@Bahamut
ALL SYMBOLISM ASSOCIATED WITH KANEKI KEN/SASAKI HAISE (SO FAR).
SPOILERS AHEAD. A lot of them. Also, a ton of symbolism that goes to show how much of a genius Ishida-sensei is. Sorry if you are not interested in all this and you had to scroll through it all.
Tarot Cards:
XII – The Hanged Man (the one he is more often associated with)
(Manga chapter 63)
(Manga chapter 116)
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(Anime episode 4)
Sacrifice— Letting go —Surrendering — Passivity
Suspension— Acceptance —Renunciation — Patience
New point of view — Contemplation — Inner harmony
Conformism— Non-action — Waiting — Giving up
VII –The Chariot (Manga chapter 137)
[IMG]
Conquest — Honor — Victory —Energy
Egocentrism — Self—confidence —Conviction — Anxiety
Willpower — Self—assertion — Hard control — Discipline
Inflexibility — Success — Wealth— Recognition
Impulsivity — Command — Bravery —Pride
(Half of the attributes are for Kanekiand the other ones for Arima).
XIII –Death and IX – The Hermit (Manga chapter 140)
[IMG]
IX – The Hermit
Introspection — Silence —Guidance —Reflection
Solitude — Looking inward —Reclusion — Being quiet
Inner search — Deep understanding—Isolation
Distance — Retreat —Philosophical attitude
XIII – Death
Ending of a cycle — Loss — Conclusion — Sadness
Transition into a new state — Psychologicaltransformation
Finishing up — Regeneration — Elimination of oldpatterns
Being caught in the inescapable — Good-byes — Deepchange
And some others that I have alreadytalked about:
The Fool’s Journey
VIII – Justice/Strength, XX – Judgement and XII –The Hanged Man
Relationship between III – The Empress and XII – The Hanged Man
III – The Empress (reversed), V – The Hierophant (upright and reversed), VII – The Chariot (reversed), XIV – Temperance (upright and reversed), and XVII – The Star (reversed)
VII – The Chariot and Odin
Flowers:
Lycoris radiata, red spider lily - Death, reincarnation, lost memories - This can refer to many things: Kaneki's death as a human, his reincarnation as a ghoul, his death in the hands of Arima, his reincarnation as Sasaki Haise, his amnesia resulting of that.
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(Manga chapter 140)
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(Anime episode 12)
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White carnation - sweetness, loveliness, innocence and pure love - They represent Kaneki’s humanity. (Edited, originally said “White Rose”. Thanks to toukas-hope for pointing it out).
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(Anime episode 12)
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Daffodil - Respect - Since they were shown when Kaneki and Arima were fighting, I guess it means they both respected the other as a strong enemy.
[IMG]
(Manga chapter 139)
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Osmanthus fragrans, sweet olive - Humility, noble - Read as Kaneki - The first clue of Sasaki being Kaneki was this one, since it appeared one panel before Sasaki introduced himself to Akira.
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(Omake vol. 14)
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(Artbook Zakki)
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Erica - Solitude - In Root A, Kaneki chose a path in which he would be alone.
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(Anime episode 13)
Carnation - Distinction, love - They represent the people Kaneki cared, and still does, for. I think that’s the main reason he joined Aogiri, to protect them (when he became Centipede, he mumbled about them).
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(Anime episode 14)
Lilies - Purity - They represent Kaneki’s loss of his human side, but his intentions are still to protect everyone (one could say, his intentions are pure).
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(Anime episode 15)
Sunflower - Joy, life, happiness - The way I see it, Hide will have a major role (probably equivalent to the one he had in the manga or maybe even more important).
[IMG]
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(Anime episode 15)
Also, I made an analysis ofTouka’s bouquet of flowersin Tokyo Ghoul:re chapter 16.
Books and Short Stories:
“The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka - As Kaneki stated himself, he got turned into a different creature from the one he originally was, the same way Gregor Samsa one day woke up being an insect, unable to eat human food and that sort of thing.
