#like did Makima exist as Makima this whole time?

[rekino2114]

How did the whole "will you marry me" scenario go? I love how you write Makima.

Makima proposing to you

A/n:Thanks so much. At first I was worried people were not gonna like how I write for her so I'm really glad you do.

Marriage was a very interesting concept to makima. The fact that two humans could find their company so enjoyable to want to spend the rest of their existence with each other was very intriguing to her. of course, she herself never thought about falling in love, much less getting married, but when she met you, her views changed completely, she couldn't think of anything but spending the rest of her life with you after all you made her feel love for the first time in her life.

Of course money isn't a problem for her so she brought the best ring she could buy, one she knew you would like, she got the measurements of your finger while you slept so you wouldn't know what she was planning.

She thought long and hard about how to ask you the question,maybe she could do it on a big occasion or just a simple date, but in the end she decided to do it in a private and intimate way so that she could show you just how much she truly only loved you.

She gave you and herself a day off and used it to spoil you and do anything you wanted (as if she didn't do that already) she made you breakfast in bed, bathed with you, and finished the day with a movie marathon,you were worried you forgot your an important day or something but she reassured you she just wanted to do it.

As the last movie you chose finished makima got up from the couch and then on one knee in front of you, pulling out a small box with the most beautiful ring you've ever seen inside of it. Before you could even gasp, her soothing voice filled your ears.

"In the time we have been together, you have changed me completely. The first time my heart truly started beating was when I first saw you and it only beats for you now, you showed me what it truly means to be loved and to love and now I understand why people call it the most beautiful feeling in the world. You made me feel emotions for the first time in my life, and I will forever be grateful to you for that, I promise I will continue loving you for the rest of our shared existence. So will you marry me?"

In her long life as the control devil, makima had forced countless people to make contracts with her simply for her own benefit. However, this was one contract she could not force you to accept both because her powers didn't work on you as you were one of the very few people she considered her equal and even if she could she would never do it, she wanted you to love her by your own volition just as she wanted you to marry her of your own volition.

She had the biggest smile on her face when you said yes and immediately pulled you into a very passionate kiss. After that, she put the ring on your finger admiringhow it perfectly fit you. She felt so happy, maybe even happier than when you accepted her confession. her heart always beat fast whenever she was around you but now it beat even faster, she was so excited to spend the rest of your life with you, she couldn't imagine any other way her future could be.

[duhragonball]

Chainsaw Man Ch. 67-70

Oops.

"Last time, Germany's Santa Claus sacrificed three children to send Chainsaw Man to Hell in exchange for a chance to eat the flesh of the Darkness Devil so that he could make a new body out of his army of zombie-doll creatures."

That is a sentence that probably should not exist, and yet it is brings us up to speed anyway. The upshot here is that Santa Claus is now some sort of eldritch horror who can convert any human he touches into doll creatures, and now the Darkness power has made him even stronger, and he plans to kill Makima this way. But she brought back everyone from hell, and Chainsaw Man seems to be in good shape, so he starts fighting Santa.

Meanwhile, two side characters kind of talk about it. Kishibe, the guy who trained Denji and Power a while back, had tried to bring Quanxi in on his secret plot to kill Makima, but that doesn't seem to be going anywhere. This other dude casually observes that this whole battle never had anything to do with protecting or killing Denji. Instead, Santa and Makima are fighting over some other objective, and Denji seems to be a pawn in their game. He also deduces that Makima can spy on everyone because she has the power to hear through various lower forms of like, like mice and birds.

So yeah, uh, Germany's Santa Claus, everybody! She's single, fellas!

It's unclear what happened to the other characters who got sent to hell. Makima and Denji made it back, and so did Quanxi... but she didn't return in one piece. Two of her fiend girlfriends were in hell with her, and apparently they're just dead. So a third fiend girlfriend finds Quanxi's head and pulls some sort of spearhead from under her eyepatch, and this somehow activates...

... uh, whatever this is. I guess Quanxi has the same kind of power Chainsaw Man has, but with knives or something. Also she's butt-ass naked in this form. She offers to team up with Denji, even though she was sent her by the Chinese government to kill him. She wants Santa dead more, because he's responsible for killing two of her skanks.

Their attacks damage Santa, but with her new darkness power, she can regenerate pretty quickly. I think it only works when she's in shadow, though. Anyway, Santa manages to stymie Denji pretty well by sending dolls after him who seem much more human than the dolls we've seen up to this point. They scream and beg for mercy, and Denji balks because he doesn't want to murder them. Quanxi assures him that they're not really sentient anymore, and they're just mindless automatons like the other dolls. How would she know, though?

Quanxi doesn't really answer that question. Her point is that they have to kill these dolls to defeat Santa, and thinking of them as beyond saving makes it easier to kill them. It's more of a coping mechanism than intel.

As the battle wears on, night falls, and Santa's darkness powers get stronger. She redesigns her body again and yikes.

Also, Santa seems to have figured out how to turn corpses into dolls, and she converts the two dead minions Quanxi was trying to avenge. They take the third one hostage and stab Quanxi. Santa considers turning Quanxi into a doll, but she forgot one thing...

Chainsaws can be set on fire. Wait, no, that's not badass, that's stupid as hell! I retract my earlier statement. Germany's Santa Claus did not forget one thing. No one would ever consider this possibility in the first place, much less forget about it in the heat of battle.

Basically, Denji's idea here is that if he attacks while he's surrounded by fire, then he can offset Santa's ability to regenerate in darkness. I'm not clear how her powers work, but Makima warned that attacks in darkness would be ineffective, and one could argue that cutting attacks are sort of hidden inside the thing you're cutting, so there's not much light to work with. But if Denji's chainsaws are a light source in and of themselves, that solves everything.

Also he remembers the trick with the chains from the Reze arc. Chainsaw Man wraps her up good and pulls her closer to the flames, while she sends in dolls to try to protect her. But she's no match for the mighty Chainsaw Man.

Soon, Germany's Santa Claus begins to despair, and wonders what the hell is wrong with Chainsaw Man that he just won't keel over and die. But the answer is the same as always. Denji wants something frivolous, and he can't have it unless he destroys his enemy, so that's all there is to it.

