Quite a while aback, I heard wind of this series’ existence
in the same video I talked about where I’d learned of Spy X Family. The story itself appears simple enough on the
outside, but, as with most fine nuts, the real meat of the item itself lies
just below the surface.
Ever since his father’s suicide, young boy Denji and his pet
devil, the chainsaw dog Pochita, have been laboring, doing any jobs they can in
order to pay off the old man’s debt to the mafia. Thankfully for us readers, the meat of this
work is done by killing off other devils and selling their corpses. This leaves little, if any money, for Denji and
Pochita’s living expenses, so they content themselves with eating single slices
of bread for their daily meals and living in squalor.
But, one day, the yakuza bosses turn to another devil for
more power and the deal, needless to say, goes badly. This new Zombie Devil promptly kills them all
and uses their deceased corpses to kill Denji and Pochita. But, somewhere between this world and the
next, the two share their remaining life essences, healing Denji’s wounds and
fusing him and Pochita together, turning him into…the Chainsaw Man!
From there, Denji is found by the gorgeous Makima and
conscripted into a government devil-fighting force, with the promise of decent
food if he stays.
The manga itself is pretty hardboiled, with its sharp lines
and bloody violence. It all feels very
film noir meets horror movie, especially since the various devils are all
thoroughly monstrous and often filled with body horror. But there’s also a running theme of pets,
loyalty and control running throughout.
Denji is worked like a dog and treated like a dog by the
yakuza. Pochita literally is a dog…ish…Even
Makima compares Denji and his new coworker Power the female devil to new,
trainable dogs she’s taken in. And
Denji, having lived the life he’s led, seems perfectly okay with merely keeping
himself alive and clean and comfortable i.e. one could say that he’s mostly
living for the “creature comforts”.
But this isn’t always a negative theme. Denji and Pochita were both, one way or
another, strays when they first met, and they took each other in. The kindnesses they showed each other grew
into a deep relationship of love. The
master protects the dog, and the dog protects the master. Undoubtedly, this trend will also continue
with Makima and Denji’s relationship.
Even Power becomes more sympathetic when she says her only
real friend is a stray cat she took in, and (Spoiler Alert), she winds up
betraying Denji to the Bat Devil near the end of Vol. 1 in exchange for the
safety of her beloved cat.
I will admit that I have never actively owned a pet for
myself that has ever survived for an extended length of time. My frogs escaped and all my fish died. My brother and I have even failed to take
proper care of a plant if it wasn’t already in the ground.
Maybe we’re both way too up ourselves.
But my point is that I fully understand and can both empathize
with and romanticize it. There’s
something about pet animals that you just can’t get with your fellow
humans. You feel like an animal will
always listen to you and not judge, even if it’s just you anthropomorphizing
them and they can’t actually understand a word you’re saying. Animals are much more likely than people to
repay the kindnesses you show to them, and less likely to do the opposite i.e.
less likely to attack you in revenge for the abuses you put them through. An animal will accept you just the way you
are, never offering you any unwanted advice or ordering you to change, and all
they ask for in exchange is for food, love and kindness…
I’m sorry…I’m getting all choked up here, just writing this…
P-Pick up a copy of Chainsaw Man today!
(sniff)
