Talk:Ken Kaneki/@comment-46.165.229.235-20160809235729/@comment-25047329-20160813094155

/deep labored breathing/

Eheh, sorry if I skimmed out on a few things @Dayne. I was trying to keep my post from being ridiculously long and I was busy with other stuff. I'm still sort of busy now with editing, so I'll try to respond as adequately as possible while being quick. Forgive me if something sounds off or I don't answer things properly right now. If something sounds fishy, let me know and I'll try to elaborate another time.

Could you clarify what you mean by Kaneki condemning Shuu though? I don't understand that part.

Yamori and Rize are "chaotic evil" is what I think it's called. Just causing chaos for the sake of chaos out of primal need. Eto's more neutral taking the "doing what has to be done" route. I think Kaneki on some level understands this because he went through this phase after Yamori's torture, but later on came to view this method as wrong. She has a greater goal in mind, one that might even lead to a more balanced world at the end, but it sure is at a big cost. It makes her a great villain though.

I wanted to say that Kaneki needs to know more about Eto before having a real reflection, but thinking about it, I don't think all of Kaneki's feelings towards her have been explored. We know they have a complex relationship, that's for sure. And an unusual one at that because they understand each other while having had very little interaction. After he got his memories back, we spent a long time not knowing what was going on inside his head, and the only thing we got was "Eto must be apprehended". I'm also very interested to get more on his thoughts.

I agree with your concept of preference, so I have nothing to add! "Preference" may have not been the best word or I could have explained better, but to elaborate, I meant the audience' preference to have things play out the way they'd like despite what canon says. Having a preference isn't a bad thing, but sometimes the want to have something happen a specific way can be blinding. I've seen it happen mutiple times where fandom wants to believe something really bad to the point other options are shutout or something is interpreted as "not making sense" when a perception is challenged despite the story building up to it. This whole issue with Kaneki and Eto sort of falls under that. I get the audience wanting a better relationship between Kaneki and Eto, I want that too, but the way the story has developed until now just doesn't allow it. I too would "prefer" for Eto and Kaneki to eventually get along, but I understand why he's giving her the cold-shoulder and don't think it's out of character.

Does all that blabbering make sence?XD Maybe something like "blind preference" or something might have been a better way to put it. "Preference" is fine, "blind preference" can prevent one from seeing the forest for the trees.

I don't disagree with your interpretation of Arima and the way he's been treated (both by the fandom and the story). Since Arima is another character I can go on about for a while and I have my own feelings about the way the end of his story played out, I wont get into it much now. That can be a whole other topic in itself and I don't want it to derail this thread. I'll just leave this bit for now saying I get where you're coming from.

To be fair, Eto isn't as explored a character as Arima. His story more or less ended, so we were given most everything we needed. I hope Eto doesn't die now, and if she survives, we're sure to get more on her. Things like her time in the 24th Ward and her life with Noro have been scantily touched on. Once we know more, I reckon the tissues will be flowing.

(Lots of writing can be cathartic though~)