#pochita aki power nayuta even makima...

[yoshyoshy]

i was asking myself if i talk about yoshida too much in the context of his relationship with denji, but then i realized that yoshida's not the only csm character i do that with.

[writterings]

chainsaw man understands trauma and abuse very well in my opinion and i think nayuta as a character is just such a good way to express its messaging on these topics. like denji is literally raising the reincarnated version of the woman who sexually groomed him, manipulated him, literally fabricated his entire life, and killed his family of aki and power -- and when he asks how he can prevent her from turning out just like makima, the answer is "give her lots of hugs," essentially meaning "love her." pochita literally said that the reason makima was the way that she was because she had no one to love and no one loved her -- and that doesn't excuse what she did in any way, but nayuta didn't do any of that. denji breaks the cycle of violence through loving nayuta, despite and because of how he himself was neglected and abused all his life. while that's genuinely a very simple message that a lot of narratives with abuse themes actually do have, it just makes perfect sense for chainsaw man's narrative since the whole reason the story is even happening is because denji showed love and kindness to pochita, who had never known love or kindness before.

[sugar-grigri]

Nayuta wasn't killed by Barem, she's his ally 

Poor fandom, you're disorientated just when your compasses should be working properly. 

Let's learn how to eat sushi properly, step by step. Or rather, how about reading Chainsaw Man in the right order? By calmly superimposing everything we know in the right order 

So let's not panic, let's get on with it. Dry your tears, clean your snot and let's get back to the introductions. 

First layer of sushi: Denji and Pochita are made for each other 

Who is Chainsaw Man? It's a question we've been asking ourselves a lot, but how about a simple answer - we're not here to mess around. Chainsaw Man is the combined result of Pochita + Denji. Do we agree? Why have they become so close? Because they look alike, don't they? Alone, hungry, in need of a little warmth and a little love. 

Second layer of sushi: birthday, despair, amnesia...

If we take the stories in outline, Denji meets Makima and then bonds with his siblings. A sibling who eventually dies, and whose final breaking point is his sister, cut in two. On top of that, it's his birthday, isn't it? Makima invites Denji to open the door that confined his traumas, including the death of Denji’s father? 

You see, I've already missed it, I went too fast. Let's resume calmly, birthday... Denji had forgotten it was his birthday, hadn't he? His birthday is the day you're born, it's one of the few pieces of information we don't really question, but Denji forgot it. But haven't you ever really wondered...

If Denji had celebrated his birthday? And why, how, he wanted to eat a cake? His father was violent and his mother died when he was very young, so is it really safe to say that Denji celebrated his birthday? 

I had another question, why does Fujimoto always seem to accentuate the cakes so much?

I really think that cake is one of the keys, because it's a tunnel of memories that resurfaces in Denji, the cake, his birthday, then Power's death, then his father's death. It's a sushi within a sushi (we're slowly taking things back in order), I think it's about layers that need to be taken back in chronological order, yes chronological 1) the death of Denji's father 2) the death of Power 3) Denji's birthday 4) the cake. Which brings us to this scene.

Was this scene shown not just metaphorical or symbolic, but actually happened? Denji having contracted with the control demon whose power is to control memory, in order to reshape him perfectly so as not to be happy and to do whatever she asks of him later. Why couldn't Denji open that door? Why does Aki's death sound so abruptly like Denji's absence, with a mini ellipsis that doesn't show us in concrete terms how Chainsaw Man killed him? I'm going too fast again, let's start again...

Makima hasn't made Denji unhappy, she's created a being made for unhappiness.

This scene refers to an anniversary, amnesia and despair, all ingredients that enabled Pochita to take complete possession of Denji and show us the most complete version of Chainsaw Man.

Which means Barem isn't lying, is he? Same here, I'm going too fast!

Third layer of sushi: the closer Denji gets to happiness, the more he doubts...

Denji manages to become himself again and succeeds in killing Makima, by devouring her. In a very simple and concrete way, Makima was devoured and this put an end to her existence. Keep this in mind. Nayuta is reborn, becoming Denji's little sister, lots of dogs surround them, Chainsaw Man becomes extremely popular and it's in this part 2 that Denji will feel the least like himself, the least like Chainsaw Man. Strangely enough, it's when he approaches a semblance of happiness that Denji pulls away from himself.

Barem really doesn't seem to be lying, does he? But once again, I'm going too fast, let's get on with it!

Fourth layer of sushi: Barem never lies 

This is something I quickly came up with, and it's so precise, I think his character is thought of that way, and it's his narrative role. Even though he's deceitful, manipulative and devious, the bro does NOT LIE. He didn't lie about the weapons attack, he didn't lie that he looked like a Chainsaw Man fan, and he doesn't lie in the last chapter. But same, I'm going too fast. 

Fifth layer of sushi: Nayuta betrayed by Chainsaw Man 

When Denji made the choice to become Chainsaw Man, the house, his source of happiness, was falling to ashes, his dogs, his cat were dying. Denji went through with his dream and abandoned the little sister who made him happy. Barem didn't impose misfortune on Denji; it was Denji who chose misfortune, despite Nayuta's fears. The happier he was with her, the more he lost himself. He left her in Barem's hands and provoked an existential crisis in her. Which made her reconnect with her old self. 

Sixth layer of sushi: an unblocked memory. 

The aftertaste that sticks to your palate is a piece of information I mentioned earlier. Makima has been devoured. What defines the Knights of the Apocalypse from the rest of the demons? Their memory. What if Nayuta had now understood how Chainsaw Man's power worked? 

Seventh layer of sushi: chapter 170. 

This explains Nayuta's severed head, a macabre mise-en-scène to make her brother lose his mind a little more. As for Barem, he doesn't lie to us and gives us instructions on how to read Chainsaw Man. He knows how to read Chainsaw Man, since he knows the two conditions for him to regain his full power because Nayuta gave them to him. For all this is nothing more than their death. 

