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âAll lives are equally trivial. Including mine. So any death, even my own, is nothing to be sad about. But... but...! Denji... can't die... cuz Denji's... Denji's... my first... friend.â
Power and Denji's Flower Scene and Why Romance Series Work
You can read part 1 and 2 of my Denpower's analysis here
A lot of people only view Denji and Power's relationship through a platonic lens. While that is a perfectly valid interpretation, I think there is a lot of fun and intrigue when you see it as a different kind of love story. And the flower scene is a perfect example of that.
[Image ID: Black and white page consisting of 5 panels showing Denji and Power in a cafe. The first panel shows Denji holding flowers with Power looking excited and blushing saying "What's with these flowers?! These should suit me perfectly! Gimme!!" The second panel and thirds panel show close-up shots of Denji and Power's faces. Power's mouth is covered by the flowers and thus her hairs, eyes, and blushing cheeks are all the reader sees. The 4th panel shows Denji looking at the bouquet in his hands. The last panel shows Denji eating the flowers. He is raising his right arm to block Power's attempts to reach the flowers, as she yells "Hey! Don't eat them! Those are mine!! Thief!!" /.End ID]
Now you might think she really does just want them because of her selfishness, but then you notice her blushing and then there is this awkward moment of silence between the two(something the movie makes last even longer and thus upping the tension). And the scene ends with Denji deciding the best course of action is to eat the flowers.
There's a lot of really cool things going on in this scene.
First, this plays on the rules of 3. We had Makimaâs date with Denji, then Reze, and then we end on Power.
And apparently Power missed Denji so much that as soon as her blood was fully drained, she immediately went to track him down.
[Image ID: Black and white panel of a close-up shot of Power's face as she tells Denji "I followed your scent here. What a puny place!!" /.End ID]
And for someone known for being brash, arrogant, and not really giving a fuck, she sure is staying silent and blushing after she asks for Denji's flowers. The manga makes a point to really highlight this by making it a close-up shot. Like even she knows how this looks.Â
What I really like about this scene is that it could have easily been an ironic scene. Because it starts with the owner saying this kind of hokey line. So this scene could be just subverting it by proving him wrong.
[Image ID: Black and white panel of the owner of the cafe from the head up saying "Face it, she was out of your league. You lived in separate worlds. You'll meet a girl who's right for you eventually. /.End ID]
But then of course there is this legit tension between the two. The scene thus reveals that it is ironic, it's just a different kind of ironic. Where the right girl for Denji... is the one who attempted to sacrifice him to a devil. Not only does that rule but the scene itself is also genuinely cute.Â
It reminds me of actual romance series like Toradora or Dress Up Darling. Because itâs not subtle, but that's also not the point. Taiga and RyĹŤji or Gojo and Marlin getting together is not a spoiler. I mean both of their first EDs are basically "OMG I've fallen in love!"
It's actually a fairly common criticism of romance stories. That they are just too predictable and I'm sorry, but I also think it's kind of a dumb critique. This critique completely dismisses what makes these kinds of romances series so good. The enjoyment of a good romance series is not that you don't know whether or not the couple will get together in the end. What works about them comes from your emotional attachment and the narrative layers involved in the scenes. Let's talk a little bit more about Toradora.
The premise of Toradora is that Taiga and RyĹŤji discover that they have crushes on each other's best friends and so they decide to help each other out. I think even with that small description, you can already tell what the "twist" is going to be. But the story finds a lot of great ways, such as this moment.
[GIF ID: A capture from the Toradora episode "RyĹŤji and Taiga." In it, the characters RyĹŤji and Taiga are in an empty classroom when it's near dusk. RyĹŤji closes his eyes before chugging down some crumbeled cookies in a pink cloth bag. Taiga looks in shock. Once he's finished, RyĹŤji smiles at her and says "delicious." /.End ID]
In this scene, Taiga is worried that her cookies she made for her crush aren't any good, especially after she accidentally threw them and they crumbled. But RyĹŤji takes a swig of them and says that they're pretty good. Pretty standard so far. But here's the thing, Taiga tries them herself and admits that they taste like shit.
[GIF ID: A capture from the Toradora episode "RyĹŤji and Taiga." RyĹŤji and Taiga are walking down a road where house and trees are on both sides, walled off. Taiga has both hands behind her back and her eyes closed while her head's looking down. She asks RyĹŤji "Those cookies were salty, weren't they?" RyĹŤji responds with a surprise look on his face. Taiga then explains that "I tried some." And with a cut to a close-up of the right side of her from the chest up, she continues with "And man, were they gross!" /.End ID]
Now RyĹŤji caring about Taiga and her feelings is really not that hard to figure out. But there are a ton of fun and interesting implications in him enjoying those cookies. Because RyĹŤji can cook, it's one of the first things we learn about him.
[GIF ID: Capture from the Toradora intro "Pre-Parade." It shows RyĹŤji in an apron cooking some sort of meat and veggie dish. He stirs with some chopsticks and flips it in the air. /.End ID]
He knows what a cookie is supposed to taste like. So eitherâs he lying or he does somehow like them. And it doesn't matter which it is because both just make him a much more interesting character. Even if the ending is predictable, how we get there doesn't have to be.
