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easy-revenge · 8 months

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its been over 2 years since i read volume 9 of chainsaw man and it still apparently has the power to make me sob uncontrollably when i think about it so im going to talk a bit about aki and denji being shown as children during the snowball fight and why it's currently making me wanna rip my hair out :)

aki is already gone during this scene for all intents and purposes, having very little comprehension of the events his body is in and just waiting to be set free. his mind reverting back to the moment he lost his family is not surprising, since that's when his life permanently changed trajectory.

he's not to blame for being stuck in this moment, as it would make sense for any kid his age. however, he didn't put himself on the path towards revenge, which inevitably made him unable to let go. that was makima. she took him by the hand and gave him this "purpose", something she very well knew he was never going to achieve anyway. she trapped him in this predicament and made sure he stayed there till there were no options left for him.

to the very end, aki's life was never his own, but planned for him. aki never left that snowy forest. he wasn't allowed to.

as a result, the essence of aki that remained within the gun fiend after his death materialized as the last genuine version of aki that ever was. a kid playing in front of his house.

moving over to denji, who is the one that got me crying today. his appearance as a child in aki's mind is partly to parallel the bond they shared and the bond between aki and his little brother, whom he lost that day. of course. however i think there's a lot of significance to this choice for denji's character as well.

denji grew up remote and very disconnected from society. he never got the chance to learn how to navigate his feelings and relationships with other people. he had to figure it all out as he went, first with pochita, whom he got attached to and later with aki and power. even with makima.

makima was the first person to ever give him attention and affection, to give him the things he always wanted, but she never treated him like a person. she never helped him get any closer to learning how to be one. he was used, much like aki was, and was given a purpose that was never going to be for his own benefit.

as a result, denji took a while to go through the motions of being surrounded by humans and being taught by them. the first time we saw him face the concept of loss was with pochita, an event that didn't really give him much in terms of experience considering all the implications and how suddenly it changed his life. in its nature, it wasn't a type of loss he would've been able to navigate as a human.

im not going to go into the situation with his father since we saw very explicitly how incapable he was to handle it to the point of blocking it out and having it haunt him till the end of part one. he surely didn't get much data out of that experience either, or the abuse he went through before it.

the first real time he got to see loss occur very close to him was himeno's death. he had no emotional reaction to it, which confused him since he was able to observe its effect on aki and other people around him. he questioned his own humanity for the first time and it upset him, if only momentarily. it gave him a hint of perspective.

sadly, he was going to find out what loss meant the hard way.

with makima still treating him like an animal and the circumstances forcing him to still rely on his instincts, denji's emotional maturity wasn't really prioritized. he did inevitably grow closer to aki and power, without necessarily being able to recognize those feelings for what they were. again he just had to go through the motions.

fast forward to the gun devil arc. he's told by makima on the phone to not think, to just fight aki without thinking about it. we see the progress that's been made in how clearly unable denji is to follow that order, aki being the closest thing to family he's ever had by this point.

he fights his best friend, not even thinking about himself, but of how aki would feel if he were conscious of how much destruction he was causing. still up to this point, denji doesn't know that he loves aki. it hasn't computed to him as a piece of info, only as an experience.

him being shown as a child in the snow, a contrast to the violent reality that his body is in, has as much significance as it does for aki.

denji never really grew up, he never got past his father's death or anything that happened to him before and after that. he was kept from it by his life and makima herself, once again. his ineptitude was weaponized and he was nowhere near being aware of it. he was also stuck.

in that scene, denji experiences real loss. he loses someone he loves and someone who loves him back. someone who thought himself unable to do so but was the first to love him like a human.

he was just a kid, losing his family by his own hand again, only this time he had been loved.

it's highlighted in the next chapter, where he appears unable to grieve and looks kind of numb instead. then we have the ice cream scene, where he thinks the words for the first time and throws up immediately.

