Tokyo Ghoul (東京喰種トーキョーグール)
1000引く7は？
Sen hiku nana wa?
“What's 1000 minus 7?”
— Jason (Yamori)
Answer both practice questions correctly to complete this line.
Not yetThe scene
In the season 1 finale (episode 12), the ghoul Jason holds Kaneki captive and forces him to keep doing subtraction out loud — 1000 minus 7, then 993 minus 7 — so that the pain cannot take his mind away. We will not dwell on the scene itself: it is one of the most harrowing sequences in anime, and the quiet arithmetic running through it became iconic, marking the turning point where Kaneki changes forever. Fans still quote '1000-7' as a dark meme. The Japanese in it, at least, is pure everyday arithmetic.
Word by word
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 千 | sen | one thousand (1,000) |
| 引く | hiku | to subtract — also 'to pull', which is where the maths sense comes from |
| 七 | nana | seven (7) — in counting and sums, なな is the usual reading |
Grammar notes
Doing sums out loud: A 引く B は？
Japanese subtraction is spoken as A 引く B は？ — literally 'A, pull B, gives...?' The full set: 足す (tasu, add), 引く (hiku, subtract), 掛ける (kakeru, multiply), 割る (waru, divide). And 1000引く7は？ — the answer Kaneki must keep giving is 993.
Big numbers without fuss
1000 is just 千 (sen) — Japanese rarely says 一千 for a round thousand, the way English drops 'one' in 'a thousand'. And 7 prefers なな over しち in sums and phone numbers, because しち is easily confused with other words. Jason's question is exactly how a Japanese schoolchild would hear it.
Can you say this in real life?
The arithmetic pattern itself is completely practical — splitting a bill, checking change, helping a kid with homework: 500引く120は？ is everyday Japanese. But quoting Jason's line AS a quote points at a brutal scene, and Japanese fans hear it that way: keep it for people who know the show, and use the maths, not the menace.
Practice
Q1. What is Jason making Kaneki keep doing?
Q2. 「500＿＿120は？」 (What is 500 minus 120?)
Read & Watch Tokyo Ghoul
The best way to enjoy this line in the wild is to meet it in the original work. Official places to read and watch Tokyo Ghoul will be listed here.
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