#himeno analysis
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for himeno, on many levels, "it's a pain in the ass when your partner dies."
for a long time, she has stood still in her grief and trauma, even as life moves on around her.
then she meets aki.
after aki tells himeno about sticking gum on the woman who hit her, she stares wide-eyed at him; as she blinks, the stoplight in the background changes from red to green.
in the following pair of shots, aki explains that she shouldn't just sit back and take this treatment. the camera pans on his closeup but not hers; he's in motion, but not her.
then it sinks in. aki's "easy revenge" has given her permission to stop cradling her pain for a moment, to care about herself, to move on just a little - it's given her permission to smile again.
#chainsaw man#csm analysis#himeno#himeno chainsaw man#aki hayakawa#csm episode 6#made these gifs awhile ago but wanted 2 expand on my original analysis. love it when making gifs makes me see shit i wouldn't have otherwis#GOD i just think their relationship is handled so well by the anime and these flashbacks go hard#my metas#csm gif#gif /#akimeno#akihime#my jessays#edited 3/10/23 to update minor phrasing#himeno analysis
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Fans are Denji's source of unhappiness
First observation: Fumiko is worse than Barem
I don't like making meaningless comparisons, especially in a work like Chainsaw Man where when the characters aren't nuts, they remain at least morally gray. But this comparison makes sense in the sense that the construction of the chapter refers to it. As usual, let's analyze this by following the chapter's chronology.
This one takes place in a funfair, which is not an insignificant location, but we'll come back to that later. These few lines of dialogue already evoke a very simple idea: Denji isn't so stupid that he wouldn't know he was being manipulated. He knows full well that Fumiko was placed in Yoshida's care not to protect him, but to keep a close eye on him, to prevent him from turning and joining the church.
But she tries to disprove all this, evoking the ecstasy one might feel if one were Chainsaw Man. Being Chainsaw Man is also a source of unhappiness for Denji, who corrects her, and Fumiko adapts to his speech, looking for the first negative point that comes to mind. I think it was a real mistake for Fumiko to mention this point, but once again, she adapts to Denji's reaction. He's completely horrified at having been observed in the bathroom, so she shares his negative view of the situation.
She knows that Denji's main objective is sex-related, so she builds on that by downplaying what she's doing. This is fan behavior; fans are sexually obsessed with Denji in the hope that it will delight him. But Fumiko knows no bounds, either ignoring his consent or stalking him, which logically engages Denji's rejection reaction again.
Once again, he perceives the means of manipulation with the word "fan", and rejects it. So far, these experiences have only been negative and intrusive, and even when they have been positive, whether with Asa romantically or Power platonically, the demon of control, another female figure, has put an end to them.
But instead of stopping the manipulation, Fumiko goes on to confirm Denji's words even as they express pure disgust and rejection. For a character who knows absolutely no limits, she may also override stopping this conservation, but she continues with her family history. If public demon hunters know anything about Denji apart from his natural distrust and need for affection, whether sentimental or physical, it's his sensitivity.
I can't say that the story Fumiko tells is a complete lie, just as I can't say that she's telling the truth. She's a hunter, and anything she mentions could well have ended up in a report, especially given the national authorities' interest in the gun demon. But even if her story is true, the tragic aspect, not for her but for Denji, is even stronger.
Fumiko says she lost her parents because of the gun demon, that CSM didn't hear her cries for help. I'd like to remind you that chapter 79, the chapter in which she refers to Aki's death, is dedicated to the trauma of what it means to be Chainsaw Man.
For the demon from the future, Aki died in the worst possible way, not for him, but for Denji. It's clear that the little boy is forcing himself to continue this snowball fight he no longer wants to play.
At first, he tries to reason with Aki, forcing him to wake up, but when he himself is shot trying to spare one of his only loved ones, people won't let him lose. Chainsaw Man is a weapon of vengeance into which everyone projects their frustrations, the deaths of their loved ones. Denji was forced to be resurrected, to kill Aki not for himself, but for the community. Chainsaw Man never acts for himself.
If Aki died in the worst way for Denji, it's because his fans, this community, forced him back to life to remove one of his sources of love.
Denji was traumatized by having to win.
Let's be clear: it wasn't Denji who ignored their calls for help, it was they who ignored his.
Isn't it tragic to criticize Chainsaw Man for not hearing Fumiko's cries for help, or the cries of all those people, when he was instead so compelled by them, like a machine that would be reset to kill a loved one ? Chainsaw Man, on the other hand, hears all the pain in the world. This doesn't mean that Denji is altruistic - he isn't. He's closer to amorality than compassion, but like a permanently dehumanized machine, he must serve others. It has no morals, so how can it live for itself ?
That's why what Fumiko says is so paradoxical: saving Denji means finally allowing him to live for himself, granting him the right not to hear all those voices.
