Misc Manga Jabber Thoughts
(spoiler: I have a LOT) (and this is pt 1 and only goes up to chapter 21 in the manga) (i have more dw)
First ever scene and it's him casually sitting on a couch waiting for his torture victim to wake up so he can..yk..torture him
This kind of feeds into my idea that Jabber, when he's not in a fight, he's super chill and actually pretty low energy. It's when his adrenaline gets pumping and the promise of torment and pain is on the horizon that he looses it.
Is IMMEDIATELY put in comparison with the mythical monsters of the series: the trashbeasts. Not just any trash beast, but the first one we ever see that's powered by a vital instrument.
The Cleaners have never seen or dealt with a threat like this, and Riyo especially goes in really underestimating this trash beast.
There's a metaphor there..
This entire chapter sets up the raiders as an immediate threat and does an amazing job revealing their main gimmick in the jinki-powered beasts. Just amazingly done by Kei Urana.
The mystery figure from three chapters ago is back and here to immediately humble Zanka as soon as he gets too cocky.
Also this entire frame and angle is hilarious and unsettling. Zanka didn't notice Jabber AT ALL. He didn't hear him approaching, didn't sense his presence, just completely unaware.
I do wonder what Jabber was doing in this little time where Zanka and his colleagues are fighting. Could he have jumped in sooner? Did he arrive late to the fight? We know from future panels that he wasn't really taking the mission seriously and he has a (self-proclaimed) poor sense of direction, so did he really just get lost?
And more importantly, where the fuck did he come from?? Did he jump down? Is there another entrance he came through? Did Zanka really use echolocation and just not notice a third enemy presence? Just so many questions in a single panel.
Him being out of breath here is so funny, but once again SO unsettling. (that seems to be Jabber's motif)
Compared to everything that he's been built up to be (him torturing that trafficker, sneaking up on Zanka, and us—at this point—NOT KNOWING what happened to Zanka in between these panels) this whole scene is such whiplash.
This is when we're introduced to Jabber's lighter side. We've met the terrifying version of him, and now we're being introduced to the more playful and childish side of him. The side that—while he's committing these atrocious acts—isn't really taking any of this seriously.
I think that's scarier than if he was an emotionless or cold character like Zodyl is. (Although Zodyl is unsettling in his own unique ways)
We go from Jabber out of breath and mumbling to him completely focused SO fast. He confirms he's looking at the sphereite and he's locked onto him the entire rest of the fight.
Two things here: Jabber's movement speed and his raw strength. I have not seen many people talk about the utter speed in which Jabber launches himself into that wall. Rudo blinks and Jabber has completely disappeared, only to be attached to the wall behind him like the world's most terrifying tarantula.
Also the strength he'd need to launch himself THAT far without anyone being able to process he even moved? LORD.
Also also, this is the first real showcase we have of Jabber's intelligence, if only subtly. He sees they've found the exit, and guess what?
Quite a few people have talked about this display of raw strength, but I think it bears repeating, he broke a whole ass wall with his bare hand. The grip strength on that man to not only latch onto the wall, be able to stay there upside down, and then break it with just that hand?
GOOD LORD. If I was a cleaner I would be shitting my pants by this point because what the fuck.
And then, immediately after, we get tired, wet cat Jabber. This panel is very cute and only adds to my Jabber-is-actually-chill theory.
The little stumble of his words here has probably given way to a ton of dyslexia headcanons, but I do think Jabber was just sleepy here.
Also, him willingly and casually giving up this information about himself? Jabber was built up as this mysterious and dangerous figure, yet here he is showcasing a weakness so easily.
Jabber is one of the most open and honest characters in Gachiakuta, which is so rare considering everyone and their mom seems to be hiding a million secrets. It's kind of refreshing, in a way?
This scene is so subtle in showcasing just how much Jabber does not register those he considers weak on his radar.
A moment before this, Gris asked Jabber the exact same question and was completely ignored. Then, when Rudo asks it, he gets an honest answer basically as soon as he does.
Once again, Jabber is very open and honest. He tells Rudo 1) Zanka is alive, and 2) he poisoned him. Which is not exactly the smartest tactical move?
Jabber's main strength with his poisons is in the element of surprise. When you're trying not to get stabbed by Mankira, you're not exactly assuming the knives on his hands are coated with poison, so when you get got by the hallucinations and paralysis, you never see it coming. Meanwhile, Jabber gives Rudo this information for free, just because he asked.
You all don't know how badass I thought this panel was when it got animated. I rewatched it like eight times. What an amazing display of Jabber's physical strength, battle awareness, and general fighting prowess done in three neat boxes.
He's flexible enough to bend backwards that damn far, rolls onto his shoulders, and then fucking bodies Gris and Follo with the splits. Then does a lil flip and skids his way out of range before they can retaliate.
