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Kanako Ketsukane
- For the music track, see Kanako (Soundtrack).
Kanako Ketsukane is a character in Undertale Yellow. She is the child of Chujin and Ceroba. She fell down prior to the events of the game and appears only in Ceroba's flashbacks, but had a large influence on the game's backstory nonetheless. She was designed by TeleviQ.[1]
Profile[edit | edit source]
Appearance[edit | edit source]
Kanako is a young kitsune monster with brown fur and a short snout. She has dark brown hair that is tied up with a red ribbon. She has a small, magenta kimono with gold trim and a gold obi sash tied around her waist. The kimono is short, showing she wears long grey pants and small boots. She has a red scarf with a golden bell, similar to Ceroba's hair tie. Despite never being shown in-game, Kanako, like her father, has a tail.[2]
Kanako wears her hair up to be more like Ceroba and wears a scarf to keep warm in colder climates like Snowdin.[3]
Personality[edit | edit source]
Not much of Kanako is shown, but from Ceroba's flashbacks and how monsters talk about her, Kanako appears to be courageous, loving, and playful. She always attempts to do what she thinks is right. She willingly risked her life for her father's experiments, showcasing this in full force. Notably, these traits are also present in her parents. She has drawings in her room and made the mask Ceroba uses in her boss fight, showcasing an artistic aspect to her.
Etymology[edit | edit source]
Kanako's name, written in Japanese, is 決鐘 仮名子 (Ketsukane Kanako).[4] "Ketsukane" means "determination bell." "Kanako" is a real Japanese name, but it is unknown what meaning was intended.
- 仮名 refers to "kana," Japanese syllabaries.
- 仮 means "temporary" or "imaginary" and 名 means "name."
- 子 is a common feminine name ending, and usually what the name "Kanako" ends with. It means "child."
Main Story[edit | edit source]
History[edit | edit source]
Kanako is Chujin and Ceroba's only child. She lived in Oasis Valley and is implied to be friends with Sadie and Gamer Kid near the area. Although Chujin disagreed with the human sympathy of the Wild East, Ceroba would sometimes bring Kanako to visit. There, Dina says she would play with the the Feisty Five.[5] She also liked to travel around the Underground.[6]
Kanako was friends with Dalv. She was with him in Snowdin when he was attacked by the blue SOUL human, which was the catalyst for him moving to the Dark Ruins. Chujin was also at the scene, but did not comfort Kanako, instead prioritizing sending Axis after the human. Kanako may have seen Axis during this event, or possibly met him before it, as she has a drawing of him in her room.
Kanako was eavesdropping when Chujin told Ceroba about the Ketsukane Estate's secret basement. Kanako entered the basement months after Ceroba had begun experimenting and watched his tapes. This led to her discovering his plans to make the Boss Monster serum and that she was a Boss Monster. Despite warnings from her mother, Kanako eventually convinced Ceroba to inject Kanako's SOUL with the human SOUL extract to help her father's plans, with the intent to then extract the finished serum from her. However, she fell down almost immediately after the injection, causing the plan to fail and Ceroba to send Kanako to the lab. Nobody outside Ceroba's close circle seems to know about her falling down.
Neutral Route[edit | edit source]
Not much is mentioned about Kanako in the Neutral Route, though Dina, Sadie, and Gamer Kid all wonder about her absence.
Pacifist Route[edit | edit source]
Ceroba reveals before entering the Steamworks that Kanako fell down and Ceroba sent her to the lab in hopes to help her, but Alphys had gone silent on updates. Ceroba talks a bit about Kanako's personality through cutscenes and optional dialogue throughout the Steamworks.
Clover can learn that Kanako was friends with Dalv through Chujin's tapes and a drawing in her room, and that she was there when he was attacked during the Snowdin Attack. Clover sees a couple of glimpses of the past with Kanako and Ceroba during Ceroba's battle flashbacks. These showcase her eavesdropping on her parents' conversation about the basement, her convincing Ceroba to use the extract on her, and her falling down.
The events of Undertale expand on what happens to her after the events of the Undertale Yellow's Pacifist Ending. Kanako became an amalgamate and is kept at the lab up to the time Undertale takes place. In Undertale's True Pacifist Ending, Alphys reunites the amalgamates with their families.
Relationships[edit | edit source]
Ceroba Ketsukane[edit | edit source]
Ceroba is Kanako's mother. Kanako is shown to have a strong relationship with Ceroba, as she trusts Ceroba to test Chujin's work on her to fulfill her father's final wish. She also made a mask for her. Ceroba loves Kanako very much, often bringing her up to Clover in the Pacifist Route, whether talking about important matters or small anecdotes. Before Kanako fell down, the two of them had a routine every night where Ceroba would tuck her in and they would express their love for each other.[7]
Unfortunately, Ceroba's love for Kanako conflicted with her desire to continue Chujin's legacy. Despite Ceroba's apprehension, she still injected Kanako with a serum that caused her to fall down for a chance at completing Chujin's project. Though she knows Kanako is not yet dead, Ceroba does not hold hope that Kanako will recover[8] and plans on experimenting on what is left of her SOUL to finish Chujin's work in the Pacifist Route.
Chujin Ketsukane[edit | edit source]
Chujin is Kanako's father. Kanako is shown to love her father very much, as she agreed for Ceroba to test Chujin's work on her even though he specifically requested for Kanako to have nothing to do with it. In addition to building the entire Ketsukane Estate and all of its furniture, Chujin programmed a custom "Surface Tycoon" video game for Kanako.[9] In his final tape, Chujin insisted that Kanako should not get involved in his work and expressed his desire for her to live a happy life.
