Talk:Shuu Tsukiyama/@comment-5513888-20150413052518

Looking back, I remember a commenter saying he plays pretty much no role in the plot, even in the manga, and honestly I can kinda see why. He really doesn't do much to drive the story.

But I think that's okay, because I find him more of a thematic character. A lot of Tsukiyama's importance is in how he relates with Kaneki, in dialogue and underlying feelings. Throughout the manga, we have many characters who we kinda learn, "do not judge a book by it's cover." Characters like Kureo, Rize (particularly near the end), Juuzou, Ayato and Akira remind us that the world is too complicated for good guys and bad guys, and this theme that "no one is evil in their own eyes" is seen in Tsukyama. Throughout the novel, I feel like you're supposed to think, "screw him, he might act like he cares but he's pulling strings to get to Kaneki." In the final confrontation, however, we see this emotional connection he has with Kaneki. A very similar experience is with Kureo, but not as well done (with Kureo his loss explains to a degree his hatred and sadism towards Ghouls, with Tsukiyama it entirely reinterprets all that he's done to help Kaneki, which surpringly were genuine attempts to help).

That may be why his role got butchered in the anime: he's not a story driving character, he's a thematic one, and films often miss deeper themes in literal works in exchange for the surface of the story.