Who Is Makima In Chainsaw Man? (2025)

Author Tatsuki Fujimoto's hit shonen manga Chainsaw Man dazzled manga fans with its brutally subversive characters and narrative style, and the Chainsaw Man anime in Fall 2022 made it an industry superstar in just three months. Fans found plenty to love about the overall Chainsaw Man franchise, from its cool "monster hunter" vibes and off-beat humor to its twisted yet compelling characters, such as Denji and his fiend partner Power. However, it's Makima who stands tall as Chainsaw Man's most popular and memorable character.

Like the overall Chainsaw Man franchise she calls home, Makima both follows and mocks the traditional shonen formula, being a typical shonen mentor and a highly subversive one at the same time. Fans want to know more about what Makima can do, what she means to Denji and Power, and why she is so magnetic as a villainous anime waifu fans can't look away from. She may be a monster, but fans still love her, and that speaks volumes about her character, how Chainsaw Man is written, and what anime fans look for in a waifu.

Makima's Powers And Goals In Chainsaw Man

Normally, a character's deep dive also involves their origins and backstory, and even the most mysterious characters, like My Hero Academia's All For One, eventually get backstories to show where they came from. But even if All For One can get a flashback, that doesn't mean Chainsaw Man will spill the beans on Makima's backstory and her younger days. Instead, Chainsaw Man expresses and develops Makima's character through her actions and goals alone. That aura of mystery helps make Makima even more unsettling while also making her that much more unpredictable with her villainous actions. Chainsaw Man fans have few points of reference to who Makima really is, meaning in fans' eyes, she is capable of anything at any time.

Chainsaw Man focuses less on the "who" of Makima and more on the "what" of her character, and the story is far more generous with that question in the long run. Early on, even Makima's powers and goals were largely obscure, but later in the manga, fans learned that Makima is the control devil, one of the most formidable devils in existence, alongside the horrific gun devil and the nightmarish darkness devil. Makima can use her devil powers and sinister charisma alike to influence the thoughts and actions of others, to the point entire nations such as the United States have given up trying to fight her. Makima is almost like a puppetmaster, leading individuals and nations alike to think and act according to her wishes with surprisingly little effort.

Makima, like most devils, can form contracts with humans, including a contract she made with Japan's prime minister: any bodily harm Makima may suffer will be transferred to a randomly chosen Japanese citizen, since the prime minister is connected to all Japanese citizens. Makima also has incredible physical strength and martial arts prowess, but typically, Makima forces other people to do her fighting for her. One of Makima's ultimate abilities is control, true to her control devil nature, and she can summon anyone to fight on her behalf. Makima can seize control of anyone she views as inferior, and can practically brainwash them, even former enemies like Katana Man, Quanxi, and others. On offense, Makima wields a deadly force power, able to crush anyone's body from a distance. She can even do that remotely by using a human sacrifice who speaks the target's name, and after making a hand gesture, Makima can pulverize her opponent.

Makima's true goal is a selfish one: to confront her eternal rival, the mighty chainsaw devil, and make peace with him as his loving partner. She lacks grand ambitions like taking over the world or forcing a new philosophy on humanity; instead, Makima seeks a happily ever after, and she will make anyone pay the price to make it happen. That plays into the intimate themes of Chainsaw Man, where characters like Denji, Himeno, and even the tsundere Aki Hayakawa are driven by relatable personal desires. But while Chainsaw Man's heroes are sympathetic in the pursuit of those goals, Makima is something else entirely.

Makima Subverts More Than One Kind Of Shonen Mentor

It's clear after just a few episodes or chapters of Chainsaw Man that Makima is meant to subvert the role of shonen mentor, but she does so in more than one way. Like many shonen mentors, Makima is a protective figure for the vulnerable protagonist (Denji, in this case) and sets him on the path to greatness. It was Makima who recruited the lost, confused Denji to the public safety commission, giving the newly minted Chainsaw Man a job and a purpose. Makima also became someone worth fighting for in Denji's eyes—not just to impress her and repay his kindness, but perhaps earn her love, too. Plenty of shonen heroes fight hard so they can repay their mentors' kindness, but in Chainsaw Man, all that is subverted in tragic, even heartbreaking ways.

