History Characters / ChainsawManMakimaAndNayuta

!!Due to the [[LateArrivalSpoiler nature of both]] [[WalkingSpoiler of these characters]], all Part 1 spoilers are unmarked.

* WalkingSpoiler: It's difficult to talk about Makima without bringing up her true nature.

* WalkingSpoiler: Her entire existence is owed to Denji finally killing Makima after the reveal of her being the Control Devil and the main antagonist of Part 1.

* MustHaveCaffeine: In one of Makima's few connections to the rest of humanity, she appears to be quite a heavy coffee drinker, even musing to Aki how a hypothetical Coffee Devil would be very weak because most people enjoy coffee and few fear it..

* HumanoidAbomination: Unlike most [[OurMonstersAreWeird Devils]], the Control Devil takes the form of a golden-eyed, seemingly human female.This has actual significance beyond merely allowing Makima to hide the fact that she is a Devil; it's established that the more closely Devils resemble humans the more they themselves are able to empathize and connect with humanity. In Part 2 we meet another Horseman, Yoru, who appears to Asa Mitaka as an owl-like creature with the signature spiral eyes indicating that she didn't have a human form at all. Between that and the Control Devil's VagueAge in both of her incarnations, the implication seems to be that she's not nearly as humanlike as she portrays herself.

* HumanoidAbomination: Unlike most [[OurMonstersAreWeird Devils]], the Control Devil takes the form of a golden-eyed woman that most consider beautiful. This has actual significance beyond merely allowing her to hide the fact that she is a Devil; it's established that the more closely Devils resemble humans the more they themselves are able to empathize and connect with humanity. In Part 2 we meet another Horseman, Yoru, who appears to Asa Mitaka as an owl-like creature with the signature spiral eyes indicating that she didn't have a human form at all. Between that and the Control Devil's VagueAge in both of her incarnations, the implication seems to be that she's not nearly as humanlike as she portrays herself.
** Like all reincarnated Devils, Nayuta possesses a different appearance and personality from her previous incarnation, but retains the Control Devil's main physical trait of naturally appearing near-identical to a human female.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: She set up the massacre of Division 4 by the Yakuza, Aki and Power's deaths (who she purposefully set up as Denji's older brother and little sister figures), and mentally breaks Denji completely by revealing the AwfulTruth that he murdered his abusive father in self-defense as a child. All so she can get her hands on Pochita... who she plans to use to [[WellIntentionedExtremist end things like war, hunger and death]].

See also her in-progress [[SelfDemonstrating/{{Makima}} self-demonstrating character page]] for her own spin on things.

* LaserGuidedKarma: The very first thing she used to sway Denji to her side, after he's been living in squalor and selling his own organs to get by, is with the promise of [[MundaneLuxury companionship, a place to live and decent food]]. By the end of the story, Denji has attained all three by taking her apartment and pet dogs, and making half a dozen meals out of her body. Not as a violent [[HorrorHunger animalistic feast of bloodshed as the Chainsaw Man, but by cutting her into pieces that [[CannibalLarder he keeps in his refrigerator like last week's takeout]]]].

[[Characters/ChainsawManMainCharacters Main Characters]] ([[Characters/ChainsawManDenji Denji]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManPochita Pochita]] | '''Makima and Nayuta''' | [[Characters/ChainsawManAsaMitakaAndYoru Asa and Yoru]]) | [[Characters/ChainsawManDevilHunters Devil Hunters]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManChainsawManChurch Chainsaw Man Church]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManDevilsAndFiends Devils and Fiends]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManOtherCharacters Other Characters]] -]]]]]

!!Makima/Control Devil

!!Nayuta/Control Devil

->''"I want to use Chainsaw Man... to create a better world."''\\\

* UndignifiedDeath: There's certainly nothing being very dignified about being cut up into pieces and stored in ''[[CannibalLarder takeout boxes and tupperware'' in Denji's refrigerator. Just to rub even more salt in the wound, Denji mentions he [[ToiletHumor checked his excrement]] afterwards to ensure she wasn't reviving.]]

* AmbiguouslyHuman: Makima is made to seem like this trope at first. At a glance, she seems to be a totally normal woman, but she also has [[ExoticEyeDesigns strange golden concentric circles in her irises]], demonstrates some unexplained form of NighInvulnerability, and has numerous strange powers other Devil Hunters and even Devils don't seem to have. This is ultimately {{averted|trope}} when she is revealed to be a full-on Devil.

** Her hair is consistently depicted as a deep red in the manga, while in the anime it's colored in a lighter red that can sometimes appear closer to [[PsychoPink pink]].

** Her hair is consistently depicted as a deep red in the manga, while in the anime it's colored in a paler red sometimes mistaken for [[PsychoPink pink]].

** Her hair is consistently depicted as a deep red in the manga, while in the anime it's colored in a paler red closer to [[PsychoPink pink]].

The Control Devil, the Devil representing humanity's fear of control, and one of the [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse Four Horsemen]]. Her first incarnation to appear in the series is Makima, the BigBad of Part 1. Following her death in that saga's climactic battle, her next incarnation is the young Nayuta, who plays a supporting role in Part 2 and becomes the closest thing Denji has to family. As such, this Devil has been the second most influential one in Denji's life behind the Chainsaw Devil himself, whether as a friend or a foe.

The Control Devil, the Devil representing humanity's fear of control, and one of the [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse Four Horsemen]]. Her first incarnation to appear in the series is Makima, the BigBad of Part 1. Following her death in that saga's climactic battle, her next incarnation is the young Nayuta, who plays a supporting role in Part 2.

* AmbiguouslyHuman: At a glance, she seems to be a totally normal woman, but she also has [[ExoticEyeDesigns strange golden concentric circles in her irises]], demonstrates some unexplained form of NighInvulnerability, and has numerous strange powers other Devil Hunters and even Devils don't seem to have.

The Control Devil, the Devil representing humanity's fear of control, and one of the [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse Four Horsemen]].

** After spending most of the series [[CurbstompBattle vanquishing every opponent without a scratch]], Makima ends up losing an arm and getting impaled in her brief fight with the Darkness Devil to rescue Division 4 during the International Assassins arc, firmly establishing that no one can match the {{PrimalFear}}s in strength.

*** Quite literally, as Denji observes Makima, in a rare moment of vulnerability, actually ''crying'' in the movie theater during an emotional scene of two characters hugging. Because as Pochita notes in the last chapter of Part 1, all she really wanted was genuine affection from another person who she saw as an equal, but both her upbringing and her existence as the Control Devil made that impossible.

* VagueAge: She ''looks'' like she's in her mid-twenties and Kishibe talks about her life with the government as if she experienced childhood the same way humans do. But Nayuta, her reincarnation, looking like she's around ten just a few days after spawning might mean the Control Devil ages differently than a human.

[[Characters/ChainsawManMainCharacters Main Characters]] ([[Characters/ChainsawManDenji Denji]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManPochita Pochita]]] | '''Makima and Nayuta''' | [[Characters/ChainsawManAsaMitakaAndYoru Asa and Yoru]]) | [[Characters/ChainsawManDevilHunters Devil Hunters]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManChainsawManChurch Chainsaw Man Church]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManDevilsAndFiends Devils and Fiends]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManOtherCharacters Other Characters]] -]]]]]

[[Characters/ChainsawManMainCharacters Main Characters]] ([[Characters/ChainsawManDenji Denji]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManPochita Pochita]] | '''Makima and Nayuta''' | [[Characters/ChainsawManAsaMitakaAndYoru Asa and Yoru]]) | [[Characters/ChainsawManDevilHunters Devil Hunters]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManChainsawManChurch Chainsaw Man Church]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManDevilsAndFiends Devils and Fiends]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManOtherCharacters Other Characters]] -]]]]]

!!Makima
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/TomoriKusunoki (Japanese), Creator/SuzieYeung (English) [[labelnote:Foreign [=VAs=]]] Gaby Gris (Latin American Spanish), Creator/BenedettaPonticelli (Italian) [[/labelnote]]\\
'''Played by:''' Creator/AyaHirano (JP stage play)
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->''"I'm aware of the concept of a 'necessary evil'. I understand it's a convenient justification for your misdeeds. But society doesn't need your cheap excuses. If you were a true necessary evil, you'd be kept on a much shorter leash, with the hand of the state firmly in control."''\\\

The beautiful and enigmatic head of Division 4 of the Public Safety Devil Hunters Bureau, and the target of Denji's romantic interest and lust. She happens across Denji shortly after his transformation and cuts a deal with him to either be hunted like any other Devil or join her division in exchange for shelter and food. She initially acts caring and generous, and in doing so wraps Denji around her little finger, but as the story goes on it becomes clear that Makima is not wholly as benevolent she seems.

The Devil she is contracted to is unknown, as the rest of Public Safety are legally required to wear blindfolds whenever she uses its powers.

See also her in-progress [[SelfDemonstrating/{{Makima}} self-demonstrating character page]] for her own spin on things.

* AdaptationDyeJob:

* AmbiguouslyEvil: Despite supposedly being the head of the Public Safety Devil Hunters, she acts incredibly sinister, manipulative and heartless, with the strong implication there's much more to her than meets the eye.
* AmbiguouslyHuman: At a glance, she seems to be a totally normal woman, but she also has [[ExoticEyeDesigns strange golden concentric circles in her irises]], demonstrates some unexplained form of NighInvulnerability, and has numerous strange powers other Devil Hunters and even Devils don't seem to have. [[spoiler:Turns out she's a Devil after all.]]

** Contrary to what you'd expect, [[YouDirtyRat rats]]. Makima has [[TheNoseKnows an extremely sharp nose]], displays [[PestController the ability to bend the animals to her will]] [[spoiler:and confronts Reze after manifesting out a SwarmOfRats while referencing the "Town Mouse or Country Mouse" fable, and her association to the First Horseman who while representing Conquest, has also been thought of to be Pestilence]]. It adds to her [[AmbiguouslyEvil suspicious, sinister presence]]. She is also associated with [[FeatheredFiend birds]], as she controls them in much the same way.
* BadassAdorable: She's a very cute, stunningly attractive lithe young woman who serves as the [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership very tough and dangerous]] head of Division 4. [[spoiler:As the Control Devil and the First Horseman, she outright shows herself to be one of the most powerful entities in the series, and [[BigBad the reason for everything bad that happens therein]].]]

