APADFTMOM Day 18: Chainsaw Man, and Character Motivations

Everything happens for a reason, and not in some galaxy brain too-deep-for-you type of way. People do things because they’re either trying to reach a certain goal or their actions have some sort of justification behind them that falls in line with who they are as people. I wake up and go to work because I really like money, and I don’t get gas until my tank is almost empty because I’m lazy and I think going to the gas station by my house is kind of a chore. Fictional characters have the same types of motivations. Today we’ll be taking a look at how Chainsaw Man finds comfort in giving its characters simple motivations.






Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto is the story of a boy named Denji who hunts monstrous entities known as Devils alongside his pet Devil dog and friend, Pochita. Denji’s father passed away and left Denji with a mountain of debt, but Denji is able to make ends meet by being contracted as a Devil Hunter and using Pochita’s chainsaw-based abilities to kill the Devils plaguing peoples’ lives. When Denji is killed by a Devil, Pochita fuses with him to give him new life as well as chainsaw powers which he uses to avenge himself. A professional Devil Hunter named Makima shows up to dispatch of that same Devil, sees the chainsaw creature that is Denji, and offers him an option: Become her pet or die. Denji chooses the former and becomes a Public Safety Devil Hunter along with Makima.




Denji is a very simple character, even for being sixteen years old. Denji loves Pochita, food, and women, and is driven primarily by hunger and lust. His life of poverty under his father’s crushing debt has humbled Denji, although he is very transparent with what few desires he has. Denji is a Devil-human hybrid with the ability to turn into a chainsaw man on command, although this ability is fueled by the blood within Denji’s body so he cannot get too injured or his transformation will revert.




Before going into the inner workings of Chainsaw Man, it is worth noting that Tatsuki Fujimoto has a uniquely interesting writing style that stands out a lot against the medium of manga as a whole. This style mixes fantastical situations with characters who have personality traits that are absurd but grounded in real life. Tatsuki Fujimoto’s previous series, Fire Punch, illustrates this with the ongoing theme of cinema that directly influences how certain scenes play out and how most characters act while also passively reflecting in the story’s structure.




Chainsaw Man finds its theme in desire. Every character wants something, whether that would be food, a relationship, a pet, or just to kill Devils, and they all lay their desires out for Denji and the audience to see. Every motivation that every character has is very simple either in the scope of the story or from a meta viewpoint. Something as complicated as wanting to kill all of the Devils is made out to be a hefty, seemingly impossible goal within the series, but the motivation to wipe out all of a demonic force such a classic motivation from a storytelling perspective that it can come off as bland.




Denji’s own desires are so incredibly basic that it almost feels misleading and that there should be more to it but no, he really does only want food and intimacy. In terms of the narrative as a whole, Denji’s motivations still boil down to just food and intimacy. There is some intrigue surrounding Denji due to his fusing with a Devil, but there is very little emphasis placed on this due to the setting. Chainsaw Man takes place in a world where people have both positive and negative relationships with the supernatural, so a man sharing his body with a chainsaw dog is nothing too special.




Chainsaw Man is a fairly new series with only a little over twenty chapters at the moment, but it has already managed to find its footing and establish some long-term goals to help balance the characters all individually having short-term goals. Denji is introduced with next to nothing at the beginning of the series, including material that makes for an immediate series-long plot hook. There are pieces in play that can be used at the author’s discretion such as Pochita’s origin or whether Denji’s father was somebody notable, but the latter fits so poorly with Denji’s character that it is much better just leaving as part of the story’s setup.




Keeping character motivations simple to the point of almost being mundane is a very refreshing change of pace from the norm. Compare the desire to kiss somebody or eat a hot dog with something like Naruto’s desire in Naruto to be Hokage to prove himself to everybody who has looked down on him for his life, or Deku’s goal in Boku no Hero Academia of being a hero worthy of using the same power as the most famous hero ever. Chainsaw Man has no such pressure and sets out to discover itself in due time with the hook being that a guy who can turn into a chainsaw man is cool.




The writing in Chainsaw Man puts its lack of detailed character motivations on full display by focusing on personal interactions between characters who feel very grounded in that signature Tatsuki Fujimoto style. Each character has their little quirks that help them fit in with a world full of monsters, but the ways they interact with each other help them feel like regular people just trying to get by. Their banter is light-hearted and dialogue-based as opposed to over-the-top slapstick, and serious discussions are framed with sobering tones that help get the point across that these conversations matter. Every character is also shown to have the basic depth of a serious side as well as a comedic side, and nobody is relegated to the role of strictly being comedic relief.




Chainsaw Man is a wildly different project from Tatsuki Fujimoto’s previous work with Fire Punch and may end up being all the better for it. I read and enjoyed Fire Punch, although it established itself right away and seemed to lose that sense of identity over time. Chainsaw Man is taking its time discovering itself and is really coming into its own as a witty series that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Chainsaw Man can be enjoyed through that Shonen Jump app that costs $1.99 a month, which is less than a pack of Pokemon cards.