I want to add that Denji pervy personality works in the main role because he never does any advances on any girl without their consentment. He never tries to spy on them while naked, and even when Himeno was drunk and on top of him he didnt do any advances on her despite him being the minor. Unlike 90% of anime guys who would get a raging nosebleed because a female exists whitin a 4 meter radius of them
The fact feminists aren't all up in arms about the Himeno scene really shows how two faced they are. Feminists just love being victims; they seek it out. And this RUclipsr even said all the interactions with women were consensual when they weren't; Denji was almost raped. But yea, guys in other animes are the problem when they feel basic biological attraction 😂
@@massimo4307 all the feminists I know have called her out on that scene and even straight-up dislike himeno so...... Feminists are not a hypocritical monolith. edit: also whoever that youtuber is is flat-out wrong. any good feminist should realize and acknowledge that male sexual assault is a serious issue that is unfortunately not taken seriously.
@@mirroredhour And all the feminists I know haven't cared one bit about it, and also treat men like a monolith. So I'll stand by my point. And ideologies should be treated in general terms. When you subscribe to an ideology you have to accept that people will associate you with the parts of the ideology you disagree with.
@@massimo4307 You can stand by your point all you want, but it won't change the fact that you're wrong. ''And ideologies should be treated in general terms. When you subscribe to an ideology you have to accept that people will associate you with the parts of the ideology you disagree with.'' That's a false dichotomy. Ideologies aren't monolithic, either.
Once I read someone saying that the main women (Makima, Power, Kobeni and Himeno) have a correlation between how they view sexuality and how they conform to the norms around them. Makima isn't a sexual woman, but if she needs to use it in order to control something or someone in her favor, she will do it no hesitation. Power doesn't really understand sexuality and human norms, so she's indifferent to them and can't understand what's the fuss about it. Himeno is so broken after all she's been through that sexualizing herself seems like the only sane way to keep living, alonside her other vices. And Kobeni keeps her sexuality as her own, she doesn't sell it even if it was the only way to escape her parents and prefers to live by her own terms because it is HER choice to do so. I couldn't think about this perspective with Reze, so if anyone wants to give their own conclusions about her I'd really appreaciate it
For Reze, I think it's similar to Makima but on another end of the spectrum. She's aware of her sexuality and uses it but not necessarily from a position of power and confidence like Makima. Where Makima's manipulations are exertions of her own will, Reze's are from someone else's who themselves are manipulating her (presumably the Soviet Union baited by Makima).
i rea d the bomb girl arc like 5 times and Reze attempts to manipulate Denji, in an almost mirrored way to makima (trying to win his heart, rizzing him up, and trying to seduce him. not to mentiom purposefully sexualizing herself, plus telling him she loves him) It works on denji, but unlike makima, reze decides to chase after her own goal by using denji as a scapegoat from her position in the soviet union. (i personally think she didn't actually like denji, but saw him as some sort of parallel to herself as when he mentioned he didnt go to school) reze then decides to postpone killing denji when she was originally planning to do it when they first met. She sees him as someone nice enough to run away with, but denji declines, so she tries to fulfill her original mission and tries to kill denji. Epic battle ensues, and in the end scene on the beach, reze tricks denji one last time before disappearing. (Btw, before i talk about her death, an important note that people gloss over is that she was actually going to leave, and probably wouldn't have come back for denji until she notices that the flower he gave her was one from a donation to orphans children, in which she donates to as well.) She then misses her train to go back and take up denjis offer to run away. then chainsaw fangirl makima comes in and assimilates her into her weapon human harem or whatever. Shes kinda like a mirrored version to makima of some sorts, but she actually falls in love with denji, or at least comes to realize she has some sort of feeling for him, unlike makima, who truly used denji up until the very end. Bomb girl arc was by far my fave arc of csm, and reze is my favorite character ever. i really hope she comes back seeing as makimas power of control are gone (Also this isnt reading comprehension devil, aki himself states a devils powers go away after they die) and shes still seemingly alive as a hybrid, she might come back for dennis.
@@DingaIing as much as I wish to see her and the other hybrids as well (Quanxi my beloved), Fujimoto doesn't strike me as the type of writer that would bring back characters after they've served their initial purpose in a major way. It would feel too "fanservice-ey" for his style.
it's always been so funny to me that denji's referred to as "the protagonist whose ultimate goal is to touch some boobs", when his quest to touch boobs (or, as supereyepatchwolf beautifully put it, his boob arc) ends within the first couple manga volumes/the first couple of episodes. and also ends in a dissatisfying way and makes him develop as a character
to be fair, itssupposed to be a surprise and its jsut funny to descibe denji that way XP plus peoples be not familair with Denji's full arc, just the boob thing
Thats the point, I love hyping people up the same way the show hypes up this plot point, it increases the impact when it comes to a screeching halt, and the reader asks along with denji, 'is that really it?'
I loved how when Power and Denji would share a scene that’d be intimate or sexual he didn’t think about it like that. He thought to himself it’s a way to make Power feel safe. This was the connection is desired, he confused lust and thrills to love and companionship. Power was like his best friend, and losing her was the one of the worst things that caused him to be broken and catatonic.
you get it, i love power, and i love denji, and i see myself in denji, I'm aroace, but i got groomed by someone while i was lonely and desperate for companionship, sort of like denji, this person made me thin i was ''sexually unfulfilled'' so that i'd date them and do things that deep down i didn't really want, and while denji most likely isnt ace or aro, i can still see where we share similarities
this is what makes denji so damn endearing to me, the way he acts like a pervert but is really a very caring person that doesnt want to violate others. he's a good boy.
@garryjones1776 idk what this means, if your point is he likes titties, I like pecs but I still don't wanna have sex, I thought I wanted to have sex cause I was horny, nope, I didn't wanna have sex, just had teenage hormones and conflated horny with go have sex, i'm not saying he is aro or ace, but I'm saying there's a possibility someone could act just the same and still be aro or ace or both Also being aro is never touched on here, all the truly significant bonds he creates as far as I've read rn are platonic, not saying he'll never go get a girlfriend that's not a hellspawn, im just saying romance isn't a positive note in most of his story, just like me he could be going "aesthetically pretty and nice, plus I like boobs, must be love!" When this is niave and comes back to bite him, and everyone knows that's not all there is to romantic love, and under the aro umbrella is crushing on someone until you really get to know them, and then you just want to be friends All I'm saying is denji most likely isn't, but im not saying being like denji means you're automatically not aro or ace or both
You didn't talk about Quanxi who definitely carries the international assassin's arc. She is the inverse of the guy with a harem trope and most importantly she represents ignorance which is one of the key themes of chainsaw man. Edit: I should have said gender-bent instead of inverse. Also, thanks for the likes.
Yeah, she definitely carries that arc. I like the inmortal brothers but they are not to memorable and the santa claus section is just kinda boring, the darkness devil was cool as fuck tho
@@historicflame972 Yeah and it's funny as fuck but i also like the mini arc that one of the brothers had when the other 2 died, although it didn't really amount to anything.
Proof that constructing good characters doesn’t depend on their gender Also fan service in chainsaw man is never put in at random moments, is always placed in Denji’s interactions with women, and to emphasize “denji’s goal” (i would say is there to show Denji’s gaze) and it’s seen less and less and Denji starts to shift from wanting to just touch boobs to looking for connection. So it’s not there to just emphasize characters boobs but more to show Denji’s perception of the people around him
Oh, so that's why CSM had progressively less and less "suggestive stuff"! It's because Denji's desires are becoming more than just wanting sex, but actual connection with other people. That's a cool detail.
@@zifer123 Not kinda, thats literally the story (Well if you ignore the fact that denji wanted to have sex with tons of girlfriends in that one panel anyways)
@@dr.consumerock6798 It's only part 1... He has a bit longer to go, and he's got Nayuta now, he can practice his responsible father-daughter family dynamic because CSM loves putting Denji into different family dynamics
I always found it funny how the series with a horny ass protag has basically every woman be as flat as a board, besides the Dead Lesbian Groomer psychopath
Very good analysis. Chainsaw man is one of those rare gems where I like most of the characters. They feel human. And female charas arent treated just like simple plot devices.
@@chasinghaze0962 yeah lol If OP thinks characters like Power or Makima are humane like then he is potentially delusional or just straight up livin a life devoid of any Understanding of how a realistic human authentically is. Also i understand the reviewer is new but most of her points are painfully generic and doesn't feel different from most other copy pasta videos trynna discuss the same thing.
oh yeah, as the manga goes on and the more savage Makima became, we get to learn that she also does things like going on errands, baby talk her dogs and give them stupid names, bakes as a hobby, coughs when trying to smoke for the first time etc ... Little things that ordinary people do. The apartment scene give us a glimpse into Makima's daily life, we see her as her most endearing and right after that we see her as her worst. Fujimoto's writing is pretty neat lol
One scene that stood out to me personally is when Power’s bra padding fell out. Anime portrays unrealistic body standards and there’s generally so much stupid debate about padding being “fake” or “misleading”, so it was refreshing to see
@@ishaalimtiaz6715 I'd also like to add, power is pretty much a completely non-sexual being. "I don't know what sex is and I don't care, give me more fried chicken. Now," is basically power in a nutshell. That means the only reason she wore padding is either A. She saw other women doing it so why not. Or B. (Which is much funnier) Denji likes big boobs, and these pads make it easy to get him to do what I want.
reze isn't even close to being my favorite character but the moment she has with denji on the beach is one of the most memorable in the whole of part 1 for me, her trying to tell denji it was all an act and him saying "you say it was all a lie, but you really did teach me how to swim" is somehow so beautiful to me
I love how you say that Power is naked in the flashbacks even though she's not at all sexualized, neither in the manga or anime, with actual logical body proportions This is something I adored in the early episodes. They had all the reason to do that, but they didn't and thank fucking god we a GOAT like Fujimoto
While I agree that some of the deep and powerful characters in CSM just "happen to be women", I don't think that sentiment applies to Makima. In a perfect world where your gender doesn't change any social aspects about yourself, sure, Makima could work as a male character. However, I think that Makima's femininity is pivotal for her character and Fujimoto's careful use of both her sexual and parental characteristics is what makes her an incredible antagonist for Denji. Makima is deep, and powerful BECAUSE she is a woman. -Also, please look out for Yoshida, I think Fujimoto is setting him up to be Makima's masculine counterpart. And amazing video btw!!! :D-
@@munchies982 I mean like he's set up to be a character designed as female eyecandy. Mysterious, competent, tall and handsome guy. He broke in to the popularity poll in his literal first appearance.
