Asa Mitaka

Аса Митака

"I wish... I'd tried living just a little more selfishly."

Asa Mitaka (アサ) is the main protagonist of the Academy Saga. She is a high school student who became the host of the War Devil, Yoru, making her the inhabitance of the War Fiend (の), though she still retains her human personality when Yoru allows her control, making her a rare case of a living Fiend host.

She attends Fourth East High School with Denji, with whom she briefly attempted to start a relationship with, ending in disaster, though she develops a crush on his alter-ego, Chainsaw Man instead. After a meeting with Fami she becomes a famous Devil Hunter as a member of the Chainsaw Man Church.

Appearance
Asa is a high school girl of average height and build. She has brown eyes that are usually pitch dark, though the irises become much brighter in some situations. Her hair is black and is sometimes colored with a purple tint. The hair reaches the middle of her back, and she wears it in two low twin tails, making it appear shorter. In the past, Asa wore her hair at shoulder length.

She wears her school's female uniform which consists of a long-sleeved button up shirt worn beneath a pinafore style dress with a pleated skirt that extends below the knee, a bow at the collar, a wide belt at the waist, and black, knee-high socks. She also wears sneakers.

Personality
Asa is a quiet and unsociable girl. She dislikes her classmates, frequently wishing they would drop dead and spurning any offers of friendship. She has a very negative outlook on the world, other humans, and Devils, and tends to assume the worst of others. She is however very fond of cats and would rather kill a human than a cat. Asa later admits to herself that her mean-spirited attitude towards her peers was a result of jealousy and a lack of belonging. She also suffers from low self-esteem and considers herself to be clumsy. Despite this, Asa can be falsely self-assured and overconfident such as her belief that she would easily be able to seduce Denji. When the public gives her the recognition she yearns for, she initially claims to dislike being popular but then smiles while watching people on TV praising her. Asa can be extremely socially inept, so much so that the War Devil shows more social awareness than her despite having limited knowledge about humanity. For example, she believes that boring Denji with ocean facts on their aquarium date would be a great way to win his affection.

Her moral compass is somewhat artificial, as she is often more worried about the consequences certain actions carry instead of the actions themselves. For example, she doesn't feel bad about having accidentally killed Bucky but feels bad because of the looks her peers gave her. This also gets reaffirmed in the aquarium, where Asa refuses to kill Denji after being trapped and starved for several days. She doesn't do so because it goes against her morals but because she does not know what is right and wrong and constantly tries to avoid making mistakes.

Asa is fairly altruistic, putting herself in harm's way to save others even when she is afraid. Asa would be willing to endure bad situations if only she were to suffer, but refuses to drag others with her. After being saved by Chainsaw Man, she realizes she's glad she's not dead and is no longer as negative towards other humans or towards all Devils. However this was short lived as she easily fell back into depression and even attempted suicide during the Falling Devil fight.

Asa doesn't cope well with failure or when things don't go her way. Because of past experiences, she is extremely afraid of making mistakes. Once she does make a mistake, however, she usually gets very angry and blames everyone around her except herself. Though after calming down she'll break down in self-deprecating rants. She seeks validation as shown by her internal monologue during her meeting with Yoshida or breaking down and seeking comfort from Yoru despite being afraid and screaming at her mere moments prior.

She struggles with trust and fears being alone, yet also fears approaching others because she worries about making mistakes and ending up alone once more. This puts her in a "cognitive dissonance" as she puts it, where she's afraid of both solitude and companionship. She is shown to have a negative opinion on sexual intercourse when Chainsaw Man reveals his main drive in life is to have sex and she openly expresses disgust. She believes people only have sex when there's nothing better to do, and the thought of mixing her saliva and sweat with someone else sickens her.

Despite being previously shown to be very timid and frightful during devil encounters; motivated by her desire to "save" Chainsaw Man, Asa quickly becomes a proficient devil hunter, seemingly having managed to become braver and more confident than before.

Yoru
Yoru resurrected and inhabits Asa's body, turning her into the War Fiend, but left half of Asa's brain intact, keeping Asa alive. Despite this, Asa isn't thankful to Yoru for saving her life, unlike her reaction to being saved by Chainsaw Man, whom she does feel thankful towards. With the two now sharing one body, Asa was initially overwhelmed with her situation and needed time to accept reality; but she eventually agrees to help Yoru defeat Chainsaw Man under threat of permanent death and so long as she gets her body back after they defeat Chainsaw Man.

