A sweet dream, a loving dream.
The reason, for me, Chainsaw Man's ending is a 10/10
Now, I acknowledge this is not a good ending for a LOT of people; it did not meet expectations, it left a lot unanswered, it felt like a joke, etc. I understand. But I can’t help but love it, and it makes me sad seeing it get so much hate, so I'm going to put my love of it out there.
Now, a lot of what I'm going to say is going to sound like I'm completely obsessed with Chainsaw Man and that I'm finding meaning in something that doesn’t have it. But Chainsaw Man Part 2 helped me a lot with getting through life. So obviously I'm going to sound insane.
1-My experience with Chainsaw Man Part 2
So, I read all of part 1 after seeing the teaser trailer for the anime, because Chainsaw Man looked so cool. After reading it, I became a fan for obvious reasons, and I waited patiently for part 2.
Do you know what reading weekly does to the brain of a person? It was insane; every Tuesday I was overcome with anxiety for the new chapter. What was going to happen next?
I read, chapter to chapter, how Denji's life became worse and worse and worse. At some point, the story to me became second place to Denji. One day (I don’t remember exactly when, but it was before the alleyway chapter) I remember I had a dream where Denji was depressed after being sexually assaulted. And wouldn’t you know, that became true! Not exactly like the dream, but it was horrible.--
So, it was a stressful time. Of course I know everything was fiction, but I was really rooting with all of my heart for Denji and Asa to get a happy ending.
One day I dreamed about Denji and Asa having a really normal day in school, in a really normal town, with no devil in sight. Denji had a motorcycle and invited Asa for a ride. They had a really pleasant day strolling around through the town. With petals falling from the sky, it was really romantic…
“So that’s why you like the ending? Because Denji had a happy ending? Everyone wanted that! That doesn’t mean the chapter itself is good!”
This section is just backstory about me, to really put into perspective how much this chapter affected me. Now to the chapter in question.
The chapter really was different from the rest of the series. The dialogue was cheesy, and everything was way too good to be true. It felt completely absurd. And this, to me, is the best part. It felt like the beginning of a comedy buddy cop series. But when you really take a look at the things that happened in this chapter. You start to understand the real meaning.
Nayuta, Power, and Forgiveness
Why Nayuta and Power? Where’s Aki? Yoshida? Reze?
Well, a recurring thing that happens in part 2 is that Denji doesn’t really believe he deserves a family.
And what’s the commonality between Power and Nayuta? They both died trying to save Denji, and they both are two of Denji’s greatest mistakes.
Power died saving Denji, and the only thing she wanted in return was for Denji to look for the Blood Devil and become its friend again. But Denji never did that; it may be because of the guilt he felt, or it may be because he didn’t want to remember the fact that her friend is really gone. But he never looked for her.
Nayuta was in trouble after saving Chainsaw Man. And Denji wanted to find her; he really wanted to. But he failed; his libido got in the way, and Nayuta died. Her head being presented to him after he got distracted.
Yoru even regained the memories Nayuta erased while in the alleyway; this has the horrible implication that while Denji was thinking with his dick. Nayuta was dying.
Of course these are mistakes. But really, they weren’t his fault. Denji is just a traumatized boy, dealing with the death of his friends and his hypersexuality.
Which is why both Nayuta and Power are in this weird universe. It is metaphorically implying that none of this was really his fault. They’ll continue to be with him in another life. Because to a devil, the things people call sins don’t really matter.
Even if Denji believes he didn’t deserve their sacrifice, they'll continue to be with him in another universe.
Now Aki, Yoshida, Reze, etc. They are also tragic characters. But them being in the chapter doesn't really give the feeling of forgiveness. Well, not really forgiveness, because there’s nothing to forgive, more like exonerate him, but you get what I'm saying, right?
The mentioned characters, whose wanted thing was Denji’s happiness, got that.
Maybe he will be happy with them in the future or without them. But that doesn’t really matter.
This weird universe is the culmination of Pochita's love for Denji; that’s why it feels so zany and off-putting. It’s a dream world for Denji. Pochita doesn’t want Denji to be in a world like Chainsaw Man, the manga. He wants to give Denji a new world. A different world. A world that feels like a good dream someone doesn’t want to wake up from.
He wants him to keep dreaming.
Which brings me to my next and most important section.
3- Happiness without you: The paradox of love, a recurring theme in Fujimoto’s works
This ending really reminded me of Fujimoto’s other works: Look Back and Goodbye, Eri (I haven’t read Fire Punch, so I wouldn’t know if this theme is present in it).
