This article contains spoilers for Kobeni in Chainsaw Man
Chainsaw Man is easily one of the most popular anime and manga series out. And there are quite a few best girls to consider. For me? Well, it’s Kobeni.
Look, Kobeni Higashiyama went a little crazy in Chainsaw Man Season 1 and maybe almost totally tried to kill our boy Denji only to inadvertently stab sad boi supreme Aki. I get it. But what best girl hasn’t lost her absolute sh*t only to wind up attempting to drink toilet water? Well, if you weren’t really vibing with Kobeni at the start of Chainsaw Man, I hope you saw glimpses of her strength and absolute best-girl status at the end of the season that got you excited for the future. On that note, Kobeni is easily the character I’m most excited to see become a fan favorite in Chainsaw Man Season 2, and here are three reasons for Kobeni supremacy to reign—yes, even with her timidness.
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Kobeni isn’t the Chainsaw Man, and neither are you
A member of Makima’s Special Squad, Kobeni is a former Public Safety Devil Hunter and obviously skilled enough at hunting that her power level isn’t negligible. That said, Kobeni isn’t Denji. She’s not chaotically courageous or dumb enough to have no fear. In fact, Kobeni is more like what any of us would be when put into the Eternity Devil’s path. She’s scared, she fails, she freaks out, and she makes an impulse decision in order to have some agency in a terrible situation. Sure, she stabs Denji, but when the devil holding your entire team hostage has named his price to let you out of a terrifying anxiety spiral, most of us would have done that. That said, I’m sure you’re asking how is Kobeni powerful? A blade, agility,
Kobeni is strong, but she’s undoubtedly human. She’s flawed, and she has the most relatable sense of self any character in Chainsaw Man. She has bad luck, is worried nearly all the time, and she is just anxiety personified even when she manages to be calm. And maybe that’s why people don’t like her. Because Kobeni isn’t Denji or Power, Himeno or Aki, and the truth is many of us aren’t either. Despite the illusions of grandeur we may have about any given situation, heroism isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay. That’s also what makes Kobeni’s final moments of Chainsaw Man Season 1 all the more interesting.
Pulling your sh*t together when you really need to
At the end of Chainsaw Man Season 1, it was easy for audiences to think that Kobeni would be one of the many Devil Hunters killed by Katana Man and the rest of the Gun Devil goons. But she isn’t. She pivots entirely from the cowardly and stressed girl we saw in an infinite motel and changes into the one who saves Denji instead as she survives against the Snake Devil and expertly dispatches the enemies in her way. While Kobeni is endlessly relatable in her panic, she also knows exactly when to pull her sh*t together and get it done.
Who better to nominate for a Chainsaw Man best girl if not a queen who knows how to pull herself together? I mean, even when you look back to when she tried to kill Denji, it was her taking control of a hopeless situation. Was it right? No. Did she also try to drink out of the toilet? Sure. But when push comes to shove, it’s apparent that Kobeni knows how to keep everything together. Not to mention, Kobeni’s knife skills and her ability to stay alive even in the most traumatic of situations are reasons to root for her.
Kobeni is a Devil Hunter because she has to be
While Denji’s first kiss takes over Chainsaw Man Episode 7, Kobeni’s solitude and guardedness also make an impact. While the others share their devil contracts, Kobeni doesn’t. For her own safety, she holds her Devil contract close, creating a little bit of mystery surrounding her as a character. That said, the safe choice is one that reflects Kobeni’s practical reasons for being a Devil Hunter. Kobeni isn’t there because she’s strong or wants to save the world. She’s in the Public Safety Devil Hunter Division because her only other choice to support her family, and more specifically, her brother’s college, was selling her body.
Kobeni fights devils because she has to, and that dedication out of necessity rather than some noble cause also means that she will do what it takes to survive. She isn’t here to sacrifice her life for the greater good or even for a friend. She’s there for a paycheck first and only. And you know what? That’s relatable.
Kobeni is the best girl in Chainsaw Man because she is us. Out of every character, Kobeni is more often than not the character we would be in Tatsuki Fujimoto’s story and MAPPA’s anime, even if we want to take the spotlight. With the Darkness Devil still to come in the future, Kobeni is a character to watch as she flourishes as best girl. Trust me Chainsaw Man fans, Kobeni is best girl in the anime and beyond.