This is another scene that I've seen a lot of people talking about, and I just—HOW DOES HE KNOW???
Jabber has this innate sense for people who are strong. Without even fighting any of them, he seems to know who can stand against him and who isn't even worth considering.
Then, he takes it further.
Not, "you're strong" or "you can stand up to me" or any variation of it. He tells Follo he has what it takes.
Of course, somehow, someway, Jabber can see into people's souls and just tell if they have the potential to become a giver. We know Jabber loves two things: hard fighters and strong givers.
He's dedicated his life to chasing the strongest fighters, that's why he's following Zodyl in the first place, so it makes sense he's been in so many fights he can instinctively tell who's going to be worth it.
It's just an amazing showcase of his battle iq and intuition.
Gris is giving this little speech, this declaration that he will protect Rudo with his life. Rudo steps in, tells him he doesn't have to, tells him to not bother and that he can protect himself.
Meanwhile, the whole time Rudo is talking, Gris has been stabbed and poisoned.
No one even saw Jabber move. He, nor Gris, made a single sound. Gris was stabbed in front of Rudo, and Rudo still didn't see it.
Damn that is cool. And Jabber has zero qualms about stating that.
I think there's something to be said about the fact that Jabber was not (or didn't act) scared even for a moment in this entire fight. I wonder if he has any fears, or if he's intertwined pain and pleasure so completely that fear just translates to arousal.
Also Jabber is a vital instrument nerd send tweet. He 100% nerds out about any cool ones he fights with.
Jabber, once again, showcasing his childish attitude. He equates fighting to playing. He may as well have just killed someone and he doesn't take a second to even think about it, too focused on the more interesting stimulation.
He's completely zeroed in on Rudo, his new friend. His new playmate.
God, do I need his backstory already man.
Was just punched in the face, learned he won't be able to land a hit on Rudo, and he was just threatened.
Yet he's making jokes. Jabber you are so unserious I love you.
Once again, he's not at all scared of pain. In fact, he embraces it to an extremely unhealthy degree.
And here, Jabber shows no fear as he continues to tease Rudo like an annoying little kid.
I think what he's asking here isn't if Rudo feels guilty, but if Rudo's like him. Before this, Rudo used Jabber's terminology—he agreed to "play" with him to his heart's content. This question is Jabber hesitating in his own way, not out of fear, but out of excitement. He's trying not to get his hopes up as he asks:
Is Rudo really going to go all out, or is he all talk? Is he actually seeing this fight the way I do? Does he feel guilt for the pain he's causing, or is he like me?
And when Rudo responds in the way Jabber likes? He's "glad to hear it."
This entire fight with Rudo reveals so much about Jabber's character and I need to pick it apart. This is the first true reveal of the level of intelligence Jabber is truly capable of.
He's playing around, he's having fun getting beat, and he's having even more fun trying to figure out ways to counteract Rudo's vital instrument. This is where Jabber absolutely shines.
Him throwing rocks at Rudo, him trying to out-speed the charm, moving unpredictably to catch it off guard, he even hides being debris to get close—he tests, he experiments, he fails, and he learns.
If anything makes Jabber terrifying, it's how fast he learns.
Briefly, but do y'all think Jabber actually believes this?
We've established he thinks pretty childishly when it comes to fights, but is this just him being sarcastic, or is it him actually believing that Rudo is missing out/it's actually not fair he isn't getting hit? I wouldn't be surprised if Jabber really did believe that the people he fights would also want to have fun the same way he does.
(First off, I never noticed the graffiti behind Jabber in this scene until I saw this post by chaos-night. Just a beautiful little detail that you miss if you aren't looking for it)
So Jabber has obviously done this before.
It gets me every time. Every time he uses his neurotoxins, which, this is the very first time we see him doing on himself.
My question doesn't lie in his drug use, but in his combat. I assume Jabber has fought unconsciously before, so how?
How does he fight that way? How does his body still know to lock onto his target, or does he just attack whatever is in his path? How did he learn he could fight unconsciously, or did he train that in himself? If so, why? Has he needed to fight while incapacitated in this way before? If not, HOW??
Gachiakuta has been hinting towards vital instruments being more alive than we think.
So?? Is this Mankira? Is she the one kind of taking over the body while her owner sleeps through it? Mankira is a very defensive jinki (i know, i have thoughts) so is she capable of protecting Jabber?
Clearly Jabber is just as, if not even MORE capable when he's dosed like this. All his strength, agility, flexibility—it all translates in this state, only he's completely turned his already insane durability up to max. He's not awake to feel the pain, so he can fuck up his body however he needs to so he can win.