Because of Yoru's personality, Asa often gets put in awkward social situations, like asking Yoshida to be her boyfriend in an attempt to make him into a weapon or getting caught kissing Denji by Nayuta. Because of her more passive and talk-oriented approach to conflicts, Asa commonly clashes with Yoru's methods regarding the problems they face. She also wonders if she can "tame" Yoru. In casual situations, Asa shows little to no fear toward Yoru and isn't afraid to talk back or defy Yoru if she demands something she isn't willing to do. However she does get overwhelmed by Yoru's cold and cruel methods she uses during life threatening situations.

Asa grows used to talking with her devilish companion as seen when she instinctively tries chatting with her during the aquarium date after being separated. However despite growing used to Yoru's presence she's still not fully comfortable with her. She can get easily scared by Yoru due to her deeply mistrusting her. In an outburst she says she has no reason to trust her to as they barely know each other, how Yoru always says disturbing stuff, takes over her body whenever and cut her hand moments before. Yoru has made it clear to Asa that she only cares about her own objective and will kill her if she becomes troublesome. Yoru has also never claimed that she cares about Asa or wants what's best for her. Likewise, Asa has little care for Yoru, though she briefly contemplates her choice upon seeing Yoru's terrified expression, she ultimately ignores her and decides to go forward with her suicide attempt even though she'll kill Yoru alongside her.

Asa easily gets frightened and emotional which frustrates Yoru as it often puts both of them at the risk of imminent death. Either due to Yoru's lack of humanity or a misunderstanding of Asa's character, she continues trying to convince Asa using cold and logical arguments despite the latter being emotionally distressed. Ignoring Yoru's unsupportive comments, she grows frustrated that Yoru doesn't understand her feelings despite being able to read her mind and continues to break down in front of her. In her rant, Asa mentions being afraid of companionship which could mean her current state is due to her being scared of getting closer to Yoru aside from simple mistrust.

Yuko
Yuko and Asa first met in their school's Devil Hunter Club tryout, where they were assigned to the same group. Asa was originally hesitant to befriend Yuko, mistaking her kindness for pity. However, Yuko explained her belief that she cares more about her heart being in the right place than whether or not her actions are a mistake. Asa quickly grew to like Yuko and said that spending time with Yuko was the most fun she had in a long time. Yuko's belief would have a heavy impact on Asa, who resolved to live her life the same and later refused to kill Yuko and turn her into a weapon for the War Devil. Even though turning Yuko into a weapon would have increased her own survival against the Bat Devil's assault, Asa instead risked her own life to save Yuko. After Yuko revealed her true colors to Asa, she felt into an almost catatonic state and refused to accept the issue, even blaming herself for Yuko's actions. Even after Yuko transformed into a monster via the Justice Devil and killed many students, Asa was still reluctant to fight her and chose to bring her back to life after killing her.

Denji
After Hirofumi Yoshida introduces Asa to Denji, there is immediate friction between them due to their conflicting attitudes, and when Denji reveals himself to be Chainsaw Man, she doubts him and calls him a loser. The next time they meet, Denji is aggressive toward her, but still accepts her offer to take him out on a date.

On that date, she barrages Denji with talk of sea anemones, believing lecturing him for long periods of time will make their date interesting and make him fall in love with her. However, due to her lack of dating experience and social skills with boys, Denji found her extremely boring. Asa also unintentionally triggered his trauma by telling him he doesn't have to think about anything, which was something Makima would say.

Denji and Asa's relationship begins to improve after days of being trapped in the aquarium. Denji finds Asa sitting alone and asks how she is doing, to which she apologizes to him for the situation they are in and blames herself for asking him on a date in the first place. Denji tries to cheer her up by smiling and trying to find her something to eat, asking if she's ever had starfish before, which also implies that he was paying attention to her during her exposition on sea life. They further bond after Denji says he thinks Asa is fun to watch. This cheers up Asa as she enthusiastically affirms Denji's assessment of her character. Amused, Denji says that her enthusiastic and self-aggrandizing attitude reminds him of an old friend, implying that friend to be Power.