She doesn't mean what she says when she says she's never thought of him as a god, but simply as a child in need of protection. She's only setting up a dissident discourse to that of the church, which idealizes him by banking on the part of identity that is Denji, while the church banks on Chainsaw Man. How can someone who is constantly sexually abusing Denji be competent to protect a boy?
This chapter is about setting limits for children. To have access to the merry-go-round, you have to be over 1m10 tall. These clear limits were never set for Denji, either when he was forced to kill Aki or even when he explores his sexuality.
Having killed his father, been martyred by the mafia and then manipulated by a demon, Denji is now at the heart of other vicious circles. He's condemned to being too young an adult, watching over Nayuta like a parent while children play behind him, not enjoying the funfair with friends, a girlfriend, being cloistered on that bench.
The bench represents the stagnation in Denji's life, his questioning, placed on the bench of his own life, his name unknown to his fans, his nature instrumentalized, his age ignored.
Denji needs and must be considered with the age he is, a 17-year-old teenager. Yet even this characteristic, even the fact that he's still a child, is ignored by Fumiko, hence her insistence on the word "senpai".
The treatment of Fumiko is good, I find her to be the very embodiment of Denji's sexual trauma in the sense that she constantly manipulates him to play on his interests, and constantly ignores his own desires, his limits.
Fumiko manipulates, hence the emphasis on her outraged expression when Barem interrupts. If Barem's manipulation is more grotesque, it's not to manipulate Denji but to mock Fumiko's strategy. Although it's incredibly more insidious, the weapon has a clear idea of what she's up to.
And yet, in just a few sentences, it's right on target. It's much closer to Denji's reality than to Fumiko's human perspective. Weapons are seen as weapons, machines at the service of humans, whose immortality is a pain, as it leads them to the trauma of always winning.
Barem uses a cigarette, obviously reminiscent of those smoked by Aki, who had given in to Himeko's advances and needed an outlet for his stress. Aki's misfortune is to have spent his life on revenge, living to avenge the dead, not living for himself. The cigarette was his flaw, the proof of his humanity, the one he threw at Denji to spare him the pain of getting involved in the horrible business of hunting demons.
Whether or not it was there to manipulate Denji by reminding him of his older brother, whether or not it was there by chance, it conveyed the same message: proof of the humanity of a man who lived for others. A man who was executed once again for that same community.
This community, Denji's fan club, is the cause of his deepest misfortune. Chainsaw Man has never been so popular, yet Denji has never been alone. Because he's not allowed to have loved ones. Nayuta, too, is proof of this: she wants her brother for herself, and convinces him that he's loved by others by acting under the cover of Chainsaw Man.
That's why Denji's intervention to stop the attack in progress is much less certain. All these fans, this humanity waiting for Chainsaw Man, are the source of his misfortune. Of course the fan club will call Chainsaw Man. What's less obvious...
Will Denji listen to their cries for help?
#csm spoilers#csm 142#chainsaw man chapter 142#chapter 142#csm#csm part 2#chainsaw man spoilers#chainsaw man#denji#fumiko#fumiko mifune#barem#nayuta#makima#aki#himeno#my thoughts#analysis
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aki hayakawa: a reluctant and humble hero
Chainsaw man manga and anime spoilers!
Aki's introduction into the manga presents him as the epitome of the ostensibly conventional archetype – the composed and proficient senior figure, propelled by the common motif of vengeance. This character archetype, often pervasive in mangas, imbues Aki with an air of familiarity, yet a closer inspection reveals a nuanced departure from the norm.
What sets Aki apart is the stark realism that underpins his pursuit of justice against the formidable entity, Gun Devil. Unlike the fantastical invincibility often attributed to devil hunters in Chainsaw Man, Aki is a manifestation of vulnerability, existing as a fragile entity composed of mortal flesh and bone. The manga underscores the precarious nature of his existence, highlighting the constant specter of mortality that looms over these ostensibly heroic figures.
Aki's yearning for retribution against Gun Devil is not merely a character flaw to be overcome; it is a veritable sentence, an immutable decree shaping his existence. Within the devil hunters, each engagement with supernatural, often immortal adversaries demands a substantial sacrifice. Aki, despite being among the most adept in his vocation, consistently emerges from intense battles profoundly wounded, emphasizing the tangible costs associated with confronting such formidable foes.
The genesis of Aki's descent into vengeance is rooted in the tragic death of his younger brother, a traumatic event for which he assumes culpability. This conscious plunge into darkness becomes the crucible of his unrelenting quest for vengeance. Attempts to extricate him from this moral quagmire prove futile, with even the persistent efforts of figures like Himeno falling short until her own demise. Aki's temporal reality is further compounded by a dwindling life expectancy, reduced to a mere two years after a grueling encounter with Katana-man.
The temporal constraints, however, serve as a mere formality, for Aki's existential depletion had arguably commenced long before his intersection with Denji. The disquiet expressed by Himeno in Chapter 18 is rendered redundant, as Aki had already traversed a substantial distance along the continuum of his personal deterioration. In unraveling the complex layers of Aki's character, Chainsaw Man offers a profound exploration of the human psyche, wherein the pursuit of justice becomes an inexorable force inexorably tethered to the inexorable passage of time.
#aki hayakawa#aki#hayakawa family#himeno#devil hunter#chainsaw man#csm#csm spoilers#morality#revenge#character analysis#cinycesum-fan-stuffs#analysis
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Now that we're all talking abt the csm anime
I fucking LOVED it, but the one thing that kinda threw me off is how they did the character designs.
Not to say that the anime adaptation was trash, or that every character looked like shit, I'm just pointing out how directors seem to think that realism/live-action is the only way to make something look cinematic/film-esq. Fujimoto likes to reference film in his works, he often uses film techniques and you really get a cinematic feel with the way he does his panels and shots, even with his sketchy stylized art, but directors took this film approach and assumed that cinematic = live action, thus the characters lost their unique touches.
#I could go on and on about how non realism is treated in the world of art and film#live action remakes being the biggest middle finger to the artistic medium#and a note; Angel's redesign is the most jarring one#he has such a unique looking face in the manga#but the anime makes him look like a generic pretty boy#csm#chainsaw man#denji#makima#aki#power#himeno#kobeni#angel devil#analysis
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Chainsaw Man Spoilers
I like how the Angel devil is someone who’s meant to parallel so many different characters in csm, he is a representation of both duality and a lot of the major themes throughout csm despite being a side character
Starting off with Reze, who personally I think is the most obvious parallel as they’re both the two main focuses of the bomb girl arc, Angel are Reze both represent the ‘country mouse’ mindset in which they would rather live a life of comfortability and “simple pleasures” in exchange for not getting to experience every luxury the world has to offer. Those two specifically choose the country mouse because of their dislike of the city. Reze is bound to the Soviet Union and is forced to risk her life in order to carry out her missions, while Angel is forced to live a life in public safety with no actual freedom. Reze offering to run away with Denji to away from public safety is later paralleled in chapter 74 when Angel tells Aki he should “run away to the other side of the world”. Angel and Reze represent the desire for freedom and (in my opinion) love, as the actions they take near the end of the arc revolve around who they wish to be with or protect. Reze goes back to the cafe to find Denji, while Angel kills her to protect Aki from having to kill a women. It’s the only time they interact despite being so similar, Angel is forced to choose his own desire to protect someone he cares about over Reze’s freedom with Denji.
Denji and Angel also have a lot of similarities which I believe mainly lie in 1) food and 2) ignorance. Denji is someone who’s been starved his whole life, food is both important and scarce to him, in comparison to Angel who shown to always be eating something like ice cream, or even other devils. I’ve seen many interpretations of food in csm being a representation of basic happiness as well as love. Whenever Denji eats, it’s clear he honors what he’s eating no matter what it is (ie. him always eating power’s vegetables so they won’t go to waste), and him eating Makima at the end of part one is said to be an act of love—he honored her even while destroying her. Angel, despite eating so much, doesn’t seem to have much thought on what he consumes. It’s clear he likes the food he eats considering he makes a comment about how a dead devil looked like it’d taste good while on patrol with Aki, or the copious amounts of ice cream he’s always holding, but he doesn’t care about it as much as Denji. In his first appearance, he only takes one bite out of the zombie before carelessly throwing it off to the side, and if we use the idea that food represents bliss and love, it could be said that Angel eats so much because he’s trying to find to chase a feeling of comfort through food. He doesn’t care about food in the long run, but he still eats because of the idea that it might give him a small dose of contentment or pleasure. If we look at the topic of ignorance, Denji has to ultimately choose between ignorance or awareness, while Angel is forced into a life of ignorance through his memories getting erased. I believe that Angel, similar to Quanxi, represents a possible future for Denji if he chose to be Makima’s dog; he’d forget what made him feel human and content and only be seen as a devil to be used by public safety.
I’m not going to say much about Aki because it’d take forever and a day to go over the whole situation between them, but basically him and Angel parallel each other as people who seek comfort within each other after spending a lifetime of pushing others away for the sake of their motives (Angel basically not wanting to hurt anyone with his powers and Aki neglecting those who care about him to chase after the gun devil).
Himeno and Angel, to me, are two sides of the same coin. Himeno copes with the devil hunter lifestyle through alcohol, cigarettes, and sex; short pleasures that only get her by for a little while and don’t actually help her adjust to the life she’s living. Angel does something similar with food, but he also copes with isolation because a large part of his issues lie in the fact that he believes he is fundamentally evil. The parallels continue with the way they care for Aki, both of them wanting him to run away from public safety. This goes further with how they don’t believe they are worth saving, and that he has a better chance of getting out than them.
Makima and Angel have a dynamic that more so lies in the religious imagery used in csm. Makima is god, while Angel is Lucifer. Angel would probably be considered Makima’s “favorite” devil, mostly because of his unique powers, which is similar to how God favored Lucifer for his beauty and overall loyalty to him. Angel, just like Lucifer, strays away from the control of his superior. Lucifer ended up in hell after trying to overthrow god, while Angel ends up back in hell after trying to kill Makima.