Happy Boxing Day, you weird-ass bowl full of jelly.

So Denji's won, right? Not quite. He defeated Santa's main body, but Santa still has a contract with the Doll Devil, which affords her control over all the dolls she's made, and they can make many more with a mere touch. Santa expects to continue evolving with the power of darkness and she can just come back with a new doll body and and send dolls to stalk and attack Denji again and again, indefinitely. Denji isn't too worried about this, but he gets his head cut off on the next page, so I guess this isn't his problem anymore.

Qwanxi confronts the burning remains of Santa and wants revenge for her dead skanks. To that end, she employs the fourth one, who we haven't seen much lately. She's the one who can only say Halloween, and on Qwanxi's orders she does a Kamehameha, but Halloween themed. Cute.

What the hell does this accomplish? Well, Santa finds herself in a vast library with this fiend, who introduces herself as the Cosmic Fiend. We're inside her mind, I think, and she can speak normally here. Santa isn't too impressed, because she thinks she can withstand a psychic assault, but tha'ts not what this is.

The Cosmic Fiend has cosmic awareness, for lack of a better term, and she can share that knowledge of everything with others, like Santa Claus. And once they receive this vast storehouse of knowledge and wisdom and enlightment...

You can only think of Halloween until you die. 🎃👻 💀��

I... I don't know how to react to that. I guess it explains Cosmic Fiend's appearance. I thought she was just supposed to look like some "cute" zombie, but I guess the real reason her brain is hanging out of her head is because she possesses such incomprehensible knowledge of the universe that her poor skull couldn't contain it.

Anyway, this neatly solves the problem of Santa Claus's doll slaves, because they're still alive, but now they're incapable of doing anything but shouting "Halloween" over and over again. I hope that deactivated the thing where they can turn other people into dolls by touching them, though.

Quanxi seems to have won here, since she decapitated Denji and defeated Santa Claus, but there's one more force to be reckoned with, and it's Makima. Kishibe and the other guy put on their blindfolds, because Public Safety has a rule that you're not allowed to see Makima use her power.

Quanxi immediately surrenders. I don't know if she just realizes she's outmatched, or she's that desperate to end the fight. She pleads for Makima to spare her two minions. But Makima won't accept any terms.

Quanxi and her entourage are suddenly decapitated, in a fashion that reminds me a lot of the way the Darkness Devil fought in hell. Maybe I'm reading too much into that. It's more likely that the comic is just depicting the effects of Makima's secret power without giving away the cause. It's also possible that Makima has one of her people nearby attacking these women on her behalf, like the way Angel Devil took out Reze from the rooftop.

One last loose end. Remember the Immortal Bros. from America? Remember how Aldo was the only one left, and he spent the whole arc trying to work up the courage to carry out his assignment? Well, he must have gotten turned into a doll at some point, because here he is chanting Halloween like all the other dolls in Santa Claus' hive mind.

So Makima has won. With Santa and Quanxi defeated, it's unlikely that the other nations would dare send anyone else into Japan to go after her or Denji. So everyone can take of their blindfolds now, but Kishibe leaves his own, because he knew Quanxi for a lot of years, and he has no great desire to see her dead body on the ground. Also, everything else that's happened is pretty fucked up too.

There's a two-page comic after Chapter 70 that shows the past relationship between Kishibe and Quanxi. She was the legendary "First Devil Hunter" and she had once been partnered up with Kishibe, who would hit on her and get punched in the face for his trouble. After about nine years of this, he finally admitted that he loved her, and she realized she was gay. It adds a nice touch to his refusing to take off his blindfold when she's killed.

[publicsafetydevilfucker]

Chainsaw Man thoughts go brrrr. Thinking thinking thinking about the wild end of csm part 1. It's everything to me right now. So... spoilers below.

Cannibalism as an act of all-consuming love.

Makima as the houndmaster devoured by one of her own dogs.

Eaten by Denji, who still loves her even after everything she's done to him. Denji, whos scent she didn't care to memorize because she could smell Pochita in him, and that was all she wanted. Makima says that to be eaten by chainsaw man would be an honor, but she's not eaten by chainsaw man. Denji doesn't rip her apart and devour her with the many teeth of his devil form. He brings in Kishibe to help him, and they... butcher?dismantle?piece Makima out into cuts of meat and bone and organs.

He has to eat All Of Her for this to work.

And he eats her as Denji. Takes his natural time with it, cooks her into a variety of dishes, eats some of her raw. Savors every bite. He dreamed of eating good food and being with a woman, and I just gotta say... the monkeys paw was not feeling very merciful on this one.

Did he learn how to cook from Aki?

When it's done and finished and Makima's not coming back, he reports back to Kishibe and reasons that Makima did not revive because what he did to her was not, in his eyes, an attack. Consuming her, becoming one with her, was an act of love.

And then Kishibe just? Straight up drops a whole child on this child? (eternally a child? the hybrids don't seem to age. will he be sixteen forever?) Anyway, congrats on saving the world, Denji. Here's a little girl who exists as a direct product of what happened between you and the woman you "became one" with and also she is the reincarnation of that same woman. Better give her lots of love and a good stable home so she doesn't grow up to be Makima 2! Time to be the loving father you never had and not the one you were forced to kill to defend yourself. Time to be a good big brother like the one you were forced to kill to defend others.

(and akis name is on the big list of gun devil casualties, and by definition fiends are possessed corpses, and he was for sure already dead. even if denji could have subdued the gun fiend and somehow gotten it docile, it still wouldn't have been aki anymore. that doesn't make it any easier to put down the monster wearing his brother's body, or stop him from agonizing over whether there was something he could have done to save him)

So there Denji sits, a seventeen year old kid (sixteen forever?) dealing with the loss of his family, surrounded by the uneasy beginnings of a new one. Eight leashes in his hands. Seven dogs that belong to the girl in front of him more than they belong to him, and his late sister's beloved cat, the only one besides him to have survived.

