Full transcript
0:01This is
0:02Chiawa. Their name is derived from
0:07chiakawatsu, Japanese for the one that
0:09is small and cute. Chiawa originates
0:12from a web manga by Nagago that has
0:14blown up in Japan, spawning an anime
0:17adaptation, many collabs, and a plethora
0:20of goods in a San Rio like fashion.
0:23I'm going to go over the surprisingly
0:25dark nature of the world this creature
0:27resides
0:28in. Warning, spoilers for the manga up
0:31to chapter
0:321,00. Chia lives in an idyllic little
0:36forest with fellow critters, spending
0:38most of their days frolicking with
0:40friends and eating good food. Their
0:43closest friends are Hachiare, a friendly
0:46cat-like creature, and Usagi, who is
0:49chaos incarnate. He's my favorite.
0:51There's something wrong with this little
0:52guy. Hachiare is the only one in the
0:55main trio who speaks fluently, although
0:58they do get words mixed up and have a
1:00very childlike speech pattern. Usagi
1:04only makes noises
1:11like and Chikawa mostly gestures, talks
1:14in pictographs, sounds and simple words
1:17like
1:21The critters earn money by taking up
1:23jobs that seem to be managed by these
1:26yooant, which are humanoid creatures
1:28wearing yooi armor. The main source of
1:31income that we have seen so far are weed
1:34pulling, fruit labeling, and monster
1:38hunting. That's right, it's not all
1:40sunshine and rainbows in Chia Town.
1:43There are a variety of monsters that
1:45occasionally show up to ruin a good day.
1:49Even in this fantastical world where
1:51gummies grow on bushes and pizza dough
1:53falls out of the sky, there are still
1:55monsters that prefer the taste of
1:58critter flesh. The first appearance of a
2:00monster in the manga is quite early in
2:03chapter 6 as a juosition to
2:06Chikawa. Their name is Deatsuyo which
2:09comes
2:11from big and strong. Chikawa is
2:15introduced in this way.
2:17I want to become something like this,
2:20some kind of small and cute creature,
2:23and wear silly hats like this and parade
2:26in front of everyone and get
2:28complimented. I want to go back home in
2:30a good mood and fall asleep in a bed
2:33that's like cotton. Adorable, right? And
2:37then in comes this thing. I want to
2:40become something like this. Some kind of
2:43big and strong creature. If someone
2:47irritates me, I will slam them to the
2:50ground with a loud
2:52bang, dash around at the speed of sound,
2:56devour food for survival, and ignite my
2:59fighting spirit.
3:01When I first read this, I was like, um,
3:04okay, that was different. Most chapters
3:07of Chiawa are more like the first
3:09example I showed about simple, silly
3:11little joys in life. But then there's
3:14these weird chapters that you kind of
3:15shrug off only for them to keep
3:17returning and giving you a sense of
3:19unease. Like this scene of Chikawa
3:22having a runin with monsters all by
3:24themselves.
3:25[Music]
3:42[Music]
3:56In the story of Chikawa, there's a
3:58chapter where the main protagonists are
4:00playing with Sylvanian family dolls only
4:03for a witch to appear and turn them into
4:06the dolls. Their real bodies become limp
4:10and the witch scoops them up saying that
4:13there's someone who wants to become
4:15something like this. Huh? Where have we
4:19heard that before? They are able to
4:22escape and return to normal. And then
4:25they end off by eating something weird
4:27from a lake. Hachi says that they should
4:30bite the stringy part and spit it out.
4:33It looks like a
4:34Pokémon. That was weird.
4:37Anyway, shortly after, Momonga makes
4:40their first appearance, running out of
4:43an alleyway, seemingly in a big rush,
4:46saying
4:48[Music]
4:54this. Huh, that's a little weird.
4:58Anyway, Hachiare and Chikawa also sort
5:02of become friends with this Yoroan who
5:04likes to make accessories and later
5:07clothes for the little
5:09critters. It's pretty cute. I like this
5:11guy a lot. He gets lightly chastised by
5:15superiors for getting too close to the
5:17critters, but I mean, can you blame him?
5:19They're pretty adorable.
5:22Later, we see Momonga being chased by
5:24Decatsuyo, shouting, "Give it back."
5:28Mamonga refuses to the Chagrin of the
5:31monster. Huh, that's a little weird.
5:35Anyway, the main trio finds a magic wand
5:39that grants wishes when you swish and
5:41flick. Hachi has been wanting a camera
5:45and so makes one appear with the power
5:47of the wand.
5:49Strangely, this camera makes whatever
5:52you take a picture of
5:54disappear. Suddenly, Hachiare and Usagi
5:58begin changing into monsters. The wand
6:01seems to have a negative effect on those
6:03who used it. They begin losing control
6:06of themselves. But thankfully, Chicoa
6:09snaps the wand and returns them to
6:11normal. Phew, that was a little weird.