However, Chujin's work sometimes got in the way of their relationship. This is evident from Chujin sending Axis after Integrity after the Snowdin Attack instead of checking if Kanako was alright. During the second flashback in Ceroba's Pacifist boss fight, Kanako also begins to blame herself for her father's death and claims she wants to "be useful for once" by being part of his experiment.
Dalv[edit | edit source]
It is strongly implied that Dalv is the friend Kanako was with during the Snowdin Attack. A drawing of Dalv in Kanako's room, his dialogue during his fight, and the drawings depicting Integrity's fate that appear in the Dark Ruins under certain Fun Values all support this.
Starlo[edit | edit source]
While not much is stated of their relationship, Ceroba mentions that Kanako went to the Feisty Five's house and watched cowboy films with Starlo a lot. As mentioned by Dina, Kanako liked to hang out and roleplay with the Feisty Five when Ceroba was around the Wild East.
Axis[edit | edit source]
While nothing is stated about Axis and Kanako's relationship, Kanako has a drawing of him in her room, showing that she has seen him. Notably, Ceroba does not know about him even though Kanako does.
Gallery[edit | edit source]
Ceroba hugging Kanako one last time.
A photograph of Kanako that Ceroba showed to Clover.
A photograph of Kanako and her parents in the Ketsukane Estate.
Kanako's room in the Ketsukane Estate.![A sketch of Chujin and Kanako from the Undertale Yellow Artbook, drawn by AWildDaydreamer.[10]](/images/thumb/Chujin_artwork_Kanako_carry.jpg/120px-Chujin_artwork_Kanako_carry.jpg?a461d5)
A sketch of Chujin and Kanako from the Undertale Yellow Artbook, drawn by AWildDaydreamer.[10]
A comic about Kanako's drawing of Chujin, drawn by AeroArtwork.
Sketches from 2018 of the Ketsukanes seen in the Artbook, drawn by TeleviQ.
A beta design of Kanako seen in the Artbook, drawn by TeleviQ.
Sketches of Kanako seen in the Artbook, drawn by MarshieMonarch.
A sketch of Kanako seen in the Artbook, drawn by TeleviQ.
Kanako sprites seen in the Artbook.
![A sketch of Chujin and Kanako from the Undertale Yellow Artbook, drawn by AWildDaydreamer.[10]](/wiki/File:Chujin_artwork_Kanako_carry.jpg)
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- In Undertale, Kanako became the spoon amalgamate that tucks Frisk in the True Lab bed when they rest.[11] The song Tucked In's title references this.
- In the Debug Menu, there is an option named "KANAKO TIME" under the "CHEATS" submenu, which replaces Clover's overworld sprites with Kanako's.[12][13]
- Setting the
playerSpriteoption in the SAVE file tokanakoalso has the same effect.
- Setting the
- When Kanako is injected with the extract, her SOUL turns blue for a moment, alluding to the fact that the extract was from the blue SOUL human.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ (Unofficial) art of the characters I helped contribute to Undertale Yellow! - tlvq on Tumblr, December 17, 2023.
- ↑ she does! it’s just ceroba who doesn’t - TeleviQ (@TLVQ_) on Twitter, March 06, 2024.
- ↑ Something about her design I can probably spill: she does her hair in a ponytail to be more like her mom. And her shawl is so she can stay warm in certain places. - TeleviQ, Undertale Yellow Artbook, page 191.
- ↑ The Ketsukane Family: Ceroba, Chujin, Kanako, and Axis Model 014 - @tlvq.bsky.social on Bluesky, October 16, 2024.
- ↑ She likes to hang 'round us and the Five when her mom's in town. - Dina, selecting "Kanako"
- ↑ She does like to travel 'round the Underground. - Dina, selecting "Kanako"
- ↑ You know, she would refuse to sleep until I tucked her in.
After reluctantly bending to her demands...
...I'd kiss her forehead and say "Love you lots."
She'd challenge me with a cheeky "How much?"
...
Believe it or not, that same exchange happened every night.
Every night until there wasn't anyone left to tuck in. - Ceroba's Talk dialogue inrm_steamworks_24 - ↑ Falling down is practically a death sentence.
Unless a miracle takes place at the lab, there's no...
...There's no hope for her. - Ceroba, to Starlo, before her Pacifist Route battle - ↑ The game case has a hand-made cover slip.
"Surface Tycoon" it says.
Chujin programmed a video game for Kanako? - Martlet, interacting with Kanako's television - ↑ The Undertale Yellow Art Book is here! Featuring nearly 300 pages of concept art, screenshots, commentary, and more 💛 - @undertaleyellow.bsky.social on Bluesky, December 24, 2024.
- ↑ Undertale Yellow Chat Request Art Stream with Devs 4/24/2024 - YouTube
- ↑ Lines 325-333 of gml_Object_obj_debugger_Step_0 (part of the Debug Menu's code) inverts a local variable named "kanako_time". Line 371 of the same script checks whether this local variable is true, and sets global.player_sprites to "kanako" if so.
- ↑ Line 27 of gml_GlobalScript_scr_determine_player_sprites checks if global.player_sprites is "kanako", and if so, sets Clover's sprites to Kanako's.