Chainsaw Man is known to subvert shōnen tropes, yet it is the same element of unpredictability that frequently causes rifts in the fandom in an enormous way. Even though the series is highly rated and praised by some readers, others believe that some of the characters have essentially poisoned the reading experience through their chaotic pacing and emotional violence. Be it perceived “plot holes” or irksome personalities, or the methodical killing off of loved cast members, these eight characters have led to intense discussion on Reddit and other social media platforms that they are supposedly taking away the magic of the series.
Characters ruining the series does not necessarily mean bad writing. It means that fans were expecting more from them or that they ruined the overall vibe of the series. The problem is that some characters are so successful in the role of a “hate-sink” that they interfere with the enjoyment of the reader. From the excessive manipulation of the Part 1 antagonist to the puzzling choices of the new faces in Part 2, the list below will describe the characters that drove fans to the brink of madness. Through examining the material of the manga and the most screechy criticism of the same by the community, we can narrow down to the exact point at which these characters went beyond being interesting and infuriating to a large group of fans.
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Nayuta
To most of the fans, her appearance at the end of Part 1 was a bittersweet miracle, and her role in Part 2 is a divisive one. The Control Devil turned bratty sister trope was perceived by a few as a rollback of the gritty aspect of the series, making a cosmic horror seem more of a domestic comedy aspect. While some love the babysitting role of Denji, many other fans say her appearance has put Denji in an endless loop of responsibility that suffocates his personal development and diminishes the breakneck pace that made the early chapters so infamous.
Moreover, the sadness of the defeat of Makima seemed to some readers to be cheapened by having her reincarnation appear so instantly. The Control Devil was no longer an ominous and threatening presence, but a comic obstacle in Denji’s life. Though she does have her supporters, a section of the fandom is loudly critical of Nayuta for allegedly desecrating the depressing final of Part 1 with a character that seems to exist in the story as an instrument that forces the main character to do things against his will.
The Hell Devil
The Hell Devil is often described as the punching bag of the Chainsaw Man universe, a term applied to characters that are solely there to lose and cause others to appear strong, similar to how Mahoraga from Jujutsu Kaisen is always getting flak for being strong but with a 0% win rate despite always being summoned to fight the strongest. With its frightening design and the fact that it embodies one of the most primordial phobias of a human being, it was assumed by the fans that it would be a high-end powerhouse. Rather, whenever it comes around, be it the cause of Santa Claus or Public Safety, it is destroyed nearly instantly by people like Pochita or Makima.
This repetitive “summon-and-slaughter” cycle has, in the eyes of many, ruined the mystery and fear-factor associated with Hell itself. When the literal personification of all-time hell can be swatted like a fly whenever a big confrontation emerges, the stakes of the show start to become unbalanced. According to fans, Fujimoto has destroyed the world-building of the afterlife by making its most recognizable representative a just sacrifice on the altar to demonstrate the coolness of the main hybrids.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
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The Justice Devil
The Justice Devil is frequently mentioned as the moment when the logic of the narrative in Part 2 began to seem messy. Its contract powers of letting individuals change into all sorts of grotesque shapes and shapes resulted in an uneasy series of plot twists that almost never felt like an ingenious form of world-building and more like a method of conveniently creating monster-of-the-week situations. The very presence of the characters who declared that they have a justice contract in their name rendered the idea thinned out and deprived the Devil of his personal presence and threat.
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Some fans were also disappointed by the nature of the payoff when the plot finally unveiled the nature behind these contracts, considering the build-up. The wavy forms of the Class President and the Justice Club arcs made the readers feel bored with what they had seen as a purposeless narration. Fans think the Justice Devil destroyed the narrowed, close-up writing style of Part 1 and replaced it with an expansive, bewildering mystery, which was too long, unfocused, and did not have a satisfying or definite ending.
Nobana Higashiyama
Nobana, introduced in Part 2, is dismissed by the community because he is usually seen as a waste of a character slot. His sister, Kobeni, is adored as possessing that pathetic but secretly elite air, but Nobana, in his eyes, is a mere imitation of her who lacks her secret ability. Viewers on sites such as Reddit have commonly bemoaned that his appearance is akin to gag-humor filler that disrupts the gravity and depressing tension of the ongoing arcs and does not contribute anything meaningful to the narrative.