This unconscious state is feral, like an actual animal. Jabber is foaming at the mouth, screeching like a cryptid. This is the highest level of crazy we've ever seen him reach, and it's when he's not even awake.
On an unrelated note, this is some Inosuke ass shit and Jabber needs to be STOPPED.
Also, the way Jabber gets SO excited about experimentation?? He "can't wait to find out" if Rudo's jinki still reacts, if his hypothesis is correct or not. That's the brain of a damn scientist.
I never noticed he was crying in this scene.
Is it just his eyes watering from the screaming? Is it from pain? From fear? He's unconscious but is Jabber still in there, watching from the inside as his body fight for him?
Jabber is NOT the type to cry during battle, so what explanation is there for his tears here?
Why did Jabber wake up here? He could've easily continued fighting in his unconscious state. We know pain doesn't matter to him, and it definitely won't wake him up.
Did his body alert him and forcefully wake him when the situation changed? If so, how did he know the situation changed?? How did he wake up with Mr. Bad Attitude already on his lips, as if he knew Zanka was the one that showed up?
Is he really there, watching from his subconscious or something? Am I definitely overthinking this??
Later on, Jabber says. "I wasn't really there for it, but it looks like unconscious me really did a number on you guys."
Lord, I need to know what was going on in his head during this fight.
Jabber again, stabs somebody without anyone noticing. This was such a plot twist reading it for the first time. We all thought Zanka and Rudo actually won, only for Jabber to pull this bullshit.
Poison, the silent killer.
It makes me wonder if Jabber acts that crazy during battle for more reasons that him just..being like that?? When you're just focused on the psycho coming at you, you tend to be less focused on the smaller details.
You forget that he told you about his poison. You forget to pay attention to any nicks you get. And you get folded.
Jabber, the man who is canonically called a masochist. Who adores the pain and suffering that comes with a good fight, has the ability—one given by his soul—to stop his own pain.
It makes me wonder if Jabber really likes pain as much as he says he does. It's obviously more important for him to win a fight than for him to be in pain, as we see the choice he makes here.
Does Jabber actually like pain? Probably to some extent. But, did he start liking pain because he had to? Because the pain will come anyway, and you can only control how you react to it?
Mankira is a defensive jinki. She's built to protect.
Also, once again, Jabber revealing everything about his vital instrument. The honesty never stops with this guy. (I also wonder if he does this because he's a nerd who wants to learn more about instruments himself)
Jabber's entire little interaction with Zanka here needs to be studied.
This is when we learn the most about Jabber:
1) He's built up an immunity to his poisons (whether through dosing himself or other means)
-> "It only works on me for ten minutes"
2) His left claws are the more dangerous of his set
-> "Too many hits and it's just an annoying mess"
-> "I try to only really use 'em on guys I don't mind killing"
3) He finds it ridiculous that people think his abilities could be used for healing
-> "Nooo, no no no no! No way!!!" (very dramatic reaction for one question)
4) Jabber was underestimating Rudo and Zanka
-> "I didn't think I'd get beaten this bad."
-> Is this when his curiosity around Zanka started?
5) Jabber has manners!
-> Thanks Rudo and Zanka for the beating they gave him
-> "Thanks for waiting." to Rudo
This does make me wonder what "getting in trouble" means for Jabber. There's a lot of implications around how Zodyl handles disciplining the raiders, but it's clearly stated later on that Jabber views beatings as rewards.
So, what does a punishment really mean for him? Are those punishments part of the reason he follows Zodyl?
This is really the scene that raises the most questions about the raiders to me.
We never see the mudslide woman again, and the next time we see the shoe guy, he's not with the raiders. Many people have also pointed out that the mudslide woman's jinki ends up in the core of the trash beast in the future, so it makes me wonder what happened to her.
Is the punishment for failure just death? Or just abandonment? Why did the woman lose her jinki, but the man didn't?
I think "you-know-who" is definitely referencing Cthoni while not name dropping her to make her reveal more dramatic, but did she end up grabbing them both? If so, what did Zodyl do to them??
This scene also shows that the raiders don't really care about each other. I've theorized a little about the front lines, but I think the only ones who have any semblance of closeness are the younger members (Jabber, Momoa, Fu) and potentially Cthoni.
They're not the type to stop and help each other during a fight, and/or the front liners just aren't really close to these two specific extras.
Jabber is also not a very good example of the closeness of the raiders, considering his relationship with affection, family, and anything resembling vulnerability.
I need to see the raiders interacting bro.
This is the moment where we're officially introduced to the extent of Jabber's masochism, because it's one thing for Rudo to say he's a masochist, and for Jabber to think fighting is fun.
But here Jabber is openly admitting that he is turned on at the thought of being degraded and hurt by this group of cleaners.
It makes me wonder again, does Jabber really like the pain, or are his wires so crossed that he really can't tell the difference between pleasure and fear?