#I think this analysis is kinda weak but it was fun to write#chainsaw man#csm#angel devil#angel csm#aki hayawaka#makima#himeno#csm denji#reze chainsaw man
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cmon mappa you did not have to do this
#csm meta#chainsaw man meta#csm analysis#chainsaw man analysis#chainsaw man#csm#aki hayakawa#himeno#akimeno#aki x himeno#himeaki#akihime#im not even a hardcore akimeno truther i think there is worth in platonic readings of their relationship. but also the fucking framing dude#mappa storyboarders went silly for episode 8
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Do you think that Aki saw Himeno as a sister or just a friend and never more than that?
here's me challenging myself again bc for the life of me i cant comprehend what aki hayakawa is feeling half the time.
short answer to your question: no.
what did he see her as instead? im nowhere near a coherent and clear answer.
I'll tell u what i do know. we see aki forming loads of different relationships with ppl in chainsaw man. some of them clearer in their nature than others.
let's look at power and denji for example. family. that's an easy one. aki took on the role of the "guardian" at first, somewhat begrudgingly, but it very quickly got reshaped into him being their big brother.
i think seeing this relationship from a lot of different angles is enough to show that he most likely didn't view himeno as his sister.
in his brotherly role, he's very protective. with himeno, even though they were always saving each other, you could feel that their dynamic let him be vulnerable around her too.
he'd allow himself to be protected by her. he'd ask her permission to use the sword. he'd follow her lead and trust her judgement.
equals. even though she ranked higher than him, the mutual respect and trust between them made them feel like a team.
i think there's too many layers to their relationship for me to try and define it. if it's not familial love, is it a bond built around their respect and history as buddies? doesn't really cover all the bases. then is it friendship?
once again, im not sure. have we seen aki having any friends really? is it a coincidence that the two ppl that were somewhat marketed to be his friends are people who either are canonly in love with him or implied to be as such?
is it a coincidence that aki tends to display behavior that can be read as having romantic undertones as well? that he willingly gave years off his lifespan to save both himeno and angel without a second thought?
the answer to that is no, it's not. it's because these characters are way too complex and have a lot of trauma under their belt to navigate through relationships as the average human being.
aki has experienced a lot of loss. he's dishonest with the ppl around him and with his own feelings. he pushes people away to focus on his goal, but keeps making choices that contradict that way of living.
he's stumbling around this duality, almost as if he's in limbo. he's not letting himself have what he wants in the present. he's not giving people what they want from him. he's not dedicated enough to progress towards his goal.
and what does aki want in the present? my guess is: to be close to people. aside from wanting a family, to fulfil the role he missed out on, to get a redo of being a big brother and not mess it up, he wants ppl close in every sense.
that's why when his mask slips up, you can see how wholeheartedly he gives himself over to people.
he breaks around himeno a couple of times, letting his need for her slip through the cracks. he lets her touch him, cuddle him, light his cigarettes. he reciprocates, if a bit more hesitantly, stealing that cigarette standing just a tad too close.
is that attraction? or is it aki letting himself get the closeness he craves bc he knows he can? he knows he's allowed to bc himeno wants him there?
aki has to know himeno has feelings for him, at least in the back of his mind. does that keep him from getting even closer to her in fear of leading her on? would he want to get closer if makima wasn't forcefully pulling his attention to her? more questions i cant answer.
but looking at his relationship with angel as well, aki does follow this pattern. he's again putting up an act. he can't get along with angel, they are like natural enemies.
then the fear of loss creeps in and boom, he breaks. gives up his lifespan and pulls angel against his chest. it's like drawing the curse's sword all over again. he yells at angel for almost dying and nestles his face against angel's hair, holding him tight.
it's this type of behavior that leads me to believe that this is something that aki is deprived of. the closeness, the intimacy, someone to hold and maybe grasp onto. its something he's always needed and kept keeping himself away from.
is it love? is it friendship? is it response to unresolved trauma? a mix of the three? you tell me.
the fact that at no point throughout his storyline does aki have full control of himself also gets me. even if i was to speculate about the type of feelings he has for each person in his life, i know there's someone else ultimately pulling the strings in his brain. and that's a factor I can't break down and take into consideration.
so this is all i can give u by rubbing my two braincells together and not venturing too much into headcanon territory.
istg the inner workings of aki's mind literally keep me up at night.
#answered#akimeno#akiangel#aki hayakawa analysis#chainsaw man#aki hayakawa#himeno#chainsaw man spoilers
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Himeno was right...
