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| “ | I wish to use the Chainsaw Man in order to create a better world. Take, for example... Death. War. Hunger. There are many things in this world that humanity will be happier without. With Chainsaw Man's power, I'll blot them all out. | „ |
| ~ Makima discussing her goals, and her most famous quote. |
Makima is the main antagonist of the Chainsaw Man franchise.
She was the leader of Special Division 4 within the Public Safety Devil Hunter organization. Initially presenting her as a benevolent figure by taking in Denji in order to become a Devil Hunter to use his powers as the Chainsaw Man, she is revealed to be the Control Devil who is feared all over the world due to her controlling abilities.
Her motives for taking in Denji are revealed as far more sinister, as it's later revealed she wanted to break his bond with the Chainsaw Man by psychologically torturing him to bring back Chainsaw Man in order to create a better world.
She is voiced by Tomori Kusunoki in Japanese, and Suzie Yeung in English.
Her Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Her Heinous?[]
In General[]
- Her ultimate goal is to use the Chainsaw Man in order to erase concepts harmful to humanity, while not caring what humanity does not need in order to live a happy existence. Any world Makima makes would actually be subject to her own likes and dislikes, for example, when Pochita asked her if bad movies would exist in her ideal world, she refused, not caring that humanity needs bad movies to appreciate the good ones.
- She pretended to love and care for Denji, effectively grooming him with a family consisting of Aki and Power and a comfortable life, just so she could destroy it all right before him and cause Denji to fall into despair, in order to severe his bond with Pochita.
- She never cared for Denji at all, which was proven during her defeat, as Denji was able to trick her because she never bothered picking up his scent.
- While she claimed to be a Chainsaw Man fan, it was because of her obsession and fanaticism towards his reputation as the Hero of Hell and his ability to erase concepts, not out of any genuine care.
- This was proven was Pochita took Denji's form to trick her and she didn't realize the switch, showing that she didn't even really care about Pochita as a person, and was only in love with the idea of Pochita, showing her "love" for him was only superficial. This is also shown through her jealousy of Denji being with Pochita, telling him that he didn't "understand" Pochita and his chaotic nature, when in reality she did not understand him.
Background[]
- Made a contract with the Japanese Prime Minister to transfer any fatal injury to a hapless Japanese citizen to prevent her death, essentially resulting in the deaths of thousands. At the cost of losing her own freedom to serve Japan at all costs.
- Intrigued by Angel Devil's powers, she brainwashed him into massacring the village which adopted him, causing lots of deaths, and then erased his memories to prevent any possible betrayal.
- Systematically brought many Devil Hunters and Devils under her control, such as Aki.
- While devils are a manifestations of humanity's fears, Makima has clear moral agency since she has very high intelligence and very aware of her own actions.
- Furthermore, it's also shown that devils aren't made of evil since others (ex. Pochita) are capable being good thus disproving Makima being made of evil but capable of being good as well.
Part I: The Public Safety Saga[]
- Threatened Denji that she would kill him if he didn't join Public Safety, proving that she would go as far as to go against her plans to break him if it meant bringing Chainsaw Man faster.
- Put Denji in a team with Aki and Power ostensibly to capture the Gun Devil, but truly in order for Denji to build a bond with both of them, so that once she disposes of them, Denji would be emotionally broken in order to summon Chainsaw Man, as indeed happens.
- Sacrificed several prisoners imprisoned for life to kill the Yakuza attackers. Although they deserved it due to massacring the Public Safety, they were still killed in a very painful manner.
- Took the eyeballs of the Yakuza members' loved ones in order to extort the location of Samurai Sword out of them under threat of leaving them blind if they didn't cooperate.
- As a part of her ongoing plan to rip Denji's true happiness apart, she deduced that Denji had fallen in love with Reze for real. She then ambushed her in front of the cafe they were supposed to meet at and then incapacitated her, leading Denji to believe she ran away.
- When Quanxi attempted to surrender and asks for two of her surviving girlfriends to be spared, Makima rudely referred to Quanxi as a corpse and ruthlessly beheaded them.
- After Aki came to her in desperation to save both Denji and Power, she forced him to enter a pact with her to save them, tricking Aki into accepting it while not intending to honor it as she was planning to kill Power anyways.
- After the Gun Devil failed to kill her, she made it possess Aki's corpse and sent the resulting Gun Fiend to Denji, leading to him ultimately putting Aki down and beginning his fall into despair.
- She then killed Power in front of Denji. When Denji was struck in disbelief and asked if it was all a dream, she laughed at him and cruelly revealed her true nature to him in celebration of the success of her plan.
- She then revealed to Denji that he killed his own father in self-defense, thus ruining Pochita's attempts to hide the truth. She then proceeded to gaslight Denji that he killed Aki and that he led Power to her death despite Aki being in no condition to be saved due to being killed by the Gun Devil, resulting in Pochita's re-emergence.
