Yukinori Shinohara

Yukinori Shinohara (篠原 幸紀, Shinohara Yukinori) is a Special Class Ghoul Investigator and an Investigation Commander in Division I. He was assigned to the 20th ward and responsible for the investigation of the Binge Eater.

In the past, he acted as Koutarou Amon's instructor at the CCG Academy. His last partner was Juuzou Suzuya. He was Kureo Mado's first partner.

Appearance
Shinohara is a middle-aged, bulky man with a large nose and a wide chin. He has short black hair and a beard. He normally wears the standard CCG investigator dress code and a collar shirt during casual occasions.

Personality
Unlike his oneshot version, Shinohara can be described as a "father to his men" type of character. He once mentored Amon, whom also regards Shinohara as a mentor close to Mado. Cheerful and kind, he is a generally liked man among his coworkers and because of his long experience as an investigator, he hardly flinches to anything except for Juuzou's violent tendencies.

Past
Shinohara was mentored by Fujishige Iba and served with him in a trio along with Kureo Mado, during which they were responsible for a number of achievements.

As a Rank 1 Investigator Shinohara killed Demon Yamada and later as an Associate Special Class, he and Mado managed to secure Arata Kirishima.

Doves' Emergence
Shinohara first appeared as a mourner at Kureo Mado's funeral service. After the funeral service had ended, he approached Amon expressing his sorrow. He had to leave immediately to look after Suzuya. Before he left, he told Amon that Mado was proud of him.

Aogiri Arc
Shinohara was deployed to the 20th ward together with Kousuke Houji and Seidou Takizawa from the CCG Main Office. This was a measure to deal with the dangerous stand-alone ghouls in the 20th ward. Additionally, the CCG's 11th Ward Branch had become powerless, so the deployment was also meant to prevent the destruction of the CCG's 20th Ward Branch. Otherwise, a pincer attack on the wards between the 11th and 20th ward could not be avoided. Afterwards, he picked Suzuya up who had been arrested by a police officer. He then witnessed Suzuya take a bite out of the officer's ear.

To start his investigation into the Binge Eater, Shinohara passed the data on the case to the other branch offices detailing his speculations that the Binge Eater might have moved into a different ward. He voiced the opinion that the Binge Eater most likely had already died.

Raid of Kanou's Lab
While investigating the "Binge Eater" case and the disappearance of Dr. Akihiro Kanou, Shinohara found out that Kanou owned a mansion. He decided to take a team of investigators to search for clues on Kanou's whereabouts there. Upon their arrival at the mansion, Shinohara split the investigators into two teams to cover more ground. Shortly after splitting, his team stumbled upon Kaneki devouring the experimental ghouls in Kanou's secret lab. While asking the ghoul questions, Shinohara was suddenly engaged by Kaneki and activated his Arata armor in time to lessen the sudden, powerful impact. After a short bout of battle, Shinohara successfully cut Kaneki down, damaging his kakuja kagune; however, Kaneki continued on with his usual kagune form, causing the investigator to be annoyed at the number of his kakuhou. Fighting the already exhausted investigator, Kaneki quickly overpowered him and left him near death. Shinohara is later found by Amon lying on the ground with Kaneki seemingly feeding off his corpse. Enraged by the sight, Amon fought off the ghoul with the later help of Suzuya. In the aftermath it was revealed that the ghoul was only eating the Arata armor off the unconscious special class; Shinohara is later hospitalized, stating that he probably can't be called "invincible" anymore.

Owl Suppression Operation
While taking part in the Owl Suppression Operation, Shinohara fought against Yoshimura along with Kuroiwa, Suzuya, Houji, and Ui. They managed to subdue the SSS rank ghoul and began celebrating their victory. However, the real One-Eyed Owl suddenly appeared, catching the squad off guard and inflicting heavy damages to most of them. Shinohara was knocked out and the One-Eyed Owl severed his leg to 'match' Suzuya, who lost a leg fighting the other Owl earlier, before stabbing Shinohara in the stomach and 'mixing' it. Due to heavy blood-loss from the injuries, Shinohara suffered brain damage and entered a vegetative state.