Denji looks down at his new sister/daughter/roommate and asks if she would like to go get something to eat.

Just... not meat.

[lowpawly]

I decided to watch Chainsaw Man and I'm in episode 9. I didnt expect to binge trough all the episodes ?? The opening and the endings animation are so good !! Also I get now why Himeno feels more morally gray than Makima even though Makima is the literal villain that can explode people. I didn't expect Denji to be 16 ?? And then Himeno vomits on his mouth and takes him to her home drunk and yeah. I felt super bad for him even though Makima did seduce him and is using him for her benefit, but she's like a lot more evil than Himeno so maybe thats it. Oh and the whole sequence of Makima using her powers was so good I was genuinely unnerved, I like that she doesnt have to be super scary in appareance except for her eyes and calm demeanor, actually i think her rather innocence look and soft voice adds to that disturbing feeling!

AHHHH THATS AWESOME i’m so glad people are watching chainsaw man based on my recommendations LOL i’m glad you’re enjoying it! god yeah himeno as a character is fascinating to me because in contrast to a character like makima who embodies this kind of deeper greater power she just feels so…real, you know what i mean? like, this woman is fucked up mentally from her job where she deals with constant death and grief and she copes through repression and substance abuse and sex and ends up not just hurting herself but the people around her. i worry this comes off bad because i completely understand people hating this aspect of her character and wishing it didn’t exist but she like…absolutely seems like the type of person to try and fuck a teen while dead drunk and not give that much of a shit in the morning lmao. it sucks cause denji being a kid just isn’t capable of understanding exactly what happened to him and can only really comprehend the more overly unpleasant parts of his time with himeno, which is like…yeah, that’s real. i would say that denji’s age is actually a really important aspect of chainsaw man because it is just another part of him that puts him further into this vulnerable position that makes him easy to manipulate and take advantage of, makima’s relationship to him being the biggest example of that but it’s something that pops up with other characters too. he’s an orphaned impoverished hungry teenager who was adopted into this world that he cant comprehend is taking complete advantage of him.

GOD makima’s scene where she kills the yakuza agents is fucking amazing and terrifying. it is the first time you really understand the extent and terror of her abilities and the lengths she is willing to go to, and that’s something that builds exponentially as the series goes on. i’m really excited for people who are just watching the anime to see how chainsaw man’s story unfolds and i’m also thrilled to see the rest of the action in the series animated. makima’s supposed innocence and gentle demeanor is something that i think is a really compelling part of her character and is essential to making her as effective as she is. there is this sense of danger and dread with her but it’s hard not to get pulled in and captivated, like a prey animal being hypnotized my a predator. honestly i think it’s cool that her eyes have that hypnotic look to them because it symbolizes the effect she has on people.

sometimes i think i can kinda give perhaps a bit of a warped perception of chainsaw man LOL because it is genuinely a really awesome series with some very morally gray characters and terrifying villains, i’m just also a lesbian who is not immune to hot girls ghfhfjghf even knowing how terrible everything that’s happening is it’s so hard not to be like GOD i wish that were me

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

ARIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY BELOVED LITTLE IRIS<33333333333333333

i am SO grateful that we have found each other and i am so grateful that you just fucking exist . you inspire me so so so fucking much, with your writings and your ideas and just by being you. you are literally one of thee sweetest people here and like.. in the world lmao and i am very happy that i get to exist in the same space as you. you really are a ray of sunshine, a little something to look forward to every single day. i know i have said it before but you really have changed my life quite literally and i just . love you very very fucking much. LIKE SOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you mean so much to me<3333333333 i hope your day goes so fucking well, i hope the presentation goes the way it has to and i also hope that it doesn't take forever and that you get to enjoy your bday properly. i hope you get to eat the best food and drink the best drinks, and of course the best cake ever. which btw i am, in fact, coming over with a cake of my own - it's in the shake of a brain btw it will be EXTREMELY delicious:33333333 i also hope that everything family related will go well bc.. yeah family is family. ANYWAY I JUST WANT YOU TO HAVE A WONDERFUL WONDERFUL DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TODAY AND EVERY DAY!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU DESERVE THE WHOOLE FUCKING WORLD AND THE STARS AND THE MOON AND THE FUCKING SUN IN THE SKY EVERYTHING EVERYTHING EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you have a very special place in my heart and i will never let you go (threat) I FUCKING LOVE YOUUUUUU<3333333333333333333333

i, too, want to know about how your beloveds will spend your special day with you though:33333333 i assume suguru is cooking you a whole feast or something and satoru just might be kissing you super fucking stupid buuuut i want to hear it from you okay? i'm also veery very curious as to how makima and kenny would celebrate you............ are they taking you out are they preparing a fancy dinner at home? what will their gifts to you be........... I NEED TO KNOW OKAY PLEASE TELL ME EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i adore you<333333333333333 - @teddybeartoji

MICKEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY :((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

my most treasured sunflower …….. did you know this made me cry . lmao. (<- said through tears) i am sooooooooooo lucky to know you and have you here and i’ll never stop telling you!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it’s my bday (not anymore but in spirit >:3) so i think i’m allowed to be a little sappy too…….. you were one of the first mutuals i made and also the first that i really felt comfortable with, and even now talking to you just makes me feel so at ease :’) you are one of the most genuine people i’ve ever met and i consider myself so lucky to have met you when i did !!!!!!!! you call me a ray of sunshine but i rlly do mean it when i say you are the sun!!!!!!!!!!!!! if anything i’m just a sunflower gazing up at you lovingly :333

BUT WAHHHHH THANK YOU SM FOR YOUR BDAY WISHES 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 i’m happily munching on the brain cake (did kenny give u this idea… 🤨 my silly geese) and holding your hands so tightly. in mine. btw it’s very funny that you mention family stuff bc i don’t live with my family but they were visiting the city i’m in on my bday …. and i agreed to have dinner with them and stuff but even Before that i somehow managed to ???? run into them both?????? sorry but it rlly was like a horror movie i had to tell someone 💀💀 first i ran into my mom in the library which isn’t that bad i do love her . but then literally right after that i ran into my dad on my way to the bus and it was so awful i’m still in shock