#character analysis#i stan arai#arai hirokazu#kobeni higashiyama#himeno csm#aki hayakawa#power hayakawa#power csm#denji csm#denji hayakawa#chainsaw man#csm#lol#good anime#wtf#funny as hell#good manga#dank#anime memes#funny
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Guys pls don’t let this flop I slayed too hard on this
#shitpost#csmdaily#csm manga#denji manga#akiangel#power csm#csm part 2#csm angel#csm anime#csm makima#makima#aki hayakawa#himeno#anime and manga#csm analysis#what the fuck
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Why Grooming is Not Synonymous with Pedophilia: A Thread 🧵
⚠️Chainsaw-Man Manga Spoilers ⚠️
1) What is Grooming?
lawinsider defines grooming as: "befriending and establishing an emotional connection with an individual to lower the one's inhibitions for emotional, physical, or sexual abuse."
2) Victims of Grooming.
Grooming can be sexual, romantic, financial, etc. and can target both children and adults. The common aspect is that a perpetrator manipulates a victim by building trust and affinity. The key to grooming is a power imbalance within the relationship.
3) Does Makima Qualify?
Yes. Being the Control Devil, this is one of the core parts of her character. She brainwashes people to get what she wants by treating them as tools. Her powers can be exemplified in her relationship with Denji in order to obtain the Chainsaw Devil.
4) What is Pedophilia?
Pedophilia is a term used to describe a sexual attraction to pre-pubescent children younger than 12. Sexual behaviour is also not required, just as someone straight or gay can know their orientation without any interaction.
Good example from
@SkottTheHot
5) Victims of Pedophilia:
As the attraction stems from a specific age group, and is not bound by a specific sex, it can only directly affect said children ranged from 0-12.
Victims who are of teenage years can be subject to experience Hebephilia/Ephebophilia respectively.
6) What's The Difference?
One is a sexual attraction towards a specific age, whilst the other is merely an action that anyone can experience, and is not inherently sexual.
The takeaway is that you acknowledge pedophiles may be groomers, but not all groomers are pedophiles.
7) Makima is a Groomer, not a Pedophile.
Denji is introduced as a 16 year old within the start of the manga - he is a teenager - not a child; Makima also has zero sexual attraction towards Denji, therefore this also does not qualify as valid criteria for pedophilia…
Note: Himeno is neither a groomer or pedophile. Please, use your brains before engaging in similar scenarios, thanks.
#CSM#Manga#Chainsaw Man#Denji#Power#Makima#Manga Analysis#Manga Thread#Fujimoto#Reze#Control Devil#Himeno
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its actually good that the anime has been making me rethink himeno bc theres been more discourse around her (including some genuine poor taste ones about her and makima doing a "groom-off") and i genuinely didnt feel strogky enugh about her to really care. but with the recent ep + a quick reread of her chapters she reads as neither an angel nor as a toxic predator but rather as v similar to misato nge to me. as in like, shes someone who is very clearly deeply traumatized, who has a poor sense of boundaries in general in part bc of that trauma, and who was handed this teenage boy as a partner to eventually lose but instead he lived. it's very clear to me that while shes not what id call actively predatory, she does have some massive issuss in how she treats aki and then denji–i dont think shes been grooming aki, as grooming is a process and one that requires actual thought and planning, while himeno is like...... her romantic interest in aki is creepy but he is in his early ywenties by the time shes seriously considering courting him. and with denji its not a process either, rather a series of pisspoor decisions coupled with spcietal expectations that it isnt bad for an older woman to act inappropriately with a teenage boy.
tbc this isnt defending her or saying shes just a poor soul nlah blah quite the contrary, theres a reason i compare her to misato. your mileage can vary on what to call her or what words to use to describe her actions, but they are at the very very least deeply inappropriate and creepy. and like, its important to think of why shes like this and what her actions mean in the larger context of chainsaw man's exploration of abuse and power dynamics. she is, again, deeply traumatized and alone, and when aki shows all signs that hes going to live she puts a SHITTON on him and develops a really unhealthy relationship to him; even as a teen he seems more aware of appropriate boundaries than she is and has to learn to navigate their relationship in a far stricter manner than she does.
but its worth asking why they became partners in the first place–to question the environment of public safety. its not jsut that rookies die so easily, its that anybody can join as long as they have the will to 1) give up on their lives entirely to go adter the gun devil 2) make contracts that will cost them immensely. aki is a teen when he joins, hes lost his entire family and he's what public safety seeks–new blood, someone who'll disregard their safety for work, someone with no attachments. the buddy system is presented as being for safety reasons, but ngl i think its also to purposefully foster codependency and an active desire for vengeance when one buddy inevitably dies. public safety has tight regulations and a union and paid holidays and they are very okay with roping in vulnerable teenagers to their deaths or worse! how old was himeno when she joined? did she do it for the money for her fathers medicine? did anybody notice this backstory is revealed at the same time we learn kobeni was forced by her family to join public safety? at the same time its made clear that power and denji have absolutely no agency in this situation?
