How death enforces change: Denji

 Character analysis on Denji from Chainsaw Man.

After receiving the high acclaim for being one of the best new shonen mangas to come out in the past few years, I wanted to write a piece on why I think chainsaw man is one of the best mangas that have come out in the past few years and one my main reasons being its most important feature, its MC. Denji.

An MC, instilled with optimism and unrealistic expectations in life is not something unheard of when it comes to Shonen Mangas yet Denjis personality intrigues me more than most shonen MC’s. Maybe it’s his unshakeable confidence or his undeniably naive perception of romance and relationships that initially sparked my interest. But even then, Fujimoto's brilliance when writing Denjis Character I think doesn't come from his ability to write a character that has a lack of realistic expectations but yet the dark and rather pitiful realisation that Denjis desires and goals in life stem from his need for necessity. Denjis character longs for basic human needs ; food , love , warmth. These things are so basic that we almost forget how important they are to our development emotionally and physically and our need for them in our day-day. Denjis character highlights these importances in ways that brings in the audience to empathise with him although his character shows no actual awareness of the issues that resulted in his pitiful “goals” in life. 

Looking at Denjis character objectively he's someone that should be considered weak and powerless in many aspects of life being a young orphan that had  never experienced a real childhood or even simple pleasures like ice cream yet even from Chapter 1 Fujimoto makes sure that the audience don't fall victim to feeling bad for his character yet allows the audience to really experience him face value. Denji’s personality truly distracts you from looking into his emotional issues or personal constraints. 

Denji is unaware of his comedic qualities and is rather unresponsive when faced with social situations, simply existing to survive his whole life his character certainly doesn't waste time with  unnecessary social interactions.Denji doesn’t care about being the laughing stock of a social situation if it means he can make some quick cash out of it.His personality when first introduced in the manga is childlike, innocent, idiotic and gullible, yet by the end of part 1 these intrinsic traits are his biggest strengths allowing himself to become a more developed character and transforming into a powerful MC. 

Denjis fundamental motivation is his fear, his profound fear of so many things allows him to be so careless. Its funny to think that Denjis fear is ultimately what allows him to act so fearless. This is what I think is the most relatable quality about Denjis character, everyone feels fear and whether we actively decide to act on it or not, fear can make decisions for you. Denjis character showcases how fear can be so destructive, Denji is scared of reality, so he creates his own; Denji is scared to face Akis death so he doesnt open the door, Denji is scared to be killed by the debt collectors so he becomes their slave. 

Denji is like any other child that has experienced abandonment and loneliness from a young age: he wants to be loved. Denjis craving for attention and fame is something that drives him and keeps him motivated in life and Fujimoto makes sure to add the most important factor of his unwavering drive to become famous; the girls. Fujimoto is incredibly successful in creating a character that teenage boys can surely relate to and makes sure to clearly highlight the one thing that runs many teenage boys minds: boobs. Fujimoto doesn't shy from speaking on his own kinks and preferences in women; recently revealing that his reasoning for creating female characters that are so condescending and outspoken comes from his own experience of having a crush on a girl that bullied him when he was younger.This makes total sense when looking into Denji and Makima as Denji is completely submissive to her and therefore allows himself to get treated like a dog.Fujimoto has created a character that's so openly horny and sad that it's even created a mass of incels online using Denji as their PP to speak about their sexual fantasies with the characters and objectify women online.

This transparency from Fujimoto allows him to create a perfect character, Denjis bleak reality encourages him to have a hyperactive imagination, forcing him out of his fantasy and being dragged into situations that make him face his reality allows Denji to really transform. Death is very common within this manga with constant loss of close friends and having to face his own demons whilst continuing to lose loved ones drives Denjis true growth pushing him to become emotionally durable. Fujimoto highlights the importance of working out your strengths from your weaknesses with introspection and looking within yourself to be able to exert yourself wholeheartedly and outwardly become the hero that you want to be. Focusing on creating a character that needs to be able to think for himself by creating a character with absolutely no self awareness or sense of self is ironic and genius.

Denji is both naive and arrogant, harsh yet understanding. Denjis likeability comes from his ability to truly care for others although being someone who has been wronged by so many.Denji is empathetic yet unaware of it, his ability to truly put others first is admirable, but is also a trait that is extremely exploited.His sentiment and tenderness comes from his trauma,he truly understands the importance of love and family, even allowing himself to be treated like a dog in order to experience love or receive some sort of attention.This again is why Denjis character is so likeable, like all of  us his only true feeling that he wants to be reciprocated is his love. Denjis character highlights the negligence of the bare minimum whether emotional or physical needs, Denji doesn't receive the bare minimum, which pushes him to put basic needs and basic desires on a pedestal. It's all about perspective, in chapter 1 Denji says “If dreams come true , I wanna hug a girl before I die” and I think that's an important thing to highlight. Before Denji becomes Chainsaw man his life was so deprived of everyday experiences that his wildest dream was a hug.

All he wanted was a hug. 

Fatima :)