Kobeni Higashiyama

Name
Japanese	東 (ひがし) 山 (やま) コベニ
Romaji	Higashiyama Kobeni
Biological Information
Species	Human
Gender	Female
Age	20 (Chapter 10-???)
height	155 cm (5'1")
Birthplace	Japan
Status	Alive
Professional Information
Occupation	Public Safety Devil Hunter (formerly) Waitress (formerly)
Affiliation	Public Safety Devil Hunters (formerly) Tokyo Special Division 4 (formerly) Family Burger Restaurant (formerly)
Relatives	Unnamed Parents Unnamed Eight Sisters Unnamed Older Brother Nobana Higashiyama (younger brother)
Contracted Devils	Unknown Devil
First Appearance
Manga Debut	Chapter 10
Anime Debut	Episode 4
Portrayal
Japanese Voice	Karin Takahashi
English Voice	Bryn Apprill

Overview

History

Image Gallery

Warning: This page contains major spoilers for the Chainsaw Man series. Please read at your own risk.

I can't take it anymore... This job is going to drive me crazy...

Isn't that just normal though? There's no such thing as a life free of bad things... except in your dreams...

Kobeni Higashiyama (東 (ひがし) 山 (やま) コベニ, Higashiyama Kobeni^?) is a former Public Safety Devil Hunter who started as a new recruit working under Makima's Special Squad, before later resigning from being a Devil Hunter after the battle against the Darkness Devil in Hell. She serves as a major supporting character in the Public Safety Saga.

Appearance

Kobeni is a young woman with short brown hair (in both the anime and colored manga) that is tied in a ponytail with bangs/a shoulder-length hair strand hanging on the right side, brown eyes with white pupils and she has four moles on her face; two under her left eye, one on the lower right side of her mouth and one on her left cheek.

She normally wears a professional suit and she has two red hair clips on the left side of her head.

At the newbie welcome party, she wore a hand-me-down dress from her older sister which was considered to be cute by a couple of other Devil Hunters.

Personality

Kobeni is generally demure, soft spoken, and often anxious. She is exceptionally cowardly with few moments of courage. Her first confrontation with the Eternity Devil leads to her being paralyzed with fright and babbling. She is shown to easily crack under pressure and breaks down in tears when the group becomes trapped in the hotel and she is confronted with the possibility of them all starving to death without any rescue. Her fear can also make her remarkably clumsy.

Her sense of fear causes her to take drastic action in order to save herself such as turning on Denji and threatening him at knifepoint once a Devil promised to free her in exchange for Denji's life. She even went as far as accusing Hirokazu Arai of being a spy for the Devils because he defended Power from Kobeni's delusional accusations. Despite how she acted towards them in her panicked state, she did feel remorse for her actions and gratitude towards Hirokazu for shielding her when they were attacked.

However, when Kobeni gets into action she had proven to be cool-headed and efficient, ruthlessly dealing with both the Katana Man and Akane Sawatari and forcing them to retreat; only breaking down in a panic once the fighting is over.

Despite being forced into a line of work that she hates by her family, Kobeni still cares about them as she sends her money to her brother to support him through college and chauffeurs her family around in her car. And despite wanting to quit, she initially stays because it was the day she was going to receive a bonus.

Kobeni is shown to be skittish when hugged repeatedly by Himeno, but tolerates her antics.

Kobeni is shown to enjoy alcohol, especially when it is paid for by someone else. Her hobby is to eat tasty things. She loves the flavor of ice cream which she has only experienced three times in her life.

Past

In grade school, Kobeni had her parents buy her an ice cream just once for her birthday. The first taste was described by her as being so good that she broke into a run, tripped and dropped the ice cream.

Kobeni became a Devil Hunter partially because her parents forced her into work to support her brother to be able to go to college. Faced with the choice of becoming a sex worker or a Devil Hunter, Kobeni opted to become a Devil Hunter and joined Public Safety despite wanting to go to college too.

Abilities

According to Himeno, Kobeni is talented, but she is held back by her timidness. This is later proven true when Kobeni manages to single-handedly defeat the Katana Man in his human form and forced Akane Sawatari to retreat.

Physical Prowess

Kobeni dodging the Snake Devil's tail

• Enhanced Strength: Kobeni is able cut a full grown man's arm clean off with a knife without much effort.
• Enhanced Agility: Kobeni has an impressive level of agility, being able to dodge a tail attack from the Snake Devil before running across its body, a feat that prompted the Katana Man to call her a monkey. She also receives a perfect score when playing Dance Dance Mushroom.

Devil Contracts

• Unknown Devil Contract: Kobeni has a contract with an unnamed Devil whose identity she keeps a secret.

Skillset

• Knifemanship: Kobeni uses a knife as her primary weapon of choice, managing to easily defeat Katana Man in his human form by swiftly cutting off his arm.
• Marksmanship: Kobeni has also showcased to be a skilled and accurate shooter, having severely injured Katana Man and shooting him twice before gunning Akane Sawatari and forcing her to retreat.
• Driving: Kobeni possesses a driving license and her own car, which she primarily uses to chauffeur her family around but her exact skill is unknown as the only time she has been seen in the vehicle was when Power crashed it.
• Dancing: Kobeni is a very skilled dancer, she received a perfect score when playing Dance Dance Mushroom.