6:15Anyway, time to eat a little midnight
6:18snack to feel better. Later, the gang is
6:21hanging out in their adorable little
6:22pajamas, courtesy of their friend
6:25Yoroan, and wish upon this freaky
6:27looking shooting star. Meanwhile, the
6:30monster sees it as well. And makes a
6:33wish we aren't privy to. They look
6:36really sad. Chia makes a friend at the
6:39lemon labeling factory. They learn to
6:42put some money in a frog-shaped pouch in
6:44exchange for snacks, and they share with
6:46each other, bonding over having the same
6:49color pajamas. We love seeing friendship
6:52in Critterland. We see the main trio
6:55being lifted on these little helicopter
6:57things on their way to a hunt. They find
7:00this chimera looking monster and attack
7:02on site. The monster is strong and
7:05overwhelmed them.
7:07The monster takes notice of Chikawa in
7:09particular and points at a frog,
7:12seemingly trying to tell them
7:16something. Usagi chases the monster
7:19away, and they decide maybe they're not
7:21ready for a big hunt yet. The way they
7:24go back is pretty funny. They send out a
7:26flare and are picked up by the
7:28helicopter things
7:33again. When Shikawa goes back to their
7:35lemon labeling job, they notice their
7:38new friend isn't there anymore.
7:40Disappointed, they go and cheer
7:42themselves up with a snack by putting
7:44money in the frogshaped pouch. If you've
7:49put two and two together, you will see
7:51that the critters become the very
7:53monsters that they hunt. How exactly
7:56this happens and why, we don't know.
7:59Interacting with a cursed object like
8:01the magic wand seems to speed up the
8:03process, but I'm pretty sure that it's
8:06just a matter of when and not if a
8:09critter becomes a
8:11monster. This would explain why yoyisans
8:14are instructed not to get too close to
8:16the critters as they would have to be
8:18put down when they become dangerous
8:20monsters one
8:22day. Does that make every monster we see
8:25a critter? Not necessarily.
8:28Is it possible for a monster to become a
8:31critter? Sure seems like it from how
8:34Mamonga behaves. The way they appeared
8:37was a big hint. And in general, Mamonga
8:40acts very differently from the other
8:42critters that we know of. They're
8:44greedy, selfish, and vain. They're
8:47always actively trying to look cute. I'm
8:51not saying that critters can't act this
8:53way, but Mamonga is the only one we've
8:56seen to this extreme. While having very
8:58suspicious origins, whoever was the
9:01original owner of Mumonga's squirrely
9:03body has become trapped in the monster
9:06body of Decatsu instead. In chapter 401
9:11to 410, the trio have a body swap
9:14episode because of a cursed slot
9:17machine. After Mamonga catches wind of
9:19this ordeal, he decides it's dangerous
9:22to have around and destroys it. I'm glad
9:26he found out about it after the trio got
9:28back in their original bodies because
9:31God knows Mamonga wouldn't give a flying
9:33[ __ ] He just wants to make sure that
9:36there's no chance of the original owner
9:38of his body switching back. In chapter
9:41901 to 910, Mamonga has a run-in with
9:45the witch that we saw earlier and makes
9:48the comment, "Is this the witch from
9:50that time?" So, it seems Mamonga did
9:53have help and the original Mamonga was
9:56turned into a skin suit before being put
9:59on. There's a very sad chapter checking
10:02in on how he's doing in his current
10:04body, and he's struggling. He has dreams
10:08of how he used to be and doesn't like to
10:10sleep because he wakes up hoping that
10:13this horrible experience was all just a
10:15nightmare, but becomes disappointed when
10:18he realizes it's his reality. We get
10:21updates on the monsters we know once in
10:23a while. As you can see here, the lemon
10:26label factory worker, now known as
10:29Anoko, absolutely dunks on a pack of
10:32hunters, sending one flying, and then
10:35reminisce on their time as a critter.
10:37The thought of how strong they've become
10:39seems to make them pretty happy. They're
10:42starting to enjoy being a monster. Now,
10:45here's something else that's [ __ ] up.
10:48I mentioned briefly before, but there
10:50are magic areas in this world that grow
10:52food. Fish broth comes out of trees
10:55instead of sap. Bread grows on trees.
10:59There's geysers that burst out with
11:01candy. Sometimes it rains red beans.
11:04There's a rice cooker in the ground that
11:06fills up with rice
11:08infinitely. Or does it? There's a few
11:11chapters where all these food sources
11:14seem to dry up and there's a food
11:16shortage. Monga the little cretton sees
11:19Chiawa scrging up berries and instead of
11:22eating that decides to have a taste of
11:25Chia instead. He's not beating the
11:28monster allegations. Shortly after, we
11:31see Anukul contemplating before
11:33beginning to eat critters. And then the
11:37food sources all come flowing back with
11:40our focus being on a geyser that spits
11:43out buns with meat in them.
