Talk:Touka Kirishima/@comment-2.89.235.182-20150811191211/@comment-25047329-20150812165611

Does Touka have a strong enough attatchment to Kaneki's human side as she barely knew him? The majority of the time that they knew each other, Kaneki was a half ghoul who struggled with himself and Touka and the rest of Anteiku weren't there to so much help him retain his humanity than to show that there was good in the ghoul world. Touka and Anteiku as a whole where there more as a "bridge" for Kaneki to try and gain balance. In the short time that they new each other, to Touka, Kaneki was these dorky and weird, but kind, human/ghoul hybreed.

1)Looking at Root A's most iconic promo picture, I think it's safe to say that the femininity was an artistic choice and not a literal one. ^^;

In the image of Kaneki holding a body in a sheet, the mystery figure is also very feminine looking and the only thing poking out is a pale, thin arm as a hint that it's one of the arms that we see in the opening. There was a ton of speculation as to who might be under the sheet with Touka being the prime candidate until the final episode. The body was Hide all along despite the feminine shape, so was probably done on purpose to throw the audience off. I don't doubt that they did the same thing in the opening. I don't think the hands being feminine means much in this case because I think it's more for artistic reasons.

2)I don't pay as much attention to the flowers in this series as I know I probably should, so I'll take your word for it. What do the flowers mean though?

3)Wouldn't those discriptions in the Lovers card also fit Hide? And the rest of Kaneki's friends at Anteiku for that matter.

It's actually the bridge scene that helps my thinking that the hands in the opening weren't Touka's though. The bridge scene played out almost exactly as it did in the manga. Until it got to the end. In the manga, Kaneki was effected by Touka so much, that he decided to disband his group after six months of hard work and go back to Anteiku. He was concerned as to whether or not it was okay with Touka for him to come back and thought about returning to his more "pure" self.

There's no indication of this in the anime. Where as in the manga, Kaneki visibly feels bad for what he did, Kaneki in the anime has a weird smile on his face. We don't know what he's thinking, but we're never givin any indication that he plans to change his ways and go back. That's because Kaneki and Touka in the anime aren't as close as in the manga. They care about each other still, but their anime counterparts' relationship was never as developed. While the bridge scene mostly played out the same, the outcome didn't showing that there's a clear difference in their relationship, mainly coming from Kaneki's side as he's almost an entirely different beast.

Both in the manga and the anime, Hide is the one who makes Kaneki feel more human. In the manga, Hide tells Kaneki that he doesn't need to wear a mask anymore and we see a glimpse of black-haired Kaneki-his human side. In the anime, as Kaneki is walking with Hide's body, his hair is shown switching between black and white to represent his internal struggle. Kaneki never struggled with his humanity or felt more human because of Touka, but he did because of Hide. She could never reach him as deeply and save him and as much as it gets made fun of, I think that was the point of having her run through the 20th Ward for three episodes only for Yomo to stop her. No matter how much she ran, no matter how hard, or much she looked for him, Kaneki was beyond her. Yomo understood this, so he let her try until she did finally see him, but he was already walking to his death. That's when she understood that he was unreachable.

He would rather die with Hide than live with Touka. It sounds cold, but Hide is that important to Kaneki and his state of being. Despite being friends and having an understaning of each other, Hide is the most important person to Kaneki and is the only one who could effect him so much. That's why I'll stick to the hands in the opening being Hide's. Hide and Touka are both important to Kaneki for different reasons, but Touka just doesn't feel like the character that would truely reach his humanity while Hide could. Among the Hide, Touka, Rize triad, I'd say that Touka might represent balance (between human and ghoul), but not humanity.