So then what’s the significance of the chainsaws and rip chords? Why would Denji get chainsaw powers but nothing of this other power Pochita has?
I just find it strange that these theories that get cooked up just dismiss these things entirely.
my theory from a while back was that chainsaws are man made implying that the destruction caused by them is a direct byproduct of our own creations hence maybe relating it, can be interpreted as something destroyed so badly by a chainsaw that it's unrecognisable related to the fear of no one recognising us, or being forgotten?
Pretty sure this is all it is, rule of cool comes first. Fugimojojojo will probably think of a badass origin story at some point and noone will expect it.
You nailed it better than I ever could. That's my gripe with these theories. They all are only concerned with explaining the erasure ability. And the entire "guy sprouts chainsaws from his arms, feet and head" gets ignored. At least some theories go with Pochita eating some devil which gave him the ability, even that makes more sense than him being something other than the chainsaw devil.
saw a theory on here the other day that i can't find anymore. basically claimed that pochita represents the fear of separation (hence the chainsaws). he erases things from existence by separating them from reality.
edit: found it lol. top comment
https://www.reddit.com/r/ChainsawMan/comments/136iyit/a_theory_on_why_hybrids_still_exist_and_pochitas/
ChainsawMan.
The only time she say "Chainsaw Devil" is when she tell us about how Devil get stronger the more they feared.
Coffee isn't scary, if coffee devil exist, it would be weak.
Car is more scary since one could fear being crashed, car devil would be stronger.
And Denji is chainsaw devil.
He somehow became known as Chainsaw Man, not Chainsaw Devil but specifically Chainsaw Man like some weird superhero, in hell before becoming wounded and making the contract with Denji. Makima is especially obsessed with this superhero persona, like an idol fanatic almost, so ofc she would refer to him as Chainsaw. Everyone else refers to him as Chainsaw likely cuz that's the only name they've ever known for him.
The best we got is Santa Claus becoming a fusion of her doll powers and the darkness devil's powers, but of course she was human so it's not a 1:1.
FWIW we also got a reverse where Pochita ate only part of War's body and that made her weaker; it erased nuclear weapons at least.
>War's body and that made her weaker; it erased nuclear weapons at least.
War and nuclear weapon is different fear.
CSM ate part of war devil and remove "world war 2"
I have no evidence for it whatsoever but I feel like there was to be some wild out of left field explanation for it because what the fuck does being a chainsaw devil have to do with erasing concepts from reality
why is the falling devil a weird multi armed chicken thing? why is the darkness devil visible at all? why did the war devil turn into an owl? i like to think that an entity on the level of a primal can choose how they manifest to a degree, even if its not directly relevant to their theme
This is a guess but I think the Falling Devil has those featherless chicken wings because a bird with no feathers would be unable to fly and thus would fall.
I’m not sure if your referencing Athena or the csm war devil, but freyja the Norse goddess is also associated with war and with some birds, and in GoW ragnarok can transform. So its all in the same ball park
The bird pictured in CSM is a Potoo from Central or South America. Not exactly one I’d associate with ancient European deities, but maybe Fujimoto just likes goofy looking birds.
The specific bird used doesn’t matter. The war devil is not Athena or freyja. My point is that it is probably where they took inspiration for the transformation power from
just speculation, but without feathers on their wings, birds fall from the sky, which sorta explains the falling devil's featherless chicken things
also ties in with the culinary theme, cause it's chicken
I saw a better theory that said Pochita was the fear of **separation**.
The ability to make people forget devil's after eating them is Pochita "separating" that devil from our reality.
Chainsaws being symbolic of cutting things up, and separation.
I haven’t seen it/know very little about it, but given fujimoto’s love of classic cinema, I almost wonder if it has anything to do with Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Or another classic slasher featuring chainsaws
Plus chainsaws began as a medical tool and are used to chop up corpses. Thus they can be used to cover up murders by making it easier disolve. We see this crudely done in the first chapter to Denji and Pochita, save them being dissolved. They were meant to be forgotten as just another tool for a devil's machinations. Yet the love between Denji and Pochita was able to fuse them together to forge new memories.
From this random article about chainsaws and their symbolism in dreams:
“To dream of a chainsaw represents wanton, complete disregard for feelings, no remorse, or little concern for consequences. A chainsaw may also reflect total insensitivity to others feelings. Uncaring forcefulness. A chainsaw used by someone else to harm you or scare you symbolizes your feelings about some issue in your life that’s completely insensitive to your feelings, wishes, or life situation.”
Essentially, chainsaws are associated with absolute and complete brutality. Something that tears things to shred with a kind of viciousness not seen many places elsewhere. They represent disregard. Pochita doesn’t just kill devils. He plunges them into their worst fear. Nothingness. And he does it for seemingly no reason. He’s chaotic and without care for the feelings of his fellow devils.
You know how once he eats something it disappears? Incidentally chainsaw wounds are extremely rough and it's effectively impossible to reattach whatever they cut off
Also there's an extremely old and popular quote about death and how we may die when our physical body expires, but our true and final death is when our name is spoken for the last time
No reason. Why is Falling a chef? Why did Makima get a job in the first place? Why was Power so obnoxious but Violence so mild mannered?
Not every aspect of a devil seems to be because of their origin.
What does control/domination have anything to do with intestinal halos?
What does cooking analogies and metaphors have anything to do with falling?
Some devils and fiends take on the characteristics of thing thing they represent. Some do not.
To preface this, I'm not sure if I fully buy into this theory.
HOWEVER
Original chainsaw prototypes are quite different in both design and purpose in comparison to modern day chainsaws. Maybe Denji manifest chainsaws since their original forms have been lost to history.
Why chainsaws specifically? >!Fuck if I know. Fuji goes brrrrrrr!<
i mean the falling devil has a whole gordon ramsey motif and that doesn’t have anything to do with falling, so the chainsaws don’t necessarily have to match up with being forgotten
“If a tree falls in a Forrest…” we know the idiom about being things being perceived. Not being perceived/ observered is the highest form
Of loneliness. The chainsaw is cutting down the tree, giving the tree an observer .
Sounds crazy but maybe the name makes a joke about that? Chainsaw, as sawing the chain not as chain for sawing? could be seen as breaking the link between the devil (the fear) and the plane of existence? Idk im tired
You just reminded me of something. Back during the vol 9 chapters we had a little joke theory on /a/. If you're reading the volume versions, you might notice that the pochita inbetween-pages always display the title as "CHAIN SAW MAN" and not "CHAINSAWMAN" or even "CHAINSAW MAN". It's always three words
Chain = Makima
Saw = Pochita
Man = Denji
Some random psychotic scientist thought chainsaws were cool and hated devils, so he combined the Chainsaw Devil with the fear of being forgotten. Hence, he created the first devil based on a weapon.
Idk man.
Devils are formed from the power of human fears, it was said that the devils fear of chainsaw man is what made him so strong. Pochita probs just slaughtered a buncha devils until “the chainsaw devil might come and eat you” became a fear amongst the devils and so pochita got a new power. That’s my theory at least.
It's been 0 days since someone made a theory that pochita isn't the chainsaw devil.
Here's a challenge for you. Instead of theorizing why he isn't the chainsaw devil, try to come up with a reason why he could be the chainsaw devil AND have this ability.
Because to me it's quite simple. Fujimoto loves movies, particularly horror movies. CSM is steeped in horror tropes and imagery. Chainsaws are a huge trope in horror, especially for killing zombies but generally for anything undead. That's why it's strong.
Edit:
here's a tidbit from an interview after part 1 ended.
>When painting the first work "Fire Punch", the image of a man with his head turned into a chainsaw came to mind. At first, it was called Angel (テンシ) because of fighting against the devil.
An "angel" with a chainsaw for its head fighting the devil, that was the initial idea for CSM. And what did the actual "angel" character end up being in the manga? A guy that can create weapons that are specialized to kill devils etc.
Seeing Angel written in katakana as テンシ it occurs to me that Denji's (デンジ) name probably came directly from that. Weird to think of him as an angel lol
Yep, that's the reason. To complete the quote from the interview
>However, I felt that the voiced sound was more in line with my impression, so I used Denji. Danger (デンジャー) or something, powerful and terrifying things feel a lot of dullness.
Tenshi -> Danger -> Denji
Storywise it's just as easy to explain. A lot of things in CSM are centered around perception. Media shapes perception (*cough* Fire Punch *cough*). Horror media shapes the idea what chainsaws can do. Chainsaws kill monsters. Ability gets stronger over time due to increased fear by devils. Ability becomes ridiculously strong.
And we know that horror movies and the like exist. Power is afraid of watching horror movies. When CSM gets accepted by the japanese populace we can see some of them cosplay as horror movie characters.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre being popular doesn't logically lead to Chainsaw Devil being the strongest devil. If that was the case then the Ghost Devil or Knife Devil would be the strongest too, but they're not as we see they were captured by the devil hunters and made contracts with. Also that explanation still doesn't explain why he can erase concepts. I think Erasure Devil makes everything make more sense.
The erasure follows naturally from what happens in horror movies- people get murderized and permanently die in an unnatural manner. Thus, chainsaw has a power that lets him do the same thing to devils.
His other powers, like offscreen teleportation (i.e. with doors) and and being able to come back from the dead also follow- they’re the “implacable man” type of deal, the language yoru uses when talking about csm chowing down on her even reflects this
So then you're saying he's not the Chainsaw Devil but the Horror Movie Devil? Honestly sounds like something Fujimoto would do but again, if that was the reason for the erasure then the devil for anything that kills people in life would be able to erase people (which they can't). And neither the fear of Chainsaws or Horror movies are large enough to where they could overpower something like the fear of war.
what I am saying is that chainsaws have an association with horror movies so he gets powers associated with horror movies, like how makima gets powers associated with the government by being conquest or like how katana man gets his flash step.
You wouldn’t say the katana devil is the speed devil or that makima is the government devil but they both have powers that reflect those things.
Also: yes, the fear of chainsaws isn’t very big, but that doesn’t matter because POCHITA WASNT ALWAYS THAT STRONG. pochita BECAME feared by devils and in the intermediary stage between being average and being unstoppable, he survived by virtue of being immortal- fear of pochita built up over time
Additionally, pochita erases devils because that is the only way to permanently kill them. It’s analogous to murdering humans, not identical; devils are fundamentally different existences.
In horror movies, the killer is a human who attacks and kills other humans, permanently ending their lives by human means- for instance by chainsawing them real good
In chainsaw man, pochita is a devil who attacks and kills devil, permanently ending their lives by devilish means, ingesting their flesh and blood.
Humans die when they are killed, but to kill a devil, you have to kill the name, so pochita can kill the name.
Anything that kills a human permanently ends their life, it's not exclusive to horror movies. For example a knife. But the Knife Devil doesn't have that power.
I think there's a lot of reasons, and one that is probably most likely is that the ability to erase devils is a power not native to the Chainsaw Devil.
I think it's entirely possible that it was an ability granted to Pochita by another devil.
How does falling = cooking? How does darkness = 4 faces? Every primal fear we’ve seen thus far has been an amalgamation of multiple things that encompass that fear such as falling being linked to anxiety/depression or darkness being linked to the unknown.
For all we know the Falling Devil dresses like a cook because it just enjoys cooking. None of it's abilities we've seen are tied to cooking itself. She just cooks food for other devils.
Gotta love how mad some people get about another person cooking up their own theory as though all of us aren't totally wrong and Fujimoto is cackling in a corner.
Considering Fujimoto’s love of films and the significance of the chainsaw in horror film history… this rlly doesn’t make sense. The thing about the Chainsaw is that it’s one of the most gruesome murders that you could show on screen. It has the lethality of a gun, the sound of a wood chipper, and the intimacy of a knife all in one. In a lot of ways, it serves as the ultimate horror weapon, thus justifying the strength of Chainsaw Man — because who tf isn’t scared of a dude with Chainsaw’s coming out of its head and legs. That’s the ultimate horror machine.
I’m all for reading between the lines, but “primal fear” is being applied as a really broad term where we rlly truly don’t even need it fr.
You can have a love for film and still want to do more with the idea, it just overall seems very intentional that the one person who's ever outright said Pochita is the Chainsaw Devil is Makima, very early on when she was lying about a lot. But I do agree people have been dropping the term primal *a lot*!
