Kuki Urie

Kuki Urie (瓜江 久生, Urie Kuki) is a Rank 1 Ghoul Investigator, a Quinx and the former Squad Leader of the Quinx Squad.

Appearance
Urie is a slender young man of average height, with purple hair and dark eyes. Urie also has distinct facial features; such as the two moles below his left eye. He usually wears his CCG uniform consisting of the formal suit and tie, along with a white trenchcoat pulled over when a mission beckons. He is also seen wearing black gloves. Aside from this attire, Urie is often seen with earphones. Like the other members of Quinx, he occasionally carries a briefcase with him.

Personality
Urie often displays himself as a cool-headed individual, holding a monotonous facial expression the majority of the time. As a Ghoul Investigator, he appears to be very dedicated and stern about his work, to the point where it may seem as though he is ruthlessly slaughtering more ghouls than necessary, which is a habit he often gets berated for. Urie also tends to be quite hasty when investigating the slightest details or signs of a suspect. He has a tendency to execute mission objectives independently, without awaiting the arrival of his fellow team mates, or even requesting their help. This is because he is an ambitious person, and does not wish to share credit with others, as he merely wishes to achieve higher ranks as a Ghoul Investigator. To achieve his personal goals, he is willing to go as far as manipulating his comrades or cause discord within the team.

But beneath his ambition and cool-headed demeanor is an insatiable jealousy towards his superiors, particularly Sasaki. He is shown to harbor a sense of inferiority and as result, an intense hatred for those around him; he feels that he is in Sasaki's way and that the world has treated him unfairly: despite losing his father and being the top of his class, he cannot achieve anything no matter how hard he tries.

Urie believes that ghouls, under any circumstance, must cease to exist. He also believes that as an investigator, he must never retreat and will fight on even if he has to strain himself. This belief stems from the fact that his late father, a special class investigator in charge of the S3 squad, ordered his team members to retreat while he stayed to fight the One-Eyed Owl, resulting in his death. He also holds a grudge against Iwao Kuroiwa (and by extension his son, Takeomi Kuroiwa), for not fighting by his father's side during the Owl battle. Urie thinks that the Kuroiwa are inconsiderate concerning his loss and he refuses to forgive them.

Torso Investigation
Urie spends the day traveling the city by taxi, switching from one to another until he worries that he will run out of money. He resolves to simply add it to the investigation expenses for the month.

During his travel, he gets into the taxi driven by Akashi Kobayashi. They briefly make small talk, as Akashi describes his hobby of making sweets. However, as they enter a tunnel Urie confronts him and reveals that he knows the driver is lying to him. Though the driver has washed his hands, he can smell blood and knows he is a Ghoul -- Urie shows him his badge, causing the driver to panic. He manages to leap from the taxi before it crashes, but his Quinque is damaged before he can deploy it.

Shirazu arrives on the scene, nearly hitting him with a reckless attack. The pair begin to quarrel, allowing Akashi to ambush them and impale Shirazu with his kagune. The Ghoul thinks he has the upper hand, but Urie removes his jacket and charges him unarmed -- revealing his single kakugan and deploying his kagune. He protests being called a Ghoul, running his opponent through with his blade. Afterwards, Urie begins to argue with Shirazu over which of them will gain credit for this kill. They do not notice that the Ghoul is still alive, and are saved from a sneak attack by Haise Sasaki. He intends to finish the Ghoul off, but is ordered to arrest him for questioning. This angers Urie, and he insults his superior before storming off.

He continues his investigation alone, but is followed closely by Shirazu. They eventually confront each other, and begin to argue over his unwillingness to work with others. He reveals his intentions to get promoted and join the "S3", a squad Shirazu has never heard about. The discussion becomes heated, and he quotes a directive instructing the termination of lower-ranked members if they go out of control. This enrages Shirazu, who responds by threatening to eat his Kakuhou. As they prepare to fight seriously, a camera flash interrupts them. Chie Hori introduces herself, and offers to give him information on Torso.

Urie is initially suspicious of Chie, noting that the information on Investigators is classified. He threatens to bring her in for questioning, but reconsiders when she points out they will lose the information she is offering them. He changes tactics, and begins discussing her asking price for the photographs of Torso's hunting grounds. When she states she will sell her information in exchange for an article of clothing belonging to Sasaki, his suspicions are increased. Even so, he agrees to her terms and states he will bring her the item if she will let him have the first set of photos.

After the meeting, he looks over the photographs with Shirazu. He reveals he has no intention of revealing any of this to their team, and claims that anything they accomplish will be used by Sasaki to gain further promotions. He then points out Shirazu's need for money, and begins manipulating his desperation to make him doubt their mentor. When Shirazu falls for his lies and begins seeing him as someone trustworthy, he secretly pleased at how naive and easily fooled the other is.