* ComboPlatterPowers: Most of the abilities granted by her secret Contract don't seem to have any obvious connecting theme; by the International Assassins Arc she's displayed a HealingFactor, [[PestController command over a massive swarm of rats and other "lower lifeforms"]], and making large portions of a target's body [[DisintegratorRay seemingly vanish into thin air]].
* ConsummateLiar: You can count how many times Makima outright lies on your fingers. Rather, she's very good at giving half-answers and relevant tangents that can be mistaken for honest responses.
* CradlingYourKill: She cradles [[spoiler:Reze]] as she dies, not out of any sort of kindness or remorse... but simply to prevent her from using her powers.
* CurbStompBattle: Utterly destroys the Yakuza and later [[spoiler:Reze]], with them having no chance to fight back once she starts attacking.
* CurbStompCushion: Makima is the first person to actually do visible damage[[note]]Denji [[NoSell didn't do any damage]] but he nevertheless actually scored a hit on it and left its human faces [[OhCrap visibly shocked]][[/note]] to the [[spoiler:Darkness]] Devil, but is still clearly ''incredibly'' outmatched. The moment she tries for a followup attack, it ''evaporates'' her arm and impales her and might very well have ''killed'' her if she hadn't escaped.
* CuteIsEvil: She's a delicately pretty young woman and acts kind and endearing towards Denji (for the most part), but is an extremely dangerous and morally shady figure, [[spoiler:and is also the final and most horrific villain in all of Part 1]]. Case in point, late in Part 1 she playfully introduces her {{Big Friendly Dog}}s to Denji before committing one of her most heinous acts -- namely, [[spoiler:killing Power in front of him]].

* DeadlyGaze: When a yakuza tough tries to attack her after she [[IHaveYourWife reveals a bag of their loved ones' eyes]], she ''looks'' at him, his nose starts bleeding, and he falls over dead. This ability is never explained.

* DemiurgeArchetype: Makima has a halo, is worshipped by dozens of fanatical followers, and her right-hand man is an angel. Her entire master plan revolves around brainwashing everyone into worshipping her, with her main servants referred to as the 9 orders of angels. She considers Chainsaw Man her "archangel" and uses him like a weapon.
* DevilInPlainSight: She makes no real effort to hide her malevolence, but people are drawn to her and serve her anyway. [[spoiler:In chapter 75 this trope turns out to be [[OurDemonsAreDifferent distressingly literal]].]]

* DissonantSerenity: Makima always appears calm and dignified, speaking in a soft tone whether she's slaughtering enemies or making shady deals with the Yazuka. Nothing seems to faze her.
* EmotionlessGirl: Makima never reacts to anything around her and is usually content with having a polite attitude. The only exception is a movie that manages to make her cry, although it's unclear if she's sincere.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Chapter 2 serves extensively as one for her. While initially coming across as kind and generous to Denji, Makima then displays some more... questionable characteristics when she outright threatens to have Denji put down if he didn't obey her. The ending of the chapter cinches her manipulative nature when she quickly figures out that Denji is attracted to her and begins work to give him hope at a chance to date her.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: While on the train ride back to Tokyo with one of her subordinates, Makima actually [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness displays some rare vulnerability and insecurity]] by admitting that she hates having to meet with her bosses in the Japanese government because they give ''her'' the creeps. [[spoiler:Interestingly, in hindsight this emotional vulnerability seems very likely to have been genuine, since the Japanese government [[AbusiveParents raised her from childhood, if you can call it that]], and is almost wholly responsible for turning her into the monster she is. Since they alone possess the ability to cancel her lifesaving contract, small wonder they're among the very few people she's actually afraid of.]]

* EvilMentor: Despite her [[DevilInPlainSight plainly villainous qualities]], she nevertheless dispenses incredibly valuable life and relationship advice to Denji that he takes to heart [[spoiler:even long after her death]].
* EvilRedhead: She has pale red hair, and her morals are questionable from the very beginning. [[spoiler:Her eventual reveal as the BigBad lands her firmly in this territory.]]
* ExplainingYourPowersToTheEnemy: {{Inverted|Trope}}; as the leader of the Public Safety Bureau, Makima has access to an exclusive contract with an extremely powerful Devil that is kept as secret as possible to not give the organisation's enemies any possible advantage. Whenever she uses its power, the other employees are legally required to wear blindfolds. [[spoiler:Said Devil is ''herself'' -- she's using her own powers and has made contracts with both other devils and humans such as the Japanese Prime Minister, but only shows this off later in the series.]]
* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: She's one of the most beautiful characters in the series, yet has no qualms murdering, threatening and abusing people to serve her own ends. [[spoiler:Her reveal as the sociopathic, megalomaniacal and utterly dangerous Control Devil firmly cements her in this category.]]
* FetishizedAbuser: {{Downplayed|Trope}}; the author outright admits he likes dominant women, but while Makima's manipulation of Denji is initially played as titillating, the story seriously acknowledges how exploitative it is. [[spoiler:And the ''psychological torture'' it was all leading up to is not portrayed as enticing in the least.]]

* {{Foil}}: To Power. Both are attractive devil hunters in nice suits who are 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 lets her hair loose, has devil-like horns and dresses sloppily while Makima styles her hair into a single braid and always dresses up neatly. Similarly, Power initially starts off as a jerk to Denji, but grows to care for him and even unselfishly put herself at risk for him. Makima meanwhile starts off being somewhat friendly and affectionate to Denji, but it also becomes increasingly clear she is using Denji for her own ends and she repeatedly puts him in harm's way for selfish reasons. [[spoiler:At the end of Part 1, Makima tries to kill off Denji for good to access Pochita, while Power [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices herself]] to save him.]]
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Denji and Aki seem to be the only ones in Public Safety who actually like her, as everyone else who's expressed their opinion seem to just loathe her or fear her.
* FriendlyAddressPrivileges: She speaks to ''everyone'' on a FirstNameBasis, including diminutive honorifics in Japanese (e.g. "Denji-kun", "Power-chan", "Kobeni-chan"). This is superficially amicable, but also spectacularly arrogant, especially when everyone else calls her "Makima-san/Ms. Makima". [[TermsOfEndangerment This even extends to when Makima is threatening]], like warning "Power-chan" [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness about the risks of insubordination]] or [[spoiler:letting "Kobeni-chan" know she'll be targeted by an attack to force someone else to block it]].

* HiddenDepths:

** The Control Devil arc, where Makima takes center stage [[spoiler:as the terrifying BigBad]], also shows that she has multiple dogs that she seems to genuinely love and gave cute dessert-themed names to. One can also see that she has a pretty large shoe collection, hinting that she's quite the fashionista.
* HorrifyingTheHorror: Even powerful Devils are ''terrified'' of Makima, without her needing to say or do anything. [[spoiler:This is actually foreshadowing something terribly sinister about her.]]
* IronicEcho: Makima does this in Chapter 52 [[spoiler:right before killing Reze.]] She brings up the Country Mouse vs City Mouse conversation that Reze had with Denji, stating that she too likes the country mouse but because she likes watching them get slaughtered.

* LettingHerHairDown: The first and only time we see Makima with her hair down is when she goes on a movie date with Denji (where she's dressed far more casually), and she looks gorgeous. Fittingly, it's also one of the very few moments where she shows some emotional vulnerability, crying when she sees a happy couple in the movie [[spoiler:because it's something she could never have, thanks to her warped upbringing and morality]].

** On the [[{{Dominatrix}} sexual]] side, Makima is a physically attractive woman that often wears dark, form-fitting outfits, and acts as TheTease for the very submissive Denji. Some of the series's extra official art downright has her [[{{Fanservice}} in kinky outfits or carrying chains]]. [[spoiler:After TheReveal she comes across as a FetishizedAbuser.]]

* MustHaveCaffeine: In one of Makima's few connections to the rest of humanity, she appears to be quite a heavy coffee drinker, even musing to Aki how a hypothetical Coffee Devil would be very weak because most people enjoy coffee and few fear it.
* MysteriousWaif: She has delicate features and a bit of an "ethereal" feel to her despite her height and her dominating personality, and is shrouded in mystery throughout much of Part 1, raising more questions than answers in- and out-of-universe.
* NecessarilyEvil: Describes herself as this in contrast to the Yakuza trying to use the justification themselves. [[spoiler:This only becomes even more apparent once her [[WellIntentionedExtremist true motivations]] are revealed, though at the same time it also becomes obvious it's a delusional self-justification for the things she does.]]
* NervesOfSteel: No physical threat ever causes Makima to lose her cool. [[spoiler:This turns out to be an attitude [[EnforcedTrope ingrained into her since childhood]] because Makima's powers won't work on people she's afraid of.]]
* NeverGetsDrunk: At the drinking party, there's already dozens of empty mugs around her as she calmly and lucidly asks for another cup. [[spoiler:Given her true nature, she may very well be incapable of getting intoxicated at all.]]
* NighInvulnerability: She somehow regenerates after getting shot in the head multiple times, getting her arms cut off, and other mortal wounds. [[spoiler:It's implied to be partly the HealingFactor all Devils possess to some extent coupled with her Contract with the Japanese Prime Minister that transfers damage she takes to a random Japanese civilian.]]
* TheNoseKnows: In her first appearance, Makima mentions that Denji has the two smells of a human and a devil.
* NothingIsScarier: Makima is a mystery wrapped in many questions, and utterly terrifying because of this. Her subordinates are required to wear blindfolds when she supposedly uses her Contracted Devil, as no one is permitted to know its name, appearance, or exact powers.
* PestController: She confronts [[spoiler:Reze]] by summoning a SwarmOfRats, and then forming out of them. The remaining mice appear to obey her commands.
* PsychicPowers: All of the powers she uses are supernatural and telepathic in nature, most notably when she can kill and crush people simply by pantomiming the motion with her hands. [[spoiler:This is taken even further once she reveals herself as the Control Devil, being able to enact mass mind control on any beings she deems inferior.]]
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Makima usually wears [[EvilWearsBlack black]] (in and out of uniform), and while most other Devil Hunters wear the same uniform as her, she also has [[EvilRedhead red hair]] and [[ExoticEyeDesigns partly-red eyes]] that land her in this trope along with her outfits. [[spoiler:The reveal that she's the Control Devil solidifies her placement in this trope.]]
* RunOrDie: Makima rarely handles matters directly, but when she does the results are typically very messy and sudden for her target. It takes a PrimalFear like the Darkness Devil to survive her, and all those familiar with her consider her a monster beyond compare.
* SingleStrokeBattle: At the end of the Assassins arc she decapitates [[spoiler:Quanxi and her Fiends]] with a single attack that is so fast no one can react.