OKAY SORRY . STORY TIME OVER. it was just soooo sickening there’s gotta be some science to that right????? a dna tracking system?????? idk it was so weird 😭😭😭 ………. but thank you my angel my day went pretty well despite everything <33333

ANYWAYYYYYY wahhh ……. the blorbos 🥺🥺 suguru is absolutely making a whole feast lmao, i think he’s the one who plans the most!!!! they all do. but suguru is stressing himself out over everything he wants to do 😭😭 he for sure wakes me up with breakfast and just indulges me all day </3 spoils me rotten <///333 usually he tries not to overwhelm me with his love but on my bday there are no limits to it… serial loverboy….. i am in tears by the end i fear. and satoru :((((((((( mickey i’ve literally been crying over him all morning LMAOO i can’t do this 😭😭😭😭… he is showering me with kisses and gifts……. more excited to celebrate than i am . takes me out on a fun mystery trip and ends the day on a rare heartfelt note :’)) i need to hug him . so fucking bad.

kenkima though ….. i actually think kenny is similar to satoru :3c in the sense that he’d take me on a fun, meaningful little trip. he’s a little more sentimental than usual…… lets me get away with being clingy and needy (he’s soooo insufferable) <3333 we have a lot of fun. i love my brain. :’333 MAKIMA IS SCARY THOUGHHHHH she plans just as much as suguru does but i think it all feels kinda superficial 😭😭 expensive gifts …. princess treatment………. but it’s only when we’re watching a movie on the couch at the end of the day and she reaches over to hold my hand that i truly feel loved . (mari is kinda toxic sorry to say) (the other blorbos spoil me properly it’s fine)

…… anyway ;;; I LOVE YOU MICKEY. truly genuinely. you’re my friend. my most beloved little cat. :’))))) will always feel at home when i’m with you !!!!!!!!!

[bakatenshii]

oooh i also think there are different levels of devils, hybrids, and fiends and i really want devils specifically angel devil to pair up or make a contract with a hybrid or a fiend.

also! for power i want her to come to school with denji!!

as for makima i feel like she's the only devil who can who can actually remember their last life but since there is continuity her old memories end up falling and losing.

this is such an interesting concept and I deffo agree!! There’s clearly levels to the devils and I know we’re told like their power is linked to how feared they are across the world etcetc but I do think there’s an innate ranking and maybe that has to do with how their contracts work as well and how much of their abilities they can offer to those they make contracts with?

so angel devil’s a full devil isnt he? (im just rereading his intro panel bit), I feel like there’s just so much more we can do with him AND YEA IM BIASED BCOS THATS MY BABY but alaooaia I’m choosing to believe he was following Makima for the sake of it. Now that Makima’s dead (technically) what happens to the devil/devilman she had under her control also?? do they get.. freed? do they follow Nayuta? bcos iirc they never died, they were juat under her control right oakaoakala

[vexx-the-egg]

Fujimotos use of Body language and how it tells us EVERYTHING we need to know.

[Minor spilers ahead]

We need to talk about the art in chainsawman, because I feel like it's hardly ever addressed and it's one of those things that could easily get lost in adaption with the anime coming out this summer. The way Fujimoto priorities SHOWING emotion over telling it, is in my opinion, under appreciated and under utilized in modern manga. And I'm going to prove it. At this point its almost a running joke. That every Shonen manga in existence will have the main character loudly declared his beliefs and goals to every person he meets. Stuff like "I do this for my freinds/You have angerd me!! I will make you pay" but fujimoto dosnt do that at all. In fact he actively avoids it by having his characters and often Denji deflect from there emotions or hide and mis interpret them all together.

We all joke at this panel because it comes OFF as a joke. Denji who has just finished a kill on a devil man is distracted by porn mags. Haha but is that really what's going on in this panel? No. Sure denji goes on to make seeing/ touching boobs his goal but is that really thr only thing that he wanted? Well no. In fact when denji GETS the thing he claimed to want hes..dissatisfied, left to ponder if it was even worth it .until he meets makima again he doesn't even want anything to do kissing, relationships, or even boobs, they dont even cross his mind at this point. So what else DID he want I'm this panel. Fujimoto doesn't shove it in our mouths via big rallying speach - but he dose still give us the answer. In context this frame happens right after Denji makes the choice to kill a devil man for the first time. A devil man. The same thing denji is. Not only is denji also a devil man but by the empty dirty apartment full of porn mags its extremely clear that this devil man was probably completely alone, poor, and without direction. A very simulare lifesryle that denji has lived in all his life. He was faced with a reflection of his own self and told to slit its throat. He does. With hesitstion of course but one that he quickly covers up by grabbing a couple of porn mags and complaing that "he didn't want blood on the magz". The whole place is full of magazines. Personally I don't think Denji would have been that picky. But denji never openly admits his complicated feelings on this event. Instead he tells himself "I want to touch some boobs". Now in Denjis case it's clear that his gut reaction to deflect from his feelings may not even be something he's aware of. Denji knows he wants SOMETHING (a better life) but he dosnt know WHAT so he process then best as he can. His body language shows us that hes struggling. Hes hunched over almost hugging himslef in comfort, eyes cast down, despite the joke he shows no sign of lauging. Denji is a character who struggles with even understanding his own internal struggles. Not only is this a great way to show how fujimotos art direction lends to the narrative but it also shows great character decision. Denji hides his feelings because he canot process them. Unlike other characters such as Makima, Aki , and Reze who actively hide there emotions while knowing exactly what they want. Which is also shown through Fujimotos art, through misdirection, subtle body language, and even specifically placed eye contact.

Despite the proud talk from the man Makima in this panel isn't the losing party. We know this even befor the fight begins. Not because of diologe but because of her composure. Calm. Collected. Amused even. Surrounded by enemies who would have no qualms of killing her. Her gaze just as unflinching as his yet far more relaxed.

Then we have rezes moments. Moments where she realizes something. But doesn't comment on it.

Her expression is that of controlled surprise. She knows something isn't right. But she's choosing not to comment on it.

