Having recently binge-read Chainsaw Man in its entirety, I can confidently say it’s a fantastic piece of manga that anybody with an affinity for the medium should pick up. Tatsuki Fujimoto has packed his latest work to the brim with gore inspired violence, spine-tingling horror, and cleverly injected humour: it digs its claws in from the very first page and doesn’t let up for a second.
For all of that, it’s no wonder how or why this series has already carved its way into so many hearts. With an upcoming anime adaptation in the works coming from MAPPA [the team behind Yuri on Ice and Banana Fish], as well as the colossal Attack On Titan currently airing its final season, Chainsaw Man might just be the next big thing. Of course, like any other manga, a large portion of Chainsaw Man’s success falls onto the shoulders of its protagonist, and luckily there’s a great one here. So, let’s talk about Denji.
I really like Denji. I could go on for hours about how ridiculously cool his combat abilities are, after all he can literally turn into a living Chainsaw and tear his opponent’s limb from limb, and this is without even touching on how his chaotic energy makes every fight even more intense. I could also take a deep dive into how his lack of social competence and subsequent interactions with his peers is a vehicle for many comedic moments throughout the series. The most compelling thing about Denji though, is the very thing that really showcases Fujimoto’s strength as a writer. He exudes a lot of typical Shonen protagonist tropes; however, they’re almost always flipped on their head.
Simply put: Denji is as anti-Shonen as a Shonen protagonist can get, and it makes things really damn interesting.
When we first meet Denji, he’s very down on his luck. A 16-year-old orphan, who’s resorted to selling several organs on the black market and is stuck in a verbal contract with an unforgiving Yakuza – killing devils for them to pay back a large debt amassed by his deceased father. The minimal pay and crippling debt ultimately leave Denji completely stricken by poverty. He literally goes to sleep at night dreaming of having jam to put on his bread. All he has in life is his dog, Pochita. Luckily, Pochita isn’t just an ordinary dog – he’s also the chainsaw devil.
After being betrayed by the Yakuza, Denji is killed and this is when Pochita offers him a contract. In the world of Chainsaw Man, devils and humans can come to terms of agreement whereby the human is granted use of the devils’ powers, and in Denji’s case, a second chance at life. Once merging with Pochita and taking his newfound powers for a test run on those who took his life, Denji meets Makima – an agent working for the public safety, a cooperation tasked with hunting devils across Japan, and he’s soon offered a place amongst their ranks. In the beginning Denji is altogether clueless about his powers, so much so that he goes into to his first fight on the job not knowing that there’s only as much chainsaw power as there is blood in his body and it puts him at a straight disadvantage. Granted, this doesn’t last long but it still makes him an underdog, if only for a brief period.
Having little exposure to the world of devil hunting makes him appear misinformed and uneducated to his peers. Being somewhat ‘slow’ and ‘dumb’ isn’t an uncommon trope, however what’s interesting is how Denji’s level of intelligence is something directly related to his standard of living – he’s never been to school to receive a proper education. This also means he hasn’t had a lot of experience in social settings – something reflected in his ineptitude when meeting his co-workers. Coupled with an absence of parental guidance, this also explain his lack of a moral compass… although it might be a stretch to even call it a compass. From the start, Denji shows a complete lack of remorse to those he’s fighting, even going so far as to torture one devil so much that they take their own life out of pain. It’s a striking contrast to that of someone like Naruto who always tries to understand his enemies, or Demon Slayer’s Tanjiro, who opts for empathy even when he has to put a demon down.
In fact, the majority of Denji’s character and personality traits all harken back to his experiences in poverty and this is utterly genius.
When starting at public safely he’s given a room and board which means for the first time in his life he can eat 3 meals a day. So, like many Shonen protagonists, Denji has a big appetite but there’s no gimmick for explanation. He isn’t from another planet like Goku, nor does he need insane amounts of nutrition to build up his powers. Denji eats as much as he can because he’s spent his entire life starving.
Denji’s dreams are small to start with and they don’t get much grander. Unlike most in the genre he doesn’t start out with a goal, and the ones he does eventually set for himself are all very grounded in reality. He doesn’t want to find a great pirate treasure or become Hokage one day… the first thing he really aspires to do is touch some boobs. As lude as it is, he holds this ambition in very high regard, and, when it’s achieved but doesn’t significantly change his life, he suffers through an intense period of existential dread.
To sum it all up; in theory, Denji is like many Shonen protagonists before him but in practice he’s a complete antithesis. The harsher reality that fuels many of the signature Shonen traits within his personality is expertly crafted, and his down to earth ambitions only offer up more relatability for readers. Overall, Tatsuki Fujimoto has expertly crafted a badass, compelling, anti-hero in Denji that just makes Chainsaw Man all more the brilliant.
