Touka Kirishima
Touka Kirishima
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霧嶋 董香 （きりしま とうか）
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| Alias |
Rabbit |
| Personal Description | |
| Birthday | July 1 |
| Age | 17 (Tokyo Ghoul) 28 (:re Ch. 179) |
| Gender | Female |
| Height | 156 cm / 5’1 |
| Weight | 45 kg / 99 lbs |
| Species | Ghoul |
| Status | |
| Status | Alive |
| Family | Kirishima Family |
| Affiliation | Anteiku (Formerly) |
| Debut | |
| Episode | Chapter 1 |
| Anime movie | Episode 1 |
Touka Kirishima(霧嶋 董香,Kirishima Touka) is a ghoul and a former waitress at Anteiku. She is the daughter of Arata and Hikari Kirishima, the older sister of Ayato Kirishima, the wife of Ken Kaneki, and the mother of Ichika Kaneki. Touka is known for wearing a rabbit mask while hunting, which earned her the alias “Rabbit” (ラビット,Rabitto).
InTokyo Ghoul, Touka is introduced as a second-year student at Kiyomi High School, later becoming a third-year after the post-Aogiri Tree timeskip. Despite her life as a ghoul, Touka has always maintained a strong connection to her human side, leading to an inner conflict between her ghoul identity and her desire for a peaceful existence.
Two years after the Owl Suppression Operation, Touka returns as the manager (Tenchō) of the coffee shop . After the shop’s destruction, she joins Goat, the organization Kaneki forms, and moves with its members to the 24th ward. Following the Defense of Tokyo, Touka and Kaneki are happily married, with their daughter Ichika and another child on the way, symbolizing the union between ghouls and humans in a new era of peace.
Touka’s journey throughout the series shows her resilience, emotional growth, and unwavering loyalty to her family and loved ones, as she navigates the challenges of living in both the ghoul and human worlds.
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Émile Durkheim
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| Born |
David Émile Durkheim
15 April 1858 Épinal, France
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| Died | 15 November 1917(aged 59)
Paris,France
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| Nationality | French |
| Alma mater | École Normale Supérieure |
| Known for | Sacred–profane dichotomy Collective consciousness Social fact Social integration Anomie Collective effervescence |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Philosophy, sociology, education, anthropology, religious studies |
| Institutions | University of Paris, University of Bordeaux |
| Influences | Immanuel Kant, René Descartes,Plato, Herbert Spencer,Aristotle, Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Auguste Comte. William James, John Dewey, Fustel de Coulanges, Jean-Marie Guyau, Charles Bernard Renouvier, John Stuart Mill |
| Influenced | Marcel Mauss,Claude Lévi-Strauss, Talcott Parsons, Maurice Halbwachs, Jonathan Haidt, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl,Bronisław Malinowski, Fernand Braudel, Pierre Bourdieu, Charles Taylor, Henri Bergson, Emmanuel Levinas, Steven Lukes, Alfred Radcliffe-Brown, E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Mary Douglas, Paul Fauconnet, Robert N. Bellah, Ziya Gökalp, David Bloor, Randall Collins, Neil Smelser[1] |
Appearance
Touka Kirishima is a slender, youthful ghoul with striking features that give her an air of innocence. She has bob-length dark blue hair, with long bangs that cover the right side of her face, and blue eyes. Her appearance is often described as cute and unassuming, making it hard for anyone to suspect that she is a ghoul. Touka bears a strong resemblance to her mother, Hikari Kirishima, and her younger brother, Ayato Kirishima, particularly in her facial features and hairstyle.
Touka’s attire often reflects the duality of her life as both a ghoul and a human. For work at Anteiku, she wears a standard waitress uniform: a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves, a black vest, a red tie, and a layered skirt, consisting of a black skirt down to her lower thighs and a brown overskirt to her upper thighs, paired with tight red leggings. Her casual outfits lean towards a tomboyish, streetwear style, showcasing her practical and no-nonsense personality.
When she operates as the ghoul known as “Rabbit,” Touka conceals her identity with a long coat, a rabbit mask, and a wig, which she alternates between blonde and pink. After the Aogiri arc, her hair grows to shoulder length, but she maintains her signature bangs.
As a child, Touka’s style was more feminine; she wore dresses and used a bunny hair clip to keep her bangs in place, which were brushed to the side, showing her entire face.
Following the timeskip, Touka’s appearance undergoes a notable transformation. She matures into a beautiful woman, often leaving characters like Ken Kaneki and even ghoul investigators stunned by her looks. She reverts to her bob cut, though shorter and bouncier, with bangs that reach her nose. During this time, she also dyes her hair a lighter shade of blue and adopts a more feminine wardrobe. Her waitress uniform now consists of a wide-neck white blouse with a black apron, and as a ghoul, she often dons a trench coat with pants and boots for practical mobility.
Touka Kirishima in her half-ghoul form, showcasing her dual nature as both a human and a ghoul. This transformation highlights her combat abilities and the internal conflict she faces, embodying the struggle for acceptance and survival in a world that fears ghouls.
Personality
Touka Kirishima’s personality is defined by a complex duality between her rage and her innate kindness, with her journey throughout the series focused on reconciling these two sides. At her core, Touka is a kind-hearted person, but this side was repressed due to the harsh circumstances she faced growing up in the brutal world of ghouls. Losing her father at a young age forced her to adopt a more ruthless, cold exterior in order to survive. As noted by Shuu Tsukiyama, her time living a semi-human life softened her harsh exterior, especially after she met Ken Kaneki, who gradually allowed her to embrace her natural kindness.
Touka is impulsive and reckless, primarily due to her deep-seated abandonment issues. She loses control of her emotions when people close to her are in danger or leave her, often reacting with anger and frustration. Her ghoul identity also causes her great insecurity. She yearns to be part of the human world, influenced by her father’s teachings to coexist peacefully with humans. However, the realities of being a ghoul — having to eat humans to survive and the constant threat of being hunted — make her feel conflicted and resentful of her identity. This low self-esteem is evident when she reacts with disbelief to being called beautiful, as she struggles to see herself as anything but a monster.
Touka’s feelings of inadequacy are compounded by her sense of loss and abandonment. She blames herself for not being able to prevent her father’s death, viewing it as him prioritizing revenge over their family. These feelings intensify when both her brother Ayato and Kaneki leave her, reinforcing her belief that she is not good enough for her loved ones to stay. As a result, she becomes willing to throw her life away recklessly, as seen during the Anteiku Raid, where the prospect of losing more people she cares about pushes her over the edge.
Throughout her early story, Touka is trapped between her desire to conform to the human world and her rage against the injustices inflicted on ghouls. She lashes out against CCG investigators, holding them responsible for tearing her family apart. However, after killing Kureo Mado and realizing the full extent of the cycle of hate and revenge, Touka becomes more introspective, recognizing that her actions were only continuing the cycle of violence.
Powers and Abilities
Touka Kirishima serving coffee at the Anteiku café, embodying a sense of normalcy amidst her complex life as a ghoul. This moment reflects her desire for connection and the balance she seeks between her human experiences and her identity as a ghoul.
Ghoul Physiology
As a ghoul, Touka possesses enhanced physical capabilities such as strength, speed, endurance, and regeneration. She is an ukaku ghoul, which means she has a kagune that specializes in long-range combat and agility. Her body can process human flesh, her primary source of sustenance, but consuming human food makes her sick.
Ukaku Kagune
Ukaku Kagune
Touka’s kagune manifests as wings, with the ability to form crystal-like projectiles for long-range attacks. During her early years, she was only able to form a single wing, which she used effectively during her fight against Shuu Tsukiyama. As she matured and became stronger, she developed a second wing, allowing her to fire larger, more destructive projectiles. Her kagune is also capable of blocking attacks from powerful enemies, such as when she defended against Kiyoko’s Zebizu and Mougan’s Higher Mind, stopping their attacks momentarily.
Pseudo-Electrokinesis
Touka’s kagune generates a lightning-like aura, which gives her the ability to utilize electricity in combat. This pseudo-electrokinesis makes her kagune more destructive, as the electricity adds an additional layer of damage to her attacks. The lightning-like energy that surrounds her kagune can be seen sparking when she unleashes her full strength, amplifying her attacks.
Superhuman Speed
Touka’s ukaku nature grants her incredible speed, allowing her to move quickly enough to confuse her opponents in battle. When fighting Tsukiyama, she moved so fast that he lost track of her movements momentarily. This speed makes her a difficult target to hit and allows her to close gaps or retreat from dangerous situations swiftly.
Superhuman Endurance
Despite her fragile appearance, Touka has shown remarkable endurance in battle. During her confrontation with her brother Ayato in the 11th Ward Battle, Ayato devoured her kagune, yet she remained conscious and continued to fight. This resilience highlights her determination and ability to push through pain and injury.
Relationships
Ken Kaneki
Touka and Kaneki’s relationship begins on a rocky note, with Touka initially viewing Kaneki as an anomaly, a half-ghoul who resented being compared to “monsters” like her. After his transformation, she showed little sympathy toward him, often bossing him around and showing frustration at his inexperience. Despite this, Touka agreed to train Kaneki, and over time, they grew closer. Her attitude began to soften after Kaneki helped her avenge Ryouko, and she started to see him as a close companion. Touka cared deeply for Kaneki, often worrying about his safety and even risking her life for him on several occasions.