But the most genius thing about Makima is that she does not really see herself as a woman or a female like a human would. Devils do not really care about sexuality or gander. The fact that she has ass and tits are not really important to her at all, not does she identify with her feminine figure. She would be the exact same character if she would be a male devil.
When I first started watching Chainsaw Man I thought that no man would fall to such clear signs of manipulation from Makima, only Denji with his extreme "special" needs. But seeing how the fandom treats her, I changed my mind.
@@Peayou... "groomer" is supposed to be for sexual context, but she never look Denji that way, she doesn't care with man boy women girl human or not human because all she cares only something that useful for her as her tools to achieve her goal. That's why it's important using your reading comprehension while reading manga with this kind of stories and not easily distracted by meme opinions on social media.
@@phantommare8778 Manipulating a minor is grooming, it doesn't matters if it's for sexual reasons or not... Besides, she made plenty of sexual advances on Denji for the sake of manipulating him further, that's grooming without a doubt.
Would love to add that the women of Chainsaw Man teach Denji how to respect and love women. My favorite example is Denji and Power. Denji was so dead set on touching her chest, only to find out it was fake. Her fake chest (as well as her personality) taught him that women aren’t just beautiful cookie cutter objects meant to please men, and that they come in all different shapes and sizes. Then after Himeno dies and he sees how distraught Aki is, Denji asks himself if he would cry if Power died. He went from wanting her sexually and constantly fighting with her to being genuinely concerned for her well being.
I just wanted to put this comment out there, but as an Asian American I love how tatsuki funjimoto uses moles and beauty marks on his characters. You never see moles on anime characters as much as the characters on his work, and as someone who was always insecure for having a large amount of moles on my face, it really gave me a boost of confidence seeing all these beautiful characters with them.
What does having moles have to do with being Asian American? Caucasians have the highest rate of moles by a large margin. They also are 20 times more likely to develop cancerous moles than Asians or Africans.
I love how kobeni would rather become a devil hunter than a sex worker and her writing respects her choice of not wanting to be sexualized. Even in the scene where Denji is picturing all the girls in lingerie, Kobeni is still decently dressed to cover her chest and thighs
@@xiiir838 I never said the rest weren't real They all have realism in them Kobeni just felt the most realistic I don't understand Are you asking me if I acknowledge kishibe as a good character or the most realistic character?
@@rawdasalmataman7908 Kishibe says that the people that turns into devil hunters are crazies, or very exotic personalities made it into that job type, so every single character in CM is very human and real
I feel like, aside from serving as a device for Aki's story, Himeno's death was also super important for setting the tone of the kind of story Chainsaw Man would be. Like, this is not your typical shounen, your favs WILL die. Fujimoto is SO not precious with his characters and I feel like it's really refreshing to see in a show like this.
Himeno's death is heartwrenching, true, but I wonder why she didn't use her Ghost Devil power to pull Denji's rip cord (which she ended up doing anyway with her last bit of willpower) from the beginning instead of sacrificing her entire body to the Ghost Devil as her first go-to option. In that way, Himeno's death was a little on the "girlfriend gets fridged trope" side but the melancholic music and brutal aftermath for Aki make up for it.
@@arcturionblade1077Himeno was probably going to die from her injuries anyways. Between that and the panic of the situation and her worst fear possibly coming true, I’d say her sacrifice was completely understandable.
I have absolutely zero issues with Denji's perversion. One; he's a teen so it's expceted. But unlike say Mineta from MHA; and as you pointed out early on, he's lonely and longs for companionship. We are a very social species and he's had zero contact that's positive and loving.
Drawing a connection between Denji's lack of experience with real food and real intimacy is brilliant! The peak in food to him is just being able to put jam on toast just like the peak in intimacy is shallow and seemingly pervy.
I love the writing in chainsaw, they depict simping for what it really is, instead of "OMG this MC that got superpowers is gonna build an harem" it's more like, dude youre desperate for afection arent you? ( No offense intended to any simp) but yeah it's a great deconstruction, make female characters feel real and not just an accesory to the MC's story.
@@vronji exactly, cause they show how they all have a reason to do that, sometimes manipulation, sometimes specific interests, but it's always something that makes them human, not like "oh denji kun, is not that I like you or anything!" ...Jesus the cringe, somehow Chainsaw hasnt Made me feel not Even a bit of cringe, unless completely intended.
Let's be real, harem anime ain't that common unless we're talking about the ecchi genre... Characters like Denji are fairly common in manga and anime that isn't shounen.
And the best female characters so far in Chainsaw Man are the new protagonists, Yoru and Asa. I just can't get enough of these two and her complex relationship.
They're great so far,but it's still too early to put them so high as they might fall off one way or another as the series progress. Still got Makima on top.
I dont like to say some characters are necesarily better than others when they have different roles in a story but definitely Asa/Yoru will have more time for development since they are the mc and they are great at it they are also pretty unique characters that break cliques
I'm surprised you didn't talk about Quanxi. She's similar to Himeno for me in the sense that she has a very short screentime but left quite the impact on me.
to me personally the reason why i love the chainsaw man women a lot is bc in the manga, fujimoto isn't afraid to show their unsanded down, gritty, pathetic-n-sweaty moments. i feel that a lot of animanga nowadays makes women and girls smooth and idolized and flawless even at their worst moments (which shows to me they don't care enough to give these characters depth), so to see them crying and snotty and with ugly scrunched up faces and making strange noises and overall making their distress and suffering more human is a very fresh breath of air to me.
Himeno is the most realistic person I've ever seen in an anime. She feels like everyone I've ever worked with. Not kids, mind you, adults. Once people leave the internet and enter the real world, it's pretty much Himenos all the way down (male and female). We're all just trying to cope because we're all going to die.
More on Makima: Kishibe explains even more about how she also has some tragedy to her. As the control devil, the only thing she knows to do is manipulate... and control... All she wants is to be equals with someone. In a way, she's kind of like Pochita, Pochita explains to Denji in the end of part 1 of the manga that his dream was to get to hug someone, as the Chainsaw Devil, he's always been too strong to be close to people without hurting them and we see that in the final battle of the manga when Chainsaw Man is scaring Kobeni and dragging her around. Pochita wants to be physically equal and connect to someone. Makima wants to be emotionally/mentally equal to someone and connect with them instead of forming manipulative relationships all the time. Now as Nayuta, she's going to get a chance to do this with Denji probably acting as a guardian/father figure to her now. The Control Devil can achieve their goal and dream now and become something like Power now, a devil, evil at it's core, growing and caring for people.
Exactly, that's what made me emphasize with her, especially in that movie date scene. She became unable to have an equal connection cos the government groomed her since young to manipulate and control
"Strong characters who happen to be women" is a concept I hear a lot. I think it's a way to write them, but not the only way. Sometimes, the character being a particular gender is important, or at least would hit different if you changed the character's gender, especially in stores that try to analyze gender.
It all really just depends where the character was raised. Since a lot traits associated with gender. Are taught or observed and adapted from the world around us. So a female soldier who’s been taught all her life to just fight should act differently to city girl
the sexualization of kobeni on the internet is so annoying especially after her whole goal in the story was to NOT be a sex worker by being a devil hunter
Makima shocked me, because I never thought I'd see a character get chopped up and eaten, and still felt like they got it too easy. She's in my top 3 villains in fiction. Great video, it's cool to see people look as deep into the series as I try to!
If I may add a different view on Power's naked flashback, I don't see it as sexualization; I talked with someone about that. I could really see her doing that because it's something I myself do sometimes. Lying naked is an extremely relaxing activity for me to do, and when I saw her not only doing that, but under a night sky, on a roof on a house kilometers away from anyone, I just thougth "that's really peaceful", and I was quite envious of her.
Give one more thing to Kobeni - she's the only woman in CSM that never, ever lies to Denji. Actually, I think she might be the only person who never lies to Denji.l
Something that really made me lose my shit had been that naked bodies were just perceived as...bodies. Not once had reze or power or any other female character had been perceived through an oogling lense where their would be immense recoil or the scene would drop or anything like that. Instead it was just that-them being naked. The way that power and denji taking a bath together, both naked, had been fully stripped of any sexual or romantic light is something I highly praise fujimoto for. Geniunely one of the best media ever written, especially for female characters
I eat chainsaw man video essays up and this is probably the best one I've seen. It'd be really cool to see you talk about Asa in part 2 (I relate to her a lot)
Problematic use of tropes is when the character's design and purpose is built for the trope. Fujimoto applies the tropes when they fit the design and purpose of the character. Context is everything.
@@xiiir838 ??? You didn't fix the statement though. Writing a woke western women is still a trope and one thats not done well. A trope is something thats reoccurring and can be stereotypical. I don't really get this comment. What does woke western women have to do with this? What does woke have to do with tropes and character's design in relation to chainsaw man?
Many rejoice Denji killing Makima..but people forget how badly it must have hurt Denji. Makima was his first love, the first woman to accept him, his crush and also in some ways a motherly figure. Denji wanted a future with Makima. But at last he was forced to get rid of her. Imagine getting to cannibalize the woman you loved the most.. it's tragic and heartbreaking. I know Fujimoto didn't highlight on this much but denji did admit "He did love Makima till the end" Yes he still has Nayuta as his sister, but it's not the same as losing the woman he once looked upto.
I mean there is nothing else but to rejoice makima didn't see denji for who he was. Which even denji realizes as she only recognized denji by smell maybe even just the smell that he has pochita and is chainsaw man probably not even the smell of denji as a human. I don't think denji really understood what love was yet I think he was still trying to find himself because denji easily switches. and is ready to leave with reze or try to get some other affection when makima is not around.