Sasaki calls a team meeting later, to announce that Akira Mado has ordered them to find Torso within a month's time. After Shirazu causes a scene and storms off, Urie declares his intentions to do things alone and leaves the house. This angers Sasaki, causing the team to split into two groups competing to find their target.

Days later, Urie and Shirazu meet with Akira to pick up their replacement Quinques. She asks him how the investigation is going, causing him to recall his second meeting with Chie. He met with her at another restaurant, accompanied by Shirazu. As promised, he hands over a pair of Sasaki's underwear and in exchange, Chie shows them several polaroids. She explains the unique traits of different brands, illustrating it by taking two photos of them. Urie notes how one brand, Immortal, has faded color just like the photos Torso left behind at the crime scenes. Based on this information, Chie tells them she knows of a single person that might be their suspect.

Akira briefly explains to the pair the history of the Quinque, created by the father of the current head of CCG. She then inquires about whether they have ever seen Sasaki fight with his full strength. Urie compliments his skill with a Qunique, but mentally notes he doesn't actually think he's that talented. However, Akira notes this means they've never seen it and warns them not to become like Sasaki.

In the final days of the investigation, Urie and Shirazu finally go to confront their suspect. They arrive on Shirazu's motorcycle in time to see Torso kidnapping Tooru Mutsuki, and the Ghoul speeds off in his taxi before they can catch him. They give chase, leading to a brief high-speed pursuit. He orders Shirazu to use his kagune to disable the taxi, but he misses completely and they begin to argue again. The chase attracts a police vehicle, and Urie signals to them to assist in their pursuit. When the officers approach the taxi, Torso kills them both with his kagune.

However, the encounter a police barricade ahead of them on the road. Urie realizes that Sasaki must have called it in, and becomes angry at his interference. He climbs off the motorcycle and deploys his kagune, ignoring explicit orders to use his Quinque instead. Along with Shirazu, he begins to fight against the Ghoul but quickly realizes their opponent is a Rinkaku with superior healing abilities. Before he can press the attack, Serpent arrives on the scene and threatens them all.

Despite all efforts to defeat Serpent, Urie instead is effortlessly beaten to the point where he gets weak. After he is advised to retreat, Urie refuses, and remembers how he felt when he heard of the death of his father. Urie then bites a piece of the flesh off his arm in an attempt to reboot his strength. Before he could get back on his feet, he is restrained by Shirazu, as Sasaki arrives and slashes Serpent's kagune in half. As the fight between Serpent and Haise proceeds, Urie stands in the sidelines with the rest of the Quinx Squad, as he takes in and interprets every aspect of Haise's power and abilities. It is then hinted by Akira Mado that Urie is most likely envious of Haise's exceptional fighting style; despite the fact that Sasaki took the risk of saving his squad.

Nutcracker Investigation
Sasaki stands up to Urie and berates him for endangering and jeopardizing the lives of his Squad members just for his own selfish reasons. Urie is also told that retreating is a necessity once lives are threatened. Sasaki therefore relieves Urie of his position as Squad Leader, and the two begin to argue over whom has the highest rank and who is supposed to take command of the Squad. Urie then insults Sasaki by calling him a "ghoul," causing an angry Shirazu to kick Urie, threatening to kill him. Later on, Shirazu apologizes to Urie for attacking him, and gives him a can of sweetened red beans, even though he knew that Urie dislikes sweets. Upon pretensively suggesting that they should work together this time against ghouls, Urie secretly presumes that he can still manipulate Shirazu, so that he can still gain control over the leadership of the Squad.

Urie is later seen in Dr. Shiba's office, asking that his Kagune be enhanced so that he'd be stronger. However, Urie is forced to listen as Shiba explains the Biology of the Quinx. Shiba concludes that it would not be a good recommendation for Urie to strengthen his kagune, for the kakuhou might go over its limits. Urie becomes disappointed, and in his subconscious, he insults Dr. Shiba, saying that Scientists and Doctors only conduct experiments for the sake of getting credit.

Urie then meets Takeomi Kuroiwa, whom asks about Sasaki's well being. However, a silent tension grows between the two, as Urie becomes jealous over the fact that Takeomi was able to take down Haise. Urie then enters an internal monologue, mentioning that Takeomi's father had allowed his father to die during the battle with the One-Eyed Owl, and he therefore can never be forgiven.