* SupernaturalGoldEyes: Makima is an incredibly powerful, AmbiguouslyHuman Devil Hunter with strange, golden eyes.
* TheTease: Definitely shows signs of this to Denji. Saying she likes guys like him, getting up close and letting him touch her chest, and giving him an indirect kiss with coffee-flavored candy (after his first actual kiss involved getting a mouthful of vomit).

* WalkingSpoiler: It's difficult to talk about Makima without bringing up [[spoiler:her true nature]].
* TheWorfEffect: After spending most of the series [[CurbstompBattle vanquishing every opponent without a scratch]], [[spoiler:she ends up losing an arm and getting impaled in her brief fight with Darkness to rescue Division 4 during the Assassins arc. Firmly establishing that no one can match the [[PrimalFear Primal Fears]] in strength]].
* [[WorldsStrongestMan World's Strongest Woman]]: Makima is one of ''the'' most powerful characters in the series, only being beaten out by the {{Primal Fear}}s (and even then, she is the only character to [[spoiler:[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu cause any sort of damage to one of them]] -- namely, the Darkness Devil]]). Even when she's outmatched like in that particular case, she can simply use her wits and powers to walk away comparatively unscathed. Ironically, [[spoiler:this is also how Denji defeats ''her'', by outwitting her and distracting her just long enough to catch her off guard and eliminate her for good]].

* WrongContextMagic: In contrast to every other Contract shown, Makima is able to sacrifice ''other'' people to fulfill it instead of compromising her own well-being, remotely crushing a band of yakuza trying to abduct Denji by killing one person for every target affected. [[spoiler:This may relate to governments being able to sacrifice their citizens in contracts, along with the fact that ''she herself'' is the Devil making the contracts and can demand sacrifices rather than making them. Makima explicitly has at least one contract with the Prime Minister of Japan, and her sacrifices were all on death row.]]

[[folder:Her True Identity ('''SPOILERS''')]]
!!Makima/Control Devil
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->''"I want to use Chainsaw Man... to create a better world."''\\\

Makima's true identity, the Devil representing humanity's fear of control, and the real BigBad of ''Part 1''. Desperately seeking someone she could see as an equal, she fell in love with Pochita back when he was the "hero of Hell, Chainsaw Man" for his power and [[OppositesAttract seemingly chaotic nature]]. Her ultimate goal is to release Pochita from his contract with Denji, so she can either have Pochita join her in her UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans plans to undo any concept she deems to have a negative effect on humanity, or be consumed by him herself.