Denji seem to have stockholm syndrome (? Sorry if i use to wrong definition). I remember reading somewhere that Makima character was based of abusive mother
@@andrewgan557 they have a brother sister dynamic in the manga ..CSM P2.. so yeah unless it's explicitly stated she regards him as her father we can't be sure. But for now, their relationship is more like a caring reliable big brother and a protective young sister.
this portrayal of denji is one of most accurate in terms of grooming and how it effects i remember when i cut off contact with my groomer it genuinely hurt i knew they were bad amd what they did to me was bad but it hurt deeply cos for grooming to work you have to develop a deep close relationship you become consumed by them even if you know they'd taking advantage of you you will genuinely feel like a bad person for what you're doing when logically you've done nothing wrong
@@Home-o2v4h that is not what shounen means tho, a shounen anime or manga is when the target audience of the series is for teenage boys, that doesn’t mean the series has to be focused on male characters. There is many shounen romances out there that would focus on the women more than the man, but you wouldn’t deny that it wasn’t shounen. Chainsaw Man is a shounen series since the target audience is teenage boys, regardless of the fact if there is more of a focus on the women or man characters (which btw I think both genders have fantastic representation and both are focused on a lot)
Denji is not perverted. I will explain why Denji is a 16 year old boy who never got the basic needs for a child. from his broken perspective he struggles to understand the things he wants. So he thinks he wants to touch boobs. but that isn’t at all what he actually wants. you see chainsaw man is really good at hiding deep horrible things with humour because that’s the only way Denji was able to stay sane. in the manga there is a chapter when a girl kisses him, he asks if she likes him. all she said was “no I only did it cause it felt good” and Denji was left there in crying alone broken so he didn’t actually want a kiss so what does he want? Well because Makima broke danjis perspective on connection and love and he believed because for him she was his saviour she came in his lowest and gave him everything he ever wanted. Only to use his desire for love. So instead of “I wanna touch boobs” it’s “I wanna be loved”. Denji is not perverted he is a victim
the bit about how makima's powers work in real life reminds me of when she's talking about all the concepts that the chainsaw devil has erased, and she lists a couple that don't exist just to trip us up and make it feel real outside the fourth wall. stuff like that makes me think that was fujimoto's plan all along. he's such an unbelievably creative writer, and it feels like we're watching him get better and better the more he writes. he might end up an oda or miura level talent a decade from now
In my opinion, Fujimoto did have women in his mind when creating these "strong characters". The dude bullied by a girl and feel happy, for Lord's sake. Fujimoto show the good and the bad of women. And that's why they're great. Like, i really hate Makima, but i can understand why Denji and some fans love her (not the fans who bark to Makima, they didn't know the real Makima). The real Makima is a simp, an overprotective and a jealous girl. And as a man, to me Power is not a manic pixie dream girl, she's more like 'homies', tomboy or close sister. Power is inspired by Eric Cartman btw. The manic pixie dream girl is Reze. I've never seen such mesmerizing and dreamy character like her. Her interaction with Denji felt real and innocent, even when they fight, it's just Reze showing Denji how to do it right, just like how when she teach him how to swim.
Fr I really saw Reze like a subversion of the manic pixie dream girl we at the end realized that she got her own problems motivations and a personality we didnt have the opportunity to know more about because she was acting all the time as a fantasy to accomplish her mission and got killed when she wanted to leave her situation but she is not necesarily bad she is just a messed up and lonely child like Denji
Makina isn't simp - Makima is puppeteer, who wants to control her puppets. I like her because she literally shows one of the people that raised me(thank god the other one was best person I know to this very day), and believe me, it is horrible to look at this in retrospect. She is a great manipulator, but not a "simp", and it was told in the story, that she doesn't cares about Denji himself
I don't think he has anyone in mind when writing his stories. The man did a manga with incest in it, for god's sake. The sign of a good writer is when they don't care about any demographic, but put special care on the craft of writing. If you have a demographic in mind, you limit yourself to what that demographic want to see
Asa from the manga is so well written, and togata from fire punch too. His characters whilst scuffed and often crazy feel genuingly human and that's why I love them!
Surprisingly enough, the Chainsaw Man fanbase is a LOT friendlier than I thought it'd be. For such a musclebrained series/synopsis, I think it ended up being appreciated by a much better audience than it's surface coating. It's probably one of the most trans inclusive fanbases I've seen too.
What I like about Himeno as a character is what she represents. Himeno's actions were driven by her perspective in the meaning of life. After seeing countless deaths of her colleagues, her experience with some very upset family member of her perished comrade informed her that one way to bring meaning to life is to have someone morn for you after your death. It didn't came in a vacuum of course, many religions or cultures encapsulate this concept as value. Himeno's actions were driven by such aspect and it works very well because this motivation is so familiar to the whole world and practiced by many. We don't really need to question if this is selfish or selfless, it's simply something we can accept. Not a lot of shonen series dives into this type of core idea, and it's what made CSM characters stand out.
As someone who’s worked hard to leave behind a manipulative relationship, I could see the signs with Makima right away. Reading her reveal herself as an antagonist was cathartic. Reze best gurl.
For me, part 2 proves Fujimoto is able to write any type of female character and excel at it part ones female characters were so well written I didn't think he could top it . This may be too soon, but I think part 2's protagonist is one of the most well written female characters in Shonen, although there is not much competition based on the amount of poorly written female characters in that genre.
Asa and Yoru can compete alongside with the female heavy weights in the animanga, Fujimoto is the proof that when a man wants, it is possible for him to write awesome and complex fem characters.
Asa Mitaka is amazingly written, and she’s probably one of the best female shonen protagonists in manga/anime. She seems so real! Can’t wait to see how Fujimoto progresses her character arc! Also I’d love it if anyone has any recommendations for any manga/anime with strong character writing w a female protag!
6:22 there is a quote from an arc in the manga, the bomb devil arc where Denji outright says “every woman I’ve met has tried to kill me!”, even denji acknowledges this!
power is definitely NOT… a manic pixie dream girl (9:14). the manga and anime definitely show that her attitude and behavior negatively effect those around her and she has plenty of negative treats. her “quirkiness” and “playfulness” aren’t played to make her appear more attractive or desirable… they’re made to make her like a person (or fiend in this case) trying to navigate a world that they clearly don’t understand and stick out of. all of power’s outbursts, lying, and overall attitude aren’t looked fondly upon both her team and members of public safety. in fact, other characters such as himeno and denji actively call power out for doing things such as lying and being messy! i agree with some of the points in the video but… power is definitely NOT a manic pixie dream girl LMAO
@@amdete8254The video never actually backtracks on this point. It still claims that she is a subversion of the trope when the trope does not mean "quirky weird girl". She's not endearing, and she's not making Denji a better person or teaching him about love through her quirky behaviour. Nobody in-universe likes the things she does and they all find her different flavors of repulsive or psychopathic.
Great video. I think Chainsaw Man is definitely up there when it comes to female character writing in anime/manga. Curious as to your thoughts on Asa. Personally, she's my favourite character in the entire series. The crazy amount of characterisation and nuance she gets, along with the parallels with Denji makes her insanely layered and honestly more than qualified to take up the role of protagonist
the women in CSM rather than just being 'waifus' being actual characters really is huge in context of shounen. really just makes the storytelling better when they can stand on their own. reze really is a great arc start to finish. the 'femme fatale'-ing she does is effectively... just being really genuinely nice to denji. and thats all the 'flirting' he needs to fall for her wish is both funny and sad considering denji's sad life. makima's meta CONTROL is very funny too. all that 'simping' people be doing online is exactly how makima manipulates denji yeah. ... that being said.... Legit, Asa in CSM Part 2 one of my favorite characters ever. Where her story goes is gonna be wild.
Man i was so sad at the end where 96% of all characters (yes i counted) died throughout the story but never thought their presence were unnecessary especially female characters. I still wish we could see Tendo more.
Fujimoto did Tendo dirty, she had such a cool design but her character was never elaborated on. Even Kurose got more characterisation than her, post-mortem 💀
@@historicflame972 and also all the maternal refrences with her, like her chains coming from her uterus, the comparisons of her and mother mary the anime does, when u take out the ki from her name it’s literally mama, and even what the origins of chainsaws are
Her motivation for control is ostensibly to remove all the bad and dangerous things from the world. She wants to free us from nukes, guns, katanas, etc. No granted, she also wants absolute control, but mothers can be like that too! Ha ha.
I haven't watched chainsaw man yet but this video made me read the manga. It's amazing how you analyse the characters so well. From your description, i am liking kobeni and power. Also the makima's description, chills.
Thank you for this video! I walked away from the show because I was turned off by the perv trope and I’ve grown tired of the faves having this trope Now I have to go back!
You'll need to make a second part for all the new female characters they introduced. Asa, Yoru, Fami, and Fumiko. You also keed to giv Quanxi a mention!
Honestly, one of my favorite parts of Makima is how Kishibe’s final words on how he hopes Nayuta is raised gives context to a lot of things we see Makima do or say throughout the series. It’s very likely that she was a tool of a larger power in the same way that Denji and Reze were, but one that was aligned with “righteousness” versus criminal organizations. We can see this in the way she stands by wanting to rid the world of bad things (death, war, etc), which is an objectively morally correct thing to want, but it has been distorted to a very “by any means necessary” method. She’s also very guilty of doing evil things for the sake of self interest or entertainment especially in the climax of the series, but I think those actions are becoming more obvious not because she’s always found pleasure in cruelty, but because she is finally shaking free of the obligations she was tied to and is indulging in using her power exclusively for herself. The perfect foil for a character like Denji tbh. I love her writing so much
10:40 sorry, but Jinx is definitely not a manic pixie girl. She isn't just "wow I am so crazy and not like the other girls", but she is really broken person. I really recommend Arcane, if you haven't watched it (it also has great women characters). You review is very cool! Waiting for new videos;)
@@曾華偉-l6g didn't ekko always have the lines about how jinx wasn't always like that in LoR and in LoL. Pretty sure there's always been a level of "we can help you" from a lot characters who talk to jinx and aren't just trying to kill her. And fiddlesticks lines to her kinda show that she has a reason to act like a psychopath, and that it isn't all she is. If anything, she WANTED to be a manic pixie dream girl, but it was just a facade.
quanxi was one of my favorite women in chainsaw man, she’s not in the story for super long, but she was just so cool and had a lot going on in the story and the background of the setting.
csm really surprised me with the women i was expecting the complete opposite when i read and watched the series, they have depth to them not to mention how amazingly written makima is, i think shes my favorite villian in anime ever rn, heck even the new mc in the second part even shocked me because i wasnt expecting to like her as much as i do,
I would be really interested in seeing your perspective on Asa and Yoru, since they're, I think, is pinnacle of fujimoto's women writing. The second part of CM is so, SO good. Also Nayuta, but as about her, there's more to come! anyways THANK YOU FOR THE ESSAY, it's so well made (story, costumes, editing is cheff kiss), I hope there's more to come!!!
I find so funny how people legit can't see beyond the surface of Chainsaw Man, the manga is super incredible, very creative, mysterious, deep and captivating, the anime hasn't even touched it in the slightest yet.
One of the standout point in csm is their characters and Fujimoto is definitely care about it and has responsibility for it. Each of them had a good and bad side with their own reasons that makes them more realistic as character to makes us think and decided that we love them or hate them or even conflicting our thoughts for love to hate or hate to love.
what i love abt makima's charac is how she decontructs the femme fatale troupe. this troupe is abt utilizing ur feminity to gain advantage, but what hollywood or any cliched show (harem anime too) does is they reduce that feminity to only smex appeal. There's more to feminity than just that. Makima portrays many other aspects. Makima first comes off like a cliched femme fatale in the first eps. She appears like she'll offer denji and the audience the classic fanservicey moments, only for her to end up comforting him in motherly tones, WHILST she keeps an indifferent tone, like its all planned. She utilised the motherly aspects of feminity for sth this vile. She knew what denji yearned for more than denji himself, and she utilised that. instead of actually helping him navigate thru his emotions, she played along whatever denji thought was right whilst subtley bombing affections of what he really wants just at the right time. She made sure denji stayed in his bubble and not understand what is soulful/emotional bonding with women, bc if he does, he could figure out making meaningful bonds with women himself and not just depend on makima for this unknown "magical" feeling.