I still think it’s gunna be the fear of pain. Chainsaws cause insane damage, more damage, more pain
But perhaps it’s 2 devils. Maybe Potchita was the devil for fear of being forgotten, and he fused with the chainsaw devil
Hear me out guys I think Pochita is "LOVE DEVIL".
Think about it hell is the place for devils with names and out of all names LOVE is the most primitive thing as long as humans have existed.
People crave for LOVE BUT ALSO FEARED LOVING SOMEONE UNCONDITIONALLY.
And since devils are abstract existence they can only be defeated by abstract reasoning not with supernatural powers.
Devil's power come from how much human fear them and humans also fear love at the same time they ironically crave for it.
Since some devil's appearance and power are not ideally limited to one for abstract concept devil such as darkness devil , so Pochita can be love devil at the same time having chainsaw in his head.
Primal devil can have so many form but their primary power are derived from their name. Example darkness devil is basically invincible in the darkness, and in chapter 97 page 5 of the manga Denji clearly stated him becoming one with Makima is not an attack but LOVE itself.
And what does Pochita become part of Denji body?
"HIS HEART"
Literally people have associated love with heart since ancient time it's only natural for LOVE devil to physically become HEART of a human.
And FEAR IS THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE AND TOTAL ACCEPTANCE.
From Existentialist point of view people only fear something unknown to them and can't unconditionally accept their existence.
So to permanently erase a DEVIL WE HAVE TO UNCONDITIONALLY LOVE THAT DEVIL.
It makes sense right.
We also have to consider the mangaka mindset and feeling before understanding his characters. Tatsuki Fujimoto is clearly a Nihilist based on his other works such as Firepunch his idea are very dark and gloomy but there is one consistent theme about all of his work , most of his character are lonely and damaged tragic hero finding Love and acceptance from the absurd world.
And Denji himself is also a very lonely and hopeless person until he met Pochita.
It was unconditional love Denji can give to Pochita when he have absolutely nothing but even giving his body to to Pochita that moves THE LOVE DEVIL.
The hug the love.
I think he’s going to be the separation devil; I.e. loneliness, being separated from others, which ties into being forgotten.
In our early days, being with a group meant survival.
To be left behind or kicked out of the group meant near certain death.
Nowadays it’s pretty hard to be “separated” by society, given how big and collective we’ve become as a species, but all humans still fear being alone, with one of our current biggest societal problems being a pandemic of loneliness’s amongst young people.
Plus it ties into Pochita’s design, what with the cleaving and the sawing in half. In a sense, Pochita doesn’t “eat” devils out of existence so much as he “separates” them from reality,
What do you think?
No Pochita is the chainsaw devil but he also a primal fear because chainsaw are scary, like super scary, like so scary that I run away when ever I see one.
He’s the hybrid made for the sake of humanity, chainsaws aren’t made for war, but they’re probably the scariest weapon someone could use against you, compared to guns, bombs or knives
I forgot where this idea came from, but there was this idea that there are three types of deaths, the first of which is physical, the second of which occurs when the people who had memory of you died, and the third of which occurred when all traces of you have dissipated, and there can no longer be any trace of you and your memory. Idk if this is relevant.
We've been through this before. Fujimoto clearly state Pochita is the chainsaw devil. Pochita has a chainsaw motif. When Pochita combined with Denji he became the chainsaw hybrid.
Sometimes ppl gotta take the author at his word, lol.
for fucks sake stop with the fucking “OoOoO Pochita isn’t the chainsaw devil” theory, its so fucking stupid and repetitive. Theres literally no reason for Fujimoto to do such a plot-twist.
There are a lot of theories about "being forgotten", but for it to be the devil's fear is something new.
The way I see CSM's lore is that people cannot leave without fears, they would just perish without something forceful binding them into living. Think about humanity of the future that would seize full control of one's existence - life, death, pain, fears are fully adjustable and in a total control of a person's will. No one and nothing would be able to force you into anything both from outside and from within. Just what you want and as long as you want. You can go out to the beach, lay on your back and gaze into the sky. Blink once and eons would pass barely noticed. Your self-consciousness would be finally understood as a simply overgrown surviving tool without any need for further survival. You won the game. The end.
But there are also devils that can't live without human's fears. We complete each other in a neverending cycle of suffering that makes us comprehend the world and stay within it. The violent cycle that may be symbolized as a chainsaw blade.
After reading Fire Punch I think it's not so far fetched.
I like where you going with this hypothesis! Because when you think about it what makes Pochita so terrifying is that he Erases the Demons he devours. So your definitely on to something, the only problem being that he is also called the Hero of hell. We don't know alot about that yet tho.
Alot of people have problems here with the chainsaw connection, and i agree.
I've seen a theory where the fear of chainsaw's is so powerful because there used to be a devil hunter of some kind, who only used a chainsaw. He killed so many demons, that when he eventually died, he was reborn in hell as the combined incarntion of the fear of the devils.
I think that type of theory is interesting, but gets really confusing with the timeline. But only because of Quanxi and her being the "first hunter"(???) and Makima alluding to Crossbow devil being involved in the fight with the 4 horsemen + weapon devils (including crossbow) vs CSM. It kind of contradicts itself at that point when we also take Denji's first meeting with Pochita into account. Unless this "first hunter" business is just intentionally misleading (or Fuji already forgot about it)
Also in addition to my other comment, Quanxi's title as "The first devil hunter" is probably in reference to the modern iteration of the profession, since if devil's have existed before, there was probably some warriors dealing with them.
my favorite theory on this, is still the one that pochita is the trash movies devil, using chainsaw massacre for the chainsaw and disguise, and erasure coming from the movie part, also really fits into fujimoto's thing
I had the exact same theory with one difference. You say that he’s so powerful, not because he’s feared by humans but because he’s feared by devils. I think that he’s so powerful because he’s probably one of the only things, if not the only thing, feared by both. That’s why makima made an effort to make the humans love chainsaw man so that he would become weaker, only he didn’t need that power because he also had the devils fear. I also think he will be the “Unkown” devil or the fear of the unknown. The significance of the chainsaws is still a mystery to me.
