Hirako and Arima’s relationship

Take and Kishou’s relationship is something I have been very interested in ever since they were shown in TG. After Hirako and Uta’s fight a lot of people are left with the impression Take has bitter feelings towards Kishou. Although I can’t guarantee there aren’t any hard feelings, I am pretty sure Take doesn’t hate Arima. In fact, I think those two have a positive relationship, maybe even the closest they can have to a friend around their age, considering their awkward social behaviour (and dorkiness). They actually respect one another, help each other and care for the other. Although we don’t see much of their relationship, Ishida left some hints about what could possibly be going on between the two.

[Edit: now available in Chinese {x} thanks to the amazing yankutku! Thank you for your hard work! ;w;]



Arima and Hirako’s partnership

After being together for 6 years as partners, Hirako and Arima were separated. This didn’t happen because of a misunderstanding and a fall out between the two, but because Hirako reached 1st class Investigator and as such, he had to take a lower ranked partner. Whether they liked each other or not, they had to separate, because this is how CCG’s system works. However, even after they stop working together they can be seen together at the awarding ceremony, a situation where Hirako is in no way obliged to stay with Arima and indulge in a conversation:

TG, ch.80, pg.14





Arima’s side



Why does Kishou come off as mean when he speaks to Take?

TG, ch.73, pg.15

No guys, he’s not kidding or making fun of Hirako. He really is asking, he seriously doesn’t get it. Just look at his confused expression:

The main argument about Hirako disliking Arima is the comments he had to and still has to endure from Kishou: they sound too demanding and even mean. But in truth, Arima is just a straightforward person: he says what’s on his mind and doesn’t dance around the problem. He doesn’t see the need to hide his real opinion and speaks of things however he views them, without sugar coating (this is especially flashed out in Tokyo Ghoul: JACK). This is who his character is and he doesn’t behave like that only with Take. He’s seen speaking the same way to Haise:

TG:re, ch.8, pg.10



And with the enemy as well:

TG:JACK, ch.5, pg.24



TG, ch.113, pg.7



That is his way of observing and communicating. At first glance it looks like Arima is just offending Hirako, but in truth, his words hide a much deeper meaning. He doesn’t mean to hurt or insult the person he speaks to. And Hirako knows of this, and accepts it, as you’ll see in a bit.







Kishou is protective of Take

TG, ch.119, pg.19-20



Arima protecting Take from Uta speaks for itself, so I don’t think there is something to add.





TG, ch. 113, pg.2 + ch.141, pg.19



Hirako isn’t the only one going through the ‘standby’ procedure. Kishou may have told Take he’s in the way, but this isn’t Arima thinking Hirako is too weak to handle the battle. This is Arima wanting to estimate just how strong the enemy is, so he’ll know if it’s okay for Take to practice and participate without getting hurt unnecessarily (Yomo looked pretty crazy, tbh). If Arima didn’t care about Hirako, we could have expected a behaviour similar to Matsuri’s: let the subordinates fight and whoever dies, dies. Instead, Arima tests Yomo to see if he’s too dangerous, estimates his fighting power and lets Take handle the rest when he knows it’s safe to do so.





Arima believes in Take’s skills

TG., ch.80, pg. 15



Here we see more of Arima’s straightforward behaviour, but he doesn’t speak this way to offend Hirako. Exactly because he’s saying what he’s thinking, it means he believes Take was capable of fighting off Owl alongside Iwao and Shinohara. “It would have been good for you” sound like Arima wishes for Hirako to succeed and show what he’s capable of.

Notice how in their later years Arima says “Take“ instead of “Hirako”, which indicates he feels Take close enough.





Hirako’s side

Take isn’t mad about Arima’s attitude

Take doesn’t actually take as much offence in Kishou’s comments as one might think. Why? Because later on Hirako uses the same methods as Arima to teach his subordinates how to be good investigators:

TG, ch. 113, pg.8 + TG:re, ch.22, pg.12



Would he really do this if he hated Kishou and the way he handled his subordinates?

Arima’s straightforward behaviour actually helped Hirako develop his skills and become better in battle. All those comments coming from the enemy, saying how good Take is as a fighter point out how he should be a higher ranked Investigator, but also point out how Kishou actually helped him reach this level of proficiency.







Also, instead of being angry in his thoughts, Hirako just makes a joke of Arima’s words and a remark how unbelievable ‘this guy’ can be (which is the truth xD). But he thought nothing bad of Kishou at all.







Hirako trusts Arima

I’d like to say he trusts him completely just because of this scene:

TG, ch.141, pg.17



(This also parallels with the battle between Hirako and a young Uta when Arima interfered to protect Take)



Eto is raging right in front of him and he doesn’t even feel the need to get up, because Kishou is here. He doesn’t have to look in Arima’s direction, hell, to open his eyes, to know Arima has arrived. This absolutely does not speak about hatred on Hirako’s side, on the contrary: he’s spent enough time with Kishou to know he is there just by the change of the atmosphere and also to trust him to the point of allowing himself a moment to lie down, while Owl is still very dangerous and very near.

