The last smile they wanted to see.
Impression
Ahh, I want to be slapped by Hinami~!
…Sorry. I want to first address a quick issue that should have been mentioned as part of last week’s post. Depending on which scanlation group’s translation you chose to read, when exactly you read it, and whether you’ve been keeping up with :re-related updates and spoilers over the week, you may or may not already know this. It’s to do with the last page of Chapter 68 – MS offered the full (and correct) translation of that page, while Helvetica missed it completely in their initial release (but later corrected their mistake). It should look like this.
It’s done in a style similar to the way Urie talks, in that what Kaneki is telling himself about his own motives is different from what he really means or intends deep down. Taken together with the penultimate few pages, Kaneki’s lines are therefore: “…Hide. I… just like you, I want to die in style.”
Which is just… well, holy shit. In other words, he’s still suicidal. I remember questioning last week whether he admired Hide’s selflessness or just thought it was a good way to die in style, and it looks like I’ve got my answer. Kaneki has confirmed the nature of his ‘last job’ this week as well – he wants to rescue Hinami, then be killed by Arima. He seems so certain that no-one or nothing can stop Arima at all – I know he knows a lot about his abilities having seen them up close many times, but it feels like he’s underestimating his own strength especially in the wake of his victory against Eto. It’s like he has zero self-confidence. Regardless of his strength I guess his objective is to die, but I doubt he’d accept a death where he isn’t going all-out against an opponent he truly can’t defeat – that might not be ‘dying in style’ from his point of view. Also, if he’s saying that Hide died in style, does that mean it’s confirmed that Hide is kill?
At least, we know one scenario which would have satisfied the conditions Kaneki wants to die in – his fight with Arima in V14 as Centipede. I still think we’re going to get Centipede crawling around in Cochlea, whether that’s as a result of Hinami’s death (Ishida don’t you dare) prompting him to go insane or otherwise. Haisaki seems to be suggesting as such – he’s talking about Cochlea being part of his body and vermin running amok while he’s clutching his ears. If that isn’t a subtle reference to Kaneki having gotten a centipede put inside his ear then I don’t know what is.
In other news, Touka is finally doing something! I guess her and Yomo being the gas masks means the theory that Hide was one of them is now debunked. Yomo being around is reassuring, because he’s one of the few ghouls in the series to have faced Arima before and lived – on the other hand, Touka appearing might not be such a great thing. Think about it. It’s both Kirishima siblings in Cochlea, and their father has been exploited by the CCG as a kakuja farm for god knows how many years now. And they’re heading deeper and deeper into Cochlea, where there’s supposedly some sort of exit – I’m pretty sure they’ll be served a dose of Ishida’s brand of suffering at its very best. Speaking of that exit, does it really exist? Given that it’s a prison for ghouls, and that the more dangerous the ghoul, the lower underground they’re held captive, it wouldn’t really make sense for there to be an alternative exit somewhere lower down. Does it have any connection to V? At any rate, Kaneki, Banjou and Ayato all seem convinced that there’s a way of getting out – and I’m sure Banjou and the rest of them aren’t suicidal like Kaneki is, no matter how much they want to rescue Hinami.
I sure hope we’ll be staying at Cochlea instead of moving to Rue Island next week. It was one of my biggest worries for the chapter – that Ishida would try to cover a bit of both every week instead of concentrating on the more interesting one (which is Cochlea for now, at least until Amon, Takizawa, Akira, Houji and Tatara have their high school reunion). Not least of all because Furuta has appeared in front of Hinami and Kaneki, and I’m terrified to say that I have absolutely no idea what Furuta will do. It’s honestly unpredictable. Will there even be a fight? What does V want the outcome of this incident to be? Is he acting on orders of V? If so, will Furuta go along with V’s wishes, or will his personal grudges (against Eto and possibly Rize) be put first, since hurting Kaneki is a sure-fire way to get back at Eto? Was he the one who gave the key card to Ayato, and if so does he want a breakout to happen? If a fight does begin, what’s his true power level? Will they get anywhere before being interrupted by Arima? I can’t tell anything from that creepy Clown smile of his, and all my instincts are telling me is that something very, very bad might happen to Hinami next chapter.