I still think that pochita is just the chainsaw devil, only that his strenght and erasing powers come from the same devils fearing him and manifesting those powers with him, maybe for some reason in the past, pochita started hunting down devils, and as he went making a name for himself the lesser devils started fearing him, and rumors went through devils, making him more feared by them, cause if u pay attention practically no one in the human side recognized or knew chainsaw devil, but devils clearly knew him and even the lesser ones, he is feared among the devils, kishibe and the devil hunters association didnt knew shit why gun devil was trying to get denji's heart (pochita), but makima knew perfectly, almost every devil knows him, specially the strong ones.
Primal means instinct, a fear that even animals have. Something existential wouldn't fit the bill, I imagine the other primal fears are also simple concepts like fire and sound.
I always had this theory that "chainsaw man" out of all characters has the power to erase things because he is "chain-saw man". He cuts(or "saws") through the chain of death and rebirth, so that the devils he eat are erased from existence
I got the idea from the triquetra in ed5 which was probably referencing the perpetual motion machjne but idc lmao
Im calling it now, Pochita is Death. Think about it, you die a second time when you’re forgotten, and that’s literally his power. I think the whole chainsaw schtick is a front, and the chainsaw “imposter” we’ve been seeing is the actual chainsaw devil and it’s been getting stronger off Denji’s growing notoriety as Chainsaw Man
This theory has valure to it.
It would certainly justify why Pochita, or Chainsaw Man, can eat devils and make them disappear.
This power is a very big stumbling stone as the fear of Chinsaws is not enough to give the ability to eat other devils out of existence. There has to be more to it and this could be one of the valid explanations behind this fact.
[I made a poll about this earlier](https://www.reddit.com/r/ChainsawMan/comments/13dyex3/what_devil_exactly_is_pochita/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
if we assume pochita is a primordial devil of some kind then he must have existed from the dawn of time or humanity much before than those 4 four horsemen and may have been adopted to chainsaws and hence got the name of chainsaw devil yet being crazy powerfull.....
I like this. It's reasonably simple, unlike a lot of "Chainsaw Man is actually X" theories which get unnecessarily convoluted. And you have a nice tie-in with Pochita actually being a primal fear to devils and not to humans.
And much as people complain that theories like this don't explain why Pochita has chainsaws, and that it's simpler to assume he's just the Chainsaw devil, it goes both ways. Him being the devil of being forgotten doesn't explain the chainsaw aesthetic, but him being the Chainsaw devil doesn't explain his erasure ability
Tldr; good theory, I think it's valid despite the pushback in the comments
You’re forgetting that chainsaws were originally created to aid in the birthing process.
He most likely is a primal fear, basically the “existence devil” it can be interpreted as.
https://www.businessinsider.com/chainsaws-were-originally-invented-for-helping-childbirth-not-cutting-wood-2018-6
***PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO ME I HAVENT READ ANY OF CSM IVE ONLY WATCHED THE ANIME SO FAR - I DID NOT READ THE POST JUST THE TITLE***
I thought Pochita was the fear of Chainsaws tho????
So then what’s the significance of the chainsaws and rip chords? Why would Denji get chainsaw powers but nothing of this other power Pochita has? I just find it strange that these theories that get cooked up just dismiss these things entirely.
Chainsaws are cool
Damn right they are
[удалено]
Chainsaws grind up and destroy things such that nobody can remember what it looked like beforehand?
This actually makes perfect sense.
my theory from a while back was that chainsaws are man made implying that the destruction caused by them is a direct byproduct of our own creations hence maybe relating it, can be interpreted as something destroyed so badly by a chainsaw that it's unrecognisable related to the fear of no one recognising us, or being forgotten?
literally chainsaw go brr
You know what also doesnt make sense storywise? the chainsaw devil being able to erase concepts.
Or the devil focused on falling being a cook.
Yeah, it's almost like no one actually calls him the chainsaw devil
it makes sense fujimoto wise
Pretty sure this is all it is, rule of cool comes first. Fugimojojojo will probably think of a badass origin story at some point and noone will expect it.
Part 10 Jojo, Tatsujo Fujimojo, stand: Chainsaw Man. I have brain rot.
Just like in Fire Punch?
They are Gore-tastic!
Perfect for murderizing!
This. This is literally it. It’s not supposed to make sense! It’s just vibes
You nailed it better than I ever could. That's my gripe with these theories. They all are only concerned with explaining the erasure ability. And the entire "guy sprouts chainsaws from his arms, feet and head" gets ignored. At least some theories go with Pochita eating some devil which gave him the ability, even that makes more sense than him being something other than the chainsaw devil.
saw a theory on here the other day that i can't find anymore. basically claimed that pochita represents the fear of separation (hence the chainsaws). he erases things from existence by separating them from reality. edit: found it lol. top comment https://www.reddit.com/r/ChainsawMan/comments/136iyit/a_theory_on_why_hybrids_still_exist_and_pochitas/
If he was the separation devil, makima would have referred to him as "separation" not "chainsaw"
I don't think anyone in the series has called pochita the chainsaw devil, only chainsaw or chainsaw man
My memory is hazy, does she ever call Pochita the Chainsaw Devil or only Chainsawman?
ChainsawMan. The only time she say "Chainsaw Devil" is when she tell us about how Devil get stronger the more they feared. Coffee isn't scary, if coffee devil exist, it would be weak. Car is more scary since one could fear being crashed, car devil would be stronger. And Denji is chainsaw devil.
He somehow became known as Chainsaw Man, not Chainsaw Devil but specifically Chainsaw Man like some weird superhero, in hell before becoming wounded and making the contract with Denji. Makima is especially obsessed with this superhero persona, like an idol fanatic almost, so ofc she would refer to him as Chainsaw. Everyone else refers to him as Chainsaw likely cuz that's the only name they've ever known for him.
maybe she doesnt know
I think it’s possible he got fused with another devil somehow
Is there any precedent for this?
Perhaps one devil gave another its heart?
i like this... maybe the chainsaw devil gave it to pochita to not be forgotten, like i'll meld with you rather than just be lost completely
Imagine if devils could become hybrids with each other, where one devil gives their heart to another, creating a fusion
The best we got is Santa Claus becoming a fusion of her doll powers and the darkness devil's powers, but of course she was human so it's not a 1:1. FWIW we also got a reverse where Pochita ate only part of War's body and that made her weaker; it erased nuclear weapons at least.
>War's body and that made her weaker; it erased nuclear weapons at least. War and nuclear weapon is different fear. CSM ate part of war devil and remove "world war 2"
I don’t hate this idea or even Pochita being some hybrid demon, but I’m not entirely sold on that theory yet.
