Chapter 12 — Episode 12
First, the episode opens with Kaneki in a hallucinatory mental state, calling out to his mother before encountering a vision of Rize, who greets him casually and asks about his condition. The scene then shifts to reveal that Kaneki is being brutally tortured by Yamori, who forces him to count down from one thousand in intervals of seven to preserve his sanity while systematically removing his fingers and toes — which regenerate repeatedly due to his ghoul nature, making Kaneki realize he has become a monster. Then, in the middle of the episode, Kaneki drifts between his tortured reality and inner visions of Rize, who questions him about his mother and his past. Through these hallucinations, Kaneki revisits tender childhood memories of his kind and hardworking mother, while Rize pushes him to confront painful truths about his upbringing, his self-sacrificing nature, and the people he has idealized. These psychological exchanges force Kaneki to examine the roots of his personality and his tendency to endure suffering for others. Finally, at the end of the episode, Kaneki reaches a breaking point during his continued torture and inner confrontation with Rize. He undergoes a profound psychological transformation, accepting the darker side of his ghoul identity rather than suppressing it. The episode concludes with Kaneki counting upward — a reversal symbolizing his mental shift — as he resolves to stop being the one who is broken and instead become someone who does the breaking, signaling a dramatic change in his character.