Theories for Tokyo Ghoul and Tokyo Ghoul:re :
- This would make sense, since we also know that Quinque cannot be repaired once broken. As such, they would need a source for fresh material in order to continue making multiple sets of Arata Armor. From what we see of Rize's situation, it takes time for the kakuhou to regrow and mature once harvested.
- I agree that it's suspicious, but how would Arima have gotten through the Rc scanners at CCG? We saw that Kaneki got through them once, so maybe hybrids can, but it's stated that ghouls gain Rc cells from eating humans and other ghouls, which is why ghouls have higher Rc levels. A ghoul who ate less could possibly have lower Rc levels. Kaneki was eating a minimal amount of human meat at the point Mado dragged him through, but later, he began eating other ghouls, which increased his Rc level. He might not be able to pass through the scanners anymore, being a kakuja. That being said, the one-eyed king/owl, from what we've seen, is a kakuja. Wouldn't the scanners have detected such a high amount of Rc cells if Arima possessed them? I definitely think that Arima is involved in something fishy, but I don't think he's a one-eyed ghoul.
- Don't forget the RC suppressing drugs that Takatsuki told Amon about. If Arima or anybody in CCG was really a ghoul, they would need a heavy supply and it was revealed that the company that were manufacturing the drugs was run by CCG though this could always be a case of Unreliable Narrator on Takatsuki's part.
- Eto/Takatsuki/Owl has been a kakuja since her childhood, and is estimated to have 6-8 kakuhou, but is able to pass the Rc Gate with ease. So, if Arima was a hybrid he wouldn't have any trouble besides out-of-control kakugan
- In regards to Arima knowing Kaneki's name, this tumblr user had a good analysis/theory of it.
- Seems to be Jossed, based on the sequel.
- NOPE. Confirmed with, frankly, an asspull explanation.
- From what little we've seen of both, they do◊ share a resemblance.◊ Also Renji is informed of her death by a person with dark hair, who apologizes for not being able to protect her. We only see the back of this person's head as they do this, but it could be Arata.
- Confirmed as of chapter 70 of :re.
- Confirmed as of Chapter 142.
- Confirmed in Chapter 143.
- Another theory is that Kaneki is Arima's new apprentice. Maybe CCG found him reliable because he was born human. The ERASED probably means that Kaneki's identity has been deleted in order to keep him a secret.
- Partly confirmed in TG:re, Kaneki has been given the name Sasaki Haise and he is being used as a weapon against other Ghouls. Amon is still MIA possibly KIA.
- As for Amon, Confirmed.
- Their similar appearances, including height/weight, hairstyle, his combined black and white hair, and the fact his Kakugan is on the left side.
- Akira describes his relationship with Arima as one of "paternal love". Seemingly, he is one of Arima's proteges.
- He is mentioned to enjoy books, having lent some out to Arima.
- The letters seen above the briefcase in Chapter 143 while Arima speaks to the CCG chairman about "the name" are the same as his name, "Haise".
- The "hai" in Haise (琲世) has the same pronunciation as ash/gray (灰). If you replace "hai" into 灰世, it would translate to "gray world". The actual "hai" in Haise (琲世) is in one of the kanjis for coffee (珈琲).
- The Special Event preview includes an epilogue for Volume 14, presumably taking place several months after the end of the series. Akira meets her new partner, Haise, who is rumored to be "different" from other Investigators. He is a rookie Rank 3, and his hair appears to have contained more white than it does in the present.
- He is noted to avoid killing Ghouls, preferring to capture them alive. He cites Article 13, which prohibits inflicting unnecessary injury or suffering, as his reason.
- He seems to have no other knowledge of himself other then that he is an investigator that is intended to surpass Arima with a team of half-ghoul investigators by his side. This suggests that he might not remember anything beyond that.
- His personality and mannerisms greatly resemble Ken Kaneki's personality before his torture by Jason.
