Tokyo Ghoul

This chapter felt weirdly short when I was reading it, but in terms of number of pages it's roughly the usual length. Maybe because we had more big panels than usual?

(Touka's greeting to Hinami was cute, but I think she's a little old for that now...)

I wonder if Kaneki had some idea of Ayato's plans. Ayato probably didn't know about Kaneki's (he was surprised by the alarms going off early), but Kaneki might have planned things to coincide with Ayato's timing. (Also, vaguely disappointed that Ayato didn't have some choice words for his "anatomy tutor".)

Come on Kaneki, you have to make it out of here. You need a longer reunion with Touka!

Time for more suffering.

Please note that this chapter has some REALLY REALLY dark stuff.

Ch. 73:

• Kaneki recalls once being lectured by Arima about talking to ghouls while on mission. Akira reported he was being "too naive".
• Kaneki is sad about fighting Arima, and wonders what he is thinking. He feels that he's disappointed Arima, and there are apparently hints that he doesn't really want to die at Arima's hands.
• Arima is blind in his right eye.
• Arima stabs Kaneki through the stomach during their fight, and later cuts off Kaneki's legs while lecturing him to take things seriously. He seems to realize Kaneki isn't fighting seriously.
• It seems the Cochlea battle is taking place on December 19th, five days after the start of the Rushima Invasion. The CCG is struggling, because Aogiri is resorting to guerilla tactics and well-defended. Yoshitoki gets word about Cochlea, and orders news about it silenced.
• Torso brings Mutsuki a flower crown, but gets angry when Mutsuki glares at him and won't accept his compliments. He beats Mutsuki violently while screaming insults.
• As a child, Mutsuki's father abused him. He learned that if he played along, he wouldn't be hurt. We get a Big Madam & Juuzou parallel, with his father saying "Here's your reward".
• Later, the two are lying together on a makeshift futon. Torso says that he only "scolds" Mutsuki because of how deep his love is, and Mutsuki cries while agreeing. He thinks that he is cursed.
• Elsewhere, the Quinx are running through the forest and Urie catches the scent of Mutsuki's blood....

edited 16th Apr '16 4:08:54 AM by harostar

Huh, so Kaneki really is taking a dive. What a way to waste that last page of the previous chapter there, Coffee World.

Mutsuki...huehuehue. Fuck it, I'm not even going to hide nor apologize for my shadenfreude this time. I'm a terrible human being.

edited 16th Apr '16 5:42:56 AM by Sykosis

Kaneki loses his legs just as we get back to the Mutsuki situation? Is Ishida going for a parallel between the two? Some similarities between them have always been floating around, but so far there isn't much concrete material.

Also, jesus christ that's some dark crap happening to Mutsuki. Hope the Quinx can get to him...

The fact that Arima is telling him to take it seriously makes me think he really doesn't want to kill Kaneki either.

edited 16th Apr '16 9:47:52 AM by OmegaRadiance

Or he wants Kaneki to kill him.

edited 16th Apr '16 10:11:44 AM by Cross

Someone commented on chapter ending with Arima talking to a ghoul when in beginning he told him to not speak to ghouls xD I wonder if that means anything

Technically Kaneki is only half ghoul, so Arima's not breaking any rules. ^^

I really hope Ishida's not going the "Mutsuki's not trans, just confused about being abused" angle.

I'm pretty Mutsuki really isn't transgender, just a transvestite binding her chest. They've never mentioned Mutsuki undergoing sexual reassignment surgery, only the QS surgery.

While true, I don't consider being transgender to be dependent on undergoing gender reassignment surgery. More about the gender one identifies as.

edited 16th Apr '16 8:00:47 PM by Lightysnake

I recall reading that hes to young for the transgender surgery yet so that's why hes still a women.

Also does anyone expect Torso to put up a good fight or that he'll fail epically like the piece of shit that he is?

edited 16th Apr '16 8:58:26 PM by slimcoder

Having just read the chapter it's pretty clear to me that the reason Kaneki doesn't want to fight Arima is because he does care about him. Even admitting he wanted so hard to live to Arima's expectations.

He'll probably try to act tough and get oneshotted by Urie. Maybe just tossed aside like a ragdoll.

edited 16th Apr '16 9:19:22 PM by HanabiraKage

Torso deserves that. More than any other Ghoul at this point.

Alright then were all in agreement.

I also would love if it went like uh Torso acting big especially if he just got the shit beaten outta of em by the Quinx squad who barely have injury & while hes screaming Mutuski from behind impales him with his bikaku & when he looks back in disbelief asking "why, why" all he does is just give him a death glare & then brutally finishes him off with a Perfect Fatality.

edited 16th Apr '16 9:49:06 PM by slimcoder

I just do kind of want to reiterate though that I don't really consider reassignment surgery the deciding factor on whether one is trans. Not everyone can get that, after all.

Point is, I just hope Mutsuki's LGBT issues are not simply the result of rape. It's a pretty lazy stereotype and I expect way better of Ishida.

It appears to be due to both rape and abuse in general. It seems that Mutsuki is trying to escape from oppression by changing genders...but what worries me is that in this chapter Mutsuki appears to have accepted that it's her destiny to be abused by men. I don't want to know what that'll mean for her psyche.

Yeah, while Ishida's inclusion of LGBT characters has been refreshing, the deaths of Kanae and Big Madam is starting to push into Bury Your Gays, and Mutsuki's case is becoming a bit heavy-handed.

Anyway, Torso's already had his ass kicked before by Urie (and Shirazu, RIP), probably the same thing will happen again once the QS find him. Possibly more lethal this time, though.

I've only just realised, but...that's not a bodysuit on Kaneki, is it? It's what his skin actually looks like now after being covered in scales, post-Eto-consumption?

That's not really better. It' a really, really lazy stereotype and filled with Unfortunate Implications. And I give Ishida way more credit

Except that Kanae was actually female, so she isn't homosexual.

Well, let's just see how it goes.

Kanae is the T in LGBT. (Depending somewhat on exactly how you define trans, but I think excluding her from it is a bit nitpicky.)

Edit: Ah, you meant the Bury Your Gays thing. Fair enough, but I think something very similar applies to trans characters.

edited 18th Apr '16 7:12:08 AM by ashnazg

But Kanae doesn't identify as a guy, but chose to be be one because of family issues. Kanae is as transgender as Tsugumi from Nisekoi.

Okay, I think I may just not be very clear on where the boundaries are drawn for transgender classifications.

My understanding is that there's......like.....the general umbrella of Transgender stuff. And then there's the Academic side, which includes not only "Doesn't identify as their birth sex" but also cultural and ritual variations such as the Sworn Virgins — women basically renouncing their womanhood, swearing an oath of chastity, and being granted a male identity in the eyes of their community for the purpose of stuff like inheritance when their family/clan lacks a male heir.

So while Karren never identified as a man, and therefore doesn't meet the standard of being Transgender......her situation would be discussed by Academics in terms of Transgender/Gender Variation studies.