency, because even if he does have a free will and I hope he does, he may be limited in terms of what he can do because of that medicine Okahira mentioned--I wonder if that would spur Saiko to have to take agency for herself, and to see each other clearly and save Kaneki. 

[hamliet]

So about that volume cover...

Under the cut

It makes sense that it’s Juuzou because of the 13 he used to wear in his hair, but it definitely increases my suspicions that this is not the end of :re. If it was the end of :re, I would have placed money on it being Kaneki.

[hamliet]

Eto vs. Furuta Round 2

I would really love for Eto, if she’s alive, to have a role in thwarting Fruit’s plans. Because it doesn’t seem to be a great one--I’m not sure that uniting to kill a common enemy is a good way to ensure the cooperation of species, but maybe that’s what he intends: for everyone and the entire city to work together to die. The response to Eto’s last novel, on the other hand, at least seemed to show that empathy could be a solution in which people get out alive (as @arvendell has said to me). If Eto is dead, this could still happen if the theory that Hide has been working with Eto is true, and Hide is able to calm Dragoneki. 

Basically I just want Eto to be like not today Satan to Furuta even if it’s from beyond the grave. 

(I also don’t think Furuta has the right to die if he dies laughing, so I don’t think this is the end for him just yet.)

[hamliet]

so everyone is pretty certain that the rescue plan is gonna fail. even tho we haven't even seen their entire plan, just them gathering intelligence and helpers. what do u you think is gonna happen as a successful plan b. (not sure if someone already asked this so sorry if someone did)

No worries! I don’t mind getting double asks; I’ll just redirect you to a previous answer if so.

But in this case I actually don’t know. It entirely depends on how plan A goes wrong. If Kaneki goes berserk, the plan might actually succeed, but with a great cost, like the death of some characters like Banjou and other unnamed ghouls/CCG agents, etc. (If they have an arc they’re safe, and Saiko and Hide, despite not having arcs, have plot armor so don’t fear for them.)

If something goes wrong with Amon (pretty likely at some point), which may happen alongside or instead of (or even after) the first scenario, that could just delay and complicate plan A, which will ultimately work but like, not without a cost and without major complications.

I do think they will ultimately find Kaneki by looking for the ring, and rescue him, though maybe with complications. But another possibility is that, complications or not, he may not be in his right mind when they rescue him, and it may take the Quinx and the Aces together to get him back into his right mind (a la when Saiko had to calm down an out of control Urie). Which would imply the Quinxes have been able to grow. Which would imply complications that would delay the rescue of Kaneki a volume or two.

Basically: anything’s game!

[hamliet]

Do you know the meaning of the flower or tree associated to Mutsuki? It keeps appearing like when Shirazu said in the disco that Tooru and Urie's parents weren't around and probably some other times with Torso and maybe even in chapter Several Lies in the first panel there's a tree which looks similar. It also appears in chapter 21 in the first page when Mutsuki remembers being bullied.

Ooh, that’s super interesting.

@sentrakk points out it appears in 126 too:

I honestly don’t know. The tree is pretty vague. But they do look like they could be non-flowering cherry blossoms (this is absolute speculation they could really be almost any kind of tree with those leaves)

Which symbolize life, death, and renewal/rebirth in Japan. Also in China they symbolize femininity and romantic love so that would seemingly fit (especially in 126), but idk.

[hamliet]

Hi im the anon that said we could get a third part ah i didn't really mean a third part about kaneki journey tho because obvi that would not make sense. But maybe someone else that will handle the v garden stuff because kaneki will give up the throne to be with touka & baby.

It could happen! But I still prefer not to, since TG is very much Kaneki’s journey. I know I’ve been saying Urie and Mutsuki are also protagonists but they also kinda should step away lol, so we shall see. 

[anexistentialanimenerd]

TG:re CH 109 Predictions

Ok, (I hope to the Lord I did that title right anyways,)hello! I'm back and why not guess what 109 is gonna be about. First) I think that something major is going to go down with Mutsuki, it's a hunch and the more likely thing is that Urie is going to get devastated and will probably be saved or go beyond Frame 3. This would probably get him even closer to being a full One Eyed Ghoul. Second) We might see Kaneki go to the lab however...Furuta greets him. Though, Furuta appearing there is a little bit too ridiculous...but, we can't let that logic slip from him. Overall, I think this chapter will focus on Donato VS Urie with a little Kaneki action in between. This may all be true but, then again, maybe not. Anyways, I hope you have enjoyed the latest TG:re Chapter Prediction and enjoy the chapter when it comes out!