* ADayInTheLimelight: Part 2's Chainsaw Man Church arc manages to do this to Makima ''as a PosthumousCharacter'', as she is shown to be a large influence over both the Church's motivations and her future self Nayuta's growth as a person.
* AGodAmI: Intestinal halos, enslaved Devils and Fiends she's forcibly named after angelic orders, and Abrahamic-themed décor mark her as a megalomaniac with godly ambitions. Notably, none of the other Horsemen seen in Part 2 have these tendencies, suggesting that Makima was just this flavor of crazy all on her own.
* AchillesHeel: Makima's only weakness is that she is unable to take control of any being she doesn't consider herself superior to, the sole individual she believes meets that criteria being the original Chainsaw Man. However, it appears other people can share Pochita's immunity by becoming physically connected to him; she appears unable to control Denji despite her utter disdain for the boy because the two are merged, and Power becomes capable of ignoring her commands after eating some of Pochita's flesh.
** It also appears to be the case that her powers are less effective on someone [[HeroicResolve the more they despise her.]] The Angel Devil actually briefly ''breaks free'' of her control in a doomed but valiant attempt to kill her before she can possess Aki, and even she's [[ThisCannotBe shocked that such a thing is possible]]. Even after he's been physically subjugated by her control, the Angel is still desperately shouting at Aki to run away and save himself, which suggests that most people become fully brainwashed but those of sufficiently strong will [[AndIMustScream retain their original minds while under her control but are unable to physically resist.]]
* AggressiveSubmissive: Ironically, despite her entire powers and personality centering around themes of dominance (both sexual and otherwise), she's ultimately revealed to have an interest in Chainsaw Man not unlike Denji's love of bossy women. Since her powers give her complete control over everyone she believes herself superior to, she's fascinated by Chainsaw Man because [[ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou her powers don't work on him at all]], which makes her see him as a true "[[WorthyOpponent equal]]" to her own strength. The last arc of Part 1 makes it abundantly clear that she appears to [[CombatSadomasochist get quite a rise out of]] Chainsaw Man ''dismembering'' her, and would be just as happy to be [[ConsumingPassion "devoured"]] by him completely as she would be to become his master.
* AllegoricalCharacter: For abuse in ''all'' its forms; emotional, sexual, spousal, parental, and even abuse of authority. Even before TheReveal that she's the Control Devil, her behavior towards Denji is ''rife'' with child abuse imagery, made even worse by how she's the closest thing Denji's ever had to ''both'' a maternal figure and/or a girlfriend. One redditor compiled a ''long'' [[https://www.reddit.com/r/ChainsawMan/comments/n5x58r/makima_and_child_abuse_imagery_for_a_lack_of/ list]] of all the moments where Makima behaves like an abuser towards Denji. The metaphor is driven home in the final chapter of Part 1 when Pochita notes how Makima turned into a monster because of her abuse by the Japanese government, much like how many real-world abusers [[TheChainOfHarm were once abused children themselves.]]
* AlienBlood: Strangely averted. While most other Devils have vibrant purple blood, Makima's is as red as a human's. What this means, if anything, is unknown.
* AmbiguouslyEvil: She set up the massacre of Division 4 by the Yakuza, Aki and Power's deaths (who she purposefully set up as Denji's older brother and little sister figures), and mentally breaks Denji completely by revealing the AwfulTruth that he murdered his abusive father in self-defense as a child. All so she can get her hands on Pochita... who she plans to use to [[WellIntentionedExtremist end things like war, hunger and death]].
* AncientEvil: The American President muses that human history has been spent in fear of the Control Devil, struggling against her in what may be a losing battle. This is a more symbolic example than many, as Makima represents the absence of free will, but as an ''[[AnthropomorphicPersonification individual]]'' she appears to be of possibly human age.
* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:Denji finally kills her by incapacitating her with Power's chainsaw, after which he starts butchering her alive to eat the pieces later.]] And it [[KarmicDeath couldn't have happened to a nicer lady.]]
* AnimateDead: Even death appears to be unable to free the victims of Makima’s ability, as she summons Akane Sawatari, Michiko Tendo, and Yutaro Kurose to use their Devil Contracts against Gun (despite all three having been dead for months) with no issue.
* TheAntichrist: A Devil born into the world with a human form and supernatural charisma whom the government attempted to mold into a perfect servant, but instead aims to TakeOverTheWorld--and isn't too concerned with causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt if she fails.
* ArentYouGoingToRavishMe: She was banking on Chainsaw Man at the very least eating her and erasing her from existence, but he's so focused on fulfilling Denji's dreams and going on a "date" with Kobeni that she displays deadpan frustration over how he's barely giving her his attention.
* AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance: A subtle example. Her seemingly mundane [[BraidsOfAction long hair braid]] resembles a [[ChainedByFashion chain]], representing the literal and metaphorical ones she imposes on the victims under her control, whether via her PsychicPowers or plain old manipulation.
* BackstoryInvader: She can use her abilities to insert herself as someone important or even beloved in the minds of those she deems useful. Victims experience either romantic attraction or a feeling that they are indebted to her for some great favor Makima did for them in the past. For minor assets like Aki and [[spoiler:Reze]], this is done rather lazily, and simple questioning can make this loyalty waver. For more troublesome minions such as Angel, Makima will go so far as to suppress certain memories of theirs.
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Deconstructed. It's noted early on that the more a Devil understands and empathizes with humanity, the more human they look; which is why Makima is almost completely human in both appearance and motivation. But her kinship with humanity in no way leaves Makima immune to the same [[ItsAllAboutMe character flaws]] that compel people to abuse and mistreat each other, as well as granting her an understanding of people [[BitchInSheepsClothing and how to manipulate them into destroying themselves]] most Devils could only dream of.
* BeingEvilSucks: For all her power and brilliance, her date with Denji and the reveal of her true desires show her to be this. What she really wants is simply to be loved and have actual friends and companions, something which she probably could have gotten had she been willing to try and accept other people, but her cruelty, arrogance, and megalomania lead her to dismiss all of those chances in favor of Pochita, which eventually [[spoiler:results in her suffering a particularly [[CruelAndUnusualDeath gruesome]] and UndignifiedDeath]].
* BigBad: Of Part 1 (the Public Safety saga). She's the one behind every bad thing that happens to Denji over the entirety of Part 1. All so she can break his contract with Pochita and either have Chainsaw's RetGone power serve her, or be consumed by Chainsaw herself.
* BigBadFriend: Big Bad ''love interest'', actually. She deliberately sets herself up as the provider of everything Denji's ever wanted (a surrogate family, food and shelter, a hot girlfriend) all so she can [[HopeCrusher crush his spirit by ripping those things away from him.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: In Chapter 82, she reveals to Denji that one of her goals was to nullify Denji's contract with Pochita. To accomplish this, she planted Aki and Power into his life and systematically plotted to rip them away to break him mentally.
* BlessedWithSuck: As it turns out, having the power to take total control over those you consider your inferiors makes it depressingly impossible to build any relationship where both parties are equal. Especially when Makima specifically was raised as a weapon, likely prioritizing her abilities over her social connections.
* BodyHorror: You see that floating pink halo above her head in the picture at the top of this folder? Yeah, that's a piece of her ''brain'' that she pulled out of her head when a headshot from the Gun Devil blew a baseball-sized hole in her forehead. [[ThisIsGonnaSuck In case you were still confused about what level of power the Control Devil operates on.]]
* BrainsEvilBrawnGood: At the end of Part 1, her relationship and final battle with Denji have become this, with Makima as the scheming, manipulative EvilGenius contrasting Denji as the [[DumbMuscle dimwitted but impossibly strong]] Chainsaw Man. In the end, Denji overcomes this and defeats Makima for good by outsmarting ''her''.
* BreakingSpeech: Gives one to Denji in Chapter 82 after her brutal murder of Power. She admits that she specifically set up all the chain of events of the story, right down to encouraging Denji to opening up and getting close to Aki and Power just so that she can strip away all of his happiness. All because she views him as her tool and nothing more, and Makima wanted to destroy the possibility of Denji ever hoping for a better life.
* CainAndAbel: Her plan included siccing Chainsaw Man onto the Horsemen of the Apocalypse to RetGone them. As Part 2 reveals, however, the Control Devil is siblings with them.
* CallingYourAttacks: There's listing just how many years went into creating Angel's weapons for one, but there's also her infamous "BANG" statement she makes whenever she uses her FingerGun attack which, as [[spoiler:Nayuta]] shows in Part 2, was completely unnecessary to say to activate or use it.
* ChainedByFashion: Anyone whose ability Makima [[PowerParasite borrows]] will appear floating in mid-air held down a chain connected to her abdomen.
* CharmPerson: Her CompellingVoice powers seem to include a side-effect that causes the victim to fall hopelessly in love with her. For instance, Aki is infatuated with her, but when asked to say ''what'' he likes so much about her, he is unable to say. And later, we see a still alive Reze, Quanxi and Katana Man preparing to kill Denji for her affection.
* ClingyJealousGirl: She's extremely spiteful and cruel towards Denji because she sees him as a rival for Chainsaw Man/Pochita's attention and affection.
* CompellingVoice: Stemming from her nature as the embodiment of the loss of free will, Makima has the power to compel anyone, human or Devil, to obey her commands to the letter. The truly dangerous thing about this ability is that it has ''no'' weakness or work-around; as long as she consider the target as inferior to herself (and Makima considers ''[[SmugSuper everyone]]'' beneath her) she can force them to do anything from taking a bullet for her to murdering their closest friends and family.
* ControlFreak: Befitting the Control Devil, she fully reveals herself as this in Chapter 82, giving Denji happiness then cruelly taking it away just to make it clear to him that he belongs to her. She then threatens to repeat what she did to Aki and Power if he ever finds happiness with someone else other than her. This ends up turning out to extend to her plans to bring about a utopia, as well. While she intends to sic the Chainsaw Man on Primal Fears to help humanity live in a reality of safety and comfort, she admits she'd also use her plan to remove bad movies from existence, showing how much her bias indeed plays into her supposedly good intentions.
* CorruptedCharacterCopy: Fujimoto has cited ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'' as an influence on the series, with Makima being inspired by Haruko Haruhara in particular. Each is an extremely manipulative non-human pretty girl who [[StringingTheHopelessSuitorAlong poses as a potential girlfriend]] to the male protagonist to manipulate him into helping her achieve ultimate power, but Makima is far more cruel and violent. While Haruko eventually develops something close to affection for her would-be pawn and parts with Naota on a bittersweet note, Makima ''hates'' Denji and spends their final interaction mocking his desire to be loved.
* CrazyInTheHeadCrazyInTheBed: Her unhinged, abusive, and violent nature is meant to uncomfortably enhance her sex appeal and {{Dominatrix}} tendencies. Denji can't help but be [[InconvenientAttraction unhealthily attracted to her]], even when it becomes obvious he should know better.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Being chopped up and shaved down into tiny, bite sized pieces to be eaten over the course of a week when it's implied she's still somewhat conscious the entire time is a pretty bad way to go. Not that she doesn't deserve it.]]
* CurbStompBattle: Wipes out the Gun Devil in a few panels by calling on multiple of her entralled Devils at once.
* DarkActionGirl: Single-handedly the most powerful woman amongst the cast and, after the revelation to her true intentions and identity as the Control Devil, not a noble person in the slightest.
* DavidVsGoliath: In one corner is the Gun Devil, the absolutely massive and notoriously powerful Devil who ravaged the world and killed millions of people in only a few minutes. In the other corner is Makima, seemingly a human bureaucrat. [[CurbStompBattle She wins in three panels]] by [[DeathByLookingUp dropping an augmented Punishment Devil on its head]].
* DevilInDisguise: Quite literally, as she is the Control Devil and a SatanicArchetype who uses her near-human appearance to pretend to be one. She also pretends to be contracted to a Devil, rather than being one in her own right.
* DidNotSeeThatComing: [[spoiler:Makima is left in utter disbelief with Denji completely outsmarting her in the their final confrontation as he hacks her up with his Power's blood-fueled chainsaw; Denji hiding himself under a pile of corpses as a separate entity from Pochita for a while was simply unforeseeable to Makima, and her own contempt for Denji ensuring she never even bothered to register Denji's own scent made him practically invisible to her outside her direct line of sight]].
* TheDreaded: As the Control Devil, humanity has long been terrified of [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill what she represents]].
-->'''US President:''' Fearing and strengthening Makima is nothing less than the history of humanity. Everything, even resistance, may be but a step on a predictable course.
* EmotionlessGirl: Subverted. She always appears calm and collected when playing the BigGood, only to drop the act and burst into laughter upon murdering Power, in one of the most disturbing moments in the entire series.
* EngineeredHeroics: Didn't do much to suppress information about Denji's exploits and arranged for the Gun Fiend to attack Denji in a heavily populated area to foster a heroic image of the Chainsaw Man in the public conscience to sabotage the fear humanity had for the Chainsaw Devil, potentially hobbling Pochita if he ever reemerged.
* EntitledToHaveYou: A non-romantic variant towards Denji. Makima views him as her tool, and a means to achieve her end goal. Anything and anyone that stands in the way of distracting Denji gets eliminated and she even point blank tells him in Chapter 82 that she will destroy any attempt at happiness that he tries to achieve.
* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Though it's unclear if the target has to be lesbian or bi beforehand, she uses her Control Devil powers to make female characters like Quanxi and Reze fall in love with her.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood:
** It becomes increasingly obvious throughout the Control arc that Makima severely underestimated the selfless, genuine love Pochita has for Denji. Having assumed their relationship was purely contractual and that Pochita would take his body for himself once it was broken, she's extremely frustrated and confused when he blows off her demand for a rematch to instead search for a way to bring Denji back. And later in Chapter 93, she’s completely stunned to see Denji back in control of Chainsaw Man, having never anticipated that Pochita would willingly cede control back to him even after the contract was broken.
** She also didn't take into account that tricking Denji into forming attachments to others would go both ways, as the [[LikeBrotherAndSister sibling-like bond]] he forms with Power is reciprocated when she returns prioritizing Denji over her own safety. Makima appears surprised but unamused when Power disobeys her.
** Pochita explains that being in the position that she was, Makima could only understand how to have friends and companions through fear, completely missing out on the reciprocation such relationships should have. Her perception of having a family was skewed into forcing others into loving and worshiping her.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: She first reveals herself to be the Control Devil when wearing a [[DarkIsEvil black dress]] instead of her usual suit. {{Inverted|trope}} for her final battle against Denji, where she instantaneously switches from casual clothes to her usual uniform, complete with her hairstyle going from a low ponytail to her usual braid.
* EvilIsNotAToy: She's the product of this. The Japanese government thought they could gain complete control over a Devil whose primary ability is to control subconsciously, abused her thinking it would make her obedient, and never bothered to formulate any concrete contingency plans should she escape from under their thumb. Once they put her in a position high enough, she quickly became too powerful to stop.
* EvilIsPetty:
** Makima admits that she would also erase bad movies in her plan to bring about a utopia, showing how she's ultimately self-serving when talking about her desire to bring about a happy reality for all.
** When Quanxi willingly surrenders to her to spare her girlfriends and promises to do anything for Makima to spare them, she mocks her and kills her and her two remaining girlfriends out of sadism. She then twists the knife even further by forcing Quanxi under her control to be in love with her more than her girlfriends.
** In her final battle with Denji [[spoiler:actually Pochita in disguise]], she brings him back with her blood and only uses her bare hands to defeat him. This was to let him know just how much she held him in utter contempt, never cared for him and that he was going to die at the hands of the person he loved more than anyone just to hurt him for taking "her" Chainsaw Man from her.
* EvilOverlord: At this point, it's made clear that Makima is an incredibly powerful and destructive being and has a large portion of society at her beck and call, and she's a tyrannical KnightTemplar who has no qualms killing and enslaving others to achieve her vision of a better world.
* EvilRunningGood: One of the top executives of the Public Safety Devil Hunters Bureau is a Devil herself who's plotting to use the organization to impose her vision of an ideal world on mankind and to fulfill her selfish and twisted romantic designs for the original Chainsaw Man.
* ExactWords: Her claims that her type is "someone like this boy named Denji" is not entirely untrue. Since the Chainsaw Man had merged with him, she's technically not lying when she says she likes "someone like him" since it applies to the parts of him that are Pochita.
* FalseFriend: Finding Denji's despair hilarious is the only positive emotion she ever truly felt towards him, and she's otherwise barely tolerated his existence as an obstacle between her and Pochita since the moment they met.
* FatalFlaw: Arrogance, and more specifically her belief that she understands people perfectly when she actually [[EvilCannotComprehendGood doesn't understand them in the slightest.]] Makima has convinced herself that Pochita is a [[InLoveWithYourCarnage fearsome conquering hero]], but in reality he's a GentleGiant who wants hugs and affection. [[spoiler:Once she finds Chainsaw Man in the graveyard, she's infuriated at seeing who she thinks is Denji back in control and telling him that he's "unbecoming of Chainsaw Man". The fact that she clearly can't see it's actually ''Pochita'' in control and not Denji goes to show that she [[LovingAShadow never actually understood Pochita like she thought she did.]]]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: Puts on the image of a friendly, loving woman around Denji, just so she can eventually drop it to make him fully believe he will ''never'' have a happy, normal life. She drops all pretenses when he regains control of his body and displays nothing but contempt towards Denji for bringing her beloved Chainsaw Man to his level.
* FeelsNoPain: No amount of horrific damage done to Makima can make her even flinch.
* FinalBoss: She is the final and most powerful enemy fought in Part 1 (aside from the Darkness Devil), and [[BackForTheFinale summons many past enemies]] in her various clashes.
* {{Foil}}: Just like Denji, Makima spent her childhood being used as a tool and attack dog by an abusive criminal organisation (him by the Yakuza and her by a corrupt Japanese government), that caused her to grow up with a stunted understanding of love and the sort of people she should look for it from. But while Denji is able to eventually recognise Makima as just manipulating him, Makima herself refuses to accept the object of her desires, Chainsaw Man, cares nothing for her.
