“Let me ask again. Are you… someone who knew Kaneki?”
Impression
Rest in peace, Aliza.
We hardly knew Aliza or Yuuma, so I can’t say I particularly care about their deaths, but it’s rather sad. All Aliza wanted was to save her lover, and she essentially betrays Tsukiyama to get him back – and in the end, Kijima killed him almost immediately after making his video. And really, it was designed to taunt Rose in order instigate a result just like this, so well done to him I guess. This situation really is making Kijima seem like Mado 2.0 more than ever before – it reminded me of how he went after Ryouko and Hinami near the start of the manga, right after killing Hinami’s father – that family was the sweetest, most harmless ghoul family ever, and they were hunted down and killed. As for the wider implications of all this, the CCG are now specifically aware of the Tsukiyama family name, which is not great for poor Master Shuu – because if you remember, the Tsukiyama family actually does have a presence in the human world, and all this time they’ve masqueraded as a rich, upper-class blood-line or something. So things are bad enough, and we’ve also got Kanae revolting on the side. It’s a two-pronged attack – one from Aogiri (or Eto really, I don’t think we can say that her whims are the actions of Aogiri as a whole, even if she is the leader) and one from the CCG led by Kijima.
Amidst all this, it’s rather ironic that Haise knows he’s a ghoul, but is leaving him alone. Haise is pretty cool with non-aggressive ghouls in general – I mean, he’s a half-ghoul himself, but he’s left Uta alone too, and is making friends with Hinami in prison. I guess he’s aware that these people used to know him? I was really surprised that Tsukiyama ended up having a change of heart, though – up until they met and started talking this chapter, he was fully on board with wanting to bring him back. Haise then starts talking about how he’s afraid of change, but knows deep down that facing Kaneki is something he has to do some day – I think this is the point when Tsukiyama finally realized that, although it might be painful for him to not have Kaneki back, it’s even more painful for Haise should he learn about how tragic his life has been up until he started anew. And of course, he finally accepts that Kaneki was more than ‘gourmet food’, and that the anti-Aogiri group were essentially the few actual friends he had. This story has been pretty amazing in terms of Tsukiyama’s development – he’s become a way deeper character than the pompous antagonist he was when he first appeared, or the comedic clown role he served in Root A.
As for Kanou and Naki, that conversation was thought-provoking as well. We now know what Floppy is for certain – it refers to a failure in the half-ghoulization surgery. I find it really interesting that Takizawa, designated T-Owl, was the only true Owl experiment to have succeeded thus far. It means Amon was not considered a success. So then, what is Amon exactly? Is he still human, which would explain him being able to wear Arata? But then why is his arm partially regenerated? Is he somewhere in between human and half-ghoul, which sounds like it’d describe a Ros vicitm? Amon is probably the ‘beloved prototype’ Kanou was referring to – when he said that as the last words of the scene, it immediately shifted to Haise and some other guy talking about Amon. In fact, the words ‘killed in action’ referring to Amon were actually within the same frame as Kanou thinking about his prototype.
I also find it interesting that Kuro and Shiro were considered Floppy. And really, Kanou is an absolute vagina for treating them in the way he did. Kuro and Shiro doted on him! And they were just experiments in his eyes! I guess Eto telling Ayato to dispose of Floppy could refer to a whole range of experiments who escaped – but if it’s a Floppy who’s actively impeding the activities of Aogiri, then yeah, it could either be Amon or Kuro. What on earth is he trying to do with Gagi and Guge? How would he analyse the Qs surgery using their bodies? Does it mean creating half-ghouls from a ghoul base? I have a feeling that it involves using their body parts to create a monstrous abomination, which is why he’s telling Naki they’ll come back to life. I hope Naki snaps and stabs him or something. Actually, I hope Haise, Amon, Kuro, Shiro and Rize all get to inflict some pain on him one day. He deserves it.
It seems Floppy just refers to any of the experiments that fails to get to the level of power he expects. Kaneki rapidly grew from his initial power compared to Shiro and Kuro who Kanou’s labeling shows stayed the same.
Likely the same for Takizawa. Still the fact that Kaneki is the one he’s more interested in shows he considers even Takizawa second place in power and Takizawa hates being in second place.
Also there was a card released of Takizawa not too long ago. He gets a power bonus against Kaneki and Amon, but gets weakened by Akira.
Ah yes, it’s now marked as ??? after not even hitting 1000 after the initial operation. Did he expect Kuro and Shiro to grow even further than about 4000? It would mean Kaneki’s strength is definitely due to Kaneki himself. Or maybe some other factor – Kaneki and Takizawa (who is at around an amazing 7000, with 8000 being the limit) were both near death when they became half-ghouls. Kuro and Shiro adopted it presumably as volunteers, like those who underwent the Qs surgery.
Now I really wish Takizawa had a proper talk with Akira during the auction.