When it first aired, the Tokyo Ghoul anime adaptation rocked the anime world. Fans were drawn in droves to this grim and terrible tale of protagonist Ken Kaneki’s transformation into a man-eating monster and his learning to adapt to his new life.
The series’ world-building and mythos were always fascinating and left viewers wanting more information. It is easy to understand why Tokyo Ghoul was a huge success and why so many of its aspects have become recognizable.
The aesthetics of its universe, the unusual masks worn by the ghouls, and the colorful character design all contributed to Tokyo Ghoul’s tale standing out from other anime.
But the conversation throughout the show was potent. There are many meaningful and well-known statements in the story, but one, in particular, is stuck in the minds of every Tokyo Ghoul fan.
“What is a 1000 minus seven?” This remark sums up Kaneki’s personality and is accompanied by a grim and horrifying past. This famous phrase was not uttered by Kaneki alone. The creator was Kaneki’s main adversary Yakumo Oomori, also known by his alias Jason.
Jason was a sadistic torturer who frequently wore a hockey mask in homage to the Jason Voorhees of horror films. Jason experienced torture before becoming the dark and twisted version of himself depicted in the series. Jason was kept in a prison and subjected to continuous abuse.
He persuaded himself that he was the torturer rather than the victim to escape reality. He eventually killed his tormentor and got out of jail. Jason was negatively affected by this incident in the long run. He developed an obsession with horrifyingly torturing his victims.
After being taken prisoner by Jason, Kaneki became one of these casualties. Jason tortured Kaneki by making her count down from 1,000 to seven. This would ensure that Kaneki didn’t pass out from the pain and kept his thoughts focused.
Kaneki was subjected to relentless repetition of Jason’s order, which took on the form of a mantra. Jason tormented Kaneki for a total of ten days. Because of the extraordinary healing power of ghouls, Jason was able to deal with Kankei injuries that would have killed a human.
Using pliers, Jason would amputate Kaneki’s fingers and toes, then make him eat them so they would regrow. His attitude and worldview were significantly impacted as a result of the trauma of this encounter.
By the time the torment was through, Kaneki had lost his kindness and his hair had become white.
