Sinceso much time has passedsince the time this ask was sent to me and so many wonderful metas were written about Furuta, I feel embarrassed repeating the same things or trying to come up with something unique.

There isthis really amazing post bymadame-pongo-de-pompadour that examines Furuta and his relationships with women indepth, I definitely suggest it {x}. So far, I’ve talked about Souta’s 5 of Cups{x} and about Furuta and Matsui’s similarities {x}.

But how about the the reason Furuta was in Kamiiuniversity? Knowing Furuta, it wasn’t a random place for him to be at and hehad some sorts of work there. I think he was in Kamii either to see someone, orhe was actually there to gather info on someone by observing. Assuming he targeted someone we were introduced to, the Kamii students we know of are Kaneki, Hide, Nishiki, Kimi, Kiyama and Sankou.

Kaneki no longer went to university and I honestly think Kiyama won’t be of anyinterest for other characters’ intricate plans (plot twist, he is the OEK, Tsuna’s father and he owns the :re buidling).Kimi would be a good target if Furuta wanted to mess with Nishiki (which he hasn’t done yet) and I lovethe idea of Sankou making an important appearance in the TG manga, but I reallythink Furuta was there for Hide (I know, biased af), especially since he appeared right after Furuta was introduced.

1) Hidewas doing work (he was taking down posters of Kaneki,something thrilling for Furuta to see) with the rest of the committee members,which means this was organized beforehand and probably happens on a regularbasis at a fixed time period. Easier for Furuta to arrange his plans.

2) ConsideringHide is one of the most mysterious, dangerous and sneaky characters around, whoknows enough about ghouls and was working for CCG at the time, he could havedefinitely been of interest to someone like Furuta.

3) Asa bonus, if by any chance Hide turns out to belong to the Washuu clan, thiswill definitely interest Furuta further.

Since everybody and their mother are related toFuruta one way or another, because he is everywhere, it wouldn’t be surprisingif these two enigmatic characters know each other, or at least Furuta knowsHide.

And to take it a step further, if he andHide are related somehow, Kaneki being chosen as a victim for Kanou’s half-ghoul prototype was not coincidental atall. We know Furuta had history with Rize that has left him quite bitter, butout of the many victims she had, what made Furuta choose to execute his taskwith Kaneki at hand? It’s inFuruta’s nature to play around with other people’s emotions and strip them of theirhappiness (and any other positive feelings). And Hide’s happiness lies inhaving Kaneki by his side, something Furuta took away very skilfully.

Possibly Furuta felt an urge of destruction and jealousy. Because despiteHide being the way he is (with all his secrets, shady life and actions) thereis someone who cares for him and accepts him. A kind of loveand happy life Furuta never got to experience. So it wouldn’t be unnatural for him if hewanted to take away this from someone else.

Perhaps in Furuta’s eyes, his and Rize’srelationship is a parallel of Hide and Kaneki’s relationship gone wrong.

I know, I know:

Yes! I think change in hair colour plays a big significance and is a unique change for each character, despite them sharing hair colour sometimes. Of course, Ishida doesn’t base his characters solely on hair, but he seems to play around with the idea and colours can serve as a nice hint for certain things.

I’ll talk about hair colour tropes and colour symbolism in general, concerning Kaneki, Juuzo and Hide’s colour change under the cut, so heads up, it will be a long post.

Before that, a quick recommendation of tokyoghoultheories’ much more elaborate post on hair colour in the TG universe for those who haven’t seen it. {x}

I think people have commented so, so many times on Kaneki’s hair, so I’m doing a very quick recap on my own and will stop to talk more thoroughly on the latest change from chapter 75.

The only “dead” in Hide’s profile isdeadly gorgeous

( •_•)>⌐■-■

(⌐■_■)

Thank you for your kind words! :’)

I believe around the time TGRA started coming out and with the first episode’s ending card, featuring Hide  among other characters, Ishida has been drawing Hide with dark roots much more openly (see below). For example, in the TG Jail scenario book his dark tufts are quite long, reaching the area around his ears {x}. So I believe he bleaches his hair.

