Who Is Machi Komacine?

Machi Komacine is a ruthless, cold-blooded ninja from the anime and manga series Hunter x Hunter. As an original member of the villainous Phantom Troupe, she is fiercely loyal to her leader, Chrollo Lucilfer. Her comrades often trust her sharp intuition, which is almost always correct. However, Machi is also frequently the target of Hisoka's flirtatious advances, which she mostly ignores. This dynamic and their interactions have made her a popular character among fans.

Appearance

Machi Komacine often wears traditional Japanese-style clothing evocative of a modern-day kunoichi. She is a young woman with a short, petite stature, and messy, pink hair that reaches the middle of her back, though she often wears it tied up. Depending on the adaptation, her hair has also been depicted as blue or dark purple.

In the 2011 anime, she has blue eyes, while in the 1999 anime, her eye color was brown. As a member of the Phantom Troupe (the "Spider"), Machi has a spider tattoo with the number 3 on the abdomen, though its location has not been revealed. Machi's distinctive ninja-like outfit includes short tights, a short-sleeved uwagi (a type of Japanese jacket), an obi sash around her waist, tied with an obijime, fingerless gloves with a pincushion attached, tabi boots or socks worn with zōri sandals, and leg warmers that extend from her ankles to her knees.

Personality

Machi is very calm, quick-witted, and maintains a detached attitude during missions, which can lead others to underestimate her. She rarely shows emotions, even when seriously injured. Her loyalty to Chrollo is unwavering. She has challenged other Troupe members for his sake and once threatened to kill Hisoka if he ever succeeded in killing Chrollo.

Machi's intuition is incredibly sharp, and her hunches are almost always accurate. Several of her comrades, including Chrollo, trust her instincts completely. Despite her calm exterior, Machi is very strong-willed. She doesn't hesitate to voice her opinions and can be quite hot-tempered when provoked or when Chrollo's safety is at risk. 

According to the Troupe member Shalnark, Machi is "soft behind her uncaring façade." She showed genuine sadness at the death of Pakunoda and mourned at her grave. She is often the target of Hisoka's flirtatious and unsettling advances, which she usually brushes off with cold dismissal. She views him as an unstable pest and a potential threat to Chrollo. 

Background

Machi was born and raised in Meteor City, a junkyard city with no official records of its residents. Early in her life, a fellow child named Sarasa was abducted, murdered, and dismembered. Sarasa's death had a profound impact on Machi and the other children who would become the Phantom Troupe, instilling a ruthless quality and a strong desire for revenge. They eventually dedicated their lives to each other and to Chrollo.

After Sarasa's funeral, Machi learned Nen from an embalmer named Renko, who helped with the arrangements, making Machi one of the first of the troupe to learn Nen. As a founding member of the Phantom Troupe, Machi was involved in the brutal massacre of the Kurta Clan, though the exact details of why this massacre took place have yet to be revealed. However, some hints point to the Kurta Clan’s involvement in Sarasa’s death.

Machi has a tense but significant relationship with Hisoka. She is one of the few Troupe members he shows a romantic interest in, though she typically treats him with coldness and distrust. Hisoka later brutally attacked her during his vendetta against the Troupe. In fact, author Yoshiro Togashi stated that "Hisoka wanted to kill Machi then and there, but I vetoed it." Togashi apparently made this decision based on a story-based "hunch" that keeping Machi around would make the future more interesting. This aggressive attack coupled with the murders of Kortopi and Shalnark, caused Machi to swear revenge against Hisoka.

Powers and Abilities

Machi Komacine's powers and abilities include her Nen-based thread abilities, which can be used for both offensive and defensive purposes, and her enhanced physical capabilities. As a Transmuter, she can manipulate Nen threads to perform "Nen Stitches," allowing her to instantly and precisely reattach severed limbs or control people like puppets. She also possesses superhuman strength, speed, and agility, alongside a sharp intellect and preternatural perception.

Physical and Combat Abilities

• Enhanced Speed and Reflexes: Machi possesses superhuman speed, which allows her to react instantly to threats. She was able to cover Hisoka's ears before the sound of Uvogin's deafening scream reached them and moved fast enough to get behind Gon and immobilize him in a flash. Her stitching ability is also performed at incredible speeds, with her hands moving in a blur.