Auction
Two years later, Shinohara remained hospitalized and in a vegetative state with little hope for recovery. Suzuya continued to visit him along with his new partner, Hanbee Abara. While spending the afternoon with Ginshi Shirazu and Saiko Yonebayashi, Abara took them to see Shinohara in the hospital.

Juuzou Suzuya
Their relationship is incredibly significant to the story, as Shinohara's kindness has a strong impact on the deeply-troubled Suzuya. Shinohara works to rehabilitate the damaged young man, and offers him guidance as both his superior and a surrogate father figure. He has a strong affection for Suzuya, and according to his wife, he even considered him like one of his own children. Suzuya is devastated by his loss, but draws strength from it and grows into a more stable and kind-hearted person as a direct result of Shinohara. In the years following his hospitalization, Suzuya continues to visit him.

Kureo Mado
They are briefly shown together while fighting the One Eyed Owl ten years ago.

Koutarou Amon
Amon is seen by Shinohara as an excellent inspector.

Iwao Kuroiwa
Shinohara often goes in missions with Kuroiwa, and has fought the Non-killing Owl at least twice together.

Powers and Abilities
As a special investigator, Shinohara is a experienced veteran who has encountered as many powerful ghouls as the number of students he has taught. He uses quinque made from strong ghouls that he has personally defeated. He is a bulked and strong human that can wield Quinque that fits his immense vitality, such as weapons that deal ferocious blows or armor that severely stims his body.


 * Demon Yamada 1: A bikaku quinque that takes form as a long butcher knife. It was created from the S-rated ghoul "Demon Yamada" who had slayed many First Class and Associate Special Class Investigators. Although it does not have any special properties, its condensed into a simple sword that Shinohara uses to deliver heavy swings.


 * Arata series: A prototype koukaku quinque that is made not as a weapon, but as an armor to protect and enhance the user. The exoskeleton strengthens the user's agility and strength to match a ghoul's physique. The carapace gives better protection against kagune than normal body armor and it is more energy efficient than most quinque, presumably since it draws energy from the user's body. Unlike most quinque that are fed preservatives, the Arata can be manually set to higher levels of Rc for the effects to be more potent, at the cost of the wearer's vigor. At the time, it was still a prototype and the armor could not be used safely for long periods of time.


 * Unnamed Quinque: A quinque with an unknown Rc type that was used by Shinohara as a Rank 1 Investigator. It was shown being used to kill Demon Yamada.

As a lecturer, he shows he is a very adept and patient teacher. He had taught Amon and other CCG Academy students and currently gives lectures to his underling, Juuzo.

Trivia

 * In the original oneshot, Shinohara was killed by Ken Kaneki. His personality had many similarities to Kureo Mado, being a cruel and vengeful man.
 * The Volume 13 omake reveals that Shinohara has three young children, seen attending a festival with him.
 * In the anime, there were events with Shinohara that did not occur in the manga:
 * Shinohara battled Ayato Kirishima while using the Arata Armor. He noted the quinque malfunctioning during their battle and Ayato recognized it to be from his father, and the event implied "supernatural" connections with quinque and ghouls. In the manga, he had never encountered Ayato.
 * Shinohara went to Anteiku to speak privately with Yoshimura and was far more cordial towards him even during their final battle.
 * In Tokyo Ghoul Trump, he's featured as the "Nine of Hearts" with Iwao Kuroiwa.

Quotes

 * To Kaneki: "Of all the ghouls I've met until now... you are the craziest of them all!"
 * To Juuzou Suzuya: "If an angelic being fell from the sky and tried to live in this world of ours, I think even they would commit many wrongs. I wonder what colors their purity would be dyed..."

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