Character · Chainsaw Man
Kobeni Higashiyama
Her family sent her to hunt devils so her brother could go to university, and she has been screaming ever since.
In Otakana the clue reads: Terrified devil hunter forced into the job by family
- Type
- Character
- Series
- Chainsaw Man
- Letters
- 6 · Normal
Kobeni panics. She panics in briefings, in fights, in lifts and in the car. Her family pushed her into Public Safety so her brother could take the university place they could afford only once, and she signed a contract that can kill her because the alternative was a family argument. That is the joke the manga keeps making, and it is not really a joke.
The surprise is that she is good. Under pressure she turns fast and precise, drives like she is being paid by the corner, and puts a knife exactly where it needs to go before anyone else has finished shouting. Fujimoto sets her up as comic relief and then keeps letting her walk out of rooms that kill better-adjusted hunters.
Readers latched on quickly. The car scene made her a meme long before the anime aired, and the adaptation kept every frame of it. What holds up on a reread is how consistent she is. Every ridiculous thing Kobeni does follows from being a frightened teenager who was never asked whether she wanted any of this.
Spelling KOBENI
The game wants the given name, KOBENI, and leaves Higashiyama alone. Six letters, three of them vowels, alternating neatly: ko-be-ni. Beni is a real Japanese word for crimson, the pigment in old lipstick, which is a useful hook when the middle of the row goes blank. Nothing doubles and no vowel runs long.