#kakutxt

[kakuzatos]

kobeni’s devil

!! spoilers for chainsaw man !!

so, episode 9 came out and i watched it with vigor. as expected, kobeni slayed this episode and didn’t disappoint me with her moves. damn, she was quick. you really can’t have a pure hatred for kobeni, it will always have love in the mix. 

and while i was thinking about her, i got curious about her devil again. really, what is this big secret... why was she the only one who got out alive after 100 chapters while other characters like aki and power were ultimately killed off? she surely has relevance in the plot and there is a reason why her devil is concealed as a secret. a devil like that would be thought of as a dangerous one because kobeni can’t even say its name. 

naturally, i go to a full-on zoning out session thinking of the many possibilities of kobeni’s devil. 

i. well, first, i thought of the possibility of her being a devil that has a human-like appearance like makima, yoru and fami. that is a good theory, but her having a family and a brother denounces it a bit. i’m not saying that devils don’t have families and aren’t capable of being raised by one (makima was raised by the government, that’s why she’s like the way she is, if that ever counts as a family). i’m not particularly fond with this one, though, since kobeni is pretty much the most human person in the whole cast. i mean, look at her. 

scared shitless. if she was a devil, she would’ve been happy. devils thrive on fear, they don’t live with it. that would be pretty fun, though. 

ii. moving on. she could have a contract with the death devil. it’s probably the most overstated theory and for good reason. first of all, i’ve read this comment in a reddit post about a totally unrelated, regardless interesting, observation on chapter 113.

the comment reads: 

Getting back to my tangent about the Four Horsemen: the Four Horsemen are unique because, unlike normal devils, who only use fear, the Horsemen are each able to use one of the four emotions unique to humans, listed by the Doll Devil in ch 63:

Conquest uses Worship (aka reverence). So long as humans revere her, they hold her in a "higher place", allowing her to control them. Put from her POV, that means that, so long as the human is "lower" than her, she can control them.

Conquest bends the "rules" around devil contracts in two ways. The first way is obvious - she can force "lesser" humans to submit to her contracts. The second way is by being able to claim ownership over other devils. This means that, unlike a normal devil, Conquest can use other devils like as though they were part of her own body. This gave her the ability to use Angel's powers as though they were her own. This also means she could offer the bodies of other devils in her contracts, as we saw with Aki and the Gun Devil.

War uses Guilt. The greater the guilt she feels, the stronger the weapon she creates. The irony here is that War is so selfish and so absent of the understanding of right and wrong that she's unable to feel much guilt over anything she does. She blames Pochita for her current weakness, but really, she's inherently pretty weak compared to the other Horsemen, just because of this anti-synergy with her own power.

War bends the "rules" by forming completely lopsided "contracts". Like Makima, Yoru removes the human's consent from the equation - if she claims ownership, so long as it's something she can touch, she can weaponize it. But the person turned into a weapon gains nothing from it, the only benefactor is Yoru. Completely one-sided "contracts".

Famine uses Adoration/Respect. We'll see what this means exactly later, but I think I kind of touched on it in my other comment. War and Famine are a yin and yang duo - Yoru is "night", while the heart of Justice "shines with light". And while Yoru is completely selfish and devoid of the understanding of good and evil, Famine seems stuck doing things for others (in other words, is "selfless"), all while being very concerned with the understanding of good and evil. Yoru's power is based on guilt, aka, being able to sense the evil in yourself. So hence, I suspect Famine's "Respect"-based powers are based on being able to sense the good in other people.

Famine bends the "rules" by also forming completely lopsided contracts. The difference is, while Yoru only takes... as Yuko pointed out, Justice only gives. My guess is that, if Famine senses that a human is "good", she can form zero-cost contracts.

Death uses Pity. Pity is the feeling you get when you watch other living things suffer. The idea that Death gets stronger from feelings of pity sends shivers down my spine...