Later that evening, he meets with Shirazu and Mutsuki back at their home. The three head upstairs to confront Saiko, and when she refuses to come out of her room, he helps Shirazu break down her door with his kagune. She attempts to blame him for her laziness, claiming he told her to work independently.

To motivate her, Urie falsely claims that their superiors are considering firing her. He tells her that she will lose her comfortable lifestyle and be forced to go back to working at her mother's bar. However, he notes this is impossible because their contract grants them life-long assistance whether they still work for CCG or not. His trick works, as she promises to work hard. Afterwards, it is revealed that he considers her an "ill-fitting cog", and he intends to use her laziness to corrupt the team and discredit Shirazu as a leader. Through this, he hopes to force Sasaki to give him leadership of the Squad.

As he predicted, the next morning, Saiko oversleeps and causes a problem. He is then seen discussing the Nutcracker with the rest of the Quinx Squad and Hanbee Abara.

When attention is called to two members of their squad being absent, he feigns concern over their reputation. However, he mentally notes that Juuzou being late has ruined his plan. He's shocked when Shirazu arrives at the meeting, carrying a still-sleeping Saiko. While the others praise him for actually getting Saiko into the building, Urie clenches his teeth in anger.

The team is assigned to shadow Nutcracker, and spy on her while she meets with an associate. Urie notes that dealing with Saiko has left Shirazu exhausted and irritable, dulling his senses and causing him to make mistakes. When his rival breaks a glass and draws attention to them, he smugly drinks his coffee as though unconcerned.

Later that evening, he approaches Sasaki and requests permission to undergo the procedure to open another Frame. He explains that his powers have stabilized, and he feels that the experiment should be taken to the next phase. However, Sasaki is hesitant to grant permission and reassures him that he doesn't think of the team as mere guinea pigs. He asks for time to consider things. After leaving Sasaki's room, Urie broods over the denial.

Secretly, he undergoes the surgery without revealing anything to his team. They express concern and confusion over his sudden admittance to the hospital. Several days later, he is released from the hospital and heads immediately to his room. He does not notice any changes in his sense of smell, but does not see any reason to be concerned. While painting, he recalls how he went directly to Chief Yoshitoki Washuu for permission, in defiance of Sasaki's wishes. The chief questions him about his motivations, and then asks Kishou Arima's opinion on the matter when he interrupts them. Arima gives his approval for the surgery, and Urie is thrilled at his words of praise. He tells himself that he is better than Sasaki, and will not lose control of his powers like his superior did.

Auction
While the rest of the team worry over Mutsuki's infiltration of the Auction, Urie considers the raid a chance to obtain an Osmanthus Medal with so many Ghouls present. He provides support to Sasaki during the early stage of the battle, charging into the main building and eliminating the Ghouls encountered along the way. The team comes across Kanae von Rosewald attacking Mutsuki, and quickly fight him off. With Mutsuki rescued, their next orders are to head for the Administrative Tower and eliminate Nutcracker, now considered an S-rated Ghoul. However, Matsuri and Sasaki order Urie to escort Mutsuki to safety to receive medical treatment, something that he tries to refuse. He initially relents, but once the two are alone, he pretends to have gotten lost and leads them further into the building. In the main hall, he investigates until he discovers a secret passage and discovers the hiding place of the missing customers.

The two are quickly joined by Juuzou, much to Urie's frustration. When asked to radio for backup, he lies and claims that he cannot reach anyone in order to prevent anyone else from stealing his credit. Instead, he states that as Investigators they have a responsibility to fight since the guests have secured a way out. Juuzou and Mutsuki agree, and he quickly leaps down from the catwalk to face the Ghouls. Along with Juuzou, he begins taking out Aogiri guards and the weaker Auction customers. When he reveals his kagune, the Ghouls react in horror and shock, and Urie begins to feel excited as his newfound power.

As the battle continues, Urie begins to feel overconfident in his new abilities. He charges off alone in pursuit of Big Madam, and quickly finds himself outmatched by the SS-rated Ghoul. Two of her bodyguards finish him off with their throwing knives, leaving him severely wounded. As Mutsuki finally catches up to him, Big Madam begins to shove Urie, still thinking that he can fight, into her mouth.

Before the massive Ghoul can finish swallowing him, Urie grasps her jaws and pulls himself free in a surge of strength. His kagune goes completely out of control, mutating further into a double-bladed form and causing him to suffer a complete mental breakdown. Alternating between excitement at the surge in his powers granted by Frame 4, and ranting about his resentment towards others, he begins viciously attacking the Ghouls present. Big Madam's knife-wielding bodyguards charge him, but Urie easily slices them into pieces and damages Big Madam's kagune. She manages to regain the upper hand, seriously wounding him and knocking him to the ground.