* ForTheEvulz: After learning about the existence of the Angel Devil, she tracked him down and [[KickTheDog forced him to kill all his neighbors]] just because [[EvilIsPetty she wanted to see what his powers could do.]] Made even more pointlessly cruel considering that she could have just ''asked'' him and [[CompellingVoice he'd have no choice but to answer.]]
* FreudianExcuse: She was raised in a sterile, abusive environment meant to mold her into the Japanese government's obedient HumanWeapon, which lead to her growing up into a sociopath incapable of comprehending the idea of a relationship not founded on slavish obedience.
* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: Despite all of that, Denji realizes after [[HesBack getting back in his feet]] that whatever utopian world Makima wants to create in the wake of her own abuse will be subject to her own selfish whims, and determines that she ''cannot'' be allowed to succeed.
* GlassCannon: Makima can bend nearly anyone in the setting to her will with just a word but she's unique among Devils in that her body is almost physically identical to a human’s; so an attack that would only annoy most of them is lethal to her. While she usually gets around this using the ResurrectiveImmortality granted by her contract with the Japanese Prime Minister, [[spoiler:Denji managing to interrupt her HealingFactor with one solid blow from a chainsaw made from Power's blood is enough to beat her in the penultimate chapter.]]
* GoMadFromTheIsolation: Having no peers to speak of to befriend due to her powers, she eventually became selfish and misanthropic to the point of insanity.
* HandBlast: She can shoot massive, invisible bullets by making a FingerGun and saying "''bang''", seemingly [[PowerParasite acquired]] from Japan’s piece of the Gun Devil.
* HeroKiller: Throughout Part 1, Makima tears through more of the protagonists and antagonists than almost every other character combined.
* HeroesLoveDogs: Zig-zagged; her love of dogs is superficially humanizing, but she also explains to Denji it's because they have no ambition, worship her unconditionally, and always do what they're told; exactly how she thinks ''humans'' should behave to her. When Denji visits Makima's apartment and meets her dogs, she repeatedly speaks for them as if they're toys or puppets, as a subtle display of her ControlFreak nature. But even her CondescendingCompassion to her literal pets [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes is better than she treats any human or devil]], as Makima cares for them without any plans for material gain or to abandon them.
* HerOwnWorstEnemy: Everything Makima actually wanted out of life - friends, a family, and a boy who loved her ''without'' being brainwashed - was right within her reach at the beginning of Part 1. Sadly for everyone involved, her incredible arrogance and general megalomania led her to dismiss anyone but Chainsaw Man - who in truth [[LovingAShadow wanted nothing to do with her]] - as unworthy of her attention and eventually gets thousands of people gruesomely killed, [[spoiler:including herself.]]
* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
** Her EngineeredHeroics to weaken the Chainsaw Devil by removing humanity's fear of him is what inspires Denji to want to live again, completely screwing her original plans at ''Part 1'''s climax.
** Makima burrows her way into Denji's heart so well that, even with complete knowledge of everything she'd done, he still loves her. Outstandingly, this works ''against'' Makima, as [[spoiler:her revival ability doesn't recognize Denji slowly ''eating her entire corpse'' as an attack [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve because Denji views it]] [[ThePowerOfLove as an act of love]]]].
* HopeCrusher: Every act of kindness that she showed Denji during the ''entire story'' was a LongGame to make him feel worse. She gave him a decent place to live, [[PunchClockHero a steady job]], a social circle, and [[FamilyOfChoice a surrogate family]] for the sole purpose of ripping them away from him in front of his eyes to completely break his spirit and make him give up on ever being anything but her slave.
* HorsemenOfTheApocalypse: Makima is the Horseman of Conquest. She talks of the Chainsaw Devil battling the Horsemen as if she witnessed it herself. In Japanese, "Shihai (支配)", which means "control", is a common translation for the biblical figure. The Horseman of Conquest is often interpreted as God, Satan, Christ, or the Antichrist, all figures Makima is symbolically compared to. Makima's most used personal ability is a HandBlast, reflecting Conquest wielding a bow. Evidently, she has it in for the other three Horsemen, singling out death, war, and hunger as things the Chainsaw Devil should erase.
* HumanoidAbomination: Unlike most [[OurMonstersAreWeird Devils]], she takes the form of a red-haired, golden-eyed woman that most consider beautiful. This has actual significance beyond merely allowing her to hide the fact that she is a Devil; it's established that the more closely Devils resemble humans the more they themselves are able to empathize and connect with humanity. In Part 2 we meet another Horseman, Yoru, who appears to Asa Mitaka as an owl-like creature with the signature spiral eyes indicating that she didn't have a human form at all. Between that and the Control Devil's VagueAge in both of her incarnations, the implication seems to be that she's not nearly as humanlike as she portrays herself.
* IJustWantToBeLoved: Pochita explains [[spoiler:after her reincarnation as Nayuta]] that, having been groomed all her life to lead Public Safety as the government’s attack dog, Makima never had a chance to build relationships with those she could consider her equal. It's partly why she was so in love with Chainsaw Man, as she saw him as someone just as powerful as she was and thus her equal.
* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou: She declares herself a fan of the Chainsaw Devil, something that causes her to be unable to use her Control Devil powers on him or Denji because she doesn't consider him below her. Her plan is to fight him and win, giving herself a sense of superiority over him so she can take control of him. Failing that, she would still consider it the greatest honor imaginable to be eaten by and become a part of him. This trope takes on a whole new meaning in Chapter 97, as it's revealed she admires the Chainsaw Man ''because'' she saw him as an equal, one who could bring her lifelong dream of having a family of equals to life after a lifetime of forcing those inferior to her to worship her.
* InLoveWithYourCarnage: She is deeply attracted to Pochita/Chainsaw Man's chaotic actions killing and consuming other Devils in his time as the "hero of Hell". And even though she desires to use him for her UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans plans, she would also consider it the greatest honor imaginable to be consumed by him herself. She's so enamored with his carnage that at least she hates Denji because he's turned Chainsaw Man into a genuinely heroic figure.
* InterspeciesRomance: Played with concerning both of the unrequited crushes involving her. Denji is madly in love with Makima, but while they both look human, he is a human-turned-Devil-hybrid while Makima is a pure Devil. Makima herself is in love with Pochita's true form of the original Chainsaw Man, and while they're both Devils, she looks completely human while he's a hulking, monstrous abomination.
* IronicDeath: [[spoiler:A part of Makima was hoping that if she could not control Chainsaw Man/Pochita to make him consume various Devils to erase them from existence, that Chainsaw Man would at least eat ''her'' and remove her (and "control") from existence. In the end, Chainsaw Man doesn't eat Makima. But the human Denji ''does'', and it [[KilledOffForReal permanently ends the Makima personality]], and the Control Devil reincarnates as a young girl.]]
* ItsAllAboutMe: She’s utterly uncaring that being devoured by Pochita, and thus removing the very concept of Control from reality, would have terrible ramifications on mankind. In spite of also claiming to want to use him to rid the world of evils she deems are better off gone.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: While at first glance Makima appears rather creepy and manipulative to Denji, she also shows him kindness on multiple occasions, flirting with and comforting him in moments where he's feeling down, so it seems like she's not really so bad. Except actually she is, and not only does she not have his best interests at heart, but every good thing she gave to Denji was done solely to destroy his hope for a better life by killing everyone he's loved and met.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Makima spent the entire series psychologically torturing Denji and using the people around him like pawns, all for the sake of either controlling Chainsaw Man or being eaten by him. Ultimately, she's beaten by a sneak attack from Denji, using a chainsaw (made from the blood Power left him) to interrupt her HealingFactor. Afterwards, we see that her remains are about to be eaten not by her beloved Chainsaw Man, but Denji - the human she saw as nothing but a dog at best and a roadblock to her goals at worst.]]
* KickTheDog:
** She doesn't bother with any plan or SadisticChoice to result in Power's death. She kills her in front of Denji with no warning or reason. She then ''laughs hysterically'' at Denji, trying to cope with Power's death by convincing himself this is just a bad dream. Then she reveals she engineered Aki's death too and that Denji could've saved him if he hadn't listened to her, most likely to feed him more guilt. And then tells him she will never let him even ''think'' he can be happy and will kill anyone else he comes to care about from now on.
** After learning of the Angel Devil's existence and becoming curious about the nature of his power, she traveled to the seaside village he’d made his home and brainwashed him into demonstrating it [[WhereIWasBornAndRazed on his neighbors]]. It doesn't seem to have been part of her overall plan, [[EvilIsPetty she just did it for her own amusement.]] Made even more pointlessly cruel because, given the nature of her powers, she could have just ''[[CompellingVoice asked]]'' exactly how his powers work.
** She ruthlessly kills Quanxi and her two remaining girlfriends even when she offers her life in their place.
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:After Denji dismembers and eats her entire body, due to it being a very specific method that falls outside of her contract with the Prime Minister of Japan that protects her from all attacks, Makima truly dies. As proof of this, Kishibe finds the reincarnation of the Control Devil who is an entirely new person.]]
* KilledOffscreen: [[spoiler:Reincarnated back on Earth almost instantly]], which may have meant there was a Control Devil that didn't last very long once Denji caused [[spoiler:it to reincarnate back into Hell. Or Makima had originally been "born" in Hell and had crossed over to Earth without being killed.]]
* LaserGuidedKarma: The very first thing she used to sway Denji to her side, after he's been living in squalor and selling his own organs to get by, is with the promise of [[MundaneLuxury companionship, a place to live and decent food]]. [[spoiler:By the end of the story, Denji has attained all three by taking her apartment and pet dogs, and making half a dozen meals out of her body. Not as a violent [[HorrorHunger animalistic feast of bloodshed]] as the Chainsaw Man, but by cutting her into pieces that [[CannibalLarder he keeps in his refrigerator like last week's takeout]]]].
* LateArrivalSpoiler: Part 2 and [[spoiler:Nayuta]] inadvertently spoil the reveal that Makima is the Control Devil and the real BigBad of Part 1.
* LeftHanging: Many characters speculate as to how many of the incidents that occur in Part 1 are orchestrated by Makima. The reader gets a glimpse into how layered Makima's schemes are when she talks with Denji in her apartment, but the actual breadth of her manipulations remains an open question.
* LightIsNotGood: She is the Horseman of Control/Conquest which isn't as immediately threatening as War, Famine, or Death, but it is a far more widespread and oft-abused concept as shown by Makima and various authority figures in Part 1.
* LiquidAssets: Thanks to her contract with the Japanese Prime Minister, all damage Makima takes from any attack, including being shot in the head, having her arm obliterated, and being chopped to pieces 26 times, is completely nullified as if it never happened in exchange for a random Japanese citizen suffering a similar injury or death shortly thereafter.
* LogicalWeakness: [[spoiler:Denji unknowingly stumbled upon this when realizing that Makima never even bothered to acknowledge his existence. While it allowed him to surprise attack Makima, it also prevented her from using her powers as the Control Devil on him. Makima needs to acknowledge their existence and realize that they are beneath her to exert her will over them, so it naturally wouldn't work on someone she never acknowledged in the first place, giving Denji the time needed to fatally wound Makima.]]
* LonelyAtTheTop: Pochita believes her actual, original dream was to have equals she could build loving relationships with. But her upbringing led her to believe she could only force people into relationships with her through fear.
* LosingYourHead: Thanks to the way her Contract works, even being ''decapitated'' doesn't slow her down much. Chainsaw Man chops her head off several times during the final battle of Part 1 and her headless body keeps fighting autonomously even before her head regenerates.
* LoveInterestTraitor: Makima deliberately sets herself up as a potential romantic interest for Denji by flirting with him constantly, taking him on dates and promising him affection if he helps her kill the Gun Devil. The only reason she gets close to him is so she can [[HopeCrusher deliberately break his heart in as painful a manner as possible]] when the woman he loves kills all his friends and family.
* LovesMyAlterEgo: PlayedWith. Though she knows from the start Denji is Chainsaw Man now, she is much more interested in the old "hero of Hell" than this new one. She even expresses a desire to be "eaten" by the Chainsaw Devil if she cannot kill and control him herself. In Chapter 93 she even starts throwing {{Pretender Diss}}es at Denji about being "unworthy of Chainsaw Man." [[spoiler:Ultimately, this proves to be her downfall, as Denji relies on her obsession with Chainsaw Man alone to pull a sneak attack and finally take her down.]]
* LovingAShadow: The extreme, GodOfChaos Chainsaw Man that she fell for was just her own perceived image of him, and not who the TorturedMonster TokenHeroicOrc Pochita really was. She never even imagined he'd spend the last several years as the pet of a destitute orphan, and is baffled as to why he cares so much for Denji. It becomes even more apparent in Chapter 95 [[spoiler:where she throws a PretenderDiss at what she thinks is Denji, but in fact has been Pochita the entire time. In fact, the main reason she ultimately loses is because she knows so little about Pochita that she doesn't realize she was fighting him instead of Denji until it's too late.]]
* TheManBehindTheMan: Everything bad attributed to the Gun Devil was actually orchestrated by her as part of a ploy to revive the original Chainsaw Man.
* TheManInFrontOfTheMan: The Katana Man arc indicates that Makima is contracted with a powerful Devil whose name, appearance and powers are so top-secret that all her subordinates are legally required to wear blindfolds while she's using her powers. Turns out Makima isn't ''personally'' contracted to a powerful Devil; she '''is''' a Devil, an immensely powerful one in human form who represents the fear of Control, who can skirt around contracting with devils by forcing others to do it in her place, or control devils directly, to do her bidding without any drawback.
* ManipulativeBastard: She's the Devil of Control, representing the fear of domination and loss of free will, after all. Her entire relationship with Denji has all been a plot to separate him from Pochita by breaking their contract, which in practice involves giving Denji happiness that he has never known through a sibling relationship with Aki and Power, then violently ripping it away. This includes manipulating Aki to die at Denji's hands, and killing Power right in front of him.
* MeaningfulEcho: A posthumous example. In chapter 82, Makima mentally breaks Denji by telling him that she will make sure to destroy any and all future happiness and normalcy he ever achieves because he "needs to atone for his sins." [[spoiler:In Part 2, Makima's willing follower, [[NotBrainwashed Barem]], does ''exactly'' that, burning Denji's home to the ground with all of his pets inside, telling him that the flames are his punishment.]]
* MeaningfulName:
** [[https://twitter.com/YourAnimeGuy/status/1336948317226463234 The author has pointed out]], her name is "mama" with "ki (wood/tree)" stuck in the middle. [[spoiler:Which overlaps with PropheticNames, as she’s ultimately struck down like a tree with a chainsaw]].
** The two kana that form her name are homophones for "ma (魔)" and "ki (鬼)", [[DevilInPlainSight both different words for "demon"]].
--->'''Yoshida''': I heard the rumor that devils are bad with names.
** The most common spelling of Makima in Japanese is 牧間, which can be read, as a play on 人間/"human", as "[[DarkMessiah shepherd]]".
** Makima's name is one letter away from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makita Makita]], a Japanese company that manufactures power tools; in particular, [[https://www.makitatools.com/products/tools/gas/outdoor-power-equipment/chainsaws their line of orange-colored chainsaws]] bear a striking resemblance to Pochita (who himself is also named after the company), which symbolizes that Makima's [[ConnectedAllAlong connection to the Chainsaw Devil]] has existed since the very beginning.
* MinoredInAssKicking: Makima prefers to have her minions take care of any physical confrontations and, on the rare occasions she intervenes personally, stays at range and relies on her HandBlast ability. [[spoiler:But in Ch. 95, she’s so disgusted to see Denji back as Chainsaw Man that she attacks him with her bare fists, relying on [[LiquidAssets her Contract with the government]] and expert hand-to-hand combat skills to gradually wear him down before ripping out his heart. [[EvilIsPetty All to prove that he’s so much worse than the “real” Chainsaw Man that she wouldn’t need her powers or minions to beat him]]. Which is proven to be doubly ironic less than a chapter later when it turns out that she ''was'' fighting the "real" Chainsaw Man, and Denji, the human she hated so much, manages to get the drop on her and take her out in a single blow]].
* MirrorCharacter: As Pochita points out in Ch 97, Makima is in many ways a dark mirror of Denji. They were both abused children "raised" by hostile, uncaring adults who saw them only as tools and not as people, and they have the very same goals in life: [[IJustWantToBeLoved to find someone to fall in love with who loves them equally in return.]] But while Denji had Pochita's friendship to save him and give him a reason to keep living, Makima had absolutely no one to turn to and the extreme emotional deprivation turned her into an utterly monstrous sociopath.
* MonsterFangirl: She has an extremely unhealthy obsession with Pochita due to his monstrous and chaotic acts.
* MundaneUtility: Her contract specifies that all the damage that affects her body is transferred to someone else. Given that the definition of "damage" appears to be [[SemanticSuperpower pretty loose]], it appears that her ability to [[NeverGetsDrunk throw back dozens of beers in a single sitting]] is because her powers mean some random Japanese citizen gets utterly shitfaced drunk on her behalf.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: Once her plan to have Pochita take control of Denji falls through, she resolves to murder Denji so she can have Pochita to herself. And though Makima had other reasons to try to kill Kobeni, one suspects she was displeased at someone else going on a "date" with Chainsaw Man.
* MysteriousPast: How the Japanese government found Makima as a child, as well as how she could travel to Hell and become involved with the other three Horsemen without their knowledge, goes unexplored.
* NighInvulnerability: Makima can’t be harmed by any physical attack thanks to her contract with the Prime Minister of Japan. Any fatal harm she takes is transformed into a fatal event befalling a random Japanese citizen. If she gets fatally wounded in a fight, she’ll be unscathed and alive again within a few minutes. By her own account, this has happened almost thirty times. [[spoiler:The finale reveals that this agreement ''only'' applies to attacks. Denji cutting her body up and consuming it over the course of several weeks manages to get past these conditions and kills her for good.]]
* TheNoseKnows: She doesn't recognize people by their faces or appearance but by their smell, and she doesn't bother remembering the smell of people she doesn't care about. Denji eventually gambles on the guess that she only remembered Chainsaw Man's smell, not his. [[spoiler:He was right.]]