This is especially the case if it's true that every Horseman is trying to cancel out the source of their own power. Conquest's dream is to form equal, nonhierarchical, relationships, which flies in the face of a being whose power is based on hierarchy. So if Death wants to be rid of the "source of its power", too, then wouldn't it have to get rid of all suffering?

notice something about death. death is also powered by pity. kobeni is pretty damn pitiful in almost all her screentime, manga or anime, except her fabulous show in episode 9. but she did experience a lot of torment and she is generally seen as pitiful. maybe, just maybe, that pity she gets from other people is what feeds the death devil. and having to survive all what happened in the past arcs, i wouldn’t be surprised if she ever was involved with such a mortifying devil like the death devil. she dodged death in multiple occasions, it’s like death sided with her. another thing, in hell or chapter 63-64, the darkness devil didn’t even try to kill her. maybe it’s scared?

it’s also such a fun concept to think about. this traumatized girl who is about to shit herself has a contract with the death devil. fucking metal. the thought alone deserves its own book. 

iii. kobeni has a contract with the luck devil! a lot of people agree with this one! i don’t know if it’s good luck or bad luck, though. she seems to somehow have both, so i’m not sure. many people do lean into the idea of a “chance devil”, but i’m pretty certain, if that was the case, it would be the “bad luck” or “misfortune” devil. if there was a luck devil, why would anyone fear good luck? it would’ve been extremely weak because, in retrospect, no one would fear good luck. 

so, bad luck. in this article, it stated that kobeni somehow feeds the bad luck devil with her own bad luck and fear, explaining why she doesn’t sacrifice her body parts. 

although this is good, personally i don’t favor it too much. fujimoto is known for his chaotic direction of his manga and always being spontaneous that you can’t predict it, but it’s done so, in a way, that it’s orchestrated. hints are left, foreshadowing is present; it’s chaotic but makes sure to make sense to us too. a good story should make sense while maintaining its unpredictability. so, a death devil is already hinted. a bad luck devil is not. (yet) 

well, this theory will just have to wait for a while. maybe, there will be a time when a bad luck devil will appear or get mentioned. 

iv. in this post, kobeni is theorized to be contracted with a devil connected to survival. for one, if that devil were to be connected to survival, it could either mean: a fear of death or a fear of getting hurt. 

a fear of death relates to the death devil. 

a fear of getting hurt relates to a pain devil of some sorts. a pain devil would be cool because it will be powerful. almost all humans are scared of being hurt and will make a bit more sense in the storyline, considering that her line of work is potentially getting hurt and seeing others getting hurt because of her. pretty neat theory! 

v. same post in iv, there’s a comment where she might be have a contract with the knife devil. although, there is no evidence to back this up, her main weapon of choice is a knife. in a way, it makes sense.  

v. car devil. no questions. in fact, according to u/LeynaSepKim, it was even foreshadowed in chapter 5, in their post.

all are only speculation! feel free to correct me or add some other theories. the only thing we can do to form more theories and solidify existing ones is to wait. we have yet to see her full potential. she is shown to be athletic in the anime and the manga, but not her power in its entirety. 

[kakuzatos]

makima’s manipulation tactics

!! spoilers for chainsaw man!! 

i. takes advantage of a character’s feelings for her and flattery

i’ve written about the tsaritsa and how she sees childe and the other harbingers (implied) as dogs in my fic titled ‘i bet on losing dogs’. there’s a phrase there where i write, “Show a wounded dog love, and it will swear its loyalty to you.” 

i think it would’ve been more fitting to makima and denji’s relationship. denji is an impoverished boy. he doesn’t get to eat actual food (it’s a miracle that he survived, holy shit), he sold one of his balls, he worked for all his life just to pay the debt of his father, he gets killed mercilessly then revived but his buddy disappears. he’s a wounded dog. and makima enters the scene. she gives him a hug. she shows him “love.”

denji, the naive boy he is, is easily swayed. he falls in love with makima in an instant which makes him all the more vulnerable to makima’s manipulation where makima uses his feelings. 

throughout the story, there are scenes where makima grants something first then asks for a favor.

she does it with aki in chapter 11 where she says, "because i trust you more than anyone." these are words aki wants to hear, especially from her. now that he got it, he lets denji and power stay at his place--makima's request.

in chapter 12, makima shows denji that she is capable of granting him what he wants by letting him touch her chest, therefore, denji is more motivated to do what she asks, which is killing the gun devil.

for flattery,  she does it with denji in chapter 2 where she answers denji’s question of “what type of guy do you like?” with “someone like this boy named denji”. 

it echoes her preference for people who are easily swayed and the type who will do anything for her. and because she knows denji likes her, she says the words he wants to hear. 

she rewards her dogs flattery too, just so they can believe that they are being treated right. 

