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1[[WMG:[[center:''{{Manga/Arachnid}}'' [[Characters/{{Arachnid}} Character Index]]\
2Main Characters: [[Characters/ArachnidMainCharacters Arachnid]], '''Caterpillar''', [[Characters/BlattodeaMainCharacters Blattodea]]\
3The Organization's "Bugs": [[Characters/ArachnidRecurringAssassins Recurring]], [[Characters/ArachnidMainSeriesAssassins Exclusive to Arachnid]], [[Characters/ArachnidCaterpillarAssassins Exclusive to Caterpillar]], [[Characters/ArachnidBlattodeaAssassins Exclusive to Blattodea]]\
4[[Characters/ArachnidOtherCharacters Other Characters]]\
5Related series: Characters/{{Jackals}}, Characters/ChoubuNoShinobi, Characters/{{Himenospia}}]]]]
6
7The main characters from ''Manga/{{Caterpillar}}'', a spinoff-prequel to ''Manga/{{Arachnid}}'': a delinquent tomboy, a crossdressing boy [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Kabutomushi]].
8----
9[[foldercontrol]]
10[[folder:Caterpillar/Imomushi]]
11!!Caterpillar (イモムシ; Imomushi), alias Miki Inou (井上美樹; Inou Miki)
12[[quoteright:135:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arachimomushiprofile_6781.jpg]]
13A lazy and simple-minded but awfully tenacious assassin who is the protagonist of ''Caterpillar''. Imomushi only kills people [[PunchClockVillain who are assigned to her by the Organization]] and during the "Death Caterpillar" contest is motivated to find the truth behind the murder of her older sister. Whenever her gunplay becomes [[GunsAreWorthless ineffective]], she makes use of her SuperStrength and [[UseYourHead carnivorous caterpillar swings]] to kill her opponents.\
14
15She makes an extended cameo in ''Arachnid'' that is given full context towards the ending of ''Caterpillar'', and also makes appearances in ''Blattodea'' afterwards.
16----
17* AcquiredPoisonImmunity: People like Paraponera, Sasori and Gokiburi come to find out that any sort of toxic or sleep-inducing attacks have little effect on Imomushi. Why? Because '''''[[ItRunsOnNonsensoleum caterpillars]]''''', man. Even ''[[LampshadeHanging in-universe]]'' it is noted to not make sense!
18* AmazonianBeauty: She's the tallest female in the cast at 1.70m and has a well toned abdomen to both convey her toughness and the way she swings her body back and forth as a means of attack. The occasional half-naked or outright naked brawl in ''Caterpillar'' doesn't hurt either... However, only Ifuji Shinsen and Isuka Hakozaki portrayed her properly as this trope. Tokisada Hayami draws her with a more cute and delicate look most of the time except for some artwork like the third volume cover of ''Blattodea''.
19* AnimalMotifs: [[CreepyCentipedes Caterpillars]]. Being the heroine, she gets analogies with various kinds of caterpillars rather than just a single species, like Alice does with spiders.
20* AnimalThemedSuperbeing: Imomushi was always awfully strong, but the trauma of finding her sister raped to death messed up her head and granted her various caterpillar abilities.
21* BadassAdorable: She used to be a delinquent child and beat up even adults who pissed her off.
22* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: More than once we are told that Imomushi is CoveredWithScars, but we only ever see her bodacious form in ''pristine condition''. Even Ifuji Shinsen didn't depict her with scars in ''Arachnid''.
23* BerserkButton: Harm or even badmouth her sister at all and Imomushi, even as a kid, would crush you with everything ''and'' the kitchen sink.
24* BigSisterWorship: Even if they're not related by blood, Imomushi thinks the world of her older sister Mika and was ''[[KnightTemplarBigBrother very]]'' protective of her.
25* CallingYourAttacks: "Anchor Bolt Caterpillar"... Cannon [[UseYourHead (Headbutt)]][=/=]Bullet [[MegatonPunch (Punch)]][=/=]Tomahawk (Elbow Drop).
26* CatchPhrase: When explaining her motivations, she tends to finish with "That's the Caterpillar's rule" (not to be confused with "That's what ''Manga/KillingBites'' is"). At the end of ''Caterpillar'', while telling Alice to keep working alone, she changes it to "That's this world's rule".
27* ChekhovsLecture: Advices Alice about the solution to any difficulty being within oneself. Alice recalls that throughout her misadventure enough times that she finally ends up dismissing the thought in an almost comical way.
28* CombatPragmatist: Distracts Alice by asking embarrassing questions about [[TeacherStudentRomance her relationship with Kumo]] and throws a coat at her to block her view. The narration states this makes her the exact opposite of [[CrazyPrepared Kumo and Alice]].
29* ConflictBall: Every time Imomushi is introduced outside of her own spinoff where she is a fairly sympathetic anti-heroine, it is as an antagonist who's out to murder the local protagonist. In ''Arachnid'', she tries to callously kill Alice for money. In ''Blattodea'' she shows up out of nowhere to cause trouble to Chiyuri and Setsuna, with their conflict senselessly escalating until a crowd of zombies forces them to flee together.
30* CynicismCatalyst: Her sister's death turned her very bitter to most people except Hanakamakiri.
31* DarkActionGirl: A tough female killer-for-hire.
32* DarkAndTroubledPast: Back when Imomushi was a teen, she failed to save her sister from being strangled to death and got [[ChildSoldier forcefully recruited into the Organization]] shortly after.
33* DemotedToExtra:
34** Despite being hyped in her introduction scene, Imomushi doesn't get to do much in ''Arachnid'' and we only find out what became of her in the ending of her spinoff.
35** Downplayed in ''Blattodea'', where she's hanging out at a WcDonalds with Kabutomushi and doesn't seem to have much personal stakes on the plot. She reunites with Hanakamakiri in chapter 25 but doesn't travel with him to Hibarigaoka Prison.
36* DependingOnTheArtist: The second artist for the spinoff depicts her differently enough from what she originally looked like that when you compare chapter 94 of ''Caterpillar'' to its equivalent in ''Arachnid'', 36, she nearly looks like another character.
37* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: A hideously ugly male rapist attacking a tiny Hanakamakiri is bad and wrong. Hanakamakiri being groomed and raped by the [[BeautyIsBad handsome and vile]] Kinohadakamakiri is horrible but his training [[MiseryBuildsCharacter is presented as a net positive]]. Then there's Imomushi, who's presented as a completely positive influence on the boy due to being both female and hot. Hanakamakiri reciprocates her feelings, nobody bats an eye at the age gap, and Alice, the series' overall protagonist, even imagines them getting married.
38* TheDreaded: Bullies eventually gave up on assaulting Miki because she could curb stomp them all at once, making her feared across the school. And yet, the orphanage staff was still raping Mika behind her back...
39* DroppedABridgeOnHer: While she was busy fighting Dinoponera, Suzumebachi backstabbed Imomushi and left her for dead. She disappears from the plot of ''Arachnid'' after this, leaving her own sidestory to catch up and show Hanakamakiri rescuing her.
40* EvilOverlooker: In the cover for chapter 34 of her manga, lusting over Hanakamakiri.