- He could also be Hide with Kaneki's organs transplanted into him. He does have blond and black hair as well as unusual sympathy for the ghouls he hunts.
- People who have other people's organs are said to change, having bits from the previous owner's personality, tastes, knowledge etc., supporting this.
- He could also be Hide with Kaneki's organs transplanted into him. He does have blond and black hair as well as unusual sympathy for the ghouls he hunts.
- His RC levels are within the range of an average Ghoul, in contrast to his subordinates that all have levels below those of a Ghoul. As a result, he cannot eat human food.
- In the opening pages, he is seen reading a book. He expresses confusion when he realizes he's read it before.
- The title page for Chapter 2 shows white-haired Kaneki in a hospital gown, with heavy bandages over his human right eye. This suggests he survived his battle with Arima, and was being nursed back to health afterwards.
- In chapter 3, Chie requests an article of Sasaki's clothing (with his scent on it) for her model (presumably Tsukiyama), in hopes of cheering him up.
- Also in chapter 3, we learn that Sasaki regularly has nightmares where he's taunted by a figure with white hair and black nails — using the speech pattern Kaneki would use when "possessed" by Rize.
- The four members of Quinx he mentors are referred to as "humans with installed Quinque", while Haise himself has been called a Ghoul to his face.
- Akira notes the members of Quinx have never actually seen Haise fight seriously, and warns them not to go down the same path he did.
- Confirmed in Chapter 7. Haise is an amnesic Kaneki, kept under control through RC Suppressants and higher-ranking officers managing him.
- Tsukiyama Shuu, driven insane after finally emerging from his Angst Coma.
- Amon, whom after getting transformed into a half-ghoul has become insane and has started beheading women and pretending their bodies are Harima.
- Both Theories Jossed. Torso is a completely new character.
- We learn in the second chapter that it's a result of keeping their RC Cell count low, such as restricting the use of their kagune. Should it rise to levels average for a ghoul, they are said to only be able to eat flesh from then on. This seems to ultimately imply that the Quinix are simply a different brand of half-ghouls rather than being like Kaneki or Haise, who possesses RC levels in the 2000 range.
- Nishiki, the main Bikaku-type from the previous series. Ishida gave him an anime-original mask that is snake-themed.
- Orochi has a double-pronged kagune, just like Nishiki did.
- Orochi's mask heavily resembles Nishiki's anime-only mask.
- Confirmed in Chapter 7.
- Amon, hunting down Ghouls to survive. In traditional Demonology, the demon Aamon has a serpent for a tail.
- Jossed. It’s Nishiki.
- On the cover of Chapter 124, Amon is featured wearing a ragged cloak that covers his left eye and carrying a staff. The image, when compared to the Mysterious Figure, is nearly identical.
- Twice, Amon was drawn in the original series with his left eye covered. The first time was when he first encountered Kaneki — both were wearing an eyepatch on over their left eye.
- Eto had expressed fascination with Amon, contacting him as Takatsuki and giving him information that caused him to begin questioning CCG. We later learn that she is the One-Eyed King, and leader of Aogiri.
- He was last seen being attacked by Tatara, and we are later told that not only was his body never recovered but Aogiri took Investigators for Dr. Kanou's experiments.
- Kaneki and Amon were the dual protagonists of the original series, each providing one half of the story from the side of Ghouls and CCG, respectively. Now, Kaneki has become Ghoul Investigator Haise Sasaki. Therefore, if Amon is alive, his role would likewise have switched to the opposite side.
- Mutsuki was "tricked" into going to the Auction, Kaneki was tricked into going to the Ghoul Restaurant.
- Both of them faced a horrible situation and came across a mountain of bodies (Humans for Mutsuki, Ghouls for Kaneki) and decided to eat them.
- The person that tried to eat them/kill them before (Torso for Mutsuki, Tsukiyama for Kaneki), apologized and got rid of the threat that attacked them (Kanae for Mutsuki, Scrapper for Kaneki).