i think this is makima’s most used way of manipulating people around her because she knows it’s one of the easiest ways to getting what she wants. she has the charm to do it. denji thinks of her as an angel; he owes her because she “saved” denji when he was at his most vulnerable, and that’s what make this tactic so effective. 

 ii.  takes advantage of a character’s fear of her

power showcases this best since she feels a great fear for makima due to makima’s powers as the control devil. although makima doesn’t grant power anything, she knows power fears her, so that’s enough for power to follow her. 

 iii. using threats or coercion 

literally in chapter 2, you see makima threatening to kill denji if he doesn’t kill the devil who took the kid. if he didn’t get the job done, he will get killed, or in makima’s words, euthanized. 

chapter 5, makima threatens denji and power to be executed if they were to be removed from aki’s squad.

basically, makima scares denji. she says that he’ll be put to death once he doesn’t obey her commands. and she will kill him if he does disobey, given that she doesn’t really care about denji at all. she doesn’t need him, she needs pochita. denji is nothing but a dog that says yes or woof. otherwise, denji is nothing. 

iv. dehumanizing people

makima sure likes to refer to people she knows as dogs, well because she views them as such and she knows calling them dogs will, little by little, dehumanize them. and that repetitive calling can affect denji’s view of himself. 

instead of him thinking that he is a person, that he isn’t just some dog, he slowly succumbs to the thought that he might be just a dog--a dog that can very well be controlled by makima. which led him to say this in chapter 80.

what a contrast to this page of chapter 2. 

v. using her authority and blackmailing

in chapter 33, she blackmails the yakuza by bringing them the eyes of their loved ones. she uses her authority to make sure she has her way, even in twisted ways like this.

vi. lying, gaslighting and guilt-tripping

in chapter 82, makima lies to denji, gaslit him and guilt-tripped him into thinking that he was at fault for defending himself, and for power’s and aki’s death. 

all of this is done to crush denji even more. he’s already at the lowest point of his life, having to see aki’s fate and battling him, and makima wounds him even further. 

this tactic is used by real-life manipulators who know that their victim is already in a vulnerable state. so, the manipulator can take control of the victim’s feelings and view of themself.

most manipulators are portrayed as this “bad” characters who shames people all the time and actively hates them. but in real life, manipulators can be the one who looks kind on the outside; the quiet one; the soft-spoken one; the charming one. 

makima’s character is disturbing because she’s portrayed as this “good” person who showed up in denji’s life at the right time; the person who saved him. and makima uses this to her advantage to get what she wants. 

[kakuzatos]

okay i know this will sound crazy

!! spoilers for chainsaw man !!

but what if the moles have significant meaning in chainsaw man and not just a character feature fujimoto likes to draw...

makima has never been reincarnated until denji ate her, right? makima doesn’t have a mole but nayuta gets one. 

look, fami has many of it too. 

what if the moles represent how many times a devil has been reincarnated? i don’t know, maybe i’m just getting too paranoid because of fujimoto and his silly little schemes or i’m actually going insane trying to see what’s not there but, hey, it’s fun. i don’t have any more stuff to back up this theory, but if this becomes true then... 

💀 💀 💀

to see if this is true, i need to see power or any other devil reincarnated again. if she has a mole, then...

[kakuzatos]

the wonderfully crafted names of chainsaw man

!! spoilers for chainsaw man !!

chainsaw man has a variety of characters with odd names so, while i was studying a bit of kanji, i got curious about how fujimoto named them. so, this is a list of possible explanations behind the names of some major characters. starting with:

1. makima 

according to this article, fujimoto stated that makima was a play on words:

 “ By the way, isn't a chainsaw originally a tool to cut wood? If you cut the 'ki’ out of 'Makima' you get 'mama.' Denji has always been pursuing maternal things." 

another thing about makima’s name is it’s similarity to “makita”, a company that sells chainsaws. 

2. pochita 

most of the chainsaw man’s names are all in katakana, so it’s harder to pinpoint what the actual meaning is. pochita is no different, but, in this post, there’s a comment that points out that ‘pochi’ is a pretty common name for dogs in japan. the ‘ta’ is just added as a reference to the makita brand too. 