Layer zero of sushi: the unknown. 

Now I'm entering the quintessential madness of my analysis. Makima contracted with Denji at a very young age, and gave him several orders: survive at all costs, remain miserable, and one day kill Power and Aki. Above all, she ordered him to contract with Pochita, hence Denji's reflex to hand his open wound directly to the demon. This misfortune, this amnesia due to the contract with Makima, this survival on his own, finally allowed a weakened Chainsaw Man to find a kindred spirit, a loved one. Believing in happiness, then destroying it, kept Chainsaw Man's power in check, those vain dreams only a human could imagine. Denji was a kind of Russian doll, holding back Pochita and his over-power. That's why these two conditions exist. 

To be unhappy, or to break this Russian doll. 

To be feared by all, or to be alone. 

Or kill Denji. 

To save Pochita. 

Layer - 100000 of sushi: did you think I'd finished losing my head? I don't think so. What if everything I've been telling you all along, taking things in order, were to be done in reverse? Take them out of order. I'll ask the questions so you can understand. Why is Makima so obsessed with Chainsaw Man? Why did the Knights of the Apocalypse fight Chainsaw Man in the underworld? How did they manage to retain their memories? Why start the story with a parricide? Why was Denji finely polished by Makima to welcome Pochita when Makima never saw Denji, the reason for her own death? How could she enter into a contract with someone she has never seen? 

Because someone is controlling the control demon itself. Just as it controls the way the story is presented to us. How can we trust an antagonist who controls memory? And an amnesiac protagonist? 

Why did Pochita do what he did in the underworld? Why this sudden fury? Why do demons hear chainsaws at the moment of their death? 

Because we've come full circle. More precisely, what you're reading is not part 2 but part 1, or to be more (MORE) precise, the end of Chainsaw Man will lead to its beginning. The desire to create a better world, to kill death, will lead to a temporal loop in the world that will never cross the apocalypse, blocked just ahead. 

Makima herself is controlled by her future self, which allows her to make references to the future and know the recipes for unleashing Chainsaw Man's power without understanding why, her future self knows Chainsaw Man, she loved him. So Makima also loves Chainsaw Man without really understanding why, amnesiac like Denji.

Denji doesn't kill his father, it's his old self who is killed. 

But another Denji tries to put an end to this... 

Spiral. 

Stuck between two worlds, two temporalities, morning (Asa), night (Yoru), someone is trying to put an end to this endless world, before dawn.

[angeldeviloshi]

Thinking about the title of this chapter linking to ch.156 which also uses onomatopoeia as its title and features Denji getting sawed into pieces at the devil containment center, the sound of the helicopter and the saw being what Denji hears when he's awake and when he's sedated, as he's being reduced to simply property by becoming Chainsaw Man. (Fumiko's gleeful objectification of him and Yoshida's despair at having to put Denji down for crossing that boundary outside the hospital room.) Both times when he wakes up and when he's sawed, Denji thinks about saving Nayuta to no avail, forcefully put down like a dog and taken apart at the table. Pochita says he can't save Nayuta without his legs while being an unconscious hunk of flesh, Denji who believed that he doesn't deserve to have a "family" because he killed them all, that he should distance himself from Nayuta whom he has raised with what he inherited from Aki and Power, taken away by Barem's ghost of Makima once more as he remembers what she said to him about how "Denji" doesn't deserve a normal life. His bond with Nayuta manifesting as a failed reclamation in a doomed cycle because of his identity as Chainsaw Man, if there's nothing for "Denji" then he'll become Chainsaw Man, this constant will be his new dream, his "normal" as a concept and device, the desired "hero". What Makima decided for him. This perceived mutual exclusivity of Denji and the Chainsaw Man. The human boy going to school and trying to raise a sister on his own and the unstoppable Chainsaw devil as the saviour. Who is Denji trying to save Nayuta as? Family? Or because he's the "hero"? But Denji told her to stay away from him after he pulled the chord, he has already forsaken family to become an idol, a relic. Can he even save Nayuta as he is now, does he deserve to when this is what he chose. The construct of family inherited by Denji through Makima against the connection he fostered with Nayuta in spite of its confines just as he did with hykw fam. Denji tries again when he's put back together, he's a human boy again. Now there's someone who knows and sees "Denji". If he wants to save Nayuta he can't become Chainsaw Man, he has to see her, make sure she's safe and bring her back with him as Denji. But the Chainsaw Man still follows him in Yoru, the alleyway manifesting the residual honeypot coated sting of what being Chainsaw Man would reward him with after losing family. The lure of the protagonist's "love interest" moving him away from family (the sushi, sushi-liker Fumiko's interruption of Denji's grief as his fan) Denji can't escape what it means to be Chainsaw Man as Barem demonstrates in the restaurant. The ship has already sailed when Denji sees Nayuta again, dead because he neglected her when it mattered like the rest of his "family". The part of Denji that makes him "Denji" is now gone and all that's left is the Chainsaw. (Anyways I was trying to parse something in my head about how the most distinct way of recognising a Chainsaw is by the sound it makes, even the Angel Devil highlights the significance of this in part 1. The title of this chapter and Pochita erasing (or earasing lol) ears in the context of this is HMMMMM food for thought?)

[selfaware-bungou-stray-dogs]

How are you doing? I hope you are feeling well.

Is it possible for a teen power or denji like reader? And if you would like maybe the reader also has the same past as denji or power from chainsaw man. You can choose whoever you want to do. I also really enjoy your posts! Thank you! And reminder for you to not overwork yourself. Please take care of yourself and make sure to take breaks. Stay safe :)

I am doing well, thanks for asking. I am glad, that you liked my posts. Enjoy ☺️

Denji! Teen! Reader

Self-Aware! Platonic! BSD Characters x GN! Platonic! Denji! Teen! Reader

Description: There was something strange with Their Guiding Light.

Warning: OOC. Slight-Spoilers to Chainsaw Man (Denji's Past, Fate's of some Characters, Makima mentioned, No Nayuta). English is my second language.