Even when she does decide to speak to Denji about it (despite her best interest not to) she still holds an air of controlled silence. Her face completely hidden except for a still smile. The panels flipping between denjis struggle to understand her questions and her still hidden reaction. Instead of explaining any more to denji or talking about her feelings. She changes the subject. She never says "oh this is awkward/ time to change the subject" she just does. The mood is tense ans uneasy And once you learn more about Reze that's when you understand why. She never tells us directly but for those who have finished the bomb arc well we have our answers...

As for aki. Even The cold cool calm collected REAL Shonen protag still has plenty to hide and plenty emotions to work through.

. After Angel tells him that he has loss years of his life just for saving Angel akis eyes immediately flash with regret. At first he's shocked and stares straight ahead. Then fujimoto brings even more attention to Akis eyes as aki begins to understand and come to terms with the Angles words. Finally. Regret tenses through his face and Aki says "I've had enough of watching people die in front of my eyes". These words seem sincere....but yet again aki is posing a contradiction. Aki is a devil hunter he has and will continue to see the people around him slaughterd daily. As long as he has his job he will continue to be followed by death. If it was really about not wanting to watch people die he would have quit after thus. And yet he doesn't. He stays. And spends a considerable amount of time with Angel after this. Despite his suffering and what it took to get here he has found something to belive in. And from Angel's body language we can assume the feeling is mutual. Angel is not naive to Akis decision and once again fijimoto focuses on the characters eyes. His body becomes lax and a sense of peace washed over his face. He is no longer fighting against Aki. In this panel both aki and Angel have found there reason to continue living yet they can't say those words outloud.

These aren't the only Show Dont Tell moments Fujimoto utilizes but they are some I wanted to point out. I really hope this kind of writing style sparks a bit of change in our current Shonen wave as it's one I enjoy a lot.

[jigensass]

So if Jigen was Lupin's first heist

Yes yes this is a spin off/mini-series

But I present Fujiko and Jigen's dialouge, specifically at the end of Part 6 when they have to snap Lupin out of the trance

Their dialouge parallels each other, but more specifically, Jigen could be referring to the events in Lupin Zero. Who the fuck wouldn't forget busting the US army for bootlegging whisky in the fashion that those two idiots did?

Who would never forget their very first heist be your knight in shining armor's heart?

And Fujiko is also right. When hasn't she been able to just exist and get the man is on his knees like Denji with Makima? The answer is never. Lupin is the only man Fujiko constantly keeps coming back to because he gets her results, and Lupin is dumb enough to keep falling for the same trick even after she just leaves, yet most of the he's okay with it as Jigen slaps him up Gibbs-style. Not only does she steal the treasure, she keeps stealing his heart. Was it during their first meeting? Who knows?

And must I bring up the Part 6 Episode Balcony scene for the 20th time? Where Fujiko and Jigen settle their differences, realize they're both crazy to be around Lupin for this long, and Fujiko calls out Jigen for being a romantic and he kind of admits it?

This whole thing has been leading up to this.

In conclusion

Jigen is the cat TMS I know you're here.

Okay serious talk over (disclaimer everything beyond this is a shitpost)

Now I have a theory.

Y'all remember the ending to Part 5? The ambiguous one? What if that Lupin 3 was actually Lupin 2? Somehow Fujiko knew Lupin's dad like maybe he slept with one of her guardians (after she was born of course because then things would get really weird really fast) and years later like Lupin the Third, Lupin the Second is maybe a clone or has the power to not age. And she mistakes Lupin 2 for Lupin 3 at one point in time, possibly Lupin III was actually Lupin II throughout the entirety of Part 5 who fucking knows. 2 and 3 easily could have switched places between Parts 4 and 5, everyone left separately alone on that train in Italy. We don't know what happened between that departure and the beginning of Part 5 only that

1. Lupin and Fujiko got married after the divorce with Rebecca.

2. Jigen and Lupin met back up in France after the divorce with Fujiko.

Or maybe even 2 and 3 swapped places like- 2 did the proposal cause 3 knew he would be turned down immediately and 3 got to live the marriage life and realized it sucked. But that contradicts Jigen and Lupin living together because they get along just fine living in their hideout apartments in 5 and 6.

MAYBE MAYBE 2 WENT OFF AND MARRIED FUJIKO WHILE 3 STAYED WITH JIGEN? AND IN PART 5 DEPENDING ON THE EPISODE THEY KEPT SWAPPING PLACES?

MAYBE 2 AND THREE HAVE BEEN PLAYING TAG THROUGH THE ENTIRE SERIES

how do I know this? The latex female body suit.

In Lupin Zero, we find out Lupin 2 snuck into the competition in a female blow up body suit.

In Lupin Zero: First Contact, how do Lupin and Jigen first meet there? Lupin is in a female blow up body suit in lingerie and calls him 'darling'.

And how do we know Lupin 3 isn't really Lupin 3 at the end of Part 5? The latex mask.

Nothing is canon, yet everything is canon because of what we can't see under the mask.

However if Lupin 2 dies at the end of Lupin Zero this was just me vomiting my insanity onto my phone's keyboard.

But for my next trick I will now make you all believe it was actually Lupin who fucked Zenigata in that interrogation room instead of Fujiko in TWCFM

[easy-revenge]

Do you think Aki liked Himeno romantically or that he would have liked her in that way if Makima hadn't put him under her control?

i got another ask almost identical to this so im answering for both here.

there are a lot of ways to interpret this. I'll speak on what I think based on canon and what i also headcanon about them.

its difficult for me to analyse aki's romantic feelings for both himeno and angel. I've kind of been going around it. i always get somewhere and then im like: he doesn't have free will, though. he's not in control of his feelings at all. and boom, everything is debunked.

however, based on canon, i think there was some kind of attraction. im not sure if it was strictly romantic, or sexual. i think there was a strong connection between them. strong enough for a seemingly cold and collected guy like aki to feel comfortable with physical proximity and even platonic intimacy.

its safe to assume that aki knew about himeno's feelings for him. or rather, he had the info for it. ive gotten the impression that he turned a blind eye to it, not rly intentionally but not subconsciously either.

