Talk:Touka Kirishima/@comment-104.131.98.29-20160730214907/@comment-25047329-20160731070148

Tbh, I think the expectations for what might have happened the next time Kaneki and Touka would meet after Kaneki got his memories back were too high. There were a lot of expectations that it would be super emotional and touching, but this just wasn't the arc for it and Touka already said that she wouldn't interfere with Kaneki. She said the minimum while trying to convey something important, and Kaneki was still highly unstable and grief-ridden. Touka's role this arc simply wasn't to "save" Kaneki, just remind him that there are people that care about him and to plant the seeds of doubt.

I have complicated feelings about how Kaneki has to sometimes be snapped out of his emotional state via violence though. For better or for worst, he responds strongly to violence likely due to his past. In this particular case (Kaneki vs Arima) despite what Kaneki was trying to do, he was hesitant. He was sure that Arima would really kill him and started to panic, then changed his mind. It was being on the verge of death that he realized that he didn't really want to die. He comforted himself which is a big step forward for him imo. The self comforting took the form of Hide, but it was Kaneki's illusion and he came to terms with the fact that it was all from him.