The same is true of this moment between Denji and Power.Â
Like even just Denji eating the flowers. It's kind of interesting that when confronted with the choice of either giving Power the flowers, ones with an intense romantic connotation to them, or just saying no, which Denji is certainly capable of when it comes to Power in most other circumstances, his solution is to eat them. He's quite literally eating his feelings.
The ending of a romance story does not need to be surprising. It just has to be worth getting there and stick the landing. ...which Chainsaw Man absolutely does, but that's for another time. (>Ď^)
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I know this is an unpopular opinion but it genuinely pisses me off when I continuously see Denji and Power described as siblings with no room for other interpretations of their relationship dynamic. I donât even necessarily ship them but people get real mad when you imply that their relationship could be anything but siblings despite the narrative straight up showing you otherwise. Yeah, Makima describes Aki as Denjiâs older brother and Power as âthe bratty little sisterâ but thatâs only the dynamic that Makima has set up in her head.
Theyâre family, yes. That much is undeniable. They love each other. In what way? I truly believe it is something far beyond romantic or platonic. Something that is deeper than that and combines aspects of both and is simultaneously its own thing entirely. Denji and Power bicker, pull pranks with each other, and may argue and then make up in a way that is âsibling-like,â but they also continuously have intimate and even sexual encounters with each other that siblings do not have. In the last weeks that they spend together, Denji showers, bathes, and sleeps with Power every day. He doesnât merely sit in the bathroom with her or even just help her batheâhe sits in the tub with his back against it and Power resting on his chest, both of them naked. They engage in pseudo-sex via Power asking Denji to drink her blood and it is the first and ONLY time in chainsaw man that Denji is given agency over an intimate encounter, where he is on top and controlling the situation and able to think clearly and ruminate on his situation.
He says that this intimacy âdoesnât feel naughty at allâ and he as a sixteen year old boy doesnât have the capacity to understand yet that not all intimacy is meant to feel ânaughty,â especially with someone you love, care about, have deep feelings for, know intimately. He recognizes there is something different about his relationship with Power but he doesnât have the life experience to understand what that means.
I need people to understand there are more ways to love someone than strictly romantic, platonic, or familial and sometimes itâs okay for relationships to be undefined and YOUR personal interpretation of a relationship dynamic is not the only one that matters or the only one that is correct
I know this is an unpopular opinion but it genuinely pisses me off when I continuously see Denji and Power described as siblings with no room for other interpretations of their relationship dynamic. I donât even necessarily ship them but people get real mad when you imply that their relationship could be anything but siblings despite the narrative straight up showing you otherwise. Yeah, Makima describes Aki as Denjiâs older brother and Power as âthe bratty little sisterâ but thatâs only the dynamic that Makima has set up in her head.
Theyâre family, yes. That much is undeniable. They love each other. In what way? I truly believe it is something far beyond romantic or platonic. Something that is deeper than that and combines aspects of both and is simultaneously its own thing entirely. Denji and Power bicker, pull pranks with each other, and may argue and then make up in a way that is âsibling-like,â but they also continuously have intimate and even sexual encounters with each other that siblings do not have. In the last weeks that they spend together, Denji showers, bathes, and sleeps with Power every day. He doesnât merely sit in the bathroom with her or even just help her batheâhe sits in the tub with his back against it and Power resting on his chest, both of them naked. They engage in pseudo-sex via Power asking Denji to drink her blood and it is the first and ONLY time in chainsaw man that Denji is given agency over an intimate encounter, where he is on top and controlling the situation and able to think clearly and ruminate on his situation.
He says that this intimacy âdoesnât feel naughty at allâ and he as a sixteen year old boy doesnât have the capacity to understand yet that not all intimacy is meant to feel ânaughty,â especially with someone you love, care about, have deep feelings for, know intimately. He recognizes there is something different about his relationship with Power but he doesnât have the life experience to understand what that means.
I need people to understand there are more ways to love someone than strictly romantic, platonic, or familial and sometimes itâs okay for relationships to be undefined and YOUR personal interpretation of a relationship dynamic is not the only one that matters or the only one that is correct
I like staying positive on this blog and I plan on continuing that for my next Denpower analysis. But I find it so funny the anti-Denpower crowd knows, on some level, hating on people for shipping two fictional characters is inherently kinda dumb and just... wrong. But they still want to harass people for daring to exist, so they have to make it some kind of moral crusade.
Like Denji and Power aren't just friends, they're siblings! So now you shipping incest! Because found families are always identical to nuclear families. Or Denji and Power aren't just friends, they're apparently the only platonic duo in fiction! So now you're erasing the one platonic relationship to ever matter!
And there comes a point where you look at the arguments you're given, and understand that it's just kinda silly. Frustrating? Absolutely! I do plan on making a larger piece about why the anti-Denpower arguments exist and the apparent hatred of romance in certain fandom spaces. But I think it does ease the pain a little when you take a step back and realize that... these people are kinda goofy. Lmao.
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Power tackling Denji down onto the seat and off screen while fighting over the flowers makes me feel sooo many things right now! A lot of them very unholy lmao. Power just wants any excuse she can to be all over Denji. She needs him more than she needs to breathe. Oh and I fucking love how they adapted them staring at each other. They are sooo soulmate coded! Denji knew if he gave her those flowers, they'd be no turning back lol. Oh god oh god oh god. How dare they show me that while I am supposed to be on a writing break! I have to write about what happened next! The world has to know!
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