Tokyo Ghoul episode 12 finally brings out the inner ghoul in Kaneki. For some reason, this takes the form or Rize, a dead ghoul with no psychic connection to Kaneki in any form. She approaches him in his inner mental world which is a completely white field of flowers. He thinks that she’s his mother until his blindfold comes off. She comments on his injuries a little before Jason comes back in the room, which transports the two of the back to reality. There, he continues the torture. He ordered Kaneki to count down from one thousand so that he would retain his sanity while having his fingers and toes cut off over and over again.
Tokyo Ghoul Episode 12: Ghoul [Dubbed Anime]
After Jason leaves again, Rize comes back and asks about his mother. They get transported back in time through Kaneki’s memories. He explains to Rize that as a child, his mother would help him with his homework before going to work. After, he would continue his studies in his dead father’s reading room. Even though he was alone, his father’s books and his mother’s kindness kept him company. From his mother, he learned to be kind and to not hurt others, and that even if he was hurt, he would recover because he was a good person.
Missing Puzzle Pieces
We finally begin to learn some things that confused us in Tokyo Ghoul episode 12. Jason cuts off another finger and tells Kaneki that he is paying special attention to him because he regenerates very quickly. This is thanks to Kanou, the doctor from the first episode. He put Rize’s organs in him on purpose. Then Jason puts a large, nasty looking centipede with sharp incisors in his ear. He begins to beg to die and then returns to his memory world. His mother overworked herself providing for him and helping her greedy sister and eventually died.
After that, Hide was the only one he could depend on for friendship and support. Rize tells him that he will soon lose Hide too. In the real world, Banjou’s two friends are now tied up and beaten in front of them and Jason talks about how weakness brings about ruin in the world. Jason then commands Kaneki to choose which one dies. He says that they love each other, and he has allowed them to look after him even though he knows they were potential traitors. Kaneki is powerless to decide, even after Jason picks up the girl by the throat and eventually kills her. Even the other guy had the sense to ask to be the one chosen. The other guy is furious with Kaneki up until the moment he is also killed.
Dragging It Out
Rize continues to hard on Kaneki about weakness and indecision in Tokyo Ghoul episode 12. It’s taking so long to get to the point that it’s almost as if the writers are suffering from the same weaknesses. She says that people around him are dying because he’s weak and chooses not to hurt people. His stupidity led him to be tricked by Rize which led them into the situation where she died and her organs were put into him. His weakness caused Ryouko to die. Rize’s death led the 11th Ward ghouls to go on a hunt for her which caused the war going on right now, and his indecision caused the couple in front of him to die instead of just the guy. She furthers this by saying eventually Touka and Hinami will die, and even Hide.
She makes a good and obvious point. By choosing to be kind and gentle and ultimately not making any negative decisions, negativity gets forced on you. For example, his mother may not have died if she stopped giving her greedy sister money. She addresses the fact that he resents her a little for trying to help everyone and not just paying attention to him, leaving him alone. He complains like a pathetic little pansy for a few minutes, wishing his mother was there and hadn’t left him alone. Finally, a weak leap of logic is made: he wishes that she had ignored her sister, essentially “hurting” her, even going as far as saying harming her sister would have been okay if it meant being with him. This is an attempt to parallel his decision to hurt people with his love for his mother.
Moving On
Thankfully, Tokyo Ghoul episode 12 finally makes a very good point here: trying to help and/or not harm everyone isn’t kindness. It’s weak and stupid. You have to be strong to protect the things you love. Rize then points out that as soon as Aogiri tree is done fending off this attack, they will proceed to take control of the 20th Ward and put the people he cares about in danger. He claims to have the strength to fight them, which makes Rize think that he’s finally able to accept her. He isn’t, and says that he can become stronger than her if he wants to. Then he starts eating her, which she encourages. This symbolizes him incorporating her as a part of himself. He says a couple more absurd things and then takes a few bites. For some unexplained reason, his hair turns white.
Jason returns, but doesn’t notice that Kaneki’s black hair has turned completely white. Maybe this is normal in the ghoul world. He explains that the Doves are closing in, meaning he will have to kill Kaneki soon so that he can take care of them. Then he identifies Anteiku as one of the targets of Aogiri.
Admittedly, the ensuing fight scene at the end of Tokyo Ghoul episode 12 is pretty good, and starts out with a very cool move. Jason attempts to attack, but Kaneki breaks his chains and takes a bite out of Jason before leaping away. Apparently, the special RC serum can be overruled if the person is strong and passionate enough. He leaps around a bit and then kicks. Jason catches his leg and doesn’t let go, so Kaneki spins around, shredding his own leg in the process, and kicks Jason away.
After Kaneki wins, he takes the bug out of his ear and declare that he will now eat Jason.
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