To begin with, Makima genuinely does not care about Denji as a person, given how self-centered she is about her desires and goals, mainly seeking happiness with the chainsaw devil/Pochita. Shonen mentors often form a personal bond with their students, from a strong friendship between Yuji Itadori and Satoru Gojo in Jujutsu Kaisen to Jiraiya becoming Naruto Uzumaki's beloved foster father in Naruto. That mutual respect and affection are a form of the power of friendship, giving the hero added strength in combat. However, the Denji/Makima duo have one-sided affection, with Denji nursing an intense but futile crush on his beautiful boss Makima. Denji's love for Makima drives him to ever-greater heights in Chainsaw Man, only for Makima to return none of it, which Denji realizes far too late.

Makima also subverts a special kind of shonen mentor—the kind who benignly uses the protagonist as a tool to accomplish their own goals. Some mentors are truly just friendly coaches with no other agenda of their own, but others burden their students with their own goals to accomplish, thus using their students as a tool. Fortunately, shonen mentors are transparent and gentle about this, and they make sure their student is ready for that mission. One example is Jiraiya, who didn't just teach Naruto some new jutsu; he also passed on his dream of world peace, a dream Naruto eventually made a reality. In My Hero Academia, meanwhile, the symbol of peace All Might asked Izuku to finish what All Might could not, and defeat All For One at last. All Might faced some criticism for pushing Izuku too hard as a borderline human tool, but at least it was a worthwhile cause that Izuku himself fully embraced.

By contrast, Chainsaw Man's Makima was a true manipulator as the control devil, lacking the benevolence and selfless goals of mentors like Jiraiaya and All Might, which made her a true villain and a total subversion of this shonen mentor subtype. All Might may feel a bit like a selfish antihero who reshaped Izuku's entire life and put the boy in danger, but that just made All Might flawed and nuanced, not a monster. It was a partial deconstruction of the superhero genre, while Makima, as a proper villain in a mentor's shoes, is a full-blown subversion. She doesn't toy with selfish desires and manipulate others as a hero with a dark side; Makima is all about selfish desires and is totally on the dark side, with no heroic side to balance things out. That's how Chainsaw Man made its would-be mentor into a monster without using a betrayal plot point.

Makima Is Unsympathetic, And That Makes Fans Love Her Even More

Some anime villains may be partially sympathetic if they have suffered because of things that weren't their fault, or because they have personal goals based on relatable feelings like love, friendship, or loyalty. That can make villains popular among anime fans, and might even make them a waifu or husbando in some cases. The Bleach anime has several of them, such as Ulquiorra Schiffer, whose genuine desire to understand Orihime Inoue's heart made him tragically sympathetic in his final moments. Or Himiko Toga in My Hero Academia, whose first "crime" was simply being born with the "wrong" kind of Quirk—a blood-based Quirk that everyone feared. However, Chainsaw Man's Makima is not sympathetic, even with her relatable goal of wanting her own happily ever after. She is clearly written to be an intriguing monster with a falsely pretty exterior.

That said, Makima still has a legion of fans, and that doesn't necessarily run counter to author Tatsuki Fujimoto's intentions. Makims is clearly designed to be a monster through and through, but the narrative of Chainsaw Man still leaves room for fans to like or dislike whomever they choose, Makima included. Fans aren't meant to see themselves in Makima, but they can still admire her as a villain who's true to herself and her desires. Anime villains tend to have strong self-confidence and conviction, which can be impressive, if not inspiring, and fans like seeing that.

It's a refreshing contrast with the insecurities and weaknesses of heroes like Denji and Izuku, appealing to fans who like strong people. A strong romantic partner can be a lot of fun, and a villainous one like Makima is simply a different, even more exciting flavor of the same thing. Often, anime fans like gentle or even timid waifus like Hinata Hyuga or Shoko Komi because they're cuddly and kind, someone fans wish to protect. In other cases, such as Chainsaw Man's Makima, fans are drawn to a powerful, indomitable bad girl who doesn't need protection from anyone. It's a matter of taste, and it's why bad girls like Makima, Himiko Toga, General Esdeath, and Balalaika rank highly among the most popular anime waifus, no matter their misdeeds.

Chainsaw Man

TV-MA

Anime

Action

Adventure

Following a betrayal, a young man left for dead is reborn as a powerful devil-human hybrid after merging with his pet devil and is soon enlisted into an organization dedicated to hunting devils. When his father died, Denji was stuck with a huge debt and no way to pay it back.

Release Date

October 11, 2022

Cast

Kikunosuke Toya , Ryan Colt Levy , Tomori Kusunoki , Suzie Yeung

Main Genre

Anime

Seasons

1

Studio

MAPPA

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