- Amon is involved, though it isn't clear whether "Floppy" refers to a single individual or a group. We know that Donato is interested in a "certain Ghoul" implied to be Amon, and that Aogiri did something to "Floppy" that angers Ayato. We also know from the audio that Hinami listened to that "Floppy" has drawn attention by using a badge to impersonate an Investigator. Most likely, Amon escaped from Aogiri at some point during the experiments and has been pursuing his own goals.
- Confirmed. Amon is a failed experiment by Dr Kanou.
- [[spoiler:Confirmed, believe it or not. The villains have been defeated and their control over the world is broken, while humans and ghouls are learning to coexist. Even Haise/Kaneki finally gets to be with Touka, and some other couples become canon as well. However a new threat is rising in the offspring of the "Dragon", and the human-ghoul alliance must combat it.
- Possibly Jossed, as we see Dr. Kanou torturing him instead.
- Ties to the same Ghoul Restaurant that Tsukiyama frequented.
- There has been repeated mentions of a Leak within CCG.
- Furuta = Full-ta = 総ta = Souta.
- He even has a mole on his face!
- If you keep in mind Kanou's birdcage rant from the original series, his Tarot Card that Ishida made having the number 5 as the Roman numeral V on it as opposed to the number 8 like the cards of the other Clowns, and the connections between V and the One-Eyed Ghouls, there is a possibility that Furuta is a One-Eyed Ghoul. This makes Touka mistaking him for Kaneki have deeper meaning, as well.
- Shiki Kijima's birthday entry on the 2016 calendar includes a coded message, with some of the text written in red. If these characters are put together, it spells out "Furuta - is - Ghoul - Agent".
- As of Chapter 61, it is confirmed that Furuta has a connection to V, revealed when Arima goes to him and tells him that V has contacted Arima about Ken Kaneki.
- Confirmed. He is Souta.
- A mixed bag. Chapter 55 reveals that Noro was Eto's caretaker, but also reveals "Noro" has been a mummified body for at least several years.
Chapter 53 reveals that Kaneki's self-sacrificing and saintly mother beat him to the point where he begged her to have mercy. Kaneki clearly revered his mother a great deal, so it might be that his abusive aunt was his mind's way of coping with her abusive tendencies, by creating a figure to assign blame to in her place. The story about his abuse at the hands of his mother's sister has never been corroborated with anyone besides Kaneki himself, and while there are plenty of good reasons for that, it is something to think about.
- Already at least partially Jossed. The third novel includes a story concerning an incident of abuse, where Hide becomes involved.
- It's possible she wasn't quite as bad as he made out, "merely" neglectful, not out of malice, but Kaneki isolating himself from her and her family, and he transplanted most of his mothers worst aspects onto her rather than accept he made himself alone due to shutting down.
The fight against Noro forced him to pull out all the stops just to survive. He pushes himself far past his limits to keep up a stream of fire against Noro, and we actually see the "cage" around his transplanted kakuhou start to bend and break. Finally, while its difficult to see, the last shot of his face makes it appear that his left eye has become a complete ghoul kakugan.
- Now that he's dead, we'll never know.
- Averted, he doesn't care. When Urie gets angry at Kaneki's indifference, Kaneki tells Urie its his fault for being too weak.
- There's two details that could invalidate this theory, though. The first is that Nishiki was pursuing Torso as part of a group, based on the things he said. And the second is Nishiki's behavior during the entire encounter with the Quinx — he isn't acting like his pursuit of Torso is personal. If he were pursuing Kimi's killer, he wouldn't be so casual about everything. He decides to "play" with the Quinx for a while, toying with them when he was fully capable of killing them all immediately. This allows Torso to escape, something he likely wouldn't have allowed if it were about avenging his lover.
- JAIL is recognized as canon by the manga with the introduction of Shiki Kijima to the plot. The latter has a bio in volume 5 of :re that states he was still pursuing a Ghoul (whom we know is Rio) and his quinque, Rotten Follow, is stated to have been made from that Ghoul's brother.
