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ipsen · 11 months

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Eto Character Analysis

Big long post coming. Couldn’t help myself.

Admittedly, I’m mostly stealing from this post from the old ages (it’s crazy good and turned Eto into my favorite character), so you can read that and honestly get the same information. But I figured I’d take a swing at the behemoth myself.

Also wanna preface the analysis with the fact that I’m using the official translations as my source, as I can’t access the original scans and also couldn’t read them even if I did (cursed by monolingual tendencies).

Under the cut!

Eto is, unfortunately, a character that is built mainly on subtext crammed into very few chapters. Figuring her out is very difficult and a lot of her more nuanced traits can go over most people’s heads (it’s easy to call her insane, for example, and while she does have a few issues up in the old cranium, i’d hardly call her that).

The most important thing about Eto to keep in mind when discussing her is that she has been failed, and as a result of that, she also believes that she has failed those around her.

Her father left her in what is basically a literal shithole, especially for a baby. Her mother, though she died without really knowing Eto, did leave a journal behind, and Eto’s singular insight to the work regarding herself is that she is just a “byproduct,” and her foster parent got killed (presumably) protecting her from V, punting her to an orphanage where she’d have to steal money to survive (see: re 62), and presumably pretty often at that.

She got insanely lucky with the writer gig and shiono, who-- side note-- means a lot to her. Finally, a positive adult figure in her life! Unfortunately, he is a) only human, and b) her editor/coworker, so his positive influence, while welcome, is limited. still, she picks up his cute little hand gestures and I, personally, appreciate that (see: re 62 and compare it to TG 114).

Just the greatest.

Where was I... Ah, Eto being failed by those around her. And where does that leave her? Look no further than TG 98:

“A replacement is merely a replacement.” Eto doesn’t believe in found family, because she never actually found one.

And within the context of this chapter, we learn another thing about Eto. Whenever she interacts with someone and “breaks” them (the Yasuhisas, Kanae), she heavily projects onto them (because she recognizes their situation; notice how she only ever targets people who are both relatable to her and weaker than her) and breaks apart the “lie” the target tells themself, even if it isn’t entirely accurate:

(re 43) This is a false statement; Kanae does wish for Shuu to recover, he’s just upset it’s happening like this. Because who wouldn’t be, in his situation? Despite everything that he and the others did for Shuu, the only thing able to bring him out of his depression is the very thing that caused it. But I digress.

Back on track, there’s also Haise’s analysis of her work, the most personal thing she has, to consider when discussing her in re 39:

Once again, the void rears its ugly head.

Hopelessness. Emptiness. Filling it with anger and bitterness, and it’s never enough, but it’s all she has. Because the void can only be filled by the things she can never have.

So she throws herself at the CCG, banging her head against its walls with small raids alongside some fellow ghouls and then taking on the special investigators by herself. She’s 14, she’s a kakuja, and she’s mad. Mad at the world that failed her, mad at V for making it the way it is, and mad that things haven’t changed for a very long time. She has Ukina’s journal; she knows how stale the “narrative” is.

Of course, her raids don’t work very well, but she’s basically just a kid. She is as old as Hinami during TG.

Then, she’s finally thrown a bone, and is worse off for it:

Something I’ve noticed when factoring Arima’s influence into Eto’s character is that there is an assumption that the power dynamic between them is equal. It isn’t. I cannot stress this enough; there is a hierarchy at play here, and Eto isn’t the one on top. How do we know this?

(TG 139)

(re 52)

Kaneki was the new toy to replace Eto, the old one.

The ultimate plan is “the One-Eyed King will destroy the egg of V’s world and make something new.” By the time Kaneki does take the throne, this plan has been going on for 13 years. Kaneki was chosen as a candidate at the ten-year mark; he had to have been a non-factor before then. So who is left to become the king instead?

Eto.

The age difference between her and Arima is roughly 4-5 years. Remind you of another relationship?

(TG 14)

Uh-oh.

To reiterate, Eto is a 14-year old kid who has been abandoned by everyone who could possibly love her the way she wants. She desires parental love, protective love, the kind of love that makes her feel safe, when she has only ever fought to defend herself.

Enter someone who is far stronger than she could ever be, someone who could actually offer her the protection she so desperately wants. Unfortunately, Kishou Arima is the endgame mindset of Black Reaper Kaneki, to put it simply: someone who is impossibly distant, wants to die, and craves the approval of everyone.