Unable to control himself, Urie breaks down and begins to cry in frustration. He rails against Takeomi, Sasaki, and the other Quinx for being more successful than himself and complains about the lack of rewards for his efforts.

Mutsuki approaches him, and is stabbed through the stomach -- this seems to shock Urie back to his senses. Though wounded, Mutsuki offers him words of comfort and embraces him, wrapping them both in his kagune. Slowly calming down, Urie realizes the scent of blood isn't from Mutsuki's wounds and puzzles over realizing his comrade's birth sex.

Big Madam prepares to attack them again, stating her intention to kidnap Mutsuki and devour Urie. However, Juuzou and his squad arrive and shield the Quinx.

Post-Auction
In the following Christmas, he is sent to buy ingredients for Haise's party, and is irritated when he finds out the grocery list Tooru gave him had no precise amounts of anything. He gets a pair of expensive earphones from Haise for Christmas and thanks him for it.

Rosewald Investigation
During Spring's award ceremony, Urie was promoted to a Rank 1 investigator and received an Osmanthus Medal. He doesn't feel too happy about it though, as Takeomi's performance of defeating a ghoul barehandedly won him more fame than Urie's achievements did in the CCG. He is shown disgusted when Iwao patted his shoulder to congratulate his promotion.

After learning from Shiba that ghouls become stronger through repetitive healing of injuries, he challenged himself through weight lifting more than he can normally handle, intentionally experiencing the continuous breakdown and regeneration of his muscles to strengthen himself.

When visiting HySy ArtMask Studio along with the rest of his squad to get mask measurements, he found it painfully obvious that Uta is a ghoul. He however thought that Sasaki isn't that careless and has probably deemed him as either a human or a threatless ghoul so dropped the thought soon.

When the Quinx squad was lured into a trap in an empty parking garage by Kanae and hired Aogiri hitmen, Urie was the first to head in, chasing Kanae as he recognized the ghoul as the same one during the Auction Raid. When Shirazu's kakuhou was damaged and is unable to utilize his quinque out of fear, Urie berated the squad leader as trash shit but doesn't pay much mind to it, as he believes that he can destroy the ghoul by himself anyway. Urie then easily overpowered Kanae, with his training for the past six months showing effect, choking and smashing him into the wall barehandedly whilst claiming "I'll break your neck." The ghoul escapes using his rinkaku kagune to swing himself out of the parking garage before Urie could eliminate him however, causing Urie some irritation as "he had him."

Urie then realized that it was a trap and hurries Shirazu to recover from his panic attack before rushing to fight off Grave Robber together when they found Mutsuki in a disadvantage. Knowing Sasaki is fighting multiple ghouls by himself, the Quinx (aside from Saiko) hurries to their mentor, only to stand in awe as they found him winning against at least five ghouls singlehandedly.

Urie attended the Tsukiyama Family Extermination Operation along with the rest of his squad. While standing by outside the Tsukiyama Family's manor, he was depicted as excited for the chance to gain additional achievements until they were notified that Mirumo surrendered immediately. After arriving at the Lunatic Eclipse to capture the Tsukiyama heir, he along with the rest of the Quinx joined Itou squad when Sasaki went on ahead to the building's top floor. The combined squad soon encountered Noro and suffered an overwhelming defeat when their attacks dealt no damage to the ghoul and losing more than half of the fighting force within the short period they fought.

Haise Sasaki
Initially, Urie was openly disrespectful towards his superior, questioning his decisions and acting on his own with little regard to the group. This in turn frustrates Sasaki, who was unable to manage the Squad Leader's rebellious actions. Underneath the layers of disdain however, Urie was shown to harbor a deep sense of resentment and jealousy towards his superior because of his success. He views Sasaki as an obstruction that prevents him from reaching his ambitions, as well as a rival that he wants to surpass. Towards this end, he sows seeds of doubt in Shirazu, turning the other Quinx against their leader. Urie, after seeing Haise fight against Serpent, has become envious of Haise's power and abilities. After the auction raid Urie seems to have gained a more respectful attitude toward Haise and began requesting him for assistance in improving his own abilities. At the visit to HySy, Urie had shown trust in Haise's judgment when it came to Uta who he immediately suspected was a ghoul.

Ginshi Shirazu
Shirazu is his near-constant companion, though one he barely tolerates. Though he prefers to work alone, to avoid having to share credit, he often finds himself working with Shirazu since the other man usually follows him around. They are prone to tense, even violent confrontations, but also make an excellent team when working together. This is partially due to their contrasting personalities, with Shirazu easy-going and naive in comparison to Urie's guarded and anti-social attitude. He begins manipulating Shirazu to achieve is goals, convincing him that Sasaki will betray them and steal credit for their actions. After the events at the Auction Raid, Urie has shown disdain to Shirazu due to his inability to wield a quinque anymore even in emergency despite the quinque being an excellent one.

