Talk:Re: Chapter 47/@comment-145.133.14.167-20151004070547/@comment-10733658-20151004073843

I honestly think people are being unfair, and having really unrealistic expectations with Sasaki. Ishida has a very strong grasp of psychology, and realistically portrays the mental illness and trauma of his cast.

Sasaki is a deeply traumatized amnesiac, who only knows that something HORRIBLE happened in his past. He has spent the last three years trying to build his own life, and managed to establish some sense of normalcy. He has friends, and a little family he's built that he loves more than life itself, and a career that he finds a sense of pride in, and feels like he's accomplishing things with his life.

He's long associated "Kaneki" with frightening things, and calling that "insecurity" really kind of doesn't do it justice. Remember that "Kaneki" mostly appeared to him connected to the worst moments of his life as a Ghoul -- Yamori's playroom and his Centipede mode. It's the personification of all his trauma and madness, and of course he probably was encouraged to be afraid of his past. He's been slowly overcoming that, but he still has plenty of reasons to be afraid.

Leaving the CCG means many things for him. It means losing the only home he's known, and the only family he's ever had. It means losing the stability that allows him to live a pseudo-normal life, as close to that of a human as possible. It means becoming a hunted animal, with no rights or protections under the law. It means giving up everything he's worked for over the last three years, and quite literally everything he's ever known.

That's terrifying for any person.

He really couldn't reach out to Hinami, and expecting him to do so ignores so much. It ignores that he couldn't let her go because ARIMA WAS RIGHT THERE. He lied to save her, but that was all he could do. She's now in prison, and he's done what little he could to give her comfort and keep her safe from harm. He can't talk about his past, as Donato already pointed out to him the cameras in the prison. Likely, they also record conversations between inmates and investigators. Therefore, he knows anything he asked Hinami would probably not be private.

He's been trying to find information, but it's heavily indicated that all of Kaneki-related information is locked away. It's either classified or erased, and I think he's smart enough to realize what that means. His position with the CCG is already precarious, because if he steps out of line, they have the authority to terminate him on the spot. He has to be cautious.

He went to Shuu to ask about his past, and that was an enormous step. Even so, he had to admit that he doesn't want to lose what he has. Of course he doesn't, because no one wants to go through losing everything they know. Kaneki's past is unknown to him, so expecting him to throw away his present for that is kind of foolish.

Of course, it seems like he really didn't expect to see Shuu there. His situation is going to be very difficult now, since we know that Matsuri has no intentions of letting Shuu live. Matsuri also hates Sasaki, so what he does next could make or break his position within the CCG. He also seems to be getting closer to another break-thru, since he sort of recalled Nishiki's words on the rooftop.