[IMG]
(Manga chapter 2)
“A Crossbreed” by Franz Kafka - The creature that the story describes is quite similar to Kaneki: half-lamb (human) and half-kitten (ghoul). None of the creatures of either species seem to accept him and he has traits of both. Besides, many people see the narrator relationship with the creature as a parallel to Arima’s relationship with Sasaki (I still think Arima does care for Haise; we’ve seen before that Kaneki tends to change people for the better and Arima is the kind of person who really needs a friend).
[IMG]
(Manga :re chapter 8)
Poems:
Before getting to the ones that fit Kaneki, I just wanted to mention that the poem Kaneki recited while fighting Arima was by Hakushuu Kitahara, which is what Kaneki said after reciting it; he never said Autumn, he said Hakushuu (I still see people confused on that).
Talking about Hakushuu, when Hide and Touka were talking this panels appears (Manga chapter 118).
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This is a reference to Mother Goose’s “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep”, to which Hakushuu made a japanese translation.
Baa, baa, black sheepHave you any wool?Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.One for the master,And one for the dame,And one for the little boyWho lives down the lane.
This refers to three/four characters.
Baa, baa, black sheepHave you any wool?Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.
The Black Sheep. Who might that be? In “A Crossbreed” the creature described is half-lamb, which is quite similar to a sheep. This would mean Kaneki is the Black Sheep. There’s also this beautiful picture Ishida-sensei made for new year.
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Why did he make that? Because in the Lunisolar calendar, the “Year of the Goat” starts in February 19th (oh dear, unintentional good timing). However, it can also be called as “Year of the Sheep”. Yes, again with the Sheep. So, the Black Sheep can beKaneki. The other possibility is Takatsuki Sen. Why? Because the Chinese Zodiac Symbols are called “Eto”.
I think the Black Sheep is Eto, mostly because Kaneki is mentioned again. As to what is the wool, it might be insanity.
One for the master,
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(Manga chapter 62)
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(Manga chapter 63)
And one for the dame,
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(Manga chapter 1)
And one for the little boyWho lives down the lane.
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(Manga chapter 140)
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(Manga chapter 103)
Yeah, those are pretty self-explanatory.
Another poem that I think apply for Kaneki is “The Conflict of Emotions” by Ovid.
The other two are directly related to the name “Aogiri Tree”, which would be translated as Parasol Tree (I believe someone else had already made a post about this but I couldn’t find it. Edit: Someone (Anon) found the other wonderful person who had already talked about these poems. Here is their interpretation).
One of them is by Liu Yong, “Phoenix Perched on the Parasol Tree”.
On a high tower I lean long against a slender breeze. My vision ends in spring sorrowrising dark and dark at the sky’s edge.Grass colored by misty light of the dying sun.No words. Who can understand why I stand at this banister?Maybe I should go wild and get drunk,singing over my cup.But forced joy is tasteless.I don’t regret my loosening belt and robe.I’m fading away from you.
There are a ton of parallels between the poem and the post-torture Kaneki.
On a high tower I lean long against a slender breeze.
The high tower represents the torture chamber. It means he managed to escape.
My vision ends in spring sorrowrising dark and dark at the sky’s edge.
He realises that the way he perceived life was wrong. “Rather than a person who hurts others, become the one getting hurt”; that wasn’t okay, that ended up in his mother’s death and a lot of the suffering he had to endure.
Grass colored by misty light of the dying sun.
Part of Kaneki’s name means “golden” and “sun”. Compared to his pre-torture self, he is dying in spirit and sanity. The next part means that he is finally free to walk his own path.
No words. Who can understand why I stand at this banister?
No one, not even him, can understand why he had to go through everything he had to.
Maybe I should go wild and get drunk,[I]singing over my cup.[/I]
Maybe he should give in to insanity. Could also mean that he started killing and eating ghouls, when before he couldn’t even look at a dead body.
[I]But forced joy is tasteless.[/I]
He doesn’t enjoy at all what he has been forced to do.