• Enhanced Strength and Muscle Control: Machi is physically formidable, ranking as the sixth strongest member of the Phantom Troupe in arm wrestling. Her muscle control is excellent; she can restrict the movements of physically strong individuals like Killua by wrapping her arms around them, and can contract her muscles to prevent internal bleeding and hold Killua's Nen-enhanced hand in place.

• Outstanding Intuition: Her hunches are consistently accurate and are trusted by her fellow Troupe members, including Chrollo and Nobunaga. This intuition has allowed her to predict the movements of others and foresee dangerous situations.

• Immense Endurance: She has an extremely high tolerance for pain. Despite being stabbed in the chest by Killua, she remained composed and continued to restrain him.

• Master of Stealth and Tracking: Machi is highly skilled in stealth, capable of sneaking up on enemies undetected. She can also use Nen-imbued needles to track targets from a great distance.

• Keen Intellect: Machi is highly intelligent and observant. She was able to deduce Hisoka's strategy for defeating Kastro and kept a calm demeanor even when under intense pressure.

Nen Affinity and Abilities

Nen (念) is a fundamental power system that allows individuals to control their life energy, known as aura. By manipulating their aura, Nen users can create unique supernatural abilities called Hatsu, enhancing their physical capabilities or creating complex, personal powers. 

• Nen Affinity: Machi's Nen affinity is in the Transmutation category. She primarily uses it to turn her aura into extremely durable threads. The threads' strength is inversely proportional to their length; a one-meter thread can lift a ton, while a thread long enough to wrap around the globe would be as strong as cotton.

• Nen Threads (Stitched Aura): Machi transmutes her aura into threads that can be manipulated in various ways. She can use these threads to set traps, bind and constrict enemies, and control her targets' movements like a puppeteer. The strength of her threads is inversely proportional to their length. A thread the length of the Earth is as weak as cotton, but a thread less than a meter long can lift a ton. Their strength is also significantly weaker if the threads are detached from her fingers.

• Nen Stitches: Using her threads, Machi can sew up wounds and reattach severed limbs with incredible speed and accuracy. This ability has restorative properties that can either revitalize dead cells or stimulate the production of new ones, allowing the healed party to move almost immediately.

• Nen-Imbued Needles: Machi can imbue her needles with Nen to allow her to track someone or something from a significant distance away.

Goals and Reputation

Machi is known for being one of the most stoic and emotionless members of the Troupe, rarely losing her composure. Despite her coldness, she is fiercely dedicated to her fellow Spiders. She defied other Troupe members to allow Pakunoda to help Chrollo, then stood vigil at Pakunoda's grave and.

Machi possesses remarkably sharp instincts. Other members, including Chrollo, trust her hunches, which have consistently proven to be accurate. However, a side effect of her upbringing in Meteor City and her early exposure to a horrific incident with her childhood friend Sarasa has led Machi to become desensitized to most violence and has made her capable of cold-blooded mass murder, as alluded to with the Phantom Troupe’s involvement with the massacre of the Kurta Clan.

Machi's central motivation is her loyalty to the Phantom Troupe and its leader, Chrollo Lucilfer. She will not hesitate to fight other members or defy Chrollo's rules if she perceives a threat to the group or their internal bonds. Like other original members of the Troupe, Machi shares a deep loyalty to their hometown, Meteor City, and will help protect it from external threats.

While generally cold towards the other members of the Troupe, she shares a profound camaraderie with her fellow original members, a bond described as "thicker than blood" due to their shared brutal history in Meteor City. Machi's desire for revenge against those who harm the Spiders stems from the group's origin in Meteor City and the murder of their friend Sarasa. A major driving goal for her in recent arcs is to kill Hisoka for assassinating Shalnark and Kortopi.

Her loyalty to Chrollo is unwavering. She was willing to fight for his life and was prepared to hunt Hisoka for threatening him. However, her relationship with Hisoka is complex and strained. Hisoka has an odd, flirtatious interest in her, which Machi mostly brushes off as an annoyance. Though she was assigned to ensure his death after his fight with Chrollo, she seemed to care for Hisoka to some extent. But now that Hisoka has betrayed the troupe, she has vowed to kill him, following him onto the Black Whale 1 ship headed for the Dark Continent.