Let’s expand on Arima for a brief moment. “Craves the approval of everyone,” specifically. He is both the One-Eyed King and the greatest ghoul investigator that ever lived. He doesn’t pick one or the other, and when he dies, he doesn’t have to pick. He is mourned by the CCG, and Kaneki, ever a puppet in someone else’s game, carries on his legacy and “wish“ for coexistence.

Eto is no exception to his godly levels of charisma. She is one of Hinami’s foils, and we know how quickly and easily she latched onto Kaneki. It’s safe to assume that something similar happened with Eto and Arima.

And Eto failed him. She doesn’t become king; someone else does. Someone very similar. And yet, when faced with this new person:

(re 56)

Well, then.

Eto also does everything in her power to give Kaneki the information he needs to break the eggshell. She freely gives away information about V, the Washuu’s involvement with them, the connection to the CCG, everything. Or as much as she can give him while under Cochlea’s surveillance.

So what’s the game here? Why does she support Kaneki, the one who basically stole Arima's approval, something everyone around him wants, from under her nose? Better yet, why is she aiding the search for her “replacement” in the first place? Because remember, even before Kaneki registered on her radar for a candidate for the OEK, she and Aogiri were searching for Kanou, the one-eyed ghoul maker specialist man. Aogiri wanted to use Kanou to make as many possible candidates beyond just Kaneki. So even without Kaneki in the picture, Eto wants a replacement. She wants this. Why?

Well, here’s what I think she actually wants:

(re 53)

There’s no other explanation that I can think of for why she would willingly get herself arrested and leave Aogiri to be fully exterminated on Rushima (the One-Eyed Owl totally could have turned the tables of that battle). She’s only lived as long as she has because she doesn’t want to leave anything unsaid. This is also the reason why she reveals herself as a ghoul as Takatsuki; she’s effectively destroying her own career while simultaneously giving V a huge middle finger.

This desire to close off everything she’s built up until now and pass the torch to Kaneki is also represented in her haircut; she’s literally shedding her burdens to give to someone else. Someone similar to her, but kinder than her. Better than her.

(re 52)

I’ve said what I’ve come to say. Thanks for reading!

#tokyo ghoul #eto yoshimura #sen takatsuki #tg meta #tokyo ghoul meta

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ipsen · 11 months

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Intangibility

For @weektg!

Inspired by day 6: Romance (if you can call this that). And, of course, once again cross-posting from AO3, as is my wont.

Not to be completely predictable, but it’s more EtoKen from me. One day I’ll write something else for this fandom. Maybe. No promises.

This is literally the only thing I wrote besides Bitter Dream, which I’ll be reblogging at some point. Enjoy the rest of TG Week everyone! Looking forward to everyone’s pieces.

Kaneki should’ve known what she was up to. But, like with most things, Eto was one step ahead.

He was to be her shadow in the days following her arrest. The CCG, while it seized her home and belongings, had designated a hotel room for her to stay in; they had just arrived after a morning shopping trip, where she’d bought that haircut kit.

The first thing he asked was, “Why?”

And her first response was to laugh. “Do I always need a reason to do the things I do?”

“Yes,” he said. “Senselessness doesn’t suit you, Ms. Takatsuki.”

In her chair before the dresser, she laughed again, but it was more of a giggle this time. He felt more unsettled by it, because the One-Eyed King wasn’t supposed to be… this.

Tracing the edge of the box with her finger, she smiled. “You know me so well.”

And he imagined that was as far as he’d get.

“So will you do it?” She turned slightly. “Or shall I go to a barber instead? Spend what remains of my funds?”

Because they’ll be suspended soon. What they both know to be true went unspoken. It was inevitable now that she was officially on the CCG’s radar. One RC scan and that was the end of it.

“What else would you spend it on?” he asked.

“I was thinking charity.”

Charity? “Charity?”

“Charity.”

His eyes narrowed. “What kind?”

With a flick of her thumb, she cut the packaging open. “You know.”

He didn’t. “You expect too much of me.”

“Do I?” She brought the box closer to her, opening the top and examining its contents. “You need stronger shoulders.”

“Hmph.”

