Themes and such: Denji's ego death and the need to be ChainsawMan
Ignore the slightly pretentious title, I was just at a loss for what to call... whatever this is
One of the things that I found fairly interesting about the Chainsawman ending is how it kept bugging me. Like yeah, there's tons of flaws and stuff, but there's also a lot of meat to bite into the whole of Part 2. And the parts of it that aren't rotten mostly revolve around Denji's relationship with Pochita and Chainsawman as a concept.
Especially because we see how even at the end of Part 1 Denji's idea of CSM changes. A lot of Part 1 is spent with Denji's (or better Chainsaw's) heart being the coveted object by a multitude of outside factions, much to Denji's annoyance as he's constantly targeted for something that isn't HIM. He even complains about this to Reze.
So it's interesting to see how, at the End of Part 1 Denji expressly clings to the Chainsawman identity in his breakdown in Kishibe's hideout. He sees himself in Chainsawman and decides that he wants to be Chainsawman. In a way, Makima's plan works. Actually (and correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not sure) isn't Makima the first person to expressly use the moniker "Chainsaw Man" for Denji's transformation? Most people call him Chainsaw before that IIRC. Anyway, Denji's self worth is shot and unrecoverable. Denji opened one too many doors and he can't live with what he did, not like he did before.
Now, he needs the identity of Chainsawman as a support. After all, being CSM is what is going to bring him the life of excess he wants. Right?
This leads to this interesting flip in perspective, not only in Denji's self-identity and self-value coming to align with his role as CSM (Chainsawman ergo sum) where he first rejected this overlap; but also in how he approaches life.
As a work, CSM deals a lot with the theme of desire, of need and a lot of Denji's early characterization is just him climbing Maslow's hierarchy of needs. As a consequence of this, you see his desires start to escalate as he slowly manages to experience the bare necessities of life. He wants to eat good grub. He wants to touch a boob. He wants sex. And, predictably, we see that as he experiences these things he finds out that they don't satisfy him. Not permanently. There's always something else. A lot of it is also just Denji not really knowing exactly what he wants or at least not being able to voice it properly. He wants an emotional as well as a physical connection with others, but considering his lack of experience, his hypersexuality and the generally messed-up circumstances of his upbringing he mostly voices that need through carnal desires.
But after the breakdown, after Denji accepts that his identity and value are tied to Chainsawman, that becomes the only lens through which he can process his wants. It completely upends his approach to life. Now it's "Because I am Chainsawman I can get love, appreciation, girls". Being Chainsawman becomes the point and the way to just indulge into whatever he wants. Before his breakdown, Denji was more focused on single concrete goals and his transformation was just a means with which to reach said goals. "To get with Makima, I will fight devils by transforming into Chainsawman". This is important because it lines up perfectly with how scattered and unfocused Denji feels in Part 2. Because he is. His goals aren't as clear cut, they're just a nebulous cloud of indulgence.
Quick excursus: We all agree with the Chainsawman Id reading of the story?I'm not gonna bore you too long with pop psychology (but it's important we're kinda on the same page here), but just to recap community sentiment, I think most agree that Denji's transformation in a way represents the physical manifestation of his Freudian Id. The Id is one of the three parts defining one's personality according to Freud's model of the psyche, with the other two being the Ego and the Super Ego. The Id is the part of the psyche comprised of instinctual, immediate needs and wants. It's impulsive desire distilled. The Super Ego is the opposite, the internalisation of broader societal norms, expectations and demands. Basically your moral compass if we really wanna oversimplify. And lastly there's the Ego, whose job is to mediate between the two.
And it's impressive how well this concept maps onto late Part 1 and Part 2 Denji and his relationship with Chainsawman. He explicitly rejects his previous dream of a normal life in front of Kishibe.
The goal now is a life of excess, something Denji himself acknowledges isn't good.
And for that reason, he needs to be Chainsawman. The new goal isn't to get something specific, it's to indulge in the fantasy, in the desire itself. That is what Denji aims for.
And granted, he does handle that desire properly one last time in Part 1. The choice Kishibe gives him is "Never turn into Chainsawman again or die". And Denji solves that problem not by being Chainsawman, but by being Denji. Granted he has to hide behind Chainsaw Man to do it. Relying on the fact that he, Denji, has no value, at least for Makima. And it works. But we see at the end of Part 1 that this hasn't really changed Denji's new outlook. He's become, quite literally, the hero of the story, taking on the role the public (and Makima) bestowed upon him. The Id is free to run wild now that it has achieved priority, the Ego is unable to sustain itself without the Id at the forefront.
This has already become quite a bit longer than I intended it to, so I'll try to be a bit quicker with the next parts.
Denji's desire to be Chainsawman has become the apex of his wants and needs. He will never pursue a goal with the same clarity as he did in Part 1 and anything that threatens his existence as Chainsawman becomes a priority in his mind. It's hedonistic in a way and it's a way for Denji to cope with what he feels he did in Part 1 as well as a perceived way to prevent it from ever happening again.
Of course, that's just a delusion. Denji's never solved his problems by just swinging his chainsaws around, his best moments all come from him being Denji before being Chainsawman.
Pochita isn't helping in this regard either. Being a devil, Pochita isn't really able to understand humans perfectly despite his best intentions. That's why he keeps pushing Denji on to dream more, dream next. If we stand by Chainsawman's role as Denji's Id, then Denji's pronounced overreliance on Pochita in Part 2 is also very much an indication of his surrender to his baser instincts.
This delusion is what colors Denji for all of Part 2. On a certain level he clearly understands that that is not what he should be doing, but compared to Part 1 Denji is paralyzed. You see him often just going along with what other people ask of him while he's stuck in choice paralysis. He often spouts his moniker of wanting to choose two things, without actually doing anything to achieve those goals aside from relying on his powers. Because he's not focused on the concrete goals themselves, moreso on the fact that he's being denied something. "If you get in our way, die". In this regard, I really like u/Inaneinsaneingrain's analysis of Part 2 and Denji, even if we disagree on the quality of the ending as a whole. But a lot of this analysis stems from their analysis and the idea that Denji regresses into Chainsawman as a way to force his ideal onto the world, despite everything. After all, he wants to make his own world with Pochita. Of course the issue isn't really Denji wanting to not be doomed by the narrative around him, but moreso his method. As Asa said, Denji is dumb, so he needs to think. But he never does when he can (and granted he often isn't given the chance), moreso relying on Pochita and his own intuition and reflexes to try and brute force a solution.
This all comes to a head in his last fight with Yoru and the Denjiman transformation. On one hand, you could follow u/Inaneinsaneingrain's idea and see it as Denji's final attempt to bend the world around him to his will by force. And that is certainly an aspect of it. I think there's also another element at play. Denji, the Ego, finally tries to take over the Id's rampage and give it structure. It's messy and too little, too late. But it is an attempt at structure. The issue is that there is no long term plan, Denji is still just flying off the seat of his pants. But he is reconnecting with himself again. He tries to get Asa's body back. He reasons with Yoru. And finally. Finally. His true desires come out, the thing he wanted since he opened the door in Part 1.
Denji misses Power. He misses the connections he had in Part 1. And he wants to have sex of course. Because sex is something that feels good when you do it with someone that you know well. Fundamentally, Denji wants intimacy and emotional connection as well as the physical (which go hand in hand for him). He wants to be genuinely loved
He tried to use Chainsawman as a quick way to fill the void, to just keep indulging in his base desires hoping they could fill the void. Instead the only thing he did was doom the world and himself. Because this is too little, too late. He, once again, disregards the idea of fleeing and regrouping and tries to chainsawman his way to a victory. It ends as we all know.
And after that Pochita, finally having heard Denji's true dream and seeing him throwing it away immediately in an attempt to protect it with mindless violence, makes the choice to eat himself and rid Denji of his burden, in a way giving him exactly what he wants, a life back with those he loved, albeit a flawed copy of one (there's also the fact that they were consumed and what cannibalism/consumption mean in CSM, but that's a whole other post).
In light of all of this, I do really like Denji throwing aside the Chainsaw at the end to stop Asa from tripping, quite literally reaching out instead of reverting to violence.
All of this is not to say that Fujimoto exactly planned all of this. Or that the ending is flawless. Moreso this is an interesting aspect that stood out to me (and that I honestly didn't even present that well I feel like, might've to do some follow-up posts)
Posted Apr 7, 2026, 11:25 AM UTC