i think...... himeno is, at best, deeply irresponsible and lax on boundaries and has a real peoblem with using teenage boys as emotional crutches. at worse she assumes none of her behaviour could ever be genuinely bad because shes an older woman and theyre all colleagues, haha hoohoo, and yeah that makes her a predatory creep. shes also incredibly tragic, and its ok to admit both these things coexist in her. she's another pawn that works at public safety, a resource to be consumed, the deaths around her and her trauma the fuel to her workplace motivation. and like, it says a lot that everyone is perfectly ok with her behaviour towards denji–theres obviously the societal perceptiom of that kind of dynamic (even as himeno herself is like oh shit thats illegal aint it), but also like.... relationships there are deeply skewed on purpose because death and suffering and fucked up hookups and the exploitation of vulnerable people–including teenagers–is so normalized. like what, you gonna call your adult colleague *predatory* for flirting with the their own teenage colleague who'll probably die a gruesome death any day bc thats just part of the job? you gonna talk about how its weird for your workplace acquaintance to be so intimate with their underage buddy when you're currently working with a 15 year old who is consumed by vengeance for their family and will either die within the year or stay as a fucked up husk of a person selling their every body part to save your life?
#i like himeno a lot more this time around. she actuslly feels like a real person who has catastrophic coping mechanisms#would love for chainsaw man discourse about complicated/evil characters to go beyond 'x did nothing wrong/is too hot for me to care'#or 'groomer abuser. end of story no need for further analysis either of the characters of the setting or the larger picture'#csm#eli talks#csa /
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parallels in chainsaw man, ED 8: first death
when himeno was alive, the world was full of oranges with blues creeping in at the edges. warm and almost lively, but with the spectre of death surrounding them
when she's gone, the world is overwhelmed by blue with the orange flickering. somber and tragic, heavy with grief, but maybe - the warm light is trying to persist
#chainsaw man#himeno#himeno chainsaw man#aki hayakawa#csm edit#csm spoilers#csm episode 8#csm gif#gifset#my edits#akihime#akimeno#gif /#aki leaves his flowers for himeno then walks towards denji and power. he lost a dear buddy but... he still has a family...#im gonna post more edits later and possibly a more thorough analysis post too#my metas#himeno analysis#my jessays
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what do you think of aki x himeno (i don’t ship them but i don’t necessarily hate himeno either) i just think some of the fics that you write, especially the notion of sharing the cigarettes is very similar to aki/himeno and it’s very romantic overall! it makes me flutter when im reading it but then my brain goes “wait. this is also in the manga kinda? and it’s cute.” reader even reminds me of himeno in some ways so it’s weird to see that it can be so cute but at the same time people don’t like her at all or even make jail edits of her :(
okay long amateur analysis incoming....
I personally don't ship them because I always saw himeno as more of a mentor and close friend to aki. I think she was in love with him, and himeno was always important to aki, but I think aki loved her more like he loved power & denji.
I really enjoy the way the relationship between aki and himeno is written though, both for what it means to the story and for what it means to the development of aki's character. that's why some of my fics contain elements that are similar or call back to their relationship, just in a different way.
himeno was the only person left who was holding aki back and when she died, aki didn't care for his well-being anymore, he became solely focused on his mission. himeno is also one of the only people who knows about how aki suppresses his emotions, how he tries to be tough but it's just a mask that he wears.
aki became willing to give up his life for power & denji, just like how himeno gave up her life to save him. because of the life that devil hunters have to deal with, himeno assumes most of them are numb, but aki is different. aki still feels for everyone, he still cries even when rookies pass away. so himeno is willing to give her life up for him, because he is someone who isn't numb like everyone else, who will cry for her when she dies.
I totally get why people don't like himeno, and I'm not about to defend any of the problematic stuff she's done. she's a very complicated character, she's lost countless people in her life, the families of her deceased buddies even come to take their anger out on her even though she has nothing to do with it. she tries to hide her deteriorating mental state with a bubbly personality, and tries to drown her sorrows with drinking, cigarettes, and sex. she latches onto aki because she doesn't have anything else left, and because he's a small beacon of light for her in the dark world of devil hunting.
honestly I like the way himeno is written, but I don't like himeno, if that makes sense... I think her character is written extremely well and realistically. I was sad when she died because himeno actually feels like a real person who could exist in this world. but if himeno was a real person.... I would not be cool with her lol
#I mean no hate towards anyone who ships aki and himeno by the way#you can ship whatever you'd like#this is just my opinion and how I see their relationship#thank you for asking anon I enjoyed talking about this#I've had himeno analysis thoughts stewing in my brain for a long time lol#maybe someday I'll do an aki analysis#I wonder if anyone would be interested#it would probably be like..... super long... coming from the deep depths of my brainrot#but guys... I love aki for so many reasons besides what's on the surface#his character is so well written#but that's a topic for another day#ask mags
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On a brainrot, please ignore and just pass by. Can't stop thinking about how Aki and Himeno fit so much to Pray for me by The Weeknd. It is really just boggling my mind that this song literally circles between them. I'm so normal about this.