3. denji (+power, angel, dominion, seraphim, beam, gaugari, prinz and verche)

denji’s name is interesting. in this article, it says that denji’s name is based on ‘tenshi,’ which is the japanese word for ‘angel’. since, angel fights demons or devils, fujimoto thought it was a great name for his protagonist. aside from that, it’s also based on ‘denchi,’ which means ‘battery’. since fujimoto thought that when denji transforms into a chainsaw is battery-ish, he mixed ‘tenshi’ and ‘denchi’ together, creating ‘denji.’ 

it’s also speculated that ‘kudo denji’-- a character from the manga, abara, might be an inspiration too. 

but the most amazing thing is that it denji’s name perfectly fits the narrative and the biblical references sprinkled in. in this post, it reveals that power, angel, dominion, seraphim, beam, gaugari, prinz and verche’s names were from the nine orders of angels in medieval angelology. (how fucking cool is that?!) but if you look at it, there are only eight mentioned that are clear. the unnamed is “archangels.” since denji is in the frame, the archangel might be denji himself, considering his name origin. 

4. kobeni 

kobeni’s name when split into parts has ‘small’ from ‘ko’ and ‘red’ from ‘beni.’ i think it’s very fitting for her since she’s... well, tiny. 

5. aki 

aki’s name is also spelled in katakana, and according to this article, fujimoto revealed that aki’s name was derived from the ak47 gun. (what the actual fuck.) he only modified the name to make it sound like ‘aki.’

however, aki, in usual japanese, means autumn, bright or ancestor. it’s a feminine name of japanese origin. another source says it means ‘love’ and ‘clear’. while this only applies to names with kanji, aki’s name does fit with ‘autumn’ and ‘love.’ 

6. asa and yoru

asa means ‘morning’ in japanese. yoru means ‘evening’ in japanese. since they are, frankly, the opposite of each other, this is pretty clever. also, the japanese were known for being proficient in night warfare, so the war devil being named after ‘evening’ or ‘night’ makes sense.

feel free to add more characters! these are the only characters where i can get definite answers from the internet. 

[kakuzatos]

ideas

 this is a list of ideas for assorted fandoms:

1. zhongchi

i. streamer! zhongli and donor! childe au | fluff

childe is a donor to morax's streams. he's just a very bored college student who has money to blow and he likes morax's streams even though they're simple. only the mic is on and the gameplay. childe doesn't know anything about morax but he is entertaining. his voice is very nice to listen to and talks... very differently. he talks like he's from 1800s or something but childe likes to think that it's one of his charming qualities. he even reminds childe of someone from campus. zhongli. childe never talked to zhongli, though but he has a nice face and is fairly popular. childe doesn't know why but he tends to have a feeling that morax and zhongli are connected. one day, morax announces something to his dear fans: he's going to confess to his crush and hopes that it will go well. childe is happy for him, but for the entire stream, he somehow feels sad.

after that day, childe finds a letter on his desk. it's in an envelope and the letter is short: Please meet me at the rooftop. childe, at first, wants to throw it away because he's not really in the mood to fight. so, thinking it was just that or a prank letter, he goes home.  before he gets home though, he is spotted by hu tao. hu tao rushes to him, ushering him to go to the rooftop. hu tao tells him it's really important. childe is confused but he believes it now since it's hu tao. she's not generally known to fight in gangs. thus childe goes to the rooftop and finds zhongli sitting, looking hopeless. when zhongli spotted him, he smiles. zhongli confesses to childe and tells him thank you for donating to him alot on stream. how he knew it was childe? childe’s username which is tartaglia. tartaglia is associated to childe in campus too. childe puts two in two together then voila! happy ending!

ii. streamers! zhongli and childe | fluff

childe and zhongli are both streamers. theyre now in a special collaboration project and the whole time it's just zhongli flirting with childe because venti taught zhongli to say things like: "you can call me anything you want but can i call you mine?

iii. whipped megumi concept | fluff 

i typically enjoy oblivious yuuji because the whole oblivious x obvious trope is just a masterpiece of a concept but i do think that whipped person x knows that person is whipped for them is another great trope so i want to introduce fushiita as exactly that.

"I can do anything and you'll still love me. Right, Fushiguro-san?" Yuuji wiggles his eyebrows which should technically piss Megumi off if it was anyone except Yuuji. But he can't have the ability to be mad at Yuuji. And he hates it.

He also hates the fact that Yuuji knows that Megumi's wrapped around his little finger. Mainly because it's true. Partly because it's embarrassing to all hell. Megumi cringes at the memory resurfacing and instead of mulling over the day he confessed to Yuuji, he sighs.

"Shut up." Megumi huffs and pulls Yuuji. "Come here." 

