Characters / Chainsaw Man - Main Characters

Chainsaw Man Main Character Index
Main Characters (Denji | Makima and Nayuta) | Devil Hunters | Chainsaw Man Church | Devils and Fiends | Other Characters

Main Characters

Part 1: Public Safety

Denji

See Denji's page

Pochita (UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Pochita / Chainsaw Devil / Chainsaw Man I

Voiced by: Shiori Izawa (Japanese), Lindsay Seidel (English)

^{True Form}

^{As Denji's heart}

"Just so you know, I've always loved listening to you talk about your dreams, Denji. Here's a new contract for you. This time, you're getting my heart. In exchange, show me your dreams. That's all I ask of you..."

The Chainsaw Devil. A cute, dog-like Devil that Denji befriended after finding the critter injured in the woods one day. After Denji is hacked to pieces by zombies in the first chapter, Pochita merges with Denji to revive him, becoming his heart. It is eventually revealed that before Denji found him, Pochita was the "Hero of Hell", a Devil that all other Devils feared, and numerous powerful organisations, people and Devils desperately want to get their hands on him to gain control over his mysterious power to remove concepts from history by consuming its corresponding Devil.

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• Abstract Eater: He can consume other Devils and the very fears they represent, deleting both from history itself in the process. However, this isn’t something he does on a regular basis, reserving this ability only for the worst of Devils that prove to be too dangerous for humanity to coexist with. He can also consume a Devil only partially to leave its history and effect on the modern day intact, but prevent it from occurring again; because Pochita ate most of the War Devil, there haven’t been any large-scale conflicts in decades.
• Absurd Cutting Power: In his true ”Hero of Hell” form Pochita's chainsaws are way and above sharper than Denji's version ever was, to the point the chainsaws might as well be supernaturally sharp blades by that point due how precisely clean the cuts become; Pochita cleanly divides anything he wants with a mere wave of his limbs or head, with the least amount of effort possible.
• Advertised Extra: He's something of a Series Mascot and frequently appears on covers in marketing and promotional materials, but he merges with Denji in the first chapter and spends most of the story afterwards as Denji's inanimate heart, who only intermittently appears as a character in his own right in Denji's dreams, until Makima breaks Denji enough to release Pochita from the contract.
• Always with You: On the day Denji is betrayed and murdered by his yakuza employees under the control of the Zombie Devil, Pochita sacrifices himself to become Denji's heart and revive him. The only thing he asks for in return was for Denji to show him his dreams.
• Ambiguously Evil: Makima describes him as a chaotic being who always acted to the extreme. But considering that the Control Devil was only ever a distant "fan", it's incredibly vague if Denji had changed Pochita for the better since the last time Control saw him or if he was always a Token Heroic Orc even back in his "Hero of Hell" days. With the reveal that he accidentally killed the Devils he helped because he wanted a hug, it seems he was at worst Obliviously Evil.
• Ambiguously Related: To the Weapon Devils: just like them, Pochita represents the fear of a weapon and displays the ability to merge with a human to produce a hybrid, but any significance to these similarities is never hinted at.
• And Call Him "George": He did not kill the Devils who called out for his help out of a chaotic, "kill everything" nature, but his desire to be hugged. He was just so strong he would kill them by accident. Makima's belief he was an agent of chaos was nothing but her Loving a Shadow.
• And I Must Scream: In Pochita's true form, his mind (one clearly desperate for physical and emotional affection) was trapped in a monstrous, jagged body that could barely communicate singular words coherently and at best crushed and at worst shredded everyone he touched. Pochita never once displays any desire to regain it, and it is implied much of his far more destructive behaviour during the Control Devil arc stems from (in addition to sensing Denji's mind fading from his body) panic and horror at being forced back into it by Makima.
• Anti-Hero: Pochita is unquestionably a hero, as seen by the end of Part 1; however, his nature as a devil still is very apparent even in his apparent good intentions: the Chainsaw Devil has killed uncountable hordes of devils and some humans alike, either by accident or purposefully and that just comes naturally to him, killing is something Pochita doesn't really feel any bad about, his only regret is pretty self-servicing: not getting his desired hugs.
• Afraid of Their Own Strength: Pochita during his original Chainsaw Man days was one of the strongest devils in Hell, constantly battling and killing many of them in his own quest to help others in need. However, he was so strong that he couldn't do anything except kill anything he touched, which made him miserable because all he wanted was a hug from the people he saved. He much prefers the doglike form he was forced to take on after nearly dying, because it finally allows him to receive affection, and when Makima forces him back into his old body he does everything he can to put Denji back in control.
• Androcles' Lion: Denji saved him after he'd been shot, and Pochita repays him by serving as his pet/weapon. When Denji is killed, Pochita revives him.
• Attack Its Weak Point: Pochita's heart is coveted by devils for both the power it can bring him and for being his only real vulnerability. Strong enough devils can wrest control of it once it's in their possession and prevent Pochita from regenerating as he usually would.
• Bad Powers, Good People: His true ability has potentially apocalyptic applications and reveals some truly horrific implications on the nature of the universe. But Pochita himself is a heroic figure who has used this power to arguably change the world for the better.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Pochita is unyieldingly loyal to Denji and places his concerns over his own, all because the boy selflessly cared for him in spite of his own dire living situation. In fact, he loves Denji because he gave him what he had always wanted, even when he was the Hero of Hell: a hug.
• Big Good: As the original Chainsaw Man, Pochita erased human history's worst disasters, atrocities, and monstrosities from existence, sparing humanity from both them and their Devils. In addition, the sacrifice he performed to save Denji in the first chapter ended up empowering the boy to protect humanity from Devils for no reason but the goodness of his heart; in contrast to the Public Safety Bureau having only done so to further the Big Bad Makima's goals of world domination.
• The Big Guy: In his true form Pochita is considerably taller than Denji ever was, even in Chainsaw Man form, and bulkier too. Makima was only able to take Chainsaw Man down after weakening him by turning most fear from him away, replacing it with genuine adoration as a hero, and even after that Chainsaw is able to shield Kobeni from a blast made out of sky tearing spear made from Angel's power sapping 1000 years away from many of Makima's slaves as a toll. It tells how ridiculously strong he was in his prime.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: Deconstructed: turns out there's a downside to having chainsaws for arms, namely, that it makes it damn near impossible to touch anything without destroying it, especially if you're trying to give someone a hug.
• Blessed with Suck: Pochita was once "the Devil that all Devils fear,” a being of immense strength and power as shown in his "Hero of Hell" form: a giant, muscular, four chainsaw armed, armored demon. But this exact strength meant it was impossible for him to interact with anything in a nonviolent manner, which isolated him from any form of companionship. His one and only dream of having a simple hug was near-impossible since he couldn't control his own strength (and bladed limbs) and he ended up killing the Devils he hugged.
• Book Ends: The first and last hunts he goes on with Denji in Part 1 involve hunting down a primarily red Devil.
• A Boy and His X: Pochita is a dog-shaped Devil who acts the part during his time with Denji before they were murdered by the Zombie Devil. Even Pochita’s “Hero of Hell” form has demonic dog-like ears as part of his Animal Motif.
• Brought Down to Badass: When Makima fully disclosed the existence of a hero known as Chainsaw Man to the general public through various broadcasts of Denji’s fights during Part 1, many people started to adore Chainsaw Man as their hero, that goes completely against the source of power for all devils: fear; that way Pochita weakens considerably, the result being best shown when Pochita (disguised as Denji) fights the Weapon Humans again in the final fight against Makima, there he battled them all with great effort, winning just barely, contrasting the previous battle in his "Hero of Hell" form where Pochita completely dominated them with the greatest ease. Still, the fact that even after being weakened Pochita could still win against all Weapon Humans shows he still is a devil to be wary of, as the fear that comes from all devils still is powering Pochita up.
• Cerebus Retcon: Read by itself, the contract he makes with Denji when he revives him seems like a sweetly casual call-back to the first one that began their partnership. Later chapters quickly establish that using the word "contract" at all during this exchange formally binds him and Denji to whatever they were saying at the time. So regardless of intent, and the fact that Pochita wouldn't have minded bringing Denji back to life for free, the loose terms they sketched out can still be broken with lethal consequences.
• Cerebus Syndrome: Supplementary images in the manga collections feature single images of Pochita doing various activities. At first, these consist of him posing cutely or doing random activities like exercising or eating snacks. Then he starts getting dismembered, bisected, decapitated, and injured in ways reminiscent of what happens to Denji in the chapters the images are set after, implying that these are illustrations of what Pochita is experiencing within Denji as they suffer through the events of the story. When Pochita takes over their body, the illustrations are replaced by black, confirming that he's no longer just in the passenger seat.
• Chainsaw Good: Pochita is the official Chainsaw Devil, in the form of a cute dog-like critter with a chainsaw growing out of his face. His “Hero from Hell” form is a Dark Is Not Evil example with four humanoid arms that have chainsaws attached to them along with the chainsaw attached to his face.
• Clipped-Wing Angel: His “Hero of Hell” form is leagues stronger than Denji’s version, even while handicapped by a lack of human fear, and doesn't drain blood to use. But unlike Denji, who can shift back to his human form, Pochita can't really interact with things in any way that doesn't involve maiming them.
• Closest Thing We Got: Conscripts Kobeni to go on a date with him to try and revive Denji as she's the only female acquaintance of theirs who isn't either dead or a malevolent basket case.
• Color-Coded Characters: The Four Horsemen can't discern the faces of humans or Devils, so Fami calls Pochita in his true form "Black Chainsaw Man" and Denji "Red Chainsaw Man."
• Combat Tentacles: Downplayed with his intestinal "scarf". It can grab and lift things rather well, but Pochita prefers to use his chains in battle due to them being capable of the same while being much more lethal. In fact his intestine like scarf is essentially Pochita's only way to interact with people in ways that don't end up shredding them, making it the opposite of a combat tentacle.
• Commonality Connection: He shares Makima's isolation and inability to form meaningful connections with others due to their powers, in Pochita's case being so terrifyingly strong that he inadvertantly kills everyone near him or else scares them off whereas Makima couldn't perceive others as equals due to her upbringing and powers of domination. This is likely why he asks Denji to give her reincarnation, Nayuta, a family by raising her on love and hugs.
• Commuting on a Bus: A complicated case to say the least. Once Pochita became Denji’s heart, his core as Chainsaw Man, his character was relegated to only passing memories of Denji for much of Part 1 to the point Denji presumed his little friend may have died to give him a new chance at life, however, it turned out Pochita was alive all along inside Denji, keeping the side of his contract up and running: to just observe Denji striving for his dreams all the while protecting Denji of his deepest trauma. Once that very trauma came to light, Denji went down a spiraling depressive state, giving up on living altogether, which broke Pochita’s contract, giving the little devil his body back, marking the return of Pochita as a character, but only for a while as Pochita wanted nothing but for Denji to keep living and he to remain an observer. Part 1 ended with Denji and Pochita succeeding at returning to their preferred status: Denji in control and Pochita just observing what Denji does from the inside, that also conveniently keeps many of the series’s secrets and larger lore hidden, waiting for proper reveals, as Pochita is not directly used to expose many of the things he knows about the world of Chainsaw Man; Part 2 keeps Pochita strictly a non-entity all the same, he really wants nothing but to see what Denji does with their shared body if nothing is getting in the way of their contract. Indeed, Pochita makes his first appearance on Part 2 dozens of chapters into it, during the aftermath of Chainsaw Man Church's assault, just nonchalantly asking Denji what he dreams of doing next, after several parties want to force Denji in and out of acting as Chainsaw Man; Pochita just wants to observe and very little beyond that.
• The Conscience: Whenever Denji feels unhappy or disillusioned with his new life, Pochita's voice rings in his head asking him to show him more of his dreams.
• Covers Always Lie: Any promotional materials that feature him physically hanging around Denji should be regarded as more metaphorical as he's only in that state in the first chapter, flashbacks, and the occasional Dream Sequence.
• Creepy Good: Pochita is one of the most powerful Devils in the series thanks to his ability to Ret-Gone any Devils and their representing fears out of existence. Despite this, Pochita is unambiguously one of the most heroic characters in the series, with his goals being nothing more than to get hugs and make sure his best friend is happy.
• Crippling Overspecialization: He's far more powerful in his "Hero of Hell" form than Denji is, easily shredding through enemies that gave Denji a hard fight. Unfortunately for him, destroying things is pretty much the only thing he's capable of doing, especially when all Pochita really wants is for someone to give him a hug.
• Cuddle Bug: His entire Goal in Life was to be hugged, but he never could before being weakened and meeting Denji.
• Dare to Be Badass: His first appearance in Part 2 coincides with Denji becoming conflicted on his dreams of a normal life. When he appears, Pochita provides a rather simple solution for Denji wondering what to do next now that he's supposedly gotten his wish: just dream for something new next.
  Pochita: Our dream came true.
  Denji: I know, right?
  Pochita: Okay, Denji. What will you dream of next?
  Denji: Next?
  Pochita: Do you want lots of girlfriends? Or maybe money?
  Denji: Next...I...I wanna be Chainsaw Man.
• Dark Is Not Evil: His true form is a dark-gray, hulking four-armed humanoid. Despite this, his unselfish love for Denji paints him as a Token Heroic Orc among the seemingly always selfish and/or callous Devils. He is also revealed in the end to essentially be the Big Good of humanity, who was at worst Obliviously Evil due to not being able to control his own monstrous strength.
• Deal with the Devil:
  • A downplayed version. Pochita revived Denji from the dead and granted Denji his heart and powers, saying in return he wanted to see Denji realize his dreams. This meant now that Denji would be targeted by several Devils who wanted the Chainsaw Devil’s powers and loyalty for themselves including ones under contract of several different country’s governments. However, Denji doesn’t seem to mind the cost at all, as it means he gets to live out every single wish he dreamed about fulfilling in his past.
  • Back in Pochita’s days in Hell, he would save Devils who called for his help, but in return wanted a hug. This always ended in disaster for the Devils he “saved,” sending them to Earth as a result. After his revival, he does this on occasion with humans too, shredding Makima into pieces for trying to hug her and killing several humans he thought was threatening Kobeni when she called out for help (though not directly asking for Chainsaw Man himself, thus why he likely didn’t try to hug her).
• Deconstructive Parody: Pochita at first appears to be the Superpowered Evil Side prolific in Shounen, a supremely dangerous monster feared by all sealed within The Hero whose power many of the villains desire to claim for themselves. But instead of a scary monster trying to hijack the protagonist's body, Pochita is an Adorable Abomination whose fearsome reputation has left him very lonely. He sees Denji as his Protectorate just because he's the first person to ever give him a hug.
• Defector from Decadence: This is why he wound up in the human world in the first place. Unlike normal Devils who die in Hell and are reincarnated on Earth, however, he fought his way out of Hell and reached Earth in a weaker dog-like form in the aftermath of a large battle.
• Defiant to the End: While at Makima's mercy after pretending to be Denji in Chapter 95, Pochita Spiteful Spits blood in her face for demanding he go back to the monster he despises being, right before she rips his heart out.
• Desperately Craves Affection: His entire motivation during his career as the first Chainsaw Man was to receive physical affection. The fact that Denji fulfilled his lifelong dream is the reason Pochita pledged himself heart and soul to the boy.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Deconstructed with his true form. As a Devil who had chainsaws for arms, he had very limited ways to exact "retribution" for even the smallest of slights against himself or those who asked for his help.
• Doom Magnet: His mere presence brings Denji grief since every party in both Earth and Hell wants to get their hands on Pochita.
• The Dreaded: Large portions of the Devil community are terrified of the Chainsaw Devil and send multiple killers and Devils at Denji because of it, even though around Denji the Chainsaw Devil was nothing but a cute little dog-like creature that Denji named “Pochita.” Angel later tells a story about how Devils are reborn on Earth when they die in Hell, claiming the last thing every devil on Earth he's talked to remembered before they died in Hell was the roaring sound of a chainsaw. The Future Devil even calls Pochita "The Devil that all Devils Fear,” hinting as to why so many of them are after Denji’s heart that contain Pochita’s essence. Chapter 84 reveals that not only has he killed countless Devils as Angel suggested, Pochita also has the ability to eat other Devils, in the process completely altering history so both they and the concept they personify never existed. Further, Pochita has already consumed the existence of World War II, Nazi Germany, Nuclear Weapons, AIDS, a star that broke children's minds, four end of life alternatives to death, and multiple other fears that make even the Gun Devil seem like a joke.
• Eating the Enemy: The specific method in which his tremendous power of erasing entire concepts out existence works, Pochita must eat a Devil in order to trigger that ultimate ability; that is something Pochita puts a lot of thought before deciding a whole concept must be done away with, instead choosing to kill with his chainsaws most of the time, allowing devils to follow the cycle of death and rebirth normally. Part 2 reveals Pochita can trigger that ability partially as well, as he only chewed War Devil away, rather than consuming her whole, as such the concept of war still exists but haven’t erupted in the worldwide scale ever since.
• Eldritch Abomination: His Ret-Gone powers that can erase concepts from existence by eating their respective devils are utterly outside anything else in the story's setting. Devils are supposed to reincarnate when they die, yet Chainsaw Man can kill them permanently. And Chainsaw Man's world and history that seemed like "the real world with Devils added" is in fact wildly different than ours, with Pochita on one hand erasing real world events like World War II and on the other having removed even crazier fantasy elements from the setting, like a star that broke children's minds.
• Equippable Ally: Before they fused, Pochita was used by Denji as a living chainsaw that ran on blood rather than regular fuel and never had to have its blade maintained otherwise.
• Escaped from Hell: His true form is so ludicrously strong that Pochita can just fight his way out of Hell, rather than needing the Hell Devil's aid to get in and out like anyone else does.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Can sense aggression coming his and Denji's way, but he reacts the same whether the threat is a Devil or a human, allowing him and Denji to be ambushed by the Yakuza in the opening chapter as they were assuming they were being led to another hunt.
• Exact Words: Show me your dreams. Pochita said that quite literally as it revealed by final events of Part 1; that was explicitly a devil’s contract that Denji signed in, as such when Makima managed to completely destroy Denji’s desire to live on, I.e: dream on, the contract was instantly broken and Pochita took over Denji’s body, after that Pochita desperately tries to come up with ways to restore the contract, to bring Denji back. Also while Denji initially believed Pochita had essentially died when they fused, in truth Pochita remained alive as Denji’s heart, being fully aware of everything Denji did with their body, in short Pochita really has a front row seat to watch all of Denji’s quest for his dreams.
• Famed In-Story: Over the course of the series it is revealed by several devils that Pochita was as famous as he was strong down in Hell, specifically with being the "the Devil that devils fear the most" Pochita has killed hordes upon hordes of his own kind, seemly for no reason as far as devils were aware; however, later the truth is revealed to be quite simple, if a little absurd, in that all Pochita wanted was to help those who called for help and only wanted a hug in return, but his strength was so ludicrous that Pochita accidentally killed everyone he wanted to be affectionate with.
• From a Single Cell: He escapes being trapped in orbit by ripping out his own heart and throwing it back at Earth, regenerating his entire body around it. After Denji regains consciousness, pulling Pochita out of his body will create a duplicate of Denji's Chainsaw Man form (or possibly an outright clone of Denji) that Pochita controls.
• Fusion Dance: Revived Denji by merging with him, his body becoming the boy's heart. Once Pochita and Denji are full conscious at the same time, they're able to split apart, at least temporarily.
• Gate Guardian: After assimilating Denji, for the majority of Part 1 Pochita had to guard the door to his human's darkest repressed memories of what happened to his father. The devil rightfully feared that if Denji recalled the horrific traumatic event, it would cripple his desire to live, and threaten the contract between them.
• Godzilla Threshold: His secondary ability to Unperson Devils as well as the concepts they're borne from is rightly feared. However, it's not something he actively uses, and he only seems to unleash it against foes who are particularly deleterious to mankind.
• Good All Along: While there was little doubt towards the sincerity of his devotion and love for Denji, Pochita's Mysterious Past and the Blue-and-Orange Morality of Devils made it ambiguous how "good" he is beyond his relationship with Denji for much of the series. Makima even describes his actions as "chaotic" and "extreme", suggesting he isn't as friendly as his dog form implied. Chapter 97 makes it clear he's always been in some ways a heroic figure, as his supposed "chaotic" actions were actually him being too strong to give out or receive the hugs that he craved from those he saved.
• Happy Place: Shares one with Denji that resembles the dumpster their corpses were tossed in after the Zombie Devil had them ripped to pieces, the last time they were together as hunters in a traditional sense, and where Denji was reborn as a hybrid. It's a cleaner and smaller version of it though, and Pochita can bring other people into it under select circumstances like Power.
• Heartbroken Badass: When Pochita was forced to "return" after Denji was too heartbroken to continue living on, Pochita tried to live out the dreams of the emotionally and mentally destroyed Denji, whose psyche Pochita was unable to protect from discovering the truth that Denji’s father was killed by Denji in self-defense.