* NotSoStoic: Denji is shocked to see her actually ''crying'' at their movie date during an emotional scene of two characters hugging. [[spoiler:It's strongly implied that this was a moment of [[WhatYouAreInTheDark genuine vulnerability]], because she was reminded of something that, due to both her demonic origins and her role as the head of the Public Safety divison, she knows she will and can never have - to love another person as her equal and to be loved as one in return.]]
* ObviouslyEvil: Neither the manga nor anime did much to obfuscate how sinister Makima was, though the sheer perversity and pettiness of her actual goals may still be cause for surprise.
* ObliviousMockery: In her final battle with Denji, after Denji asks her if [[ArmorPiercingQuestion there will still be bad movies in the perfect world she's going to create]], Makima snarls that both his current form and the things he's saying are "[[PretenderDiss an insult to the true Chainsaw Man]]." [[spoiler:Unbeknownst to her, the one she's talking to ''is'' the real Chainsaw Man - Denji has been hiding behind her in her army of enslaved corpses for the entire fight.]]
* OrderIsNotGood: As the Devil of Control, she personifies order and social harmony in all its worst aspects; abuse, forced compliance, and lack of any concern for others except as tools of another. Pochita noticeably never attempts to [[RetGone eat her]] as she desires so desperately, presumably because he’s aware the concept of “order and control” includes things like the very concept of society or the common good.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: She’s so completely infuriated at seeing Denji back in control of Chainsaw Man (meaning that Pochita choose [[GreenEyedMonster him over her]]) that, even after he exhausts all his blood defeating Division 5 and is lying helpless on the ground, she feeds him enough of her own blood to ''fully revive him'' and challenges the boy to a hand-to-fight so she can tear him apart herself.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: Her brainwashing of the Whip and Spear hybrids comes across as this with the reveal of what they're really like in Part 2, as they're both shown to be quite nasty pieces of work in their own right. It's especially true in regards to Whip Woman who's revealed to be a SuperSupremacist and a psychotic killer who gleefully laughs in anticipation of murdering innocent people, including children.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: In her final fight against Denji ([[spoiler:who was really Pochita in disguise]]), she displays a more elitist view as she insults him for being unworthy of being Chainsaw Man due to the way he speaks and dresses.
* PosthumousCharacter: In Part 2, [[spoiler:the remaining Weapon Humans heading up the Chainsaw Man Church are still dedicated to Makima and are attempting to carry out her will, blaming Denji for interrupting her plans for a peaceful, controlled world. Furthermore, her reincarnation Nayuta is unable to use her own Control Devil powers against them due to Makima's existing control.]] She is also the only deceased Part 1 character to be mentioned by name, due to her lingering influence on [[spoiler:the Chainsaw Man Church]].
* PowerfulPeopleAreSubs: Despite leading Division 4, coming close to conquering the world, and acting like a dominatrix to all the people she controls, Makima is so masochistically attracted to Chainsaw Man that her ''decapitated head'' is smiling as he rips her to pieces.
* PowerParasite: Her powers as the Control Devil allow her to force anyone she considers below her to do exactly what she wants, allowing her to utilize the abilities of most Devils by brainwashing them into a very one-sided [[DealWithTheDevil contract]] with her.
* ProperlyParanoid: Her plan to control and destroy Denji is vast and intricate to the point of excess given that it centers around an IdiotHero teenager who is very smitten with her. However, Denji's infatuation with Makima, while intense, is not unwavering. In the very second chapter of Part 1, he considers ditching her to go on the run with a little girl who had supposedly made friends with the Muscle Devil. Later, he would've thrown away everything in his life: his career, his new home, and even his roommates, to flee from the city with Reze.
* RedHerring: HeroicWillpower is implied to be a legitimate weakness of her powers and could be a way to stop her. During the Part 1 finale, Denji just opts to [[spoiler:trick her with some misdirection]] and then [[spoiler:slash her while her back is turned]] before she can either give him orders or use any of her contracts.
* ResignationsNotAccepted: If you're useful to her, you're not leaving her service. Even if you die, she'll find a way to utilize your abilities and whatever contracts you had for her own aims.
* RippleEffectProofMemory: She's somehow the only one ([[spoiler:excluding War Devil/Yoru in Part 2]]) to still have memories of the various Devils the Chainsaw Man had RetGone out of existence. And even then, she admits she has a hard time remembering them.
* SatanicArchetype: A demonic being [[BeautyIsBad in the form of a beautiful woman]] who seeks the complete subjugation of humanity, [[FalseProphet posing as a saviour to the lost and disfranchised of the world]] such as Denji while in truth leading them to ruin. To drive the point home, she has artwork of [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Paradise_Lost_12.jpg Lucifer falling]] from ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' in her house.
* SemanticSuperpower: She and the Prime Minister of Japan cut a deal where the wounds from any attacks on her are [[LiquidAssets transferred to a random Japanese citizen]]. However, [[LoopholeAbuse what qualifies as an "attack" is somewhat up for grabs]]. [[spoiler:Denji manages to kill her by [[EatingTheEnemy butchering Makima and then cooking and eating her body parts one piece at a time]], which he considers "becoming one with her" rather than killing her.]] Kishibe isn't sure if the contract fails to invoke due to it objectively not being an attack or merely [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve because the perpetrator doesn't believe it's an attack]], but either way, it works.
* ShadowArchetype: To Pochita. Both are powerful and very feared Devils in similar positions of power that put the both of them on the same level on top of the food chain. But both also rather tragically yearned for friendship and love that ended up being impossible with their statuses and powers as terrifying Devils. However, Pochita managed to achieve his dreams of getting a hug from Denji, making him fiercely and unconditionally loyal to the boy. Makima meanwhile never received such love as Pochita did and coupled with being employed by the Japanese government to run Public Safety, turned into a sociopathic monster who can only force others to fulfill her dreams of companionship.
* ShaggyDogStory: Believing him to be [[spoiler:Denji]], Makima gives Chainsaw Man a bit of blood after he defeats all [[spoiler:her minions]] so she can beat him into the ground in a "fair" fight. Since his plan was predicated on her ultimately winning, [[spoiler:Denji's plan to ambush her while she reveled in her victory]] would've worked even if she hadn't done that.
* SingleTargetSexuality: She only ever displays any sort of adoration towards one being: Chainsaw Man. Anyone else who can defy her like Kishibe and (eventually) Power, she dismisses as annoying obstacles.
* SmokingIsNotCool: In chapter 96, she attempts to take a puff of a cigarette, only to cough inelegantly. Makima picked the cigarette and lighter off someone else's body, so it's likely the first and only time she's tried it. It's one of the very few times we see her in a vulnerable state and it hints at her true GlassCannon nature right before [[spoiler:Denji strikes her down with a chainsaw that disrupts her HealingFactor.]]
* TheSociopath: She has little to no attachment to the people around her, seeing them only as tools to control and further her plans. In Chapter 89, she expresses fondness for humanity but only in the same way one has fondness for dogs. And not even in the way most people think of loving a pet; she pinpoints their capacity for stupid loyalty and propensity for being easily manipulated as things she enjoys about them.
-->'''Makima''': And also ... they love me.
* SoftSpokenSadist: While not loud or boisterous about it like a typical devil, Makima enjoys asserting her superiority over others in the cruelest ways possible. When confronting Reze, she shares her own form of "love" for the Country Mouse; which is the calming feeling she gets when watching rats hiding in fields hunted and killed by dogs. When executing Quanxi and her last girlfriends, she echoes Pingtsi's "Talking corpse" line. Denji's brief denial of Power's death at her hands causes Makima to break into hysterical laughter for the first time.
* StealthPun: She's initially set up as Denji's primary LoveInterest with heavy implications of them becoming the OfficialCouple someday. At the end of Part 1, though she'd been revealed as the villain in the interim, [[spoiler:she gets not metaphorically, but ''literally'' StuffedIntoTheFridge.]]
* StepfordSmiler: Her cauldron of ambitions, resentments, woes, and vices broils beneath her rarely changing grin.
* StoryBreakerPower: Her abilities as the Control Devil allow her to enthrall anyone she sees as her inferior, which includes all of humanity and most of devilkind. The latter allows her to create unlimited contracts at no cost to herself, giving her whatever additional powers she might need on top of an army of slavishly loyal minions.
* StrongerThanTheyLook: Her entirely human appearance does not make Makima as frail as one. While her physical strength isn't outstanding for a devil, it's still significantly greater than a normal human girl of her build would be. [[spoiler:In Makima's final fist fight with Chainsaw Man, her blows that actually connect deal significant damage. She even manages to shatter one of his chainsaws and rip his heart out with her bare hands.]]
* TautologicalTemplar: While she espouses high-minded altruistic goals, whatever she does with the Chainsaw Devil's powers will ultimately depend on her own subjective, immovable tastes. This is ultimately why Denji and Pochita decide they have to defeat her.
-->'''Chainsaw Man''': Ms. Makima. In this ultra-awesome perfect world you're gonna make, [[ArmorPiercingQuestion will there still be crappy movies]]?\\
'''Makima''': ... Personally ... I believe the world would be better if bad movies ceased to exist.\\
'''Chainsaw Man''': Hmmm ... guess I gotta kill you after all then.
* {{Telepathy}}: The Control Devil's chains can read people's mind even if they're not controlling them, including distant or even repressed memories.
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: The main villain and final obstacle of Part 1 is a Devil that looks just like any other human, aside from her ExoticEyeDesigns. Unlike Angel, Makima doesn't have any supernatural physical traits, and unlike Yoru, her human form isn't a disguise or transformation -- she just simply looks so similar to a human woman that she can pose as one for much of the series, creating even more mystery around her.
* ThisCannotBe: Downplayed. After [[spoiler:Denji]] successfully surprises and grievously wounds her in Chapter 96, the most that she can muster in response is barely coherent confusion.
* TragicVillain: Interestingly, she's both this ''and'' a JerkWithAHeartOfJerk simultaneously. Pochita notes in the final chapter of Part 1 that she was raised apparently from ''birth'' in a government laboratory that saw her only as a HumanWeapon rather than as a child worthy of love and affection, and the fact that she grew up without ''ever'' recieving love from anyone as a little girl made her incapable of providing it to anyone as an adult. Pochita tasks Denji with caring for [[spoiler:her reincarnation]] to specifically prevent this exact scenario from happening again.
* TranquilFury: She remains as emotionless as usual but it's very obvious that she's furious that the Chainsaw Man would care deeply about a nobody like Denji. Power's brief revival and Denji getting back control actually pissed her off.
-->'''Makima:''' Why have you turned back into Denji…?
* TroubledAbuser: She eventually reveals herself as an abuser, both in a metaphorical and literal sense as her actions throughout the entire series work to manipulate and traumatize Denji. However, it's heavily implied that she herself was a victim at the hands of TheGovernment, [[spoiler:and to prevent another monster like her from being born, Denji is tasked with lovingly raising her reincarnation Nayuta.]]
* TykeBomb: She was raised, presumably from childhood, by the Japanese government seeking to turn her into a HumanWeapon. By all accounts, [[GoneHorriblyRight they certainly succeeded]], but growing up in a government lab with no friends or human affection whatsoever is [[FreudianExcuse what turned her into a vicious, hateful sociopath.]]
* UnderestimatingBadassery:
** Makima assumes if she fought Chainsaw Man, she’d have a 50-50 chance of defeating him. Chainsaw Man rips her to shreds before she could even react. Chapter 89 reveals that he managed to kill her 26 times altogether, with her only managing to best him after weakening him and forcing him to [[TakingTheBullet get hit by one of Angel's spears to protect Kobeni]].
** [[spoiler:Makima's defeat can entirely be attributed to underestimating Denji. She may have the power, but she certainly did not count on Denji ever being a threat to her and never bothered to remember his scent. This allowed Denji to sneak up on her and slice her open with a chainsaw made out of Power's blood to disrupt her healing factor, allowing him to finally defeat her once and for all.]]
* UndignifiedDeath: There's certainly nothing being very dignified about being [[spoiler:cut up into pieces and stored in ''[[CannibalLarder takeout boxes and tupperware]]'' in Denji's refrigerator. Just to rub even more salt in the wound, Denji mentions he [[ToiletHumor checked his excrement]] afterwards to ensure she wasn't reviving.]]
* UnknownRival: Or unknown WorthyOpponent. She really wants the Chainsaw Devil to, if not join her after being defeated, at least acknowledge her as a genuine threat that he needs to consume and thus erase from existence. Instead, he barely even seems to notice her presence, and at best treats her as a nuisance who's interfering with his attempts to fulfill Denji's last wish of living a normal life. She's clearly frustrated in Chapter 89 that, after killing her ''26 times'', he still refuses to consume her and instead went back to his mock date with Kobeni.
* UptightLovesWild: There's a level of irony that the [[GodOfOrder demonic personification of control, conquest and subjugation]] has such an infatuation with a devil whom she sees as a [[GodOfChaos disharmonious entity devoid of restraint or mercy]].
* UnusualHalo: After getting shot in the face during her battle with Gun, a halo of brain matter emerges from the wound as it heals and floats above her head.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Heavily implied. Pochita reveals that Makima just wanted to have a family of people she could consider her equals. Kishibe also posits that being under the employ of a government turned Makima into the sociopathic monster she was. [[spoiler:Her new incarnation as Nayuta]] shows that with a clean slate, she's pretty docile, friendly, and even receptive of others' kindness, if not a little creepy.
* VagueAge: She ''looks'' like she's in her mid-twenties and Kishibe talks about her life with the government as if she experienced childhood the same way humans do. [[spoiler:But Nayuta, her reincarnation, looking like she's around ten just a few days after spawning might mean the Control Devil ages differently than a human.]]
* VictoryIsBoring: She just sighs in annoyance after finally beating Pochita by forcing him to [[TakingTheBullet block an attack meant for Kobeni]]. Presumably out of frustration that, even after trying to stack the deck as much as possible in her favour, Chainsaw Man ''still'' outclassed her so much she could only beat him with a cheap shot.
* TheVillainSucksSong: Many of the unique ED songs in the anime allude to TheReveal of Makima's true identity and intentions, and how badly she hurt those around her for her own selfish whims.
-->[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy-_5Cnehns "The fact that it was all just loneliness, this is all your fault."]]
* VillainessesWantHeroes: She's in love with the "Hero of Hell" Chainsaw Man and much of her motivation stems from showing herself off to him as his ultimate enemy. Interestingly, she seems to actually abhor the idea of Chainsaw Man being a hero, as her infatuation with him comes from what she perceives as him being "chaotic" and "extreme" and rants at Denji for dragging her beloved down with his inherent good and, most prominently, human nature. The irony that Pochita [[GentleGiant was already a kind and compassionate being]] who just wanted affection ''before'' he ever met Denji is [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint unsurprisingly lost on her.]]
* VillainousLegacy: [[spoiler:While definitively killed at the end of Part 1 and only "surviving" as a brand-new being, one of her followers, Barem Bridge/Flamethrower Man, survived and goes after Denji in Part 2 because he stopped Makima's plans, and is attempting to continue them.]]
* VillainsOutShopping: Performs a lot of mundane actions throughout Part 1 such as caring for her dogs, watching movies, going on short holidays, and drinking cheap coffee.
* WeakButSkilled: Makima's abilities have certain conditions that need to be met for her to dominate the minds of others, and all the contracts she makes herself or through her minions give her a grab bag of useful skills. She's cunning enough to exploit them intelligently, and it's telling that she defeats the [[spoiler:Gun Devil]] not through a straightforward show of force but by luring it into a trap.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Makima wants to use Chainsaw Man's RetGone powers to erase humanity's biggest fears from existence and turn Earth into a utopia without things like hunger, war or death.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Quite literally, as Denji observes her, in a rare moment of vulnerability, actually ''crying'' in the movie theater during an emotional scene of two characters hugging. [[spoiler:Because as Pochita notes in the last chapter of Part 1, all she really wanted was genuine affection from another person who she saw as an equal, but both her upbringing and her existence as the Control Devil made that impossible.]]
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: As evil and violent as the other Horsemen while also being certifiably unhinged due to the quirks of her powers making healthy personal bonds extraordinarily difficult.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: She is a victim of both nature ''and'' nurture. Her existence and powers as the Control Devil combined with her horrible upbringing make it virtually impossible for her to feel true affection for others, let alone see anyone less than Pochita as equal to her.
* WrongContextMagic: Makima is a devil who makes contracts with other devils, which was explicitly stated as impossible, though several of them have a human as a proxy. Since Makima can mind control either, her accessing their powers through "contracts" could simply be a matter of semantics. And while a devil's death usually takes away their power from contractors, Makima's link to her deceased thralls maintains their power through "post-mortem" contracts.
* XanatosGambit: Makima's plans to break Denji's contract with Pochita either end with her having control of Pochita and his power to RetGone Devils to erase concepts like Death or Pochita eats Makima and releases humanity from the fear of control. Makima gets what she wants either way... until Denji TookAThirdOption and rather than lose to her or eat her as Chainsaw Man, [[spoiler:he eats her as his regular human self for a mundane dinner.]]
* XanatosSpeedChess: Her plan in Part 1 has solid pillars involving what to do with Denji and his roommates, but there's enough wiggle room in them paired with her own cunning for her to take advantage of unforeseen interlopers such as [[spoiler:Reze]] and the [[spoiler:Gun Devil.]]
* {{Yandere}}: All the deaths, destruction, and misery she causes are all for the Chainsaw Man to notice her and see her as a WorthyOpponent. It only gets worse and more blatant once she realizes the degree to which the Chainsaw Man cares for Denji, sending her into a TranquilFury as she curb-stomps Denji and [[AndShowItToYou rips Pochita out of his chest]] for ''daring'' to get between them.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: The final battle has her decide that Denji is too much trouble to mold into a vessel for Chainsaw Man's rebirth, so she opts to just [[spoiler:rip Pochita]] out of [[spoiler:what she thinks is]] his chest.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Nayuta '''(Unmarked Spoilers for Part 1)''']]
!!Nayuta/Control Devil
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nayuta_digital_color_version.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Part 2 Appearance]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_20230214_104917.png[[/labelnote]]]]