his confusion after it happens, him being unable to fathom why his body would have such a reaction, breaks my heart almost more than the entirety of the snowball fight itself, from denji's pov.

im not going to talk about what happens directly after that and its implications bc im gonna end up talking forever, but his behavior throughout the next chapters very much shows how out of his depth he is when it comes to loss and grief and how lost and helpless he is in makima's hands.

my point is, both aki and denji were used, weaponised and kept from growing up while also having to deal with the world and its cruelty at the same time. even the closeness they achieved was planned and used against them both. this is only one of many angles of the snowball fight scene that can be looked at and interpreted in different ways. but it was the one that made me ugly cry today :)

#oof #this was inspired by a tiktok i saw with panels from that scene #and i went from fine to snot running down my face in the span of a singular minute #:)))#chainsaw man #aki hayakawa #chainsaw man denji #denji #hayakawa family #csm #chainsaw man manga #chainsaw man manga spoilers #chainsaw man analysis #makima

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ingoodjesst · 1 year

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another thought to expand on sometime: aki being so sure his sacrifice to defeat the gun devil is necessary that he doesn't stop to think who it'd hurt and who he'd lose. it doesn't matter how HE dies, but he doesn't ask what would happen to the people around him until it's too late. until himeno has sacrificed herself, and he sees just how desperately she was trying to keep him alive. until he gets cold feet unable to imagine losing angel and denji and power, but makima has ensured there's no longer a way out.

he doesn't realize how much he matters to other people and how much other people matter to him until he's out of time. he doesn't realize that these relationships are enough to define a life, that no one has to be a protagonist for a grand cause for their life to have meaning. it's just the people around you that you love that love you. it would've been enough.

edit: a rambly addendum on aki's sacrifices and choices

#a jesst #aki hayakawa #chainsaw man #csm manga spoilers #csm spoilers #csm analysis #my jessays #aki analysis

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kideaternomnom · 2 months

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Opinions on Akiangel? (The ship) 🤔

I like it. ^^ I was planning on re reading CSM, however based on my memory I like it due to the symbolism and how they sort of give each other what they need. Even if they weren’t aware they needed it. !!PRETTY MAJOR BOMG GIRL ARC SPOILERS DOWN BELOW!! They both help each other develop and express the good sides of themselves and their personalities. For example: Angel at first didn’t really care on saving humans. I believe he called himself a devil first before an angel. However, after Aki saved him- he killed Reze, aka a devil so Aki wouldn’t have to kill a teenage girl since he knew Aki wouldn’t want to do that. After that, he acknowledged the angel part to him rather than just the devil side so him. He opened up and wanted to save a human’s mental health despite calling himself “devil first” when he was first with Aki. Thus making him be able to show a better side of him instead of just the devil side. As for Aki, based on what I remember it helped him open up to devils more. Of course Denji and Power played BIG roles in it, however I’d say that Angel played a big role too. He (Angel) helped give him (Aki) variety in what he didn’t have in life before. Whether it be a lazy partner, a devil (what Aki hated before) as a partner, etc. I don’t want this to be too long however I can go more in depth in why I find their relationship fascinating and why I think they work. Overall, I think they appeal because they give each other what they need in life. And encourage the best parts of each other. Angel helped Aki open up to devils even more and even taking out a span of his life just to save Angel. While Aki’s kindness helped encourage Angel Devil to encourage well….the Angel side of him.

#anime #analysis #chainsaw man #character analysis #csm #chainsaw man manga #csm manga #ships #my meta #fandom #akiangel #aki hayakawa #hayakawa aki #angel devil #fandom ships #chainsaw man manga spoilers #csm manga spoilers #my analysis

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rivxia · 5 months

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Denji and Love (Spoilers)

When Denji dreams of having a "normal life," one of the first things to come to mind is the idea of being with a girl. Until meeting Makima, most people in his life were men; therefore, all the things in his life that made it bad or "not normal" can only be blamed on them. That alone causes Denji to disconnect from other men. He is more susceptible to trusting women because they have given him no reason not to. He craves some kind of affection and love from another person and since he has never received anything like that from people in his life, women are who he projects his emotional needs on.