I'm always ready for a war again
Go down that road again
It's all the same
I'm always ready to take a life again
You know I'll ride again
It's all the same
Tell me who's gon' save me from myself
When this life is all I know
Tell me who's gon' save me from this hell.
Need I say more? Despite being kind as he is, as he can be, he still had murder and revenge on his mind—even when Kishibe believes that Aki can make his way to the gun devil because he's different from the rest, Himeno thought otherwise; to which can lead to his end as what Himeno fears when she became fond of him.
Then Himeno realized that and immediately tried to steer him the other way. She could have had quitted before but of course, she stayed because of him. She began to save him in her way, in what she can do because she know his ass will not listen!!
Her giving up of what she was asking of Aki then just staying to keep him alive.
Then comes this verse that suits to Himeno so well.
Who gon' pray for me?
Take my pain for me?
Save my soul for me?
'Cause I'm alone, you see
If I'm gon' die for you
If I'm gon' kill for you
Then I'll spill this blood for you.
In a way, I think the first verse fits to Himeno as well, living stagnant; just killing and whatever her job demands. Even when she was getting sick of it, she still didn't leave and continued as if to live another day. Then came Aki, changing that. He saved her from that. By being able to have a care for him, it abled her to look for that same care as well and maybe somehow she felt that from him. She found something to live for.
But of course, as much as she'd live for him, she'd also die for him to let him live. Laying down her life, without regrets knowing that he'd live and he'd cry for her, because that's one of the things she longed for.
Then came her death and Aki, finally realizing what was at stake, what he had then and what more he could have as time went on after her passing; Denji and Power.
Her death didn't just save him at that moment, it truly saved him.
#chainsaw man#aki hayakawa#csm himeno#csm denji#csm power#anime#manga#tatsuki fujimoto#character analysis#i think???#brainrot#i'm on an agenda#and it needs to be said#i like himeno#sue me#irene rambles 💭#my family#chainsaw man spoilers#do not let bro cook 💯
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A small Chainsaw Man Analysis
They're referencing this post:
(Sorry i can't respond to your ask directly, tumblr kept crashing)
LMAO ok Anon you win but I can’t promise this will be very articulate or coherent
Ok so when I first heard about Chainsaw Man I heard it was The Manga Of All Time and the anime has been Majorly Hyped and Everyone Loves It so I was curious. Then I went and watched the anime and I was like ‘huh ok I mean. It’s good but it’s not like mindblowing.’
Then I read the manga all the way to the end of part 1 and I understood.
So the world of Chainsaw Man is set in a Fucking Bleak reality. Like, overwhelmingly so. The fact that devils exist and can murder humans on a whim and it’s basically treated as an unavoidable inconvenience because how the hell can you stop them, really, when they’re functionally immortal? The best you can do is kill them, send them to Hell, and hope they don’t die there and revive back on Earth. The protagonist is a 16 year old orphan who sold parts of his body to pay off a “noodle incident” debt inherited from his father, and then the kid was murdered by the yakuza he owed money to because they decided they liked devils, actually, and didn’t want him around killing them. In CHAPTER ONE. Why would anyone enjoy reading about a story set in a world like this?
Because of Aki, and Power, and the family Denji created with them. It takes a while for the ball to get rolling in the story, because they’re strangers at the beginning, but any manga reader is gonna know what I mean when I talk about how they love each other. Denji comes across as a sex-obsessed, horny teen, but that’s just because he craves emotional intimacy and sex is the only way he thinks he could get it. The truth is that his shower/bath with Power was the exact kind of vulnerability and intimacy he was craving, and it WASN’T sexy. The narrative didn’t treat it as sexy. Denji even notes that it wasn’t sexy, to his surprise, but it was nice to be able to be vulnerable with another person. Then there’s Aki, who imprinted on Denji and Power so hard he straight-up was considering quitting being a devil hunter so he could just live a normal life with his new family. He was willing to abandon his obsession with the gun devil, something that he’d been driving his will to live for years, for them. It was Himeno’s death and the letter he read that made him realize that the life of a country mouse might not be so bad, if it’s with the people he loves. (I know that’s a loaded sentence out of context but manga readers know what I mean when I bring up the country mouse, right)
I bring all of this up to show how even in a grim, dark, depressing world like Chainsaw Man, there is hope; and that hope comes in the form of love. Love in a general, not romantic, sense. Love of having toast and jam for breakfast, love of a movie, love of a family.
Now, to Makima.
Makima is Really Fucking Goddamn Powerful. She is literally reality breaking, almost as much as Chainsawman. (For the purposes of this essay, I’m referring to Pochita/Chainsawman and Denji as separate entities.) Makima is able to control anyone so long as she feels she has power over them, and she has a contract with the fucking Prime Minister. That’s a terrifying power. She’s literally the manifestation of the fear of being controlled.
And that’s a lonely existence.