- One of the paths which Rio can take in the game has him join an unknown individual, rather than going to Anteiku. The individual's seemingly harmless approach indicates that this character may be Eto, who invites Rio to join Aogiri.
- A close-up panel of Shikorae's face reveals stitches around his eyelids, very reminiscent of Kanae's after Eto tortured her. The implications are that Rio, after his recruitment, was tortured much like Takizawa and Kanae were, explaining his deranged behaviour and appearance. We know from Takizawa that the type of torture used can drastically change a person, with the latter barely resembling his former CCG self.
- Rio's short bio in JAIL states he likes striped patterns. Both Rio and Shikorae wear clothing with such patterns featured prominently.
- Shikorae's first appearance corresponded with the release of JAIL. He reappears in a panel in chapter 58, which came out within a week of the JAIL scenario book.
- This is juuust about confirmed. Shikorae has used three kagune types, Rio has access to all four. And their kagune look the same. Evidence described in this tumblr post.
So why help ghouls in their fight against humans if she doesn't care? Because she enjoys the violence in the war between the two groups. Its why she butted into the Tsukiyama incident even though there was little tactical value in participating. She wants to see Tokyo burn in the fires of the CCG-Aogiri war. What's more, when she realizes Kaneki's existence, she doesn't try to convert him to Aogiri but try to bring him into that same mindset of carnage and nihilism.
- Seemingly Jossed, as her goal seems to be stopping the endless carnage.
- Confirmed, however, he saves his money for Shirazu's sister along with Mutsuki and Saiko.
- Jossed in re:86. Arima is the One-Eyed King.
- Partly Confirmed in that the One-Eyed King isn’t one single person. Eto and Arima seem to share the identity at first, then after both are beaten by Kaneki he becomes the new holder of the title.
- Half-confirmed. They're actually half-ghouls engineered by V.
Mutsuki was sexually abused in the past
- He has scars on his breast
- In chapter 13 the words "rape" "rape" "Rape" come to his head
- In chapter 73 we see that as a child, Mutsuki's father abused him. He learned that if he played along and acted like he loved his father, he wouldn't be hurt. We get a Big Madam & Juuzou parallel, with his father saying "Here's your reward" and leering at Mutsuki who's shirt is sodden from his father attempting to drown him.
Mutsuki will accept herself as a female again.
- Ishida drew her in a dress for his birthday illustration.
- She was featured in the female characters section in the official 366 day calendar.
- There was a number 2 on her in chapter 64 meaning "for woman to accept herself with femininity".
- This seems to most likely happen after chapter 79.
- It has already been revealed that she was not as kind and gentle as Kaneki originally described her, given her physical abuse of him.
- It draws parallels between Kaneki and the protagonist of The Black Goat's Egg, whom he's been compared to before.
- It also draws further comparisons to his established counterparts, Amon, Eto and Mutsuki.
- His mother's cooking is brought up several times in the course of the series, including chapter 4, where Kaneki is reminded of it by the smell of a human corpse.
- In chapter 138 of the original series, Yoshitoki Washuu is in disbelief that the "One-Eyed Owl" managed to suddenly appear in the center of the containment. It is not possible to enter the containment from underground without passing through V14. But since the blockade set up around Anteiku did not react, it is no different from the One-Eyed Owl appearing from underground. This implies that there are two possibilities:
- The One-Eyed Owl used a path unknown to the CCG.
- She passed through V14, in other words, Arima let her pass.
- In chapter 141, Tatara claims "The King will pass". Only two people are known to have passed through after:
- Arima, who went to fight Eto.
- Eto, who escaped after the fight.
- The title of chapter 142 is a homophone of the Japanese word for "play", "performance". Furthermore, Eto once exclaims "cho-", which might be "chotto" ("wait"), and that would mean she tried to tell him to slow down or go easier on her. Additionally, there is one panel where Arima opens his mouth, which hints that Arima might have told Eto something. Finally, Eto later comments "That guy really doesn't show any mercy", like the other "actor" overdid it. Thus, the Eto-Arima fight seems to have been all an act.