After thinking about why, something clicked in my mind.
Look Back features the desire of seeing someone again (in this case, Kyomoto), even if it means Fujino never spent time with her. Isn’t that future better? Even if Fujino never got better at drawing and made manga, it’s better because Kyomoto is still alive. And they can still make everything they want to.
Look Back even has that moment that confuses you because of the sudden change in the story.
In Goodbye, Eri, one of the main things is that the protagonist is able to remember the people he films how he wants to. Even if his mother was abusive or Eri had a bad personality. He could create this idealized world and revisit it over and over again. Even if he knew he could never be a real part of this world he created, since he knows the truth.
That’s why he doesn’t stay to watch movies with the “vampire” Eri; he is happy knowing she exists. But will never be a real part of her world.
It even features an ending everyone says is trash, but Eri loved it and was frustrated people didn’t understand! Omg, that’s me fr fr.
While the stories and circumstances are clearly different. Look Back and Goodbye, Eri both feature “creating a world where someone can be happy, but the protagonist isn't really a part of it.”
Sound familiar? That's exactly the end of Chainsaw Man!
Except this time the protagonist is the one who had a whole new world created just so that they could be happy. And I think this makes it especially powerful, because now WE (and Pochita) are the ones who aren’t really a part of it. And we can feel firsthand the kind of love required to wish for this kind of future.
Because, yes, inspirational stories about protagonists that can overcome their problems are good; they could be masterpieces and inspire people to keep going in the face of hardship.
But Sometimes you don’t want stories like that
Sometimes you love a character too much.
Sometimes you love someone soooo much you don’t want them to figure out how to overcome their issues (which, in Denji’s case, looked pretty impossible, like, c’mon, how are you going to find therapists at the end of the world?). You just want them to be there; no need to overcome anything. For them to exist, free of all their pain. Even if it means you won’t really be a part of it.
Even if it means you have to say goodbye
This ending represents the paradox of love. Loving someone so much that a happiness without you seems
better than the emptiness of their absence after having met them (or, in Denji’s case, his suffering).
4- The suddenness of everything
Everything happened so suddenly, out of nowhere. Not a sign in sight that the end was near.
But what can I say? I love when stories surprise me. And I also love unorthodox endings that leave you hanging and wondering about the story forever and ever and ever until you lose your mind.
5- The questions not answered
It’s not really a big problem for me because the main thing that mattered in the story was Denji, but still. My only issue with the ending is that Death’s plan and how the Fire Devil, Fakesaw Man, and Yoshida were involved were left up in the air.
But I have a theory. A manga theory.
A theory that states that this ending was exactly what everyone was planning.
But it’s just a thought for now. When I have the time to re-read the whole manga, I will then make my theory. But maybe by then someone else will have thought of that and make it themselves.
Now, in the end, the other part of part 2
Asa has one of the best personalities in Chainsaw Man. She has her own character, but she’s also a parallel to Denji. A life filled with tragedies and strong feelings of guilt.
She wants to save Chainsaw Man because he saved her multiple times, but also, in a metanarrative perspective, it is as if she wanted to save herself. Because they are parallels.
But she couldn’t do it in the old universe. Yoru was too much.
But what happened in this new one?
The first time Denji and Asa met. They both saved each other at the same time.
Now the way Denji saved Asa is obvious. He didn’t let her fall, a thing Asa did subconsciously to self-sabotage because of the guilt of her father and everything.
He stopped her at the best time. Because sometimes you just need someone to help you at an important time to turn your life around.
But now the way Asa saved Denji is by being his first hug.
As we all remember, in the original universe his first hug was with Makima. Which wasn’t really the best thing. And also we have to remember that in this new universe, Denji has lived an even more depressing life before becoming Chainsaw Man since now he doesn't have Pochita. We even see him being a mouth breather, which, as we know, is his default state when he is, let’s say, “disassociating.”
So this hug was REALLY important. He even makes a part 1 flustered expression after it! I missed those!!!
And like the true gentleman he is, he apologized for grabbing her without consent.
Denji is my king. And he looks good with an eyepatch and suit. Very cute.
And also there’s the symbolism with leaving the chainsaw behind for Asa. Very cinematic.
And that makes me wonder, in this universe will they finally be there for each other, nothing holding them back?
And my answer is yes, yes, they will.
Maybe one normal day when Denji's finally enrolled again in the school. Denji will get a motorcycle, and they’ll get a ride through town in a really romantic scene with petals falling from the sky….
And what a sweet dream it will be.