11:47So, there's clearly some kind of natural
11:49order to this world. Critters eat magic
11:53food. Monsters eat critters. And
11:56critters become magic
11:58food. The critters all seem to be
12:01oblivious to this. But are they yoisan?
12:04These guys are pretty big and tough, but
12:07they basically send the critters out
12:09like cannon fodder to subdue the
12:11monsters instead of fighting themselves
12:14because that's what the natural order
12:17is. Anoko becomes disturbingly
12:19comfortable with being a monster, even
12:22luring in hunters by pretending to be
12:24friendly, only to attack when they lower
12:27their guard and get close.
12:30The poor critter who suggested they be
12:32friends is the only one that is spared,
12:35ironically, leading to a heartbreaking
12:38scene where they bitterly cry about
12:40their mistake of trusting a
12:43monster. Monga's previous body owner is
12:46pretty freaked out by Anok, but they get
12:49talking.
12:51The lion monster explicitly asks if
12:54Anoko's body got
12:57taken, but no, it had just happened all
13:00of a sudden. Maybe things were getting
13:03stressful at the lemon labeling factory,
13:05and this is a critter's version of a
13:07midlife crisis. Who knows, man? Shit's
13:10[ __ ] They seem to get pretty friendly
13:13later on, and Uncle tries to cheer up ex
13:16Mamonga by giving them an ice cream
13:19cone. even if it's just a
13:22critter. Examonga is pretty horrified
13:26and makes Anoko let the critter go. It
13:29seems Examonga has yet to eat any
13:33critters for
13:35now. The longest arc in the story as of
13:39writing this is also quite dark. It
13:42involves every character being invited
13:44to a vacation island where they're
13:47promised 100 times the usual reward for
13:50a hunt. The number one hunter, Nako,
13:53makes a great point. It sounds [ __ ]
13:58suspicious. Listen up. If you ever see
14:00something like this, offering easy money
14:03for a destination job that's too good to
14:06be true, it's usually human trafficking.
14:10stay safe and smart out there. Now,
14:13unfortunately, critters have a brain
14:15smaller than a peanut, so they all
14:17decide to go. They meet several
14:20monsters, a siren and two mermaids that
14:23have been attacking the local village
14:25people after one of their mermaids had
14:28been taken and eaten,
14:30allegedly. For those who are unaware,
14:33it's a popular myth that eating the
14:35flesh of a mermaid will grant you
14:37eternal life. The siren has already
14:40thought of a fitting punishment to put
14:43them in a perfectly sized cage and to
14:46submerge the critter in there for
14:48eternity. The village people were the
14:50ones that put up the hunt request to
14:52kill the siren to stop their attacks.
14:55But even after the siren's motive is
14:57revealed to them, no one in the village
14:59owns up to it. And honestly, at this
15:01point, I was thinking that maybe it was
15:03all a misunderstanding and that the
15:06mermaid had decided to hide amongst the
15:08critters instead. Maybe they had fallen
15:10in love or something. However, this is
15:13Chicoa and they like to subvert the
15:15subversion of expectations. It's
15:17revealed that the suspicious pair of
15:19critters that have been tagging along
15:21with Chicoa's group really were the
15:24culprits the whole time. As they have no
15:27distinguishable features, I'm going to
15:29refer to them as Ichi and Knee from here
15:31on. The siren had accidentally injured
15:35Knee while they were out playing to the
15:37point of critical condition. Ichi
15:40decides to lure and murder one of the
15:42mermaids, cook its flesh, and feed it to
15:46Ni. Ni immediately recovers, but upon
15:50learning what had happened, insists that
15:52they both eat the meat so that they
15:54would be together for eternity instead
15:57of
15:58alone. Ichi agrees and they become
16:01accompllices. They were all able to
16:03chase away the siren at the end and
16:06return home, but Ichi and Ni are nowhere
16:09to be found.
16:11They decide to row out to a deserted
16:13island to live out their days together
16:15in
16:16seclusion. But as we can see, the siren
16:20has caught on and is right behind
16:22them.
16:24Bleak. That's all I can say about this.