->''"Who am I? According to the knowledge this man possesses... the old me was called 'Makima[...]' If I grant her wish... I might find out who I am..."''\\\

The next incarnation of the Control Devil who Kishibe found in China after Makima's death. She retains none of her previous self's memories, but as her powers could easily send her down the path to becoming a second Makima if she ended up in the wrong hands, Kishibe dumps her on Denji, appointing him as her guardian.
----

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Chapter 119-120, which quickly establishes Nayuta as a mixture of Makima and Denji, with her walking in the front door with braided hair like Makima and dog leashes at her waist, at which point she calls Asa "thief," and immediately attacks her, showing that ''[[ControlFreak she's still the Control Devil]]'' and that [[NatureVersusNurture even a healthier upbringing still can't stop some of Makima's dangerous flaws from emerging]]. Then the next chapter shows she's turned out quite a bit like Denji too, as her way of "attacking" Yoru/Asa was to make her act like a dog, and she proceeds to laugh like a gremlin about it, and only demands Denji make dinner before she'll fix what she's done. During said dinner she also comically fights with a few of her dogs to keep them from eating her meal rather than forcing them into obedience, and the only conditions she puts on Denji to finally reverse things is for both ice cream everyday and that he stays away from Asa, specifically because [[ProperlyParanoid she has a bad feeling about her]]. All of this establishes that, while she does retain a lot of Makima's possessive traits and is a bit of a brat, she ultimately ''isn't'' Makima, and gained Denji's capacity for empathy and love.