41* ExtremeOmnivore: It is implied she can't get sick thanks to her bug abilities, so in ''Blattodea'' she is seen eating expired dog food in the apocalypse.
42* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: The foolish to Mika's responsible.
43* GunsAreWorthless:
44** Imomushi gets far more mileage out of her headbutts than out of the pistol she regularly carries on her. Her final battle against Paraponera is a particularly exaggerated example. It starts with her casually dodging his minigun, walloping him and holding him at gunpoint. Paraponera then [[{{Acrofatic}} flips like a ninja]], beats her down and holds her at gunpoint. And then [[spoiler:dies from his injuries]].
45** Dinoponera easily destroys Imomushi's pistol in both of their encounters so far, but due to suffering from TheWorfEffect in ''Blattodea'' she also keeps falling victim to Imomushi's Caterpillar Cannon despite blocking it the first time she saw it during the Arachnid Hunt.
46* HarmfulToMinors: As a child, Imomushi killed a bunch of rapists who had strangled her sister Mika to death, and found it was because of her own behavior that Mika had been coerced into being a sex slave in the first place.
47* HeroOfAnotherStory: Is the protagonist of her own spinoff, ''Caterpillar'', which takes place a year before the Arachnid Hunt. She then reappears in ''Blattodea'' on Chiyuri's side of the story before reuniting with Hanakamakiri on Alice's side.
48* HyperAwareness: Can perceive atmospheric pressure, allowing her to avoid attacks similar to how Gokiburi does.
49* ItsAllMyFault: She regrets that it was for her sake that Mika died. [[spoiler:On the second time, it was because Imomushi didn't kill Paraponera when she had the chance and he took advantage by killing Mika for good.]]
50* KickTheDog: Attempting to kill Alice for money in ''Arachnid'' is one thing, but in ''Blattodea'' she acts irrationally antagonistic to both Setsuna and Chiyuri when they first meet just so the story can make her look bad.
51* LetsYouAndHimFight:
52** Soon after she first appears in the main story, she fights Alice because of curiosity and interest on the prize for Alice's head.
53** She comes across Chiyuri and Dinoponera in the apocalypse by coincidence, without even recognizing the latter, and makes both of them hostile when she attacks Chiyuri due to thinking she was a zombie and demands food from Dinoponera while threatening her with a gun.
54* MakeSureHesDead: In ''Caterpillar'', Imomushi seems like the type who doesn't kill unless she's forced to and only beats her opponents unconscious. This comes back to bite Imomushi when a not quite defeated Paraponera kills [[spoiler:her sister]] and [[NearVillainVictory nearly executes her]], causing the hitwoman to become more ruthless as a result. So in ''Blattodea'', she loudly declares she's going to finish off an unconscious Chiyuri before Setsuna interrupts her.
55* MegatonPunch: Her punches have immense strength even when she isn't catapulting herself.
56* MetronomicManMashing: She swings and bashes Kabutomushi against a wall in a blind rage. By the time Imomushi realizes what happened, the beetle girl is half-buried under rubble.
57* MythologyGag: Imomushi's signature back-and-forth headbutt swings were previously seen once in the manga ''Manga/{{Jackals}}'' from the same author.
58* TheNameless: "Miki Inou" is said to be her original name before she joined the Organization.
59* NeckLift: Immobilizes Alice with one at the Arachnid Hunt. During chapter 11 of ''Blattodea'', she lifts Dinoponera by her face instead.
60* NoNonsenseNemesis: Defeats Alice but lets her go, [[CombatPragmatist only to]] [[JustShootHim shoot her anyway]] - but Alice isn't fooled. Then when she meets Dinoponera, Imomushi tries to kill her during their conversation but it doesn't work either.
61* NowThatsUsingYourTeeth: In the prequel, Imomushi breaks Kumo's highly resistant threads by biting them. She later catches a knife thrown by Sasori with her teeth. In the main story she does the same to Alice's Kumoito and to Dinoponera's Dino Spine.
62* OddFriendship: She and Kabutomushi started out hostile to each other and interacted little after their fight was interrupted, but ''Blattodea'' shows they ended up living together in a [=WcDonald's=] for around a year during the zombie outbreak -- like a yuri couple, [[https://twitter.com/jojojon/status/1633814560464601088 says Murata]].
63* OneWomanArmy: Especially when the zombie apocalypse happens to Japan and she survives it for a whole year, though it's later revealed she started living with Kabutomushi at some point.
64* OnlyInItForTheMoney: She has her own business to take care of in the Arachnid Hunt and doesn't like killing people needlessly, but won't pass the chance to kill Alice and earn the prize money.
65* PintsizedPowerhouse: Imomushi was already able to punch heads into paste as a child.
66* PunchClockVillain: Refrains from killing anyone outside of her contracts, including witnesses. She does attempt to kill Alice for money and acts [[ConflictBall uncharacteristically hostile]] when first introduced in ''Blattodea'', though, as she engages in deadly combat with Chiyuri and Setsuna from out of a misunderstanding.
67* RapeAsBackstory: The tragic rape and murder of her sister which resulted in Imomushi being hired by the Organization after killing most of the ones responsible.
68* RedOniBlueOni: When Alice flips out, all her moves become coldly calculated. When Imomushi flips out, she becomes a blind [[TheBerserker berserker]].
69* ShamelessFanserviceGirl: Innocent she is not, but Imomushi fights Sasori [[FullFrontalAssault in the nude]] without a hint of shame.
70* SignatureMove: The Anchor Bolt Caterpillar Cannon. She nails herself to the ground and then pulls herself back and forth into a intense headbutt that's useful for both offense and evasion. It helps that enemies often give her a chance to perform the move as a counter or worse, [[VillainBall push Imomushi down by themselves.]]
71* StarterVillain: She's more of a neutral character, but becomes the first major antagonist to Chiyuri and Dinoponera when she comes across the two in ''Blattodea''.
72* SuperStrength: Enough to overpower even the strongest insect, Kabutomushi. And she was that strong even as a child.
73* TrashOfTheTitans: Her apartment was a sea of trash bags that a shocked Hanakamakiri immediately resolves to help clean up. Naturally, the narration relates this mess to how silkworms devolved and became unable to live on their own from being cultivated by humans to produce silk.
74* TrickedOutShoes: Her shoes nail themselves to the ground, allowing Imomushi to pull herself forth and back like a roly-poly toy.
75* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: It's understandable that she was a vicious BullyHunter to [[KnightTemplarBigBrother anyone who harmed her sister]], but this led to tragedy as Mika got blackmailed to become a sex slave so Miki wouldn't be sent to a reformatory.
76* UnstoppableRage: She tries to keep her anger under check as Mika often told her to, resulting in her actual power level being repressed. Kabutomushi and Chiyuri get to feel [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown what's it like when Imomushi snaps.]]
77* UnwittingPawn: Imomushi as well as everyone who attempted to kill her in the Death Caterpillar incident were disposable pawns meant to lure a bunch of politicians and V.I.P.s into a cruise ship and then sink it.
78* UseYourHead: Can peform powerful headbutts in a catapult motion, much like how carnivorous caterpillars of the ''Eupethecia'' genus move to catch prey.
79* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Suzumebachi knocked out Imomushi with a backstab and for a long time that was the last we saw of her. ''Caterpillar'' eventually revealed Hanakamakiri got her out safely of the Ouran school.
80* TheWorfEffect: Imomushi shows she's capable of defeating Alice, but is the first to get beaten up by Dinoponera. Then in ''Blattodea'' she turns things around, quickly overwhelming the ant-girl and becoming the first one to ever draw blood from her with a physical blow. In her enraged form Imomushi also deals a ton of damage to Chiyuri, who ends up introducing KiAttacks into the series to defeat her.
81* WouldHurtAChild: Has no problem with trying to kill teen assassins like Oki, Alice and Dinoponera.
82* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Towards the end of ''Caterpillar'', Kagimushi figures every hitman inside the ''Ageha'' ship was seen as disposable by the Organization in their plans to kill hundreds of businessmen and politicians who were a hindrance to their operations. Imomushi ends up taking 19 assassins to safety ''and'' gains a grudge against the entire syndicate for what they did to her sister, so Hanakamakiri fears they'll want to dispose of Imomushi at some point. He "betrays" her by following Suzumebachi's request to make Alice Fujii the new Boss in exchange for Imomushi's safety.
83* YouKilledMyFather: The person sending assassins after Imomushi is the woman who killed her sister. During the Arachnid Hunt, Imomushi wants to kill Suzumebachi for never telling her that [[spoiler:Mika hadn't actually died back then]].
84----
85[[/folder]]
86
87[[folder:Orchid Mantis/Hanakamakiri]]
88!!Orchid Mantis (ハナカマキリ; Hanakamakiri), alias Kozue Shiihara
89[[quoteright:142:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arachhanaprofile_1956.jpg]]
90A crossdressing boy with mantis-themed scythes who provides intel and support for Imomushi after befriending her. In ''Arachnid'' he is mentioned by Imomushi as having sent her to investigate Alice's school.\
91
92He is still prominent in ''Blattodea'' as the one who brings Alice into the Organization to make her the new Boss as part of a deal with Suzumebachi.
93----
94* AmbiguousGenderIdentity: Generally, the series is adamant about Hanakamakiri being meant to be seen as a male ''[[OtokonokoGenre otokonoko]]''. In-universe, he presents as female due to his upbringing and hates when most people try to expose his gender but never discusses this in detail. Amenbo describes him as a "girl in a boy's body", but Imomushi always treats Hanakamakiri as a man in front of everyone. Although irritated at first the mantis is willing to put up with that since he's got a crush on her.
95* AnimalMotifs: [[SlayingMantis Orchid Mantises]], who are able to pretend being flowers to fool both predators and prey. This translates to Hanakamakiri being a crossdresser who uses a lot of feints and sneak attacks.
96* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The manga explains his adroginy as a result of the Kinefelter Syndrome, blatantly ignoring that other symptoms include weak muscles, poor body coordination and, to quote, "small, poorly functional genitals". While Hanakamakiri does display other symptoms that make him more feminine, he lacks significant coordination problems and apparently is so well hung he even scares other women.
97* AttemptedRape: Gets in danger of being raped every now and then, but is well able to fight the creeps off on his own. Even Imomushi considered molesting him once and later tried to hire a (bug-themed, ''of course'') prostitute to take Hana's virginity instead.
98* BadassAdorable: Looks pretty cutesy but is equally dangerous.
99* BaitTheDog: He cooks pudding for Alice and promises to keep making more as long as she remains the new Organization Boss. He's pretty much the only person in there who wouldn't be overly malicious to the spider-girl, though he also doesn't mind Karina manipulating her into accepting the job -- a contrast to how worried he was when Mika appeared before Imomushi two years earlier. But then, when Alice tries to find the truth behind Hibarigaoka Prison, he just bum-rushes in to drag her back to her room through violence.
100* TheBartender: Works as one for the Organization.
101* BerserkButton: He often ends up beating or slicing people when a UnsettlingGenderReveal situation is forced on him.
102* BewareTheNiceOnes: Despite his traumatic past and in contrast to almost every other assassin in either story, Hanakamakiri seems nice and of sound mind. He's also quite calculated and doesn't shy away from ruthlessly slashing his enemies, to the point of being a BitchInSheepsClothing to Alice in ''Blattodea''.
103* BlackComedyRape:
104** Kinohadakamakiri's constant rape of him to make him submissive is [[RapeAsDrama played for drama]], but some of the other attempts at him are instead played for comedy as the assaulters, some of which are female, have no idea what to do with his massive genitals. In one such case, Kinohadakamakiri and his master attempt to rape Hanakamakiri while he's unconscious, but the boy instinctively spends hours trying to rape ''them'' instead while they run in a panic.
105** In ''Blattodea'', Imomushi has an AngerBornOfWorry moment upon reuniting with Hanakamakiri and rants that he can't complain if she ends up raping him because of him abandoning her in the previous year. Before he consents and confesses his feelings to Imomushi, a nearby Alice is comically confused to see him being threatened with rape because she feels violated by how intimate he was with her while hiding the fact he's a crossdressing boy.
106* ButNowIMustGo: Feeling guilty over making a deal with Suzumebachi for Imomushi's protection without her knowing, Hanakamakiri leaves to parts unknown at the end of ''Caterpillar'', much like how Alice left Oki. Imomushi, left all alone in the middle of the zombie outbreak, just thinks he's being really stupid and vows to just find and claim his virginity like they had promised to a whole year before.
107* ChildSoldier: He's 14 during ''Caterpillar'' and seems to have been brought in the Organization a couple of years prior to him meeting Imomushi.
108* CombatPragmatist: Often gets enemies to low their guard by feigning weakness or acting like he just wants to talk things out.
109* ConflictBall: He's paranoid that Imomushi is going to get assassinated if he doesn't force Alice to become the new Boss of the Organization, even though we never see Imomushi being threatened by anyone or anything other than the zombies. This leads to Hanakamakiri senselessly beating the snot out of Alice to get her to comply, making the girl [[CorruptTheCutie even more bitter about life]].
110* TheConsigliere: Under the late Suzumebachi's orders, Hanakamakiri welcomes Alice as the new Boss of the Organization and plays bodyguard and advisor roles while informing her about the plans against the zombie apocalypse. He even dresses up as a maid to serve her [[TrademarkFavoriteFood pudding]].
111* CuteAndPsycho: Hanakamakiri's cutesy looks He confesses to Kinohadakamakiri he hopes to cut Imomushi's limbs like a literal caterpillar and turn her into a mindless sex slave, only for it to be a lie to distract his sadist teacher.
112* DarkAndTroubledPast: Already an orphan for 4 years, Hanakamakiri lost his foster family to a robber who wanted to rape him and was forced to kill the scumbag in self-defense when he got home from school. He was then adopted and trained as an assassin by the extremely controlling and abusive Kinohadakamakiri, who frequently raped him ''anyway''.
113* DeathGlare: By glaring at Nanafushi's general direction he gets her nervous and disables her invisibility.
114* DefensiveFeintTrap: Sometimes he exploits his cuteness and falls to his knees crying, pretending to be helpless.