• Heroic Dog: While it's a stretch to call him a dog (and impossible to in his true form), there's no debating that Pochita is heroic.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Pochita sacrifices his body to merge with Denji and resurrect him. For a while, this landed his status into Uncertain Doom territory as Denji holds on hope that Pochita's consciousness still exists inside his own mind somewhere, just unable to communicate. It's revealed that that's indeed the case, with Denji and Pochita meeting multiple times in Denji's dreams.
• Hidden Depths: Pochita appears to be merely Denji's pet Devil and sole friend at first. It becomes clear over time he's much, much more than that.
  • The Reveal of him as the "Hero of Hell" retroactively makes his friendship with Denji more notable. The much feared Devil that can erase entire concepts from existence ended up having the capacity to love a poverty-stricken young boy and stay by his side in spite of apparently gaining nothing from it.
  • As terrifying and as ferocious a fighter he is, the Chainsaw Man only wanted to be rewarded with hugs from those he saved.
• Horrifying Hero: His form as the "Hero of Hell" was a seven foot tall monster with pitch black scales, razor-sharp teeth, a prehensile intestine he used as a scarf, and four arms ending in giant chainsaws, but he was still the closest thing the world had to a Big Good.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: The once feared "Hero of Hell" Chainsaw Devil was reduced to a small dog-like creature living as the pet of a poor, starving, deep-in-debt boy on the verge of death. Situation aside, Pochita seems to have been perfectly happy with this, as his new form made it easier to receive the hugs he dreamt of having for a long time.
• Humanoid Abomination: His true Chainsaw Man form. Aside from the chainsaws for hands and a head, his silhouette is mostly human. Considering the series' establishment of how Devils with more human-like appearances are likely to have affection for humanity, Pochita's humanoid figure despite his monstrous features is a subtle indicator of where his allegiances lie.
• Humble Goal: His one goal in life was to get a hug. He finally gets it when he becomes a dog-like figure and meets Denji.
• I Gave My Word: In the first chapter, Denji expresses his dying wish for Pochita to fulfill the former’s dreams for him. When Pochita returns in his “Hero of Hell” form, he tries his best to honor Denji's wish and attempts to live out his dreams.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: It's revealed that the reason why Pochita killed the Devils who called for his help is because he was actually going for a hug, but was so strong that he kills them by complete accident. This caused him to be The Dreaded amongst the other Devils and pained him to know that he would never get the physical affection he yearned for. This is why he has no problems with his weaker form; he was able to finally be hugged by someone who cared about him, his human owner Denji that saved Pochita’s life when he was injured after escaping Hell.
• Immortal Breaker: Pochita is the only one thing that can kill a Devil for good by eating them and erasing them from existence.
• Inexplicably Awesome: Pochita is a total anomaly to Chainsaw Man's setting, somehow immune to rules that are ironclad for most Devils: He wields a primary ability completely beyond what every other Devil is capable of while having nothing to do with chainsaws. There's not a mean bone in his body despite Devils being Always Chaotic Evil. He doesn't reincarnate with new memories when he dies, but just gets back up. And despite representing the fairly mundane fear of chainsaws, at full strength it's implied he eclipses even the Primal Fear Devils in power.
• Insistent Terminology: Not Pochita himself, but rather characters who're aware of his true nature always refer to him as Chainsaw Man, not Devil. This is best exemplified in Chapter 84 when Kishibe calls him the Chainsaw Devil, only for Makima to continue to exclusively refer to him as Chainsaw Man.
• Intrigued by Humanity: Pochita was so enamored with Denji's talk of his dreams of living a normal life that Pochita fused with the boy after both were murdered by the Zombie Devil, all in order to see what Denji will do to accomplish his dreams. Before meeting and bonding with Denji, he already seemed to be fond of humanity to an extent, as stated by the end of Part 1 all the devils Pochita has used his ultimate erasure power on were the ones whose concepts were directly tied with causing some of the worst ills on humanity.
• Irony: Despite being a Devil (who are in this setting Always Chaotic Evil and the representation of fear), he's basically one of the kindest and most selfless characters in the setting (including other humans).
• Lightning Bruiser: On top being shown as extremely strong, several of his attacks as the "Hero of Hell" are framed in a way where Pochita acts incredibly fast, beyond what can be perceived, with no in-between before and after someone is beheaded or sliced by him.
• Living MacGuffin: A whole bunch of Devils and governments want the Chainsaw Devil's heart... for reasons no one explains for dozens of chapters. Chapter 84 finally reveals Pochita has the power to Ret-Gone other Devils and the fears they represent from existence, a power Devils like Darkness and Control wish to exploit for their own ends.
• Living Weapon: He looks a little silly while fulfilling this function, what with his completely unchanging expression and still being doglike, but before their fusion Denji uses him like an actual chainsaw.
• Logical Weakness: As a devil he is a literal fear incarnate (a form of Aichmophobia, specifically the fear of chainsaws). Positive human emotions, such as being adored as the "Hero of Hell", will severely weaken him. This is subverted with Denji, whom Pochita loves very much.
• Morality Chain Beyond the Grave: An incredibly dark version occurs after Makima breaks Pochita's contract with Denji, "killing" Denji and forcing Pochita into control of their body. He desperately attempted to live out Denji's dreams of a normal life, like trying to eat a good tasting hamburger that Denji had said he always wanted to try back when they lived together... but Pochita’s nature as the Chainsaw Devil makes it a horrifying mockery where he keeps killing people who either threatened him in some way (like trying to call a Devil Hunter) or killing those who seemed to make threats towards Kobeni (who summoned him by calling for help) and can't get a burger because she keeps tripping over herself in terror at the sight of him.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: His "Hero of Hell" form had four humanoid forearms - each with a chainsaw blade attached to them.
• Mysterious Past: Very little of Pochita's past before his destructive battle with the Weapon Devils and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and his latter meeting with Denji is ever hinted at.
• Narrative Shapeshifting: The volumes have an illustration of Pochita on the page between chapters, always in a form or state that parodies the events in the previous chapter.
• Nice Guy: One of the kindest characters in the series. He only wanted a hug and to help his best friend.
• Non-Malicious Monster: He’s a rather cute dog-like Devil who is never shown to attack anyone or anything by himself, only doing so when used as a weapon by Denji. Even in his “Hero of Hell” form he does his best to act the part of a benevolent hero who saves those who calls his name, but unfortunately his powerful and destructive strength leads to disaster every time he tries to hug those he saves.
• Nothing Is Scarier: When Denji first encounters Pochita in a dream in chapter 38, all he sees is Pochita's eye staring out of a locked door, with Pochita only telling him "Denji, don't ever open this door." It turns out it wasn’t related to Pochita at all, but rather is the mental barrier locking away Denji's memories of killing his father in self defense after his father went on a drunken rage and almost murdered Denji.
• Obliviously Evil: At full power Pochita is so insanely strong he often kills by complete accident. All the Devils he killed when they asked for his help? He was just trying to give them a hug. and when he later visits Kobeni at Family Burger to try and get a meal he accidentally slices all her co-workers to ribbons while just turning his head.
• Odd Friendship: Even in-universe, it's found strange that Pochita and Denji had as close of a friendship as they did considering they are respectively a Devil and a human. The stark contrast between the two increases once we find out that Pochita as the Chainsaw Man is an Eldritch Abomination who can erase entire fears from existence and history, and yet he loves a sickly, illiterate, and poverty-stricken young boy simply because he hugged him.
• Off on a Technicality: A rare unwilling example. Pochita saves Denji's life at the start of the series by fusing with him and ceding control of their shared body with him, with the condition of the pact being that Denji live a happy life. Makima gets around this by convincing Denji that he is incapable of ever living a happy life, which breaks the terms of the pact and forces Pochita to retake control of their body.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Went on a number of Devil hunting assignments with Denji before the start of the series proper, and fought even more spectacular battles against exponentially more gruesome opponents like the AIDS Devil and the Nuclear Bomb Devil as the original Chainsaw Man.
• Older Is Better: Subverted, if Pochita is just the Devil of mankind's fear of chainsaws, as that would only make him barely over 200 years old at maximum.
• Organic Technology: A living dog-like creature that gets used by Denji as a chainsaw.
• Painting the Medium: Pochita stops appearing in volume illustrations during the chapters where Makima forces him to take control of Denji's body, with those pages instead being replaced by black since he's no longer within Denji and experiencing all that happens to him.
• Perpetual-Motion Monster: He’s able to revive as long as he consumes blood, making him effectively immortal. Even after being chopped up and dumped in the trash, Pochita was restored when Denji's blood dripped into his mouth and passed this ability on to Denji after they merged.
  • Another aspect that distinguishes his Chainsaw Man form from Denji's is that he can spin his blades at will so long as he has enough strength, and is never seen having to pull his starter to get them going after they've stopped.
• Perpetual Smiler: His "snout" in dog form gives him the appearance of always smiling. This just makes him look like he's always happy to see Denji.
• Poor Communication Kills: Despite also trying to fight her, his inability to talk very well causes Kishibe and his men to mistake him for being one of Makima's protectors, causing them to waste several lives and their ace in the hole (a contract with the Hell Devil) on Pochita rather than on her.
• Powerful and Helpless: His true form is a killing machine, but he's unable to speak, restrain his strength for physical affection, or really do anything but kill.
• Punny Name: Pochita's name is a Portmanteau of the stereotypical dog name "Pochi" and the Makita brand of chainsaws, from which Pochita looks like a fusion between the classic orange model and a dog. Given Denji named him, he was very likely inspired by his appearance to come up with it.
• Red Baron: Known as "the Devil that devils fear the most", an epithet echoed throughout the series marking Pochita as one of the central figures down in Hell, so much so even extremely powerful devils with concepts etched into the grander fabrics of reality are weary of him; also he was known as the Chainsaw Man rather than Devil.
• Resurrective Immortality: Unlike other Devils, Pochita does not reincarnate when killed, but just gets back up while keeping his personality, at least according to Yoru who had the misfortune of learning this firsthand.
• Ret-Gone: The reason he is The Dreaded of Hell is because any Devil he consumes ceases to exist, along with their very concept and effect on history. Makima reveals before meeting Denji he had already consumed and undone the existence of [>Nazi Germany the Nazis]], World War II, AIDS, Nuclear Weapons, slow-onset asthma (soa), humanity’s sixth sense... and things that seemingly don't exist in the real world either like the Arnolone syndrome, the eruption of Mount Hio, a star whose light broke children's minds, and the four other things that can happen to you at the end of life other than death. No one other than her can even remember them.
  • As it turns out, even partially consuming a Devil can weaken the fear it represents. According to Yoru, there hasn't been any large-scale conflict since WW1 because it was partly eaten by Pochita.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Sure, he may be the "Hero of Hell", but his dog form is rather adorable, with big eyes, stubby little legs, and Cute Little Fangs. Even the chainsaw blade that sticks out of his face in this form looks far less threatening than Denji's or his original form's, being very short and having a less jagged edge.
• Right Makes Might: Is simultaneously the strongest Devil around and yet also the kindest of them all, with his actions being a practical embodiment of this trope; he becomes Denji's heart, keeping the boy alive out of no other reason than love, and enabling his incredible power to stick around for good purposes.
• Rule of Empathy: If anyone calls out for help, Pochita must come to their aid. This would be a very exploitable weakness any weapon devil looking to kill him could use, were it not for the fact he's so ridiculously strong as to No-Sell every attacking power and dominion in Hell.
• Scarf of Asskicking: His "hero of Hell" form has his intestines wrapped around his neck like a scarf to go with his whole superhero vibe. The intestine scarf is fully prehensile, capable of chopping other Devils to pieces or carrying around people.
• Scary Teeth: His true form has a mouth full of jagged, pointed teeth, just like Denji in his battle mode.
• Sealed in a Person-Shaped Can: Yoru believes the devils the Chainsaw Devil eats haven't stopped reincarnating because they're Deader than Dead, but rather because they've been sealed away alive inside his body.
• Semantic Superpower: The specialized divergence of demonic offshoots allows him to be very specific about what he devours (and by extension, what he eliminates). Which is how eradicating the Nuclear Bomb Devil did not adversely affect the main Bomb Devil.
• Series Mascot: Featured throughout promotional material for the series in his cute, happy looking dog form, in spite of "dying" in the first chapter.
• A Shared Suffering: When Pochita asks Denji to be Nayuta's good friend in order for the Control Devil to become a better person he compares Control's ordeal to his own: they are too powerful for their simple goals to ever be fulfilled, Chainsaw Devil ended up killing everyone he just wanted to have a hug with, while Control (as Makima) saw herself above everything and everyone, she could never have a sincere friendship with anyone.
• Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: He's Denji's pet Devil and appears as an unusually cute little critter who later saves Denji's life by merging with him and giving him his powers. However as the series goes on and the nature of Devils are revealed along with the ongoing mystery of why Pochita is such a MacGuffin, Pochita's true motives are suddenly in question and makes one wonder if he had any other ulterior motives about turning Denji into Chainsaw Man, considering how much it made him a target for powerful Devils. The truth? He never had any kind of ulterior motive; he did just genuinely love Denji that much and made the contract with him as a way to save his life and give him the hope of fulfilling his dreams.
• Shrouded in Myth: His immense fame down in Hell was entirely built on assumptions of what Pochita’s goals ever seemed to be; devils feared him because he killed just so many of them, even those who called for his help, while other devils loved him because his actions appeared to be so chaotic that Chainsaw might as well encompass what a true devil is like. No one knew, nor could possibly conceive, this powerful creature was just trying to be the hero who received hugs as thanks for his help.
• Skewed Priorities: After Makima forces him to take over Denji’s body and regain his lost power, Pochita… immediately bolts from the fight to try fulfilling Denji's dreams and bring him back than bother dealing with the Horseman trying to pick a fight with him.
• Sleep-Mode Size: The adorable, dog-shaped creature that Denji knows is not Pochita's true form. Beam vaguely describes a much more powerful being, and his old "Hero of Hell" form is later shown to be an a hulking humanoid with a spiked carapace and four arms. His dog form was an incredibly weakened, near-death state after a major battle with the Weapon Devils and the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
• Smarter Than You Look: Once Pochita is brought back in the story at intervals during brief moments in Denji's critic dreams, and later by the final moments of Part 1, more of his thoughts and mannerisms are shown, with a more clear picture of his real mind Pochita is shown to quite more insightful than he initially seemed to be, both at his simple weak dog-like form and brutish real Hero of Hell body. First he was always shielding Denji from opening the metaphorical door to his inner psyche, knowing that would heavily scar Denji with the memory of what really happened between him and his father; when Power becomes self-aware inside Chainsaw Man's body Pochita calmly explains the situation to her and quickly proposes a deal to save both of them and Denji; finally at the end of Part 1 Pochita and Denji have a meaningful talk where Pochita gives a deeper outlook on how Makima turned the way she did, and tells Denji he should raise Nayuta to be a better Control Devil in her place. In short, Pochita is more than meets the eye, his appearance, both of them, betray what he really is like.
• Sociopathic Hero: He was called the "Hero of Hell", who would come to the aid of any Devil crying for help... and often kill not only their attackers but the Devil who called for him as well. Although since Devils usually appear on Earth after being killed, it may be downplayed a little. Subverted when Pochita reveals that the Devils that called for his help were killed completely by accident. He merely wanted a hug from them when the job was done, but his overwhelming strength accidentally killed them. Though, it's still notable how he seems more torn up about not getting a hug than having killed so many in his attempts to get one.
• Something Person: As the "Hero of Hell", due to his ability to generate chainsaws on various parts of his body, he was called "Chainsaw Man".
• Spirit Advisor: Pochita sometimes appears to Denji in his dreams. At first they were cryptic and brief, to the point Denji wasn't sure they were real, but near the end of Part 1 they can communicate clearly with each other.
• Super-Strength: His true from is strong enough to slice a Devil as strong as Hell to complete ribbons with a single attack. And during his later battle with Control and the Weapon Humans, he escapes having been thrown into space by tearing out his own heart and throwing it hard enough to breach Earth’s atmosphere so he can regenerate around it.
• Sympathy for the Devil: After all the hell Makima put Denji and Pochita into throughout Part 1, Pochita still felt sorry for the Control Devil, he says Control just wanted a genuine relationship with someone she saw as an equal but her nature (and nurture) was only capable of dominating others, seeing everyone as completely inferior to her; when Control Devil is reborn as Nayuta, Pochita asks Denji to be her honest friend so Control could have the first sincere friend in her life and turn into a better person.
• Terrifying Rescuer:
  • His true form is quite ominous. Even when his intentions were to always help those who called for it, Pochita unwillingly killing those he wanted to hug, only furthering the image in Hell that Chainsaw Man was chaotic and unpredictable, seemly killing for no reason.
  • When Pochita answered Kobeni’s call for help from abuse in her new job, he was so destructive that Kobeni never even registered Pochita came for her rescue. Then, in a desperate attempt to fulfill Denji’s wishes, he forces Kobeni to go on a bizarre date with him anyway.
• Title Drop: In his time in Hell he was known as the "hero of Hell, Chainsaw Man".
• Token Heroic Orc: While most Devils ally with humans for selfish reasons or are indifferent to them, Pochita genuinely and unselfishly cares for Denji, to the point he happily sacrifices himself for the boy by making a Deal with the Devil that amounts to "please live a happy life." Similarly, in chapter 89, he uses himself as a Human Shield to save Kobeni from one of Control's attacks.
  Makima: A true hero.
• Tortured Monster: Back in Hell he was a Devil of utterly horrifying strength, and yet this made him incapable of getting the one thing he wanted above everything else: simple physical contact and affection.
• Tragic Dream: All Pochita ever wanted was warmth and affection, but his terrifying true form and capacity for destruction would annihilate anyone he tried to hug. He finally found his dream, in Denji, after Resurrection Sickness depowered him into a dog-like form that could be embraced. By later becoming Denji's very heart, Pochita vows to help his beloved find his dream, and nothing will stop him.
• Ugly Hero, Good-Looking Villain: The goofy and gruesome hero to the beautiful villain Makima.
• Ultimate Life Form: A Devil that preyed on other Devils. Literally, with him being able to eat and Ret-Gone other Devils. Even Eldritch Abominations like Darkness and Control desperately want his power for themselves. Control further believes Chainsaw is capable of killing and consuming primal fears like Death, War, Hunger and herself.
• Uncertain Doom: Whether or not he perished fusing with Denji is ambiguous enough to be Discussed In-Universe. Denji seems to believe that Pochita is somehow still alive inside him, regularly holding one-sided conversations with him and a mental vision of Pochita pleads with him to not open the door that represses the memories of him murdering his father. Power on the other hand argues that by no longer being a tangible being that Denji can interact with anymore, Pochita's effectively dead. By Chapter 90, it's confirmed that he's definitely still alive but serving as Denji's heart, and manages to find the means to speak with him again in the final chapter of Part 1. Suspiciously, Pochita appears to return to being inert within Denji, who returns to having one-sided conversations with him in Part 2 without any indicator that Pochita is responding or has even conversed with Denji since convincing him to adopt Nayuta.
• Undying Loyalty: Pochita’s love for Denji is so great that ensuring his safety supercedes all other priorities. He’s completely fine with always letting Denji stay in control of their merged body, and after Makima restores him to his true form by forcing him to take over the boy’s body, Pochita’s immediate instinct is to try and restore his mind then deal with his old nemesis.
• The Unintelligible: Unlike most Devils, who are either totally silent or perfectly fluent, Pochita can only make dog noises in his weakened form and chainsaw revving sounds in his true form, though in the latter he can convey simple words (like "hamburger") with great effort. He does manage to speak comprehensibly after temporarily splitting from Denji to act as a decoy for Makima, but the fact she mistakes him for Denji's transformed form suggests he had to somehow borrow Denji's voice to pull it off .
• Walking Spoiler: Anything beyond "he's Denji's adorable chainsaw-dog" is a big spoiler, considering his true nature unravels the entire series up to that point.
• What You Are in the Dark:
  • Pochita doesn't use Denji's corpse to turn into a Fiend in spite of the boy giving him his consent to do so a while ago. Instead, he revives him by merging with him and turning him into a Hybrid to give him a second chance at life.
  • Denji's memory of a time Pochita was lost shows that Pochita could've abandoned him any time he wanted if he only saw the boy as a tool to recuperate back to his full power. Instead, it's shown that he was equally upset about being separated from Denji and was just as relieved as he was when they found each other again.
  • The fact Pochita decided to use his Ret-Gone powers on aspects of the world that were massive threats to humanity's safety (despite knowing the mechanics of the ability means no humans would feel any gratitude for his good deeds and get closer to him as he so dearly wanted) shows that, Devil or not, Pochita truly is a hero.
• World's Strongest Man: As far as anyone can tell, the Chainsaw Man is one of, if not the most powerful Devil in existence, tussling with the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the Devils of various terrifying concepts, and all-powerful Primal Fears. Even the Darkness Devil, itself a contender for this trope, is noticeably wary of Denji using Pochita's powers. With the confirmation by Nayuta that the Death Devil stands above the Primal Fears like Falling and Darkness, it would seem the position is now a two-horse race between her and Pochita.

Makima

See Makima and Nayuta's page, but be warned that all spoilers are unmarked

Aki Hayakawa

Aki Hayakawa

Voiced by: Shogo Sakata (Japanese), Reagan Murdock (English) ^{Foreign VAs}Arturo Cataño (Latin American Spanish)
Child Aki voiced by: Ayumu Murase (Japanese), Bryson Baugus (English)

"We have to take advantage of every tool at our disposal in our line of work — which includes the very things we hunt. They're still the enemy, we're just using them. I refuse to make friends with one."

A stoic and icy member of Division 4 that Makima charges with looking after Denji and Power, he joined the Public Safety Bureau in the hopes of eventually taking revenge on the Devil who butchered his family as a child: Gun.

Contracted with both the Fox Devil and the Curse Devil; the former allowing him to summon its gigantic claws and maw in combat and the latter manifesting as a katana-sized nail that completely disembowels any Devil he stabs it with three times, though at a steep price. He also later contracts with the Future Devil, allowing him to see several seconds into the future.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed in the anime. In the manga, he actually threatened to kill Denji and Power for an unspecified prank in the Eternity Devil arc, whereas in the anime, he simply gets angry when Denji and Power have the audacity to call what they did to him a "prank". Fujimoto later revealed said prank in a social media post that Denji and Power shoved poop up his nose and upper lip while he was asleep, making his anger justified.
• All for Nothing: His quest for revenge against the Gun Devil? Utterly meaningless from the start, as it had been defeated and hacked into pieces a long time ago. Even when it does partially manifest again through the actions of the U.S. President, Aki himself is no more than a mere tool for Makima during the attack on the Gun Devil and becomes the Gun Fiend.
• An Arm and a Leg: After the Darkness Devil pops off his entire party's arms, Aki is only able to get his right arm reattached and loses the left one.
• Anti-Hero: He doesn't like people who do not take their job as Devil Hunters seriously or fight for a superficial and material goal like money or, in Denji's case, to be able to touch some boobs, being this one the primary reason he and Denji, initially, didn't get along. Aki is also ruthless, stating that he always makes sure the devils he kills suffer in order to give them a slow and painful death. He can become intimidating with those he still doesn't trust enough, like when he threatened Denji by telling him that if he either betrays them or side with other devils, he would kill him without any hesitation.
• The Beast Master: This trope is somewhat shared amongst all Devil-Hunters, but Aki is so far the most prolific, being able to summon the Fox Devil (for a time), use the Curse Devil and eventually recruit the Future Devil.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: A male example; the dangers of the job almost inevitably take a toll on devil hunters' bodies, and Aki is no exception. But while most get some kind of facial injury (Kishibe's face is a mess, most minor Public Safety agents are at least a little scarred, and even Himeno is missing an eye), Aki's loses years off his life and one of his arms, not compromising his handsome looks.
• Big Brother Instinct:
  • Himeno noted that Aki is often tasked with training new recruits, but due to the high mortality rate of Devil Hunting it's not uncommon to find him privately crying over his students' deaths.
  • Aki eventually develops this for Denji and Power, coming to see them as surrogates for his late younger brother and tearfully offers Makima whatever she wants from him just so they can be safe from the deaths the Future Devil predicted for them.
• Body Motifs: The animated adaptation frames certain scenes to obscure the upper part of his face or head, foreshadowing how he is eventually warped into the Gun Fiend.
• Cast From Life Span: Part of his deal with the Curse Devil, is that using it significantly drains his total lifespan. After using it against Katana Man, he ends up with two years left.
• Character Development: Aki's experiences throughout the series lead him to recognize the pain he inflicts on those around him with his self-destructive habits, especially after Himeno sacrifices herself to save his life. He later admits that having to deal with Denji and Power's hijinks had helped him move on from the pain of losing his family. This comes to the point that he openly declines taking part in the operation to take out the Gun Devil, despite knowing full well that he'll never live to learn the truth. This however bites him in the ass when his newfound appreciation for Denji and Power leads him to submit to Makima, followed by his possession and subsequent death, so desperate he is to not lose the people he loves.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: His role to Denji and Power. In Chapter 14, when they start mouthing off to him, he immediately gains their compliance after offering them sticks of gum.
• Cool Sword:
  • Subverted. While he at first carries around the weapon he received from his Contract with the Curse Devil in a katana sheath and even calls it a sword, it’s actually a giant nail.
  • He later replaces it with an actual sword created by Angel Devil, which can ignore the Ghost Devil’s intangibility.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: His ultimate mistake was never considering, despite growing closer to the likes of his roommates and Angel, that "the Devil that Devils fear most" would not necessarily be evil. This causes him to make some rather hasty, well-intentioned deals that wind up turning him into the Gun Fiend.
• Combat Clairvoyance: His new power, after forming a contract with Future Devil.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: During their first patrol together, he beats up Denji under the pretense of punishing him for his unprofessionalism, but Denji half-correctly guesses that he's actually angry that there's another guy around to challenge him for Makima's affections.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Witnessed his entire family killed in front of him by the Gun Devil's attack.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the Stock Shōnen Rival as popularized by characters like Hiei and Sasuke Uchiha; he has the majority of the traits of the archetype, being a secondary lead with a much more serious disposition, having a tragic backstory and desiring revenge. But unlike most of those characters, his antipathy for the protagonist here is less about a macho rivalry or competition over a girl than because Aki, quite rightly, thinks that Denji is a belligerent moron who's unqualified for Devil Hunting and a danger to himself and everyone around him, and Power is even worse. He's also a young adult while Denji is a teenager, and the subsequent age and maturity gap widens the gulf between them. Furthermore, all Aki's desire for revenge amounts to is his attempts to deal with his survivor's guilt. His actions are shown as incredibly damaging and harmful to basically everyone he cares about while giving him often less than nothing in return. And while he and Denji do end up fighting, the circumstances behind it end up making it a horrific tragedy.
• Deuteragonist: Outside of Denji, he's the character in Part 1 with the most Character Focus, splitting the deuteragonist role with Makima.
• Discard and Draw: Loses his Beast Master powers after the Fox Devil abandons him, leading him to sign a Contract with the Future Devil for Combat Clairvoyance and get an Absurdly Sharp Blade from the Angel Devil to compensate.
• Don't Think, Feel: How he defeats Sawatari's Ghost Devil.
• Fights Like a Normal: Aki's fighting styles consist of mundane punching and swordsmanship, which are empowered by the future sight the Future Devil gave him.
• Four Is Death: Played with. Aki has visual dealings and intimate ties with four Devils in Part 1 (Fox, Curse, Future, and Angel), but it's the fifth one he works with (Control) who winds up dooming him.
• Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: He has an addiction to smoking just like Himeno, but he's indubitably a good guy. In fact, he quits as he begins his journey to better himself.
• Groin Attack: In chapter 3 when Aki tries to scare Denji away from joining the agency for superficial reasons by attacking him, Denji retaliates by repeatedly kicking him in the balls. The first hit lands him on the ground, with the subsequent ones in anger.
  Denji: You really are a nice guy, huh? Because… when I fight a dude… it's nuts… or nothing!
• Hair-Contrast Duo: To Denji. While Denji is a blond idiot whose goal in life is to cop a feel before he dies (at least in the beginning), Aki is a black-haired stoic who is intensely devoted to his career.
• Heroic BSoD: Suffers a massive one after Makima reveals that the Gun Devil has been Dead All Along and the entire goal of the Devil Hunters Association has been effectively a massive lie, followed by the Future Devil revealing that he and Power are going to be killed by a berserk Denji. It breaks him hard enough that he willingly surrenders himself to become a pawn of Makima just so he can protect his friends.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: While coming across as cold and aloof, his antagonism is mainly regulated towards Denji and Devils in general. He greatly respects and values the lives of those around him, and is noted by Himeno to cry for those who die working with him.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Aki has blue eyes and is usually stoic and detached. In truth he's much more emotional than he lets on, showing a softer side around Himeno and eventually Denji and Power.
• Invocation: He summons the Fox Devil by saying "Kon" (the Japanese sound effect for a fox's bark) and making a "fox shadow puppet" hand gesture.
• It's All My Fault: He blames himself for the death of his little brother, as Aki saying he would play catch led to his brother running back inside their house, right as the Gun Devil destroyed it. He also feels immense guilt over the deaths of the rookies he's responsible for. His guilt gradually escalates as he begins seeing Denji and Power as surrogate replacements for him, leading to his contract with Makima and subsequent death.
• Magnetic Hero: Surly and self-destructive as he is, his determination, maturity, and reliable nature nets him a healthy amount of companions over the course of Part 1. He was already a respected member of Special Division 4 before the story started, Denji and Power come to love him as family, and he forms an offbeat friendship with the lazy and mildly misanthropic Angel Devil.
• Meaningful Name: "Aki" can mean "empty" in Japanese, and he had his memory erased by Makima.
  • Aki's name also comes from the AK Gun, as his primary motivation is killing the Gun Devil and he eventually becomes the Gun Fiend.
• My Greatest Second Chance: He feels he failed to protect his little brother and now wants to protect Denji and Power as a means to make up for it.
• Not So Above It All: Despite being the Straight Man to Denji and Power's antics, when Denji offers to have a contest of seeing who can give a worse Groin Attack to one of Himeno's killers, he can't help but agree.
• Odd Friendship: With the Angel Devil after Makima pairs them for work purposes.
• Older Than He Looks: He looks fairly young, almost high-schooler age, but the story heavily implies that he's in his early twenties.
• One Head Taller: He is significantly taller than Angel when he is paired up with him.
• One-Hit Kill: Subverted. His nail-sword is supposed to secure a guaranteed kill on anything it stabs by summoning the Curse Devil to tear it apart…only for it to turn out to be useless on an opponent that can come back to life, as seen during the fight with Katana Man.
• Only Sane Man: Other Devil Hunters call him insane for wanting to go after the Gun Devil. Rightfully so. He still comes across as normal compared to Denji, Power, and the rest of Division 4.
• Precision F-Strike: In the dub, his typically reserved language falls away when Sawatari summons the Ghost Devil.
  Aki: Oh, you motherfucker...
• Pretty Boy: He has soft facial features with fairly long hair. The Fox Devil only lets Aki summon her head because he's a handsome guy.
• Revenge: Wants to kill the Gun Devil to avenge his murdered family. Carries this also for Himeno's killers after her death.
• Samurai Ponytail: In line with the character's samurai aesthetic, Aki wears his hair in a ponytail. It's actually the basis for the "Top-Knot" nickname given to him by Power.
• Secretly Dying: He lets as few people as possible know how little of his lifespan is left after repeatedly expending it on a devil contract.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: One of Part 1's subplots involves Aki's dwindling life span from associating with the Curse, Future and Angel Devils, and how he chooses to spend what time he has left as he grows fond of the new family he forms with Denji and Power. Makima not only invalidates this issue by giving him new life as the Gun Fiend, but by setting him up to be killed by Denji before he runs out of his remaining months.
• Stock Shōnen Rival: He slots rather neatly into the role of "Sasuke Clone," being the black-haired, serious, broody, and revenge-driven counterpart to the blond, goofy, and energetic protagonist. Unlike Sasuke, however, his initial ego-clashes with Denji have less to do with Aki's arrogance and more with him quite accurately deducing that Denji is a belligerent moron with zero sense of self-preservation, so his initial antipathy is arguably fairly justified. Also unlike Sasuke, the traits that get him here are never resolved as Aki steers away from that role, becoming a loving, but still firm, older brother to Denji and Power, but this combined with his inability to cope with his Survivor's Guilt ultimately leads to his death.
• The Stoic: He doesn't emote much outside of sheer annoyance, his default expression being that of a perpetual Thousand-Yard Stare. Denji and Power's influence slowly change that.
• Straight Man: Is usually this around Denji and Power's antics.
• Survivor Guilt: There was nothing he could've done to prevent his family from being killed by the Gun Devil, but he is completely motivated by his guilt about failing to protect his little brother.
• Taking the Bullet: While trapped by the Eternity Devil, he shields Denji from Kobeni, getting stabbed.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Tries to uphold a strict policy of only killing Devils, Fiends, and their associated minions. It takes a lot on the part of a human assailant, such as when Samurai Sword shot Denji in the head and heavily wounds Himeno, to make him respond with retaliatory lethal force.
• Tragic Bigot: Initially, Aki hates any and all devils with a passion, believing that all of them are immutably malicious and deserve nothing but death. He gets outright angry at Denji when the latter ostensibly shows sympathy to a fiend and later chides him for ever thinking that he could become friends with Power. Given that Aki's family was among the 1.2 million victims of the Gun Devil, it's hard to blame him. Ironically, Aki's demonic coworkers end up filling the hole in his life left by his family's deaths, with Aki eventually forming an Odd Friendship with his partner Angel and becoming a surrogate older brother to Power and Denji.
• Tragic Hero: All Aki wants is some resolution to the guilt regarding the death of his family. It costs him everything.
• What Does He See in Her?: It's shown that Aki is as infatuated with Makima as Denji, and people like Himeno wonder what his reasons are, usually because of their own dislike of her. When Angel finally asks him why, Aki seems to be confused when he can't think of any reasons. The subsequent reveal of her true identity heavily implies she had him brainwashed subconsciously so to be subservient to her.
• You Killed My Father: Aki's entire family was murdered by the Gun Devil. Since this day he hates all Devils and has made the Gun Devil his target.
• Your Answer to Everything: Deconstructed with his original sword. Aki is all too willing to expend his life span with the nail tied to the Curse Devil's power as he believes he just needs to reserve just a handful of his mortality to kill the Gun Devil.
• Your Days Are Numbered:
  • Due to his Curse Devil contract costing him his lifespan, he's already down to two years left to live by the time Himeno dies.
  • The Future Devil outright states he will die in a few months.
  • He later loses two further months to the Angel Devil's Touch of Death power after briefly grabbing his hand to stop him from being blown away by the Typhoon Devil.

Power

Power / Blood Fiend

Voiced by: Fairouz Ai (Japanese), Sarah Wiedenheft (English) ^{Foreign VAs} Erika Langarica (Latin American Spanish), Martina Felli (Italian)

^{Click here to see the Blood Devil}

"Alright, on your knees, mortal scum! Including so-called partners! You stand in the presence of POWER!!"

A former Wild Child wandering Japan's countryside before eventually ending up caught and "employed" by Divison 4, she's put to work as Denji’s partner; much to his chagrin.

As the Blood Fiend, Power can manipulate her own blood (and with some difficulty the blood of others) into constructs or to staunch blood loss. She also benefits from drinking blood even more than other Devils do, becoming physically stronger the more of it she drinks.

See also her self-demonstrating character page.