(I think about the Amo parallels. Amo, who was afraid of her mister, but he made her think that pain in her chest was really love.
Did someone convince Jabber that fear was just arousal? That pain is something you should find pleasure in?)
Has..has Jabber been locked up like that before, or is his imagination just that active? This is such a specific scenario so either he's thought about it a ton or (sadder & funnier) it's a regular occurrence for him.
Okay, we have to talk about this, because this whole scene was so weird to me? This seems so out of character for the Jabber we know at this point. Everything we've learned about Jabber points towards this being an ideal scenario for him, so why is he acting like this?
"I would love nothing more than to run away"
"i hate this"
I think this is the very first time we see Jabber openly feeling fear. Not disguised as pleasure, not hidden behind his masochism, just real raw fear.
And the worst part? He's still staying honest about it. Jabber isn't a liar, so he's blatantly saying here "I'm going to die, and I'm scared, but I have to fight anyway."
I think Jabber is so unused to feeling fear that all he can do is make a joke about it. He's scared these cleaners are going to kill him or lock him up, and he has to laugh about it because he has a mission.
Is Jabber really just this focused in on every mission, or is whatever punishment there is for failing worse? Or, it the reward for completing his mission that good?
Why is he willing to die here for Zodyl's mission?
Cthoni!! Her intro is so much fun and so very fascinating, but I will save those thoughts for a Cthoni-centric post.
Here is when I start theorizing about Cthoni and Jabber's relationship especially. She's so comfortable not only physically restraining him, but ordering him around. He doesn't even seem shocked at all with the contact, so we can assume Cthoni touching him and holding him back is a common occurrence. She grips him up like he's a bad little kid and tells him they're leaving. Zero arguments.
And Jabber does act very childishly during this interaction, which I think is what inspired the older sister/mom-figure Cthoni headcanons.
He pointedly does not try to hurt Cthoni in any way. He doesn't push her away or even struggle that violently against her. We know for a fact that if Jabber really wanted to escape, he could, but he doesn't.
Instead, he whines at her.
"I can't leave yet"
"I have to bring Rudo with me"
"I'm not done playing yet"
Yes, his tone is harsher, but it's still a display akin to a tantruming toddler being dragged from the playground.
And what does Cthoni do in response to all this?
This page is one of, if not my top favorite scene in the entire manga.
The anime just could not capture how breathless this one left me on my first read.
Cthoni meets Jabber's tantrum—the harsh squirming, the yelling, the demanding. And she whispers to him.
She doesn't raise her voice to match his, she doesn't manhandle him into the portal, she doesn't respond to violence with violence.
She lowers her voice and she tells him Zodyl was smiling.
Which, was he?? Does Zodyl know how to smile? Is Cthoni lying here? We never see Zodyl smile in the entire rest of the manga. In fact, we never see him make..any facial expressions?? Besides his wide-eyed blank look, it doesn't matter how he's feeling, he never changes his expression.
There's many posts I've seen (mostly on reddit) talking about this scene and I think a few good points are brought up
-> Zodyl smiling means he's unhinged and Jabber's reward (which we know by now is some sort of fight/beating) is going to be much more intense.
Zodyl smiling mean's he's in an unstable and dangerous mood, brought about by emotions so intense he can't hide them behind a blank look, which is bad for everyone else, but good for Jabber, who has learned to love pain.
Although, I will say, Cthoni does not seem worried about it here, so maybe Zodyl does smile? When we first meet Zodyl, we see this very awkward and kind of cringey side to him, so I imagine there's much more to him than we see from Rudo's perspecive.
Also, Jabber doesn't seem that surprised by Zodyl smiling either. Yes, he has a little quiet moment of shock as he's processing the words, but he moves on fairly quickly.
Just?? Why was Zodyl smiling??
-> The Zanka and Jabber parallels. (which, I have to admit, I haven't thought about that much and now need to talk about)
Zanka and Jabber are played narratively as opposites to each other, and one of the key parts of Zanka's character are his relationship with Enjin and his relationship with praise. It makes sense that Jabber, as his narrative opposite, also has a mentor-figure that he clings to and he's looking for the approval of.
We don't know yet at this point what Jabber's relationship with verbal praise is—if he reacts similarly to Zanka, if he hates it, if he ever even receives it—but we do know his relationship with physical praise (for lack of a better descriptor)
A happy Zodyl means Jabber gets his reward beating, meanwhile a happy Enjin means Zanka gets praised. They're both so dedicated to their tasks for the approval of these mentors (and possible father-figures).
I NEED JABBER'S RELATIONSHIP WITH ZODYL BRO! KEI URANA PLZ DROP A RAIDER-CENTRIC ARC!!! I AM BEGGING!!!!