115* DistaffCounterpart: Acts like one to vanilla Kamakiri from the main story, [[WeHardlyKnewYe who died too soon]]. Obviously the cool mantis theme couldn't be left to waste.
116* DissonantSerenity: Tries to keep a graceful facade at all times. One moment that stands out is him luring some sex offenders away from a disturbed Alice at Hibarigaoka Prison, clearly planning to get rid of them when nobody's looking. He calmly offers to be "body-searched" by them and tells Alice it's always been like this to him.
117* DragonWithAnAgenda: To keep the Organization running and be in a position he can use to prevent anyone in there from targeting Imomushi, he helps Bekkōbachi deceive and control the new PuppetQueen Alice. When Alice is about to run away to check out what's happening at Hibarigaoka Prison, Hanakamakiri tries to take her back by force.
118* DudeLooksLikeALady: Thanks to Klinefelter syndrome he looks very feminine.
119* ElegantGothicLolita: Mainly dresses in such a costume and is noted to be very elegant and feminine.
120* FeminineWomenCanCook: Being raised to act like a girl involved cooking lessons. Alice is surprised to hear he cooked the pudding he served her instead of it being some expensive store product.
121* {{Foil}}: Imomushi is a tomboyish delinquent girl who's honest to a fault. Hanakamakiri is a graceful crossdressing boy who's been conditioned to deceive others.
122* GagPenis: Something of a RunningGag in ''Caterpillar'' is people not being just surprised by what Hanakama has under his dress, but also scared by it. BiggerIsBetterInBed has its limits, it would seem. As explained in-series, this contradicts the symptoms of Kinefelter Syndrome on genitals because male flower mantises have disproportionately large ones for their size.
123* TheGhost: He is only mentioned once in ''Arachnid'' and doesn't appear on-panel, so of course the sidestory reveals he ''was'' there all along the moment Dinoponera leaves the room Suzumebachi and the knocked-out Imomushi were in.
124* GunsAreWorthless: Spends all of ''Caterpillar'' without touching a gun, but happens to be the one who shows Alice that the army ant zombies can only be killed by blasting their heads off with heavy firepower.
125* {{Hammerspace}}: Hanakamakiri's scythes are huge and literally appear from out of thin air in some scenes, including one where he's naked.
126* HarmfulToMinors: As a little boy he killed a pedophile who murdered his parents and was kidnapped by the Organization, who placed him under the care [[FromBadToWorse of another pedophile]] who turned him into an assassin.
127* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: To interrogate Nanafushi, he ties her to to a chair and leaves it barely hanging at the edge of a hole in the ship's hull, only supported by a rope tied to Nanafushi's neck.
128* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: Wears a frilly gothloli dress and fights a bunch of people through the story.
129* LifeOrLimbDecision: He says he'd have sacrificed his own limbs to escape from Zomushi's grasp if Riokku didn't help him out.
130* LikesOlderWomen: Falls in love with Imomushi, who is around six years older than him.
131* LittleMissBadass: A small but deadly gothloli.
132* {{Meido}}: Kinohadakamakiri had him wear a maid costume and do chores back when Hanakamakiri was his student. He also dresses like this while serving pudding to his boss Alice.
133* MustNotDieAVirgin: Imomushi keeps insisting he loses his virginity to anybody before they head out to the Ageha cruise ship, and since he does love her he promises a night of GladToBeAliveSex with her once they both make it out alive. However, he ends up breaking the promise and leaving out of shame from making a deal with Suzumebachi to protect her.
134* TheNameless: Actually is named Kozue Shiihara, though that sense of self is [[ThatManIsDead long gone]]. In the third version of the character profiles in the Gangan Joker magazine releases, Alice, Chiyuri, Setsuna ''and'' Megumi are all called by their given names but he isn't.
135* NearRapeExperience: PlayedForLaughs in one chapter where Hanakamakiri's abusive master Kinohadakamakiri takes the boy to his own deranged master Chatatemushi and they make him [[SlippingAMickey fall unconscious from a drink]], with the intent of later making him a sex god via use of aphrodisiac drugs and such. However, what they get is Hanakamakiri running after ''them'' in a berserk state, attemping to rape them for six hours straight while still unconscious. Afterwards he never acts like this again.
136* NoNonsenseNemesis: Wins fights by throwing a feint in and then capitalizing on the chance by mercilesly knocking the opponent out with a SpamAttack of scythe stabs before they can react any more. Even Alice wasn't safe from this.
137* OnlySaneMan: Much more sane and kind than the other bug assassins despite his traumatic backstory, especially among the mantis folks. As such, he's the perfect bodyguard for the new boss Alice other than Kabutomushi, who doesn't want the girl bound to the Organization.
138* NiceJobFixingItVillain: He puts Alice inside a device that lets her learn a ton of information at once about the ongoing zombie apocalypse to attempt to solve it. She immediately realizes somebody in there erased all information about the largest prison in the country and resolves to visit the place. Hanakamakiri, who did the thing, is somehow surprised that she noticed.
139* RaisedAsTheOppositeGender: Hanakamakiri was born male but was raised as a girl due to having been born with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klinefelter_syndrome Klinefelter syndrome]]. He keeps a feminine image and gets mad when outed [[IfItsYouItsOkay but gets used to]] Imomushi, his only genuine friend, treating him like a man.
140* RapeAsBackstory: His master Kinohadakamakiri used to regularly rape him with a wire, hoping to make the boy fully submissive to him. It is implied this is outright a tradition among mantis-themed people in the Organization, with Kinohada having his own psycho-rapist master in Chatatemushi, who he fully respects.
141* RapeLeadsToInsanity: Notably averted, considering how frequently this trope appears in the series. Hanakamakiri is shown to have been constantly raped and humiliated by Kinohadakamakiri but after breaking free from him, Hana turns out to be one of the most mentally stable characters in the cast.
142* SinisterScythe: He wields a pair of large mantis-themed scythes. Their design was rather inconsistent and got simplified by the second artist of the spinoff, so they now lack spikes.
143* StealthExpert: Noted to have greatly improved his sneaking skills after fighting Nanafushi, who has a PerceptionFilter ability.
144* SuddenSequelHeelSyndrome: In ''Blattodea'' his goal is to uphold the Organization's plan to eradicate the population of Japan to ensure he'll be in a position to prevent anyone from targeting Imomushi again. This puts him in a villainous role at odds with Alice, who he must use as a pawn, and with Chiyuri and Dinoponera, since he's required to kill the latter to keep her from being used to cure the outbreak.
145* TrainingFromHell: Even beyond all the harsh training for Hanakamakiri to become an assassin and a master of deception, Kinohadakamakiri was extremely controlling and frequently raped the boy with some kind of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nematomorpha Gordian worm-esque]] cord. Unsurprisingly, Hanakama took revenge by stabbing one of his mentor's eyes during his graduation.
146* WholesomeCrossdresser: Despite his job and how everyone thinks he's a VillainousCrossdresser, Hanakamakiri isn't a bad person.