I think it's really weird how a large portion of the fanbase views Denji. They make fun of him for being a pervert and for not having a sense of purpose while not acknowledging the reasons he is the way he is (the trauma, the lack of human connection, the lack of care or empathy, not having basic necessities, etc.) and also that he's still a kid (he's confused, unsure, weird and purposeless because he hasn't had any space or opportunity to develop social skills, dreams, goals, aspirations, etc., so expecting him to act maturely is silly). And I also think it's a shame how many people overlook the fact that he gets sexually misused all the time in favour of just laughing at his perversion. But at the same time, CSM is amazing, well written, deep, meaningful and beautiful, so of course different people are going to have a different read on the story and its characters Sorry for the rant
you should've included asa mitaka, she's actually the protagonist of chainsaw man part 2! and she is an amazing character! in fact, to me she is one of the most realistically written female characters not just in anime, but all of the media i've ever consumed! live laugh love asa mitaka!!
Yes she is amazing but it would be cool to wait she gets even more development so the analysis is more complete but damn I love how Fujimoto female characters that are not well written "for being a female character" they are just straight amazing in general as good or even better than their male counterparts
I love your analysis and these kind of videos. Really, girls written just like normal people, maybe that's the reason japanese audience didn't like CSM that much and it's waaay more popular in the west. Popular animes are in need of character development and not just for boys. Btw, what I truly wanna remark is the editing in Reze's part. Such a cute and bittersweet little detail❤️
I don't know where you got that the "Japanese didn't like it that much" considering it won multiple awards there and was Top 5 in best selling manga in early 2021 lol The anime did get some hate because some JP Twittards hate the anime producer's guts because he went for a more live-action movie feel rather than a traditional anime adaptation, which IMO perfectly fits the entire concept of CSM, but those people were definitely in the minority considering CSM anime was still consistently Top 3 in streaming numbers while it was airing. Though the Blu-ray were low in JP but it can chalked up to MAPPA asking a bit too much money for them, which is fair considering the production budget must have been astounding with how much effort went into the adaptation, but I guess people weren't convinced that it was value for money. So saying "Japanese didn't like it that much" is kinda misinformed.
Makima is _pure evil._ Like, evil incarnate. The kind of evil that tempted eve to commit the original sin. There are no words to describe how dangerous she (or her real-life inspirations) is. There is probably nothing worse that can happen to someone than to encounter a Makima in their life. She doesn't just manipulate Denji, she literally made him her bitch. And she's so good at it even the audience is like "well but Makima's dumpy doe." I really like Makima, as a character. She is super interesting. But she is the kinda entity that you kill on sight at any cost in real life.
Good video. Good commentary. Thank for all the hard work that went into it. It's always interesting to hear what people have to say about how labels they identify with are portrayed in media. It must be quite challenging for an author to properly write from a perspective they haven't experienced first hand. Like, even when roleplay in D&D, all my characters, by the end of the campaign, end up just sounding like a different version of me. 😅
Yooooo, this is REALLY good analysis. There were at least a half a dozen things explained here that I hadn’t seen addressed well anywhere else. Excellently done.
I started to try to learn writting because of chainsawman, the characters in that manga are just so real I felt really bad when they died, I laughed a lot when denji and power did or say dumb things, idk I just never felt so close to a fictional character before its amazing, you made an excellent video btw
i love your analysis!!! the anime is really so much deeper than a lot of people make it out to be. Likewise, it makes me sad when ppl flatten denj’s motivations to being “just wanting to touch boobs”, because in reality it’s more deep rooted than that. also loved your outfits queen
I think the women of chainsaw man are some of the most interesting and enjoyable characters because they seems actually real. They don’t follow a trope that makes their character what it is but they are their own people, with flaws, and needs. Denji I’ve never thought of as sexist or pervy, he is a kid, he has had no meaningful relationships, no love in his life and his idea is probably formed from magazines and some tv he saw and doesn’t actually understand connection until he touches boobs and Makima shows him what real intimacy is (which is a way better scene than any fan service) denji also understands that it was hollow and when he actually feels something for the first time for Rize he acts upon it with care and not as a perv.
Regarding Himenos sacrifice: Let us remember that Kobeni was in the same episode saved by her male colleague; and not because "he was so strong and Kobeni is a weak, helpless women", but because the Gunman simply shot him first and sorta missed. Their gender has nothing to with it; at best the shooter thought (wrongfully though) that her partner was the bigger threat because of his gender.
I love the fact that, realistically, there's probably a sizable segment of people who would be completely on board with Makima's plan. Like, she is absolutely a monster. But, she's a monster who is legitimately acting in what she believes to be the best interest of humanity.
@@inakyu Full Metal Alchemist would be great, I watched an essay by OverlySarcasticProductions about how female characters tend to be given traditionaly masculine traits when in positions of power, they used Olivier Armstrong as an example, which is even more interesting since the author is a woman
but I'm women hater 🤷
Amen
holy based
☕️
Fr men are so much hotter
@@cixzejy boys make the best girls
I want to add that Denji pervy personality works in the main role because he never does any advances on any girl without their consentment. He never tries to spy on them while naked, and even when Himeno was drunk and on top of him he didnt do any advances on her despite him being the minor.
Unlike 90% of anime guys who would get a raging nosebleed because a female exists whitin a 4 meter radius of them
For real, people like to clown on denji but he's actually one of the few bearable pervy characters in animanga
The fact feminists aren't all up in arms about the Himeno scene really shows how two faced they are. Feminists just love being victims; they seek it out. And this RUclipsr even said all the interactions with women were consensual when they weren't; Denji was almost raped. But yea, guys in other animes are the problem when they feel basic biological attraction 😂
@@massimo4307 all the feminists I know have called her out on that scene and even straight-up dislike himeno so...... Feminists are not a hypocritical monolith.
edit: also whoever that youtuber is is flat-out wrong. any good feminist should realize and acknowledge that male sexual assault is a serious issue that is unfortunately not taken seriously.
@@mirroredhour And all the feminists I know haven't cared one bit about it, and also treat men like a monolith. So I'll stand by my point. And ideologies should be treated in general terms. When you subscribe to an ideology you have to accept that people will associate you with the parts of the ideology you disagree with.
@@massimo4307 You can stand by your point all you want, but it won't change the fact that you're wrong.
''And ideologies should be treated in general terms. When you subscribe to an ideology you have to accept that people will associate you with the parts of the ideology you disagree with.'' That's a false dichotomy. Ideologies aren't monolithic, either.
Once I read someone saying that the main women (Makima, Power, Kobeni and Himeno) have a correlation between how they view sexuality and how they conform to the norms around them. Makima isn't a sexual woman, but if she needs to use it in order to control something or someone in her favor, she will do it no hesitation. Power doesn't really understand sexuality and human norms, so she's indifferent to them and can't understand what's the fuss about it. Himeno is so broken after all she's been through that sexualizing herself seems like the only sane way to keep living, alonside her other vices. And Kobeni keeps her sexuality as her own, she doesn't sell it even if it was the only way to escape her parents and prefers to live by her own terms because it is HER choice to do so.
I couldn't think about this perspective with Reze, so if anyone wants to give their own conclusions about her I'd really appreaciate it
OOO interesting!!!
For Reze, I think it's similar to Makima but on another end of the spectrum. She's aware of her sexuality and uses it but not necessarily from a position of power and confidence like Makima. Where Makima's manipulations are exertions of her own will, Reze's are from someone else's who themselves are manipulating her (presumably the Soviet Union baited by Makima).
i rea d the bomb girl arc like 5 times and
Reze attempts to manipulate Denji, in an almost mirrored way to makima (trying to win his heart, rizzing him up, and trying to seduce him. not to mentiom purposefully sexualizing herself, plus telling him she loves him)
It works on denji, but unlike makima, reze decides to chase after her own goal by using denji as a scapegoat from her position in the soviet union. (i personally think she didn't actually like denji, but saw him as some sort of parallel to herself as when he mentioned he didnt go to school) reze then decides to postpone killing denji when she was originally planning to do it when they first met. She sees him as someone nice enough to run away with, but denji declines, so she tries to fulfill her original mission and tries to kill denji. Epic battle ensues, and in the end scene on the beach, reze tricks denji one last time before disappearing. (Btw, before i talk about her death, an important note that people gloss over is that she was actually going to leave, and probably wouldn't have come back for denji until she notices that the flower he gave her was one from a donation to orphans children, in which she donates to as well.) She then misses her train to go back and take up denjis offer to run away. then chainsaw fangirl makima comes in and assimilates her into her weapon human harem or whatever.
Shes kinda like a mirrored version to makima of some sorts, but she actually falls in love with denji, or at least comes to realize she has some sort of feeling for him, unlike makima, who truly used denji up until the very end.
Bomb girl arc was by far my fave arc of csm, and reze is my favorite character ever. i really hope she comes back seeing as makimas power of control are gone (Also this isnt reading comprehension devil, aki himself states a devils powers go away after they die) and shes still seemingly alive as a hybrid, she might come back for dennis.
@@DingaIing as much as I wish to see her and the other hybrids as well (Quanxi my beloved), Fujimoto doesn't strike me as the type of writer that would bring back characters after they've served their initial purpose in a major way. It would feel too "fanservice-ey" for his style.
@My-cat-is-staring-at-you 😭 hoping Fuji will make good use of them ig
Kobeni really became best girl via process of elimination
LMAO
Literally.
I don't think Reze is dead tho. If she's like Denji she should still be alive.
@@Thatdoginme_m3 she def alive
@M3 imma guess she’s more like power, so imma say she’s in hell and when she dies there she’ll return back but probably not as the same person
it's always been so funny to me that denji's referred to as "the protagonist whose ultimate goal is to touch some boobs", when his quest to touch boobs (or, as supereyepatchwolf beautifully put it, his boob arc) ends within the first couple manga volumes/the first couple of episodes. and also ends in a dissatisfying way and makes him develop as a character
Don't spoil the thing to others, dude
@@xiiir838 spoilers under a character analysis video 😮
to be fair, itssupposed to be a surprise and its jsut funny to descibe denji that way XP plus peoples be not familair with Denji's full arc, just the boob thing
@@xiiir838 “oh no i cant believe i got spoiled that denji touches boobs😢😢😢😢” -you
Thats the point, I love hyping people up the same way the show hypes up this plot point, it increases the impact when it comes to a screeching halt, and the reader asks along with denji, 'is that really it?'
I loved how when Power and Denji would share a scene that’d be intimate or sexual he didn’t think about it like that. He thought to himself it’s a way to make Power feel safe. This was the connection is desired, he confused lust and thrills to love and companionship. Power was like his best friend, and losing her was the one of the worst things that caused him to be broken and catatonic.
you get it, i love power, and i love denji, and i see myself in denji, I'm aroace, but i got groomed by someone while i was lonely and desperate for companionship, sort of like denji, this person made me thin i was ''sexually unfulfilled'' so that i'd date them and do things that deep down i didn't really want, and while denji most likely isnt ace or aro, i can still see where we share similarities
this is what makes denji so damn endearing to me, the way he acts like a pervert but is really a very caring person that doesnt want to violate others. he's a good boy.
@@Sleepy_Sunshine"most likely isnt ace or aro" damn sherlock left some mysteries for the rest of us😂
@garryjones1776 idk what this means, if your point is he likes titties, I like pecs but I still don't wanna have sex, I thought I wanted to have sex cause I was horny, nope, I didn't wanna have sex, just had teenage hormones and conflated horny with go have sex, i'm not saying he is aro or ace, but I'm saying there's a possibility someone could act just the same and still be aro or ace or both
Also being aro is never touched on here, all the truly significant bonds he creates as far as I've read rn are platonic, not saying he'll never go get a girlfriend that's not a hellspawn, im just saying romance isn't a positive note in most of his story, just like me he could be going "aesthetically pretty and nice, plus I like boobs, must be love!" When this is niave and comes back to bite him, and everyone knows that's not all there is to romantic love, and under the aro umbrella is crushing on someone until you really get to know them, and then you just want to be friends
All I'm saying is denji most likely isn't, but im not saying being like denji means you're automatically not aro or ace or both
@@Sleepy_Sunshine cool story bro
You didn't talk about Quanxi who definitely carries the international assassin's arc. She is the inverse of the guy with a harem trope and most importantly she represents ignorance which is one of the key themes of chainsaw man.
Edit: I should have said gender-bent instead of inverse. Also, thanks for the likes.
Yeah, she definitely carries that arc. I like the inmortal brothers but they are not to memorable and the santa claus section is just kinda boring, the darkness devil was cool as fuck tho
@@AnlaVerse The immortal brothers are essentially just a gag
WE ARE IMMORTA- *FUCKING DIES
@@historicflame972 Yeah and it's funny as fuck but i also like the mini arc that one of the brothers had when the other 2 died, although it didn't really amount to anything.
she's also just the absolute GOAT of CSM part 1
Ignorance is in fact not bliss AT ALL, one of the most important messages of CSM part 1.
Proof that constructing good characters doesn’t depend on their gender
Also fan service in chainsaw man is never put in at random moments, is always placed in Denji’s interactions with women, and to emphasize “denji’s goal” (i would say is there to show Denji’s gaze) and it’s seen less and less and Denji starts to shift from wanting to just touch boobs to looking for connection. So it’s not there to just emphasize characters boobs but more to show Denji’s perception of the people around him
Oh, so that's why CSM had progressively less and less "suggestive stuff"!
It's because Denji's desires are becoming more than just wanting sex, but actual connection with other people.
That's a cool detail.
@@someguythatdoesstuff7658 thats kinda the whole point of the story
@@zifer123 Not kinda, thats literally the story
(Well if you ignore the fact that denji wanted to have sex with tons of girlfriends in that one panel anyways)
@@dr.consumerock6798 It's only part 1... He has a bit longer to go, and he's got Nayuta now, he can practice his responsible father-daughter family dynamic because CSM loves putting Denji into different family dynamics
I always found it funny how the series with a horny ass protag has basically every woman be as flat as a board, besides the
Dead
Lesbian
Groomer psychopath
Very good analysis. Chainsaw man is one of those rare gems where I like most of the characters. They feel human. And female charas arent treated just like simple plot devices.
Funny how the non human characters in chainsaw man are more human than most human characters in almost all of shonen :V
I love CSM but I don't think it's that much different from other shounen tbh
@@chasinghaze0962 yeah lol
If OP thinks characters like Power or Makima are humane like then he is potentially delusional or just straight up livin a life devoid of any Understanding of how a realistic human authentically is.
Also i understand the reviewer is new but most of her points are painfully generic and doesn't feel different from most other copy pasta videos trynna discuss the same thing.
oh yeah, as the manga goes on and the more savage Makima became, we get to learn that she also does things like going on errands, baby talk her dogs and give them stupid names, bakes as a hobby, coughs when trying to smoke for the first time etc ...
Little things that ordinary people do.
The apartment scene give us a glimpse into Makima's daily life, we see her as her most endearing and right after that we see her as her worst. Fujimoto's writing is pretty neat lol
However they are still treated with the male gaze, sexoulized more than their male peers constantly
One scene that stood out to me personally is when Power’s bra padding fell out. Anime portrays unrealistic body standards and there’s generally so much stupid debate about padding being “fake” or “misleading”, so it was refreshing to see
@@ishaalimtiaz6715 I'd also like to add, power is pretty much a completely non-sexual being. "I don't know what sex is and I don't care, give me more fried chicken. Now," is basically power in a nutshell. That means the only reason she wore padding is either A. She saw other women doing it so why not. Or B. (Which is much funnier) Denji likes big boobs, and these pads make it easy to get him to do what I want.
Holy yap sesh, women are written well by many male authors
@@jeffpesos420wtf are you 'Yapping' about
reze isn't even close to being my favorite character but the moment she has with denji on the beach is one of the most memorable in the whole of part 1 for me, her trying to tell denji it was all an act and him saying "you say it was all a lie, but you really did teach me how to swim" is somehow so beautiful to me
I love how you say that Power is naked in the flashbacks even though she's not at all sexualized, neither in the manga or anime, with actual logical body proportions
This is something I adored in the early episodes. They had all the reason to do that, but they didn't and thank fucking god we a GOAT like Fujimoto
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
it's genuinely hard to sexualize power when you remember she's literally a demon controlling a girl's corpse
Yeah, the nudity felt more like a Greek painting sorta thing.
Sure, her breasts are out but there's nothing erotic about what's being shown.
exactly; she doesn't have overly suggestive curves or busts and there's no crude shots. she's simply a wild animal; of course she won't have clothes
@@alonedownthere47 If yall make sus fanart of power then you might be sexualizing some dead girl instead of power herself💀
While I agree that some of the deep and powerful characters in CSM just "happen to be women", I don't think that sentiment applies to Makima. In a perfect world where your gender doesn't change any social aspects about yourself, sure, Makima could work as a male character. However, I think that Makima's femininity is pivotal for her character and Fujimoto's careful use of both her sexual and parental characteristics is what makes her an incredible antagonist for Denji.
Makima is deep, and powerful BECAUSE she is a woman.
-Also, please look out for Yoshida, I think Fujimoto is setting him up to be Makima's masculine counterpart. And amazing video btw!!! :D-
Counterpart how? We know he's a human with a devil contract
@@munchies982 He knows more than hes supposed to, he tries to control Denji's social life, & he works for some shady organization
@@munchies982 I mean like he's set up to be a character designed as female eyecandy. Mysterious, competent, tall and handsome guy. He broke in to the popularity poll in his literal first appearance.
@@vronji I was worried a little bit more for Asa's sake but ig we didn't really see anything happen between them this week.
But the most genius thing about Makima is that she does not really see herself as a woman or a female like a human would. Devils do not really care about sexuality or gander. The fact that she has ass and tits are not really important to her at all, not does she identify with her feminine figure. She would be the exact same character if she would be a male devil.
When I first started watching Chainsaw Man I thought that no man would fall to such clear signs of manipulation from Makima, only Denji with his extreme "special" needs.
But seeing how the fandom treats her, I changed my mind.
Denji is not a man, he 16, plus she is his supperior, he's dumb yes, but also groomed. It's very concerning though how a groomer is liked by fans
@@Peayou... "groomer" is supposed to be for sexual context, but she never look Denji that way, she doesn't care with man boy women girl human or not human because all she cares only something that useful for her as her tools to achieve her goal. That's why it's important using your reading comprehension while reading manga with this kind of stories and not easily distracted by meme opinions on social media.
@@phantommare8778 Manipulating a minor is grooming, it doesn't matters if it's for sexual reasons or not... Besides, she made plenty of sexual advances on Denji for the sake of manipulating him further, that's grooming without a doubt.
@@Snormite yeah but that's a human perspective, not for the devil
@@phantommare8778 It’s still grooming…
Would love to add that the women of Chainsaw Man teach Denji how to respect and love women. My favorite example is Denji and Power. Denji was so dead set on touching her chest, only to find out it was fake. Her fake chest (as well as her personality) taught him that women aren’t just beautiful cookie cutter objects meant to please men, and that they come in all different shapes and sizes. Then after Himeno dies and he sees how distraught Aki is, Denji asks himself if he would cry if Power died. He went from wanting her sexually and constantly fighting with her to being genuinely concerned for her well being.
I just wanted to put this comment out there, but as an Asian American I love how tatsuki funjimoto uses moles and beauty marks on his characters. You never see moles on anime characters as much as the characters on his work, and as someone who was always insecure for having a large amount of moles on my face, it really gave me a boost of confidence seeing all these beautiful characters with them.
I absolutely love moles, it always elevates a person's beauty for me, and the same goes for anime characters.
This! I love kobenis design.
What does having moles have to do with being Asian American? Caucasians have the highest rate of moles by a large margin. They also are 20 times more likely to develop cancerous moles than Asians or Africans.
The moment when Reze says she didn't go to school either is SO GODDAMN CRUEL AND BEAUTIFUL AND MAKES ME HATE HER KILLER SO MUCH.
Kobeni is not just the most real girl but probably the most real character overall
I love how kobeni would rather become a devil hunter than a sex worker and her writing respects her choice of not wanting to be sexualized. Even in the scene where Denji is picturing all the girls in lingerie, Kobeni is still decently dressed to cover her chest and thighs
@@vronji Yes
I realised that too and it is really fascinating and impressive to see
I disagree. Every character in CM is real. Weren't you paying attention to Kishibe?
@@xiiir838 I never said the rest weren't real
They all have realism in them
Kobeni just felt the most realistic
I don't understand
Are you asking me if I acknowledge kishibe as a good character or the most realistic character?
@@rawdasalmataman7908 Kishibe says that the people that turns into devil hunters are crazies, or very exotic personalities made it into that job type, so every single character in CM is very human and real
I feel like, aside from serving as a device for Aki's story, Himeno's death was also super important for setting the tone of the kind of story Chainsaw Man would be. Like, this is not your typical shounen, your favs WILL die. Fujimoto is SO not precious with his characters and I feel like it's really refreshing to see in a show like this.
Himeno's death is heartwrenching, true, but I wonder why she didn't use her Ghost Devil power to pull Denji's rip cord (which she ended up doing anyway with her last bit of willpower) from the beginning instead of sacrificing her entire body to the Ghost Devil as her first go-to option. In that way, Himeno's death was a little on the "girlfriend gets fridged trope" side but the melancholic music and brutal aftermath for Aki make up for it.
@@arcturionblade1077 Aki would have died before Denji even got up. She was also desperate at the time so there’s that
@@arcturionblade1077Himeno was probably going to die from her injuries anyways. Between that and the panic of the situation and her worst fear possibly coming true, I’d say her sacrifice was completely understandable.
I have absolutely zero issues with Denji's perversion. One; he's a teen so it's expceted. But unlike say Mineta from MHA; and as you pointed out early on, he's lonely and longs for companionship. We are a very social species and he's had zero contact that's positive and loving.
And Denji doesn't try to touch a girl without her consent
@aikotitilai3820- Or spy on them while they’re bathing!
Me neither. I dont know how but fujimoto used it in such a natural way it never felt like i was watching another mineta clone, it felt real.
Drawing a connection between Denji's lack of experience with real food and real intimacy is brilliant! The peak in food to him is just being able to put jam on toast just like the peak in intimacy is shallow and seemingly pervy.
Poor Denji :(
I love the writing in chainsaw, they depict simping for what it really is, instead of "OMG this MC that got superpowers is gonna build an harem" it's more like, dude youre desperate for afection arent you? ( No offense intended to any simp) but yeah it's a great deconstruction, make female characters feel real and not just an accesory to the MC's story.
ngl i love how even though a lot of female characters throw themselves onto Denji they still feel like actual characters rather than accessories
@@vronji exactly, cause they show how they all have a reason to do that, sometimes manipulation, sometimes specific interests, but it's always something that makes them human, not like "oh denji kun, is not that I like you or anything!" ...Jesus the cringe, somehow Chainsaw hasnt Made me feel not Even a bit of cringe, unless completely intended.
Let's be real, harem anime ain't that common unless we're talking about the ecchi genre... Characters like Denji are fairly common in manga and anime that isn't shounen.
Most the female characters in the show are groomers possible grapists and emotional manipulators almost without fail
And the best female characters so far in Chainsaw Man are the new protagonists, Yoru and Asa. I just can't get enough of these two and her complex relationship.
They're great so far,but it's still too early to put them so high as they might fall off one way or another as the series progress. Still got Makima on top.
I dont like to say some characters are necesarily better than others when they have different roles in a story but definitely Asa/Yoru will have more time for development since they are the mc and they are great at it they are also pretty unique characters that break cliques
I mean so mean they both just got destroyed by nayuta aka makimas replacement so……
I love Denji but Asa beat him as my second favorite protagonist now we shall see how far she goes to beat #1 Guts.
'Femcel, femcel, femcel'
'Yoru please it's been 20 chapters the joke is getting old'
I'm surprised you didn't talk about Quanxi. She's similar to Himeno for me in the sense that she has a very short screentime but left quite the impact on me.
Same here. I absolutely love Quanxi. ^-^
Quanxi is my favorite character but also maybe im biased
"Left a big impact?" Yeah same, I'm traumatized from her introduction double spread .
@@Peayou... Bruh that part caught me off guard- like Quanxi I love you but damn…
@@Peayou...the BALLS to have the introduction to a character's intro to be lesbian sex in a SHONEN MAGAZINE is honestly quite impressive
to me personally the reason why i love the chainsaw man women a lot is bc in the manga, fujimoto isn't afraid to show their unsanded down, gritty, pathetic-n-sweaty moments. i feel that a lot of animanga nowadays makes women and girls smooth and idolized and flawless even at their worst moments (which shows to me they don't care enough to give these characters depth), so to see them crying and snotty and with ugly scrunched up faces and making strange noises and overall making their distress and suffering more human is a very fresh breath of air to me.
Himeno is the most realistic person I've ever seen in an anime. She feels like everyone I've ever worked with. Not kids, mind you, adults. Once people leave the internet and enter the real world, it's pretty much Himenos all the way down (male and female). We're all just trying to cope because we're all going to die.
I'd be very worried if all the people I've worked with were like someone who threw herself on a minor
@@grey_b7319 everything about her except that one part, yes.
More on Makima:
Kishibe explains even more about how she also has some tragedy to her. As the control devil, the only thing she knows to do is manipulate... and control... All she wants is to be equals with someone. In a way, she's kind of like Pochita, Pochita explains to Denji in the end of part 1 of the manga that his dream was to get to hug someone, as the Chainsaw Devil, he's always been too strong to be close to people without hurting them and we see that in the final battle of the manga when Chainsaw Man is scaring Kobeni and dragging her around. Pochita wants to be physically equal and connect to someone. Makima wants to be emotionally/mentally equal to someone and connect with them instead of forming manipulative relationships all the time. Now as Nayuta, she's going to get a chance to do this with Denji probably acting as a guardian/father figure to her now. The Control Devil can achieve their goal and dream now and become something like Power now, a devil, evil at it's core, growing and caring for people.
Exactly, that's what made me emphasize with her, especially in that movie date scene. She became unable to have an equal connection cos the government groomed her since young to manipulate and control
I think pochita said that not kishibe
@@danielnidhiry5796Pretty much, but Kishibe did tell Denji to look after Nayuta so she doesn't end up as another Makima.
"Strong characters who happen to be women" is a concept I hear a lot. I think it's a way to write them, but not the only way. Sometimes, the character being a particular gender is important, or at least would hit different if you changed the character's gender, especially in stores that try to analyze gender.
agreed, ignoring it completely reminds me of people that "don't see race" and end up being dismissive of real issues people face
all the women of CSM want Denji dead. this aint no uWu onichan
rings of power turned females into a parody with bad writing
@@alonedownthere47 like what issues? The hatred that blacks have towards asians?
@aSS Goblin ...Does this have something to do with anything I said?
It all really just depends where the character was raised. Since a lot traits associated with gender. Are taught or observed and adapted from the world around us. So a female soldier who’s been taught all her life to just fight should act differently to city girl
the sexualization of kobeni on the internet is so annoying especially after her whole goal in the story was to NOT be a sex worker by being a devil hunter
Not sure how anyone can sexualize her either. She's genuinely traumatized and only wants the best for everyone around her, despite her awful luck.
That's just a side effect of it being a manga/anime. At least she's not a minor unlike a lot of other sexualized shonen girls
Feminist? Lmao
@@xiiir838 what
@@toxoplasmagondi that you guys are pieces of trash
Makima shocked me, because I never thought I'd see a character get chopped up and eaten, and still felt like they got it too easy. She's in my top 3 villains in fiction. Great video, it's cool to see people look as deep into the series as I try to!
If I may add a different view on Power's naked flashback, I don't see it as sexualization; I talked with someone about that. I could really see her doing that because it's something I myself do sometimes. Lying naked is an extremely relaxing activity for me to do, and when I saw her not only doing that, but under a night sky, on a roof on a house kilometers away from anyone, I just thougth "that's really peaceful", and I was quite envious of her.
Went outside, touched grass, would still get on all fours for Makima.
Periodt 😤✨️
And then I read the manga…
Side eye…
Same. woof woof
@@ari_ismynameee you know that dogs are really loyal
Honestly Kobeni needs a vacation , after all that trauma. She deserves it.
She will, after all, she would not be contacting with her parent or family in the end of part 1
She gets to go on a nice date later in the story
@@vazimu4579 aww that's nice
toobad, Koebni is suffering
@@baggachaos3406 He doesn't know
Give one more thing to Kobeni - she's the only woman in CSM that never, ever lies to Denji. Actually, I think she might be the only person who never lies to Denji.l
Something that really made me lose my shit had been that naked bodies were just perceived as...bodies. Not once had reze or power or any other female character had been perceived through an oogling lense where their would be immense recoil or the scene would drop or anything like that. Instead it was just that-them being naked. The way that power and denji taking a bath together, both naked, had been fully stripped of any sexual or romantic light is something I highly praise fujimoto for. Geniunely one of the best media ever written, especially for female characters
I eat chainsaw man video essays up and this is probably the best one I've seen. It'd be really cool to see you talk about Asa in part 2 (I relate to her a lot)
Asa in my opinion is one of my favorite written women in Shonen
@@Moss_Head21 she's just one of my favourite shonen characters in general
Problematic use of tropes is when the character's design and purpose is built for the trope. Fujimoto applies the tropes when they fit the design and purpose of the character. Context is everything.
"Problematic use of tropes is when the characters don't check all the boxes of woke western women" there, fixed it for you
@@xiiir838 won't that be so-called girl bossess? The best female character who ain't evil in CSM is the opposite of that. She is a girl failure.
@@xiiir838 ??? You didn't fix the statement though. Writing a woke western women is still a trope and one thats not done well. A trope is something thats reoccurring and can be stereotypical. I don't really get this comment. What does woke western women have to do with this? What does woke have to do with tropes and character's design in relation to chainsaw man?
Many rejoice Denji killing Makima..but people forget how badly it must have hurt Denji. Makima was his first love, the first woman to accept him, his crush and also in some ways a motherly figure. Denji wanted a future with Makima. But at last he was forced to get rid of her. Imagine getting to cannibalize the woman you loved the most.. it's tragic and heartbreaking. I know Fujimoto didn't highlight on this much but denji did admit "He did love Makima till the end"
Yes he still has Nayuta as his sister, but it's not the same as losing the woman he once looked upto.
I mean there is nothing else but to rejoice makima didn't see denji for who he was. Which even denji realizes as she only recognized denji by smell maybe even just the smell that he has pochita and is chainsaw man probably not even the smell of denji as a human. I don't think denji really understood what love was yet I think he was still trying to find himself because denji easily switches. and is ready to leave with reze or try to get some other affection when makima is not around.
Denji seem to have stockholm syndrome (? Sorry if i use to wrong definition). I remember reading somewhere that Makima character was based of abusive mother
Nayuta is more like that's his daughter than sister.
@@andrewgan557 they have a brother sister dynamic in the manga ..CSM P2.. so yeah unless it's explicitly stated she regards him as her father we can't be sure. But for now, their relationship is more like a caring reliable big brother and a protective young sister.
this portrayal of denji is one of most accurate in terms of grooming and how it effects i remember when i cut off contact with
my groomer it genuinely hurt i knew they were bad amd what they did to me was bad but it hurt deeply cos for grooming to work you have to develop a deep close relationship you become consumed by them even if you know they'd taking advantage of you you will genuinely feel like a bad person for what you're doing when logically you've done nothing wrong
I think the women are more fleshed out then the men in the series it's the first Shonen I have read that feels that way
Yeah I can see that. It gives us an idea of how Fujimoto perceives women, I think he just really likes powerful assertive women
How?
I would say Denji,despite being male is still the best character though followed by Makima.
Then it's technically not shonen if the focus is not on male characters.
@@Home-o2v4h that is not what shounen means tho, a shounen anime or manga is when the target audience of the series is for teenage boys, that doesn’t mean the series has to be focused on male characters. There is many shounen romances out there that would focus on the women more than the man, but you wouldn’t deny that it wasn’t shounen. Chainsaw Man is a shounen series since the target audience is teenage boys, regardless of the fact if there is more of a focus on the women or man characters (which btw I think both genders have fantastic representation and both are focused on a lot)
Denji is not perverted. I will explain why Denji is a 16 year old boy who never got the basic needs for a child. from his broken perspective he struggles to understand the things he wants. So he thinks he wants to touch boobs. but that isn’t at all what he actually wants. you see chainsaw man is really good at hiding deep horrible things with humour because that’s the only way Denji was able to stay sane. in the manga there is a chapter when a girl kisses him, he asks if she likes him. all she said was “no I only did it cause it felt good” and Denji was left there in crying alone broken so he didn’t actually want a kiss so what does he want? Well because Makima broke danjis perspective on connection and love and he believed because for him she was his saviour she came in his lowest and gave him everything he ever wanted. Only to use his desire for love. So instead of “I wanna touch boobs” it’s “I wanna be loved”. Denji is not perverted he is a victim
the bit about how makima's powers work in real life reminds me of when she's talking about all the concepts that the chainsaw devil has erased, and she lists a couple that don't exist just to trip us up and make it feel real outside the fourth wall. stuff like that makes me think that was fujimoto's plan all along. he's such an unbelievably creative writer, and it feels like we're watching him get better and better the more he writes. he might end up an oda or miura level talent a decade from now
Something I love about Makima is that the glimpses of care and humanity you do see makes her even scarier than she seems on the surface
In my opinion, Fujimoto did have women in his mind when creating these "strong characters".
The dude bullied by a girl and feel happy, for Lord's sake.
Fujimoto show the good and the bad of women. And that's why they're great.
Like, i really hate Makima, but i can understand why Denji and some fans love her (not the fans who bark to Makima, they didn't know the real Makima). The real Makima is a simp, an overprotective and a jealous girl.
And as a man, to me Power is not a manic pixie dream girl, she's more like 'homies', tomboy or close sister. Power is inspired by Eric Cartman btw.
The manic pixie dream girl is Reze. I've never seen such mesmerizing and dreamy character like her. Her interaction with Denji felt real and innocent, even when they fight, it's just Reze showing Denji how to do it right, just like how when she teach him how to swim.
Fr I really saw Reze like a subversion of the manic pixie dream girl we at the end realized that she got her own problems motivations and a personality we didnt have the opportunity to know more about because she was acting all the time as a fantasy to accomplish her mission and got killed when she wanted to leave her situation but she is not necesarily bad she is just a messed up and lonely child like Denji
Makina isn't simp - Makima is puppeteer, who wants to control her puppets. I like her because she literally shows one of the people that raised me(thank god the other one was best person I know to this very day), and believe me, it is horrible to look at this in retrospect. She is a great manipulator, but not a "simp", and it was told in the story, that she doesn't cares about Denji himself
@@cyntdestroyer69xd Makima is a Pochita simp
People focus way to much on that college thing. Fujimoto said that on an interview with a fellow friend, 100 percent he's played it up for laughs
I don't think he has anyone in mind when writing his stories. The man did a manga with incest in it, for god's sake.
The sign of a good writer is when they don't care about any demographic, but put special care on the craft of writing. If you have a demographic in mind, you limit yourself to what that demographic want to see
great video, makima is probably one of the best anime villeins I've seen in a while
Fair
Asa from the manga is so well written, and togata from fire punch too. His characters whilst scuffed and often crazy feel genuingly human and that's why I love them!
Surprisingly enough, the Chainsaw Man fanbase is a LOT friendlier than I thought it'd be. For such a musclebrained series/synopsis, I think it ended up being appreciated by a much better audience than it's surface coating. It's probably one of the most trans inclusive fanbases I've seen too.
One of the most popular characters from fujimoto’s (the authors) previous works was trans. Many chainsaw man fans were already fujimoto fans.
also the memes are glorious
we are also very car inclusive
The degeneracy at the surface level of csm really is a good filter
fr??
What I like about Himeno as a character is what she represents. Himeno's actions were driven by her perspective in the meaning of life. After seeing countless deaths of her colleagues, her experience with some very upset family member of her perished comrade informed her that one way to bring meaning to life is to have someone morn for you after your death. It didn't came in a vacuum of course, many religions or cultures encapsulate this concept as value. Himeno's actions were driven by such aspect and it works very well because this motivation is so familiar to the whole world and practiced by many. We don't really need to question if this is selfish or selfless, it's simply something we can accept.
Not a lot of shonen series dives into this type of core idea, and it's what made CSM characters stand out.
I just realized that Reze didn’t go to school but still got a better education than Denji
I mean she was raised as a spy by the soviet union soooo
What kind of school, first? Denji didn't go to school either.
@@rachelciel3330 she was traned to be a weapon so some educaton was there
As someone who’s worked hard to leave behind a manipulative relationship, I could see the signs with Makima right away. Reading her reveal herself as an antagonist was cathartic. Reze best gurl.
Great video, really made me appreciate these characters way more now
For me, part 2 proves Fujimoto is able to write any type of female character and excel at it part ones female characters were so well written I didn't think he could top it . This may be too soon, but I think part 2's protagonist is one of the most well written female characters in Shonen, although there is not much competition based on the amount of poorly written female characters in that genre.
Asa and Yoru can compete alongside with the female heavy weights in the animanga, Fujimoto is the proof that when a man wants, it is possible for him to write awesome and complex fem characters.
Asa Mitaka is amazingly written, and she’s probably one of the best female shonen protagonists in manga/anime. She seems so real! Can’t wait to see how Fujimoto progresses her character arc!
Also I’d love it if anyone has any recommendations for any manga/anime with strong character writing w a female protag!
I'd recommend you Witch Hat Atelier and Innocent, both are seinen and really good mangas with peak fem characters.
asa is litero the most human female ive ever seen
6:22 there is a quote from an arc in the manga, the bomb devil arc where Denji outright says “every woman I’ve met has tried to kill me!”, even denji acknowledges this!
The problem with women in chainsaw man is its in fans. lol!
the bomb devil scene having a voice over was amazing you did the scene absolute justice
power is definitely NOT… a manic pixie dream girl (9:14). the manga and anime definitely show that her attitude and behavior negatively effect those around her and she has plenty of negative treats. her “quirkiness” and “playfulness” aren’t played to make her appear more attractive or desirable… they’re made to make her like a person (or fiend in this case) trying to navigate a world that they clearly don’t understand and stick out of. all of power’s outbursts, lying, and overall attitude aren’t looked fondly upon both her team and members of public safety. in fact, other characters such as himeno and denji actively call power out for doing things such as lying and being messy! i agree with some of the points in the video but… power is definitely NOT a manic pixie dream girl LMAO
I mean the video itself says “she seems like she’d be a manic pixie dream girl, but actually isn’t”
@@amdete8254 I mean her character was inspired by the OG Anti-Manic pixie dream girl, “Haruko Haruhara”.
@@amdete8254The video never actually backtracks on this point. It still claims that she is a subversion of the trope when the trope does not mean "quirky weird girl". She's not endearing, and she's not making Denji a better person or teaching him about love through her quirky behaviour. Nobody in-universe likes the things she does and they all find her different flavors of repulsive or psychopathic.
@@j-Gappy-hShe is also apparently very inspired by Eric Cartman. Who is also very much a manic pixie dream girl
Kobeni is one of my favorite characters because she seems way more real than a character should be.
Great video. I think Chainsaw Man is definitely up there when it comes to female character writing in anime/manga. Curious as to your thoughts on Asa. Personally, she's my favourite character in the entire series. The crazy amount of characterisation and nuance she gets, along with the parallels with Denji makes her insanely layered and honestly more than qualified to take up the role of protagonist
the women in CSM rather than just being 'waifus' being actual characters really is huge in context of shounen. really just makes the storytelling better when they can stand on their own.
reze really is a great arc start to finish. the 'femme fatale'-ing she does is effectively... just being really genuinely nice to denji. and thats all the 'flirting' he needs to fall for her wish is both funny and sad considering denji's sad life.
makima's meta CONTROL is very funny too. all that 'simping' people be doing online is exactly how makima manipulates denji yeah.
... that being said.... Legit, Asa in CSM Part 2 one of my favorite characters ever. Where her story goes is gonna be wild.
I’m a guy but denji being underwhelmed af when he touched power’s chest was so relatable and profound
Man i was so sad at the end where 96% of all characters (yes i counted) died throughout the story but never thought their presence were unnecessary especially female characters. I still wish we could see Tendo more.
Man I was so shocked at how suddenly Tendo and Kurose were killed off lmao I was like "huh??? That's it???"
Fujimoto did Tendo dirty, she had such a cool design but her character was never elaborated on.
Even Kurose got more characterisation than her, post-mortem 💀
96%? Holy shit
I never thought of Makima as playing a mother other than the usual dogowner. Interesting perspective, especially considering the ending of Part 1
It makes sense though
Never had he ever even had a female person who even cared for him
@@aerickmon3350 Also consider his mother being dead, as well as her being the boss of the hayakawa family
Pit mommies is a word after all
@@historicflame972 and also all the maternal refrences with her, like her chains coming from her uterus, the comparisons of her and mother mary the anime does, when u take out the ki from her name it’s literally mama, and even what the origins of chainsaws are
Her motivation for control is ostensibly to remove all the bad and dangerous things from the world. She wants to free us from nukes, guns, katanas, etc. No granted, she also wants absolute control, but mothers can be like that too! Ha ha.
I haven't watched chainsaw man yet but this video made me read the manga. It's amazing how you analyse the characters so well. From your description, i am liking kobeni and power. Also the makima's description, chills.
Thank you for this video!
I walked away from the show because I was turned off by the perv trope and I’ve grown tired of the faves having this trope
Now I have to go back!
