Denji is so depressed that he has tricked himself into believing Makima is in love with him.
Watching this show is truly going to be a wild ride.
Check out Last Week’s Episode Review.
I feel like this show is going to have a reoccurring theme where each week I feel progressively worse for Denji, and I’m not sure if I like that or not.
Is Denji Depressed?
Denji is a young man who has experienced so much hardship and lack of affection in his lifetime that his depression is forcing him to ignore clear red flags about the new work situation he finds himself in.
I don’t know if Denji just feels like he needs to have a goal or attachment to the first attractive woman he sees, but I’m pretty sure Makima will screw him over in the long run. Denji’s depression clouding his judgment will only make things worse for him as he slays devils with the Public Safety Devil Extermination Squad.
Clearly, there is something severely off about Makima.
No, I have not read the Chainsaw Man manga but Makima has the same eyes as Power, who is supposedly a fiend. It is not a huge stretch to automatically assume that Makima is either a fiend, a devil, or some other supernatural entity masquerading as a human being.
Maybe it was easier to miss in the manga, but since the anime adapted her strange eyes it’s pretty hard to miss. Almost as hard to miss as the gigantic chainsaw string protruding from Denji’s bare chest. Despite this, Makima tells Denji he would stand out too much without a shirt, but conveniently ignores the entire string coming out of his heart.
Denji even notices that something is off with Makima, and despite acknowledging it decides to write it off as his own misunderstanding of her character. Then Denji asks Hayakawa Aki what type of person she is and convinces himself that Makima is a good person when clearly, she is not.
Denji is essentially a slave again – albeit one with better benefits, but still a slave to another person’s whims nonetheless.
Sure, now he gets jam on his toast and can take baths – but Denji can also be killed at any time. And he was reminded of that multiple times in this episode alone.
Why Is Makima Being Nice To Denji?
Hayakawa tried to beat up Denji, threw him into a pile of trash, and almost burned him with a lit cigarette all within an hour of knowing him. These are the same things the Yakuza did to Denji in episode one, and clearly Denji is used to being treated like trash.
So when Makima hugs Denji, feeds him udon, and gives him her jacket despite Denji always being isolated because of his poor hygiene, is extremely suspicious. Based on how everyone else has treated Denji and the aura of low self-esteem he exudes, I’m pretty sure that Makima doesn’t actually like Denji and is just using him for some form of amusement or future manipulation.
The thing that really gets me is that Denji is SO starved for any sort of affection that he will accept her cruel and then kind treatment and rationalize it in his mind as if he deserved it. The cycle of hot and cold will continue to the point where Denji might not even notice the abnormal situations anymore because he just wants a normal life, despite not even knowing what that consists of.
It just makes me sad, and hopefully Denji grows as a person and overcomes his past trauma instead of pretending it didn’t exist and rationalizing bad behavior from those around him like Makima.
*sigh*
Anyway, I think I’ll wrap this episode review up here.
But, tell me your thoughts.
Do you think Denji is so used to settling for less that he forgot he actually has options?
Will he die again this time being the ‘slave dog’ for Public Safety?
Why was that fiend in the apartment building comically easy to beat?
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