Makima finding Denji shapes his emotional arc for the rest of part one.

Mentioned early on, it's known that Denji's mother died when he was young enough to not remember her. It's also known that his father was so abusive that he almost killed him before dying himself. Denji has no concept of paternal love and though he never outwardly says it, it's something that he immensely craves. However his experiences in life lead him with know ways to differentiate between the different types of love. All Denji knows is that he needs it in general. That is exactly what Makima uses against him from the very moment they met. She comforts, feeds and provides him with a stable home, like a mother. At the same time she nurtures his sexual desires as well. She manipulates everything that Denji thought love was.

Despite what Makima thought, his relationship with Power and Aki are his biggest asset in fighting her mind games.

Aki and Denji's relationship had a very rough start. Neither of them trusted the other and, thanks to Makima, there was a lingering jealously between them.

Aki grew up in a fairly normal household with two parents and an ill younger brother; because of that Aki was a glass child. His family got killed by the Gun Devil in front of his eyes after he sent his brother back inside to put on something warmer. He lives with guilt and hatred towards all Devils leading him to becoming a Devil Hunter.

Makima having Denji stay with Aki is like trying to force oil and water to mix.

On top of that, the Blood Fiend was assigned as Denji's buddy.

The three of them slowly grew closer. Aki was starting to let go of his resolve in order to protect Denji and Power. Power was taught that there was indeed value in human life.

Denji learned that love can show itself in more than just one way. Power became Denji's twin flame and their bond was unbreakable. Aki starting seeing his little brother in Denji and started treating him as such.

Denji was given examples of what a real family was meant to feel like. This caused him to rely less on Makima for that kind of love.

#csm #chainsaw man #chainsaw man spoilers #character analysis #just me info-dumping lol #denji #found this in my drafts #from MONTHS ago #i think i wrote this after rereading part 1

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seventeenlovesthree · 8 months

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I don't know if anyone has ever noticed this, but... There has been a trend in anime/animation in recent years that has a very particular female character archetype. It obviously has slight variations and you may not immediately make the connections, however. Let me list the similarities:

It has to be a female character.

They usually (but not always) have brown/red-ish hair, mostly longer, often seen with either a ponytail and/or a braid(s). Variations include pigtails and long(er) side bangs.

They have a very specific objective - and tend to be very, very obsessive about it, whether it's an actual person or another type of goal. Might sometimes include a saviour/God (or Satan) complex.

Their name (surname, family name or a nickname) has to start with the letter "M".

#my two cents #analysis #monika ddlc #makima csm #maki himekawa #menoa bellucci #moemura akemi #homura akemi #mami tomoe #mari makinami illustrious #marinette dupain cheng #i know there are MORE out there but these are the MAIN ones that came to mind #all of it started by me comparing menoa to monika and makima #and then things escalated #meta

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os-eclipses-tamen-son-yuri · 2 months

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You can't really blame me for headcanoning Denji's narrative as somewhat trans coded.

There's something about the body horror of Chainsawman thats so alluring to me, not in a purely gorey way. The imagery of ripping your body to shreds to become the Chainsaw. Of people ripping out your heart, others taking your blood. Some your legs and arms.

The feeling brought by the lack of agency in one's body.

Or rather, how people exploit and abuse their external perceived conceptualitation of your body onto you.

Chainsawman the demon.

Chainsawman the hero.

Chainsawman the monster.

Chainsawman the idol.

Chainsawman the heart.

Chainsawman the reaper.

What about Denji.

The brother, the caregiver, the classmate, the son, the friend.

Are these separate? Which one is fake? Is there a fake one? Are they the same or is one a shadow of the other? A front?

Is chainsawman denji? Who is Denji?

This separation of self, the compartmentalization of Denji's reality as seen by everyone else.

If Part 1 was about creating Chainsawman

Part 2 is about who is Chainsawman, the idea of him.

And not what he is for other people only, Denji too.

How it reaches a point in which it even becomes a maladaptive coping mechanism, self harm.

Denji craving the blood and violence and pain not because of hunger, but to numb out the dissonace.

How that dissonace is boosted even further by the fact that all the people that have seen Denji as he is have long left him or suffer because of their closeness.

There's a certain parasociality in all this mess.

How people latch onto their false constructed idea of the Chainsaw, of what it's supposed to be, what it's supposed to do; even if that's not reality, if it's not the truth, even if they dont fully believe it themselves.

How Denji is forced into it even if clearly it's not something that he especially enjoys. Not in a healthy way anyways.

How one becomes a symbol, whose meaning is given to them by others, not by oneself.

That objectification: the creation of an idol, myth. Fiction.

#csm #chainsaw man #chainsaw man analysis #meta #csm manga #csm anime #im just saying things at this point i didnt think too much about this so these are just like my general impressions i think theres multiple #readings to this and i just kinda went with the one that resonated with me #damn thats kinda meta too huh me projecting on denji #csm chapter 156

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fumifooms · 1 year

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Autistic reading of Hirofumi + general observations

The time has come. I’m talking about cryptid boy. I adore him, and to me he reads as autistic highkey. Earlier today this post happened and it just made me want to get into the nitty gritty of him: https://fumifooms.tumblr.com/post/704906702244429824/his-whole-job-is-keeping-chainsaw-man-alive-and What’s funny too is, because well, we have Asa right there, Yuko too, and arguably others like Denji or Power which, yeah, y’all got a place on the spectrum- But when it comes to Hirofumi people jump a lot to more supernatural explanations for his vibes being “off”. When, like… The fact that you can’t read him isn’t necessarily because he’s some conspiracy. Not to say that he’s not suspicious, he is, but it’s funny to me that people don’t consider that mostly he may just be… Socially inept. Irl people like him exist, I assure you. Autism makes the dream work, amirite.

Tldr: He’s my kind of autism (aka he’s me irl. His behavior was my way of adapting to a neurotypical world, too! I try to keep projection out of this analysis, tho). Developed a mastery of social behavior to seem friendly and casual until his social acting became too much instead of too little (the latter being the one usually associated with autism) and something feels off about him now because he does a front of being neurotypical when he’s autistic as shit. Like a cryptid trying to wear a human suit-disguise and just ends up feeling uncanny, y’know. He’s always cold and calculated on the inside, but attempts to have a warm exterior to put people at ease so he can do his job better and blend in with everyone else without bumps in the road. I’ll spend this analysis mostly pointing out things about him rather than arguing that they’re inherently autistic traits, since we know little about him the argument is first of all about pining down his character rather than arguing about the nature of the traits, tbh. Still, for anyone familiar with autistic traits a lot of these are super self-explanatory, and I won’t explain all the links.

This is long and has tons of pictures, so I’m putting it under a cut!

Pt 1: social outcast? Two worlds

He appears cool guy to most, sure, but no one really ever… Bothers to interact with him? He’s always there TM, but people don’t talk to him, and he usually keeps his input to conversations to minimum (when they aren’t one-on-one). He doesn’t approach anyone, no one approaches him. It’s a mutual “I don’t really care” between him and the rest of the world. Though, he does get singled out and otherized for being successful in devil hunting at his age, when it’s brought up, and so both by fellow devil hunters and classmates. (Most visible in how the school devil hunting club greets him, but also in part 1 Kishibe forgetting a devil hunter could possibly be a highschooler, etc). From what we see it’s implied he has 0 friends.

I do think remembering that he’s a highschooler for this is important, because Yoshida is essentially between two worlds. Professional devil hunting, which makes him have to be cool-headed and works with professional adults, facing death all the time and quickly develop working chemistry with new colleagues, and highschool, where you have to be normal enough and perform socially, esp since we know bullying is a rampant problem his school has. I do think, as an autistic, that would party explain his behavior; switching behaviors and personas for one or the other would be bothersome and erratic, so he mashes both sides of what he has to be into one personality that can work for both worlds, and keeps the same demeanor for every situation he’s in. Casual and friendly enough for school, always cool-headed and ready to face life-or-death situations for devil hunting. The result is this fucking guy. Feels misplaced in every situation he’s in as a reader, imo at least. I do think he realizes that he can be off-putting, but what he does with that information is kinda unclear. I feel like he feels that he’s above others, in many situations. That or very nihilist.

Pt 2: His smile, interactions

His smile is 90% of why I saw him as autistic. It’s such an autistic smile. He sucks at it. It doesn’t reach his eyes, it’s clear that it’s always plastered on and it’s empty. He ends up just looking like a sneaky bastard half the time. And like- Remember that time he wanted to see if the hitman in the alley was an hitman or a civilian? It doesn’t seem like he was going for intimidation at all, because in that same interaction he just goes “hm well he’s scared shitless, it can’t be my target.” Plus he doesn’t comment on the civilian clearly being in range to realize he just killed someone, so that part wasn’t intentional, either. His fucking smile when he looked at him?? Guys, he was trying to approach the guy to casually ask him what he’s doing. That fucking smile, was him being casual to ask a rando something. Also there’s something very autistic and funny in “hey yo you good? You’re not a hitman per chance are you?” “Urgh I don’t feel so good” “ok fair, good argument, bye”

I think that interaction perfectly represents what I was saying about him being stuck between two worlds, though. He has to be threatening and cold enough so that if the guy is the assassin he’s giving enough pressure so that he may slip up, but friendly and normal enough so that if he’s a civilian he didn’t just freak him out, and that balance is very important so that he can get the correct information and assessment. But like, he accomplishes all of that through subliminal messaging lol, through vibes, body language etc however you want to say it. And that duality messes his game up, and he’s quick to make assumptions and be confident that they’re the right ones. The latter point is not only supported by the pages below but also through the way he talked with Kishibe about Makima. He’s very intuitive, and rather impulsive once he thinks he has something figured out. It does backfire on him somewhat regularly. Counting the “I am taking away your cutlery so you can’t eat cake until you listen to me” strategy he tried on Denji lol. More on that later.

He also sucks at conversations. Like, he really does. I haven’t seen him holding a good conversation ever highkey. Which, he doesn’t try much, either, as previously mentioned when he’s not one-on-one he talks extremely little. It was easy to forget about his presence when he was on the rooftop with Denji and Asa arguing, or in the aquarium tbh, or in part 1′s gang. He’s easy to lose in a crowd. It was a whole joke when part 2 started; “Be honest guys who here remembered Yoshida existed?”. People in-world look at him and see nothing notable about him, then promptly forget about him when he autistically sticks to being quiet in a corner, while still doing his job efficiently well. He’s good at seeming well-adjusted and normal on the surface, but keeps people at bay just by being a hard to approach milktoast guy. He blends in with the background. He’s great for spy shit, bad for the rest. He seems like he’d be good for interrogations at first, but beyond being observant he’d be absolute shit at it, like his interactions with the assassin guy and Denji prove. He’s honestly not great at reading people. He can puzzle out characteristics or skills they have, but on the more emotional or social workings he has to be walked through things slowly, or just make wild guesses and risky plays.

Moving on, his infamous lame-ass excuses for always being at the same place as Denji all the time? Yeah. I don’t know how much he tries for them to be believable but we all know they fall really flat. Also the way he laughs when he doesn’t know how to react is hilarious. Hirofumi is such an awkward person

General demeanor, tone deafness

It feels like he’s kinda bored all of the time imo, but of course that’s just an assumption based on his demeanor. The classic thing about being autistic is precisely that no one has a clue what’s happening inside, emotions or whatever. He’s so deadpan about everything ever.

I think the reason he keeps his bangs that way is a sensory thing tbh. Or, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was actively trying to hide his face, his eyes that he can never get to emote right. Maybe he doesn’t like being looked at, or noticed. Maybe it ties in with his devil contract, ink clouds are for hiding + to blind, after all. Ooh maybe something about that is his contract cost- That’d be epic.

His smile is a constant rather than a way to communicate something. Masking. It’s always just plastered on along with his shallow pleasant countenance, it feels almost like a survival tactic, or his state of being. He’s almost beastly sometimes, in part 1 mostly. Like idk how to explain it but the autistic experience of “Masking & emoting for social interactions is my token of survival even if I feel like an animal backed into a corner” is raw and real & f yeah. This bit may seem out of left-field, but yeah if Hirofumi has some internal turmoil I feel like that sort of shit is how he’d go

He has this almost obsession with being casual & appearing friendly, despite how misplaced it can be for the situation. Which does tie in with the smile thing. But yeah just in this pleasant demeanor we’ve discussed, he really does stand out with just how friendly and casual he always is

He’s so tonedeaf. The page below is just after it’s revealed to them that some assassins are after the guy he’s protecting (Denji) and that they can shapeshift. He’s smiling even as he’s saying that they’re in deep, deep shit. This page doesn’t show it well on its own, but he’s the first to recover his composure, esp with Denji half-dead. Beyond Power being Power, everyone is like 😨 Yoshida stands out with his reaction, which goes straight to the point and assess their situation logically all while smiling, but more on that later.

He’s constantly saying grave stuff while being pretty lighthearted. His nonchalant attitude would be comedic if this wasn’t an horror & tragedy manga lol. He just admitted that he’s ready to die & expects it and what, just like that, one sentence and cool let’s get onto the next topic. It is interesting how he acted during the aquarium arc crisis tbh. He truly has no desire to connect with other people, even in this conversation with Denji he’s talking business all through it, rather than anything else. He doesn’t approach or interact with the others, doesn’t give his input on the situation when the group is brainstorming. He just stays in his corner and observes from afar.

Logic-oriented, coldness and laser focus

His rigidly logical nature is actually somewhat of a flaw for him. His rationale makes him make mistakes, such as assuming a pro would never puke. It’s also why he attempts to use reason and logic with Denji so much, which becomes quickly apparent that it doesn’t work with him. This attitude/way of looking at things backfires on him regularly, as mentioned. This is what I mean by laser focus, mostly, because he has a hard time looking beyond a narrow field of possibilities and causal links, like we already discussed. Once it leaves that field he becomes blind to it, he’s so laser focused that not only does he not consider any possibility beyond what his logic tells him, but if something presents itself that doesn’t align with his logic he’ll promptly dismiss it, in a very erratic way.

He’s obviously very very dedicated to his job. He has for sure trained to have his martial arts skills, and he spends pretty much all his time in part 2 looking over Denji. Being part of the background is part of his job, and he has 0 friends. And he’s fine with it. He’s SO good at hiding his emotions and thoughts, because he keeps the same face 90% of the time.

Money is his motivation, we know this. As much as we can know something about him right now, anyways. I wouldn’t be surprised if he does have some ideological devotion for his job’s mission, but he talks about is as his job first of all, and, yeah, money.

I think there’s also something you can say about how it feels like he’s always one step ahead or playing a higher game when holding conversations with people. Which, I think it’s also important to not that that’s only a feeling, and that doesn’t mean that that’s what he’s doing, or rather, intending. Usually, what he says is only ever to inform or figure out something. Anyways- The only time I feel like this is less true, that he’s constantly blatantly playing games in his conversations, is with the convo above with Kishibe. They’re both super honest and blunt, laying all their cards on the table and speaking with a similar demeanor of cold nonchalance. He speaks matter-of-factly, objectively, without empathy, no matter the topic. No matter the topic. Ever. He calculates risks and rewards constantly and only reveals he’s made those maths when he feels like it (Like with the phone he had in the aquarium arc). Anyways, My point here is just that autistic kids tend to get along better with older people than other kids, the classic “oh you’re so mature for your age”, and I feel like that’s reflected well here. The reason of why that is is pretty simple, autistic kids tend to communicate in ways that are different to other kids and which can weird them out, while adults are more used to different kinds of people and more blunt or wordy conversations. It’s Kishibe’s logical outlook and assessment of situations that allow him to keep up with what Hirofumi’s saying instead of being weirded out here, and they have a good & productive conversation as equals because of it.

I do think that’s a big part of the appeal of yoshiden, because Denji disregards social conventions and common sense so much that even Yoshida gets stumped sometimes, and it makes him feel more like a highschooler, makes him lose control of the situation and even his face for a bit. It’s healthy for him. And it’s fun on top of humanizing this otherwise cryptic character.

As we’ve seen, surprise is the only emotion he emotes other than his smile (neutrality not included). That’s actually a pretty huge thing!! It does confirm on some level that his smile is a constant that he has to put on, since surprise is the only thing that breaks it and makes him emote more genuinely. Look I made a collage lol. These are 100% of the times where he’s not either smiling or having a neutral face. Like… A dozen panels. I think there’s something to say about surprise being the one emotion he emotes and how he can be rather impulsive, too.

He’s very methodical, the way he interacts with people. With Denji especially, we could see him in real time trying to get a read on Denji. He eventually does, learning to provide what Denji wants so he’ll listen to him more.

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Misc

At last, the most compelling argument /j: HE SITS FUCKIN’ WEIRD!! In the pic below part of it is that they have to be ready to stand up at any moment to fight, but! He also always crosses his legs when sitting, and I think that’s a lovely detail Fujimoto, and also yeah same. Ofc leg-crossing isn’t exclusive to neurodivergent people, but ways people sit can be surprisingly affected by stuff like being understimulated. I always sit cross-legged, I cannot sit normally without some other way to tuck my legs if I don’t have them crossed, or my brain goes blank. I am not kidding.

ANYWAYS HE SITS FUCKIN WEIRD!! Doing the big lean, look at him go

Also he holds phones like L Lawliet which is really all the evidence you need lol

In conclusion

Have you *seen* the way he just sits and tries to psychanalyze Denji, asking him why he does the things he does? Have you seen a more autistic bitch ever? He oozes the autism in every little thing he does. Honestly I’m surprised there aren’t more people saying the same thing when it’s so blatant. Once you get to a certain threshold of masking and avoiding attention people don’t suspect a thing. I was diagnosed at 18 and my mom at 50, so yeah, relatable lol. I love him so much

Part 1 Yoshida is a lil fella on the job being weird but trying his best and minding his business. Part 2 Yoshida is a deadpan but fake smile master who autistically struggle to connect with people in a way that allows him to do his job well. He’s creepy and uncanny af without meaning to.

My autism is the direct reason that attracts me to him, rather than aesthetics or anything else, if that makes sense. (I’m not saying that any reason is superior, just that since my autism is what draws me to him as a character it is an argument for him being autistic coded, in that way). I humanize him a lot, and he humanizes me in turn.

#chainsaw man #hirofumi yoshida #yoshida hirofumi #csm manga spoilers #character analysis #Theories #i spent like 5 hours on this help #hirofumi has fumi in his name so ofc he has my heart #csm part 2 #fumi rambles #autistic headcanon #autism headcanon #this is kinda hard to clean up but i did my best

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sugar-grigri · 8 months

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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?

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