This dual colour could be the result of, say, heterochromia of the hair. However, if it was a biological cause, I believe his hair colour would have more consistency through time. Heterochromia hair grows normally, despite having two distinctive colours. Thus, as Hide’s blonde hair gets longer, his dark hair should get longer as well and vice versa. Which is not the case in these:

ch.68, pg.14

His eyebrows also change colour from dark to light occasionally, which makes me believe he’s bleaching them as well.

Hide bleaching his hair will also fit his nature of being secretive and concealing. Just as he hides a lot of personality traits under the disguise of a cheerful, easy-going guy, he could be hiding his appearance by dyeing his hair.

Back when I was a young grasshopper I made this post exactlyabout Hide bleaching his hair and how it can be related to the Washuu family: {x}. Now I have some new thoughts connected to this topic, but I’d rather stick to the old post until further insight.

Those are some really interesting ideas, thank you for sharing them (and sorry it took me so long to post them)! It goes to show just how many different ways the cards can be interpreted :) Great job on the detail about the omake in which Ayato is the wolf!

I absolutely agree. Hedefinitely didn’t have a normal childhood, but then again, which Investigator’schild did? OTZ

I find thisvery interesting pattern in both him and Furuta, as representatives of the youngerWashuu generation. They both live a caged life, bid by their desire for recognition.

Matsuriputs everything he has into his work, so he can climb the social ladder andstand at the top, where he can control the situation.

Furutaobtains a lot of information which makes him feelpowerful and in control of the events and those around him.

For someoneknown as calculating and cold-hearted, Matsuri seems to take a very biginterest in others’ relationship status (especially knowing the whole storybehind the Mado family’s marital situation) and openly searches for adiscussion on the topic. Matsuri isn’t able to live a life where he chooseswhom to marry out of love and rather, has to fulfil his duty to the Washuu family.Perhaps he is so interested in others’ romantic encounters, because he, himself, thinks that he can never have such a thing.

Furuta, onthe other hand, believes he lacks the love of his father. Judging byhis message on his birthday, he most likely doesn’t feel loved by anybody as awhole, but he actively tires to gain the attention of those around him, whether it’s in a good or bad way.

 (Also, where do their mother figures stand in their lives?)

For Matsurithis was Germany. The countrywas an escape from his duties as a member to the Washuus (like marryingsomeone he doesn’t love for the sake of his family). Matsuri says he wouldn’thave returned until Yoshitoki dies, which, for me, points to his desire to runaway from this caged life for as long as possible.

Furuta’shiding places are every affiliation he’s joined. While doing that, he dons amask and plays another person or at least subdues some of his characteristicsfor the sake of blending in. By getting into a role, he invests himself intothe task and manages to get away from his problems - whether it’ll be theforever-cheerful Souta, or the always-helpful investigator Furuta. The onlymoment he actually had to think about his issues made him break andlose his composure.

Want to start a betting pool where Hide is resting peacefully? My first suggestion is Tokyo, followed by Hawaii. Kaiko seems like a person who’d have a penthouse there.

Now is a good time to mention I’m pretty sure Hide is alive.

I really think it’s not a good idea to completely trust Kaneki’s perspective and narration from V14, especially when he had a wound in his stomach and was struggling internally. Clearly some parts of this sewers flashback are missing or aren’t complete (like how we are not given Kaneki’s face {here} considering it’s a very important and emotional moment). Don’t forget we still haven’t seen Hide actually die (and with the ending of TG I wouldn’t trust Ishida even with that).

Right now, Hide and Amon’s “deaths” give Kaneki a reason to sacrifice his life and justify it as something that is “okay” (for more on the subject, @floppyamon has a really nice post {here}). Since he thinks two of the humans he respected the most died because of him, it’s only right he gives his life in return for a noble cause.

The other reason for this “Hide is definitely dead” situation is that Kaneki never learned about the danger Hide can bring. Until the very end of TG, in Kaneki’s eyes Hide is the sharp, but normal human boy. So of course he’d believe Hide died in V14. The furthest Kaneki has gone in his estimation of Hide is to note “I am scared of Hide” in ch.30 concerning his analysing skills and that’s not even cutting it close. While Kaneki was wondering how to conceal his identity as a half-ghoul in front of his friend, Hide was rolling on the streets choking a ghoul.