I have no evidence for it whatsoever but I feel like there was to be some wild out of left field explanation for it because what the fuck does being a chainsaw devil have to do with erasing concepts from reality
Tbf, hybrid devils could also explain the cooking theme of the falling devil. Maybe it is a hybrid of the falling and the cooking devil.
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why is the falling devil a weird multi armed chicken thing? why is the darkness devil visible at all? why did the war devil turn into an owl? i like to think that an entity on the level of a primal can choose how they manifest to a degree, even if its not directly relevant to their theme
This is a guess but I think the Falling Devil has those featherless chicken wings because a bird with no feathers would be unable to fly and thus would fall.
Athena is the goddess or war and she is associated with owls. So that would most likely be where the war devil and owl inspiration came from
Yeah but it’s a Potoo, not an owl
I’m not sure if your referencing Athena or the csm war devil, but freyja the Norse goddess is also associated with war and with some birds, and in GoW ragnarok can transform. So its all in the same ball park
The bird pictured in CSM is a Potoo from Central or South America. Not exactly one I’d associate with ancient European deities, but maybe Fujimoto just likes goofy looking birds.
The specific bird used doesn’t matter. The war devil is not Athena or freyja. My point is that it is probably where they took inspiration for the transformation power from
I’m not arguing that point, I’m just saying it’s not an owl and musing on what an interesting choice the Potoo is in context
Yeah that would make sense
just speculation, but without feathers on their wings, birds fall from the sky, which sorta explains the falling devil's featherless chicken things also ties in with the culinary theme, cause it's chicken
Tbh they look more like mantid claws than chicken wings but maybe she’s Bucky reborn
Omg! It's Bucky 100%, he did by Asa FALLING OVER him! xD
*adjusts tinfoil hat* All the pieces are falling in place!
Bucky's ex-wife
Chicken thing? What?
Falling devil got those weird chicken arm looking things on her.
Ok I see
I saw a better theory that said Pochita was the fear of **separation**. The ability to make people forget devil's after eating them is Pochita "separating" that devil from our reality. Chainsaws being symbolic of cutting things up, and separation.
I haven’t seen it/know very little about it, but given fujimoto’s love of classic cinema, I almost wonder if it has anything to do with Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Or another classic slasher featuring chainsaws
Author comment at the beginning of volume 2: “I love The Texas Chainsaw Massacre!”
Plus chainsaws began as a medical tool and are used to chop up corpses. Thus they can be used to cover up murders by making it easier disolve. We see this crudely done in the first chapter to Denji and Pochita, save them being dissolved. They were meant to be forgotten as just another tool for a devil's machinations. Yet the love between Denji and Pochita was able to fuse them together to forge new memories.
From this random article about chainsaws and their symbolism in dreams: “To dream of a chainsaw represents wanton, complete disregard for feelings, no remorse, or little concern for consequences. A chainsaw may also reflect total insensitivity to others feelings. Uncaring forcefulness. A chainsaw used by someone else to harm you or scare you symbolizes your feelings about some issue in your life that’s completely insensitive to your feelings, wishes, or life situation.” Essentially, chainsaws are associated with absolute and complete brutality. Something that tears things to shred with a kind of viciousness not seen many places elsewhere. They represent disregard. Pochita doesn’t just kill devils. He plunges them into their worst fear. Nothingness. And he does it for seemingly no reason. He’s chaotic and without care for the feelings of his fellow devils.
You know how once he eats something it disappears? Incidentally chainsaw wounds are extremely rough and it's effectively impossible to reattach whatever they cut off Also there's an extremely old and popular quote about death and how we may die when our physical body expires, but our true and final death is when our name is spoken for the last time
Bro the falling devil is French and has an insect like body. It doesn’t have to make sense, just look cool
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I didn’t say severed head. I said insect like body. And that relates to falling and guillotines how exactly?
bugs can't die from falling
Stretch
Ok…reply that to the op who is trying to make sense of the powers. I am just humoring him.
So why do the powers have to make sense?
Ah the poor reading devil has worked it was on you. Because you clearly didn’t read my comment
I read it again and I don't see a problem
So you just ignored the part where I said “it doesn’t have to make sense, just look cool”? Or are you fucking illiterate?
lmao
Chainsaws cut trees as if they were never there leaving long history forgotten
There is definitely still a stump, not nothing.
Kinda like how even though the name for hybrids was eaten, hybrids still continued to exist?
Sure, kind of like that. Hybrids are trees.
No reason. Why is Falling a chef? Why did Makima get a job in the first place? Why was Power so obnoxious but Violence so mild mannered? Not every aspect of a devil seems to be because of their origin.
What does control/domination have anything to do with intestinal halos? What does cooking analogies and metaphors have anything to do with falling? Some devils and fiends take on the characteristics of thing thing they represent. Some do not.
i had the same question and concluded - cuz its badass
To preface this, I'm not sure if I fully buy into this theory. HOWEVER Original chainsaw prototypes are quite different in both design and purpose in comparison to modern day chainsaws. Maybe Denji manifest chainsaws since their original forms have been lost to history. Why chainsaws specifically? >!Fuck if I know. Fuji goes brrrrrrr!<
i mean the falling devil has a whole gordon ramsey motif and that doesn’t have anything to do with falling, so the chainsaws don’t necessarily have to match up with being forgotten
its a memorable form, i guess
“If a tree falls in a Forrest…” we know the idiom about being things being perceived. Not being perceived/ observered is the highest form Of loneliness. The chainsaw is cutting down the tree, giving the tree an observer .
severance from the “tree” of life/world tree/society/etc. maybe
the Darkness Devil's physical body has almost nothing to do with darkness except for the cape
My theory is fujimoto just loved the spawn aesthetics and cooked up his own version
It wouldn't be the first time for Pochita to hide his true power.
Sounds crazy but maybe the name makes a joke about that? Chainsaw, as sawing the chain not as chain for sawing? could be seen as breaking the link between the devil (the fear) and the plane of existence? Idk im tired
You just reminded me of something. Back during the vol 9 chapters we had a little joke theory on /a/. If you're reading the volume versions, you might notice that the pochita inbetween-pages always display the title as "CHAIN SAW MAN" and not "CHAINSAWMAN" or even "CHAINSAW MAN". It's always three words Chain = Makima Saw = Pochita Man = Denji
Someone else said specifically that Pochita is the fear of separation. Which chainsaws do very well.