_______

You put your finished homework in your bag, trying not to damage notebook pages. Your handwriting became better, your reading skills proved and, recently, your math teacher praised for all the progress you have made.

Life became... normal.

As normal as a devil hybrid's life could be. Especially, if said hybrid had to take care of a cat and seven dogs, go to school and safe people from devils at their spare time.

Your fingers brushed against a chainsaw cord.

Pochita... Aki... Power...

Would your life ever be normal again?

If someone asked you if you blamed your father, for what has happened, you would say "I dunno"

If it wasn't for his debt, you won't become Devil Hunter, worked with Yakuza, had your heart fused with Pochita... Won't meet your friends. And Makima...

This situation was complex.

Really complex.

And you didn't want to think about it.

Not now. Maybe, later.

For now, you have some reading exercises.

You stand up and took new Bungou stray dogs manga volume.

With your phone near (to look a meaning of words you don't know), you start reading it.

________

🐾Their Guiding Light was really emotional and kind. And each time Guiding Light decided to say something good about them...

"Kunikida is so serious! It's cool and funny at the same time. I wonder if he could help me with math homework." Little Light was practically vibrating, rubbing against Kunikida's cheek.

"I would like to make some bombs with Kajii! Sounds cool!" Little Light was purring, curled on Kajii's head.

"Oh! Fyodor is so smart! I wanna be as smart, as him, one day!" Everyone try to hold back their laughter, looking at Little Light, who were "hugging" Fyodor's face.

🐾 But there was something, that makes them worried. They guessed, that you were a teen. And, for some reason, you have some troubles with reading. You were slow, re-reading some words, and taking your time.

🐾 They were worried, because they were afraid, that Their Guiding Light were bullied because of their reading habits. It was another reason for them to get to the real world faster. To protect you from bullies.

______

You were having lunch on a school rooftop. It's not like you can't eat at the school's cafeteria.

But, if Chainsaw Devil Hunter are needed, you need an easy way to get to the battle. Without being noticed.

You were ready to take a first bite of your food, when the school building started to shake.

Another Devil (you really didn't care about what kind of devil it was), was on a run. You put your lunch box down. Time to get to business.

You didn't notice, how your phone screen became white.

You pull the chainsaw's cord and jumped.

---------

When you returned to the roof, you saw a group of shocked BSD Characters.

______

🐾 Yosano checked fifteen minutes, checking your face and arms, making sure, that you weren't hurt. During check-ups, BSD Cast explained everything to you.

🐾 Your life became even stranger.

_________

🐾 You have a huge family right now. And a protective one.

🐾 When you were moving into the new house, some Devil Hunters (who knew about your Chainsaws) tried to stop them. It took one "F*** off, they are my kid now" from Fukuchi to stop them.

🐾 Chuuya became a second owner for your dogs. Fukuzawa became a second owner of your cat.

🐾 Kunikida and Poe are tutoring you. You wanted to improve your math, writing and reading skills.

🐾 Mori and Yosano will always run a medical check-ups on you, after your transformations.

🐾 Fitzgerald bought every merch with your Devil Form he can find.

🐾 You told Ango, Ranpo and Ayatsuji and Power's last request. They try to help you find a new Incarnation of Blood Devil.

🐾 Kids now attending the same school as you. After you defend them from bullies, they created a fan club of you. Not to Chainsaw Devil Hunter. No, to [Y/N] [L/N].

🐾 Life didn't become less chaotic. But, it became warmer. And more homey.

[stellar-constellations]

Hello, i dont know if you're taking requests at the moment, but I was wondering if you could do a denji x little sister reader. You can write whatever you want. Also, sorry if this is wordy. This is my first time asking for to be written.

        Platonic! Little sister! (Y/N) x Denji

        You're the most important female in his life, not even Makima could compare to you. If you even utter a word about disliking Makima, all of a sudden his feelings are dropped. "Makima who?"

        If you're a normal civilian, Denji's always going to make sure you're somewhere nice and safe before even thinking about hunting a devil. If you're a devil hunter, well, tough luck; Denji's still going to be protective of you and make the job take even longer than necessary because of his rebuttals. He just wants to make sure you're safe!

        Can and will fight anyone who insults you. Yes, you may live on the streets with him. Yes, you might've not had a shower in who knows how long. Yes, your hair is matted, but they don't have the right to insult you. Denji might be a skinny person, but he's been on the streets since he was a kid with you (and he's a devil hunter) so he knows how to fight. Even when he does have his (Aki's) apartment and someone picks on you, well, he now has his own trash can to dump their remains in instead of a local dumpster.

        Denji will always make sure you eat your food; especially your vegetables. No buts! You need to stay healthy!

        Denji would actually die if something bad ever happens to you. He lost his mother and got placed into a shitty situation thanks to his dead dad, you're the only one left in his life and he'll fight tooth and nail to make sure you stay with him.

        Denji was a little afraid that you wouldn't like Pochita when he brought him to your little shack one day. He really grew a bond with Pochita, but he doesn't want you to be upset or scared of the devil dog. He was very happy when you accepted Pochita with open arms.

        Denji will let you use his jacket as a blanket. You can cuddle up with him and Pochita too if you're too cold. He knows he doesn't have much to provide for you (and he feels awful about it) but he wants to make sure you're at least warm at night.

        Denji will always make sure you and Pochita eat first before him. Your needs come before his own.

        When Denji moves in with Aki and Power, he's very cautious of them (especially Aki). Denji wants to make sure Aki and Power won't hurt you, so he's always keeping a watchful eye on them.

        Denji was more lenient on Power. Of course, he still kept an eye open at all times, but he was glad to find you and her roughhousing one day (yes, you got hurt since she couldn't control her strength. She was really sorry about it but refused to admit it, so she let you play with Meowy all day).