147----
148[[/folder]]
149
150[[folder:Rhinoceros Beetle/Kabutomushi]]
151!!Rhinoceros Beetle (カブトムシ; Kabutomushi), alias Ran Kabuto
152[[quoteright:144:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arachkabutoprofile_4322.jpg]]
153The Organization's self-proclaimed strongest assassin. Kabutomushi is in charge of an OrphanageOfFear called Pomario where she teaches swarms of kids such as Goki how to be crazy beetle people. Ruthless and determined, with her naturally abnormal strength, cyborg enhancements and her handy Kabuto Horn halberd, Kabuto can whack just about anyone into low orbit.\
154
155Although Kabutomushi is introduced in ''Arachnid'', ''Caterpillar'' is what gives her a little story arc and goes over her backstory. After the Arachnid Hunt, she and Gokiburi travel around Japan to find the missing Alice... but then she gets sidetracked and starts working at a [[BlandNameProduct WcDonald's]]...
156----
157* AdultHater: Downplayed, but its noted that Ran completely lost trust in adults after her mentor turned out to be an insane child killer. It could even be the reason she pretends to be stuck in her teens.
158* TheAgeless: Much to her annoyance, it is often hinted that Kabutomushi is actually over her mid-twenties despite her 15-years old appearance. Note how she's nearly as tall as Imomushi in ''Caterpillar'' but gets shorter in ''Arachnid''. The reasons for this [[NoodleIncident are never explained.]]
159* AnimalMotifs:
160** [[JapaneseBeetleBrothers Japanese Rhinoceros Beetles.]] Who says a beetle-themed woman has to be a Ladybug? This rhino beetle girl carries a horn-themed spear and has her heart and arm bones covered in exoskeleton-like armor. Her arm spikes are meant to represent the spikes of female kabutomushis.
161** ''Caterpillar'' adds a Hercules Beetle motif when she gets the Heracles blade. This also doubles as an Alligator motif because the blade is an imitation of the Alligator owned by Roxy and Nichol in ''Jackals''.
162* AttemptedRape: Kabutomushi gets dropped by Sara into her rape zombie basement and is surrounded by the crazy mob of brainwashed students. She is able to fight them offscreen and eventually shows up to save Alice. It's worth noting that as of ''Blattodea'', Kabuto as a major cast member stands out for not having RapeAsBackstory and rarely having to deal with any scumbags attempting to assault her.
163* BadassAdorable: She has a serious attitude, but enjoys looking cute whenever she can.
164* BadassBoast: "Don't (''[[PrecisionFStrike fucking]]'') look down on the strongest" and variants thereof.
165* BadassTeacher: To Gokiburi and the Stag Beetle Quartet, plus many other children.
166* BerserkButton:
167** Being called [[OlderThanSheLooks old]], looked down upon or being challenged in feats of strength. She once humiliated an arm wrestling champ just because he was nicknamed "The Strongest" (he did think [[GracefulLoser she actually was pretty rad]]). Conversely, Kumo expressing sincere respect for Kabuto gets her uncharacteristically flattered.
168** It is inferred that Kabutomushi takes her job to protect Alice so seriously (despite arriving late for some reason) that she won't bat an eye at killing anyone who threatens the spider-girl's life. She insists Alice should kill a trapped Dinoponera and later blows [[spoiler:the Boss]] off the school's rooftop even though it was a big deal in the prequel that she doesn't like killing and even spared one antagonist [[IronicEcho who looks suspiciously similar]] to Dinoponera.
169* {{BFS}}: Other than her Kabuto Horn spear, which she uses for fighting mobs, she briefly mentions a Hercules weapon designed for one-on-one combat. Once it finally appears in the prequel, it turns out to be a giant double sword.
170* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Has three retractable Kabuto Spikes on each arm. She actually injures her arms drawing them out, not that it bothers her.
171* BlowYouAway: Kabuto can swing her spear with enough force to blow distant people off their feet, especially in cramped spaces.
172* BodyguardingABadass: Alice reasons Kumo hired Kabuto to protect her from large groups of enemies, against which she would have trouble if fighting on her own, especially now that she's badly hurt. It has, however, been established that Alice ''can'' handle mobs with her strings just fine. Also, Kabutomushi sleeps on the job and only meets Alice during the Arachnid Hunt. Then she leaves Alice with Megumi, learns she went missing and ultimately just sits around waiting for her to show up.
173* BurgerFool: After the zombie pandemic takes over Japan, Kabutomushi figures the best outfit for the occasion is a WcDonalds essential worker uniform from a restaurant she's broken into to use as a shelter.
174* TheBusCameBack: She is the last major recurring character to be reintroduced in ''Blattodea'', on chapter 17, and it happens quite anticlimatically with her casually beating up zombies in a WcDonalds uniform like she forgot about rescuing Alice.
175* CallingYourAttacks: Everything she owns or does is a "Kabuto Something".
176* ClothingDamage: Her uniform is ruined by Abu's slashes. [[FanDisservice No fanservice here]], as it doesn't expose her body and she does get a messy wound that goes [[DiagonalCut from her chest to her left leg.]] In ''Blattodea'', the series' third illustrator forgot about this during a scene set right after the Boss' death and at best only sprayed her uniform with blood when volume 2 was published.
177* CombatPragmatist:
178** Kabutomushi lies to Oki about being unarmed and takes advantage of any openings she finds as she fights. Good for her, because whenever Kabutomushi becomes overconfident and [[SmugSuper showboats before her enemies]], things [[BreakTheHaughty go spectacularly wrong]] for her for a reason or other.
179** When the Kabuto Horn is locked to Ookuwagata's mandibles like they're actual beetle appendages, Kabutomushi lets herself get lifted and falls on top of Ooku to choke her unconscious, with it being noted Kabuto is only cheating on a contest of strength because her enemy is that much of a threat.
180* CosplayOtakuGirl: Downplayed, but she sometimes shows up in costumes like a plane stewardess uniform or a frilly gothloli dress seemingly for fun. In ''Blattodea'', she starts living in an abandoned WcDonalds restaurant and makes a pastime of fighting zombies while dressed in their employee uniform.
181* CounterAttack: She can use the Heracles to perform the [[OffhandBackhand Killing Bite counter]] used by Roxy and Nichol in ''Jackals'', though it goes unnamed.
182* CrazyPrepared: She's known to prepare before her fights to exploit her opponents' weaknesses. She also happens to have armored organs and arms to protect herself from lethal attacks.
183* CuteAndPsycho: Kabutomushi is one of the more reasonable insect assassins, but still does have her AxCrazy moments when she's provoked.
184* CuteBruiser: Kabutomushi [[PintsizedPowerhouse is much stronger]] than people like Oki because of her implanted armor and to some extent she behaves like a cute young girl.
185* DarkActionGirl: Although we mostly see her in a anti-heroic light, Kabutomushi can be very ruthless and indirectly killed a bunch of children brought to her as pupils by the Organization.
186* DarkAndTroubledPast: Was abandoned by her parents because they couldn't handle her and later saw her beloved parental-substitute teacher [[BrokenPedestal killing her best friend for fun]].
187* DeathGlare: Gives scary stares whenever she drops her friendly facade or is enraged.