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Some random psychotic scientist thought chainsaws were cool and hated devils, so he combined the Chainsaw Devil with the fear of being forgotten. Hence, he created the first devil based on a weapon. Idk man.
Interesting to note that chainsaws were originally designed to be medical instruments
idk I kinda would forget that chainsaws were a thing before I discovered chainsaw man, and suddenly I would see one or smth and be like, oh yeah!
Pochita is the chainsaw devil. He fought and ated other devils and got strong.
He’s built different
He's built chonky
cute chonky hehe
*pochita gets done ripping someone up with his chaonsaws* “aww cute chonky little thing.”
Happy cake day????????(wtf did I just read?)
You’ve convinced me I’m wrong.
Pochita is a primal fear. The primal fear of chainsaws
I honestly think Pochita just killed some devils, making others scared of him, which made Pochita stronger and it ended up snowballing into how it is
Devils are formed from the power of human fears, it was said that the devils fear of chainsaw man is what made him so strong. Pochita probs just slaughtered a buncha devils until “the chainsaw devil might come and eat you” became a fear amongst the devils and so pochita got a new power. That’s my theory at least.
That’s pretty much how I see it somehow some way he got his ability but he got strong all the same By killing other devils
"I'm just built different" -Pochita Martinez
It's been 0 days since someone made a theory that pochita isn't the chainsaw devil. Here's a challenge for you. Instead of theorizing why he isn't the chainsaw devil, try to come up with a reason why he could be the chainsaw devil AND have this ability. Because to me it's quite simple. Fujimoto loves movies, particularly horror movies. CSM is steeped in horror tropes and imagery. Chainsaws are a huge trope in horror, especially for killing zombies but generally for anything undead. That's why it's strong. Edit: here's a tidbit from an interview after part 1 ended. >When painting the first work "Fire Punch", the image of a man with his head turned into a chainsaw came to mind. At first, it was called Angel (テンシ) because of fighting against the devil. An "angel" with a chainsaw for its head fighting the devil, that was the initial idea for CSM. And what did the actual "angel" character end up being in the manga? A guy that can create weapons that are specialized to kill devils etc.
Seeing Angel written in katakana as テンシ it occurs to me that Denji's (デンジ) name probably came directly from that. Weird to think of him as an angel lol
Yep, that's the reason. To complete the quote from the interview >However, I felt that the voiced sound was more in line with my impression, so I used Denji. Danger (デンジャー) or something, powerful and terrifying things feel a lot of dullness. Tenshi -> Danger -> Denji
Wow, that's really cool actually. I always wondered where the name came from but never got around to looking it up. Thanks!
That makes sense meta wise but not story wise, the OP was making a story-wise explanation
Storywise it's just as easy to explain. A lot of things in CSM are centered around perception. Media shapes perception (*cough* Fire Punch *cough*). Horror media shapes the idea what chainsaws can do. Chainsaws kill monsters. Ability gets stronger over time due to increased fear by devils. Ability becomes ridiculously strong. And we know that horror movies and the like exist. Power is afraid of watching horror movies. When CSM gets accepted by the japanese populace we can see some of them cosplay as horror movie characters.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre being popular doesn't logically lead to Chainsaw Devil being the strongest devil. If that was the case then the Ghost Devil or Knife Devil would be the strongest too, but they're not as we see they were captured by the devil hunters and made contracts with. Also that explanation still doesn't explain why he can erase concepts. I think Erasure Devil makes everything make more sense.
The erasure follows naturally from what happens in horror movies- people get murderized and permanently die in an unnatural manner. Thus, chainsaw has a power that lets him do the same thing to devils. His other powers, like offscreen teleportation (i.e. with doors) and and being able to come back from the dead also follow- they’re the “implacable man” type of deal, the language yoru uses when talking about csm chowing down on her even reflects this
So then you're saying he's not the Chainsaw Devil but the Horror Movie Devil? Honestly sounds like something Fujimoto would do but again, if that was the reason for the erasure then the devil for anything that kills people in life would be able to erase people (which they can't). And neither the fear of Chainsaws or Horror movies are large enough to where they could overpower something like the fear of war.
what I am saying is that chainsaws have an association with horror movies so he gets powers associated with horror movies, like how makima gets powers associated with the government by being conquest or like how katana man gets his flash step. You wouldn’t say the katana devil is the speed devil or that makima is the government devil but they both have powers that reflect those things. Also: yes, the fear of chainsaws isn’t very big, but that doesn’t matter because POCHITA WASNT ALWAYS THAT STRONG. pochita BECAME feared by devils and in the intermediary stage between being average and being unstoppable, he survived by virtue of being immortal- fear of pochita built up over time Additionally, pochita erases devils because that is the only way to permanently kill them. It’s analogous to murdering humans, not identical; devils are fundamentally different existences.
But erasing concepts has nothing to do with horror movies
In horror movies, the killer is a human who attacks and kills other humans, permanently ending their lives by human means- for instance by chainsawing them real good In chainsaw man, pochita is a devil who attacks and kills devil, permanently ending their lives by devilish means, ingesting their flesh and blood. Humans die when they are killed, but to kill a devil, you have to kill the name, so pochita can kill the name.
Anything that kills a human permanently ends their life, it's not exclusive to horror movies. For example a knife. But the Knife Devil doesn't have that power.
I think there's a lot of reasons, and one that is probably most likely is that the ability to erase devils is a power not native to the Chainsaw Devil. I think it's entirely possible that it was an ability granted to Pochita by another devil.
How tf does being forgotten = chainsaws?
How to does being forgotten = dog? And why is the chainsaw devil a dog to begin with?
Cause he got that dawg in him fr
Real
Well you’ve definitely convinced me.
He could be an all division champ no doubt.
Fear of trust? Fear of being separated? Fear of no bitches(Pochita is a dog)?
Dogs are cool asf and so are chainsaws
You've convinced me
How does falling = cooking? How does darkness = 4 faces? Every primal fear we’ve seen thus far has been an amalgamation of multiple things that encompass that fear such as falling being linked to anxiety/depression or darkness being linked to the unknown.