- Makima then threatened to keep on manipulating Denji and kill any of his loved ones in the future if he tried to get over the pain of losing both Aki and Power.
- She brainwashed the Weapon Hybrids (including Reze and Quanxi) into servitude, having them infatuated with her, and formed Special Division 5 with them in order to fight Pochita, promising a date to the Hybrid who beats him.
- She fired an attack at Kobeni, knowing that Pochita would take the hit for her.
- She mercilessly beat Pochita up after realizing he had no wish to help her and in order to subjugate him to remake the entire world.
What Makes Her Inconsistent?[]
- She is ultimately a tragic figure and a broken woman, and her backstory is played far too sympathetically for her to be Near Pure Evil.
- She was found by the Japanese government as a young and innocent Devil and was raised without love or any sort of care. The government solely focused on her powers and her status as a weapon, leaving her to subconsciously want love and affection from others, as shown where Denji witnesses Makima in a rare moment of vulnerability, when she was crying during a film depicting two men hugging, implying her longing for love, companionship and emotional connection.
- She was warped by the government, who planned to build a better world by using Chainsaw Man's power of erasing concepts (which they would try to do in Part 2 by letting him eat the Aging Devil), leading to her ultimately having the same goal as them. Although it’s very extreme, ruthless, and uses unjustifiable means, she stays true to her word of wanting to make the world a better place, making her a genuine well-intentioned extremist.
- Due to her being raised to see people as inferior, (for her powers to properly work), she was given rank and authority of Chief of Public Safety which substitute her above than many, Makima desired to build genuine bonds with others where she was equal to them.
- This corrupted environment fuelled her entire mindset, creating a distorted lens through which she saw the world. She genuinely wanted to build a family-like relationship on an equal footing with others, a desire proven by her moment of vulnerability watching the film. The reason she prefers dogs is that she likes her relationships one-sidedly, showing an insecure side of her.
- However, the full extent of the state’s abuse is only implied, and the story does not use this to absolve her deplorable crimes and there are limits to sympathy as well, as shown by Denji raising her reincarnation, Nayuta, to ensure she never ends up as depraved as Makima ever was, specifically by keeping her away from the influence of Public Safety per Kishibe's warning.
- This was proven in Part 2 with Denji raising Nayuta as per Pochita's request: after being retrieved by Kishibe in China before the Government could, she grew up to be a well-adjusted young Devil who genuinely cared for Denji and others and even had genuine heroic moments like saving Asa without any trace of her predecessor's cruel and manipulative nurturing. This demonstrates and serves as prime example that Makima was never truly evil by birth but was partially driven to villainy through the lack of love, abuse and exploitation she received by the government.
- In Love, Flower, Chainsaw Guide when commenting on Chapter 96, the author himself Tatsuki Fujimoto noted that Makima never actually smoked, but only tried to mimic it. He explained that she fundamentally "lacks firsthand experience," with her entire understanding of the world rooted more in observed knowledge and mimicry than "lived experience" and emotion. This void, created by her upbringing as a government weapon, meant she studied human behaviour through films to construct a functional persona. This lends a tragic dimension to her character. Her sincere desire for a better world was thus pursued through a distorted lens, causing her to mistakenly believe that immense suffering was a necessary and justified price to pay for a world where ultimate happiness and connection were possible. Ultimately, this left her with a deep but purely intellectual understanding, forever isolated from the genuine lived experience she longed for.
- Her goal is to bring an ideal world by using Chainsaw Man to erase negative concepts, while laced with her own biases and is partially motivated by her own emotional issues, she stays true to her word of wanting to make the world a better place despite her heinous and flawed actions, making her a genuine well-intentioned extremist. To even further point out how evidentially true it is, she even told Kishibe she was eager to be eaten by Chainsaw Man should she fall in battle against him, which would lead to control being removed from the world, showing that she was a genuine extremist, and Pochita, despite ultimately helping to kill her because said world would not be ideal at all, confirmed it to Denji. Pochita confirms her actions were to create a better world so that she could truly make connections with other people, confirming her motivations came from a genuine place deep down.
- While plainly stating that she loves them partially because they’ll obey her will, she cared for her dogs, as they are loyal to her, thus relies on them as being one of the very few sources of genuine affection and companionship for her.
Trivia[]
- As of now, Makima, alongside the Gun Devil, are the only Chainsaw Man villains to be Inconsistently Heinous.
- She was Denji, Power and Kishibe's archenemy, and fittingly their moral opposite, as all three are morally ranked as Inconsistently Admirable.
External Links[]
- Makima on the Villains Wiki
- Makima on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki
- Makima on the Chainsaw Man Wiki