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• A-Cup Angst: Played with; Power wears breast-pads to exaggerate her rather modest chest, fitting her Inferiority Superiority Complex and desire to be the most admired, respected, and beloved being in existence. On the other hand, Power doesn't express any body consciousness issues. If anything, she thinks herself clever for her deception and makes the revelation a prank on Denji.
• Accidental Hero: Her friendship with and desire to help Denji is what initially brings him back from utter despair, completely destroying the Big Bad's End of the World as We Know It level plans by reinstating Denji and Pochita's contract and keeping the Chainsaw Devil from her. By just wanting to selfishly help her first friend, Power inadvertently saves the world.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: The animation has Power’s hair be a peachy blonde, following Fujimoto's own decision of coloring Power's hair in a very light blonde shade in later promotional manga portrayals, forsaking the early depictions where Power's hair was pink.
• Ambiguous Criminal History: Power boasts about how humans deserve death, but flashbacks to her roaming the countryside with Meowy only show her killing animals for food. Whether she actually harmed any people in the process is left to the audience's imagination.
• Animal Motifs: Befitting her status as Denji's opposite, cats. Not only is she attached to one, but she's prickly, territorial and prone to doing her own thing if she wants to. Her horns even look like stuck-up cat ears. Her true form even somewhat resembles a large demonic cat. That she's even more of an Idiot Hero then Denji also seems to be a reference to how most dogs have better problem-solving skills than house-cats.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: She eventually develops into the bratty little sister of the trio formed by her, Aki, and Denji.
• Anti-Regeneration: If her blood somehow gets inside another Devil’s body, Power can compel it to start constantly inflicting internal damage that impedes their natural healing ability. While Power herself isn’t smart enough to remember she can do this most of the time, It plays a key role in Part 1's final battle, where Denji uses it to inflict a crippling wound on Makima with a chainsaw made from Power’s blood.
• Antiquated Linguistics: Her speech pattern sometimes includes some very archaic Japanese phrasing. Other characters can tell she is pretentiously trying to sound dramatic but in actuality, Power just comes off as pompous. Translations often follow suit by having Power speak too proper and prim, for instance dipping into a bit of Flowery Elizabethan English in the English version.
  Denji: Quit talking all funky to sound cooler than you are! Makes you even weirder!
• Back from the Dead: Being a devil, this trope naturally applies. Played straight in Chapter 90, where she survives being killed by Makima, by living and sleeping inside Denji's bloodstream via his bite in Chapter 71. She's only awoken at Pochita's beckoning, however.
• Badass Adorable: Despite her feral personality and habits, one of the omake extras proudly proclaims "she knows she's cute!", in keeping with her Cute Monster Girl design.
• Bad Liar: Whenever she's worried about getting in trouble for her impulsive antics, she'll get flustered and try to claim it wasn't her fault, no matter how obvious a lie it is.
• Barbarian Longhair: Her hair goes down to her butt, but it's clearly unstyled and is more a sign of her being a Wild Child than of femininity.
• Barefoot Loon: A variation in that she never wears socks, wearing nothing under her big sneakers and going barefoot at home. Aside from it being yet another sign of her whimsical uncouthness, it completes her Wardrobe Flaw of Characterization on account that this is a regular custom of Japanese Delinquents.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Double Subverted; when she was roaming the countryside, Power really was caked in filth. After being taken in by Public Safety, Power is initially quite a slob, but this doesn't make her look any dirtier than anyone else, and she was evidently convinced to take better care of her looks.
• Believing Their Own Lies: According to the volume 7 omake, Power's absurd lies are backed up by an equally deranged Self-Serving Memory. After Power accidentally saves Denji by crashing Kobeni's car, Power remembers it as a deliberate effort to save Kobeni (who was the passenger in reality). She demands Kobeni's gratitude, leaving her confused to why she should be thankful to Power for damaging her car.
• Big Damn Heroes: Suddenly reappears in Chapter 90 to save Denji from Makima, and succeeds in Chapter 91 at the cost of her life.
• Big Eater: She loves food and will eat anything, so long as it doesn't have vegetables.
• Blood Knight: Loves to fight and kill other devils.
• Bloody Murder: She can manipulate her host body's blood to create weapons. This works even when it's out of sight and a good distance away. Power also has some ability to control other people's blood, but it's very limited and seems to require close contact. When revived in her Devil form, she's able to instantly tear open and exsanguinate hundreds of people from a distance.
• Boxed Crook: She's a Devil, but works for humans and seems relatively content to stick with them.
• Break the Haughty: Being sent to Hell had traumatized her enough to go from an arrogant, self-absorbed asshole who blames everything on humans to a crying Nervous Wreck who can't do anything unless she knows Denji is there. The experience seemed to have humbled her enough for her to feel remorse for making Denji miss out on vacationing with Makima, even becoming very upset when she thinks he hates her.
• Bullying a Dragon: One of the first things she does upon her return to life is to attack and curse out Makima, calling her trash. She's almost immediately overwhelmed by a horde of zombies controlled by Makima and wounded.
• Cast from Stamina: Power has to remove blood from her body to wield it as a weapon, eventually rendering her anemic. It's not quite Cast from Hit Points because her regeneration makes her unlikely to die from blood loss, but she'll still be exhausted.
• Character Catchphrase: "The glory is mine!" or in the dub, "The glory of the kill is mine!".
• Character Development: Her hatred of humans eventually tones down as she grows closer to Denji and Aki. By Chapter 73, she has no hesitation in calling Denji her friend. In Chapter 91, her love for Denji as a friend drives her to selflessly revive him at the cost of her own life, a far cry from the selfish narcissist she was in her first appearance.
• Chekhov's Gun: After their traumatic experiences with the Darkness Devil, Power pesters Denji into drinking her blood as a way of apologizing for hitting him with a car earlier. This ends up being the one event that causes all of Makima's machinations to fall apart, since Power is able to reform herself inside of Denji's body, managing to save him from both Makima and his own Despair Event Horizon.
• Chekhov's Skill: The fact that her blood constructs don't suffer from No Ontological Inertia, as they will retain their shape and effectiveness even if they're separated from her or if she's incapacitated. This is vitally important to the conclusion of Part 1 as Denji is able to create and maintain a chainsaw using the last of Power's influence to defeat Makima.
• Chuunibyou: She's very bombastic and loves to brag about her power, clearly thinking of herself as the most awesome and strongest thing ever. This even persists post-Character Development, where as the Blood Devil, she continues acting all gleeful and pompous when beating up Makima.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: She's a creature of impulse who gives little thought to anything beyond her immediate wants and needs. Her version of long-term thinking is her "plan" to come up with a Nobel Prize-winning idea, use that as a springboard to become Prime Minister, then make humans suffer by imposing a massive sales tax.
• Combat Medic: Downplayed. She's not a true healer and certainly wouldn't care for being one. At the very least, she can stop the bleeding of a non-regenerating ally with her powers.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Downplayed. Aside from luring Denji into getting eaten by the Bat Devil, she doesn't outright try to betray those she's forced to work with in the conventional sense... because she knows she can't get away with it. She's still quick to pin the blame on Denji or someone else for her own screw-ups, or abandon allies/play dead when an enemy she thinks she can't beat shows up. As if by instinct, she also tries to offer Denji to Makima to save her own hide (After she came back to life to save him of her own free will) until deciding against it at the last second.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Her arrogance and disregard for those who are not her, Meowy, or Makima makes her an annoying pissant that people have to put up with. However, she's still very effective in combat and was the one who quickly got the better of Katana Man when he began his attack.
• Cute Monster Girl: Deconstructed. Power might currently have the body of a cute teenage girl with horns, but she's very much still your average Devil in mind and personality; even Denji stops finding her attractive after having to put up with her for a day. She thankfully does end up improving over time though, and by the end of the Part, she comes across as a bratty toddler in a teenager's body instead of a sociopathic demonic imp.
• Deal with the Devil: Downplayed in Chapter 91 where Power makes a contract with Denji similar to Pochita's: she'll give him her blood. In return, he has to come and find her and be her friend again in her next life too.
• Death of Personality: As a Devil, she'll survive anything, but once she dies, her personality and memories of being Power will be gone. As she says goodbye to him, she has Denji promise to find the Blood Devil in Hell and remind it of having been Power so they can be friends again.
• Delusions of Eloquence: Her use of Antiquated Linguistics is all for pomp and does little to hide the fact that she's as dumb as a bag of rocks.
• Deuteragonist: Normally the series' tritagonist, Power graduates to this during the Control Devil arc. With Aki dead and Makima revealing herself as the Big Bad and Final Boss, Power fills the void that they left behind and plays a vital role both in Denji's trauma and in Makima's eventual defeat.
• Dirty Coward: Rather than even attempt to fight Akane and Katana Man, she flees the battle and leaves Himeno and Aki for dead. Himeno ends up having to give up her own lifespan to distract the two assassins long enough for Aki to make it out alive. Even Kobeni showed more bravery when facing off against them. Power later claims she was making a "strategic retreat", but Denji and Aki don't buy it at all.
• The Ditz: She's dumb enough to make Denji look like a genius, not that she'll admit it.
• Does Not Like Spam: She hates vegetables and starts gagging if she even comes into contact with them. An omake shows she also hates coffee and presumably anything else bitter.
• Dumb Muscle: Strong enough to rip apart enemy hordes on her own, but a complete and gleeful moron outside of battle.
• Elemental Baggage: She uses her own blood to form weapons, and can render herself anemic with overuse. They're usually made from an amount a normal person could plausibly lose while staying conscious, but she's also displayed the ability to make a hammer larger than her entire body.
• Establishing Character Moment: In her very first appearance, she's loudly demanding for Denji to grovel before her the moment she enters the room.
• Exotic Eye Designs: Her pupils look like crosshairs. Her devil form has the same kind of eye design.
• Expy: Tatsuki Fujimoto admitted that he was inspired by South Park when creating Power and that he based Power off of Eric Cartman. To highlight the similarities between the two, both are Big Eaters who tend to be very selfish, narcissistic, and treacherous while also lacking in empathy and human decency and always speak their thoughts regardless of the consequences, yet despite their unpleasantness they both have a soft spot for cats.
• Extreme Omnivore: She seems to be willing to eat anything she can kill, including various wildlife, other Devils, and rotting zombies. Even Denji is shocked to see her chowing down on a rotting, severed limb right next to him. However, she hates vegetables.
• Fake Boobs: Denji is rather attracted to her large bust, but soon after she reveals that her breasts are actually mostly padding. This sends him into an existential crisis.
  Denji: What is this?
  Power 'tis a breast pad. A wondrous invention that makes chests bigger.
• Fan Disservice:
  • The flashback to when she first met Meowy has her completely nude. However, she's also completely covered in filth and disheveled and feasting on a bear's corpse.
  • Chapter 71 has a scene where she bathes with Denji. None of it is played as titillating, due to Power's extreme trauma and vulnerability at this point, especially when compared to her regularly haughty personality. Even Denji finds himself more worried about her well-being than excited at the fact that a cute naked girl is clinging to him in the bath.
• Foil: To Makima. Both are attractive devil hunters in nice suits and close to Denji. However, Power is emotional, childish and rude while Makima is stoic, intelligent and dignified. Power owns a cat while Makima owns dogs. Power let her hair loose and devil-like horns while Makima styled her hair into a single braid and had a halo in her devil form. Power initially started off as a jerk to Denji, but grew to care for him and later sacrificed her life to save him. Makima started off being somewhat friendly and affectionate to Denji, but later revealed her true colours as the Control Devil, never actually having cared for Denji as anything but an extension of the Chainsaw Man.
• Go Out with a Smile: She sacrifices her current life, a functional Death of Personality for a Devil, to revive Denji, with clearly no regrets and smiling confidently about the odds of him fulfilling their contract and becoming friends with her again.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Makima destroys her torso, leaving a lower body and a head. When Chainsaw's followers appear in the following chapter, Power's lower body and head are present.
• Hates Everyone Equally: She hates humanity due to natural Devil instinct and no real reason. She hates Devils just about as much as she loves slaughtering them.
• Healing Hands: She can use her control of blood to treat people's injuries. It only seems modestly better than mundane first aid, but was enough to keep Aki and Himeno alive and conscious after taking a knife and bullet to the chest, respectively.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: A majority of Power's comedic moments in the series involve her utter lack of social or moral norms. She's an impulsive, violent creature that rarely cares about the consequences of her actions.
• Heroic Sacrifice: She gives all of her blood to revive Denji, costing her her current life and identity as Power.
• Horned Humanoid: Her primary devilish feature are a pair of horns, but otherwise she looks like a normal woman. The horns grow bigger if she consumes too much blood, and she grows more horns as well.
• Hunter of His Own Kind: She hunts Devils and does so with glee.
• Idiot Hero: Her usual thought process makes Denji look positively rational at times. She invariably shoots first and asks questions later, her idea of "strategy" is to somehow win a Nobel Peace Prize, use that to become Prime Minister, and then impose huge taxes on humanity, and under no circumstances should she ever be allowed behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.
• I Fight for the Strongest Side!: Says a variation of this in Chapter 29 when interviewed by Kishibe. Switches sides in a heartbeat in Chapter 90, when Makima threatens her with a second death. It's a bait and switch, however, as she switches sides soon after.
• Image Song: The anime's fourth ending perfectly describes Power's impulsive personality and Unkempt Beauty, as well as subtly foreshadows how she dies by Makima's hand.
• Implausible Deniability: Bordering on Compulsive Liar at times, Power will lie about things that are plainly obvious, such as that someone else ate the food which is currently all over her face. Ironically, near her introduction, she claimed that devils don't lie, presumably in an attempt to preemptively cover her ass.
• Incoming Ham: "PUH-PUH-PUH-POWER!!"
• Inconsistent Coloring: Possibly due to the stylized nature of some of the color pages, Power flip flops between having pink hair or a shade of blonde hair. The anime seems to have settled on peachy blonde for her character design.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: She appears to be a big believer in faking it until you make it. She does show some vague awareness that she's an expendable, low-ranking, and none-too-powerful asset in a dangerous, thankless job (especially when it's time to choose between fight and flight), and anything that gets through her protective shield of arrogance will wound her deeply, but that won't stop her from daring the world to prove that she isn't its most magnificent, perfect creation.
• Jerkass: She's been noted to be more civilized than other Fiends and doesn't have the urge to kill humans on sight, but it hasn't kept her from being a haughty brat in a teenage girl's body. As Denji puts it, she's arrogant, self-centered, a pathological liar, and a racist. While she gets better, Denji saving her life alone just makes her less of a jerk towards him.
• Kind Hearted Cat Lover: Zigzagged. She's vocal about her hatred of humans and gives Denji hell, but her love for her pet cat is genuine. This love also extends to other cats, petting a nearby stray near a vending machine.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Power is smarter than you because she has a genius-level IQ at 100.^note For those unaware, that is precisely average.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: For all her arrogance, Power doesn't believe she could ever escape Makima and resigned to work for Public Safety for the rest of her life. As the fight with Katana Man and Sawatari shows, she's also not above abandoning her allies to a fight she thinks she can't win (Not that she'll admit it).
• Large Ham: Whenever Power shows up, expect her presence to be loud and bombastic.
• Laughing Mad: Whenever she's massacring Devils. Just ask what's left of the Sea Cucumber Devil.
• Leeroy Jenkins: As the Cucumber Devil probably could attest to, Power will immediately rush towards and kill the nearest Devil that she catches the scent of. She can't even resist killing a zombie horde when they aren't her actual target.
• Like Brother and Sister: Denji originally saw Power as a potential girlfriend (her introductory story arc is basically him doing her a favor to get to feel her breasts), but her personality causes him to stop seeing her as attractive. Despite this, they still grow emotionally close and are happy living together in the later chapters of Part 1. Makima even describes her as Denji's "bratty little sister". There are signs Power is attracted to Denji, but whatever those feelings are, she never acts on them.
• Logical Weakness:
  • She makes all of her weapons using her own blood, so Power will eventually suffer from anemia and blood loss if she abuses her abilities.
  • As a full devil, Power kills a small army of Makima's minions by pulling their blood out. Makima quickly overcomes this by using the Zombie Devil to reanimate their bloodless bodies into a Zerg Rush Power couldn't do the same against.
• Meaningful Name: Chapter 83 suggests her name refers to the Powers (or authorities), a class of warrior angels devoted to ensuring celestial order. This fits the Theme Naming of Makima's lackeys.
• Meaningful Appearance: Like Denji, she distinguishes herself from the other Devil Hunters by wearing sharp white sneakers with her Public Safety suit instead of boots or dress shoes.
• Morality Pet: A literal one with her kitty Meowy. Despite her bloodthirstiness and general Blood Knight tendencies, she adores her pet cat and gladly lures Denji into the Bat Devil's den to trade his life for her safety.
• Mysterious Past: However Power became a fiend and whatever she did before then goes unexplored.
• Never My Fault: She will immediately and transparently pin the blame on the nearest person (most likely Denji) for something she obviously did. One of her shining moments comes when she accidentally runs over Denji and a Devil Hunter with a car, quickly shifting the blame to its owner Kobeni despite her obviously driving the car.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: In what may very well be the first genuinely selfless act she commits in the entire series, buying Denji a cake for his birthday, Power is promptly shot into bloody chunks by Makima who called her over to bring it to him, for no other reason than to traumatize and break him entirely.
• The Not-Love Interest: Power is arguably the character Denji is closest to in the Devil Hunting Agency, but he's also shot down the possibility of being interested in her on a romantic level. Indeed, Makima refers to Power as being something of a little sister to Denji. After her encounter with the Darkness Devil reduces her to a nervous wreck, Chapter 71 is dedicated to her begging Denji to comfort her in various compromising positions and states of undress, but she doesn’t mean anything more by it and Denji notes that his feelings for her remain purely platonic.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • She's terrified of Makima, and acts as submissive as possible around her. The first hint to the Division 4 leader’s duplicitous nature.
  • Despite her exuberant personality, Power completely shuts down when Bat Devil betrays her deal and eats Meowy, allowing him to eat her as well.
• One-Winged Angel: After drinking Pochita's extremely potent blood at his request so she can protect Denji from Makima, Power's strength is magnified to the point she manages to escape her host body and return to her true form as the Blood Devil, a towering feline monster able to affect the blood of hundreds of other people all at once and form it into far more solid constructs then she ever could as a Fiend. She's so much more powerful that, while the effort still costs Power her life, she becomes one of the few to actually fend off Makima, especially impressive considering the widely feared Gun Devil couldn't last a few seconds against her.
• The Pig-Pen: Her personal hygiene when he first moves in is utterly abysmal, as Denji and Aki soon discover to their mutual horror, and she has to regularly be reminded to shower, clean up after herself, or even flush the toilet without being asked. It's implied the guys did cajole her into cleaning herself better, as it's one complaint that eventually ceases, and the anime even shows her getting ready for dinner; Chainsaw Man Buddy Stories specifies that she started bathing every three days and flushing half the time, which is still pretty icky but is at least an improvement. In a later chapter, Power asks to take a bath with Denji so that he can comfort her over her traumatic fear of the Darkness Devil.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: When listing all her (many) negative traits that disqualify her from being a potential romantic love interest for him, Denji calls her a racist, presumably referring to her attitude to humans.
  Denji: She still tries to kill me once in a while even now! Plus, she's narcissistic, self-centered, a pathological liar, and a racist!
• Poke the Poodle: While she was still a feral Fiend, she prided herself on "terrorizing" humans with such heinous deeds as stealing food from humans and not wearing clothes, bathing, or flushing the toilet.
• Power Limiter: The Bureau has a device to drain excess blood from her body to manage Power's strength and keep her on a short leash. From her reaction to Makima bringing it up, it's not an enjoyable process. Upon her return in Chapter 90, we get to see what she's like at full strength, being capable of controlling the blood in others.
• The Power of Friendship: Her love for Denji as her first true friend ends up being stronger than her fear of Makima, allowing her to openly defy Makima and save Denji's life at the cost of her own.
• Proud Beauty: The "All About Power!" omake claims that she's cute and she knows it. She also appears more than well aware of Denji's initial attraction to her enough to offer him her breasts to grope.
• Psychopathic Womanchild: She combines a Devil's bloodthirst and love of tormenting humans with the personality of a particularly obnoxious 7-year-old, refusing to eat vegetables and rarely taking care of her personal hygiene. Makima even calls her Denji and Aki's "bratty little sister."
• Required Secondary Power: Power seems to have way more blood than a normal person, enough to create a mallet almost as big as she is without beginning to suffer from anemia.
• Security Cling: After encountering the Darkness Devil, Power is reduced to a crying traumatized mess who constantly holds onto Denji as if her life depended on it.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: There's something cute if not cuter about how she looks with her bangs held up by a hair clip.
• Ship Tease: She is one of Denji's closest friends and after being traumatized by the Darkness Devil, she becomes a terrified Nervous Wreck completely dependent on Denji. Denji, on his part, plays along with her whims, even bathing and sleeping together to assure her that everything is fine. Her final Heroic Sacrifice in which she gives Denji her blood also has particularly intimate, romantic framing.
• Shower of Angst: A rare two-person example; after her traumatizing experience in Hell Power is terrified to be without Denji anywhere she goes, including when she bathes. She essentially begs Denji to join her in the shower and the bathtub, though it's less for the sake of Ship Tease or titillation and more to highlight how much of a Broken Bird nearly getting killed by the Darkness Devil made her by dint of her newfound clinginess.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: It's brief, but she actually manages to refuse to answer one of Makima's questions in Chapter 90.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Power is under the impression that she's something akin to The Dreaded, actively using her power over blood to try to intimidate everyone. Keyword is "try", since almost every time she attempts to assert her dominance over the "lowly humans" they bite back and quickly put her back in her place.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: Denji and her believe in this, but the spectacles do wind up having a placebo effect during their brief training period with Kishibe, as they incline them towards fighting with more preparation and care.
• Straw Nihilist: Power initially was extremely cynical in her view of life, according to her all life is completely meaningless, including her own. Even her little quirks about wishing for something in the future, like winning a Nobel Prize or becoming the Prime Minister will be forgotten by her as easily as Power comes up with new ideas solely for the moment; however, when Meowy enters her life Power makes the kitty the sole exception to her nihilistic views, valuing Meowy as a being that gives life at least one meaning. After being left for dead by Makima, but actually barely living inside Pochita's blood, Power reminisces about her nihilistic views once again but this time to break it even further. She decides Denji is the one life that truly has meaning to her and dies by sacrificing herself so Denji could live. Power also makes him promise to find her again as the new Blood Devil in hell so they can become friends again, solidifying Power has grown to validate her own life as well as Denji gave it a meaning.
• Targeted to Hurt the Hero: Makima kills Power in front of Denji specifically to traumatize him as part of her plans. However, she comes back afterward for long enough to die in a more effectual way.
• Theme Naming: It is revealed that she fits into the thematic naming convention of the Devils under Makima's control, all being named after the hierarchy of angels; Power being named after the Powers, angels that keep evil in check.
• Token Evil Teammate: Quite literally considering her nature as a Devil as she betrays Denji in their first mission together, enjoys human suffering, and is more than willing to change sides if the opposition is stronger. Though this ends up being subverted when she Took a Level in Kindness.
• Took a Level in Kindness: She eventually stops looking down on humans so much and starts treating Aki and Denji with much more civility, even going as far as to call the latter her friend.
• Troll: She offers to let Denji touch her breasts, but it turns out she's wearing pads to fake having bigger breasts and seems to take amusement in his disappointment. She also takes amusement in the fear and panic of the rookie Devil Hunters when they're all trapped by the Eternity Devil.
• Undead Barefooter: As a Fiend, she's technically a walking corpse being possessed by a Devil and is always without socks, as well as barefoot pretty much any time she's not actively training or fighting.
• Undying Loyalty: As it turns out, she holds Denji dearer than she fears being killed by Makima, sacrificing her own life to save him and binding him to a contract to be friends again in her next life in return for her blood.
• Unkempt Beauty: Despite the obvious Fan Disservice, there's something to love about her originally being naked and dirty in the woods.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Her Bloody Murder powers are extremely versatile, but to call Power herself a terrible strategist would be generous.
• Vague Age: Power's human body appears to be in its late teens or early twenties, but it's never given a specific age, mostly because her mind is that of an ageless (though immature) devil. Notably, she's not shown drinking at a work party (just eating), but this is presumably because Power is too childish to stand the taste of alcohol.
• Verbal Tic: In Japanese, she tends to end her sentences with "ja"; combined with her use of the pronoun "washi", this is meant to make her sound like an older man.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Denji, not that it stops her from insulting him frequently.
• Wardrobe Flaw of Characterization: Like all the other Public Safety Agents, Power wears a suit, tie, and dress shirt while on the job, but the way she wears it only serves to reinforce what a slob she is. She usually leaves her shirt untucked and her pants legs rolled up, and while most of them wear sneakers instead of dress shoes, Power doesn't even wear socks.
• With Catlike Tread: Power and Denji accidentally stumble upon a large group of zombies. Denji states they haven't noticed them and don't make any loud noises:
  Power: MY NAME IS POWER!!!
  Denji: HUH!?
• Wolverine Publicity: Power won the first Chainsaw Man popularity poll in Japan, and ended up becoming the second most marketed character in the series behind Denji himself, often getting earlier or more merch than Aki or even Makima and treated as one of the faces of the franchise along with Denji and Pochita.
• The Worf Effect: When she regains her full power as the Blood Devil, she tries to have a go at Makima, but is defeated after only getting one clean hit in. Saving Denji rather than triumphing in combat against the Big Bad winds up being her more important action in the story.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Power is one of the less well-behaved devil field agents, putting her under constant threat of termination. Then she gets killed off rather abruptly by Makima in Chapter 81 in order to test Denji's commitment to being her loyal dog.

Part 2: Academy (Part 1 spoilers are unmarked)

Asa Mitaka and Yoru

Left: Asa, Right:Yoru

A high school student and the powerful Devil she accidentally contracted and fused with, the two serve as the main protagonists of Chainsaw Man Part 2 alongside Denji. Unlike hybrids, (with whom the Devil usually remains dormant) and Fiends like Power (where the Devil typically overrides the human personality), both Asa and Yoru are fully conscious and active characters, and yet they are so inextricable from each other that they can only be discussed together.

Both in General

• Achilles' Heel: Their Semantic Superpower is only able to display its full potential through the pair of them working in tandem, Asa making powerful weapons and Yoru using them. Yoru can't take over if Asa is terrified, so giving her control mid-battle risks locking Yoru for the duration. When Public Safety finally comes after the two, Yoshida attacks when Asa is still preparing her weapon.
• Ambiguously Human: A Devil possessing a dead body usually produces a Fiend, but numerous details (War forming a contract with her right before the act, Asa’s mind surviving the transformation, Yoru's claims she could leave Asa's body if she wished, their apparent lack of a devil's healing powers) makes it unclear if Asa still qualifies as human after becoming Yoru’s vessel.
• Animal Motifs: Birds. Asa's tragedy is kickstarted by accidentally killing the Chicken Devil, her surname has the word "taka (hawk)" in it, Yoru's early form was that of an owl-like being, and the first two chapters of part two are titled "Bird and War" and "Two Birds". Given that she's hosting the War devil in a symbiotic relationship, after Yoru made it clear that she intended to reignite massive conflicts across the world, it means that Asa Mitaka is now technically a "Warhawk".
• An Arm and a Leg: They get their right arm cut by Yoshida when Asa attempts to turn her room into a weapon. Despite their demonic nature, they can't grow it back.
• Astral Projection: The personality not in charge is shown next to their physical body, which is only visible to the other personality and may or may not literally involve leaving their body. Yoru calls it a hallucination, but the first time it happens to Asa she appears to be looking at her own face from outside, reacting to the scars on Yoru's face.
• Attention Whore: A more downplayed example than most, but Yoru loves the attention she and Asa get during their stint as a celebrity devil hunter and, despite Asa's claims to the contrary, the feeling is clearly mutual.
• Birds of a Feather: Ignoring their Animal Motif, Asa and Yoru are surprisingly similar in many ways, such as their detachment from others, inability to take criticism, need for attention, and especially having the social skills God gave a rock.
• Blessed with Suck: The effectiveness of a weapon created by the War Devil's powers depends on how guilty they feel about harming the being they created it from or it was related to. This makes War's ability is at its most effective when it’s used on close friends or Tragic Keepsakes. This also ironically means Yoru herself doesn't get as much mileage out of her power as she could and likely never realized just how potent it could be until she saw Asa use it properly for the first time.
• The Blind Leading the Blind: Yoru left her human host conscious to help her infiltrate Denji's school, but Asa is nearly as socially inept as a human can be. She can definitely blend in better, but Asa can sometimes be even worse about understanding people than a devil like Yoru.
• Breakable Weapons: The weapons they create are potentially devastating but even the melee armaments have limited uses.
• Calling Your Attacks: Upon creating a weapon, they usually state a descriptive name for it including who or what is was made from (e.g. Mr. Tanaka became the "Tanaka Spinal Cord Sword"). It's very strange when you consider they're the only main characters in the manga who do so. This is interestingly played with when Yoshida attacks Asa as she forms a new weapon, where she completes saying its name, but not before losing the arm reaching for it nullifies the effort.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Despite having her body taken over, Asa is still allowed to live and have control of her body, since the War Devil doesn't know how to blend in with humans and is deliberately keeping a low profile until she can find Chainsaw Man. However, Yoru notes that if Asa won't help her, or tries to seek out a Devil Hunter, she will consume her brain and take full control of her body.
• Can't Take Criticism: Ironically one of the few traits they both have in common. Yoru throws a childish temper tantrum just because Asa called her "stupid" one time until Asa takes the insult back, and Asa reacts with anger when both Denji and even Yoru tell her that nobody else but her could possibly enjoy her idea of a fun date (which is to stand in front of the fish tanks for a pre-arranged amount of time listening to Asa spout marine trivia ad nauseam.)
• Captive Audience: To one another. Asa might have to listen to Yoru's megalomaniacal screeching, but the Devil in turn is forced to always be partially or totally aware of Asa's lengthy inner monologues that can last several minutes at a time, and at one point even has to suffer through a love poem that Asa composed on the spot.
• Celebrity Superhero: After allying with Fami and the Chainsaw Man Church, Asa and Yoru defeat several devils offscreen. They end up becoming a media sensation overnight, with some even believing that all of Chainsaw Man's kills were actually from Asa. Unlike Denji, Asa's identity is public knowledge, even if Yoru's existence is only known to a select few.
• The Chosen One: Fami believes the War Devil is the only one potentially strong enough to negate the apocalypse predicted for July 1999. Asa appears to be a critical part, judging from how Fami has treated her thus far.
• Combat and Support: Yoru can handle the physical side of fighting while Asa supplies her with ammunition and weapons to increase her effectiveness.
• Cool Sword: Most of their important weapons are swords, the item held by Yoru's biblical counterpart, which have unique, often grisly designs based on what they're made from.
• Deal with the Devil: Asa is saved by the War Devil after her head gets cut to pieces, but in return Yoru is now in charge of her body, and Asa won't get it back until she helps her find Chainsaw Man and defeat him.
• Disability-Negating Superpower: All of the Horsemen are face-blind and Yoru doesn't seem to have any way to directly compensate for it like Makima did with smell. She doesn't admit it, but this is probably another reason Yoru keeps Asa's mind alive and usually in control.
• Equivalent Exchange: The strength of their weapons are proportional to their emotional attachment to the objects and people they are made from. This ironically means that the weaker and ineffectual Asa is capable of creating and using much more powerful weapons than the unempathetic Yoru.
  The guiltier you feel about creating a weapon, the more powerful it will be.
• Evil Versus Evil: While their eventual goal is the Chainsaw Man, Yoru and Asa are persistently antagonized by humans and devils with their own goals. Asa's attempts to limit the loss of human life border on making them Nominal Heroes for the moment, but Yoru has already allowed a devil attack to reach their school just so they can get credit for stopping it, indirectly killing multiple innocents.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Asa's and Yoru's relationship is... complicated. Their relationship pretty much starts with Yoru effectively holding a gun to Asa's head and roping her into her quest to take down Chainsaw Man. As time goes on, the two of them slowly but evidently start to appreciate each other's company and eventually learn to work as a team.
• Good Hair, Evil Hair: Asa keeps her hair in twintails, while Yoru's hair is loose (though she keeps Asa's hairstyle whenever she takes over).
• Grand Theft Me: Yoru controls Asa's body almost at will, as per their contract, and claims she can erase Asa's own mind whenever she wants. It is later revealed, however, that she can't do so when Asa is terrified and may be asleep while Asa is awake.
• Hey, You!: They take a while to start addressing each other by name. Yoru starts off calling Asa just "girl" until she complains about it.
• Hourglass Plot: Their encounters with the Bat and Eternity Devil end the same way, with one of them trying to sleep while the other comically seethes over a perceived, non-existent insult committed against them by Denji.
• Handicapped Badass: They have to keep fighting after losing Asa's right arm, though they got a huge power boost immediately after it was cut off. They get by, but Asa points out to Fami that you can only expect so much from a one-armed girl in a fight, and even the highly-arrogant Yoru admits it makes things harder.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: First hinted at when they were being pursued by the Bat Devil, Asa can actually turn things into weapons without transforming into Yoru albeit without the Devil's combat prowess. On the other hand, the power of the weapons she can create for outstrips what Yoru can do, making up for her sub-par showing.
• Irony: Between the two of them, Asa is actually the one who gets more mileage out of Yoru's powers. While Yoru is the better fighter in general, her Lack of Empathy restricts how much power the weapons she makes can have. Asa is terrible at fighting, but is able to genuinely care for things, meaning weapons made of things important to her are monstrously powerful.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Nayuta wipes Asa's memory of her second date with Denji, and apparently Yoru's memory was erased as well.
• Light/Darkness Juxtaposition: The name "Asa" (朝) translates to "morning" while the name "Yoru" (夜) translates to "night."
• Lightning Bruiser: Part of Yoru's power upgrade when Fami's plan starts coming to fruition is super speed, as shown through her missed attempt to strike Yoshida. To put into perspective how strong she became, Yoshida could at least keep up with Quanxi, herself inhumanly fast, but he doesn't seem to register Yoru's movement until after she missed.
• Locked Out of the Loop: The leaders of the Chainsaw Man Church know Denji is the real Chainsaw Man. Even after becoming their poster girl, Asa and Yoru do not. The two only find out after they find Denji's head when they attempt to break Chainsaw Man out of a devil detention center.
• Lovecraftian Superpower: Some of the more effective creations of the War Devil's powers are grotesque living ones humans and other Devils are transformed into. First displayed when she slices apart the mutated Class President using the "Tanaka Spinal Cord Sword" (created from Mr. Tanaka's torn-out head and spine) and finishes her off with a "Hand Grenade" (made using the President's severed arm).
• Master of the Mixed Message: A side effect of their body sharing is that they can give opposite signals with the flick of a switch, much to the confusion of whomever they're talking to. Denji finds out the hard way when Asa goes from shouting she hates him to suddenly shoving her tongue down his throat.
• Mental Fusion: Their thoughts are conjoined, but like their body it's lopsided: Asa only knows the thoughts Yoru wants her to, but Yoru knows everything Asa is thinking.
• Most Definitely Not a Villain: Them talking to each other is visible to other characters, but arouses little suspicion, despite devils being known to possess human corpses. Subverted when it turns out Public Safety found them out, most likely because of all the suspicious things Yoshida witnessed them doing, they were just waiting to make their move.
• No Social Skills: This trope could be renamed the "Asa and Yoru clown show" because of how clueless they are in trying to get what they want from others. Ironically enough, Yoru went through the trouble of taking a host in hopes that they could blend in human society for her, only to choose the one person who's just as awkward as she is.
• Out of Focus: While very much the main focus early on, Asa and Yoru barely show up during the Chainsaw Man Church arc, though the POV does shift back to them in the following arc.
• Personality Powers: Played with: Yoru's power is based on destroying things and people to create weapons, which fits her violent personality. However, their power is proportional to her guilt from creating them, making her eagerness to kill rather self-defeating. Yoru is actually much less capable of utilizing her own power than the guilt-ridden Asa she now shares it with.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: A particularly cruel variant. Living things make better War Devil weapons, but only to the extent it makes the creator feel bad for killing them. This means Yoru's weapons are all weak, as would be any Asa made from someone who deserved to die, while the most powerful weapons are ones Asa would never make. They decide to compromise by using someone unscrupulous but not criminal, and end up targetting Denji.
• Semantic Superpower: Either of them can turn anything they believe they own into weapons. This works for "ownership" both emotional (Mr. Tanaka or anyone else lusting after Asa) and physical (cutting off the Class Pres' hand and turning it into a grenade). It also doesn't matter how absurd the logic is behind how they "own" something as long they can believe it's theirs, which Asa leverages by looting the aquarium she's trapped in for 1 million yen before trying to "buy" the aquarium to make it "hers".
  Asa: Have some confidence, Asa. It doesn't matter how crazy the logic is. It's a matter of my own perception.
• Sharing a Body: While it is unclear if Asa was dead by the time the War Devil possessed her body, what keeps them from being a "War Fiend" is that she is keeping Asa alive to infiltrate her school. Yoru makes it clear, however, that she is in complete control and if she so chooses, she can kill what's left of Asa. She can also read Asa's thoughts and take control of her body on a whim, but claims she'll give Asa her body back after she gets what she wants from Chainsaw Man. Later, Yoru shows she can't take control when Asa is terrified and may stay asleep when Asa wakes up, hinting her control may not be as absolute as she claimed.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: While Asa has her fair share of traumas and tragedy in her life, she and Yoru are fairly comedic, and it's very noticeable how much of a void their absence left when they briefly disappeared so the story perspective of the Chainsaw Man Church arc can focus on Denji and Nayuta, at which point very upsetting and dramatic things occur like their apartment burning down along with their pets, Denji crossing the Despair Event Horizon, and Nayuta seemingly sacrificing herself to get Denji away, only to fail when he gets captured by Public Safety. Once the two return to break Denji out of prison however, the series becomes humorous once again.
• Split-Personality Makeover: Yoru taking control gives the body her devil form's eyes and makes the scars from Asa's fatal injury reappear. Sword Man mentions that scars appear on Asa's face when she fights, but neither Yoshida nor Denji comment on Yoru's ringed eyes that are extremely similar to Makima's, making it unclear if they're visible.
• Spontaneous Weapon Creation: They can turn anything or anyone in their possession into a weapon, for instance making throwing spears out of pencils.
• Stealing the Credit: An unintentional example. After Asa and Yoru ally with the Chainsaw Man Church, they quickly attract the media's attention. When word gets out that Asa killed the Eternity Devil at the Aquarium and was present at several of Chainsaw Man's fights, many start believing that all of Chainsaw Man's kills were actually Asa's. Denji understandably doesn't take it too well.
• Super-Toughness: Once Fami's plans to strengthen them through the Chainsaw Man Church succeed, even Asa is so durable that Yoshida's sword can barely penetrate her skin, while Yoru is barely phased when she smashes into a wall so hard it makes a crater.
• Symbiotic Possession: At the end of the day, the only way Asa and Yoru have any kind of shot at defeating Chainsaw Man (or any devil for that matter) is by working together. How well they actually pull this off is... complicated, to say the least.
• Synchronization:
  • In Chapter 100, Yoru insists that Asa put some shoes on for the walk home from school because she feels how uncomfortable it is to walk the streets without them and would rather not deal with it.
  • This extends to emotions as well: when Asa starts falling for Denji, Yoru is bewildered that she's also feeling affection for this scruffy punk. Which she is keen to exploit, because it's just enough to make him a powerful weapon, but not enough to stop her. Not that it works.
• Talking to Themself: The personality not-in-charge can appear and converse with the one controlling the body. The body's words are audible, and very confusing, to bystanders.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Yoru finds Asa to be a more unpleasant and argumentative host than she expected, whereas Asa is frustrated that she can't shut up or walk away from Yoru like she can to everyone else. A lot of Snark-to-Snark Combat happens over the course of their begrudging partnership.
• Temporal Theme Naming: "Asa" means "morning". Likely because of that, the nickname War Devil picks while possessing her is "Yoru", meaning "night" or "evening."
• Touch of Death: They can make incredibly strong weapons so lethal by themselves that just hitting an opponent with them is devastating. When Asa lamely strikes Yuko once with a sword forged from a cherished item, she's instantly cut into dozens of pieces despite Asa being too slow and weak to ever be capable of inflicting such injuries by her own power.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: If what Sword Man says is true, then Yoru's facial scars are visible when she takes control, but it's somehow not considered a cause for concern.
• The Vamp: Their preferred tactic for trying to make weapons out of humans is to seduce them, though Yoru plays this straighter than Asa since she has no problems using her body. It doesn't work very well considering that looks can only get you so far when one is an antisocial loner and the other is a violent brute.
• Villain Protagonist: Part 2's narrative frequently switches between following them and Denji. Yoru wants to bring nuclear weapons back into the world, and wouldn't mind killing people to make weapons in the process. Asa is an accessory to all this, whether she likes it or not, and has to do as Yoru says.
• Villainesses Want Heroes: Asa starts falling for Denji after the aquarium date, and her feelings are so strong that Yoru experiences affection for him too, much to her confusion.

Asa Mitaka

"I don't need friends. They're pointless."

A grumpy and antisocial high school student, and protagonist of Chainsaw Man's second saga, who finds herself roped into a contract with one of Pochita's old enemies. Now merged with the War Devil, Asa is dragged along on its quest to restore the Nuclear Weapons Devil.

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• Achievements in Ignorance: Asa seems to be pretty Money Dumb, and doesn't quite get that one million yen can't purchase anything in the world. However, Yoru's powers rely on Asa or Yoru's perception of whether they own something, meaning that Asa can be easily convinced to make incredibly expensive things into weapons when they have no honest right being in her possession, simply because she doesn't know she can't.
• All for Nothing: Asa lost her mother trying to save a cat. Many chapters later, it’s revealed that the cat was killed by the matron at the orphanage she was sent to because she thought it wasn't fair that Asa had a family member.
• Anti-Villain: Asa reluctantly agrees to help Yoru find Chainsaw Man in exchange for having her body back afterward since if she doesn't, the War Devil will erase her mind and use her body to look for Chainsaw Man anyway. After the incident with Yuko, Asa becomes more willing to work with Yoru, believing that the people around her will continue to suffer until Yoru decides to leave. Given that two thousand people die as collateral when the Falling Devil tries to capture Asa specifically, this concern is not at all unfounded.
• Be Careful What You Wish For:
  • Her introduction scene has her wish that Bucky and Chainsaw Man would "just die." She accidentally kills Bucky just when she starts to like him, and Yoru, who has possessed her body, wishes to kill Chainsaw Man... but Asa has effectively lost her freedom at that point.
  • Before Asa made a deal with Yoru, her last thoughts were wishing she’d live life a little more selfishly. Yoru intends to fulfill this wish by making Asa stop caring about others and see them only as weapons to use for their goals.
  • In Chapter 105, Asa and Yoru entertain having a devil attack the school to lure out Chainsaw Man. By the end of the chapter, Asa learns that Yuko made a contract with the Justice Devil and is going to attack the school to solve Asa's "bullying problem." And sure enough, a few chapters later, Chainsaw Man does show up and proceeds to rip Yuko to shreds in seconds.
  • She agrees to the mysterious girl's offer to 'save' Yuko...which she does by turning her still-living head into a massive tentacled form, which proceeds to resume her rampage, demolishing parts of the school and killing at least two more Devil hunters who try to stop her. And while Yuko survives, she's ultimately left heavily deformed and mentally corrupted.
  • Asa targets Denji to make into a weapon because she believes that he is just scummy enough to feel no guilt in killing. After their date at the aquarium, however, she finds herself genuinely attracted to him and even accepts his offer to go on another date. It's then when Yoru, to Asa's dismay, reminds her why she was dating Denji by possessing her body and attempting to turn him into a weapon.
• Becoming the Mask: Asa pretends to have a crush on Denji so she can ask him out on a date and then use that opportunity to turn him into a weapon. When Denji walks her home and asks her out on a follow-up date, Yoru reads her mind and realizes that when it comes to her crush on Denji, Asa is no longer pretending.
• Being Good Sucks: Asa is the most empathetic major character in the series, making her the one most tormented by the misfortune surrounding her.
• Betty and Veronica: She and Fumiko are both romantically interested in Denji but are about as different as you can get. While Asa is a dull socially awkward loner, Fumiko is an outgoing energetic Ms. Fanservice. On closer inspection, however, Asa is actually the Veronica to Fumiko's Betty. Fumiko, despite initially coming across as "dangerous" and "unhinged," turns out to be a relatively normal, if somewhat quirky, woman who really does mean Denji well. On the other hand, Asa under the surface is a neurotic mess who, due to inhabiting Yoru, acts in (from Denji's perspective) extremely inconsistent and unpredictable ways, going from flipping out at Denji for implying that they might kiss to aggressively making out with him. Tellingly, Denji loses interest in Fumiko once he sees her true colors and, although he does show that he cares about her, responds to her advances with indifference and annoyance. In contrast, Denji by his own admission still likes Asa as he finds her to be interesting and fun.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: She has some prominent and thick brows.
• Bigot with a Crush: She despises all Devils, even the ones like Bucky and Chainsaw Man who've done nothing to harm her personally. She ends up developing a crush on Denji, who, unbeknownst to her, is the human host of Chainsaw Man and eventually on Chainsaw Man outright.
• Black Dot Pupils: One of her quirks involves her eyes losing their irises and becoming completely black whenever she's in a distressed, sorrowful, or foul mood.
• The Bore:
  • During her aquarium date with Denji, it becomes abundantly clear that while she's fascinated by sea life, her long-winded exposition leaves Yoru and Denji bored to tears.
  • Later becomes zig-zagged as time passes in the aquarium; Denji remarks that he finds her attempts to eat dried fish to be amusing, and that she's interesting to watch despite her boring spiels. Asa is notably elated by this.
• Break His Heart to Save Him: She tries to push Denji away by saying that she hates him and asked him out only because she was bored. It doesn't work for long before Yoru takes control of her body and escalates the seduction with a kiss.
• Casanova Wannabe: She sees herself as cute, and her genius plan to seduce Denji amounts to little more than dragging him through the aquarium section-by-section and infodumping about marine life, all the while ignoring what he's interested in. She only succeeds in fumbling the easiest man on Earth.
• Character Check: The arc immediately following her second bout with the Justice Devil serves to illustrate that not even several chapters of twisted friendships, being eaten alive, and actually managing to eke out a win in combat have magically rectified Asa's unrelated longstanding social awkwardness, and even highlights her acidic egotism implied during her introduction.
• Character Tics: Biting her lip in frustration when she's angry or upset.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Once it becomes clear that Yoru's little more than a Psychopathic Manchild with a childish temper, Asa quickly settles into this role. It doesn't take long for her to go from frightened hostage of a Devil to annoyed babysitter.
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Lays into Chainsaw Man for daring to try and save her from the Falling Devil as she'd given up living by that point.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Power as the female member of the main trio: while Power was a sociopathic Cloudcuckoolander that Denji and Aki often had to keep from getting herself killed, Asa is a normal, if very cynical, teenage girl who frequently finds herself baffled by the strangeness of the world Yoshida and Denji live in. Also, while Power was a loudmouth braggart with Delusions of Eloquence who wasn't anywhere near as smart as she pretended to be, Asa is a genuinely well-educated young woman who actually knows what she's talking about, but the information she's most educated on is so mundane and trivial that it bores anyone else but her to tears.
• Control Freak: Ironically for her timidity (or not), Asa can be incredibly exacting and overbearing to people, even if she's trying to earn their favor. And don't dare say her ideas are bad when she's put a lot of work into them.
• Cutting the Knot: How she defeats the Eternity Devil. Famine traps her and Denji in an endless version of the aquarium hallway with no way of reaching the outside world and no way to escape unless she kills Denji. So Asa just destroys the hallway entirely by acquiring enough money to "buy" the whole building.
• The Cynic: Asa has a very dim view of the world around her, which in the world Chainsaw Man takes place is understandable, but she spends most of her time mentally complaining about her classmates, her hometown’s political situation, and the activities of Chainsaw Man. After she accidentally kills Bucky when it tried to befriend her, her cynicism easily turns into self-loathing. Even her sense of morality is openly self-focused, foregoing altruism for whatever good things make her feel better.
• Damned by Faint Praise: Inverted. When Denji gives her a sincere half-compliment, Asa pounces on only the positive parts of the statement and then attempts to milk it and him for more validation to repair her damaged ego.
• The Ditherer: Despite her plans, Asa can't bring herself to kill Denji even with her life depends on it. By her own assessment, this isn't because it's wrong, she's just that indecisive and weak-willed.
  I have no idea what's right or wrong. My life is just... one long string of attempts to avoid making mistakes. That's why... that's why I'm a total bore.
• Does Not Like Spam: She won't eat fish, at least the ones they had at the aquarium, because "it looks too much like a dead animal". She continues to refuse even when she's starving to death three days later, so Denji suggests she try starfish.
• Doom Magnet: The amount of bad luck that follows Asa around is almost comical. Practically noted when she trips anytime where it's the worst time to do so, and often ends up hurting people or breaking important things because of it.
• Driven to Suicide: Asa is so downtrodden by Denji (supposedly) standing her up and Yoshida exacerbating things by telling her to stay away from Denji that she concludes that she'll be better off dead. While she's expressed similar sentiments before, it's worth noting that this time was so bad that even Yoru was unsettled enough to try to reassure her. It turns out that the Falling Devil's Emotion Bomb powers, which had been causing people in the area to commit suicide by jumping to their deaths, had been affecting her.
• Easily Forgiven: Denji is quick to forgive her after she admits that she was trying to kill and turn him into a weapon with the phony date she invited him to. It helps that she wasn't the first woman who's done this, or the second, or the third, but she stands out for apologizing before they actually came to blows. Although it's downplayed in that Denji has no knowledge of Yoru and didn't really understand Asa meant when she told him that she planned to turn him into a weapon.
• Endearingly Dorky: Subverted with relish. Asa attempts to woo Denji with marine biology facts and falls so flat on her ass that even her speech bubbles seem to be pushing him away. It's played straight later; Denji likes watching her being a dork (i.e, gagging from trying to eat fish) more than actually hearing her talk.
• Epic Fail: She is the first woman in the series to fumble the bag with trying to seduce Denji, of all people. Her attempts at winning him over only manage to bore and alienate him, something not even Power messed up.
• Fantastic Racism: Her prejudice towards Devils returns in full force in Chapter 113 when she dismisses every legitimate criticism Yoru has about her date with Denji by angrily claiming that she has no idea what she's talking about because she's a Devil.
• Feet of Clay: The courage she had to fight Yuko abandons her when confronted by the admittedly more horrifying-looking Eternity Devil despite being armed with a powerful weapon. She needs Yoshida to hold it off long enough for her to calm down and let Yoru take over.
• Foil: To Denji.
  • Both of them are orphans with a Friendless Background, but Denji's was because of his absolutely horrible life that made even mundane pleasures like eating hamburgers or touching a woman's boobs seem like impossible fantasies, while Asa's is because of her asocial personality and cynical attitude.
  • Denji has shades of a Sociopathic Hero despite being a genuinely good person deep down, with his return in Part 2 showing him disregard civilians in favor of saving a small cat. Asa meanwhile sobbed her eyes out over getting her mom killed while trying to also save a cat, regretting the unnecessary exchange of lives. When given a chance to save herself by sacrificing Yuko, Asa opts instead to do her best to carry her to safety, which almost costs both their lives if it weren't for Denji's (accidental) interference, showing how much Asa values human lives by comparison. In general, it could be said that Denji's moral compass is based on what he feels is right while Asa's is based on what she thinks is right.
  • A devil also contracted them after dying to one. While Pochita genuinely wants a friend, Yoru seeks to make Asa into a weapon of war and threatens to kill her if she disobeys. Furthermore, the way that both of them interact with their respective devils contrasts the other's personality. Denji is a very straightforward thinker who usually just goes with his gut instinct, even if he does have some occasional moments that help him grow as a person. As such, Denji and Pochita rarely interact after they merge, but when they do their interactions are always positive and supportive. Asa, on the other hand, overthinks every aspect of her life to the point where it's an active detriment. As such, she and Yoru are constantly at each other's throats.
  • Denji started with nothing due to his father's debt, content with the fact that he was going to die before he paid it off and instead focusing on what little comfort he could get living with Pochita. Asa's backstory is a chain of events that sees everything and everyone she cares about get ripped away from her (her parents, her cat, Bucky, her reputation, etc), driving her further into isolation and depression.
  • After the Falling Devil arc, Asa and Yoru agree to ally with Fami and join the Chainsaw Man Church, causing Asa to become something of a celebrity. Yoru's existence, however, is only known to a very select number of people. Denji is in the exact opposite situation, where Chainsaw Man is popular around the world while Denji, despite his best efforts, is seen as just another high-schooler.
• Friendless Background: Asa is a lonely orphan and doesn't really have any friends at the start of Part 2, but her personality probably has something to do with that.
• Full-Frontal Assault: Downplayed, as she's still wearing her bra and panties, but when she uses their Semantic Superpower on her own dress to turn it into a weapon against Yuko, this is the logical side-effect. Thankfully, her exposed and vulnerable state is offset by the sword's immense power.
• Good Feels Good: Asa tells herself it's best to act on empathetic impulse, even if the consequences (predictable or not) are worse. Whether she completely sincerely believes this or not is ambiguous, nor is she remotely satisfied with her life, but it's the best she can do to assuage her bottomless well of guilt.
  Yeah, it's my fault my mom died [because I tried to save a cat], but that time and [with Bucky] too —my heart was in the right place.
• Good Is Not Nice: Asa feels for the people she sees suffering and does her best to survive with the minimum amount of harm. But personal interactions with her tend to be completely insufferable.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Asa has deep-rooted issues with jealousy, and her mental response to an affectionate couple is "drop dead!". This isn't exactly doing her social life any favors.
• Guilt Complex: Despite telling herself she needs to keep good intentions, Asa feels personally responsible for everything bad that she's involved with, even with explicit knowledge she was not at fault. It gets to the point she describes Yoru killing people with her body (one of whom had just murdered Asa) as if she did it herself, and thinks that makes her awful for feeling even a moment of relief.
• Helpless Good Side: Asa is pretty much entirely at Yoru's mercy, and while she has access to the same powers to an even more potent level due to her empathy that Yoru lacks, she lacks her other side's fighting skills and unwillingly keeps Yoru out of control when she's scared. On the other hand, Asa is far more socially competent (relatively speaking), which is why Yoru leaves her in charge most of the time. After joining the Chainsaw Man Church, Asa learns to fight on her own, even managing to counter a grown adult that charged at her.
• Heroic Host: She might now be trapped as the vessel of the ruthless, highly violent Yoru, but Asa is a good-hearted girl unwilling to listen to its arguments she sacrifice others for her own benefit.
• Hidden Depths: While she is a complete ass about it, Asa seems to have a great interest in sea life as shown chapter 113.
• In Love with the Mark: Twofold. She originally asked Denji out for the sole purpose of turning him into a weapon to kill Chainsaw Man but ends up genuinely falling for him, all while being unaware of the fact that he really is Chainsaw Man and not just a delusional fanboy like she assumes. Ironically, she also begins falling for Denji's Chainsaw Man persona after he saved her from the Falling Devil and gave her empathetic words of encouragement.
• Innocently Insensitive: She disgusts Denji by telling him "You don't need to think about a thing.", echoing a variation of a phrase Makima often used when she emotionally manipulated him.
• Insecure Love Interest: When Yoru's power doesn’t work on Denji, Asa assumes it's because he doesn't like her and spends the night agonizing about it. This could well be the actual reason why Yoru was unable to turn Denji into a weapon—Asa and Yoru share emotions, and since Asa doesn't truly view Denji as "hers" thanks to her crippling lack of self esteem, Yoru's powers have no effect on him.
• Irony: Right before her date with Denji, she arrogantly claims that boys will fall for anyone that shows them a fraction of a good time. Asa winds up becoming infatuated with Denji after he cheers her up while they were trapped in the aquarium by Eternity Devil.
• It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Asa bringing out the War Devil's full potential may not just be necessary for her to survive and further Yoru's plans, but to preserve humanity as we know it. Which is rather unfortunate, considering that requires her to be about as miserable as she could possibly be.
• It's All My Fault: Asa's mother died because they were running from the Typhoon Devil and Asa slowed down to save an injured cat. Asa blames herself for her mother's death, though she doesn't regret trying to help the cat.
• It Only Works Once: The uniform her mother bought her was the only object of significant emotional importance. It breaks after a single battle, returning Asa to her dilemma of needing to kill someone for any real power.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: Played with; Asa isn't just nice to cats (enough to risk her life saving a stray), she outright says she'd feel worse killing a cat than a human.
• The Klutz: She has a long history of tripping at inopportune moments (birthdays, relay races, or even while running for her life from a devil). Often this seems as much poor luck as clumsiness, but the way she breaks her cellphone stretching out to get a signal implies Asa overestimates her own coordination.
• Likes Clark Kent, Hates Superman: Asa's primary goal in part 2 is to kill Chainsaw Man so she can get her body back from Yoru. The other half of the trope really kicks into play when she and Denji get trapped by the Eternity Devil, Denji cheering her up by offering her a starfish causes her to start genuinely warming up to him, to the extent of running through the halls with him laughing and grinning like a couple of middle schoolers. By the end of Ch. 117, Yoru reads Asa's mind and realizes, to her extreme consternation, that she's falling in love with him. And then she falls for Chainsaw man completely independently of Denji!
• Loners Are Freaks: Asa is antisocial and misanthropic, and nobody in her class really likes her. However, she's touched when Bucky remembers her name and wants to be her friend, which makes it all the more tragic when she accidentally kills the little Devil.
• Loners Will Stay Alone: Her lack of friends is as much their fault as it is hers. It is true that she's surrounded by some serious jackasses, but a lot of her later interactions reveal that she has absolutely No Social Skills and is a bit of a Control Freak with a slight narcissistic streak. Yuko alone befriended her with what can only be described as social brute force, which hadn't gotten Yuko any other friends and lead to total disaster.
• Loser Protagonist: Her lot in life isn't as bad as Denji's was originally, but Asa's problems seem less as product of her environment than inherent to her person. Her worst misfortunes aren't from being exploited, just a series of random occurrences. She has no friends because she's just genuinely that godawful at talking to people, to an extent that even Denji couldn't stand her presence.
• Love Makes You Dumb: Asa is hardly that put together at the best of times, but whenever the prospect of romance crosses her mind she becomes completely hopeless. This can be as simple as thinking Yoshida had feelings for her just because they were having a fairly nice conversation, to her involuntarily composing a poem in her head about Chainsaw Man after he saved her from the Falling Devil, with Yoru being forced to see all her embarassing fantasies.
• Luminescent Blush: Gets this with a side of indignant outrage when Yoru surmises that she's falling for Denji.
• Madness Makeover: Three days into the aquarium arc, her trademark ponytail comes lose as she stews in her guilt and humiliation from her disastrous date with Denji that got them, Yoshida, and the Devil Hunter Club trapped by the Famine Devil. Sans the scars, this causes her to resemble Yoru in appearance, and she begins to start acting like her as well, becoming more loud and demanding in her speech to reassert control and her own tattered self-image. This is contrasted by Denji and Yoshida, who look the same after the three-day period, and are only mildly worried that they can't find the Eternity Devil.
• Minor Living Alone: By the start of the series, some time after her mother died, Asa has her own apartment. She's still physically alone now, but Yoru is now in the same body.
• Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Asa is undeniably an antisocial and cynical grouch who has a low opinion of the world and people around her. But she's also dutiful, values the lives of others even if she doesn't like them, and even when she's terrified and in danger, she'll still help whoever she can.
• Money Dumb: It's implied in both the aquarium and the mission to rescue Chainsaw Man that Asa doesn't have a very solid grasp on how much things cost, since she evidently sees a million yen (which is about $6.6 thousand USD) as enough money to buy anything in the world, such as an aquarium and the land it's built on. Of course, since Yoru's powers work on their perception of "ownership" rather than the legal fact of it, it works anyway.
• Never My Fault: Amusingly, she's usually the exact opposite except in the one circumstance where she really did fuck up and it was nobody's fault but her own: when both Denji and Yoru tell her that nobody enjoys her idea of a date (standing in front of marine life tanks and spouting off trivia ad nauseam) she snaps at them and angrily replies that the date would have gone perfectly if they just stuck to her schedule.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Asa can't catch a break when trying to be nice. Accepting the Chicken Devil's offer of friendship? She gets framed for their murder. Stopping to rescue a cat during a Devil attack? Her mother dies trying to save her. Opening up to Yuko, accepting her kindness, and saving her life? Now she has a violent sociopath out to massacre her classmates for her perceived benefit. Trying to save Yuko after nearly killing her? This weird lady with rings in her eyes turns Yuko into an even bigger monster, which kills more people and almost dies anyway moments later. It just doesn't stop, and it's a miracle Asa still tells herself that Good Feels Good after all the crap she's put through.
• No Social Skills: It should be noted that every "friend" she has ever had in Part 2 either had ill intentions or were somewhat insane in their own right. When she tries to get close to someone, it turns out that she has no idea how to bond with let alone seduce anyone. She tries to take Denji on a date only to chase him off because her idea of engaging dialogue was to endlessly list marine life trivia. And she gets downright offended at both Denji and Yoru for telling her that she's boring.
  • Not only that, but Asa is both inexperienced with making friends and indecisive at socializing, which makes her come across as a massive egotist whenever she rants to Yoru. She latches onto the smallest compliments for validation, but falls to pieces anytime she thinks someone doesn't like her.
• Oddly Shaped Sword: Asa's Super Strong Uniform Sword is shaped like a piece of ribbon: rectangular with a zig-zag pattern on the end.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Has a subdued, but still panicked instance of this when she realizes her only friend Yuko is a psychotic Knight Templar who's made a contract with the Justice Devil.
  • While the realization takes a while to set in, this is how she reacts when she finds out Denji really was Chainsaw Man all along.
• Opposites Attract: The cynical, bossy, well-educated and stuffy Asa Mitaka finds herself falling for the crass, easygoing, freedom-loving, and optimistic Denji.
• Orphanage of Fear: After Asa's mother died, she ended up in an orphanage for children whose parents were killed by devils. While the other children were nice enough, the woman running it turns out to be a possessive Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who killed Asa's pet cat because she thought even having that much family surviving was "unfair".
• Parental Abandonment: Asa's parents were both killed by devils. Given their presence and absence in flashbacks, Asa's mother died after she started high school and her father died long before that.
• Proud Beauty: Surprisingly enough, Asa is vain about her beauty. She even gives herself an appreciative look in the mirror, commentating that she's "pretty darn cute."
• Rescue Romance: Starts to fall in love with Chainsaw Man after he saved her from the Falling Devil. Of course, this happens at a point where due to a mixture of her endless insults towards him during that rescue and thinking she's stealing his spotlight as a Devil Hunter, Denji goes right back to trying to date other people.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Asa is utterly hapless when it comes to the opposite sex and resentful of girls who are better at talking to boys, and one of her last thoughts as the Justice Devil slashes her head into pieces is lamenting that she never got a boyfriend. She's incredibly dismissive of Denji at first and only asks him out on a date so she and Yoru can turn him into a weapon, but being exposed to his fundamental kindness, compassion and positive attitude in an environment of extreme stress causes her to start falling in love with him for real.
• Slowly Slipping Into Evil: At first, Asa refuses to kill anyone to make a weapon for Yoru. Her experience with Yuko convinces her that more people will suffer the longer it takes to kill Chainsaw Man, and so killing an unpleasant-but-innocent person to free herself would be the Lesser of Two Evils.
• Sour Grapes: When Yoru fails to turn Denji into a weapon after their date, Asa presumes that this is because the love they feel towards him is one-sided. Once Yoru goes to sleep, Asa stews in this possibility, comes to resent Denji for supposedly not being as smitten with her as she is him despite all the time they spent together and the compliments he gave her, and decides that not only did she never like him, but she hates him now for being so irritating.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Even before coming into contact with Yoru, Asa was always rather antisocial, brushing off most attempts at friendship made by others. When you get down to it, however, Asa isn't a bad person; just a sad, lonely teenager who doesn't know how to cope with the negative experiences that life throws at you.
• Survivor Guilt: People around Asa have a tendency to die prematurely and she has a tendency to feel like it's her fault.
• Take a Third Option: Fami traps her and Denji in the aquarium in order to push her to go through with turning him into a weapon, lest she wants to hold off until she starves to death. Asa eventually gets out by "buying" the aquarium itself and turning it into a spear, freeing her and everybody else trapped in it.
• Tempting Fate: Asa plots to ask Denji out on a date so she can turn him into a weapon, brushing off Yoru's concerns about their date by claiming that boys fall in love with the first person who shows them the slightest bit of actual kindness. After they escape from the Eternity Devil with Denji's help and he tells her he actually really enjoyed their date, Asa proceeds to fall in love with him because he's the first boy who shows her the slightest bit of actual kindness.
• Took a Level in Badass: After resolving to save Chainsaw Man, Asa throws herself into Devil hunting and learns to fight even without Yoru taking over.
• Tragic Bigot: Her parents were killed by Devils, so she's quite hostile to Bucky even after the rest of the class gets attached. Bucky manages to change her mind by remembering her name. Afterwards, she's still distrustful of Chainsaw Man simply for being (part) devil, and even saving her life only makes her "neutral" to him.
• Tragic Keepsake: Her school uniform was one of the last things she got from her deceased mother, which made it incredibly powerful when turned into a weapon.
• Trapped in Villainy: Since she's now under contract with Yoru, Asa is easily cowed by her demands since she will take over permanently or kill her if she defies it.
• Tsundere: Her first reaction is an outraged and indignant "Excuse me?" while flushing with embarrassment when Yoru reads her mind and determines that she's developed a crush on Denji. Amazingly enough, on the very next chapter she starts acting cold and cranky with Denji in a splitting image of classic tsundere behavior, all on the assumption that he doesn't actually love her back. She only succeeds at speeding up their date and letting him take her to his house.
• Two-Person Love Triangle: Asa ends up developing feelings for Denji and Chainsaw Man, who unbeknownst to her are actually the same person. The "triangular" aspect is lessened by her falling for Chainsaw Man after believing Denji dumped her, so it's more that the same person is both her First Love and Second Love.
• Unskilled, but Strong: She has essentially zero combat technique or instinct, with most of her style being awkwardly swinging at her target, nor can she use the weapon transformation as easily as Yoru since she lacks the decisiveness to just forcibly designate things as "hers". However, because she actually has empathy and the ability to feel guilt unlike Yoru, what weapons Asa can make have the potential to be the equivalent of an Infinity +1 Sword far stronger than anything Yoru can make on a dime. The sword she forms from her school uniform tears Yuko's Devil form apart from what was just a clumsy, seemingly easily-deflected swing.
• Uptight Loves Wild: In a very Tsundere sense, she develops a crush on Denji, who is very much someone who goes purely with his gut, while she's overly meticulous and constantly addled by her fear of taking risks.
• What You Are in the Dark: Despite Yoru's protests, Asa saves an unconscious Yuko from the Bat Devil instead of killing her, because for all her grumbling and cynicism, she still wants to be a good person.
• Why Can't I Hate You?: She expresses silent guilt of being unable to hate Yuko, despite all the people she killed, because she still considers her a friend.

Yoru / War Devil

^{Click here to see her initial form}

"My name is War Devil! Die for my warm-up kill!"

The Devil embodying the fear of war and one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse who fought the Chainsaw Devil in Hell, leading to the events of Part 1. She shows up in earnest at the start of Part 2, possessing the body of a high school student named Asa Mitaka as part of a potentially impossible plan to force Chainsaw Man to resurrect the Nuclear Weapons Devil he consumed and Retgone. She adopts the name "Yoru" when Asa complains that "War Devil" is a little too wordy to feel like a name.

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• Bait the Dog: After spending most of the time since Chapter 98 either acting like a childish brat who's more funny than intimidating or gradually starting to open up to Asa emotionally, Yoru reminds Asa and the audience that she is still a cruel and merciless Devil when her response to learning that Asa has a crush on Denji is immediately attempting to turn him into a weapon. Not that it lasts.
• Beauty Is Bad: Her possession of Asa has given Yoru the form of a cute teenage girl, contrasting greatly with her horrific ability and malevolent goals. It's implied that she was looking for a physically attractive host to make it easier to seduce others and then turn them into her weapons. The avian form the Devil first appears in though is rather disturbing-looking and what Yoru actually looks like at full strength is unknown.
• Beneath the Mask: It's heavily implied during a tantrum in Ch. 104 that Yoru's goal to restore nuclear weapons to existence isn’t a villainous desire to spread war so she can re-accumulate power, but rather because she's deeply afraid of being forgotten.
• Berserk Button: Yoru throws a tantrum when Asa implies that she's stupid. She's so offended that she forgets about believing Denji's (honest) claims of being Chainsaw Man to petulantly demand that Asa take the insult back.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Zigzagged. While Yoru is certainly a lingering threat to Asa, given that she can hypothetically end her life at any moment, she really isn't as strong as she makes herself out to be and ironically needs Asa's help to use her powers in any sort of effective manner. Yoru's attempts at villainy are just as much played for comedy as they are for drama.
• Brought Down to Badass: Pochita erasing concepts directly related to the idea of war itself, such as Nazis and Nuclear Bombs, has impacted Yoru's strength; then the two battled before and Pochita managed to partially use his erasure power on Yoru, biting away the concept of war to severely limit its potential in the world to just one worldwide war in the past that has never been followed up ever since. All of that has left Yoru considerably weakened, reduced to a bird creature that needed a human host to further her goals; still, Yoru and Asa are forces to be reckoned with, just not something on the level that a fully fledged Horseman should be capable of. The fact that a reborn and de-powered Control Devil, Nayuta, manages to use her still-growing powers on Asa in a way that affects Yoru as well shows how weak the War Devil has become.
• The Brute: Sentimentality and ownership conditions aside, Yoru's battle strategy boils down to creating weapons and attacking or ambushing her enemies with them.
• Chekhov's Gunman: War was mentioned by Makima as one of the things she wished to have Chainsaw Man erase, and she later makes mention of his battle with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Makima.
  • Makima ultimately wanted to use the Chainsaw Devil to make the world better by ridding it of things she feels don't deserve to exist. Yoru wants to bring those things back to cause as much war and death as possible.
  • Both can effectively turn anyone into a tool for their use, so long as the victim meets certain criteria. While Makima's power brainwashes others into total obedience and had a relatively minimal cost (considering them beneath her), Yoru's power affects the body (turning body-parts into weapons) and it has to trick a target into "belonging" to Yoru to make it work.
  • Makima is excellent at manipulating people even without her powers and could charm Denji, the one person who didn't automatically fall under her control, into falling in love with her even while she was making his life a living hell. Yoru is nowhere near as persuasive, needing to threaten Asa with death to keep her in line and only succeeding in creeping Yoshida out when she tries to seduce him into becoming her "boyfriend" .
  • Makima looked almost identical to a human, while the War Devil resembles an odd bird-like creature in her initial form, and even after stealing Asa's body, Yoru has distinct scars that unnerve others.
  • Makima is stoic, cold, and precise, even during the heat of combat. Yoru is much more passionate, creatively cruel in battle, has a sick sense of humor, and frequently displays a petulant and childish side.
  • Makima is initially framed as Denji's benefactor and love interest before revealing herself as his worst enemy and the mastermind behind almost everything wrong in his life. Yoru, meanwhile, is set up as the Villain Protagonist of Part 2, but eventually stops really antagonizing Asa as the Justice and Famine Devils eclipse whatever threat she may have posed.
  • Makima played the long game to systematically destroy every aspect of Denji's life so thoroughly that she barely had to lift a finger herself. In contrast, Yoru is short-sighted, and her plan can be summarized as "create weapons, attack Chainsaw Man with them."
  • As with Asa, Makima loved Chainsaw Man and hated Denji for "getting between her and Chainsaw Man." Yoru despises Chainsaw Man but discovers, to her horror, that sharing Asa's body means she's also in love with Denji.
• The Corrupter: Yoru encourages Asa to live her life more selfishly and give in to the darker parts of her personality, such as her cynicism.
• Crazy-Prepared: She's turned her school into her personal armory ranging from the classrooms to the courtyard, even the damn floorboards in the corridors.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: When Asa hears a boy who's a huge Chainsaw Man fan claim actually to be Chainsaw Man's secret identity, Yoru believes him due to having No Social Skills. Asa, meanwhile, points out the obvious fact: the boy has every reason to lie in that situation because he's desperate to impress, and it's very unlikely that Chainsaw Man, who lives a life of mortal danger under massive pressure, would casually reveal his identity to show off to some random girl who isn't even considered a catch. However, the boy in question is Denji, who isn't lying at all and is that reckless and desperate enough to reveal his identity to pick up chicks.
• Dancin' in the Ruins: Yoru has a joyous Evil Laugh upon seeing the damage from the Chainsaw Man Church's army of pseudo-devils.
  The world remembers me at long last!
• Didn't See That Coming: Yoru doesn't have much confidence in her Lovecraftian Superpower being much more than a stopgap to provide average weapons in a fight due to her lack having sentimental value in much, so she expresses shock when Asa can One-Hit KO Yuko on accident with a sword made out of her uniform as Yuko's Devil form tried to deflect it nonchalantly, all due to the fact Asa's uniform is a Tragic Keepsake that her mother bought for her just before she died and thus by the rules of Yoru's power is absurdly powerful beyond reason.
• Dumb Muscle: The worst schemer of the Horsemen, incapable of sophisticated planning outside of short-term blackmail and death threats. Tellingly, Fami and Nayuta decide to just power her up indirectly to fight the Death Devil rather than clue her in to their plan.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
  • Yoru assumes Asa's only regret about Bucky was being caught accidentally killing him, and thus would be fine sacrificing an injured Yuko when no one is looking. Whether or not Yoru was right about Bucky, she doesn't understand that she's egging on Asa's instinct to try to save Yuko even if they both die in the process.
  • When Asa makes a sword from her school uniform, which will be as strong as her guilt over destroying it, Yoru is shocked at how powerful it is. She didn't understand how much sentiment people can attach to objects—in this case, something Asa's mother bought her before she died.
• Evil Counterpart: Like Pochita, Yoru merges with a human to rescue them from a betrayal by someone close to them who made a poorly thought-out contract with a Devil. But unlike Pochita, Yoru only did it so she could take Asa's body for herself. While Pochita wishes to watch his best friend try to achieve his dreams and lets him retain full control, Yoru uses Asa as a smokescreen to blend into human society and constantly tries to corrupt her into acting selfishly, so she’ll be more useful to her.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Given the nature of her powers, Yoru is literally willing to use anyone and anything to achieve her goals and doesn't give a damn about the consequences. However, when her "sister" Famine arrives she immediately starts panicking. Famine claims to want to help her sister with anything, but Yoru advises Asa to never get involved with her because Famine is "crazy." Whatever else Yoru is willing to do on her quest, forming an alliance with Famine is off the table.
  • Upon hearing from a Public Safety agent that he's been cheating on his wife for six months (while having the gall to wonder what he could've done wrong to deserve her getting turned into pseudo-Chainsaw Man), Asa casually lets Yoru take over to destroy the adulterer. Yoru herself coldly calls the man a "piece of crap" upon hearing his disregard for his partner.
  • Despite all her hatred towards Chainsaw Man, when she finds out that Denji had his body torn apart and tried to have him put back together so she could fight him, she refuses Samurai Sword's idea of having Denji's dick stuck up his ass, because she wants to fight Denji in perfect conditions, if only because she believes that it would make her triumphing over Denji meaningless if it's not the case.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Before blowing up the Class President, Yoru stabs her with the Tanaka-sword so that Tanaka's lips meet hers in a sick parody of a kiss. Then, obviously mocking the Class President's motive, she calls the situation a "happy ending", before finishing her.
• Evil Mentor: Even outside the fact she's forcing Asa to help her restore the existence of the nuclear bomb, a weapon that’s caused unimaginable suffering, Yoru regularly tries to convince her to be more cold, callous, and selfish so she'll be more cooperative.
• Exotic Eye Designs: A series of concentric, seemingly glowing circles, identical to Makima's, hinting at their connection.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Asa keeps her hair done up in a ponytail. When Yoru appears in her mind using her form, she wears Asa's hair loose and uncontrolled.
• Expository Pronoun: Introduces herself using the archaic pronoun ware, indicating Yoru's age and that it was controlling Asa's body. She switches to watashi afterward, the same one Asa uses, probably to get used to using her identity.
• Failed a Spot Check: It's not until Fami points it out that Yoru realizes that the current Chainsaw Man and the one she fought aren't the same. And while all of the Horsemen suck at recognizing faces, one would think she'd notice that Denji is two arms short of a Pochita.
• Feathered Fiend: First appears to Asa as a squat, bug-eyed bird.
• Female Monster Surprise: The War Devil's bird-like appearance before possessing Asa doesn't show it, but it's later clarified she was already female, as are all the Horsemen.
• Fisher King: Yoru was partially eaten by Pochita, which hasn't erased the concept of war from humanity, but has prevented any wars from occurring in the decades since WW1.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: When Yoru has control, Asa's face regains the scars from when the Class President cut her head into pieces, and they fade when Yoru returns control of her body.
• Hartman Hips: Whenever Yoru takes control, she gains a noticeably pronounced rear that Asa normally doesn't have. It could be another visual indicator of her relation to Makima, but it may just be that Yoru is simply more confident in her body than Asa herself is, and her body language shows off her curves more.
• Horsemen of the Apocalypse: The Horseman of War. She even makes her debut summoning a sword.
• Idiot Hero: Or Idiot Villain Protagonist, if you're so inclined. Yoru is petulant, foolish, immature, and so bad at discerning faces that she honest-to-god doesn't recognize her own sister staring her in the face, or that Denji isn't Pochita despite them looking very different.
• In Love with the Mark: Latching onto Asa's emotions is supposed to help Yoru leap over this requirement for her powers to work, but it's telling that when she kisses Denji in Chapter 119, she's blushing as she does so.
• Jaded Washout: Even though violence and horror persist in the Alternate History of the manga, Yoru is immensely peeved that mankind has lost its taste for widescale armed conflict after Pochita's Cosmic Retcon of World War II, causing her to lose relevance among the other Horsemen.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: When faced with the Falling Devil, a primordial fear devil, she can immediately tell that she is outmatched and tries to run.
• Lack of Empathy: Downplayed, as Yoru is shown to be able to have sympathy, but this is Played for Drama nonetheless from two angles; Yoru has No Social Skills due to not really being bothered to empathize with humans all that much, which presents a problem for her trying to find Chainsaw Man and necessitates the need for a Symbiotic Possession with Asa, an actual human, as to help provide the cover needed to get closer to finding who Chainsaw Man is. Then on top of that, her inability to find sentiment or value in either others or belongings serves as a Drama-Preserving Handicap, as Yoru's Semantic Superpower ironically functions on the Rule of Empathy thus producing subpar or average weaponry from her Lovecraftian Superpower due to said disinterest. Only by working in concert with Asa, who has too much empathy for her own good, does Yoru truly shine.
• Laser-Guided Karma: After multiple attempts to rip off Denji's head to turn him into a weapon in Chapter 118, she's shot in the face by Nayuta in Chapter 119 as she was trying to do so again.
• Laughably Evil: Yoru's childishness, demented sense of humor, and occasional incompetence often end up making her more comical than her status as the War Devil would indicate.
• Living Macguffin: Yoru serves as the crux of Fami's plans to counter the "Great King of Terror" that is going to bring about The End of the World as We Know It on Earth in according to the Nostradamus's prophecies, as she firmly believes that not even Chainsaw Man's Outside-Context Problem power can compare to the King's power... but an empowered War Devil brought back to its height could potentially enter a Forever War against it to forestall the annihilation of mankind — if only because Fami would prefer a world of human pleasures over the sheer apathetic boredom of one dominated by devils.
• Meaningful Name: War Devil comes up with the name "Yoru" on the fly after her host is fed up with calling each other "girl" and War Devil all the time; War essentially functioning as an alternate personality inside a body fittingly chooses to name herself as the opposite of Asa (morning), as Yoru (night).
• Moment Killer: Played for Drama. After the aquarium arc, Yoru realizes that Asa is falling for Denji, and her emotional response to his earnest kindness is so strong that Yoru feels it as well. Her immediate response is attempting to turn him into a weapon.
• Motive Decay: The perceived (read: non-existent) insults Chainsaw Man allegedly doles out to her in the early story arcs of Part 2 cause her to ditch her initial plan of recovering the Nuclear Weapons Devil in favor of simply murdering him when Denji is knocked unconscious in Chapter 129.
• Ms. Exposition: While she's The Brute, she's also much more knowledgeable than Asa about Devils in general and Chainsaw Man in particular and tends to be the one explaining things to her.
• No Social Skills: Yoru admits to Asa that she's letting her take the wheel because she's terrible at blending in. This is displayed when she takes over to speak to Yoshida; she asks him about Chainsaw Man and to be "her" boyfriend with all the subtlety and grace of a falling boulder. Not that Asa is any better…
• Not-So-Harmless Villain:
  • Much of Yoru's behavior after Chapter 98 makes her hard to take seriously as a villain thanks to her childish temper tantrums and having all the charisma and seductiveness skills of a sledgehammer to the face. Yet moments show she's still a merciless Horseman who cares nothing about human life, including that of her host.
  • Not long after Asa wonders if she can "tame" Yoru, both find out that Yuko using the Justice Devil plans to attack their school. Not only does Yoru refuse Asa's attempt at a nonviolent solution, she lets the attack reach the school to get the credit to enter the Devil Hunter Club and possibly draw out Chainsaw Man. As a result, a half-dozen people end up dead.
  • Chapter 117 reminds us that , when her response to Asa falling in love with Denji is to immediately try to turn him into a weapon. Then nothing happens, Yoru makes a fool of herself even further by repeatedly shouting "Denji Spinal Cord Sword!" and she goes back to being a total joke again.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • When the mysterious Devil at school reveals her identity of Famine, Yoru becomes panicked and tries to get Asa away from her. Her greatest enemy Chainsaw Man didn't even get her to have this reaction, indicating that Yoru has a very bad view on the Devil who sees herself as her Big Sister.
  • Despite taking control of Asa's body to defend her from an unknown Devil, once Yoru realizes it's a Primal Fear, the Falling Devil, all she can do is run.
• Only Friend: Her and Asa's contentious codependency is brought to the fore during the aquarium storyline. When they're separated by the Famine Devil, Asa finds herself as bemused and alone as she was at the start of Part 2 with no one to talk to besides the people around her she has trouble connecting with.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Yoru initially dismisses the mysterious Devil girl at school as a random madwoman who's not worth listening to, and generally maintains an attitude of vicious arrogance at all times. When the girl reveals that she's the Famine Devil, Yoru uncharacteristically panics before being forcibly separated from Asa. After they're put back together, Yoru warns Asa that nothing good can come of allying with Fami, and to avoid her at all costs.
  • Yoru sees her relationship with Asa as strictly business, using her for her goals towards defeating Chainsaw Man. Yoru keeps Asa in line with the threat of death, and if she expresses any concern or care for her host, it's because she's trying to save her own ass first. Even the fact that Yoru shares Asa's feelings doesn't stop her from prioritizing her own goals against her will, such as when she immediately tries to turn Denji into a weapon after she realizes Asa is developing feelings for him. So it says a lot that Yoru actually tries to reassure Asa when she is in Heroic Self-Deprecation mode in Chapter 121.
• Perception Filter: Her ringed eyes are likely completely Stylized for the Viewer, as no one familiar with the other four horsemen and the danger they represent brings up Yoru having the same ringed eyes as her sisters.
• Pet the Dog:
  • After seeing Asa getting bullied, Yoru basically tells her "Yeah, it happens for Devils too and it sucks just as much, want me to take care of it?". Considering what War likely considers "helping", perhaps it's for the best that Asa refused.
  • Though she's delighted when Asa decides she can make someone into a weapon, Yoru takes a moment to consider less drastic alternatives, including trying to use another emotionally-important object or an animal.
  • Yoru shows concern when Asa goes on a depressed rant after a saddening encounter with Yoshida, and even tells Asa to not be so hard on herself. She also expresses some protectiveness towards her when the duo is face with a dying man and a mysterious crowd of people, immediately exchanging places and telling her to hang back. During their encounter with the Falling Devil, Yoru frantically tries to call Asa back to her senses while Falling reminds Asa of all her traumas at once.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Yoru is quick to inform Asa that the only reason she’s still alive is because Yoru's search for the Chainsaw Man would go a lot more smoothly with a human helping her blend in at Chainsaw Man’s school.
  • In Chapter 100, Yoru insists that Asa take better care of herself after her classmates' bullying leaves her disheartened. Not out of any real concern for her, presumably, but because Yoru feels her pain and physical discomfort and would rather just not.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Yoru is the personification of war, which belies the fact that she has the temper and temperament of a bratty child. When Asa and Yoru are inadvertently saved by Chainsaw Man, Yoru has a tantrum screaming how much she hates him. When Asa calls Yoru stupid for thinking that Denji is Chainsaw Man, Yoru throws another tantrum until Asa takes the insult back. Even her Lack of Empathy superpower, making weapons out of anyone or anything that "belongs" to her, ties into the fact that toddlers have little empathy for anything besides themselves and view the whole world in terms of things that belong to them.
• Red Is Violent: Like the horse her biblical namesake rode, Yoru's eyes and scars are bright red. Her appearance on the cover of volume 12 also has the background and volume number in the same shade.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Asa mocks Yoru for being so socially clueless as to actually believe that obnoxious Chainsaw Man fanboy at school could actually be Chainsaw Man. Yoru is so gullible that she accepts the boy's claims without any additional evidence - except that boy happens to be Denji, who's deliberately trying to blow his own cover so he can use his fame to get a girlfriend.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: She remembers nuclear weapons despite Chainsaw Man erasing them and their Devil from existence, and wishes to force Chainsaw Man to restore them.
• She's Back: A villainous version. Upon seeing that Asa is able to turn Room 606 into a weapon without making physical contact, Yoru delights in the increase of her power. Upon seeing the chaos outside, she celebrates humanity finally remembering her name as the Chainsaw Man Church wages war against Public Safety.
• A Sinister Clue: Yoru seems to be partially ambidextrous, but more often holds her weapons in her left hand, even though Asa is right-handed. Tellingly, they lose their right arm when they become fugitives, signifying Asa's civilian life is well over.
• Skilled, but Naive: While clearly a very powerful Devil and competent fighter, Yoru displays an extremely poor understanding of human society, such as having the social acumen of a brick flying through a window.
• Sleep-Mode Size: Pochita ate part of Yoru's body, trapping her in the form of an unsettling-looking bird and requiring her to steal a human's body to regain some of her lost strength. Given how Makima and Famine look, it's possible she was much more humanoid in the past.
• Smarter Than You Look: Despite her demeanor, Yoru has show to be rather clever and has good investigative skills, such as being able to deduce which school Denji goes to from a single button left at the scene of one of Denji’s many battles. In addition, her fight with Yuko hints that Yoru possesses a very strategic mind.
• So Proud of You: She has a cheerful yet Psychotic Smirk when she finally convinces Asa to turn a person into a weapon.
• Some Call Me "Tim": She comes up with the nickname "Yoru" when Asa complains "War Devil" is too awkward. (This makes a bit more sense in Japanese, where her original name is the considerably mouthier "Sensou no Akuma").
• Superpowered Evil Side: Yoru has most of the control over Asa's body, and is the much better fighter. Case in point, while Yoru is capable of superhuman strength and speed while she's active, Asa just has the level of athleticism you'd expect from a regular teenager who doesn't exercise much despite having access to Yoru's primary ability to make weapons. That said, the actual superpower they both share has gotten better usage in Asa's hands than Yoru's, both due to Asa's empathy and imagination allowing her to push the boundaries of what she can 'own' in ways Yoru wouldn't think of.
• This Cannot Be!: While she doesn't actually say anything about it, this expression is written all over her face when she tries to turn Denji into a weapon and nothing happens. Her expression when he returns the gesture and pats her on the head is utterly priceless.
• Unknown Rival: Yoru's main motivation is to defeat, kill, or control Chainsaw Man so he can cough up the Nuclear Weapons Devil. Denji, however, is completely unaware of her existence, and because neither Asa nor Yoru know he is Chainsaw Man, he is at best a convenient weapon to them.
• Unwanted Rescue: She's none too pleased that of all people, Chainsaw Man was the one to save her and Asa from the Bat Devil. She's so butthurt about being saved by her mortal enemy that she throws a childish tantrum about it while Asa is trying to sleep.
• Villain Decay: The once all-powerful War Devil has long since passed her peak, now being more or less reliant on a socially awkward teenage girl to get anything done.
• War God: A devil rather than a god, but still a very powerful supernatural manifestation of the concept of war. Yoru's intro even has her posed◊ like a certain painting of Mars.
• Weak, but Skilled: Yoru got downgraded to this ever since Pochita partially ate her. She's still a master at wielding weapons but it's not enough to bridge the gap between her and even a mid-level threat like Yuko, let alone Chainsaw Man. Yoru plans to fix this by having Asa create an extremely powerful weapon to make up for her body's weakness.
• What Is This Feeling?: When Asa starts falling for Denji after the aquarium date, Yoru's momentarily befuddled by the secondhand emotions she's feeling (likely due Asa’s friendship towards Yuko not affecting Yoru at all prior) before she realizes what's happening. It's not enough to keep her from trying to weaponize him, though.
• Worf Had the Flu: Yoru’s relative weakness compared to Makima, the other known Horseman, is revealed to stem from Pochita’s partial devouring of the War Devil having rendered it impossible for any new large-scale conflict to occur since WW1, substantially decreasing the fear of war.