Pochita/Chainsawman says it himself. When you’re so powerful, you struggle to make connections with people. Either they worship you and put you on a pedestal, or they fear you. You can’t get close to anyone, no matter how hard you try. The only way Pochita was able to do so was because Denji had no idea who Chainsawman was.
Makima doesn’t show this emotional weakness of hers, because it directly opposes her powers. If people saw her as needing connections with other people, they wouldn’t respect/fear her, and she would literally become weaker as a result. (The same way that as Chainsawman becomes more beloved by the general populace as a Hero, he becomes weaker.) But there’s a point where we, the audience, get to see this side of her. In her date with Denji.
Quick recap (of one of the best chapters in the whole manga, thematically): Denji and Makima go on a date at a movie theater. They sit and watch like six movies in a row over the course of the day. The first five are packed with people and are funny/entertaining, but not very deep. Neither Denji nor Makima are very impressed with these. Then…I’ll just post the comic here.
The final movie they see is more of an indie arthouse film. Most importantly, it shares an intimate, vulnerable moment between two people who hug. Denji cries because he sees this thing he craves, as I’ve elaborated on. Then he looks over and sees that Makima is also crying. We already know why, as Pochita said: she is unable to get close to anyone, due to the nature of her powers and the nature of her being a devil. Because of this, Makima craves connections with other people.
Makima straight up tells the audience why she’s doing the things she’s doing. If she has control over Chainsawman, she can have him eat other devils and create a world where those fears never existed. She truly, honestly believes this would make a happier life for humans. But the problem with that mentality is that in a world without bad things, in a world without fear…there’s no good things, either. How do you tell how “good” a good thing is, if you have nothing to compare it against? How can you tell that one in five movies is “good”, if you don’t experience the other four?
Why would anyone enjoy reading about a story set in a world like this? Because despite all of the horrible things that happens, love exists. It shows up over and over and over again. Love exists. It was there. It mattered. It was worth fighting for.
That brings me to the conversation between Makima and Denji I love so much, and why the end of Part 1 works so well.
Makima thinks that a world without bad movies fear would be better. She thinks that in this world, she could be loved. She thinks that in this world, humans could be happy forever because they never suffer hardship.
And Denji knows for a fact that that's wrong, because without bad movies, the good movies don't stand out. You can't say that jam and toast is a great breakfast if all you've ever eaten is jam and toast for breakfast.
And that's why Makima is tragic (because she's never experienced the love that Denji has, and never experienced the hardships he has), and that's why Makima is wrong.
And all of this, the whole conflict of the story, is summed up in three lines between Denji and Makima in a graveyard. It's perfect.
#it's also why i love makima. she's such a great character#chainsaw man#chainsaw man spoilers#chainsaw man analysis#csm#csm spoilers#makima#denji#denji hayakawa#op#axbox#anon
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i feel like any analysis of denji's character that basically ammounts to 'denji isnt actually horny, he's just desperate for human connection and affection but can't conceptualise it in any way other than sex' kind of?? misses the point?? a bit???? like yes denji has an incredibly warped idea of love and affection, and yes denji is deeply touch starved and deprived of healthy caring relationships, but he IS also just a horny teenage boy, and that's not a bad thing
i get with the rampant misogyny in anime/manga (and all media, and the world at large) and the prevelance of the 'sex obsessed pervert' as a character archtype that when audiences are confronted with sexuality as a theme, or a character who is horny but isnt CreepyTM about it there's this urge to go 'well actually the sex and horniness is a metaphor, its really about [insert more 'high brow' theme here]' and like, that is somewhat true in chainsaw man's case that sex and sexuality and lust are used to symbolise and epitomise manipulation and affection and a whole myriad of other things but also the sex and horniness IS just about sex and horniness
denji is not one track single mindedly obsessed with sex, hes capable of seeing women and girls as people rather than sexual objects (even when he is attracted to them) and forming platonic, wholly non-sexual bonds with them (power, nayuta), when actually confronted with the posibility of sex he often finds himself underwhelmed (touching power's boobs, himeno being drunk, etc) because hes built sex up as this massive awesome thing in his mind when in reality sex IS quite underwhelming a lot of the time and its unsurprising that the non-sexual moments of connection he has with people, especially women and girls, are ultimately more emotionally fufilling for him (bathing with power, bonding with reze, etc)
BUT he is also a deeply horny character for whom having sex is a primary motivation, and thats not a bad thing, it doesnt make denji stupid or a creep, it doesnt make csm low-brow or misogynistic, it doesnt undermine all the other deep stuff fujimoto says about human connection and lonliness and affection and manipulation and what have you, denji can simultaneously be a character who has a warped view of affection due to his traumatic upbringing that leads him to idealise sex to an unhealthy degree AND a horny virgin of a character because hes a teenager and lots of teenagers are horny people who spend a not-insignificant amount of time thinking about sex and how to have it
sex and horniness is a fundamental part of chainsaw man and of denji's character, the story and character writing is as good as it is precisely because of how sexuality is utilised and depicted narratively, not in spite of it
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