Makomo and Kyojuro, the story's main couple
I See the Ocean
by Lulu Lisbon is an ongoing self-insert fanfiction for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba involving a woman from our world reborn into the body of the character Makomo. The story starts when the self-insert as Makomo is nine years old, when she apprentices under the former Water Pillar Urokodaki Sakonji.The fanfiction starts off with intensely intricate gore scenes, author-verified "gratuitous use of colour theory," and a first-person perspective from the self-insert, who has synesthesia and describes her world in a way that is rare to see in written works. The author foreshadows and adds red herrings starting from the first chapter to build up to huge events of shock value, and is not afraid to drastically change the typical self-insert formula to create a story.
There are several other works that involve spin-offs or artworks of I See the Ocean.
- Here is the author's tumblr page, which contains Makomo art.
- Here is the author's "rambling" page, which contains Makomo short stories.
I See the Ocean contains examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: In the series' source material, several demon slayers have enhanced senses. In I See the Ocean, Makomo has enhanced eyesight.
- In chapter 10, it is mentioned that she can see people's lips moving clearly enough to read their words from eight kilometres away.
- Makomo can see through thin materials like shoji doors and eye masks.
- An Arm and a Leg: Douma rips off Makomo's right arm.
- Ex-Thunder Hashira Kuwajima Jigoro lost his leg in battle many years ago.
- Art Attacker: Synesthetic imagery and other literary devices are used to supplement Makomo's enhanced vision and predictive ability.
- Makomo is heavily synesthetic. Her narration relies heavily on metaphor because that's how she sees the world, which also relates to her vision-based metapowers. The 1st Person POV assists in the narrative voice.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Makomo learns by watching. By observing natural weather phenomena, this leads to the creation of storm breathing.
- Badass Family: The Urokodaki family currently consists of Makomo, Sabito, and Giyuu, who are all noted to be very strong within the demon slayer community.
- Chekhov's Gun: Makomo complains about overextending her limbs a lot in the first third of the story. Ergo, a demon rips her limb off
- Lightning metaphors and electricity related vocabulary make an appearance. Ergo, she learns Breath of Thunder.
- Sabito lives. Ergo, Sabito and Giyuu angst over which one of them gets to have the Water Tsuguko position.
- Combat Medic: Shinobu.
- Comically Missing the Point: Despite Makomo's battle IQ and general intelligence, she is dense when it comes to romance.
- She doesn't understand why Sabito and Giyuu get upset when she keeps talking about Kyojuro's testicles, and explicitly asks why two teenagers would want to sneak away to be together.
- Shinobu says that the Butterfly Mansion stores condoms, and Makomo is confused over the wording of "rubbers" and asks what rubber has to do with a relationship
- Coming of Age Story: All the kids at the beginning of the story grow up, in their bodies and in maturity.
- Face on the Cover: Makomo's face is drawn a lot.
- Makomo's late teenage/early adult looks are inspired by K-pop idol Minji of New Jeans, as proclaimed by the author.
- Fatal Flaw: Makomo is consistently overconfident and a paranoid coward at the same time. This results in her keeping her foreknowledge a secret from mission planning, which then directly results in her losing an arm.
- First-Name Basis: Sabito and Giyuu panic over the fact that Makomo and Kyojuro are on a first-name basis. Hijinks ensue.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Tengen and Kanae lead a mission with Makomo and Shinobu as their support to verify rumours of Upper Moon activity. However, Douma takes an unexpected deviation in the route and confronts the two girls instead of the two Hashiras.
- Gut Punch: Makomo loses an arm and thus loses the ability to raise her arm above the shoulder or move it fast, despite it being reattached. This deviates from common self-insert tropes, as most of them do not mess with a standard self-insert formula.
- I Got Bigger: All of the male characters, notably
- Makomo notes that Sabito, Giyuu, and Kyojuro are all very large and tall once they reach mid-to-late teen years, and even bigger as adults.
- It's Personal: Shinobu becomes outwardly emotional and aggressive in chapter 11 due to Douma scarring her sister's face and almost killing her and when he dismembers her best friend
- Living Weapon: The demons are not to be messed around with.
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Nausea Fuel: A demon eats Makomo's parents and it is described vividly, with various metaphors and disgusting chewing sounds added to the writing for literary dramatic effect.- Various subtle implications of arousal or perversion.
- Notably in chapter 10, when Makomo describes Senjuro as the kind of beautiful cherubic child that some people dream of violating.
- Douma is implied to enjoy hunting women in more than one way.
- Medical gore and violation, with extreme detail.
- Not So Stoic: Makomo tells cringey jokes to Sabito.
- Giyuu brings pastries to share with his family.
- Sabito and Giyuu are protective older brothers who try to break into the Rengoku Estate to protect Makomo's purity.
- Makomo jokingly flirts with Zenitsu to get him to train under Kuwajima.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Uzui and Kanae's tag teaming, holding off Douma during when Kanae was supposed to die in canon.
- Makomo's two year training hiatus.
- Promoted to Parent: Urokodaki legally adopts Makomo.
- Kyojuro protects and soothes Senjuro when he's scared, taking on a parental role instead of finding their dad to help.
- Kuwajima to Makomo and Zenitsu.
- Reincarnation: It's a self-insert OC fic. What were you expecting?
- Ridiculously Photogenic: Douma is described to have "ethereal beauty" and "a fascinating face."
- Makomo often thinks about Kyojuro's jawline.
- Zenitsu thinking about any female he comes in contact with.
- Skip the Anesthetic: Shinobu and the Butterfly House medical team only give Makomo hallucinogens instead of anesthetic because they need to find out how much pain she can still feel to test her nerve damage on the place her arm was, for reattachment surgery.
- Taisho Era (1912-1926) Medicine.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: The surgeons do not attempt to listen to Makomo's concerns and they shove a rope back into her mouth during the surgery.
- The Internet Is for Porn: Makomo misses the 21st century's internet because of porn access.
- True Beauty Is on the Inside: Kyojuro falls for Makomo even though he can't see her face.
- True Companions: A few examples.
- Shinobu, Makomo, and Kyojuro.
- Sabito and Giyuu.
- Kyojuro and Mitsuri, implied.
- Vague Age: Urokodaki. Even his kids don't know how old he is.
- when Urokodaki tells Makomo about his life story, he mentions having fought against the shogunate. This implies that he had been a soldier during the 1860s.
- What Beautiful Eyes!: Makomo's eyes are described to look like the ocean, and various artworks depict her eyes in stunning shades of blue, with hints of green and gold.