You'll need to make a second part for all the new female characters they introduced. Asa, Yoru, Fami, and Fumiko. You also keed to giv Quanxi a mention!
Honestly, one of my favorite parts of Makima is how Kishibe’s final words on how he hopes Nayuta is raised gives context to a lot of things we see Makima do or say throughout the series. It’s very likely that she was a tool of a larger power in the same way that Denji and Reze were, but one that was aligned with “righteousness” versus criminal organizations. We can see this in the way she stands by wanting to rid the world of bad things (death, war, etc), which is an objectively morally correct thing to want, but it has been distorted to a very “by any means necessary” method. She’s also very guilty of doing evil things for the sake of self interest or entertainment especially in the climax of the series, but I think those actions are becoming more obvious not because she’s always found pleasure in cruelty, but because she is finally shaking free of the obligations she was tied to and is indulging in using her power exclusively for herself. The perfect foil for a character like Denji tbh. I love her writing so much
10:40 sorry, but Jinx is definitely not a manic pixie girl. She isn't just "wow I am so crazy and not like the other girls", but she is really broken person. I really recommend Arcane, if you haven't watched it (it also has great women characters).
You review is very cool! Waiting for new videos;)
Agreed Jinx in the video game league of legends is a manic pixie dream girl, jinx in arcane is a mentally ill and mentally stunted girl.
before arcane she is absolutely manic pixie girl tho
@@曾華偉-l6g didn't ekko always have the lines about how jinx wasn't always like that in LoR and in LoL. Pretty sure there's always been a level of "we can help you" from a lot characters who talk to jinx and aren't just trying to kill her. And fiddlesticks lines to her kinda show that she has a reason to act like a psychopath, and that it isn't all she is. If anything, she WANTED to be a manic pixie dream girl, but it was just a facade.
quanxi was one of my favorite women in chainsaw man, she’s not in the story for super long, but she was just so cool and had a lot going on in the story and the background of the setting.
csm really surprised me with the women i was expecting the complete opposite when i read and watched the series, they have depth to them not to mention how amazingly written makima is, i think shes my favorite villian in anime ever rn, heck even the new mc in the second part even shocked me because i wasnt expecting to like her as much as i do,
I really liked listening to your analysis but no less I liked how you kinda cosplayed the characters while speaking about them. Nice touch.
I would be really interested in seeing your perspective on Asa and Yoru, since they're, I think, is pinnacle of fujimoto's women writing. The second part of CM is so, SO good. Also Nayuta, but as about her, there's more to come!
anyways THANK YOU FOR THE ESSAY, it's so well made (story, costumes, editing is cheff kiss), I hope there's more to come!!!
Asa is my favourite female character in manga I think. She's so relatable and pathetic it hurts.
Good video. Asa Mitaka from Part 2 is fantastic character so far too, Fujimoto is a very talented writer.
I find so funny how people legit can't see beyond the surface of Chainsaw Man, the manga is super incredible, very creative, mysterious, deep and captivating, the anime hasn't even touched it in the slightest yet.
A video for the boys in CSM and how they also subvert certain tropes would be cool
One of the standout point in csm is their characters and Fujimoto is definitely care about it and has responsibility for it. Each of them had a good and bad side with their own reasons that makes them more realistic as character to makes us think and decided that we love them or hate them or even conflicting our thoughts for love to hate or hate to love.
what i love abt makima's charac is how she decontructs the femme fatale troupe.
this troupe is abt utilizing ur feminity to gain advantage, but what hollywood or any cliched show (harem anime too) does is they reduce that feminity to only smex appeal. There's more to feminity than just that. Makima portrays many other aspects.
Makima first comes off like a cliched femme fatale in the first eps. She appears like she'll offer denji and the audience the classic fanservicey moments, only for her to end up comforting him in motherly tones, WHILST she keeps an indifferent tone, like its all planned. She utilised the motherly aspects of feminity for sth this vile.
She knew what denji yearned for more than denji himself, and she utilised that. instead of actually helping him navigate thru his emotions, she played along whatever denji thought was right whilst subtley bombing affections of what he really wants just at the right time. She made sure denji stayed in his bubble and not understand what is soulful/emotional bonding with women, bc if he does, he could figure out making meaningful bonds with women himself and not just depend on makima for this unknown "magical" feeling.
All sexual stuff is def approved and started by the women but it is NOT consensual on denji’s behalf half the time
I think it's really weird how a large portion of the fanbase views Denji. They make fun of him for being a pervert and for not having a sense of purpose while not acknowledging the reasons he is the way he is (the trauma, the lack of human connection, the lack of care or empathy, not having basic necessities, etc.) and also that he's still a kid (he's confused, unsure, weird and purposeless because he hasn't had any space or opportunity to develop social skills, dreams, goals, aspirations, etc., so expecting him to act maturely is silly).
And I also think it's a shame how many people overlook the fact that he gets sexually misused all the time in favour of just laughing at his perversion.
But at the same time, CSM is amazing, well written, deep, meaningful and beautiful, so of course different people are going to have a different read on the story and its characters
Sorry for the rant
This is really off topic but I love your Aubrey profile picture
fantastic breakdown. Subbed!
i've never seen a character representing satan so well like makima does
'The devil doesn't come to you with a red face and horns, he comes to you disguised as everything you've ever wanted.'
you should've included asa mitaka, she's actually the protagonist of chainsaw man part 2! and she is an amazing character! in fact, to me she is one of the most realistically written female characters not just in anime, but all of the media i've ever consumed! live laugh love asa mitaka!!
Yes she is amazing but it would be cool to wait she gets even more development so the analysis is more complete but damn I love how Fujimoto female characters that are not well written "for being a female character" they are just straight amazing in general as good or even better than their male counterparts
I love your analysis and these kind of videos. Really, girls written just like normal people, maybe that's the reason japanese audience didn't like CSM that much and it's waaay more popular in the west. Popular animes are in need of character development and not just for boys.
Btw, what I truly wanna remark is the editing in Reze's part. Such a cute and bittersweet little detail❤️
I am pretty sure the mange is very popular in Japan too. Its just that alot of the Japanese manga fans hate the anime adaptation
I don't know where you got that the "Japanese didn't like it that much" considering it won multiple awards there and was Top 5 in best selling manga in early 2021 lol
The anime did get some hate because some JP Twittards hate the anime producer's guts because he went for a more live-action movie feel rather than a traditional anime adaptation, which IMO perfectly fits the entire concept of CSM, but those people were definitely in the minority considering CSM anime was still consistently Top 3 in streaming numbers while it was airing.
Though the Blu-ray were low in JP but it can chalked up to MAPPA asking a bit too much money for them, which is fair considering the production budget must have been astounding with how much effort went into the adaptation, but I guess people weren't convinced that it was value for money.
So saying "Japanese didn't like it that much" is kinda misinformed.
Makima is _pure evil._ Like, evil incarnate. The kind of evil that tempted eve to commit the original sin. There are no words to describe how dangerous she (or her real-life inspirations) is. There is probably nothing worse that can happen to someone than to encounter a Makima in their life. She doesn't just manipulate Denji, she literally made him her bitch. And she's so good at it even the audience is like "well but Makima's dumpy doe." I really like Makima, as a character. She is super interesting. But she is the kinda entity that you kill on sight at any cost in real life.
I can confidently say that you're now in my top 5 female RUclips creators because of this video
You are too kind!!! thank you so much
Oh fun fact, Power’s personality is based off of Eric Cartman from South Park.
Good video. Good commentary. Thank for all the hard work that went into it.
It's always interesting to hear what people have to say about how labels they identify with are portrayed in media. It must be quite challenging for an author to properly write from a perspective they haven't experienced first hand. Like, even when roleplay in D&D, all my characters, by the end of the campaign, end up just sounding like a different version of me. 😅
Shoutout to the outfit changes and amazing editing in this video on top of a really amazing analysis of Chainsaw Man characters who happen to be women
OMG PHEONIX YOU ARE TOO SWEET. THANK YOU
Awesome video breaking down the uniqueness of each character, so many things i missed even with multiple read throughs and watches now!
Yooooo, this is REALLY good analysis. There were at least a half a dozen things explained here that I hadn’t seen addressed well anywhere else. Excellently done.
for some reason i was really expecting Asa analysis to be here
“Manic pixie dream girl” is what someone who hasn’t seen chainsaw man would say to describe Power
Love how inakyu subtly threw shade at fujimoto for even writing makima 😂
I started to try to learn writting because of chainsawman, the characters in that manga are just so real I felt really bad when they died, I laughed a lot when denji and power did or say dumb things, idk I just never felt so close to a fictional character before its amazing, you made an excellent video btw
I will keep barking for Makima! You can not stop me!
i love your analysis!!! the anime is really so much deeper than a lot of people make it out to be. Likewise, it makes me sad when ppl flatten denj’s motivations to being “just wanting to touch boobs”, because in reality it’s more deep rooted than that. also loved your outfits queen
Loved the video, one of my fave anime youtubers, always have good takes and happy you enjoyed csm
Thank you!!!
I think the women of chainsaw man are some of the most interesting and enjoyable characters because they seems actually real. They don’t follow a trope that makes their character what it is but they are their own people, with flaws, and needs.
Denji I’ve never thought of as sexist or pervy, he is a kid, he has had no meaningful relationships, no love in his life and his idea is probably formed from magazines and some tv he saw and doesn’t actually understand connection until he touches boobs and Makima shows him what real intimacy is (which is a way better scene than any fan service) denji also understands that it was hollow and when he actually feels something for the first time for Rize he acts upon it with care and not as a perv.
Regarding Himenos sacrifice: Let us remember that Kobeni was in the same episode saved by her male colleague; and not because "he was so strong and Kobeni is a weak, helpless women", but because the Gunman simply shot him first and sorta missed. Their gender has nothing to with it; at best the shooter thought (wrongfully though) that her partner was the bigger threat because of his gender.
I love the fact that, realistically, there's probably a sizable segment of people who would be completely on board with Makima's plan.
Like, she is absolutely a monster. But, she's a monster who is legitimately acting in what she believes to be the best interest of humanity.
People that likes collectivism
spoilers
the flamethrower man genuinely believes in makima plans
Will this become a series, analyzing female characters from other anime too 🤔
Ooo it might! What other series should I analyze?
@@inakyu Jujutsu kaisen!
@@inakyu Full Metal Alchemist would be great, I watched an essay by OverlySarcasticProductions about how female characters tend to be given traditionaly masculine traits when in positions of power, they used Olivier Armstrong as an example, which is even more interesting since the author is a woman
@@inakyu arcane if u haven't cuz the female characters are so well written.