After the two leave the aquarium, Denji admits to her that he actually enjoyed their disastrous first date and asks her to go on a second one together, to which Asa agrees. Yoru then comments that Asa is currently experiencing feelings of love for Denji, much to her shock and embarrassment. After Yoru fails to turn Denji into a weapon, Asa's feelings towards Denji become more complicated as she gets angry after believing he does not like her. On their next date, the two agree to watch a movie at Denji's home. When Denji brings up the topic of kissing, a flustered Asa says she has no desire to kiss him and hates him. She then tries to push him away by saying that she only went on a date to have a distraction and that if they keep dating, he'll wind up dead. Though this was most likely out of care for him as she doesn't want Yoru to turn him into a weapon.

Due to interference from Nayuta, Asa and Yoru lose all memories of the second date and believe Denji stood Asa up. Initially claiming to be unaffected by this, Asa begins to ramble before admitting that she does care, feeling down. After Asa falls into utter despair due to the Falling Devil, she attempts suicide. Though she doesn't realize his identity, Denji saves her once again and comforts her. She begins to see a different side of Chainsaw Man after learning he understands some of her pain. However, that is quickly undone when Denji goes on a rant about how much he wants to have sex, which grosses Asa out as she reveals she finds sex disgusting. She offends Denji by saying no woman would want to have sex with someone who has a chainsaw for a head, a statement which utterly demoralizes Denji and causes both of them to fall into Hell.

However, when she and the weakened Chainsaw Man escaped from Hell, she hesitates to finish him off despite knowing that it would mean her freedom. Instead, she cuts her hand and uses her blood to rejuvenate Denji. Asa explains to Yoru that Chainsaw Man had saved her twice so far, and that if someone like him could keep living, then it would be ok for her to live as well. She yells for Chainsaw Man to save her and pulls his rip-chord. This demonstrates how Chainsaw Man had begun to have a profound impact on her, and in spite of disagreeing with his dreams, she still admires his resolve and appreciates what he's done for her.

After the incident with the Falling Devil, Asa began reflecting on her time spent with Chainsaw Man. She deduced that the man posing as Chainsaw Man on television was a fraud since she understood the real Chainsaw Man's motives. His words of encouragement and the several times he saved her life would ultimately cause Asa to become infatuated with him. She would have flashbacks of the times she rescued him, and even thought up a poem expressing her love for Chainsaw Man. This newfound affection for him is also shown when she agrees to Fami's plan of eliminating devils to weaken Chainsaw Man's heart and allow him to live a regular life.

Yoshida
Asa attends the same school as Yoshida but doesn't interact much with him. Yoru briefly takes control over Asa and asks Yoshida out so she can turn him into one of her weapons, with Yoshida declining and Asa getting embarrassed. When Fami locks the Devil Hunter Club in an aquarium, Asa and Yoshida keep their interactions brief and cease entirely after Asa accidentally destroys her phone. After Nayuta prevents Asa's date with Denji, Yoshida finds her mumbling to herself and invites her to the club's office. Asa wonders why a public safety Devil Hunter would spend time with her and begins wondering if he likes her. As they turn out to share some values, Asa becomes excited to get asked out, only to be let down again. Yoshida tells her to stay away from Denji without elaborating, making Asa more depressed.

Barem
Even though he is a member of the very same organisation, it appears Asa has not yet met Barem. Despite this, the individual member of the Hybrids already seems to have developed animosity and disrespect towards her, possibly due to her perceived rivalry with Chainsaw Man (whom he admires). Barem calls her "dumb" and outright considers killing her to bring Chainsaw Man back.

Supernatural Abilities
War Devil Possession: After having her body and half of her brain taken over by the War Devil, Asa is able to tap into the powers of the War Devil.

Weapons Creation
As a host of the War Devil, Asa has the power to make anything that belongs to her into a weapon. This includes both objects and living beings. In order to activate the weapon transformation, Asa must touch what belongs to her and call out it's weapon name. The strength of the weapon is proportional to the amount of guilt Yoru and/or Asa feel about creating said weapon. There is no objective measure of when something belongs to Asa or Yoru, it relies entirely on their own perception and logic as shown when Asa paid 1 million yen to "buy" an entire aquarium and despite it being nowhere near enough money, it still qualified to be turned into a weapon.