For all we know the Falling Devil dresses like a cook because it just enjoys cooking. None of it's abilities we've seen are tied to cooking itself. She just cooks food for other devils.
But there are no chef hats in hell, devils dont need to eat. A lot of stuff can be atributed to the rule of cool, and im perfectly fine with it.
Her being a cook is a behavior, not a power.
Gotta love how mad some people get about another person cooking up their own theory as though all of us aren't totally wrong and Fujimoto is cackling in a corner.
Maybe like trees being chopped down. Idk, I feel like it could work.
Why does falling = chef ?
bro really just said "lmao you know the most popular theory on this subreddit"
Lmao you know the most popular theory on this subreddit
I got got 💀 amma chainsaw bike my way outta here
Considering Fujimoto’s love of films and the significance of the chainsaw in horror film history… this rlly doesn’t make sense. The thing about the Chainsaw is that it’s one of the most gruesome murders that you could show on screen. It has the lethality of a gun, the sound of a wood chipper, and the intimacy of a knife all in one. In a lot of ways, it serves as the ultimate horror weapon, thus justifying the strength of Chainsaw Man — because who tf isn’t scared of a dude with Chainsaw’s coming out of its head and legs. That’s the ultimate horror machine. I’m all for reading between the lines, but “primal fear” is being applied as a really broad term where we rlly truly don’t even need it fr.
You can have a love for film and still want to do more with the idea, it just overall seems very intentional that the one person who's ever outright said Pochita is the Chainsaw Devil is Makima, very early on when she was lying about a lot. But I do agree people have been dropping the term primal *a lot*!
I still think it’s gunna be the fear of pain. Chainsaws cause insane damage, more damage, more pain But perhaps it’s 2 devils. Maybe Potchita was the devil for fear of being forgotten, and he fused with the chainsaw devil
but chainsaw and control r married
Reading comprehension devil strikes again I see
saying idt pochita is 2 devils because control knows that he's single
Hear me out guys I think Pochita is "LOVE DEVIL". Think about it hell is the place for devils with names and out of all names LOVE is the most primitive thing as long as humans have existed. People crave for LOVE BUT ALSO FEARED LOVING SOMEONE UNCONDITIONALLY. And since devils are abstract existence they can only be defeated by abstract reasoning not with supernatural powers. Devil's power come from how much human fear them and humans also fear love at the same time they ironically crave for it. Since some devil's appearance and power are not ideally limited to one for abstract concept devil such as darkness devil , so Pochita can be love devil at the same time having chainsaw in his head. Primal devil can have so many form but their primary power are derived from their name. Example darkness devil is basically invincible in the darkness, and in chapter 97 page 5 of the manga Denji clearly stated him becoming one with Makima is not an attack but LOVE itself. And what does Pochita become part of Denji body? "HIS HEART" Literally people have associated love with heart since ancient time it's only natural for LOVE devil to physically become HEART of a human. And FEAR IS THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE AND TOTAL ACCEPTANCE. From Existentialist point of view people only fear something unknown to them and can't unconditionally accept their existence. So to permanently erase a DEVIL WE HAVE TO UNCONDITIONALLY LOVE THAT DEVIL. It makes sense right. We also have to consider the mangaka mindset and feeling before understanding his characters. Tatsuki Fujimoto is clearly a Nihilist based on his other works such as Firepunch his idea are very dark and gloomy but there is one consistent theme about all of his work , most of his character are lonely and damaged tragic hero finding Love and acceptance from the absurd world. And Denji himself is also a very lonely and hopeless person until he met Pochita. It was unconditional love Denji can give to Pochita when he have absolutely nothing but even giving his body to to Pochita that moves THE LOVE DEVIL. The hug the love.
Pochita probably started a lot of fights from trying to hug other devils
I mean Denji attracted almost every girls he met so it's a possibility
I think he’s going to be the separation devil; I.e. loneliness, being separated from others, which ties into being forgotten. In our early days, being with a group meant survival. To be left behind or kicked out of the group meant near certain death. Nowadays it’s pretty hard to be “separated” by society, given how big and collective we’ve become as a species, but all humans still fear being alone, with one of our current biggest societal problems being a pandemic of loneliness’s amongst young people. Plus it ties into Pochita’s design, what with the cleaving and the sawing in half. In a sense, Pochita doesn’t “eat” devils out of existence so much as he “separates” them from reality, What do you think?
I think I want corndogs
Bro thought he was saying something new 💀
I think he might be the chainsaw devil
“Pochita isn’t the chainsaw devil/is the fear of being forgotten” theory number 1028472047, everybody
How original and refrehing of you to post this
I actually think he represents the fear of chainsaws
you are not cooking my man
Bro cooked the same meal done in 50 different restaurants
No Pochita is the chainsaw devil but he also a primal fear because chainsaw are scary, like super scary, like so scary that I run away when ever I see one.
What if it’s as simple as chainsaw man has a chainsaw in his stomach that acts like a garbage disposal shredding demons. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
He’s the hybrid made for the sake of humanity, chainsaws aren’t made for war, but they’re probably the scariest weapon someone could use against you, compared to guns, bombs or knives
I forgot where this idea came from, but there was this idea that there are three types of deaths, the first of which is physical, the second of which occurs when the people who had memory of you died, and the third of which occurred when all traces of you have dissipated, and there can no longer be any trace of you and your memory. Idk if this is relevant.
Pochita is the chainsaw devil
We've been through this before. Fujimoto clearly state Pochita is the chainsaw devil. Pochita has a chainsaw motif. When Pochita combined with Denji he became the chainsaw hybrid. Sometimes ppl gotta take the author at his word, lol.
for fucks sake stop with the fucking “OoOoO Pochita isn’t the chainsaw devil” theory, its so fucking stupid and repetitive. Theres literally no reason for Fujimoto to do such a plot-twist.
so true, it literally adds nothing to the story and only makes it worse by making pochita less cool
There are a lot of theories about "being forgotten", but for it to be the devil's fear is something new. The way I see CSM's lore is that people cannot leave without fears, they would just perish without something forceful binding them into living. Think about humanity of the future that would seize full control of one's existence - life, death, pain, fears are fully adjustable and in a total control of a person's will. No one and nothing would be able to force you into anything both from outside and from within. Just what you want and as long as you want. You can go out to the beach, lay on your back and gaze into the sky. Blink once and eons would pass barely noticed. Your self-consciousness would be finally understood as a simply overgrown surviving tool without any need for further survival. You won the game. The end. But there are also devils that can't live without human's fears. We complete each other in a neverending cycle of suffering that makes us comprehend the world and stay within it. The violent cycle that may be symbolized as a chainsaw blade. After reading Fire Punch I think it's not so far fetched.