Chapter Appearances

Bat Devil arc
5. A Way to Touch Some Boobs	Absent
6. Service	Absent
7. Meowy's Whereabouts	Absent
8. Chainsaw vs. Bat	Absent
9. Rescue	Absent
10. Kon	Debut
11. Compromise	Absent
12. Squeeze	Absent
13. Gun Devil	Appears

Eternity Devil arc
14. French Kiss	Appears
15. Endless 8th Floor	Appears
16. The First Taste	Appears
17. Kill Denji	Appears
18. Chainsaw vs. Eternity	Appears
19. Nobel Prize	Appears
20. Drinking	Appears
21. Taste of a Kiss	Appears
22. Cola-Flavor Chupa Chups	Absent

Katana Man arc
23. Gunfire	Appears
24. Curse	Absent
25. Ghost, Snake, Chainsaw	Absent
26. The Gun is Mightier	Absent
27. From Kyoto	Absent
28. Secrets & Lies	Appears
29. Perfect Score	Mentioned
30. Bruised & Battered	Absent
31. The Future Rules	Absent
32. Over and Over Again	Absent
33. Mission Start	Absent
34. Full Team	Absent
35. Minor	Appears
36. Katana vs. Chainsaw	Absent
37. Train, Head, Chainsaw	Absent
38. Easy Revenge!	Flashback

Bomb Girl arc
39. Tearjerker	Absent
40. Love, Flower, Chainsaw	Absent
41. Before the Storm	Absent
42. Teach Me How to Swim	Absent
43. Jane Fell Asleep in the Church	Mentioned
44. Boom Boom Boom	Absent
45. A Fine Day for Explosions	Absent
46. The Melody of a Massacre	Absent
47. Luck With Women	Appears
48. Kaboom Kaboom Kaboom	Absent
49. Shark Hurricane	Absent
50. Sharknado	Absent
51. Dark Diving	Absent
52. Lost Love, Flower, Chainsaw	Absent

International Assassins arc
53. In a Dream	Absent
54. To Go to Enoshima	Absent
55. Let's Go	Absent
56. A Curse and A Fist	Appears
57. Suddenly	Appears
58. Yutaro Kurose	Absent
59. Mess	Appears
60. Quanxi and Fiends' 49-Person Massacre	Absent
61. News Reporter	Appears
62. Super Mess	Appears
63. Trip To Hell	Appears
64. Welcome To Hell	Appears
65. The Darkness Devil	Appears
66. Woof!	Absent
67. The First Devil Hunter	Absent
68. Dark Power	Absent
69. Shining Power	Absent
70. Pinch	Absent

Gun Devil arc
71. Bath	Mentioned
72. All Together	Absent
73. Everyday Life No More	Absent
74. What the Waves Say	Absent
75. 9,12	Absent
76. Don't Open It	Absent
77. Ring Ring Ring	Absent
78. Snowball Fight	Absent
79. Play Catch	Absent

Control Devil arc
80. A Dog's Feelings	Absent
81. Paw	Absent
82. Always Eat A Hearty Breakfast	Absent
83. Death, Resurrection, Chainsaw	Absent
84. Hero Of Hell	Absent
85. Bloody Good Gut Feeling	Appears
86. Date Chainsaw	Appears
87. Chainsaw Man vs. the Horrifying Weapon Humans	Absent
88. Star Chainsaw	Absent
89. Go Get 'Em, Chainsaw Man	Appears
90. Super Power	Absent
91. Power, Power, Power	Absent
92. Zombie, Blood, Chainsaw	Appears
93. You & Crappy Movies	Appears
94. Chainsaw Man vs. the Weapon Humans	Absent
95. Chainsaw Man vs. Control Devil	Absent
96. This Kind of Taste	Absent
97. I, Love, Chainsaw	Absent

Anime Appearances

Season 1
1. Dog & Chainsaw	Absent
2. Arrival in Tokyo	Absent
3. Meowy's Whereabouts	Absent
4. Rescue	Debut
5. Gun Devil	Appears
6. Kill Denji	Appears
7. The Taste of a Kiss	Appears
8. Gunfire	Appears
9. From Kyoto	Appears
10. Bruised & Battered	Mentioned
11. Mission Start	Appears
12. Katana vs. Chainsaw	Appears

Etymology

• Kobeni's surname Higashiyama means "east" (東 (ひがし) , higashi^?) and "mountain, hill" (山 (やま) , yama^?).
  • Kobeni's surname was likely named after the famous Higashiyama Ward of Kyoto.

Trivia

• Kobeni has the same moles as Togata from Fire Punch, another manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto.
• Kobeni's rankings in the Popularity Polls are as follows:
  • Kobeni ranked 8th in the First Popularity Poll with 9,580 votes.
  • Kobeni ranked 10th in the Second Popularity Poll with 22,862 votes.
• Tatsuki Fujimoto has once stated in an interview with his editor that Kobeni's original fate in the series was supposed to be Angel Devil's.
  • Funnily enough, this ended up not happening due to Fujimoto asking his editor Shihei Lin, during the writing process, who should die between Kobeni and Angel. Lin had then decided that Kobeni should die, which prompted Fujimoto to do the opposite and kill Angel instead.