So far, the only types of weapons created have been either melee weapons such as swords and spears or explosives such as a hand grenade. It is unknown whether Asa can create more advanced weapons such as modern firearms.
 * Object Weapon Creation: Asa is able to turn any object that belongs to her into a weapon. An object that belongs to her can either be something she bought or took. Object weapons created by Asa thus far are:
 * Super-Strong Uniform Sword: A rectangular shaped sword made from Asa’s uniform. Due to the sentimental value of it, as it was given to Asa by her late mother, the sword is extremely powerful. It was able to slice and dice Yuko in her Devil form into dozens of small pieces in an instant despite the sword being knocked away. Despite its power, the sword is extremely brittle and was destroyed in the school's collapse.
 * Aquarium Spear: A two-pronged spear approximately two meters long, made from the aquarium building Asa purchased for one million yen. The tips of the spear are fish shaped and the handle of the spear drips water. Once impaled into a target, the full contents of the aquarium explode out of the victims wound. This weapon is especially powerful due to the guilt Asa felt about destroying an entire aquarium, and was strong enough to instantly kill the reincarnated Eternity Devil who imprisoned her in the aquarium.
 * Super Chainsaw Man Motorcycle (スーパーチェーンソーバイク): A motorcycle made from the motorbike stolen from a man driving on the street. This motorcycle possesses a very large chainsaw which is positioned horizontally between the two wheels and extends for a few meters out the front. Its other notable features are a vastly upgraded engine and a black livery. The bike also appears to be able to drive on its own, as it speeds away right after the transformation despite Denji being incapable of operating one. This combat vehicle is very powerful because of the guilt she felt about stealing a motorcycle from a random citizen. It has proven to be extraordinarily durable, being able to easily survive an entire apartment building being thrown onto it.
 * Unspecified Strong Weapon: Sometime after joining the Chainsaw Man Church, Asa created a sword to hunt devils. The sword consists of a black J-shaped crossguard covered in spikes and a seemingly detached levitating triangular blade. She used this weapon to kill at least 10 devils suggesting it's fairly powerful. It somewhat resembles one half of a scissor in its appearance which could suggest its origin.
 * Flesh Weapon Creation: Asa is able to make anyone she "owns", including humans, Devils, and Fiends, into a variety of deadly weapons almost instantaneously simply by touching them. This does not appear to immediately kill the human, as they can still scream in agony. In order to make a flesh weapon, Asa must either: take a limb from the victim which she can then turn into a weapon, kill them and turn their remains into weapons, or form a relationship with someone wherein they "belong to her". She can also make weapons from her own body parts which will violently tear themselves off her if she does so. Flesh weapons created by Asa so far are:
 * Nail Knife (ナイフ): A simple dagger made from Asa's own fingernail, which violently ripped itself off. The knife is about a foot long, has a finger-shaped handle, an s-shape crossguard and a straight blade. It appears to bear no special properties much like a regular knife.

Skill Set
Swordsmanship: Asa carries a katana as her weapon of choice, suggesting that she is capable of handling it. She is later shown using some kind of sword as her weapon of choice.

Etymology

 * Asa's surname Mitaka means "three" (三) (mi) and "hawk/falcon" (鷹) (taka).

Trivia

 * Asa's name Asa (アサ) has the same pronunciation as the Japanese kanji for "morning", which could be interpreted as a counterpart to Yoru (ヨル) whose name is pronounced identically as the Japanese kanji for "night".
 * Asa's debut heavily parallels that of Denji as both her parents are deceased and she is killed in a betrayal by someone close to her, the Class President, and in Denji's case the yakuza handler. She is then revived by a Devil who inhabits her body, and uses the newfound powers she gained to kill her murderer. This was likely intentional, especially since the chapter titles for Chapter 1 and Chapter 98 parallel one another.
 * Asa and Yoru’s exact species or "type" hasn't been confirmed or explicitly stated in the manga as of currently, which has lead to much debate about their species, but for simplicity of the wiki and until else is confirmed, Asa will be referred to as the living host of the War Fiend.
 * It's now confirmed, that Yoru's scars are visible to other characters when she's in control of Asa's body. Not just the readers.
 * Given how there have been other humans with contracts who arguably have unusual features, as well as devils who pretended to be human contracts and stood in as such, this could explain why no one still suspects Asa to be anything other than another human who may gain her features from some unknown devil contract.