 Yuuji just laughs. "What, you mad?" 

 "You can read me just fine so I think you know the answer." 

 Yuuji hugs Megumi back and smiles. "I love you too."

iv. satoru and suguru snippet | fluff

Satoru is perfect. Its just the way he is designed and is, unfortunately, his primary defining trait that decides his function and fate in this world. He's the strongest. That's really just how it is. But then comes Suguru. Then, Satoru finds his flaw.

He looks at Suguru, who's overlooking the endless stretch of dandelions, with the backdrop of the setting sun. Satoru, inevitably, thinks of a contradictory yet satisfying conclusion:

"I may be perfect, but if I have to have one flaw. It might be the fact that I love you more than I should."

v. idols! childe and zhongli | fluff, tiny tiny bit of angst

childe broke up with his long time bf and was known to be pretty miserable because of the whole thing. his agency does allow dating so his relationship with another idol was public and he didn't see any shame. he was celebrated, either way.

so when those four years have gone to waste, he was naturally going to be heartbroken. the breakup becomes known to the public and it was tweeted, memed a lot and it was getting to childe. childe, then, goes to zhongli to talk about it. zhongli's a solo performer.

he's pissed at his relationship falling out. he's sad but mostly pissed, so zhongli offers him something: "why don't we fake date?" which is,, a bit out of touch. but zhongli gave his reasons: 

 1. childe can show the media that he has moved on because he has a new bf

2. the past will be buried and the situation will not be asked anymore. childe wouldn't have to deal with interview questions and the jokes. 

 3. it will be entirely believable since zhongli and childe are friends. its a great idea. so yes, they begin to fake date.

unlike other idols who are afraid to show their relationships, childe and zhongli were the opposite. they were open about it and would even pose for the camera but without making it feel forced. when they go on dates, they're lovey dovey. when they interact, it's talked about.

its going great and it worked, fortunately. childe didn't have to deal with rude questions anymore and he wasn't the center of the joke. but he had to wonder, why did zhongli offer it when there was no clear benefit for him in the first place?

well! thats because zhongli has been pining for the past five years. he has an ulterior motive behind all of this. a contract is supposed to be favorable for both sides and he saw this as an opportunity to show childe that he can be a better boyfriend.

and it worked. childe slowly develops feelings. he's a bit confused but he gets a grip on things and finally realizes. then they date for real this time.

yay.

vi. modern au! childe and zhongli misunderstanding | fluff, comedy 

what if zhongli and childe got really drunk one night and they had to go to zhongli's place to stay because zhongli doesn't really know childe's address and they only slept together. not like sex but literally sleeping beside each other only.

then the next morning, childe wakes up and zhongli explains that they got really drunk and sleep together. childe misunderstood. zhongli meant they only slept beside each other while childe interpreted it differently and now he had to go through a spiral of confusion  as one in denial guy does while zhongli doesn't see it as a big deal. 

misunderstandings lead to childe finding out his true feelings and gets frustrated because zhongli doesn't think of the situation much. he's acting normal. so childe, of course, avoids zhongli which makes zhongli worried and then they had to talk it out and THEY FIND OUT THAT IT WAS A WHOLE MISUNDERSTANDING. 

CUE THE BLUSHING AND CONCLUSION OF YEAR-LONG PINING FOR YOUR BEST FRIEND.

there are going to be signs that make childe believe that zhongli banged (tossed clothes, sleeping basically naked, zhongli hugging him when he woke up, some marks on his hips which were faint but its due to zhongli carrying him all the way to his house.)

there was no actual signs of sex though, like hickeys and like, you know, body fluids but childe just believed his intuition because he's dumb like that and zhongli didn't feel the need to clarify because he didn't see a reason to. he's just clueless.

vii. daisuke’s plan | fluff

daisuke notices that haru's been overworking himself lately (what's new) but he discovers something too. haru really really likes strawberry milk. in a "i'll die for it" kind of way. so daisuke devises a plan: he makes katou haru take breaks by luring him with that.

and daisuke just does this everyday to make sure haru is getting proper breaks and his eyes aren't overworked and his lunch actually gets eaten. he also gets to stand up every now and then which is good.

i think i can make this into a 5+1 things but it can be just daisuke luring haru again and again with strawberry milk and them drinking it on the rooftop so haru won't go back down to work as soon as he finishes drinking.

[other future ideas to be added!]