188* DeclarationOfProtection: Kabutomushi is a reliable ally ''when she's around''. After she saves Alice from the Boss, ''Arachnid'' ends with her determined to uphold her promise to Kumo by looking for the spider-girl who had the bright idea of wandering alone into the zombie apocalypse. However, at some point Kabuto figures Alice can take care of herself and ''gives up'', taking residence in a WcDonalds where she waits for over a year until Alice does come by unharmed... ''thanks to Hanakamakiri'', who had saved her from a horde of zombies in the nick of time.
189* DemotedToExtra: In ''Blattodea'', Kabutomushi just hangs out in a [=WcDonald's=] and doesn't join Alice and Hanakamakiri at Hibarigaoka Prison. The author has remarked on Twitter that she'll play an active role sooner or later, though.
190* {{Determinator}}: Can endure a ton of damage and is determined to keep her word to Kumo.
191* DeusExitMachina: Chapter 33 of ''Blattodea'' explains the powerful pair of Kabutomushi and Imomushi have been just hanging out in a [=WcDonald's=] to prevent the zombies from running over the nearby Hibarigaoka Prison. While Imomushi is available to help Alice and Hanakamakiri, Kabutomushi refuses to go there one way or the other because she considers the prison a lost cause.
192* DisneyVillainDeath: This has been her favorite way of trying to kill people, from her first appearances to the end of ''Arachnid''. Only [[spoiler:the Boss]] actually dies to her, though.
193* DissonantSerenity: Has polite conversations with people while waiting for a chance to strike them.
194* DoubleWeapon: The Hercules, which is hinted at in ''Arachnid'' but is only shown in ''Caterpillar'', is a massive double ended blade that [[ShearMenace can be folded]] to chop enemies.
195* TheDreaded: Oki's first thought upon meeting her at the Arachnid Hunt is to flee. Kabutomushi has quite the reputation as the strongest assassin, so to call Alice, Kabutomushi [[RefugeInAudacity announces to the entire school]] that Oki and Yoriko are with her, knowing that few would dare to attack after hearing her name. Obviously, [[TemptingFate that does happen]] right after.
196* DualAgeModes: She somehow aged backwards between ''Caterpillar'' and ''Arachnid'', such that Gokiburi is disturbed to see her in the latter story.
197* EffortlessAmazonianLift: Kabutomushi carries an exhausted Alice [[OverTheShoulderCarry over her shoulder]] for some time while still fighting the student mob. Then she proves that even as wounded as she is, she can casually lift humongous muscle men over her spear and throw them through walls.
198* ElegantGothicLolita: Her favorite outfit is a frilly red gothloli dress, but it's not actually seen much because she poses as a student in the main story and as a bunnygirl hostess in the prequel.
199* EpicFail: Her failed uses of Kabuto Slide are PlayedForLaughs.
200* EveryoneHasStandards:
201** Despite working for a network of assassins, Kabuto doesn't like personally killing people unless it is an emergency or to prevent enemies from coming back for revenge. She's also upset to see Gokiburi talking out loud about wanting to rape Alice despite the roach having become FireForgedFriends with the spider since they first met.
202** Even though Kabutomushi, the SadistTeacher of an OrphanageOfFear, works to keep the zombies out of Hibarigaoka Prison, she hates how her pupil Megumi and the other scumbags in there run the place as a human experimentation slavery camp. For further irony, even Himekuwagata, who hated Kabutomushi's methods so much, is helping Megumi in that place.
203* EyesAlwaysShut: If she's talking with closed eyes and a warm smile, watch out.
204* FaceDeathWithDignity: Kabutomushi looked calmly resigned to her fate when Dinoponera almost turned her into a pincushion, only lamenting that she couldn't help Kumo.
205* FieryRedhead: Has red hair and is the [[HotBlooded most intense]] of this series' girls.
206* FingerPokeOfDoom: Gives one to a pervert in the prequel.
207* {{Foreshadowing}}:
208** Several scenes draw odd parallels between Kabutomushi and Yoriko or have Yoriko falling over and being threatened by Kabuto's presence. [[spoiler:Turns out Yoriko is ageless, immune to toxins and is killed by being blown off the school's rooftop by Kabutomushi.]]
209--->"You won't die. Not from falling [[ExactWords from three meters]]."
210** In ''Arachnid'', Kabutomushi fights a samurai with the "Brand Nero" technique used by Isaac in ''Jackals''. In ''Caterpillar'', Gokiburi remarks getting at close range against her is like trying to shove one's hand on an alligator's mouth. Then it is revealed the secret weapon she owns is based on the Alligator owned by Roxy, the assassin who was capable of defeating Isaac with her "Killing Bite" counter.
211* GivenNameReveal: Kabutomushi's backstory and then ''Blattodea'' establish her full name is "Ran Kabuto".
212* GlacierWaif: Has the build of an ordinary 15 years-old girl, but is absurdly tough. In terms of speed, Kabutomushi can smash almost anything in her spear's range at lightning speed but isn't a teleporting ninja like most of the cast. As often explained by the narrator, this fits with her japanese rhino beetle motif.
213* GrievousHarmWithABody:
214** Kabutomushi turns one of Sara's own giant ant soldiers into a [[BrutishCharacterBrutishWeapon makeshift hammer]] and tries to crush her with him.
215** In ''Caterpillar'', when one of the stag beetles is smashing her around, Kabutomushi manages to drop him over one of his partners instead.
216* GroundPunch: In one fight she jumps, [[SpectacularSpinning spins]] and then destroys the entire room's floor with a punch.
217* {{Hammerspace}}: Kabutomushi folds her Kabuto Horn in half to hide it under her clothes, but it still looks too big to actually fit comfortably. And in the prequel she just seems to conjure it from nowhere at will.
218* HandicappedBadass: Towards the end of the battle against the stag beetle quartet, Hiratakuwagata breaks Kabutomushi's left arm. Kabuto receives the Heracles from Gokiburi and still easily lifts a {{BFS}} like that with one hand before taking Hirata down.
219* HarmfulToMinors: Tiny Kabutomushi was abandoned by her parents and ended up in the care of a child murderer who killed her best friend and that could get rid of her at any time. Upon succeeding Hercules as the Pomario director, Kabutomushi is unable to make any real change in the system and becomes about half as bad as him, to the point she's also got students trying to kill her for the abuse she inflicted on them.
220* HesBack: After suffering TheWorfEffect from Dinoponera and getting literally dropped from the story for a long time by Sara and the army ants, Kabutomushi returns to make good on her promise to protect Alice and dramatically saves her from the Organization's Boss.
221* HellishPupils: She gets the same pupil effect as concentrated Alice when she's glaring at people.
222* HerbivoresAreFriendly: Dinoponera muses on how kabutomushi beetles are only called the strongest despite being non-lethal herbivores because Japan has been enjoying a period of peace. Meanwhile, Ran the kabutomushi girl is trying to smash her into paste. [[AvertedTrope She most certainly averts this trope.]]
223* ImmuneToBullets: She pretends to be heavily injured when shot down, but then stands up with a sneak attack. That infamous implanted armor of hers does, in fact, cover all of her organs.
224* ImprobableUseOfAWeapon: Kabutomushi wields a spear but doesn't stab anyone with it. She smashes and shoves them with the blunt side instead, like a proper rhino beetle. See, she wasn't lying about it being a mop!