        Aki slowly started to gain Denji's trust when Denji miserably failed to make your favorite food on your birthday. Denji woke up extra early to surprise you but was having so much trouble that Aki smelt burnt food and ended up waking up. He found Denji dumping out another batch of burnt food and ended up helping him (just so he didn't waste all his money on restocking the groceries). Yes, Denji took all the credibility. No, Aki did not care enough to try and correct him.

        Manga spoilers ahead, so if you don't know who Nayuta is, don't read!

        When Nayuta comes into the picture, Denji was a little hesitant of it. Two kids to take care of? He can barely take care of himself on good days! Kishibe insisted that Denji take Nayuta in so he really didn't have much of a choice.

        There's some silent jealousy between the two of you, but Denji is too dense to realize it. Denji thinks you two stare at each other because you're very curious and excited to become friends/sisters! Denji was very relieved to see you both coloring together (Nayuta was ruining your zebra with red crayon, so you ruined her dog with a blue one).

        When you and Nayuta finally got along with each other, Denji finally realized the rivalry the two of you had going on. He felt a little bad that he didn't realize sooner since he could've tried to help you two get along, but he's really glad that you both were able to set aside your differences to focus on your main goal: care for your big brother, Denji!

        Now you and Nayuta do everything together! Drawing, watching TV, playing at the playground, you're basically inseparable twins! You even share the same classroom together (if you're around her age). If you're older than Nayuta, you drop her off at her school and pick her up when it's over. Nayuta is always bouncing with unseen excitement when she sees you and Denji from her school gates, ready to take her home.

        I really hope you like dogs because Denji has a lot of them now that Makima's gone. Denji will build a fence in his apartment to keep them out of your room if you're allergic or dislike them. If you do like them, that's great! You can help Denji and Nayuta walk them, feed them, bathe them; it'll be fun!

        Denji really loves you and Nayuta and is very protective of you. He knows you and him have had a hard uprising, he just wants to make sure you're happy and content with the life you have now with him, Nayuta, and many dogs. If you're not happy, he'll try his darn best to make it better for you.

        Thank you for my first request! I'm happy to be of service! (The Denji Drought on Tumblr and any other website is serious, stay hydrated y'all).

        I hope you enjoyed this! If you have any requests, feel free to ask! I have a masterlist on who I write for on my profile. This applies to anyone!

[toggle1-mrfipp]

Ch171: Denji's Victimhood Made Flesh

Pochita, the Hero of Hell has returned and the first thing he did was rip off Barem's head, and the chapter ends with it looking like he's about to rip apart Public Safety's Division 5 which was built for the purpose of containing him.

A lot of people seem to have become very excited about this turn of events, but I however do not share those sentiments.

To me, Pochita in this form represents the totality of Denji's victimhood, of his history of abuse at the hands of others as they try to exploit him. Pochita's contract with Denji was to show him his dreams, of his desires of a better life, but sadly everything good about his life since that contract was made has only been used against him, all of it for the purpose of breaking him down. Makima only let Denji enjoy the life he had with Aki and Power because she planned on taking it away from him, instilling in him he notion that he was at fault for their deaths, and that he had no right to be happy. Barem then burned down his home, killed his pets and presented him with Nayuta's head to further prove Makima's point to him. They took away everything Denji held dear, made him know it was his fault, and that he had no hope for happiness, hopes or even dreams, and it makes me worry about what will happen to Denji from now on. Not even Barem's brutal death can provide proper catharsis because he got want he wanted out of Denji, and being a Hybrid he can just get back up no problem. The last time this happened Pochita tried to reestablish the contract by forcing Kobeni on a date, but it was a feeble attempt that did nothing to help, and it took the unlikely and brief revival of Power to give Denji hope, but I am not confident those circumstances will be repeated. The situation is much worst this time, while Makima and her mind controlled thralls were a problem, this time he has all of Public Safety against her, Fami and whatever others plans she has in store, and entire world that fears and hates Chainsaw Man, his own emotional state is even lower because he now has proof that Makima was right about him, and not to mention there is Asa and Yoru.

The Hero of Hell is a symbol of Denji's victim hood, of people using him to get what they want; Makima, Barem, and Fami wanted Pochita, so they tore him apart to do so, Public Safety cared little for Denji himself and their "deal" with him seemed like a bogus deal that they knew would be broken sooner or later, and Asa, maybe the one person who is maybe the closest person Denji has to an ally at the moment, is still using Denji as a means to feel validated about her own life. As much as I love Asa as a character, I can't help but have no faith in her being able to fix this; I do not think that Asa will be able to meet Denji on an emotional level like this, and her entire story is about how she drops the ball in important moments, so even under the best of circumstances I can't help but think that any attempts on her part to help Denji can only spell is doom.

Pochita's reemergence means a Denji who has been stripped of everything, leaving nothing behind but the things that his abusers and exploiters want from him, with none of them thinking about Denji himself.

[iridescentscarecrow]

by you talking about makima being an abusive mother i assume you're referring to eli's excellent post about CSM's association with motherhood. please do check it out if you haven't, it's been rotting away in my brain for a while and the Chainsaw Man as a birthing device is something i'll bring up in this response.

this is a really intriguing line of inquiry, and an interesting way to think of kishibe; so i'll attempt to assimilate my thoughts on how he's positioned in this answer. this will be quite long so do bear with me:

i've talked about how Family as a concept bleeds into part two from part one. in p1, makima forms for denji a Family, and in p2, denji is handed this motherhood over nayuta.

makima as the Mother is kept and collared by the state. and thinking of chainsaw man in terms of its reproductive power can be extended to its literal reproduction of the narrative. myth and memory form themselves through regurgitation, and the CSM cuts away this chain of reproduction when it eats entire concepts. when it makes people forget. there's an already apparent connection to the Womb (makima // nayuta // denji) but the selectivity in narrative-reproduction is why its central to makima and kishibe's conflict. the war against the mother who exerts control over the child.