[I]I don’t regret my loosening belt and robe.[/I]
He doesn’t regret changing, becoming strong by the wrong means; that way he was able to protect his loved ones until near the end.
[I]I’m fading away from you.[/I]
He’s losing himself, he is getting away from the people he loves.
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[*]The other one is by[B] Chuugan Engetsu, “Imitating the Old Style”.[/B]
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[I]Strong, strong is the wind of the Last Days;[I]from the earth dust rises, swirl upon swirl.[I]In the heaven, the sun shines faintly;[I]in the world of men, both good and evil flourish.[I]Mole crickets and ants go after stench and filth; [I]but the phoenix perches on the parasol tree.[I]Here there is one man far from worldly concerns:[I]he moves freely among the white clouds.[/I]
This poem refers to the outcome of the Anteiku Raid.
[I]Strong, strong is the wind of the Last Days;[I]from the earth dust rises, swirl upon swirl.[/I]
This refers to the last Buddhist cycle, when everything is destroyed. At the Anteiku Raid, both sides fought with all they had, leaving nothing but death and sorrow.
[I]In the heaven, the sun shines faintly;[I]in the world of men, both good and evil flourish.[/I]
For the people who died, everything is over; however, for both humans and ghouls the things are no where near the end. They both will keep fighting for survival, killing the other, making people like Kaneki and Amon wonder who is the real evil, who is the real good.
[I]Mole crickets and ants go after stench and filth;[/I]
Aogiri, CCG, they will keep on killing because they think it’s the right thing to do.
[I]but the phoenix perches on the parasol tree.[/I]
Word is that, when a phoenix does this, a saint will appear in the world. Since the parasol tree is Aogiri, we can assume that the phoenix is Kaneki. He might have not been able to protect the manager, but it could be foreshadowing the end of the manga (Kaneki defeating Aogiri).
[I]Here there is one man far from worldly concerns:[I]he moves freely among the white clouds.[/I]
[IMG]http://66.media.tumblr.com/7635d171c14870c8e0a0fa94d9140836/tumblr_inline_njzykjNcm41sksyzw.jpg
(Manga chapter 143)
Sasaki has lost his memories, so he doesn’t see the world as clear as he did.
[B]In the end, we could say Kaneki is also associated to the Phoenix.[/B]
[SIZE=5][B]Symbols:[/B][/SIZE]
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[*][B]Phoenix[/B]
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First, I want to point out the fact that Kaneki’s kakujya mask looks a lot like a bird’s beak.
[IMG]http://67.media.tumblr.com/cd32b918fd97dcbb8f39fde8dff2f463/tumblr_inline_njzymsXguw1sksyzw.jpg
That could be associated with the phoenix too.
In the greek mythology, the
phoenix is associated with the sun. It’s a creature that rises from the ashes of its predecesor. It means regeneration and reborn (Sasaki). Still, in chinese mythology, the phoenix, or Fenghuang, represents even more.
The
Fenghuang is often represented with black, white, red, green, and yellow feathers, which aludes to Confucius’ five virtues:
Ren: benevolence, charity, and humanity.
Yi: honesty and uprightness. It can be separated into
zhong (doing one’s best, conscientiousness and loyalty) and
shù (the virtue of reciprocity, altruism and consideration for others)
Zhi: knowledge.
Xin: faithfulness and integrity.
Li: correct behavior, propriety, good manners, politeness, ceremony, worship.
As you can see, it fits Kaneki/Sasaki’s personality. It also symbolizes the union of the
Yin and Yang.
- Yin and Yang: We all know this symbol. These are its parts:
Yin (the black part with the white dot) is characterized as slow, soft, yielding,diffuse and passive (black haired Kaneki).
Yang (the white part with the black dot) is fast, hard,solid, focused and aggressive (white haired Kaneki).
Since the symbol as a whole mean “equilibrium”, it refers to this moment, where Kaneki realised that he wasn’t completely right when he decided to become stronger:
