No, but seriously, give this girl some slack.
Kobeni Higashiyama is a character most often used as a comic relief in the Chainsaw Man anime. Many fans mock her fragile and easily-scared personality, but not everyone knows the tragedy behind this hilarious character.
Kobeni Higashiyama comes from a big family. Being the second child, Kobeni has an older brother, favored by her parents, and 8 other siblings. During her childhood, Kobeni’s parents never treated her with much. Granted, they only bought her ice cream once in her life. As she grew older, her family forced her to choose between becoming a sex worker or a Devil Hunter. They claimed that this would support them financially as well as give enough money to send their oldest son to college. And that was despite her dreams of going to college herself! Not to mention, Devil Hunters have an insanely high fatality rate, but her parents didn’t seem to care at all. On top of that, Kobeni bought a car just to drive around her family because for some reason, none of her 9 siblings or parents could drive. She gives away all her salary while being left with only the bare essentials to survive. Even her clothes are hand-me-down type.
During the Eternity Devil Arc, she got trapped in the room with the immortal devil and got noticeably shaken to the point that she tried to sacrifice Denji to get out. While it’s easy to call her out for being a weak and overly-emotional coward, it’s important to know that all this comes from her backstory. Kobeni is basically used to this survival race. She has probably never had a moment of peace in her life, except for that one time she got ice cream. Even the author of Chainsaw Man seems to enjoy putting her in crazy situations. Literally the very next day Kobeni got two of her comrades to die, with one of them shielding her with his body. Kobeni wanted to quit this dangerous job so many times and yet she always stayed for the sake of supporting her family or getting a bonus. Unlike other characters, she is always in a state of panic, almost passing-out from the fear and pressure of her job. It’s ironic that we never see her smile except for that time she got ice cream. It’s almost as if the point of her existence is to suffer while surviving one deadly encounter after another.
Perhaps, she can live a normal life after she quits being a Devil Hunter? Nope, even then she is still being used as a doormat by the people around her (as shown when she started working at a food chain). And yet, despite her tragic life, Kobeni never fails to bring a smile to the faces of her fans. Let us hope that one day her life will be easier.