because kishibe is the Masculine: he teaches makima and in turn makima entrusts denji and power to him,,, he narratively affirms denji's wondering if he's still able to feel, whether he shouldn't feel sadder at himeno's death by telling us, the audience, that the best devil hunters are those who "have a few screws loose." we're painted this image of denji as a feral incomprehensible Crazy thing, but this isn't true even at this phase of the story. he mourns pochita, he empathises with power's grief at losing meowy. [there's an intriguing line of thought where you compare denji with aki along this vein too, if you think about it].

and that's why the movie date with makima is actually the effective closing of this arc -- her telling denji that he does have a heart subverts kishibe's rhetoric, and what the story tells us denji is. this is makima in her role as mama, the mother, the love that she feels and recieves and creates. incidentally, the chaotic agent that kishibe envisions coincides with makima's idealisation of the chainsaw man, apart from the part where she's expressedly affectionate towards it. and who has she been raised by except these (masculine) institutions? who taught her how and what to want?

aside but "that's a lie." // he sees makima and recognises her machinations at one level but he's never really understood her or her need for love. she tells him that she wants to save people (and this may or may not be true) but he can't really parse that, can he? and kishibe also structures and contextualises so much of the story for us, just like what makima does: what i already said about denji's chaotic self, him narrating reze's past, etc. he's an independent source of information.

because yeah: kishibe is ruthless. and people often bring up kishibe's relationship with quanxi but i don't often see them balance her "ignorance is bliss" vs. kishibe's need to have a few screws loose. we know as the audience about how quanxi actively shuts herself off, but kishibe keeps talking about leaning into this devil hunter nature. and what i think is decipherable from this dynamic is that quanxi, or at least what kishibe sees her as, is kishibe's ideal. tbh she's actually a Symbol for various different ideals, her habitation and display of her sexuality alongside her Ignorance is denji's ultimate form! and kishibe trains denji... [aside but this is why cosmo being her gf is so interesting to me. something something woman who thinks ignorance is bliss x devil who embodies the Horrors of Knowing]

kishibe blindfolding himself after her death is him transposing that ignorance onto himself. he doesn't want to see a thing -- and that's where you see that dissonance. it's not that he's beyond caring, it's how blind he is in how he does this caring.

and kishibe strains against this, he wants to cut away his relationships as contrasted with makima (and even denji) wanting to form them. and this is why makima cutting off kishibe's last tie to quanxi is so interesting because you remember: quanxi didn't accept his deal.

you have kishibe pining after quanxi and yet she's not sexually available to him, so he further isolates himself. and the forming and breaking of relationships comes back here so vividly --

aki's and power's deaths form the CSM out of denji. it's crazy and unpredictable but it doesn't challenge makima, does it? // "attacks don't work against her."

and when all is said and done, denji tells him it's love. loove. denji's the one who explains makima to kishibe. they're sitting at the bench and denji's petting the dogs while nyako, the willingly domesticated animal, twirls itself around kishibe... and kishibe handles the cat with such affection. denji tells him it's love so what does he do except hand nayuta to him??

thank you for the ask, anon!

[thestagsman]

The four horse women of the Apocalypse in chainsaw man have incredible powers that seem to be limited by their own perspective. For the ones that we have seen so far at least.

War can turn anything into a weapon, also long as she perceives it as belonging to her. Control has absolute command over anyone she sees as lesser than herself. The contrast between these two is interesting. Yoru is able to turn her kills into weapons and Makima is shown to control those that she has killed in a very similar manner. But then we get differences Makima can control animals and use them with no attachment because they are lesser beings than her, but Yoru can’t. She tells Asa she should adopt a cat and care for it so they can turn it into a weapon, she sees it as less than a person but can’t use it until she has a bond with it. Hierarchy is another interesting contrast between the two. Makima is often shown freely controlling criminals because they hold a position in society she fells is lower than herself who works for the government. Yoru declares that while she could turn a criminal into a weapon if she killed them it would be weak ‘because’ herself and Asa would view them as lesser than a cat, making the bond weak. Makima inserts herself into public safety making a deal with the prime minister of Japan. This gives her a great deal of power by putting subordinates directly under her, who she freely uses her powers on to influence and control (Aki, Angel, and other public safety individuals). But the Hierarchy prevents her from stoping kishibe from opposing her he is her superior or equal in public safety tasked with keeping an eye on her. When he attacks her she can’t use her powers to stop him or those under his command even with her strong attachment to him she even shares her goals with him. Yoru/Asa is able to turn her teacher into a weapon, someone who she should feel inferior to, skipping over Hierarchy and using their bond as a weapon. Their powers are so similar but at the same time opposites. One requires bonds to use but Destroys them in the process and the other would not destroy them but requires their absence.

Then enters Denji who we are not sure if these power even work on. Hybrids and devils are immune to some devil powers like being turn into a puppet. But is that what’s going on here? Makima controls the other hybrids after they are killed so the four horsemen powers should still have a chance of working. Makima would control Denji if she could right away but she views pochita as Superior to herself. Nayuta calls Denji her property but she bargains with Denji instead of commanding him. Pointing to Nayuta viewing Denji as an equal or her even her superior. So why did Yoru’s power fail to turn Denji into a weapon? Either Asa is right and Denji’s own perception matters or Asa has more control over Yoru than she thinks. (I still think the Asa was War all along theory has merit) She could be stopping Yoru by not perceiving her love as possessive or force of will.

Then we have Famine and Death, how do their powers work? So far Fami has only used her powers on other’s behalf or at least from her point of view. Saving Yuko from death on Asa’s request and trapping everyone in the aquarium to ‘help’ Asa do what must be done. And if you believe that Fami is the the one everyone has be calling the justice devil at school it makes it seem Fami can only use her powers on the behalf of others to help them in a monkey paws manner. As for death all the other horsemen have used their powers on the dead or dying so just saying deaths powers can only be used over the dead would feel bland so maybe it has to contrast with with Famine like war and control. So maybe deaths power can’t be used to effect others or only can only be used in the most self serving of ways?

