Chainsaw Man manga panel of Kishibe holding a notepad that says 'makima is listening' with speech bubble 'I lost my fangs a long time ago.'

Makima Is Listening

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Published November 11, 2026

Makima Is Listening, also known as Kishibe Holding Notepad, is a redraw and caption template taken from chapter 61 of the Chainsaw Man manga, where Kishibe writes the warning on a pad while meeting Quanxi. Years after the chapter came out in March 2020, fans on Reddit and X turned the panel into an exploitable, swapping Makima's name for authors, celebrities and fandom in-jokes starting in late 2023.

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Overview

The template is a single panel showing Kishibe tilting a small notepad toward Quanxi with the phrase "Makima is listening" written on it, a warning that their conversation is being monitored3. Online edits keep the drawing of Kishibe and the pad almost exactly as Tatsuki Fujimoto drew it, then replace the name Makima with whoever the poster wants to accuse of eavesdropping, snitching or lurking in the comments1.

Typical posts fall into two buckets. One is a direct recaption, where editors paste new text over the notepad so it reads "Gege is listening," "my mom is listening" or similar in-group jokes1. The other is a full redraw in a different art style, keeping the gesture but changing the character holding the pad, as seen in fan art posted on X by @ChainsawShots in May 20242. The humor leans on Kishibe's deadpan face and the cramped secrecy of the pose, so swaps usually name an authority figure, a fandom author or a parasocial target.

Origin & Background

Platform
Chainsaw Man manga (source), Reddit and X (viral spread)
Creator
Tatsuki Fujimoto; meme creator Unknown
Date
2023

On March 9, 2020, Weekly Shōnen Jump published chapter 61 of Chainsaw Man, written and drawn by Tatsuki Fujimoto4. In the scene, veteran Public Safety devil hunter Kishibe meets Quanxi and, aware that the Control Devil Makima can hear through anyone nearby, writes "Makima is listening" on a notepad instead of speaking the warning aloud3.

The panel stayed as an in-manga moment for over three years before being lifted as an exploitable. There is no confirmed first editor of the meme format, and the template spread without a credited author, which is why the creator here is listed as unknown rather than attributed to Fujimoto, who drew the source art but did not build the meme3.

How It Spread

Recaption versions picked up on Reddit in October 2023, aimed mostly at manga fandom drama rather than Chainsaw Man itself. On October 24, 2023, a now-unknown Redditor posted an edit on r/Jujutsufolk that swapped Makima for Gege Akutami, the Jujutsu Kaisen author, using the pad to joke about criticism of his writing choices1. The post pulled roughly 10 upvotes and two comments across the following year, small numbers that still mark the earliest documented use of the format3.

The template then jumped to X in 2024 with higher-engagement fan art. On May 14, 2024, @ChainsawShots posted an illustrated take on the panel that drew more than 2,700 likes and 250 reposts within a month2. From there the "X is listening" wording spread across anime Twitter and other manga subreddits as a quick way to accuse someone of lurking, especially authors, moderators and fandom whistleblowers3.

Timeline

2020-03-09

Chapter 61 of Chainsaw Man publishes in Weekly Shōnen Jump, introducing the Kishibe notepad panel with the line "Makima is listening."

2023-10-24

A Redditor on r/Jujutsufolk posts an edit swapping Makima for Gege Akutami, the earliest documented recaption of the panel.

2024-05-14

X user @ChainsawShots posts fan art based on the panel that picks up over 2,700 likes and 250 reposts in a month.

Frequently Asked Questions