The female gaze can be completely inscrutable for men but here’s a quick and not-entirely-sensible diagram I drew while pooping to try and make my preferences clear:
so has oprah ever apologized or faced any consequence for significantly contributing to the antivaxx movement
im sorry she did WHAT
shewas one of the first people to give the antivaxx movement a platform and never bothered to decry it and then everyone started paying attention to it and even believing it because she is oprah
she also promoted a book called “the secret” which claimed that trying and wanting hard enough to be cured would cure someone. one of her viewers wrote to oprah saying she saw that show and stopped treatment for cancer, and instead uses a holistic “doctor”. her name was kim tinkham. she and the holistic “doctor” were invited on the show talking about how he cured her cancer and how his alkaline diet could cure cancer and so many other health problems, again providing a platform for deadly awful shitty anti-medicine.
kim died 3 years later of cancer. and who knows how many other people tried to quit cancer treatment or otherwise died because of some shit oprah promoted on her show
apparently including a link makes the reblog not show up in the notes or something so if you are checking the notes for more information and not seeing the above links, check this post
When
the final chapter of “Tokyo Ghoul: re” was released the TG fandom was left
divided. While some enjoyed the idea of a happy ending, others were less than
enthused. Several plot threads from the series were left hanging. Additionally,
while exposition was dumped to reveal the fates of minor and supporting
characters, several major characters (Eto, Mr. Yoshimura, Amon, Akira, etc.)
had their ultimate fates left unrevealed. Also, the sudden shift from the
tragic ending of :re 178 to the rushed happy ending of :re 179 felt rather
disjointed, and in 179 itself there are several things that either contradict
each other or don’t add up. I have gone through the evidence and come to a
conclusion, and a number of others in the TG fandom have thought of this as
well: :re 179 was simply Kaneki dreaming inside of Dragon.
I
will explain the evidence in the chapter that justifies this, the literary
reasons Ishida-sensei did this, and the direction the franchise may go in the
future:
Evidence
The Setup
Firstly,
the narration states that Kaneki was saved by Ayato from drowning in the kagune
fluids from the previous chapter. However, if we go back to :re 168 we see
that:
As
Kaneki and Ayato descended deeper into Dragon, the increasing levels of
toxicity became such that Ayato had trouble making it down any further. Here,
we see that the toxin is so concentrated that his kagune is breaking apart. So,
assuming he defeated the Dragon Orphans here, how could he have descended any
further down to where Kaneki was drowning? Even if he could:
Kaneki
was drowning extremely deep in this fluid and it was flowing so rapidly he
couldn’t swim out. So, if Kaneki couldn’t get himself out of this, how could
Ayato have gotten him out without drowning himself, much less carried him out
of Dragon while its insides were collapsing all around them? This is the main basis of this theory. Kaneki
couldn’t have made it out, and so the final chapter must’ve been him dreaming
within Dragon’s depths. Now to the dream itself.
Tragōidia, the Greek word for tragedy, comes from the words
meaning goat song. Why name the title of a supposedly happy chapter after a
tragedy?
Ever-lasting Conflict
It’s
stated that the remaining oviducts continued to produce the “Dragon Orphans,”
but despite this these two faceless individuals are just chilling on top of an
oviduct even though new orphans could be spawned at any time and attack them?
Also, why would these creatures be a common enemy of humans and ghouls? If we
go back to chapter 164:
Furuta
states that these creatures would only attack and devour humans and makes no
mention of them eating ghouls. This is seemingly confirmed earlier in the
chapter when:
Furuta,
a half-ghoul, is standing amid a group of dragon orphans, but they pay him no
mind. The only dragon orphan that acknowledges him is the one he tries to
“interview.” After this orphan takes a swing at him, he goes back to ignoring
him and eating corpses. Later in this chapter, Kaneki, Urie, and Saiko were set
upon by these creatures. However, Urie and Saiko are Quinx (not true
half-ghouls), and thus would register as humans because their Kakuho are
normally suppressed by their quinque frames. So, this again begs the question
of why ghouls would join forces with humans against these creatures when these
creatures don’t target them?
Another
question is: why allow the oviducts to remain at all? In the final chapters the
Goat-CCG alliance put all their efforts into finding and removing Kaneki,
Dragon’s nucleus, in order to eliminate the creature. Later, they eliminate
Rize, the nucleus of the poisonous oviduct to try and destroy it. So, why
aren’t they trying to find and extract the nuclei of the other oviducts? This
thought is even mentioned in chapter 165:
They
are trying to get rid of these oviducts as quickly as possible. After all, why
allow these oviducts to keep producing creatures that will kill civilians? The
answer to both this question and the question of why ghouls would join humans
in fighting these creatures is simple: Kaneki needed a common enemy for ghouls
and humans to fight. In his time trying to find a method for humans and ghouls
to coexist, the only time this ever occurred was when the two groups united
against the common threat of Dragon. So, in his dream world Kaneki has created
a scenario in which the two groups are constantly fighting the Dragon’s
remnants together as a common enemy is the only way Kaneki knows how to bring
peace between the two groups.
Tokyo Centric Unity
Now,
on to the subject of the TSC:
The beginning of chapter 179 states that after the final battle the CCG
was disbanded. Furthermore, the officers of the new TSC are called
“peacekeepers” rather than investigators. However, at the same time the chapter
still makes references to the CCG existing outside of Tokyo, and people who transfer
out of Tokyo are still called “investigators” rather than peacekeepers.
Despite
the beginning of the chapter saying the CCG was disbanded after the battle with
Furuta, here it’s shown that the CCG still functions in areas outside of Tokyo.
This may be explained by the beginning saying only “Tokyo’s” CCG was disbanded.
However, when Shinohara recovers it states:
Here
it simply states the CCG was dissolved in its entirety. Not just the Tokyo
branch. So, why is Kaneki’s dream so insistent the CCG no longer exists in
Tokyo but is apathetic that it exists outside of the city? Throughout the
series, Kaneki has stated that he fights in order to protect his friends and
those he loves. However, to others he gives no care. He even admits this while
talking to Amon in chapter 119:
Here
he admits that he only cares for those close to him, and that most of these
close ones just “happened” to be ghouls. And, these ghouls were all located in
the city of Tokyo. So, he doesn’t care if the CCG operates as it always has,
but only if it’s not in Tokyo. Thus, while his mind envisioned happy ends for
his ghoul friends inside the city by having them work with his human friends,
ghouls either not close to him or outside of the city get the shaft. This is
even alluded to in Kuramoto’s panel where it says he “deals with ghouls.” This
is representative of Kaneki’s true feelings towards the Ghoul species overall.
Kaneki’s True Feelings Towards Ghouls
While
Kaneki cares for his ghoul friends, he doesn’t hold their species in any
regard. Throughout the series, on many of the occasions that he thinks or talks
about the differences between humans and ghouls, he refers to humans as
“people” and ghouls as “ghouls.” After initially becoming a one-eyed ghoul,
Kaneki actively tried to prevent himself from killing anyone (human or ghoul).
However, after being tortured by Jason he adopts a much more ruthless persona
and begins killing his ghoul opponents. Nishiki is even surprised by this when
Kaneki kills a group of Aogiri soldiers after defeating Jason.
This
continues in the following months where he kills and cannibalizes ghouls in
order to increase his own power. However, he never shows this same level of
ruthlessness towards his human opponents. He still tries to prevent himself
from killing them, and at most just disarms them. He doesn’t view humans and
ghouls different based on their biology, but based on which is a “person,” and
most ghouls don’t fall in this category to him.
This
hypocrisy of willingly killing ghouls while abstaining from killing humans
never truly leaves Kaneki. This is evident after his final battle with Amon in
the original series, where he begs him not to die.
He
despairs at the thought of killing a human like Amon, even though he’s already
killed dozens of ghouls. Even after becoming the One-Eyed King and forming Goat
in the sequel, this attitude doesn’t change. The organization’s first mission
is to aid the CCG in killing members of the Clowns (fellow ghouls), and
simultaneously Kaneki risks his best fighters to raid the CCG laboratory to
retrieve RC suppressants in order to save Akira (a ghoul investigator who
wishes to eradicate the ghoul species). Later when his group arrives at the
lab, he risks the entire mission in order to confront Amon just because Amon
saw him as a “person.”