it could be bc of makima, or bc of his own hesitance. himeno is his friend and his mentor and she's flirty with everyone so maybe she doesn't mean it. that kind of thing. maybe he didn't know how he felt, didn't really know how to interpret the type of love he felt. maybe he didn't do anything bc he was dying soon.

there's always the possibility of him not being interested ofc. it just doesn't feel right to me. we've seen aki around ppl he considers friends. the energy between him and himeno is charged in a way that betrays...something...on his part as well.

personally i headcanon that he did like her. again, maybe romantically is a strong word for it. i think he understands the dependency she has on him and i feel like aki gets fulfillment from being needed. having someone to protect. that builds a bond.

i think there's attraction on his part too. i cant rly explain it beyond like getting the vibe from their scenes together. i think there is enough attraction for them to have slept together a couple times, which aki doesn't feel great about bc himeno is in love with him and he thinks he is in love with makima.

if makima didn't exist, do i think they'd be together? i dont know. i literally cannot tell or decide whether aki could be properly in love with himeno, even if he was in complete control of his mind, or if their closeness came from a place of need for something to make them whole and not healthy romantic attraction.

this is all over the place im sorry lmao but it think this mess is representative of aki's mind in a way.

he's stuck up on revenge. he doesn't know himself. makes a point of it. he performs as this character he's created to make his goal possible and he's not even good at it.

he feels this inexplicable pull towards makima and somehow fits it comfortably into his life. he's probably not meant to rly pursue her, the crush is probably supposed to work as motivation and drive.

we cant really expect this man to have the capacity to break down a bond between two very broken ppl. that's why i think I'll never be able to answer basic questions like these without going on for paragraphs and paragraphs.

i cant see it ever being that simple for them, sadly.

[retrocontinuity]

Eat, for this is Her Body: Chainsaw Man and the Doxology of Cannibalism

"One day," Anthony Oliveira writes in "The Year in Apocalypses," [Jesus'] disciples approached their master while he was silent in prayer and made a request: 'Lord, teach us how to pray.'" From here, Jesus teaches them the Lord's Prayer, what the Catholic Church once called "the summary of the whole gospel":

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Denji is no one's disciple. When we first meet him, he is closer to how Oliveira describes Jesus himself, "homeless, gleaning for food in the field like a sparrow and relying on the kindness of strangers to put him up, . . . a man cheerfully resigned to powerlessness." And so, Denji doesn't need to be taught how to pray. He has always known. Every bone in his body at the opening of Chainsaw Man sings out the Lord's Prayer: "forgive me my debts", "deliver me from evil." And, of course, Denji is intimately familiar with the prayer's most pitiable, most powerful line. It's this line that he cries out to Makima when he rests, Pieta-like, in her arms at the end of the first chapter. It can only be this line, one that Denji might have written himself:

Give me, from this day forward, and for all the rest of my days, daily bread.

Bread runs throughout CSM like a mocking scent that you only fully identify in the last two chapters. It should have been a sign to all of us when the first meal Makima buys for Denji is not bread (but rather a hot dog and udon noodles). It isn't until Denji meets and enters Aki's home that he is seen making a hideously overladen slice of toast for himself, luxuriating in having all the toppings he was denied. The morning after she forces Denji to open the door to Power's death, Makima makes the very breakfast she once promised to serve Denji: eggs, coffee, salad, and sliced bread. But this is a meal that Denji never eats—maybe the only meal in the entire series that he, a survivor of the meanest starvation and poverty, ignores. There is only one other time we see this meal in CSM, and it is subtle, almost off camera, though no less meaningful: in Chapter 53, after Reze's death, as Denji sits down to breakfast once more with Power and Aki.

To revisit CSM's public safety arc is to see all the ways the plot connects itself to food and the act of eating, both appetizing and revolting, both profound and profane. Denji, eating gyoza at a bar for the first time. Denji being forced to swallow barf as he is kissed for the first time. The Fox Devil, who eats indiscriminately and on command, who refuses to return to Aki after being fed something disgusting. A fox that is hunted and transformed into stew. Denji eating sandwiches at Reze's cafe. Aki and Angel eating noodles. A woman sitting down to eat a hamburger for the first time, before she commits mass murder. She is worried she has lost her taste buds, yet she exclaims, "So delicious!" We know, later, that this woman is a liar, that no part of her is what she presents herself to be. Should we take this moment at its face value then? Was Santa Claus simply lucky enough to have preserved her sense of taste? Or was it her one last act of humanity, to recognize that it is not enough just to eat, that man does not live on bread alone, that there must be at least food that is also delicious, that inspires people to get up and dance—even if it means she has to lie about what she can experience?

Food is necessary for survival, and CSM is a story about survival. But CSM is also a story about glimpsing the after. After you know you can keep living, what next? After you are no longer starving, after you have been forced to kill a friend, after you have touched your first boob, after you have been betrayed, what next? After you are tired of eating toast with jam for breakfast, what do you eat next?

The version of the Lord's Prayer we tend to recite asks for "our daily bread." But this, most modern scholars believe, is a mistranslation. The Greek adjective as it appears in the Gospel of Matthew and Luke is "epiousios," which doesn't mean "daily" at all, but rather something too complicated etymologically for me to even begin to parse. The point is that what we ask for in the Lord's Prayer is not just bread for today, but bread for tomorrow. Both the physical bread and the spiritual bread. Bread on this kingdom of earth, and bread that is the kingdom of heaven. Bread to feed our bodies, and bread to feed our souls. The realm of the divine is full of these moments, isn't it? Of two things existing at once, in one.

Denji starts the series asking for daily bread, and ends the public safety arc with Nayuta, Makima's reincarnation, asking him for daily bread. Trash heap Denji, living with his not!dog Pochita, really was just asking for daily bread. A slice to eat for breakfast, maybe even with butter and jam. But he too learns that bread, physical bread, is not enough. Merely to subsist, to eat good food, is an empty life. And what he must give Nayuta is not just bread, as was given to him. Otherwise, he will be trapped in a cycle of creating more Makimas. Instead, he must give her a relationship, a family, a world that Makima was unable to create. He must give her, in Pochita's words, lots of hugs. He must give her, in the words of the Lord's Prayer, epiousios.

