#and it just really got me thinking about kanu’s perception of capability and everything about that

[palossssssand]

I’ve been thinking about a lot of stuff I’ve never really elaborated on wrt to “my other characters” (as in, my splatoon characters that aren’t Trito or Kinoga) so I’m just going to gun it and post about Kanu, specifcally about his character in terms of gender and disability

Some ground details:

Kanu is transgender. He was born into a wealthy family, his natural ink color is silver(just a headcanon that metallic ink colors correspond to nobility). I have art of him as a child with a prosthetic arm but I think I’m going to retcon that because it doesn’t make a lot of sense. I still don’t have a reason for why he lost it but that reason is not central to his character(unless I find something thematically relevant). His arm works like Edward Elric’s in that there is a central “hub” piece attached to his shoulder that connects his nerves to his arm, meaning the arm is replaceable.

(side tangent: I’m having a little trouble trying to figure out how this works logistically if he lost it when he was young, like if he has to replace the central hub as he grows, and if it’s a painful process. Regardless of the logistics of his prosthetic arm, it was fitted to him for functionality in the military).

I’m going to go with the assumption that the octarian military is both a) an involuntary draft unless physically unable and b) a great honor to serve their people. Kanu, being from a wealthy family, is put into a position where he is accommodated so that he is able to fulfill that honor for his people And “cover” for the disability. Given that the octarian domes have been in decline and have been scarce on resources, being given accommodation was very valuable.

Presenting now a brief writing on Kanu’s dynamic with his parents:

This is someone who grew up being materially supported as well as the mindset that he is entitled to that support. Which to be fair, he should be, but his upbringing did not give him the emotional intelligence to understand why he is able to be in the position to be disabled and serve.

Regardless if the prosthetic arm is readily accessible to him, it could never be replaceable for a flesh arm with full control, and he grows to understands this, eventually learning to rely more on his other limbs. He is put into a position where he is taught to ignore the disability (where everything is materially accommodated* for and to be grateful for it) and glaringly, realizing that this is not the case.

* I do feel the need to clarify that his accommodation in this case is mainly a perceived one, that is, (i know we’re living in splatoon fantasy world) a prosthetic arm made to replicate a living arm, more form than function, as a lot of depictions of prosthetic arms tend to be, therefore, the arm is mostly an “accommodation” by name. Maintenance, weight, balance, discomfort, etc can all be disadvantages and often times many have an easier time managing without a prosthetic arm. More on that in this post by @submalevolentgrace and apologies if I misinterpreted that post in any way

In order for me to tie this into gender, I have to speculate on how Domes Octarian gender roles work, because clearly there Are Gender Roles. The majority of soldiers depicted in canon are women. All the elites are women. I think it’s a reasonable assumption to make that Domes Octarian womanhood is tied to status and strength, things that Kanu is quite accustomed to from an early age and has internalized as core parts of his being because it was what he’s been told.

There comes a time in his life, during his service under Kinoga’s leadership, that he starts having feelings of dissatisfaction with his relationship to his assigned gender as well as a sort of tension with his disability. Kinoga, being assertive, supportive, and attentive, plays to each of their squad member’s strengths, something that was never fully realized with Kanu’s upbringing. He was encouraged to fight without relying on his arm, which was something that he’d learned to do on his own anyways. The prosthetic is imposed on him, not maliciously, but he internalizes that he should be grateful for it. The reality is that it’s unsuitable for him, and his time with the squad is an environment where he is allowed the time and space to realize this.

Kanu finds out he’s transgender for reasons unspecified. My point in tying disability and gender for Kanu is that for him, dissociating himself from what he was given involves a sense of loss in terms of power and status. And that strength is not something he wants to lose. He’s still stubborn, tenacious, and skilled, and in a way, he feels the need to prove to himself that he is still worthy even if he feels it necessary sheds the things he’s been given. When he does transition socially in the domes, when he learns to rely less and less on his prosthetic arm, there’s a sense of reclamation in that strength for the first time and a rejection of what he’s been given. Taking control in his life in a way that’s his own.

That’s not to say that all this manifests in a great way. Keep in mind that there’s still a certain callousness to him, abrasive in the way that he’s not shaken off, blunt because that’s how he got what he wanted. When he leaves the squad to find Kinoga, Trito, and Agara, who left for the metros, his firm insistence in his belief that he must go looking for him is what shatters the rest of the group. (Denchu especially so, since Kanu’s transition led her to begin questioning her identity too. I could also write a whole essay on Denchu, his relationship to gender, role in a group dynamic, and resistance to change). Despite knowing that Denchu means a great deal to him, he isn’t aware of why his decision upsets them so much, wanting to justify it for the good of the squad.

His escape to the surface is his freedom. His decisions, his actions, are all his own. On the surface, the gender roles (presumably) are not as strict, there’s more options, more expression, more comfort for him to be a man. He discards his old prosthetic arm and for a while, is content with leaving it that way. It’s only recently that he builds the new arm that is seen in the ref. He builds it with his blood, sweat, and tears, in his own free time, with his own trial and error. He doesn’t build it out of necessity at all because he knows he can perform without it (keyword: perform, because this is still a man who feels he needs to prove what he can do on his own.). Kanu builds the arm purely because he knows he has the technical skill to pull it off and because it’s cool as fuck. It has swappable tools and a more tentacle-like flexibility that aligns better with his needs that still is not more useful than just having no arm because he is plenty capable. The arm itself is not the point, the autonomy to make it for himself is.

Despite this, his fixation on doing things because he can and wants to is still detrimental to his health. His desire for things and stubbornness to pursue them hasn’t changed from his upbringing, only his motivation and means to pursuit. It’s still about autonomy. But it’s still about control.

phew. I think that’s most of what I have for him as a character, individually. if you guys want another post like this just let me know because I have all this stuff sitting in my brain and I just need to be enabled to post about it