Hadn’t he borne enough weight for enough time? Hadn’t he suffered long enough? And for what? The world had betrayed him at every turn. His aunt hated him. Hide was gone. His own mother had beat him. And now Takatsuki was another farce too, another sick joke with him as the victim. It was all for nothing. All meaningless. He refused to let this world hurt him further.

So, when he was done, he would go out with a bang, and then everyone would—

“Kaneki.”

Eto’s voice pierced his thoughts and threw him off-trail, as it always did. Sometimes, he felt like she had a special sense for it. Then again, she was an author.

“What?” he sneered. It didn’t deter her, unfortunately. Nothing he did would.

“I was thinking of a bob cut. Thoughts?” She twisted her head this way and that, the mane that was her hair swaying as she did.

“Why?”

She sighed. “Again with the whys…”

A memory of trailing behind the Asaokas reared its head, and he glimpsed her from afar at one of her early signings. “You used to wear your hair like that, when you were just starting out.”

“Oh, you remember!” She giggled this time. “How sweet of you. So?”

He scoffed and turned away. “I’m not your babysitter.”

“So cold, Investigator! You’re my escort, right? The least you could do is indulge me.”

She let the box spill from her hands back onto the dresser as she leaned back in her seat.

“I’m only supposed to keep an eye on you.” Kaneki crossed the room to their luggage. “You can pretend like I’m not even here.”

“I could never ignore you.” He felt Eto’s eyes on his back as she spoke. “Oh, that’s for you, by the way.”

He had picked up a wrapped package; judging by its size and shape, he guessed it to be a book. He didn’t say anything— giving her ammunition to play with was a dangerous act— but he did examine it a bit closer.

“It’s the author’s copy for Takatsuki’s last work.” He heard the chair squeak as she stood up. “I won’t be using it, so it’s for you.”

The disgusting voice in the back of his mind— the one rebelling against his chosen path— told him to open it. In front of her, no less. But that would mean giving her the advantage. Giving her what she wanted.

“It’s called King Bileygr,” she continued, either unaware of (unlikely) or not caring for his inner turmoil. “I’ve always wanted to write it.”

Bileygr. Another name for Odin. Rough translation: one who lacks an eye. So in other words, the One-Eyed King.

Three years ago, he might have cared, but no such emotion filled him now. Aogiri, Takatsuki, the CCG— none of it mattered to him anymore. And besides, her arrest had already sealed her fate; any extra evidence was redundant.

He threw it back on top of her other things, and it made an ugly noise. He waited for her to comment, as was her wont, but nothing came. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her drift to one of the two beds in the room, flop on top of it, and then become still.

He watched her openly; there was no point in pretending otherwise, because he knew she knew. She simply stared at the ceiling with those eyes whose shade reminded him of a coming storm. A quiet, brewing phenomenon waiting for the right moment to burst and destroy everything in its path when it did.

Anger.

This was the manager’s child, he unfortunately remembered. The manager, who had left her in the 24th ward, which Touka once described as a shithole.

“Kuzen learned about the One-Eyed Owl, a ghoul who hated the world.”

Sorrow.

Against the bed frame, Eto’s small body looked even smaller. One of the largest known kakuja in the CCG’s database was, in truth, just this petite woman staring at nothing before him.

“She seems to have lost hope in everything; she expects nothing from anybody…”

Bitterness.

Kaneki picked up the package with King Bileygr in it, and his thumb brushed over the packaging.

“I… I like you!! We’re so similar!”

Betrayal.

(…)

He moved it to his own bag, then stood over her, making his first mistake. “Get up,” he commanded.

She glanced sideways at him. “Hm? For what?” Her tone, light and fleeting like the bird she was, betrayed her caged body language.

He walked to the dresser. “A bob cut, right?”

And for the first time, she followed him.

She took her seat again in front of the dresser, hands folded over her lap. He opened the box and examined the tools. He still remembered the style Hinami had wanted when she traveled with him, and used that as a blueprint.

Without a proper cloak to cover Eto, he used his own coat instead. It was a few sizes bigger than her, anyway, working just fine.

The whole time, she shamelessly watched him. Not like how a predator watched their prey, like he expected. It was a different kind of gaze: softer, deadlier. It was a gaze that reminded him of an old knife— the way it seemed sharp from a distance, but upon closer inspection and usage, was actually quite dull.

He found the brush and got to work, undoing the knots in her hair. Or, as he quickly learned, lack thereof. His surprise was illustrated by a smile in her eyes.

