Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-25951143-20150101110046/@comment-30102293-20160930153410

Olivemeister wrote: Ectomees wrote: Olivemeister wrote: Olivemeister wrote: Ectomees wrote: Okay, OnePieceNation alredy clarified this, but my thought a bout the chapter 322  title was, that it could have refered to Nanika, not Alluka. As we already found out, Nanika is defenitely a girl, so it would make sense. I couldn be wrong here, but when Killua enlightened Illumi about Alluka and Nanika in the woods, didn't Illumi say Nanika is a  Zashiki Warashi? Nanika does not appear in chapter 322, to my knowledge. I'm rechecking. Disregard this, Nanika does appear in flashbacks. However, this is before Nanika's introduction as a separate character, and so I believe the argument that it refers to Nanika has very little weight.

Additionally, the term "zashiki warashi (座敷童)" is not gendered. They are not necessarily female. Yeah I see what you mean. Nanika and Alluka kind of belong together so even if Nanika is not out, she's still inside of Alluka so in my opinion it still makes sense to call the chapter "siblings" to be not exclusive of Nanika, even though she did not appear in the chapter.

But most of the time they are girls, we definitely need to keep that in mind. I think it's a very important key to understand the character. It took me a moment to realize you were referring to zashiki warashi in that last bit. The fact that most depictions of zashiki warashi are female doesn't really have any bearing in my opinion, as, again, the term is not gendered.

Additionally (I forgot to mention this), Illumi does not refer to Nanika as a zashiki warashi. He specifically says to Killua that Alluka would be trapped as a zashiki warashi. The line before it refers to Nanika, so the argument that he is referring to both of them is not applicable.

So if you want to continue to argue that Illumi's use of zashiki warashi is an indication of being female, it applies to Alluka.

Scene in question, Crunchyroll's subs (they chose to translate the concept of zashiki warashi in favor of explaining the term):

Okay so at this point it's basically a matter of interpretation. English is obviously not my mother language, so it's not quite easy for me to articulate myself accurately in a complex discussion like this, but I'm going to try me best.

Basically my interpretation is, that Alluka is a boy "possessed" by a Zashiki Warashi and because he feels like that ghost belongs to him, he acts and dresses in her favor. Illumi saying that "Alluka would be trapped as a zashiki warashi" does - in my opinion - not nullify what I said before because Nanika is a dark entity, there is no doubt, so I think when Illumi says what you quoted above, I believe he uses Alluka as an umbrella term for both Alluka and Nanika, since after all it's Allukas body, who will be locked in a room.

I think Allukas character concept is more complex then "just" saying he is transgender (I know transsexuallity is not a simple topic, but I hope one can grasp what I'm trying to say) since the origin of his behavior is not gender dysphoria but rather this entity that settled down inside of him.

At least that's my interpretation and there are many people who see it in a similar way, thus keeping the article gender neutral is the best way to keep everyone moderately happy. (I would even prefer it to use male pronouns for Alluka and female pronouns for Nanika, but that's just how I see it)