225* InSeriesNickname: She asks people to call her "Kabu". Only in ''Blattodea'' she is called that by Imomushi, which shows they've become good friends.
226* InsistentTerminology: Because she's a beetle, Kabutomushi keeps calling her ''implanted'' armor an ''exo''skeleton.
227* JustShootHim: She urges Alice to kill Dinoponera to prevent her from coming back for revenge, but Alice finds it unnecessary and Dinoponera flees while the two are distracted.
228* KlingonPromotion: Averted; she kills the Boss and Kirigirisu reports that to the Organiazation but he, Suzumebachi and Hanakamakiri were already plotting to make Alice the new Boss instead. So far it is unknown if Kabutomushi suffered any consequences for what she did. The epilogue for ''Arachnid'' showed her going rogue to get Alice out of their clutches, but ''Blattodea'' ignores that and makes her just sit on a [=WcDonald's=] like nothing happened.
229* LegacyCharacter: ''Caterpillar'' shows a previous Kabutomushi who trained this one and that passed down to her a variant of the Alligator blade Roxy and Nichol owned decades before in ''Jackals''. ''Manga/ChoubuNoShinobi'' also features an identical feudal Japan counterpart to Kabuto named Ran Scarab.
230* LetsYouAndHimFight: Shows up in the prequel with Oki to battle Imomushi.
231* LittleMissBadass: Anyone who gets in Kabutomushi's range gets shoved into next tuesday.
232* MadeOfIron: Literally, as she has armor implanted over her organs and inside her arms. Even after taking a lot of damage from Abu and Dinoponera she can still defeat people twice her size like they're nothing.
233* MetronomicManMashing: She grabs and swings Dinoponera around much like how Riock attacked Hibiki before, but Dinoponera manages to land on her feet.
234* MiniDressOfPower: Gets a school uniform for herself before sneaking into Alice's school. Goki mocks her for trying to look younger.
235* MsFanservice: She wears a PlayboyBunny costume in ''Caterpillar'' and looks more mature and curvier than she does from ''Arachnid'' onwards. [[MaleGaze Gratuitous views]] of her assets as she [[CatFight wrestles]] Imomushi are aplenty.
236* MusclesAreMeaningless: Through the series, this trope is most noticeable in Kabutomushi. Chapter 40 of ''Caterpillar'' even has a flashback about a buff arm wrestler being unable to make the little lolita beetle even budge. And then it's shown she was always this strong.
237* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
238** It's never explained why Kabutomushi took so long to go protect Alice even though she did value keeping her word to Kumo. It doesn't help that the [[LampshadeHanging author himself makes fun]] of this [[VoodooShark plot hole]] in one afterword, saying that rhino beetles have nocturnal habits.
239** Kabutomushi meddles in Alice's battle against Dinoponera repeatedly to help, but all it does is either make Dinoponera more hostile or keep Alice from talking things out with her, especially when Kabuto demands Alice kills her after the fight ends.
240* NoSell: Jigabachi's nerve gas didn't affect her. [[HandWave According to the narrator]], this is ''somehow'' due to Kabutomushi being so strong. In the prequel, it takes a sudden one-sided beatdown and crushing Kabutomushi under a ton of debris for Imomushi to even hurt her at all. And even then, she simply wipes the blood off her face and is good as new again.
241* TheNoseKnows: Kabutomushi is sensitive to smells and is able to find Oki by following the barely visible trail of oil from her Oilpiration ability.
242* NotTheFallThatKillsYou: Just when she had cornered Sara, the floor below Kabuto is collapsed and she falls to the bottom of Alice's school. She breaks the fall with her spear and isn't hurt, though she has to fight a horde of zombies off. This actually is something of a dark BrickJoke: Dinoponera told her that unlike beetles ants fall gracefully but gets dunked head-first into another rape pit while paralyzed and is infected; Kabutomushi tells Yoriko she won't die from a relatively short fall and then [[spoiler:kills her by blowing her off the school's rooftop]].
243* OffscreenVillainy: ''Caterpillar'' establishes that the TrainingFromHell Kabuto gives at Pomario does kill an untold amount of children from various causes, but other than her being bitchy and enjoying bullying her students, that villainous side of her isn't shown in clear detail and she does have regrets over it.
244* OhCrap: Gets a priceless look of surprise when Dinoponera dashes through her seemingly unavoidable Kabuto Slide. A year before that, she tried the Kabuto Slide against a defenseless Imomushi... [[EpicFail and flooded the entire corridor around them.]]
245* OlderThanSheLooks: Implied to be a young adult instead of a 15-years old schoolgirl. And it doesn't help that she does act like an adult and treats youngsters with disdain. Another odd thing about Kabuto is that in ''Caterpillar'' she isn't just bustier, she's taller -- giving new context for why Goki is bothered to see her pretending to be a schoolgirl one year later in ''Arachnid''.
246* OneWomanArmy: Not only is she strong as hell, but the Kabuto Horn is also very effective against large groups of enemies.
247* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Kabutomushi doesn't work for cheap. She even threatened to not protect Alice because Kumo had paid her in advance, and only relented because he acknowledged her strength and trusted she could get the job done.
248* ParentalAbandonment: Her parents couldn't handle a trouble-making girl who could tear tractors apart with her bare hands.
249* PintsizedPowerhouse: Kabutomushi was abnormally strong even as a 7 years-old girl.
250* PlayboyBunny: She wears a red bunny outfit in the prequel.
251* ProductionThrowback:
252** Her ownership of the Heracles sword [[ContinuityNod confirms]] ''Arachnid'' and ''Caterpillar'' are sequels to ''Jackals'', and implies Alice's Kumoito is likewise related to the one Turis owned in that story. Several scenes of her wielding Heracles are framed exactly like ones with either Nichol or Roxy fighting in ''Jackals'', including the "Killing Bite" counter attack.
253** The whole heart armor bit can also be traced back to ''Jackals'', but it was more fallible there. The assassin Domino would seemingly ignore having her heart stabbed, only to get killed later when it was found out her trick was to [[spoiler:use hallucination drugs to deceive people into thinking they had stabbed her when they hadn't]].
254* PutOnABus:
255** Sara prevents Kabutomushi from helping Alice by making her fall into an ambush by countless brainwashed students. She can fight them handily, but has been busy offscreen for a dozen chapters. [[spoiler:She comes BackForTheFinale in Chapter 71, killing Yoriko while Oki rescues Alice. And although Kabuto isn't seen at all during the last chapter, she does appear in the epilogue.]]
256** One suspicious aspect of ''Blattodea'''s early chapters. We get confirmation on Dinoponera, Kamadouma and Geji's survival but Kabutomushi goes completely unmentioned. She was last seen looking for Alice with Gokiburi, just for the roach to become the director of Hibarigaoka Prison at some point with Jigabachi and Geji's support. Eventually, Kabutoushi finally shows up... near a WcDonalds in uniform in a hilariously anticlimactic fashion.