Tooru Mutsuki
Urie looks down on Mutsuki, referring to him as a "hypocrite" and avoids dealing with him. There is tension between them, as a result of Mutsuki being Sasaki's strongest supporter among the group since they both have a different approach towards their mentor. However, although Mutsuki shows respect for Urie, Urie views him as irrelevant to the Squad, and therefore pays no heed to the suggestions Mutsuki proposes. During the Auction, when Urie loses control over his kagune, Mutsuki is the one to bring him back to his senses. Afterwards, while Urie still behaves in an unfriendly fashion, he easily gives into Mutsuki's requests to participate in their holiday party. Also during fights, Urie has been shown to fight together much more and he would defend Mutsuki when needed.

Saiko Yonebayashi
He describes her as an ill-fitting cog in the machine, and intentionally kept her from working with the team while Squad Leader. However, once he loses his position, he considers her an ideal tool to use against Shirazu. He manipulates and lies to her, considering her stupid for not seeing through his bluff.

Takeomi Kuroiwa
Their fathers served together in the same squad, suggesting that they have known each other for a long time. Urie is disgusted that Takeomi is willing to approach and speak to him casually, blaming the Kuroiwa family for the death of his father. He attempts to brush him off, but Urie secretly despises both Takeomi and his father. Urie is also jealous at the fact that Takeomi, though an equal ranked investigator, was able to take down Sasaki and has more fame in the CCG than himself.

Iwao Kuroiwa
Kuroiwa served in the same squad as Urie's father, and was among the members to deliver news of his father's fate to him. Urie has never forgiven Kuroiwa for leaving his father behind, and projects considerable hatred onto his son whenever they meet. He expresses the desire for Kuroiwa to die for his sins, thinking that the loss of an arm isn't enough to pay for his supposed cowardice.

Kishou Arima
Urie seems to look up to Arima and was thrilled when he heard him praising his talent and giving the approval for the surgery. This increased Urie's determination to become better and assured himself that he will not lose control like Sasaki.

Powers and Abilities
Urie possesses basic training in combat and investigative process, and is field leader of the Quinx Squad. However, he displays poor leadership ability when dealing with his comrades. Like other members of the Quinx Squad, he has other ghoul-like abilities such as an enhanced sense of smell, with the exception of slow regeneration, compared to Ginshi Shirazu.


 * Koukaku Kagune: His kagune has an armored structure that covers his shoulder and upper arm, as well as a long blade. This blade is almost as long as his leg, and easily slices through the flesh and bone of enemy Ghouls. After he had frame 4 released, his kagune is now bigger and has two blades instead of one.


 * Tsunagi: A plain Bikaku Quinque, given to him as a loaner after his original Quinque was destroyed in battle. It is a simple blade with an unadorned handle and he shows little interest in using it in battle. Though he does use it with his kagune during the Auction raid.

Trivia

 * Urie dislikes sweet foods.
 * Urie has a RC level of 902, which is the third highest compared to the other members of Quinx Squad.
 * Urie stated that it is his intention to transfer to the S3 Squad from the Quinx Squad. It is later revealed that his father was once the squad's leader, and died holding back the One-Eyed Owl for his team.
 * His father died in the same fashion as Kasuka Mado, facing the One-Eyed Owl alone to defend their retreating comrades.
 * An omake in Volume 1, shows that he is a talented painter.
 * Urie spends most of his spare time solo training.
 * In Tokyo Ghoul Trump, he's featured as the "Three of Diamonds".
 * An interesting note about Urie is that his Kakugan is on his left eye while his Kagune is on his right side.

Quotes

 * To Shirazu: “I have no intention to work under Investigator Sasaki. I’m going to get promoted and go to the S3 squad.”


 * To Shirazu: “Achieve not with the Squad, but by yourself. That’ll get you closer to your objective. This is my honest opinion.”


 * To Himself: “I could’ve taken all the credit…if Sasaki had not gone and interfered.”


 * To Shirazu: “If our extermination ability is deemed to be in proportion with an S-rated ghoul, our chance of getting a “White Wing Medal” increases.”
 * To Mutsuki: "Retreat?...Don't give me that."
 * To Takeomi (in an internal monologue): “It seems like your father lost an arm during the fight with the Owl two years ago. He should’ve died.”
 * To Himself: "So this is...Frame 4!"