👋🤠💫

Back with another insane, probably not accurate theory. Atm I'm anime-only, because I am enjoy the slow drip-feed of story, but after the season ends I'm gonna read the manga. Until then, I'm ignoring the notes on this post, so feel free to spoil away.

Something I've noticed throughout the show (but particularly in the last few episodes) is Gabby's relationship with her name and names in general. She is almost exclusively referred to as Gabby-chan, with the exception of Jin who calls her Gabby-chan-san (which I find very funny), and the one time when she's arguing with Yuru she calls herself Gabby-chan-sama. But until her reaction to that ex-daemon wielder in ep. 6, I didn't think it was anything more than just a character quirk. Everyone is a bit appalled by the whole "daemons are livestock who don't get names bc then they'll think too much of themselves" -- as they should be -- but we really focus on Gabby's reaction, so there's surely more to it than that.

I imagine she gave herself her name. Idk, it very much feels like a name she picked out herself, and in support, everyone calls her Gabby-chan (importantly, as one unit -- "chan" in this case, is NOT an honorific). Her name, in Japanese (Gabu), sounds very similar to her signature gobble attack. Possibly she named herself after it? And Gabriel, of course, has a matching name, which I assume she gave them.

Anyway, the theory -- Gabby probably grew up, in some way, without a proper name. My first thought was escaped lab experiment, but that doesn't really match the genre, so more likely it is a classic "unloved, neglected child" situation where her parents were awful enough people to not even give her a name. However, the description of daemons that the ex-daemon wielder gives is also a clue, given that it affected her so specifically. Methinks the "livestock" bit was the trigger there, so idk maybe her parents died and she grew up in an orphanage or other organization that managed a large amount of children. There's not enough that I feel like comfortably locking in one idea, but yeah.

(I'm anime only atm, but after the first season finishes I'm gonna go read the manga. Until then I'm not gonna check the notes for this so feel free to spoil away)

Asa's whole purpose is to keep Yuru in the village. She asks Yuru if he's gonna leave to go work since the village is falling on hard times and he goes "hell no!!" And when Danji asks Yuru what he thinks the world below is like, Yuru basically says he wouldn't leave Asa behind. On top of that, Asa has an important job that keeps her in the village... so yeah

Fake Asa also disguises? Herself as a human but in her true form? Is like a blood spirit or something. Idk it's hard to tell what half of what pair she is (maybe it's more obvious if you're Japanese/familiar with Japanese lore and culture, but I'm not so) but my best guess is that the other half can also disguise themselves, but is represented by blue or black as opposed to red. Personally I like blue better, they could be made of water and maybe the pair is "blood of the covenant, water of the womb" like that saying, which would kinda fit the mission tbh. I'm not really sure what black could represent but it is also an opposite of red, kind of.

If I had to guess, I'd say it's Danji. Mostly bc none of the characters in the village made quite the same impression as he did. I did think about it being Granny, bc young-woman old-woman could be a duo, but Granny seems more like the daemon pair's master, since she does the barrier spell and just generally the actions and behavior of Fake Asa around her. But Danji makes sense to me--he is also close to Yuru and in a position to influence him. While Danji does talk to Yuru about leaving, he does it in a "and I'll come with you" kind of way, and he is visibly frustrated that Yuru went out hunting without him in his very first scene.