[daisyachain]

CSM’s relationship with sexuality is You Know. That said the ‘nuts or nothin’ scene somehow links into that. Makima manipulates Denji by seduction. Reze offers Denji freedom via a reciprocal, equal sexuality, and also offers destruction. He goes along with Himeno’s advances until she catches herself despite being three sheets to the wind. Kishibe’s relationship with Quanxi is both real and enforcedly sexless. Denji sells an eye, a kidney, one of his testicles and says he only goes for other people’s balls during a fight cf forced to degrade his own masculinity and cares only about degrading rivals’ masculinity rather than physical domination (leaning real hard into a Freudian reading here). He’s so powerless he’s been reduced to an animal. He literally is become the dog pochita, he only wants to feed, fight other males, [redacted] females.

Denji’s happiness is directly linked to abandoning the sort of precocious, animal objectification of all women to cross his path and focusing on familial relationships (the trio, nayuta, pochita) even if he keep forgetting it. Power literally having implants <—> metaphorically Denji’s attraction to her is fake and simulated. Of course, all this is through the lens of objectification of anything that even looks remotely girly. Even Angel get stripped bare in that one superquestionable chapter cover. That of itself seems to reveal that Denji’s gaze isn’t genuine desire, it’s just an automatic reaction to anything with a skirt on (to paraphrase).

In a series so obsessed with (hetero)sexuality and thus gender, the exceptions prove the rule. Himeno is the dominant, masculine woman screwing her mentee/subordinate Aki, Angel is a sexually ambiguous inhuman that Denji is revealed to be somewhat attracted to and who has a romance with a woman as well as Whatever That Is with Aki, Quanxi is a sexually unavailable (though still fetishized) woman whose relationships are exclusively with inhuman women, Kishibe is a sexually isolated man who is blocked from engaging with that idea by virtue of his unrequited interest. These four characters all provide a meta-view on the nature of the devil world where Aki, Reze, Makima only provide the blind propaganda. Those who exist or are forced to exist outside of the allocisheteropatriarchy (ayyy Macarena) also exist outside of the deception of CSM, and give Denji advice on how to beat it rather than join it.

[artillatron]

Chainsaw Man Thoughts

I have a lot of thoughts about a lot of characters, so I’m putting them here

Denji

I thought it was very interesting how Denji’s motivations are so simple from the start, and how Aki berates him for not having conviction just because his goals aren’t what most would consider noble or lofty. It makes me think about how Denji’s basic, carnal, goals themselves are judged by those around him and used to assume he’s an unserious guy. Which he is, but his commitment to his goals is very real, which we get a real view of when he fights the leech devil, and he clearly isn’t going to win, but he still tries because he really wants to touch some boobs that much. That made me reflect on how we think about other people’s goals. Are we judging them only by our own values? If someone would go that far to achieve a goal, even one you would call base and crude, there is a kind of respect that has to be given. Also, is it not a nice change of pace to have a character who just wants some action, but isn’t rude or pervy about it to the women he likes? I think there’s a certain connection there to how in the current day and age, there is a coexistence that we can find between being a respectful person and still wanting to touch some boobs.

Denji always does what Makima asks because he wants to on his own, not because she directly makes him, like Angel or Aki. She never tells him “that’s an order”, he does it because he really does love her. The person that pulled him out of his old life, fed him better than he had ever eaten before, and was actually nice to him, even if it was all set up. Denji says that he really did love her, and I believe that. Just because Makima tried to kill him, the love that Denji felt is still real. Maybe that’s why Nayuta exists, because Denji loved her too much to actually use Chainsaw Man’s power when he ate her. Maybe it’s because it wasn’t Chainsaw Man who are her, but Denji. There’s such a melancholy intimacy when Denji takes his first bite, because he never did get to kiss Makima; he finally gets to taste her body, which in itself can, through the euphemistic meaning of that phrase, be likened to the sex Denji desires, and he does it with someone he loves. I think Denji’s love being more than “I want to kiss her”, and extending to the extremely difficult “I am going to kill her because I love her” is not something that Denji himself could ever accurately express, but I like that Fujimoto can make that a part of Denji to add to his depth as a character.

Pochita

I assume we’ll learn more of Pochita’s backstory, like why he disappeared suddenly in the battle, and presumably died because he ended up on earth, but not to any of the devils he was fighting? And his ability to eat devils is certainly a threat to others, but how did he become so powerful? Surely the fear of chainsaws isn’t as strong as the fear of say, darkness. 

Power

I don’t think I have many thoughts on Power specifically, because I think her character is fairly well-explained throughout. My only thoughts revolve around why Power would become attached to Meowy specifically and not any other animal. I am curious to see how Denji will find her and if he will find a way to recover her memories, or if she will be reborn like Makima and he will have to befriend her all over again. Will she have a different personality? The other thing of note is the notion of saving a cat, which we have now seen from Denji, Power, and Asa. I have a feeling that indicates some sort of connection between them, or maybe it will end up just being a thematic parallel.

Aki

Aki goes from having one single goal of killing the gun devil, to waht seems like considering Denji and Power family. He wants to avenge his family, but when the time comes to begin the mission to pursue the gun devil, he asks to pull division 4 out, presumably to protect Denji and Power, who he considers worth living for. When Makima makes them go anyway, he’s suddenly back onboard, clearly against his own desires but believing he could help protect them. I wonder if his hallucination while he’s possessed by the gun devil is his own, to deal with the fact that he is now one with the being that killed his family, or if it was somehow put there by Makima, to make him more ruthless in the reality by controlling his perception of the fight. I also wonder if Makima ever used the future devil once he was contracted with her, or if she was so confident that either outcome would be good for her. I do love when he chooses to pay tribute to Himeno by scrambling Katana Man’s family jewels because she doesn’t want him to die, and that’s the kind of insane thing that somone that is going to die would never do.