To be clear, I am not arguing that CSM is meant to be read through a Catholic lens, and I doubt Fujimoto had all of this in mind when he wrote it (though he must have thought something, given that he drew a very large print of Gustave Dore's "Satan descends upon Earth" in Makima's entranceway!). But there is something primal (primordial?) about the Lord's Prayer. If every reader can understand the horror that the Darkness Devil represents, so too we can understand the intimacy and comfort of the Lord's Prayer. It is, as Oliveira writes, "a simple peasant's mantra for detoxing anxiety." Jesus opens by addressing God as father—not king, not an all-mighty spiritual being, but rather "abba, which is rather closer to 'dad,' and not in the intercultural Greek of his adulthood, but the Aramaic of home and childhood." The Lord's Prayer asks for what we always want, the only thing any of us have ever wanted since leaving the womb as infants: for no bad things to happen, for there to be enough to eat.

Even if what we have to eat is another person.

At the center of the Christian liturgy is the Last Supper, and at the center of the Last Supper is a meal that functions as ritual, abomination, accusation, transubstantiation, paranoia, and an early example of cracking open a cold one with the bros. Here, Jesus shares bread and wine with his disciples and then, as if trying to invent r/creepypasta years before its time, informs them they are actually eating his flesh and blood. This image is so powerful and heretical that the Romans accused early Christians of being cannibals. And why shouldn't they? It's there in the text. "Take, eat. This is my body. This is my blood." Stripped of the grandeur of tradition and ritual, this is downright vampiric. And yet it goes on to become the cornerstone of the Christian faith.

Oliveira begs us to see the Last Supper as a family meal, one shared by Jesus and his found family. "All he is really saying is, 'I hope when you eat together, you remember me.'" It's a good reading, one that moves me to tears, and is the framework through which I see the events of chapter 80. Because Makima is not the first time that Denji "consumes" a friend, and I don't just mean him sucking Power's blood or taking Pochita into himself. When Aki died, he left half his fortune to Denji, who uses it to support himself and Power. They "pigged out on good food," he tells us. This is Aki's symbolic body, through which he provides Denji his daily bread. Eat ice cream and onigiri in remembrance of me.

But it is not how I see the events of chapter 96. Denji does not eat Makima in the context of a feast. He does not partake of her in a communal meal, as Jesus did, among his found family. He eats every bite of Makima alone. Jesus said before his death, "this is my blood, which is shed for many." Yet Denji says to Makima, I alone will absolve you alone of your sins. I alone will bear you alone.

Denji's Last Supper is a lonely remembrance. He is hoping that no one but him will remember her. He is hoping to wholly consume her, because he loves her. "We love as cannibals," French philosopher and activist Simone Weil wrote. "Beloved beings . . . provide us with comfort, energy, a simulant. They have the same effect on us as a good meal. . . . We love them, then, as food." In fact, Weil believed we cannot love any other way. As humans, we are forever doomed to want to eat the ones we love. In order to escape, we must both be devoured by God and then become food for our fellow human beings. As Alec Irwin writes of Weil's philosophy, "the devouring violence of God must be positively harnessed in order to dismantle the machinery of human cruelty."

If Weil is right and being devoured is transformation, a crucial part of salvation, then in eating Makima, Denji redeems her. He turns her into food to break the cycle of her cruelty. For Makima's power itself is consuming, cannibalistic. She "eats" humans in order to use her power, which remains mysterious like God moving across the face of the earth, leaving only broken corpses as a sign of its presence. So it must be Denji, not Chainsaw Man, who does the consuming. If Pochita had consumed her, as she had always prayed for, then it would simply be another act of violence being enacted. Instead, Denji gives her salvation by turning her into human food—his food.

To Denji, Aki was human, his family, his brother, his friend.  It is Makima he loves as a God and a woman. To him, she is Satan and God, his betrayer and his creator, his salvation and his friends' damnation. So he must take her, consume her, digest her, excrete her, reduce her to nothing, as she once consumed and excreted and reduced him. "I ate her to become one with her." He ate her to become her. There is no truer form of his love than for Denji to take Makima into himself. I use those words purposefully, because this is the rejection of classic cishet PIV penetration, that old hoary chestnut of men inside women. As Don Delillo famously outlines in White Noise, we talk about sex as if women are containers, rooms, elevator lobbies: "He entered me," "I want him inside me," "I took him into myself." Denji and Makima never have physical sex, but this is a consummation, a reversal of roles. We are given the only sex that Shounen Jump will allow us, with Denji taking Makima into himself. She enters him. She is inside him. He is—physically, emotionally, willingly—penetrated by her flesh. She is released inside of him, becoming part of him.

Because the divine is full of moments like this, isn't it? Of two things existing at once, in one. That is the kingdom and the power and the glory. For Makima now lives in that country inhabited by God, where loving and eating are one and the same. For that country is none other than Denji's body.

In conclusion:

Substitute Makima for "God", and the preceding statements are still rigorously accurate.

Further Reading:

Anthony Oliveira's ongoing podcast reading the Gospel of Mark (Patreon exclusive, but I highly recommend, even/especially if you are a heathen like me)

Hannibal (NBC)

Daniel Birnbaum and Anders Olsson, An Interview with Jacques Derrida on the Limits of Digestion

David Farrell Krell, "All You Can't Eat: Derrida's Course, "Rhetorique du Cannibalisme (1990-1991)." Research in Phenomenology, vol. 36, 2006, pp. 130–180. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24660636. 

Alec Irwin, “Devoured by God: Cannibalism, Mysticism, and Ethics in Simone Weil.” CrossCurrents, vol. 51, no. 2, 2001, pp. 257–272. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24460795.