Kaneki set the brush down on the dresser and gathered her hair behind her shoulder. As he did so, the fabric of his gloves brushed against her neck. At that, he heard the slightest hitch in her breathing. A crack in her mask.

Affection was such a foreign entity that a false touch was enough to give pause.

He tried to ignore it, but the memories came anyway. Memories of the words she put to page, memories that wrapped him in a frigid embrace, memories that expanded his scope of the world and taught him about its wrongs, memories that whispered to him in his lowest moments that he was not the first to fall through the cracks.

And he inevitably imagined how she might have been when she wrote those words. Alone, and shivering underground. No father, no mother, no comfort— only walls and torn flesh to embrace her. To her, love must seem like both something to be coveted and feared.

It was just so easy to take it away.

Before he could reach over her and grab the scissors, risking again to even ghost some part of her body, she pressed the scissors into his hand. A shield against further vulnerability, further possibility that things could be better for either of them.

Further possibility that something valuable could be taken from them.

He stared at the tool. “Ms. Takatsuki, this is the wrong pair.”

Eto slowly turned to look. “So it is, Investigator.”

More walls, more hiding. She handed him the right pair this time. He got to work.

Snip, snip.

The longest bits of hair fell to the floor in clumps.

Snip, snip.

There was a surprising volume to her hair, he noticed.

Snip, snip.

Through the mirror, she watched him, her green eyes like the tranquil center of a hurricane. Where he often could not predict where the rest of her body would go— wild birds were difficult to cage like that— he sensed that he could always find her eyes.

Snip, snip.

Kaneki didn’t like his conclusion.

“You know—“ Eto broke the silence, as was her wont— “the Commission and the editorial department at Shoeisha are letting Takatsuki hold a press conference for the book.”

“How nice of them,” he mumbled, setting the scissors down and picking up the other pair from earlier.

“‘Nice,’” she repeated, making the word as empty as it sounded. “It’s amusing how much they’re trying to keep your investigation under wraps.”

“You’re Sen Takatsuki,” he replied easily. “Imagine the panic that would happen if it got out that you were a ghoul.”

Snip. Snip.

Eto chuckled and adjusted her posture for him. “I’m just another writer.”

“‘Just.’” Kaneki’s tone hardly carried the weight of his implication.

A pause, then a sigh escaped her. “You’re too much,” she said with a defeated smile.

He used the comb to see if he had missed anything, silent.

“Anyways, about the press conference— I’d like for you to attend.” She waited for his reaction.

He looked back, brow furrowed. He spotted a stray strand of hair.

“Will you attend?”

Snip.

“Don’t be so suspicious,” he replied, failing to scowl. It made her giggle.

“Someone has to watch me, right?” she rightfully pointed out. “So… I want it to be you.”

Snip.

The last bit of her hair floated to the ground. Kaneki paused, hands hovering over her shoulders.

“Me?” came the question.

She answered it with another one. “Who else but you?”

He set the scissors down, now properly glaring at her. “Don’t do that.”

She returned it with an innocent smile. “Don’t do what?”

“Be phony. Saying things you don’t mean. It’s unbecoming.”

“Oh?” She shifted to actually look at him this time. “Have I ever lied to you?”

He said nothing.

“You think I do,” she said. “I suppose I can’t fault you for it; I often speak with every intent to deceive, after all.”

“And why stop now?”

Eto looked back in the mirror at his handiwork, but he could tell she was somewhere else. Somewhere far away, where he would never reach.

She spoke first. “You are…”

Terrible. Pathetic. Worthless. A burden.

“… very good.” She touched the ends of her hair, then smiled with practiced ease. “Well done.”

(…)

She stood from her seat and undid his coat, tossing it to the floor and fluffing out her freshly cut hair. She headed for the shower. Kaneki, for his part, stayed rooted to his spot, the scissors and comb trapped in his hands. But before she disappeared from the room, he made his second mistake.

“It looks good on you.”

And Eto, for all he knew her to push forward and never look back, turned around.

“The style,” he elaborated further. “It looks good on you.”

She stared at him, her expression soft enough to kill. “Thank you, Kaneki.”

Then she was gone.

#tg #tokyo ghoul #tokyo ghoul re #tgweek23 #eto yoshimura #sen takatsuki #ken kaneki #etoken #fanfic #writing

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