Himeno

I love Himeno so much she’s beautiful and messed up and fantastic. The fact that she’s so traumatized by the deaths of her former partners that she has no regard for the hazards of smoking or drinking too much, how she clearly loves Aki’s innocence and tries to protect him because she can see that he always has that one bit of sanity in him. She acknowledges him because of the gum, but he’s still on the line between sane enough to die or insane enough to live, and she does everything she can to protect him, and you know that because of the simple “don’t die Aki” she repeats to him and then I simply love her brand of the happy-go-lucky carefree nihilism. Also I like how her night with Denji is like kind of traumatic for him because it helps show that she’s not exactly a saint, but it’s totally in character for her to try something because they could all die anytime and who has time for society’s morals in the face of imminent death? But it also sets up Makima being Denji’s savior by giving him the lollipop and reassuring him so he feels more indebted to her in the long run.

Kobeni

Kobeni is great, she’s just trying her best all the time. It was pretty crazy when she attacked Akane and Katana Man, it was like she was so into the fight that she forgot to be scared, and her fighting abilities were amazing, especially since she didn’t appear to be using her devil power at all. I find it intersting the parallel between her tripping with burger in hand trying to serve Chainsaw Man, and Asa’s apparent penchant for tripping at inopportune times as well.

Quanxi

I think she’s amazing, but how did she get fiendsto fallin love with her, especially as a devil hunter? She’s very outwardly callous, but clearly loves all of them, wanting them to have rights and an education, and trying to trade her own life for theirs. I want to know what’s up with that one with her mouth sewn shut.

Makima

How ironic that someone that views humans as dogs would herself identify others through smell. I think she’s amazing because she genuinely believes what she’s doing will create a better world, when you are the control devil and that’s all you know, of course the only way to solve the chaos and senselessness of the world would to control it yourself. To let things play out would on their own would be to give up control, and Makima could never do that. She immediately uses food to start controlling Denji when she first finds him. It’s very standout how she says there would be “no bad movies”, and I think back to her date with Denji. Two of the three movies that they saw, others laughed and reacted to despite Denji and Makima being nonplussed. The last movie, which they see basically alone, they both cry at. Clearly the movie didn’t interest others, because there was no other audience for the showing. But who is Makima to say that the other movies were bad? Why should the not be allowed to exist because they don’t please one person? There is vast amounts of art in the world, and not all of it will mean something to everyone, but some of it will always mean everything to someone. She’s very clearly using the end to justify the means, but because she doesn’t have complete control over everything, Denji can do something like remove Pochita and use that to sneak up on her. All the power she had, and it was still useless in the end because of the small amount of control over Denji’s actions that she didn’t have.

Asa

I wonder if sacrificing possessions to create weapons is like a metaphor for sacrificing troops’s lives in order to win battles. It also makes me think about how with each weapon she makes, she loses more and more of her possessions, so without taking, she would be basically out of options to fight with. Yoru is the war devil, so I think that was definitely intentional. I don’t have too many impressions of Asa yet, but she almost seems like a foil to Denji (kind devil vs. violent devil, unruly vs. reserved personality) and I predict Nayuta will kill her in much the same way that Makima did Power.

Yoshida

This dude definitely knows more than he’s letting on. Whoever he works for is likely one of the more powerful devils, directly or indirectly, and I would guess he has more than just the octopus devil contracted. Is he actually evil evil or just a creepy looking good guy?

Other Devils

We’ll definitely be seeing more from Fami and Yoru, but what will become of the darkness devil?I have to assumer there will be more threatening devils to come. My predictions for devils to come are the government devil, public speaking devil, the loneliness devil, and the vertigo devil.

Kobeni Car

Kobeni Car

[sugar-grigri]

Denji and Nayuta are more than brother and sister

Nayuta and Denji are not adopted siblings, I see that a lot but it's more... metaphysical than that. And their bond is stronger than that.

Denji is the one who gave birth to Nayuta, in the sense that he is the reason for her existence.

Chainsaws were originally tools to be used in motherhood, cable saws more precisely, even more precisely in symphysiotomy

Not only is this ironic when we know that Denji was looking for a mother figure in Makima, but the pubic bone (what was being sawed), seems to be the origin of her own chains. As if from the start all she expected was to be sliced up by Chainsaw Man. That subconsciously the existence of Nayuta, a new self had always hovered over her.

Metaphysically, it's not insignificant either, although it's obviously Denji's plan, that he uses the chainsaw for the first time when he first cuts her (like a doctor who is about to allow a woman to give birth, in this case Makima to her new self). It is not just a detail either that the way Makima is sliced does not just stop at the bust, but extends to her hips

Addendum: to symbolise the family bond, it is not insignificant that not only Denji, but also Chainsaw Man kills Makima. Because she will also form a family with Denji, not just Pochita. The first time she really sees him is not when he runs into her but when he gives birth to her. He is the first to make a connection with her.

For the Hayakawa family, the fact that Denji is dressed like Aki and that the chainsaw was created by the blood demon, Power, is not a symbol of revenge. It is a symbol of inclusion.

Power and Aki are also active participants in this revival. If Denji takes on the attributes of his brother and sister, it is more to symbolise a family reunion than revenge.

This fight was initiated by Denji's assumption that he still loves Makima deeply.

This is not a murder.

It is a birth to which Denji has taken Power and Aki as witnesses.

This first step was already the advent of Nayuta, because the mutation had just been made

Just like Chainsaw demon who can erase a demon's memories of humanity by devouring it, Denji only follows his precepts by devouring Makima completely

Once again in a symbolic way, Makima ended up in his belly

It's as if the birthing process is backwards: the mutilation by the chainsaw and then in a bizarre way, the pregnancy (by becoming one)

The birth of a demon is indeed backwards

Denji and Nayuta are not only adoptive brother and sister, they have a link, not of blood, but a link that transgresses life and death

Ironically, while Denji was looking for this mother figure, it was he who took on this role to save Makima because she was looking for this same figure through Chainsaw Man. The only one who could allow her to have a family.