[canmom]

i think my favourite chapters of chainsaw man were... (major spoilers as you’d expect)

the part where it really ‘got me’ was when Reze, who initially seemed to be a Gantz-esque girlfriend of the week, turned out to be the Bomb Devil. both because the Bomb Devil’s design with the long dress made of bombs is one of the best in the manga and because of the very satisfying turnabout where the girl turns out to be playing these wishfulfilment tropes deliberately.

then, later, when the american president sends the gun devil after makima, and the narration takes on the tone of a government report, with panels of massive destruction overlaid with long lists of the names of the deceased. such an effective device, great way to build on the disaster film kaiju energy of the gun devil which looks like an Eva angel. that heavy emphasis on collateral damage did a lot to sell the scale of the fight.

and of course there’s most parts of Makima’s gradual villain reveal - full of great concepts like the bit where she’s contracted with the JP president so that every time she dies a random japanese person takes the injury instead to revive her - but especially the part where Denji just gives in to her long term manipulation and offers to just become her dog and she gets to gloat a bit. they honestly could have dwelled on that more rather than rushing to her killing Power and going into the final sequence of fights.

the way that countries’ leaders can make devil deals using their populations instead of their own bodies is such a cool little device, really underlines the whole theme of like, domination by states and the way they expend peoples’ bodies to achieve their ends. 

the idea of devils drawing power from fears, and the way Makima paints Denji as a hero in order to weaken him, is a very cool way to set up a lot of thematic characters. the idea that Chainsaw Man can just erase entire concepts from existence by eating them is also fascinating, although idk how I feel that this reveal came through nobody being able to remember the Holocaust or the Nazis in this universe. (did the Holocaust like... un-happen? seems a lot to be just treating with a one-liner) still I really liked when they first reel off a bunch of things that are missing from the alternate history alongside some things that our world doesn’t have either - perhaps the lack of nuclear weapons is why this world still has a soviet union. but then he throws in some really fun ones:

the four fates beside death! incredible.

the ending... was a reasonable thematic closure, but it felt a little like being let off the hook. i was also not especially shocked by what was behind the door in Denji’s head after all that buildup. he killed his dad, so what? but it was effective in how it was deployed by Makima to manipulate him.

[bakatenshii]

hellaur it's the csm nonnie i just finished csm and it's so cool, i'm doing fine as well hehehe, i went into csm without knowing any background and honestly i misunderstood the plot big time because i wanted to read csm because of the chainsaw dog and i thought they're all chainsaws, and there is a much better chainsaw and they all fight.

i was shocked two chapters in because the character which made me want to read csm died? and like i was conflicted on whether or not i should continue, obviously i did.

my favorite characters are kishibe and quanxi, also the takoyaki guy who reminds me of tamaki (bnha). i didn't think half of the characters would die right away because there are some really good demons/hybrid/fiends that i was expecting to have a bigger role especially one of quanxi's girlfriends the halloween one, (cosmo)

as for makima i didn't know she was the antagonist because i truly thought it was gun and when she was revealed it felt like a big joke, because wtf she's good at it, like i was fooled. and she's a good antagonist, and she basically manipulated half the demons in the area.

but i feel like she's just like denji, but more experienced because how did they let her have such a high position knowing that her powers are like that, and it also begs for other questions because it feels like she manipulated everyone

everything that happened was premeditated by her, to work in her favor and she manipulated everyone, also in her conversation with kishibe when she said she remembers things they don't know about like other devils that have existed long gone, does that mean she's old asf?

i do agree that her reasons are shallow because what prompted her to do those things (minus being a fan) like is that her true reason? does she know more? and yes reze is so much better

also the angel devil, i feel like he's still working with makima (willingly) but he has grown closer to aki. everyone is suspicious right now, i feel like they're all controlled by makima.

so far, i'm planning to reread some chapters and check some stuff i may have missed but i'm very excited for the second part because oh my gosh, also the power of the devil depends on how the item/object is feared and if people know the csm is the hero then he is no longer feared, does that mean his power will lessen(?)

and another thing is how cool are the devils in csm, like i wouldn't have thought that the plot would be like that because (like i said i thought they were all chainsaws kdjfhdS) but it really gives a nice way to introduce more characters, also i want to know how big the organization is.

because there are many devils out there and i'm sure some devils will come back, honestly i don;t know if this is understandable like i'm just rambling hehehehe half of these might not be coherent but!!! either way thank you for your response it's so cool to read vv long

also another question is what devil would you like to see in csm?

ahh NO THANK YOU FOR THIS RESPONSE! i think one of the best parts of reading manga (esp ones like csm) is the theories and analysis and deepdive into the lore, so I’m so glad you’re here to scream about it with!!

I do think the killing of characters was done super offhandedly but I also read that it was specifically done like that to prove the fickleness of human life and how fragile it is? humans die in an instant, at any time, and if I think about it like that then I do think the manga portrayed that super well.

I wish we got to see more of Kishibe!! and I also wish we got more Kishibe Quanxi backstory? because they clearly go all the way back. Hopefully we see more of Kishibe and Yoshida in the next part bcos god knows theyre the only ones left still alive HAAHAHAHA

The gun devil reveal was so anticlimactic for me, but at the same time I was almost relieved that we didn’t have a whole War Against Gun sequence because for some reason, a generic flashy shounen-style Boss Fight feels cheap to be included in csm? IDK IF THAT MAKES ANY SENSE, I COULD BE CHATTING ABSO SHITE OAKAOAK I just think with how deep the lore is and all the conflicting questioning morals (esp with the whole fear strengthens the devil aspect), having one Big Boss feels... like a cop-out? it just doesnt suit it imo, and I’m glad they went the route they did. I just wish they did moreee especially w Makima, shes deffo very old and she mentioned csm killing her 26 times already, I just. I just want more lore more explanation more expansion?? WHICH I GUESS WE’LL GET IN PT2

omg i would die if angel devils still alive and has bodily autonomy (ie not under makimas control) because he is my abso fav character and i need MOOOREEE screams && I’m excited to see Power hopefully come back next pt, and i keeeep thinking this, I know theres a future devil but I’d love a time devil. one that can manipulate time would be so sick, and I imagine what with the fear factor, time devil would be quite powerful as well bcos everyone’s scared of the passing of time ya know?