Later,
when Furuta begins using the Oggai against Goat, Kaneki still refrains from any
confrontations with the CCG that would result in human casualties. This results
in Goat being forced underground into the 24th ward, and the organization
slowly begins to starve. Even near the edge of ruin Kaneki continues to assert
that they must not kill humans.
It’s
only when Furuta attacks their base and he is about to lose everything that he
finally breaks this rule by eating the Oggai in order to heal himself. This
results in him becoming the Dragon and ravaging the surface (resulting in countless human deaths). You would think that after staining his hands with
the blood of both humans and ghouls that he would finally view the two species
equally, but you would be wrong. In Kaneki’s final battle with Furuta, after he
declares he will defeat Furuta he will protect everyone, he states:
Here,
he still refers to humans as “people,” but not ghouls (implying that he still
doesn’t see ghouls overall as “people.”) Also, the way he says “ghouls, too”
shows he still views them as secondary to humans. This attitude is evident in
his dream chapter (:re 179) as the actions undertaken by several characters are
biased towards human benefit (as opposed to equal benefit between the two species):
Here,
for some reason Takizawa is hunting renegade ghouls even though it goes against
his previous character development. During his battle with Amon in chapter 115,
Takizawa in his inner monologue states he has decided to be a ghoul.
After
he completed his first mission for Goat, Takizawa said he was going to go off
own his and live normally as a ghoul. In chapter 145, we even see a silhouette
of him hunting humans.
So,
why at the end of the story is he hunting ghouls who attack humans when that’s
exactly what he’s chosen to do, and that’s what he’s been doing? Also, why are
he and Hakatori both all alone when they joined with Amon in chapter 178?
Kaneki
was in the oviduct when they joined forces with Amon, and so he wouldn’t have
known. Therefore, in his dream he has both them and Kurona alone in the end.
Also, the actions he has them perform (fighting ghouls who attack humans,
sheltering ghouls who can’t fit into human society, etc.) are what he thinks
they should do to atone for their past misdeeds. Because Kaneki doesn’t view
humans and ghouls as equal, they aren’t equal in his dream. Rather than both
sides coming together and creating a new world, ghouls merely acclimate to the
human world. Those that are either unable or unwilling to do so are shunned and
killed as ghouls always have been. So, for many this world hasn’t changed at
all. This is Kaneki’s happy ending. His dream only extends the benefits of
peace to humans and his loved ones.
Nitpicks
Whew.
So far, I’ve discussed all the inconsistences regarding the overall themes of
this chapter. For finishing the evidence, I will merely go over small
inconsistencies and errors in this chapter.
What
happened to Hide’s scarred throat and face? In this chapter is stated that
ghouls have started being researched for medical purposes. Thus, this could be
the reason Hide has healed, but if this is the case why is he still wearing
that mask?
In
Fura’s panel, he calls his wife “Maki.” However, the “Tokyo Ghoul: Jack” series
stated her first name was “Aki.” At first, I thought this might be a
translation error, but then I looked at the raw and it indeed gave the
characters for the name “Maki.” This is likely due to Kaneki either mishearing
her name or not truly caring to remember it from when he was colleagues with
Fura.
If
Kanou had stabilizers they could use to prolong their lives, why did they work
for him as long as they did? Why not steal these stabilizers as soon as
possible?
It
took me a while to figure this out, but why would Urie have to search for
Shirazu’s body at all? Kimi and Kanou’s other assistants worked with Dr. Kanou
on everything, and so they would undoubtedly know where Shirazu’s body is. Why
not just ask them? Also, why place Shirazu’s body in the cemetery for the CCG’s
“heroes” after the revelation in chapter 175?
So,
the graveyard for CCG investigators was empty. Why would they could continue to
maintain an empty cemetery, and why would they place Shirazu’s body there when
it was only a place for the Washuus to gather food? Kaneki wasn’t present when
this information was revealed in chapter 175, and thus didn’t know.
Next,
we have Naki’s henchman Hooguro. The epilogue states he married a human girl in
the ghoul fashion, but this requires bitemarks. How could an ordinary human
bite with enough force to permanently mark a ghoul (whose skin is super hard).