16:28The thing about the stories in Chia that
16:30have these darker elements is that you
16:32feel a sense of dread hanging over you
16:35the whole time only for it to never be
16:38fully resolved. It just ends with more
16:43dread. By the way, during this whole
16:46thing, Mongus just makes things worse by
16:49also wanting to eat the mermaids for
16:52eternal life. Their greed sickens
16:55me. Something about these stories in
16:58Chikawa just make me feel a pit in my
17:01stomach that I can only compare to
17:03seeing something you're not supposed to
17:05as a child. It's the feeling that
17:08something is wrong, but you don't know
17:11what it is. One of the chapters that
17:13gave me goosebumps, 661 to
17:17670, after Chikawa and Usagi defeat a
17:20creature that was giving Chikawa
17:22nightmares. It looks like a brand new
17:25day and Chikawa is walking towards
17:27Hatachi's house, which is just a cave
17:30because he is functionally homeless. The
17:33housing market is in shambles. As he
17:36approaches, we see a giant paw with
17:39sharp blue claws at the mouth of the
17:43cave. It says, "I've turned into
17:49this." Chikawa looks
17:51in and Hachiari does a bunch of silly
17:55dances. Oh, and the paw on the ground,
17:57it's just a piece of fried
17:59chicken. Chicoa wakes up. It was just a
18:04dream. He goes to Hachiare's place, same
18:07as in the dream, and sees Hachiare is
18:10doing just fine. It was just a scary
18:13dream. He's even already had a similar
18:16dream about
18:17Usagi. Anyways, we see this idea
18:20revisited in chapters 831 to
18:24840, where Hachi gets teleported into an
18:28alternate reality where everything's a
18:31little different.
18:32For Chia, it seems like things are a
18:35little better. Usagi's about the same.
18:38They've just got shears for ears. Go
18:41off, King. Hachiware has to find a way
18:44to get out of this universe before their
18:46body completely
18:48assimilates. And while that happens, we
18:51see their paws have become kind of
18:54familiar. With a stronger body, they're
18:57able to remove the source of the issue
19:00and go home. But not before Chikawa
19:03rejects them in their monstrous
19:05form. Once he returns, it seems he wants
19:09to ask the Chikawa in his original
19:11universe if he would still be his
19:14friend, even if he were a monster, but
19:17he decides not to. I think this is
19:20something that will have to be answered
19:22eventually. And so we keep waiting with
19:25this hanging over ours and Hachiad's
19:28head. By the way, there was a tree dude
19:31in the alternate universe who says he
19:34wishes that he could go back. I I feel
19:37so bad for him. This series is so mean
19:40to these poor little
19:41creatures. In
19:43conclusion, while I'm usually a fan of
19:46dark story lines and subverting
19:49expectations, I'm not sure how I feel
19:51about it in Chicoa. It's just a little
19:54too out of place with how child-friendly
19:56it all seems. Although the contrast does
19:59make it pretty funny. This series is
20:02officially rated as seen, which means
20:04that it's for adults, but I would not
20:07fault kids or parents for not checking
20:09before watching. I have a very, very
20:13vivid memory of what it was like to be a
20:15child, and some of these episodes would
20:18have definitely given me nightmares,
20:20especially if I watched it without
20:22knowing what I was getting into.
20:25I guess you could argue that all
20:27children's media has moments like this.
20:29I mean, I was also scared of the
20:32hashslinging slasher growing up, but
20:34Chicoa isn't for children. I think it's
20:37okay for Chicoa to just be cute,
20:40wholesome, and childlike. It already has
20:43elements of real life for children and
20:46adults to relate to when it comes to
20:49struggling with things like school and
20:51work or how to handle little
20:54disappointments. There's even an
20:55alcoholic character. He deals with the
20:58real life struggle of hangovers. I would
21:01honestly be more appreciative of
21:03Mumonga's character if they were just a
21:06bratty critter from the beginning. them
21:08being socially oblivious, wanting
21:11attention. These are things that are all
21:14relatable, but he's not normal. He's
21:17actually a literal monster wearing a
21:20kawawaii skin suit. Wouldn't it be more
21:23interesting if there were kind monsters
21:25in this world and Mamonga juxtapose them
21:28by being an evil critter? For how deep
21:32the story can be, it's still
21:34surprisingly cursory in the way that
21:36it's executed sometimes.
21:38I do have to say though that the darker
21:40elements are definitely indicative of
21:43the creator unapologetically drawing
21:45what they want. After all, I don't think
21:48anyone was asking for more existential
21:51dread and horror to Chicoa, and I got to
21:55respect that. And for making my goat
21:58Usagi.
21:59Anyway, those are my opinions, and I'd
22:02love to hear what you all think about
22:04the darker lore of Chicoa.
22:06There are still a few weird story arcs
22:08that I haven't covered, so definitely
22:10check out the manga and anime for
22:12yourselves if you're curious. There's
22:15even a time loop in one of
22:18them. This is the first time I've done a
22:20video in the style of an essay, so let
22:22me know if you liked it and if I should
22:24do more. If you stuck around this far,
22:27please do hit the like and subscribe
22:28button, and I'll see you, N.