Hirofumi Yoshida

Hirofumi Yoshida

A young Devil Hunter still attending high school. He's contracted with the Octopus Devil, giving him the power to summon massive tentacles under his control and conjure a mist of ink for camouflage.

In Part 1, he has a supporting role in the Assassins arc when hired by Public Safety to protect Denji. He returns in a more prominent role in Part 2, where he is Denji's classmate and works on behalf of an unknown organization that wants Denji to retire in peace. Despite this stated goal, Yoshida is shady and mysterious, and knows a lot of things that many other characters don't seem to.

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• Ambiguously Evil: Played With. He's completely undisturbed after reducing a man to a puddle of blood and is revealed during his reintroduction in Part 2 to be working for a shadowy employer seeking to keep Denji from working as Chainsaw Man anymore. Yoshida himself denies that his employer is evil, though not in a very convincing way, and is willing to negotiate a price to ensure Denji’s retirement instead of trying to intimidate or force him. Not helping matters is how he steps in during Denji and Yuko's fight only after it ended and Denji is ready to reveal his identity to a student he rescued; either his arrival was that conveniently timed or he chose to let innocent people die just to keep his cover. In Chapter 132, it turns out he's actually working for Public Safety. Considering that he was describing the same government organization that Denji worked for in the most suspicious way imaginable, Yoshida doesn't come off as "evil" so much as he does socially inept.
• Ambiguously Gay: Yoshida not only looks somewhat effeminate, he unceremoniously turns down Yoru when she flirts with him as Asa and while he turns down Denji's offer to lick his ass to escape imprisonment, he doesn't seem opposed to the idea outside of it being Sexual Extortion.
• Ambiguous Situation: When Yoru takes over Asa's body to chat with Yoshida in Chapter 99, someone makes a mental comment about the scars appearing on her face. However, the bubble isn't attached to anyone, making it impossible to tell if it was Asa (mentally standing off to the side) or Yoshida who noticed them.
• Animal Motifs: Octopus. He made a contract with the Octopus Devil, has eight piercings on his ear (the number of tentacles an octopus usually has), his hair is wavy, resembling tentacles, and his Trademark Favourite Food is stated to be takoyaki. By personality, he looks mostly harmless, if not mysterious, but also has his own hidden plans, similar to how an octopus fooling its prey to its trap when hunting.
• Anti-Hero Substitute: Yoshida takes a role approximately similar to Aki, but has shown himself much more willing to use violence and his actual motives are opaque.
• Apologetic Attacker: Apologizes to Asa after cutting her arm off when sent to dispatch her by the Public Safety Commission, as she'd done what he asked (separated herself from Denji) and he doesn't want to be doing this to her.
• Ascended Extra: A minor character in Part 1, one of a trio of bodyguards for Denji in the International Assassins arc, where the other two were Mauve Shirts at most. Part 2 has him as a student in the same high school as Asa and Denji, with Fujimoto stating that Yoshida would have a more important role.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Though Denji tries to put on a brave, defiant face, Nayuta getting detained by Public Safety at Yoshida's behest, spooks him enough that he decides to stop being Chainsaw Man for Nayuta's sake. In the end, however, Denji just can't do it and relapses back into his old behavior. Afterward, Yoshida somberly tells Denji that there is nothing he can do for him anymore and leaves Denji to his fate of being dismembered in a devil prison.
• Bad Liar: He does an atrocious job of pretending his behavior is ordinary. Even Denji can tell he's stalking him the second it comes up, and he'd be more suspicious of Yoshida if he was the slightest bit interested.
  Really though, what a coincidence. I can't believe I bumped into you while just walking down the street.
• Batman Gambit: A completely failed attempt at one. Yoshida has Denji kidnapped and Nayuta taken from her school in order to convince Denji to chose between being Chainsaw Man and Nayuta's safety, believing that any reasonable person would pick the latter. Denji, who doesn't exactly fit the bill, chooses both. When Denji refuses to budge on the issue, Yoshida is so baffled that he completely drops his typical aloofness.
• Blood Knight: During his short bout against Quanxi, Yoshida expresses joy at Quanxi's inhuman strength and technique, taking it as a fun challenge rather than a danger.
• The Bus Came Back: Returns in Part 2 as a student at Denji's high school, where he's put on a team alongside Asa Mitaka in their tryouts for the Devil Hunter Club.
• Call-Back: His first interaction with Denji in Part 2 mirrors Aki's in Part 1, as they both try to dissuade Denji from being a Devil Hunter. However, while Aki stoically roughs up Denji to do so, Yoshida showers Denji with treats while making veiled (if genial) verbal threats.
• Cassandra Truth: In Chapter 133, Yoshida warns Denji that if he chooses to turn into Chainsaw Man again, he'll be seeing Nayuta's corpse. Denji, in response, completely blows him off, but ultimately concedes to Yoshida's desire (at least seemingly). At the end of the Chainsaw Man Church arc, after seeing his apartment burn to the ground, Denji snaps and transforms into Chainsaw Man to indulge in mindless violence, only to get critically injured and nearly killed by an angry mob. Nayuta steps in to save him, and while she does successfully manage to get him away, she's strongly implied to sacrifice her own life in doing so.
• Clark Kent Outfit: A bonus material illustration in Volume 17 reveals that Yoshida's conservative wardrobe hides his ripped physique.
• Combat Tentacles: Being contracted with the Octopus Devil comes with that.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Owing to Aki's death, Yoshida takes his place in the narrative as Denji's Straight Man in Part 2. However...
  • Yoshida is much more relaxed than his predecessor, adapts to Denji's nonsense much faster, and while Aki is very serious and initially hostile to Denji, Yoshida is more playful and his disagreements with Denji take the form of gentle mockery.
  • Aki is also an open book; he is exactly who he says he is, and right up until his death his motives were clear. Yoshida, meanwhile, is incredibly shady; his intentions and background are completely unknown, he has plenty of Ambiguously Evil tendencies, he refuses to name the organization he works for, and even his identity is in question based on comments by the Devil Hunter club.
• Devil in Plain Sight: He's pretty terrible at disguising his ulterior motives to be around Denji, most of the people he encounters are just too concerned with their own issues to investigate any further.
• Didn't Think This Through: Downplayed and Played for Laughs. He invites Fami out to a café for a meeting and promises to treat her, but overlooks the fact that she is the Famine Devil who naturally orders a truly gargantuan amount of food which she refuses to pay for.
• Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: Arranges a public meeting in a café with the Famine Devil, who surprisingly doesn't mind too much and answers his questions for her without issue. Even Yoshida seems a bit shocked that she's that lenient about him knowing her identity.
• Dissonant Serenity: For unknown reasons, Yoshida has a constant smile and a friendly attitude towards everyone, even people he suspects to be enemies. This comes off as rather disturbing when he turns an assassin into a bloody mush and then calmly asks another man (the third, disguised assassin), if everything's okay.
• Even the Guys Want Him: If the popularity poll description of him ("women, men and octopuses have all been captivated!") could be taken as canon fact.
• Face Death with Dignity: During the aquarium arc, Yoshida states that he's made peace with death.
• Famed In-Story: His accomplishments at such a young age seem fairly renowned in the devil hunter community, as Seigi from the Devil Hunter Club call him out as soon as Denji mentions his name.
• Fights Like a Normal: While he won't hesitate to use his Devil's Combat Tentacles to reduce a troublesome foe to a bloody smear on the ground, against an opponent of equal or superior skill he appears honestly delighted to fight someone so strong and restricts himself to regular hand-to-hand combat.
• Foil: To Denji. The former is a scruffy-looking blonde boy of average height who doesn't enjoy fighting except when it's against people who really have it coming and whose greatest weakness is his relentless libido, while Yoshida is a tall, dark-haired, sharply dressing borderline effeminate young man who loves fighting just for the sake of a fight and casually shoots down the War Devil's advances when she asks him to be her boyfriend.
• Friend on the Force: Played with. Yoshida, for unknown reasons, seems to agree with Public Safety's goal of stopping Denji from being Chainsaw Man. However, he acts pretty friendly toward Denji while getting close to him, looking to allow Denji to peacefully live out a normal life without needing to turn into Chainsaw Man. However when Denji repeatedly refuses to change, the kid gloves come off and Yoshida outright threatens Nayuta's life unless Denji gives up Chainsaw Man. It almost works, but in the end it's made extremely clear that Denji, at his core, cannot change. Denji cannot and will not live a life without Chainsaw Man, and eventually relapses back into his earlier behavior. Afterward, Yoshida seems to give up on Denji entirely, and leaves him to his fate of being dismembered in a Public Safety prison. It's strongly implied that all of Yoshida's prior behavior was to save Denji from this fate, but at the end of the day he cannot help someone who refuses to be helped.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: He can actually go toe to toe against Quanxi in a fistfight. He loses, twice, but the fact that he lasts awhile both times is remarkable considering she's famed for her martial arts.
• Gory Discretion Shot: He swiftly and messily murders Joey offscreen.
• Hidden Agenda Hero: While Yoshida seems to be honest in his desire to keep Denji out of trouble, the organization he works for is unknown and there's no telling why they want Denji's identity kept under wraps. Eventually, it's shown Yoshida has knowledge of a predicted apocalypse and likely trying to do prevent it.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Yoshida admits to Asa that he agrees with her belief that life is easier without social connections, paradoxically causing Asa to think that he has a crush on her.
  • In general, Yoshida seems to be confused on what it means to live a normal life.
• Horrible Judge of Character: A Played for Laughs example when he tries to extort Denji by buying him a cake and refusing to give him the utensils to eat it. Denji, who ate a lit cigarette for money in the very first chapter, just carves and eats the cake with his bare hands, much to Yoshida's complete bafflement.
• Inexplicably Awesome: Not unlike Kishibe. Despite being no older than Denji, Yoshida is a fearsome enough Devil Hunter that he's actually able to hold his own against Quanxi after she took out most of his comrades in a matter of seconds, and is widely renowned enough as a fighter that Makima asks for him by name as a bodyguard for Denji. Considering that his Devil powers don't seem to provide him any direct benefit in terms of skill or reflexes (and he only employs it in his fight with Quanxi to save himself after being thrown out a window), it's entirely possible that he's just that good. Part 2 reveals that he's actually a member of a mysterious organization, implying that his skills likely come from working with them.
• Know When to Fold Them: While he initially stances up against Yoru even after she cuts through Octopus, he immediately escapes after Yoru narrowly misses her lightning speed attempt to ram him.
• Last-Name Basis: He's one of the few characters with a stated full name that goes by his surname. He only even introduces himself to Asa and Yuko as "Yoshida".
• Magical Gesture: Yoshida crosses the first two fingers of his right hand when he uses the Octopus Devil's powers.
• Mr. Fanservice: In one of the volume extras in volume 17, Yoshida is drawn in only a thong. He turns out to be surprisingly ripped underneath that uniform.
• Nebulous Evil Organization: In Part 2, Yoshida is working on behalf some secret organization, which he claims isn't some kind of evil organization from a manga or anything. Interestingly, it's more or less spelled out in Chapter 133 that he was really just working for Public Safety, indicating that he was trying to make his job appear more mysterious than it actually is.
• Not So Stoic:
  • He's just as shocked and aghast at Power accidentally running over Denji with Kobeni's car in Chapter 57.
  • Chapter 63 shows him slackjawed in absolute horror and disbelief when he sees the colossal hand of the Hell Devil descending from the sky to snatch the Public Safety hunters away at Tolka's master's request.
  • He usually keeps a cool demeanor, but Chapter 103 shows him try to deal with Denji more directly. As Denji eats his cake with his bare hands and declares his intentions to expose himself as Chainsaw Man to get girls, Yoshida has this dumbfounded look as though he'd just realized what he'd gotten himself into.
  • While he's still trying to play it cool by keeping his arms crossed and knowing it likely won't do any good due to the nature of their situation, he's clearly as bothered as everyone else by Asa accidentally breaking the aquarium group's only form of communication.
  • Chapter 133 shows him losing his temper for the first time when Denji refuses to choose between keeping a normal life with Nayuta or getting her killed.
• Odd Name Out: One of few characters going by a name written in kanji. Just like Aki and Kobeni, his surname is in kanji and his given name is katakana but unlike them, he goes by the former.
• Only in It for the Money: Yoshida is very well aware that he is just a pawn in Makima's game, But is fine with it as long as he get his paycheck. Though come Part 2, the reveal he’s the agent of a third party implied his internship for Public Safety was actually an infiltration attempt. Except then it turns out he was still working of Public Safety.
• Perpetual Smiler: He is always seen smiling and being nice in attitude. However, his smile hides a more unhinged personality.
• Pretty Boy: Disarmingly pretty for a male Chainsaw Man character, especially considering most devil hunters are scarred. Justified as he's still quite young.
• Put on a Bus: Due to being a high-schooler whose involvement with Public Safety only amounts to a part-time position, he vanishes from the story after the International Assassins arc. This makes him one of Denji's only allies left alive at the end of Part 1.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: A pretty sad example. Although Yoshida legitimately seems to pity Denji's situation, after the Chainsaw Man Church arc Denji has refused every single attempt Yoshida has made to help him because he simply cannot accept a life without Chainsaw Man. While it's indicated that Yoshida doesn't take pleasure in it, he flat-out admits that he considers Denji a lost cause at this point and gives up on him entirely, leaving Denji to his fate of being dismembered in a Public Safety devil prison.
• Secret-Keeper: In Part 2, Yoshida's working for a third party to ensure that Denji isn't exposed as Chainsaw Man and can live a normal life. This ends up putting him into conflict with Denji who wants the world to know he's Chainsaw Man so he can get a girlfriend. Yoshida implies he even knows about the Chainsaw Man's ability to eat devils to alter reality.
• Shipper with an Agenda: He tries to play matchmaker for Denji so he'll give up on his attempts to expose himself as Chainsaw Man. This includes attempting to hook him up with Asa.
• The Spook: There's a lot we don't know about Yoshida; what he wants, who he works for, his motives, and to an extent even who he is. Nothing is certain about him, and every one of his appearances in Part 2 only raises more questions. Moreover, he knows about Pochita's power, recognizes Fami on sight, calls her by her real name, and apparently has genuine leverage over her, implying that he's a much bigger fish than anyone could have guessed.
• Stalker without a Crush: Yoshida covertly observes Denji much of the time so he can intervene if he's about to expose his secret identity.
  Denji: What the hell are you doing here?!
  Yoshida: It's another coincidence. I just felt like looking at fish today, so I came to the aquarium.
• Stunned Silence: Upon hearing Denji's sole reason for trying to make everybody realize he's Chainsaw Man from all the hints he drops is simply so he can become a Chick Magnet, Yoshida is utterly floored he'd expose himself to danger for such a juvenile reason.
• Superpower Lottery: Yoshida’s contract with the Octopus Devil seems very versatile. Its tentacles can crush things and grab stuff from a distance, and it can fire ink at opponents. In Part 2, it reveals that it can effectively teleport people around and is used to effortlessly abduct Denji from out of nowhere. It’s currently not known what price he pays for all this — if he’s paying one at all.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's considerably taller than Denji, has black hair and quite handsome with a slim face, smooth hair and a beauty mark under his mouth.
• Teen Genius: Even though Yoshida is a high school part-timer, Makima orders his recruitment to Public Safety by name for a critical mission. During the conflict against the assassins, he’s the only Public Safety agent other then the veteran Kishibe who lasts against Quanxi for more than a few seconds.
• Teen Superspy: Reveals himself in Ch.103 to be an agent of a mysterious organisation seeking to keep Chainsaw Man out of the public eye, implicitly the source of his prodigious combat skills and unflappably stoic demeanour, as well as his continued contract with the Octopus Devil.
• Tentacled Terror: Has contracted with the Octopus Devil, although it's unclear exactly what price he paid to gain its loyalty. It serves as Combat Tentacles and he can also generate a cloud of ink.
• Token Good Teammate: While he's initially depicted as Ambiguously Evil, Part 2 firmly sets himself up as this to Public Safety. He's the only member who is willing to see Denji, Nayuta, and Asa as people rather than just Devils that need to be either contained or disposed of, and a lot of his more enigmatic behavior is more accurately him trying to stop them from doing things that would get them in Public Safety's crosshairs, but being too socially inept to really do it. He's an Apologetic Attacker when he is ordered to detain Asa/Yoru, he shows no joy in needing to sedate Denji after he became Chainsaw Man again, and he's shown to be the only one to have any guilt over Denji becoming "state property", especially when contrasted with Fumiko revealing she's a Loony Fan.
• Tranquil Fury: He rips a limb off the Eternity Devil while sarcastically "thanking" it for almost killing him.
  I need you to die. Thanks, though. The sky has never been more beautiful to me. You taught me to appreciate that.
• Vague Age: He looks like a teenager and attends high school, but in the aquarium, he offhandedly asks if "high schoolers these days own cellphones" (even though he does), as if he wasn't one of them. Though, given his general musings on what it's like to be a normal high schooler, it's just as likely that he feels disconnected from people his age. The reveal that Fumiko Mifune, a Devil Hunter associate of Yoshida's who looks young enough to pass as a high schooler, is actually 22 years old casts some major doubts about his real age.
• Wake Up, Go to School & Save the World: The main reason why Yoshida follows orders without getting too involved in the grand scheme of things. He is still a high schooler and the exams are coming.
• Wham Line: Tries to throw one Denji's way in Ch.115 by implying that he knows what the Chainsaw Devil's real power is. Due to what's going on around them, Denji can't muster up the energy to care as they have more immediate problems to deal with.
• Worthy Opponent: Sees one in Quanxi, asking her for another round of hand-to-hand combat which she obliges.

Nayuta

See Makima and Nayuta's page, but be warned that all Part 1 spoilers are unmarked

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