They could us an rc suppressant for this, but after it wore off he should have
healed.
Then,
there’s Ayato who commands operations “at high altitudes.” Are there Dragon
Orphans who can fly?
This
was the most obvious example that something was off. Right before the Dragon
arc we saw that Kuroiwa was stabbed through the side of the neck in a way that
would be a death sentence. Indeed, we see him stop breathing and die. However,
Kaneki may only have heard that Kuroiwa was stabbed, not that he was killed.
Since he didn’t see Kuroiwa, he would have assumed that he was injured and thus
would recover. However, another thing to notice is Kuroiwa’s wife. Here she is
depicted as having long, light-colored hair. However, when we saw her at
Takeomi and Yoriko’s wedding:
She
is shown to have short, dark hair. Kaneki probably never actually met Kuroiwa’s
wife, and so in his dream he created a vague mental imagery of her.
Finally,
there’s her. On Amino Apps someone did a translation of Ichika Kaneki’s
character profile, and one usual aspect was missing: a birthdate. Practically
every volume character profile gives the character’s birthday. Touka calculated
her due date to be 12/28 but calculating this can be inaccurate. Even if it was
accurate, why not still put it in her profile? It seems to be Ishida giving us
a subtle hint that she hasn’t actually been born. Another thing is: why would
Kaneki and Touka (who are genetically dark-haired) have a white-haired child?
Indeed, with her sesame pudding hair and left kakugan she appears as a carbon
copy of someone we already know: Haise Sasaki. Haise was Kaneki’s dream of
human happiness where he is surrounded by those who love and cherish him. In
the same manner that she is surrounded by people who love and cherish her at
the end of the chapter.
Literary Reasons
Now
that I have gone over all the evidence implicating the final chapter as a
dream, I will discuss Ishida’s likely reasons for making it this way. Throughout
the original and :re, references are made about a number of literary works. The
most commonly referred to work is Franz Kafka’s “Metamorphosis,” but another
work referenced is Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”
In
the sequel “Through the Looking Glass” Alice is transported to a new world
where she is caught in the middle of a chess battle between white and red
sides. In the original story, Kaneki learned of the ghoul world. In the sequel,
he is originally a ghoul investigator and must pick which side he will
ultimately be on. In Tokyo Ghoul, the white side is composed of humans (as
shown by the white coats of the CCG), and the red side is composed of ghouls (as
shown by the red robes of the Aogiri Tree).
There
is also a chessboard theme that is repeatedly shown throughout the manga, and
this represents the characters who are pieces in the game. Furthermore, in
place of the tea party from the Alice novels, coffee is instead used for the
theme of eating.
Finally,
several ghoul characters wear animal themed masks that represent the animals
from the Alice series. Touka’s mask represents the White Rabbit, Nishio’s serpent
mask represents Bill the Lizard, Ayato’s mask represents the March Hare, Koma’s
mask represents Pat the Monkey, and Irimi’s mask represent the Puppy.
Now
that we established the parallel, I shall get to the point: the Red King. In “Through
the Looking Glass” the king of the red pieces is sleeping throughout the game.
Different characters believe that Alice herself is part of the Red King’s dream
and that she will disappear if he awakes. At the end of the story, she
questions if this was indeed the case. So, the same thing applies here. At the
end of :re, we are left wondering to ourselves if the ending was a dream.
Ishida’s Personal
Reasons and the Future
Now,
why exactly would Ishida-sensei end things on a dream chapter you might say
(aside from literally reasons) and just quit the series he’s worked on for so
long when there are still many plot points left unanswered? Well, in interviews
done after :re’s ending Ishida says that he has been working himself almost
non-stop since the second half of the original series, and this has led to
issues with his health. If he had shown Kaneki still trapped in Dragon, people
would have demanded he make a third and final part (which he is in no condition
to do).
However,
in one interview he states that he now “hates” working after doing it so hard
for so long now, and that there “probably” wouldn’t be any more sequels. He
needs time to rest and recuperate. However, him saying “probably” still leaves
open the option for a final part. Once he fully recovers, he could reveal the
finale of :re to be a dream and then continue the series. As to whether or not
he actually will, I…..
I believe he will return to our place, Tokyo Ghoul.