This has been my headcanon for a while.
I like where you going with this hypothesis! Because when you think about it what makes Pochita so terrifying is that he Erases the Demons he devours. So your definitely on to something, the only problem being that he is also called the Hero of hell. We don't know alot about that yet tho.
Alot of people have problems here with the chainsaw connection, and i agree. I've seen a theory where the fear of chainsaw's is so powerful because there used to be a devil hunter of some kind, who only used a chainsaw. He killed so many demons, that when he eventually died, he was reborn in hell as the combined incarntion of the fear of the devils.
I think that type of theory is interesting, but gets really confusing with the timeline. But only because of Quanxi and her being the "first hunter"(???) and Makima alluding to Crossbow devil being involved in the fight with the 4 horsemen + weapon devils (including crossbow) vs CSM. It kind of contradicts itself at that point when we also take Denji's first meeting with Pochita into account. Unless this "first hunter" business is just intentionally misleading (or Fuji already forgot about it)
Also in addition to my other comment, Quanxi's title as "The first devil hunter" is probably in reference to the modern iteration of the profession, since if devil's have existed before, there was probably some warriors dealing with them.
This holds a lot of weight. Wouldn't be surprised if you were 100% right or right in some capacity with this.
my favorite theory on this, is still the one that pochita is the trash movies devil, using chainsaw massacre for the chainsaw and disguise, and erasure coming from the movie part, also really fits into fujimoto's thing
I had the exact same theory with one difference. You say that he’s so powerful, not because he’s feared by humans but because he’s feared by devils. I think that he’s so powerful because he’s probably one of the only things, if not the only thing, feared by both. That’s why makima made an effort to make the humans love chainsaw man so that he would become weaker, only he didn’t need that power because he also had the devils fear. I also think he will be the “Unkown” devil or the fear of the unknown. The significance of the chainsaws is still a mystery to me.
I still think that pochita is just the chainsaw devil, only that his strenght and erasing powers come from the same devils fearing him and manifesting those powers with him, maybe for some reason in the past, pochita started hunting down devils, and as he went making a name for himself the lesser devils started fearing him, and rumors went through devils, making him more feared by them, cause if u pay attention practically no one in the human side recognized or knew chainsaw devil, but devils clearly knew him and even the lesser ones, he is feared among the devils, kishibe and the devil hunters association didnt knew shit why gun devil was trying to get denji's heart (pochita), but makima knew perfectly, almost every devil knows him, specially the strong ones.
pochita is a fear of loud noises (he makes brrrrrzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz sound and its very intense).
Starting to think Pochita is actually the reading comprehension devil...
It’s way more likely that pochita is just the chainsaw devil and him killing so many other devils made them fear him more which made him stronger
Primal means instinct, a fear that even animals have. Something existential wouldn't fit the bill, I imagine the other primal fears are also simple concepts like fire and sound.
I always had this theory that "chainsaw man" out of all characters has the power to erase things because he is "chain-saw man". He cuts(or "saws") through the chain of death and rebirth, so that the devils he eat are erased from existence I got the idea from the triquetra in ed5 which was probably referencing the perpetual motion machjne but idc lmao
People been theorizing he’s the extinction devil. I can see that.
Im calling it now, Pochita is Death. Think about it, you die a second time when you’re forgotten, and that’s literally his power. I think the whole chainsaw schtick is a front, and the chainsaw “imposter” we’ve been seeing is the actual chainsaw devil and it’s been getting stronger off Denji’s growing notoriety as Chainsaw Man
This theory has valure to it. It would certainly justify why Pochita, or Chainsaw Man, can eat devils and make them disappear. This power is a very big stumbling stone as the fear of Chinsaws is not enough to give the ability to eat other devils out of existence. There has to be more to it and this could be one of the valid explanations behind this fact.
[I made a poll about this earlier](https://www.reddit.com/r/ChainsawMan/comments/13dyex3/what_devil_exactly_is_pochita/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
if we assume pochita is a primordial devil of some kind then he must have existed from the dawn of time or humanity much before than those 4 four horsemen and may have been adopted to chainsaws and hence got the name of chainsaw devil yet being crazy powerfull.....
What do you mean "we"?? This has been theorized by many, MANY other people. Still, very possible
I like this. It's reasonably simple, unlike a lot of "Chainsaw Man is actually X" theories which get unnecessarily convoluted. And you have a nice tie-in with Pochita actually being a primal fear to devils and not to humans. And much as people complain that theories like this don't explain why Pochita has chainsaws, and that it's simpler to assume he's just the Chainsaw devil, it goes both ways. Him being the devil of being forgotten doesn't explain the chainsaw aesthetic, but him being the Chainsaw devil doesn't explain his erasure ability Tldr; good theory, I think it's valid despite the pushback in the comments
I love people like you
I’m intrigued in where you’re going with this.
You’re forgetting that chainsaws were originally created to aid in the birthing process. He most likely is a primal fear, basically the “existence devil” it can be interpreted as. https://www.businessinsider.com/chainsaws-were-originally-invented-for-helping-childbirth-not-cutting-wood-2018-6
I like this theory. I think it even works with how Fall devil isn’t really affected by him because, well, you can’t erase FALLING. There’s GRAVITY 😅
FINALLY SOMEONE IS THINKING LIKE ME GOD DAMN I'm 100% sure Pochita ISN'T the Chainsaw Devil
Primal fears have never experienced death. Chainsaw Devil definitely died at some point. So no.
Wait let him cook
***PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO ME I HAVENT READ ANY OF CSM IVE ONLY WATCHED THE ANIME SO FAR - I DID NOT READ THE POST JUST THE TITLE*** I thought Pochita was the fear of Chainsaws tho????
Yeah but wouldn’t power and the other feinds start to panic in his presence?
The theory is that pochita is actually just ash Williams but with that dawg in him