Since he holds a position in the Devil Hunter Club, fans were waiting to see him one day depict some sort of spark like his sister. Rather, he has been mostly a background character with no other characteristics besides being scared. In a series that typically boasts of meaningful high-impact character deaths and progression, the existence of Nobana and his non-utility can be seen as a misstep that spoils the tension in the scenes he finds himself in, causing him to be one of the least liked useless characters in the manga.
Asa Mitaka
One of the most controversial changes in the history of Chainsaw Man is probably Asa Mitaka. Although she is an incredibly complicated and well-written character, many Denji fans believe that the introduction of the new main character in Part 2 destroyed the identity of the series. They criticize this turn away from a gritty urban fantasy to a slow-burn, psychological high school drama as a kind of bait-and-switch move that left the high-octane energy behind that they had fallen in love with in the first almost 100 chapters.
Fans view the emphasis on internal monologues of Asa and her social fears, although applauded by many as being realistic, as a pacing killer. They believe the show was ruined, since the character they loved, Denji, was pushed aside by another girl who wastes chapters contemplating her status in society. To such fans, Asa is a repudiation of the “grassroots” feel of the series, and Chainsaw Man is becoming too similar to a typical (albeit bizarre) seinen series.
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Fumiko Mifune
Fumiko is now the most detested character within the community of Chainsaw Man. Her presentation as a fan of Denji soon became foul as she started acting more predatory and creepy toward a minor. Fumiko’s actions are usually erratic and ugly, as opposed to Makima, who is a controlled and calculated manipulator, which makes the fans assert that she ruins the tone of the chapters she appears in.
This is more apparent in the later parts of the series of high-stakes battles, with Fumiko apparently not fulfilling her role of guarding Denji and instead choosing to save herself and others who were dying. This sense of being useless, along with her awkward sexualization of a traumatized teenage boy, has made the fans refer to her as a stain on the series. To most, she brings nothing but the ick-factor to the story, unnecessarily making the supporting cast feel unpleasing and inept.
The Gun Devil
The Gun Devil is the ultimate example of the hype built up to the max and then reality disappointment to many long-term readers. Over the years, it had been accumulating as the big-boss, a worldwide disaster that would kill the millions within several minutes. Its very “undertaking” in Part 1, however, was so promptly solved by Makima that it seemed to most as though the series had destroyed the best secret. Rather than a big world-destroying fight, it was transfigured into a “Gun Fiend” (Aki) and shot dead shortly after.
Although the fight between Aki and Denji was brilliant, fans claim that the concept of the Gun Devil went to waste. Fujimoto caused the last 70 chapters of the buildup to become so monumental as a red herring by disposing of the greatest threat to the world in such a sudden way as to make room for the Control Devil reveal. This subversion was too far, to some, who saw that the outer stakes of the series were being destroyed by a purely psychological ending that made the Gun Devil appear like a trivial nuisance.
Makima
Makima is that character that people just love to hate, but as they say, if a character is hated, it means that it’s written well. It is her perfection that harms the agency of the series. Since she was actually shown to have been pulling every single string since Chapter 1, there were fans who felt that the choices taken by the characters and, consequently, the emotional investment of the readers themselves were irrelevant. The way she knew everything in the world made the story too railroaded, like all success or tragedy was another line in her previously scripted story, and it deprived the world of spontaneity.
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More to the point, her ambitions were so great and her might so absolute that it became a black hole of the story; all the other bad guys such as Katana Man or Reze were just footnotes to her. While she is a compelling antagonist, her absolute level of control shifted the story into a cycle of relentless suffering that some fans found emotionally draining. They claim that it was her presence that killed the show, by seeing to it that, regardless of what Denji attempted, the show always treated him like a dog on a leash, and it was more about hopelessness rather than a narrative about growth.
- Release Date
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2022 – 2022
- Network
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TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TVh, TVQ, TSC
- Directors
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Takeru Sato
- Writers
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Hiroshi Seko
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Tomori Kusunoki
Makima (voice)