* HorsemenOfTheApocalypse: While Makima was only implied to be one of the Horsemen, Nayuta is explicitly confirmed as such when [[spoiler:Fami refers to her as her sister]].
* HumanoidAbomination: Like all reincarnated Devils, she possesses a different appearance and personality from her previous incarnation, but retains the Control Devil's main physical trait of naturally appearing near-identical to a human female.

* NominalHero: She assists Denji's devil hunting, and even encourages him to pick himself back up and return to it when he was in a depressive funk, but general lack of concern for people outside her family suggests this is entirely because of her connection to him. [[spoiler:Until Denji turns her down, Nayuta seriously considered abandoning humanity to side with the devils just because she'd gotten tired of its rules.]]
* TheNoseKnows: She's inherited Makima's extraordinary sense of smell, and [[DetectEvil can tell that something is off about Asa/Yoru]] through their scent.

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Nayuta expresses a fascination, and even desire, toward the idea of acting like a Devil and killing humans, only refraining because Denji would get mad at her for it. But after [[spoiler:their house burns down and Denji abandons her to be Chainsaw Man again, leaving her with nothing left to lose]], to her own surprise she finds she doesn't actually enjoy killing and being a Devil at all, and would genuinely rather just live a normal life.

* TheWorfEffect: In chapter 151 [[spoiler:Barem completely shrugs off Nayuta's mind control and strangles her because he's so unhinged and devoted to Makima that Nayuta powers have barely any effect on him, though there's also the possibility that Nayuta, a child who had just witnessed her home burn down with possibly all her beloved pets inside, is simply too scared of Barem to properly control him. Luckily, she fights back by firing chains through the gun-wielding Public Safety members, who proceed to fill her enemy with holes once again, allowing her to free herself.]]

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Nayuta does her best to avoid killing humans... when Denji would get mad at her for it. But, to her own surprise, she doesn't ''enjoy'' it either.

* AllegoricalCharacter: Arguably, for abuse in ''all'' its forms; emotional, sexual, spousal, parental, and even abuse of authority. Even before TheReveal that she's the Control Devil, her behavior towards Denji is ''rife'' with child abuse imagery, made even worse by how she's the closest thing Denji's ever had to ''both'' a maternal figure and/or a girlfriend. One redditor compiled a ''long'' [[https://www.reddit.com/r/ChainsawMan/comments/n5x58r/makima_and_child_abuse_imagery_for_a_lack_of/ list]] of all the moments where Makima behaves like an abuser towards Denji. The metaphor is driven home in the final chapter of Part 1 when Pochita notes how Makima turned into a monster because of her abuse by the Japanese government, much like how many real-world abusers [[TheChainOfHarm were once abused children themselves.]]

[[Characters/ChainsawManMainCharacters Main Characters]] ([[Characters/ChainsawManDenji Denji]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManPochita Pochita]] | '''Makima and Nayuta''' | [[Characters/ChainsawManAsaMitakaAndYoru Asa/Yoru]]) | [[Characters/ChainsawManDevilHunters Devil Hunters]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManChainsawManChurch Chainsaw Man Church]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManDevilsAndFiends Devils and Fiends]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManOtherCharacters Other Characters]] -]]]]]

[[folder:A Successor '''(Unmarked Spoilers for Part One)''']]

[[Characters/ChainsawManMainCharacters Main Characters]] ([[Characters/ChainsawManDenji Denji]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManPochita Pochita]] | '''Makima''' | [[Characters/ChainsawManAsaMitakaAndYoru Asa/Yoru]]) | [[Characters/ChainsawManDevilHunters Devil Hunters]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManChainsawManChurch Chainsaw Man Church]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManDevilsAndFiends Devils and Fiends]] | [[Characters/ChainsawManOtherCharacters Other Characters]] -]]]]]