257* SadistTeacher: Kabutomushi makes a point of being a better person than her master who killed her best friend, but is still infamous for beating students to such an extent that they learn to fight while knocked out. This is PlayedForLaughs when shown to the reader, but in a case of OffscreenVillainy most of her students are said to have died during training anyway.
258* SayItWithHearts: Often makes hearts in her speech bubbles.
259* SeriousBusiness: She's obsessed with the idea of being the strongest to the point of challenging anyone who ever calls themselves that, all because she wants to hold on to her position at Pomario and keep freaks like her former master from just killing the children in there as they please.
260* SignatureAttack: The "Kabuto Slide", in which she [[SpamAttack swings her spear very fast to cover a large area around her.]]
261* SmashingWatermelons: One of the ''Arachnid'' volume bonuses was a beach-themed poster of her holding a watermelon.
262* SmugSuper: She's proud of her strength and rightfully so. However, her attitude often leads into her being smacked around by antagonists like Hiratakuwagata and Dinoponera until she's forced to rely on a bloodthristy secret weapon she resents to come out on top.
263* SpotlightStealingSquad: Kabutomushi has her own scenario in ''Catepillar'' that is completely unrelated to Imomushi's quest once their fight is interrupted. Kabuto steals the show as her battle against Himekuwagata and her squad goes on and on and it is at that time that readers are given her backstory and motivations prior to Kumo hiring her to look after Alice.
264* StevenUlyssesPerhero: Her family name is "Kabuto" and she's trained to be a kabutomushi-themed hitwoman.
265* SuperSpeed: Averted. Kabutomushi is one of the few characters who ''aren't'' depicted as being able to do any speed and teleportation shenanigans. The most she can do is swing the Kabuto Horn ''[[SpamAttack really]]'' fast.
266* SuperStrength: In physical terms, she's the strongest character in the story.
267* SwordPlant: Has stabbed the ground with the Kabuto Horn due to various reasons. In the prequel, she does it with the Heracles as a feint to fold the blade and chop somebody's leg off.
268* ThouShaltNotKill: In ''Caterpillar'', due to Kabutomushi's deranged master murdering many children including her best friend, she believes strong people shouldn't kill gratuitously and is outright unranked amongst the assassins. Kabuto is then pursued by some of her former students who want to avenge other children who she [[TrainingFromHell indirectly killed during training]], but spares all of them after winning the duels. This goes out of its way to contradict her more ruthless actions a year later in ''Arachnid'', particularly how she spared Hiratakuwagata but orders Alice to kill Dinoponera in scenes meant to parallel each other. She also gets the honor of killing the Boss to save Alice, while all of the other people she smashed into the ground are stated to have recovered offscreen.
269* TrainingFromHell:
270** Ran found herself at an OrphanageOfFear where her master would casually kill any child he thought as weak, so she did her best to stay alive while putting on a friendly facade until he acknowledged her as his successor.
271** It is said that one of the first things Kabutomushi does to her students is to repeatedly beat them up so badly that they learn how to fight while unconscious. The prequel shows she was [[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood indeed abusive]] to the children under her care to the point some of them have tried to kill her as revenge.
272* {{Transhuman}}: She [[LampshadeHanging "happens"]] to have the aforementioned [[{{Cyborg}} implants inside her body]] and her true age is unknown.
273* UsedToBeASweetChild: Ran was once a bright and innocent kid, but her parents disowned her after she broke a tractor bare-handed out of curiosity and then the murder of her best friend by her own master served as her complete CynicismCatalyst.
274* VagueAge: She earned her "Kabutomushi" codename when she was actually 14-16 in an undefined but not so distant point in the past. Then she stopped aging for some reason, leading other characters to call her an "old lady" and mock her for wanting to forever look like a highschooler.
275* VictoryThroughIntimidation: If possible, she overwhelms her opponents into submission without killing them.
276* VillainBall: Imomushi's signature attack is swinging back and forth into headbutts and punches. While wrestling her, Kabutomushi herself pushes the catapult caterpillar down while mocking her and gets a ''massive'' beatdown for that mistake.
277* WeightWoe: A [[https://arachnid-manga.fandom.com/wiki/File:Height_Comparison_Sketch.jpg height chart]] for the series' major characters portrays Kabutomushi with a smudged-out number on her weight stat, implying she's pretty heavy thanks to her steel-plated armor and doesn't want you to know. This gag only comes up once when Megumi has to carry her and run from Hiratakuwagata, but Kabuto brushes it off.
278* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: While ''Arachnid'''s epilogue shows Kabutomushi travelling in good spirits with Gokiburi, its open nature does not detail whether she's facing any consequences from killing the Organization's Boss. Furthermore, Gokiburi later gets promoted as the director of Hibarigaoka Prison while Kabuto is nowhere to be seen and after both failed to find Alice. When the trope is finally averted with her reappearance, Kabuto is shown just casually fighting zombies next to a WcDonalds in uniform like nothing bad happened.
279* WouldHurtAChild:
280** Regarding her students, she ended up perpetuating her teacher's cycle of abuse. It's somewhat PlayedForLaughs, but plenty of her students hate her for it...
281** She crushes Anabachi's head against the floor when he tries to brainwash her. That should show "Auntie" isn't fucking around...
282* TheWorfBarrage: Her Kabuto Slide is shown to be an incredible OneHitKill, but fails hilariously against Dinoponera. In fact, in the prequel it ''never works'' and she is eventually forced to use the Heracles instead.
283* TheWorfEffect: Defeats the wasp duo with ease at the Arachnid Hunt, but then gets killed instantly by Abu's techniques. Except not and she gets to demonstrate her defensive abilities to make short work of him and back up her claims of being the strongest assassin. But then she is one of four who are unable to harm Dinoponera at all. [[ZigZaggingTrope Don't worry]], though, she gets to worf the hell out of the Media ants later.
284* WorfHadTheFlu: Her complete failure to fight Dinoponera in ''Arachnid'' is given the excuse that she wasn't wielding the Heracles at the time. ''Caterpillar'' reveals it is a huge double sword based on the weapon the protagonist of ''Jackals'' owned, so you know it's super strong. Furthermore, it makes Kabutomushi's opponent Himekuwagata a blatant {{expy}} of Dinoponera just to drive in that Kabuto suuure would've turned Dino into a quadruple amputee if she just had her cool sword with her.
285* WorldsBestWarrior: She's the self-proclaimed strongest Organization member and is rather obsessed with that title. Most people fear her accordingly, except for those who think Kabutomushi [[NormalFishInATinyPond doesn't really know of the world outside of Japan]] or look down on her because she doesn't enjoy killing.
286* YearsTooEarly: She uses this taunt as something of a CatchPhrase in ''Caterpillar'' but not later in ''Arachnid'', oddly enough.
287* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Kabutomushi is an assassin who doesn't actually kill anyone and who's one of the least evil Pomario managers, so it's assumed that's why she was sent to the Death Caterpillar game to die. In ''Arachnid'' nothing is said about this, but when she ends up killing the Boss it is reported that it was her and she appeared to go rogue while looking for the disappeared Alice. Then in ''Blattodea'' it's largely unknown if she's facing any consequences for what she did ot not, but she's oddly stuck at a [[BlandNameProduct WcDonald's]] instead of working at Pomario.
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