Makima wanted a family, a real entourage. Denji saved her by giving her one, but he did more: he was the one who initiated her birth.

Chainsaw Man, her idol, is now the reason for her existence

These two demons are linked forever

[goodluckdetective]

Fic: Chainsaw Man

Spoilers for Arc 1 of the Manga.

When Pochita dies, Denji gains a ripcord in his chest, a mark of what he lost for all to see. It demands attention, with how out of place it is. Sure, he can hide it easily with shirts and jackets but at the end of the day, it’s still there, a mark of both the absence of his loyal companion and the gain of his new life.

Power and Aki do not leave as obvious scars, though the pain is just and deep and biting. But they leave traces in their own way, even if they are not as noticeable.

Nayuta plays with Meowy as Denji cooks, her hands buried in the cats long fur. The same fur sticks to Debbi’s clothes when he goes to school and causes one of his classmates to sneeze when she gets too close, even though he tries to brush most of it off. The meal Denji is making is one from a little handwritten note with pictures that Aki made him when he was going to be gone for a few nights. There are six or so of the notes in total, and while Denji can read some of the Kanji now, he still likes seeing the scribbled bowl on the paper. It looks more like a rock than anything; Aki was not a good artist. The radio plays as he cooks, set to a station Power introduced him to.

When dinner is done, he puts it on the table and shoos Meowy from trying to steal some. He gets sauce on his homework and when he wipes it away, it causes his signature to bleed. “Hayakawa” turns into a scribble of ink. It’s not much of a loss considering the state of his handwriting, but he knows he’ll be docked points for it.

Nayuta eats silently as Meowy begs for leftovers. Denji thought only dogs did that, but any sign of fish and Meowy begs almost as good as Pochita. Pochita who wanted him to have this, of all things.

After dinner, he cleans up (well, more dumps the dishes in the sink to be dealt with later) and puts away the recipes. He has them memorized, but there’s something reassuring about being able to double check. He turns off the radio, letting the music fade.

The apartment is quiet but it’s not empty. There is life here, both amongst the living and the memory of the dead. Even though Makima took so much from him, she couldn’t take it all. What she self-servingly gave him is impossible to take away entirely.

Like the cord in his chest, some things stay, despite everything.

[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.

[toggle1-mrfipp]

This chapter really did nail it in just how Denji and Asa interact with the parasocial relationship aspects of the Chainsaw Man and the Church.

"Everybody wants my chainsaw heart, nobody wants Denji's heart", I think is one of the most heartbreaking things in the entire story because Denji has no reason to believe otherwise. A big reason why he wants to be Chainsaw Man is because he wants to use him to impress people, to make them look his way and give him praise and attention because as far as he is concerned it's the only way people can love him. Makima only cared about him beause of Chainsaw Man, he only met Reze because she was after his chainsaw heart, and even his brief interaction with Fumiko left off with her only being interested in him as Chainsaw Man. Only four people ever loved Denji for being Denji, and three of them, Pochita, Aki and Power, are dead, and the last one, Nayuta, I don't think can give Denji what he needs, because while I don't doubt the affection they have for one another, their relationship is not equal, he is her caretaker and it is his responsibility to see her safe. Denji needs a friend or partner on equal terms, someone who can love and appreciate him without treating him like some add on to Chainsaw Man. Sadly, Chainsaw Man is all he has, and to make matters worst people keep trying to take that away from him. Between Public Safety and the Church, Denji is constantly put into corners where he cannot be allowed to be the one thing that he feels gives his life any value to anyone else. If there's no Chainsaw Man, then what is left for people to love if only Denji remains? Nothing as far as he's concerned.

For Denji, parasocial relationships is a way to validte that only one part of him is worthy of love and affection.

Then there's Asa.

Asa wants nothing more than to connect with other people, to form deep relationships with them, but she' afraid of them because getting close to other people means you can be hurt by them, and unfortunately her beliefs are justified by her experiences. She trusted the orphanage lady to give Crambon a good home, and she killed him. She trusted Yuko to be her friend, but she turned into a school shooter. She trusted her heart to Denji, and even though it wasn't his fault, she was left feeling abandoned. Even her brief meeting with Yoshida and finding a commonality left her devastated, which is why she's so taken in by this parasocial relationship. She can do amazing things and people will call her cool and beautiful, but she doesn't actually have to get close to any of them, she can feel loved and praised without putting herself at risk of being hurt because these interactions are shallow and superficial. The downside however is that all these people only care about the beautiful up and coming devil hunter, but how many of these people would want to know the girl who spends a night looking up fish facts to impress her date at the aquarium, and how many less would actually listen to what she actually had to say about those facts?

For Asa, parasocial relationships are a way to avoid getting hurt because it is the safest way to interact with people.

Denji and Asa rely on these kinds of relationships because the negative experiences in they've lived through have done nothing but justify and validate their harmful world views. For Denji it is that no one can love him outside Chainsaw Man, and for Asa it's anyone who grows close to her can only hurt her.

[sugar-grigri]

power and aki's love for denji doesn't count?

While Makima played on Denji's primary needs to manipulate him, he was obsessed with sex, the only representation he had of love

It was Aki and Power who made up his family that made him understand the true form that love could take - something not necessarily carnal, or even romantic, more abstract and stronger

Denji understood his value precisely through them, that he deserved to be a normal boy and who realised his own desqulibres

Pochita gave him back this balance by encouraging him to cherish and love his new little sister Nayuta

Family is the foundation of Denji

If I say that part 1 allowed Denji to understand that he deserved to be loved, it is because he realised his value in the love that others gave him

Denji wants love

When Asa promises to grant him one of his wishes if he gives him the money stolen from the aquarium, he does not take the opportunity to make yet another salacious request as he would have done at the beginning of part 1

He asks for a date again

He continues his love story!