- Finally, in chapter 66 of :re, Eto asks Sasaki to kill the One-Eyed King. Later, he defeats Arima in a fight. Afterwards, Arima commits suicide, but asks Sasaki to treat it as if Sasaki killed him. Sasaki promises to do so, so Arima becomes the first named deceased character that Sasaki openly admits to have killed. Going by this sequence of events, it seems Eto meant Arima when she told Sasaki to kill the One-Eyed King.
- Confirmed in re: 86.
- He delivered her a burger. Curious as to why, he watched her force herself to eat it. That was how he found out.
After the Dragon was defeated, its offspring remained. It is hinted that they are gaining sentience. Eventually, this somehow results in a woman birthing Kaede, and thus the Diclonius are born from the Dragon. The CCG, of course, needed to defend against them.
Unbeknownst to Kaede was the true circumstance of her birth. Eto, the One-Eyed Owl, reincarnated herself into Kaede, and eventually surfaced as the DNA Voice. Meanwhile, Furuta was somehow revived, and when he grew old enough to come out of hiding, he took the new name Kakuzawa and established his research facility with the CCG’s help. He was made its Director. He birthed two children from Rize; the Professor and Anne. The horns on their head are a marker of the Wasshu bloodline.
Their goal was to retake the world from the human-ghoul alliance; at that point, both of them stopped caring about peace and waned revenge, so they aim to replace humans and ghouls with the Diclonii as the Master Race.
Thus, Eto and Furuta once again threw the world into chaos, and the cycle of discrimination began anew.
- Kagune, the predatory organ of a ghoul, is a structure that sprouts from a ghoul's back and is controlled by them for hunting or combat. Now I'm no biologist, but I feel there are a lot of signs pointing towards the kagune actually being a parasite of some sort.
- We know that ghouls have existed for centuries. At some point early on in human evolution, an organism must've infected someone or a group of people, and through genetic mutation, this has been carried on in future generations. The organism uses humans as its host and requires flesh to survive, so it subsequently uses the human to consume that sustenance. I assume that, overtime, it developed a sort of symbiotic relationship with the host, as ghouls still retain their consciousness and free will. The number of Rc Cells have something to do with this, possibly being carriers of the parasite or related to them in some way, as ghouls have more than humans.
- This relationship, however, is negated when a ghoul begins to cannibalise and form a kakuja, a sort of body of fleshy armour that forms around them. We see that incomplete kakujas turn the users into The Berserker. This is the parasite slowly trying to take control of the hosts mind as it spreads out over them. When Shinohara and Kuroiwa use the Arata armour, formed Arata Kirishima's kakuja, the armour begins to chew through them, implying that it's trying to take them over next. For an added piece, Shinohara states that the armours movements were slow, which sounds like it has a will.
- In :re, some ghouls are shown to be able to detach their kagunes and said detachments remain in place. Kagune can evolve their appearance as well, possibly alluding to parasitic evolution. Eto does mention to Kanae that a ghoul's kagune will appear depending on the ghoul's own creative mind, so ghouls still generally have control of that.
- By far, the biggest piece of evidence for this theory is seen in Ginshi Shirazu's sister, Haru. Without any known contact from a ghoul, Haru finds an odd growth on her face which ends up being ROS disease, a rare disease which causes a large kagune-esque structure to form on the body. It continue to grow larger over time on Haru's face. During the Dragon arc, the eponymous kaiju sized kakuja births creatures who mindlessly attack anything that moves. When they get close to someone or they are attacked, their heads burst and release a spore that begins to rapidly turn people into ghouls, with Saiko getting exposed to the spore and forming the same structure on her face as Haru did. This, I feel, is the most obvious sign that ghoulism is the result of a parasite.