We also have this:

TG, ch.112, pg.18



Although the Investigators tell him to back off, he doesn’t listen, because Arima instructed him to fight and Hirako trusts his judgement (this can also be linked to Hirako’s words in ch.143 about only doing his duty).





Hirako sees Arima’s humane side

Most people in CCG view Arima as a godly figure and only awe at his presence from afar or get jealous of him. Because of this, Kishou doesn’t seem to have many people with whom to speak occasionally and outside of work. He doesn’t want to be alone, he is forced into this, because of his gifted personality and people’s fear to reach out to him (with a few exceptions). Hirako on the other hand doesn’t seem to be interested in this side of Kishou (although he knows much more than anyone else about it):



TG, ch.121, pg.21

He also seems to have noticed Arima’s desire to socialize, or perhaps the sheer fact that people view only the ‘god’ side of Kishou annoys him. So he tells his squad facts about Arima which make him humane: he is lonely, he has weaknesses, he is a dork.



Take tells Kuramoto about the way Arima doesn’t write anything in his will, which turns out to be not as cool as Kuramoto thought:

TG, ch.123, pg.11



This shows that Take took his time to understand Kishou’s actions and heart.





He tells his squad about the time Kishou fought with an umbrella:

TG:re, ch.31.5, pg.12



If he hated Arima, I doubt he’d go through the trouble of sharing something so endearing or learning why Kishou does certain things the way he does.





Their dorky side



Ishida seems to like to put them together in stupid situations. Although those are from the omakes, Sui doesn’t usually put characters together randomly.



They both write a senryū about each other (even though they aren’t partners anymore)

[EDIT] How could I forget this one as well:

ch.111, pg.24



Both get on a table along with Haise (the holy trinity of dorks has united)





Similarities that may have influenced their relationship:

Both of them are around the same age

Right now, in TG:re, Arima is 32 and Hirako is 31. As I said, Arima feels very lonely and part of the reason is because in his younger years he had to work with people much older than him.

TG, ch.137, pg.15



You can see in the picture Arima looks a bit out of place. Only when he started working with Fura in JACK, he had the chance to talk with somebody his age and he was extremely happy with this:

TG: JACK, Ch. 3, pg.36



Despite being happy, he didn’t neglect his work and he didn’t cut Fura slack, just like he does later on with Hirako. After working with Fura, they part ways and Arima doesn’t gets to work with somebody his age for 6 years, until the age of 22. When Hirako was paired up with him, for Kishou this must have been a very special moment.





Both are very respectful and concerned about their co-workers

TG, ch.29, pg.2





TG, ch.138, 14-15





Both don’t seem to hold a personal grudge against ghouls, think rationally and consider them more than targets for killing:

TG: JACK, Ch.2, pg.13

TG, ch.139, pg.13





TG, Ch.131, pg.12







And lastly, Uta and Take’s fight, the moment that started this whole thing:

TG: re, ch.22, pg.15

As we saw earlier, “Standby” isn’t something Arima used specifically for Take, he used it for the whole Squad 0 (and Take heard Arima say it to them). But standby is what Uta heard in his youth, so he decided to try it out. When Hirako cuts his face, Uta doesn’t only suggest Take must hate Kishou:

TG:re, ch, 22, pg.16



He also suggests that maybe Take is actually mad. Perhaps mad at Uta for using a mask of his partner, the one who made him a better Investigator and watched his back for all these years. And if Hirako shows even the slightest bit of a hesitation while Uta is playing a mind game, which he is clearly losing, then Uta will have the advantage and know Take’s weak spot. And this is pretty scary for any CCG Investigator.



It’s possible Take has some pent up anger for Arima. But that doesn’t exclude the possibility of Hirako being seriously pissed at Uta for making fun of somebody who is important to him.



Bonus: With the release of ch. 36, we see Take and Kishou together while Kuramoto and Haise speak:

Judging by their faces, it seems Arima was the one who had to break the bad news to Hirako, about him being removed from the leader position his own squad, thus why he looks so shocked? It’s interesting to note Take couldn’t/doesn’t feel like hiding his surprise in front of Arima (you’d think he’d want to keep his poker face in front of somebody he dislikes).

EDIT: There’s also the option of Arima asking Hirako to join S3 on these panels, which can explain their expressions, especially Hirako’s surprised one. Take was scouted by quite a lot of squads, so assuming he had the choice, he decided to accept S3′s invite, in particular, Arima’s and work together with him once again.











TL; DR:

