Tokyo Ghoul

I've been wondering, how many people ever expected Souta, Madam A and the Scrappers to actually be important in the bigger picture of the series?

What was in your right hand is hope; And in another hand is something else to fade.

Probably few to none? Though we've since learned to keep an eye on even minor characters, as Ishida has a tendency to have them pop back up later.

Madam A, Souta, Takizawa, the oft-mentioned Sen Takatsuki.

Chapter 25: ALL ABOARD THE HYPE TRAIN.

• Takizawa vs Sasaki. Sasaki is visibly struggling, gets kicked so hard that his blocking with Yukimura drives it back into his shoulder. He uses his kagune to impale Takizawa, who responds by breaking out his (the arm blade + mass of spikes that Yoshimura and Eto both used). He shreds Sasaki's tentacles, and seems to be dominating the fight. Seems like Sasaki manages to radio others, gives Takizawa a preliminary ranking of SS~. Takizawa tells Sasaki he wants to "share secrets" with him in private.
• Juuzou catches up with Urie and Mutsuki. Juuzou orders Urie to radio for backup, but Urie lies and claims he hasn't been able to contact anyone. Urie and Juuzou begin attacking the customers.
• Ayato shows up to rescue Naki.
• Cliffhanger is three images
  • Shirazu, Saiko, and Naoto (the dude Nutcracker tossed out a window) all looking around a corner.
  • Urie and Juuzou fighting
  • Takizawa strangling Sasaki one-handed — Sasaki looks barely conscious and struggling to get free.

edited 11th Apr '15 2:12:32 AM by harostar

It looks like Window-kun (the guy that got thrown out the window by Nutcracker) is still alive.

All in all, this chapter seems to be going as I predicted (including that Sei-Owl is SS-rated), except that Ayato is going to back up Naki and Miza. Is Hinami still on her way?

I get that Akira is supposed to be badass, but it seems a bit much that she and her crew will be handling most of Aogiri's forces (Naki, Miza and their crews, with Hinami and Ayato on their way). Unless Hinami detours and gets close enough to Seid-Owl vs Sasaki to hear/recognize him or something, leading up to their reunion.

What was in your right hand is hope; And in another hand is something else to fade.

Chinese scans are out, woo.

• Matsuri is still a douchebag.
• Takizawa responds to being impaled by claiming it doesn't bother him because he's used to it.
• When he hears Sasaki's name, he realizes that is why Eto sent him.
• Sasaki orders Shirazu, Saiko, and Naoto to retreat. Takizawa praises him as a wonderful leader for thinking of his subordinates before himself, and wistful notes he had a leader that was like that — thinking he's referencing Amon, and their last stand against Tatara.
• It seems Ayato defied his orders to save Naki, with Hinami noting he abandoned the mission to protect Big Madam.

Holy shit.

"What I want, is your undying loyalty. Or the dying kind. The Green Goblin is nothing, if not flexible..."

That comment that Seidou made about he's used to being impaled kind of disturbs me......

edited 12th Apr '15 2:27:46 PM by Bleddyn

Well, I've seen a few different takes on the line. Some translated/summarized it as him expressing that he's desensitized to pain, while others took it as the more literal he's used to those kinds of injuries.

Other way, it definitely implies he's suffered INCREDIBLE amounts of pain over the last two years.

It reminds me way too much of Kaneki not feeling pain at all in his fight with Yamori or any other fight beyond that.

Either which way the implication is disturbing. I find it interesting how he seems to find Haise respectable though for his leadership.

...Why do I keep picturing Kaneki using his Kagune to swing around like Spiderman, or the characters from Attack on Titan (bonus points for using two Gourmet-style Kagune Blades as well)?

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Did any numbers pop up in this chapter?

edited 15th Apr '15 8:59:57 AM by Sykosis

What was in your right hand is hope; And in another hand is something else to fade.

So more updates on the TG playing card deck Ishida has been working on. Sounds like he's being sneaky in using the Tarot Motifs from the Minor Arcana.

• Kaneki: Ace of Hearts (Ace of Cups)
• Amon: Jack of Diamonds (Knight of Pentacles)
• Roma: Eight of Spades (Eight of Swords)
• Banjou: Five of Clubs (Five of Wands)
• Hinami: Ten of Hearts (Ten of Cups)
• Tsukiyama: Ace of Diamonds (Ace of Pentacles)
• Takizawa: Six of Clubs (Six of Wands)
• Hide: Ace of Spades (Ace of Swords)
• Uta: Eight of Diamonds (Eight of Pentacles)
• Rize: Queen of Hearts (Queen of Cups)

Chapter 26 Hype Train!

• This chapter seems to focus on the other fights going on. We get Juuzou + Urie + Mutsuki, as well as more Hirako Squad vs. Clowns, and Shirazu + Saiko + Naoto vs. Nutcracker.
• Urie REALLY REALLY hates Takeomi, and wants to beat him.
• Uta is a scary mofo, slaps the knives deeper into Hirako's arm and in general looks incredibly creepy.
• Roma sprouts her kagune out of the floor to attack.
• Takeomi officially confirmed for Hardcore Badass. He jumps on the fat Clown's back and breaks his neck. Summary Page with locations/status confirms he just killed a Ghoul with his bare hands.
• Apparently we get more info on the Clowns, waiting for one of the Japanese literate fans to summarize it.
• Mutsuki gets attacked by two Aogiri mooks.
• Nutcracker uses her ceiling trap to impale Shirazu and yank him into the air, which ends the chapter.

edited 18th Apr '15 2:09:34 AM by harostar

Nutcracker seems to have a strong Jurigumo motif to her. Or just a spider motif in general.

Chinese scans out. Holy shit, Takeomi is even MORE of a beast. o.o

Yeah, that and the whole Ohaguro bettari thing.

edited 18th Apr '15 1:04:37 PM by harostar

I'm starting to think that Sasaki's combat skills with his Quinque are an Informed Ability, cos it seems Sasaki gets Worfed to hype Kaneki's eventual permanent return.

What was in your right hand is hope; And in another hand is something else to fade.

I'm not entirely sure, since earlier in this arc we saw him pretty much plowing through everything in his path. We also saw that he could essentially dual-wield his Quinque and Kagune, which I imagine probably takes a lot of skill.

The only opponents he's had trouble against were Nishiki and Takizawa, who are both major league. S and above are generally fought with teams, not soloed. (I was skimming through the Aogiri Arc again, and noticed they mention most members are B-rank. We also know that A-rank is considered very dangerous, so him having trouble isn't surprising when in general S-ranks are considered capable of killing Special Classes.)

edited 19th Apr '15 3:35:51 AM by harostar

Then again, Sasaki got the White Wing Award for defeating an S-rated Ghoul, but we don't know the circumstances. It could have been solo or could have been a team effort.

It was probably pre-Quinx (seeing as they initially didn't know he worked with Suzuya a few times, and I get the feeling that Nishiki was the first S-rated Ghoul they actually faced). Probably when Sasaki was either Rank 3 or Rank 2. Either way, it's basically a Noodle Incident.

---

Hirako has the White Wing Award for defeating a SS-rated Ghoul. Was it for his role in defeating Irimi? Or a different Ghoul?

What was in your right hand is hope; And in another hand is something else to fade.

Good question. We don't know for sure, since the award is only shown in some bonus art Ishida did. So we've got no context as to when it happened.

Did...did Uta get so distracted by Takeomi snapping the mook ghoul's neck that he didn't realise Hirako stabbed him?

edited 19th Apr '15 11:38:47 PM by HanabiraKage

Seems like it.

Every accusation by the GOP is ALWAYS a confession.

He seemed to be both focused on Takeomi and some other agenda since he says "It's time" just before Hirako stabs him.

The Clowns are up to something, and whatever it is, the first (or next) step is about to begin.

---

Also, shouldn't those knives be hindering Hirako quite a bit by now? They've been in embedded in his arm for a while now.

What was in your right hand is hope; And in another hand is something else to fade.

Uta did comment on the knives, at least. Hirako just gives zero shits.

And psssht, as if Uta would be distracted from his entertainment by a little pinprick like that.

At least it's nice to see Mutsuki finally being able to hold his own somewhat. Though it's completely overshadowed by Takeomi doing a neck snap on a freaking ghoul.

posted wrong

edited 20th Apr '15 10:40:33 AM by vanishingreality

With regards to the White Wing Awards, how are they awarded when the Ghoul in question was taken down by group effort?

Example: Yoshimura was defeated by a team effort by Shinohara, Iwao, Suzuya, Houji and Koori.

Who would have gotten the White Wing for SSS-rated? The one who delivered the final blow or all of them?

And do Doves get multiple Awards for defeating multiple Ghouls? Like, 2 White Wings for two S-rated Ghouls etc?

What was in your right hand is hope; And in another hand is something else to fade.

Good question about team efforts.

It seems like you can earn more than one. (Otherwise, Arima hasn't been getting any awards for a while.)

Dunno if it's been shared, but Ishida's notes for the anime included a basic gist of Ratings for Ghouls.

• SSS: unknown criteria.
• SS: A team of Special Class Investigators needed to challenge.
• S~: Equal to a Special Class Investigator.
• S: Equal to an Associate Special Class Investigator.
• A: Equal to a First Class Investigator.
• B: Equal to a Junior Investigator (Ranks 1 - 3).
• C: Very weak Ghoul.