Back in the first novel, Sanko actually warned Kaneki specifically about this: “(…) you need to look at Nagachika-kun’s abilities with more objectivity.” {x}

Wait…

whos hide? dont remember that guy.

was he a one-chapter character or something?

Oh god, I’m so sorry for the super stupid mistake.

when you’ve had too much Haikyuu in the past few weeks and you don’t differentiate between Tsukiyama and Tsukishima.

Thank you for writing to me and clarifying things! I’m terribly sorry to everyone for the mistake m(_ _)m

I think during the Tsukiyama annihilation mission we had a moment with The Tower (16) involving the rooftop development and Eto’s arrival, but all in all, I think from then to now we are solidly in The Moon (18) phase.

About the Tower (16)

Quarrels, disruption, upheavals, catastrophe, Divine intervention, reversal of fortune, destruction of old structures and ways, misfortune, accident, humiliation, sudden change, liberation

Reversed meaning: Distress, self-injury, self-sabotage, separations, unwelcome changes, unexpected events, adversity, deception, oppression, imprisonment, tyranny, ongoing depression.

About The Moon (18)

Emotions, intuition, dreams, fantasies, deep instincts, irrational fears, imagination, strange passions, constant changing emotional behaviour, confusion, turmoil, deception, competition, illusion

Reversed meaning:Fear, despair, worry, hidden enemies, danger, deception, darkness, errors, mistakes, instabilities, inconsistency, silence, helplessness

In the next segment you’ll see how the Fool’s Journey looks at this stage. I’d also like to comment on the different symbols on the card (moon, crayfish, dog and wolf, towers) and how they connect to different characters.

Eto, Kaneki and the Fool’s journey

The moon on the card is depicted as a female figure and is supposed to hold the characteristics of “The Great Mother” from who lives come and to whom lives return. I believe in this case the moon is Eto, who is ‘a mother’ to Aogiri, to the revolution of ghouls, to the ones she tortured and she also suggested to make Kaneki her child:

ch.56, pg.6

We can see Kaneki is interested in Eto, her motives and thoughts and listens to what she has to say. He is vulnerable to her presence and her words and is definitely getting affected. This is something Eto will use to her advantage and influence Kaneki as she likes. While she might tell him certain truths, such as the Washuus working with ghouls and V and Rize being connected, what is actually the full story?

Eto also observes the chaos with a calm face, because this is what she wants – to break the current twisted cage and create a new world. In such an unfair and wrong world, unrest is a good thing.

ch.61, pg.18

ch.64, pg.4

Eto uses images that easy to visualize to agitate those who follow her: there is a cage, CCG should be destroyed, if it’s taken down ghouls will leave freely. She uses the image of the OEK as a symbol of change and rebellion and romanticizes No-name’s (and in turn her own) plans and deeds as something that fights for a noble cause.

The Fool ends up being lost and bewildered.

Furuta

The crayfish is a symbol we’ve seen connected with Furuta:

Source: {x}

Although Furuta is a rather mysterious character, we can see him bring a sort of despair and disturbance with himself:

ch.50, pg.8

He doesn’t mind killing both ghouls and Investigators, because he doesn’t see them as anything more than murderers.

Arima and V

The dog and the wolf can represent two parts of one person (say, Kaneki), or a lot of different characters, since many fit the criteria of being a “dog” or a “wolf” in some way.

For example, Shachi can be a “dog”, because of his adaptation to human life and his coexistence with people, especially his teacher from whom he learnt. Rize can be a “wolf” because of her “untamed” nature and unpredictable mind.

In recent chapter we see a lot of Arima and V, so in this case I’d say Arima is the one who lives alongside humans rather than be one himself:

ch.42, pg.10

He takes every order he’s given without questioning and has a hard time expressing emotions and his affection for people he cares about.

On the other side, V are the “wolves”, because they are named “kings”, they “rule” the situation:

ch.64, pg.12

I’m more inclined to beliebe that perhaps in the long run characters in the manga will have to face those two sides of themselves and lean towards one in certain situations, which will have its consequences.

The Towers

We have yet to see what Kaneki’s up to. So far, his appearance in the arc is a very small portion and we don’t really get an insight on his thoughts and plans, but have to judge what is going on through his actions and speech solely.