Arata Kirishima
Touka looked up to her father, Arata, when she was a child. She admired his ideals of coexistence with humans and followed his teachings, which influenced her interactions with humans even as a ghoul. After his disappearance, Touka believed he would return, though it’s unclear if she still holds onto that hope. His ideals left a lasting impact on her, as seen in her willingness to eat human food prepared by her friend Yoriko despite the discomfort it caused her. Touka also reacted with anger whenever her brother Ayato spoke ill of their father.
Ayato Kirishima
As the older sibling, Touka took on the responsibility of caring for Ayato after their father disappeared. While they were close in their youth, Ayato’s bitterness toward humans and his decision to join Aogiri led to a rift between them. Touka disapproved of his violent methods and his rebellion against their father’s ideals, but she still cared deeply for his safety. During the Third Cochlea Raid in Tokyo Ghoul , their relationship improved, with Touka supporting Ayato and encouraging him to rely on her more.
Yoshimura
Yoshimura, the manager of Anteiku, became a father figure to Touka after Arata’s disappearance. He offered her a chance to live among humans, providing her with education and work at Anteiku. While she initially resisted, she came to respect Yoshimura and adopted many of his teachings, learning how to navigate life as both a ghoul and a human. Yoshimura’s mentorship had a profound influence on her, shaping her morals and worldview.
Renji Yomo
Yomo, Touka’s maternal uncle, played a significant role in her life, though she was unaware of their familial connection for a long time. Yomo cleaned up the mess left by Touka and Ayato during their early years as ghouls and later trained Touka in combat. Their relationship grew stronger over time, with Yomo becoming a trusted companion and protector. In Tokyo Ghoul , the two opened the café together, posing as siblings.
Yoriko Kosaka
Yoriko is Touka’s best friend from high school and one of the few humans Touka feels comfortable around. Yoriko often cooked for Touka, who, despite being a ghoul, always ate her food to maintain their friendship. After the timeskip, Yoriko marries Takeomi Kuroiwa, but Touka is unable to attend her wedding due to the danger surrounding her ghoul identity. Despite their close bond, Touka chooses not to intervene when Yoriko is framed for sheltering a ghoul, prioritizing her unborn child’s safety over her friend’s life, though this decision weighs heavily on her.
Hinami Fueguchi
Touka and Hinami share a sisterly bond. After Hinami lost her mother to CCG investigators, Touka became fiercely protective of her, even risking her life to protect Hinami from harm. Touka’s protective nature extends beyond physical threats, as she also cares for Hinami’s emotional well-being.
Nishiki Nishio
Initially, Touka and Nishiki had a contentious relationship due to territory disputes. However, after Nishiki began working at Anteiku, their animosity evolved into playful bickering. In Tokyo Ghoul , their relationship is marked by friendly jabs, showing mutual respect.
Hideyoshi Nagachika
Hide, Kaneki’s best friend, was a regular at Anteiku and had a friendly rapport with Touka, often trying to flirt with her in a lighthearted way. While Touka found him amusing and sometimes annoying, she recognized him as an important part of Kaneki’s life. After Kaneki’s disappearance, Hide’s interactions with Touka became more serious, with both sharing their concern for Kaneki’s well-being.
Shuu Tsukiyama
Touka initially disliked Tsukiyama, describing him as “nasty” due to their past interactions. However, their relationship improved over time, and by Tokyo Ghoul , Touka displayed patience and understanding toward him, even rescuing him during the Tsukiyama Family Extermination Operation.
Tooru Mutsuki
Touka and Mutsuki’s interactions were limited before their confrontation after Kaneki regained his memories. Mutsuki harbored an obsession with Haise Sasaki (Kaneki’s alias) and resented Touka, seeing her as an obstacle to his feelings toward Kaneki. Their confrontation was marked by Mutsuki’s deep-seated jealousy and unresolved emotions.
Trivia
- In the first character popularity poll, Touka was ranked second, and in the la poll, she secured the top spot.
- Touka enjoys school life and has a fondness for rabbits, but dislikes ghoul investigators, dimwits, and classical literature.
- Although Touka is depicted with black hair in the manga, Sui Ishida mentioned that it is often left uncolored due to the time-consuming process of inking. He advised readers to “just imagine she has black hair.”
- InTokyo Ghoul Chapter 179, Touka appears to be expecting her second child with Ken Kaneki, as seen when she holds her stomach, which looks slightly larger than usual.
- Touka is symbolically connected to the number “2,” referencing the tarot cardThe High Priestess (II).
- Extending from the number 2 symbolism, Touka also seems to fit the type 2 personality in the Enneagram system.
- InTokyo Ghoul Trump, Touka is featured as the “Ace of Clubs.”
- Her kagune can emit lightning-like bolts, similar to Narukami, T-Human, and Renji Yomo’s kagune.
- Touka struggles with cutting hair, having botched the bangs of both Hinami Fueguchi and Renji Yomo.
- However, Kaneki complimented her hair-cutting skills in the anime after seeing Hinami’s haircut.