Tokyo Ghoul:re Chapter 66: Old Guard

“Kill the One-Eyed King.”

Impression

I’m writing this having not yet read today’s chapter. I know, I know. It was hard for me too, you know? I refused to read it so that I could write this up whilst completely unbiased. For me, the first thing that came to mind was how the flashback at the end of Kaneki’s fight with Arima at V14 now makes a lot more sense.

“I saw it. On that night, at the end of Rize’s gaze, a Clown was laughing. 
…In hindsight, I don’t know what meaning that held. Since I’m already—“

Now we know perfectly well what meaning that held. Not only is it confirmed (to no-one’s surprise) that Furuta is Souta, but we now know that Rize and Furuta were childhood friends – and that Rize recognised that Clown mask as belonging to her acquaintance from the Sunlit Garden. All that we’re still unsure of is Furuta’s motive. Did he do it on orders of V in an attempt to dispose of Rize? Or, as a lot of people think, was Furuta in love with Rize? A popular theory is that Furuta got jealous after being cucked by Kaneki, and decided to spite Rize by seriously injuring her and turning her into a kakuhou farm to be exploited by Kanou. Eto asked him whether it had something to do with V, but Furuta replied it had something to do with personal complications – so this theory about him failing to win the semen demon of his desires could be quite plausible. In relation to that, the fact that Rize is from the Garden now confirms that that Garden is analogous to V. It was uncertain before, as all we knew was that it was somehow related to CCG recruitment and that the V members Arima and Furuta also happened to have come from the Garden. But if a ghoul like Rize was also ‘bred’ there (implying that the Garden, with all its Adam and Eve connotations, is essentially a eugenics breeding ground) and she came from V, the only logical conclusion now is that the Garden is V. It would mean that Hairu would also be from V, but she certainly had the same ridiculous reflexes and dodging ability that Arima and Furuta have. At any rate, she’s too dead for that to matter, right Ishida?

I’ve come to really like Eto. It’s like she’s in cahoots with Kaneki at this point. I love how she just casually tells him to just knock for her if he wants to visit, like they’re neighbours or something.

She’s sharing lots of free info with him, and even getting him to plant recording devices in her cell for his benefit – Kaneki must have learned a lot from that alone, not least of all the fact that Furuta is in V and that Furuta was responsible for making him the star of his very own tragedy to begin with. Most of all, Eto has done something that no other character in the series has yet managed to do – get one up over Furuta. All this time he’s been portrayed as an infallible mastermind, right from when he first killed Matsumae – he’s affiliated with so many different factions from Aogiri and the Clowns to the Ghoul Restaurant, the CCG and V. It’s like he’s been in control of everything this entire time. What Eto did was to knock him down a peg or two, and reveal that he’s not perfect – he has weaknesses like everyone else (except Arima) and it’s that he’s supposed to be a Washuu. I don’t know whether this means the Washuus are all from the Sunlit Garden too, but it seems as if Furuta is Yoshitoki’s disowned son or something. It’d make him Matsuri’s brother, but for reasons yet unknown Furuta has not been accorded the status of a Washuu. And he’s incredibly bitter about it. I felt all warm and fuzzy inside when Eto destroyed him. Maybe if I wasn’t already devoted to Hinami I might have fallen for her then.

Speaking of Hinami, we now have a designated rescue squad for her – consisting of Ayato, Banjou and Amon! Or is Amon not with them? I mean, I’m happy to see him back (hopefully with Kuro) but it would be a little odd if he’s opted to work not only with Aogiri, but also in pursuit of Hinami instead of on Rue Island. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t want to confront the majority of his former colleagues? He might be after Donato in Cochlea, and Ayato could want to try freeing Arata too if he’s still alive. I think we have enough going on at Rue to make things exciting even without Amon being there – Tatara vs Houji is being hyped up for example, as is Takizawa vs Houji and perhaps Akira fitting somewhere in there. At Cochlea we might get a re-match for Kaneki vs Ayato and perhaps even Kaneki vs Arima, depending on how he chooses to act when confronted by them.

The only other thing I wanted to mention was the One-Eyed King. Why exactly does Eto want Kaneki to kill the OEK? Wasn’t her final book supposed to rally all the ghouls under this figurehead to revolutionise society? I feel like I don’t understand the slightest thing about the OEK, just like Furuta. If it’s ‘in their bellies’ as Eto says, does that mean the belly of the CCG or V? Does that mean it’s Arima? I know it’s becoming increasingly clear that he’s not entirely human, and if he’s blind in one eye it’ll be a symbolic title for him and all that – but wasn’t Arima aligned with V? It’s probably not Kaneki purely because Eto is asking Kaneki to kill whoever it is, unless it’s some deep philosophical notion about Kaneki killing a personality within himself or something stupid like that. I really don’t think it’s Kaneki. Who are we left with, though? Amon? Hide?