“In this world full of loss the only hope is connection… To be able to believe that my actions… That my life wasn’t meaningless… That’s what hope is.”

I don’t even know where to start, this volume was a rollercoaster of emotions and it also felt so hopeful. This if definitely my favorite so far, and I enjoyed it even more than the previous.

Kaneki is FINALLY back and his plan all along was to free Hinami from Cochlea (which I should have guessed). We finally got to see the old characters back together again and fighting for the same cause.
The Touka and Kaneki reunion had me screaming because Touka fully believes that she will see Kaneki again and she holds him to it,  that he will buy them the time they need but that he won’t sacrifice himself for them — he will come back to them.  It was also revealed that Renji is Touka and Ayato’s uncle which just makes so much sense and I really love that. I hope they can become a family in the future.

I have been waiting for the facedown between Kaneki and Arima and it did NOT disappoint. Kaneki still sees Arima as a father figure, and I don’t know how Arima sees Kaneki but from their fight Arima seems to be feeling nothing towards Kaneki. Everyone sees Arima as a killing machine,  and it must be difficult to hold on to your humanity if that’s all you’re told that you are. I hope i get to know more about Arima in the next volume because he’s such an interesting character to me.

I can’t finish this review/rant/yap without adressing the Kaneki and Hide scene because it had me crying a little. Hide is the one Kaneki thinks about when he’s about to die and give up, and both times Hide tells Kaneki what he needs to hear to keep fighting. Kaneki is always so quick to jeopardize his life because he feels unworthy of it and therefore he feels like he must die for something. But Kaneki deserves not only a meaningful death, but a meaningful life more than anything. “Even if you have to claw your way through… Live.” I really hope that Hide isn’t actually dead.