| Overview |
Warning: This page contains major spoilers for the Chainsaw Man series. Please read at your own risk.
"We're prepared to engage the enemy right here.
Now keep quiet."
Akane Sawatari (
She is the secondary antagonist of the Katana Man arc.
Appearance[]
Akane is a petite young woman with short blonde hair that has dark brown roots, Her red eyes possess slit pupils like a snake and she usually has a neutral or bored expression with her hands in her hoodie's pockets.
Akane normally wears a red oversized hoodie and black shorts with orange and white Nike Airmax 97s.[2] In a photo that was taken of her while she was dealing with guns, she could be seen wearing a tracksuit.
When being used by Makima for her antemortem contract with the Snake Devil, Akane is shown wearing the Public Safety Devil Hunter uniform, consisting of the usual dress shirt, tie, and black pants.
Personality[]
Although Akane is normally calm and cool-headed, she can become panicked as seen when she was flustered after her subordinates started dying from Makima's counterattack.[3]
Akane usually has her hands in her pockets, presumably to hide her bloody fingernails, so others don't know what she sacrifices to her Snake Devil contract.
Plot[]
History[]
At some point, Akane had an arrangement with Katana Man where she replaced his heart with the Katana Devil, allowing him to transform into a hybrid.[4]
Katana Man arc[]
After Katana Man was defeated by Aki Hayakawa, Akane appeared on the scene and spoke to Aki about his Curse Devil, complimenting on him for doing well. Aki questions who she is, but Akane doesn't answer and instead crouches down over the Katana Man to resurrect him. As the Katana Man gets to his feet with everyone else looking on in shock, Akane tells him to finish the job and kill Aki.[5]
Akane calls Snake Devil
After Himeno uses the full power of the Ghost Devil to overwhelm Katana Man, Akane intervenes to save him by using her Snake Devil to swallow the Ghost Devil. She then resurrects Katana Man once more, repairing the damage he sustained from the Ghost Devil. When Denji regenerates and transforms to fight Katana Man, Akane reminds Katana Man not to damage Denji's heart.[6]
As Katana Man and Denji duel, Akane looks on while radioing her subordinates to let them know that they're in combat and need backup.[7] After Denji is defeated by the Katana Man, Akane leads her people outside to put him into a van. Her subordinates start feeling strange after being spontaneously crushed by Makima from a distance, causing Akane to freak out and check with her other subordinates whether Makima was actually killed or not. After she gets no response, Akane watches helplessly as the rest of her subordinates, excluding Katana Man, are crushed to death.
Akane suggests to Katana Man that they escape while they still can, but Kobeni Higashiyama appears at the scenes where she dodges Akane's attempt to kill her with the Snake Devil and cuts off Katana Man's hand to steal his gun and shoot him.[8] Akane attempts to return fire after Kobeni runs out of bullets, but Kobeni uses Denji's body as a shield. Without any other choice, Akane retreats into the van with the Katana Man and drives away without Denji.[9]
At her headquarters, Akane tells her subordinates that they're prepared to fight against the invading Special Division 4 by using an army of zombies cultivated by the Yakuza due to their deal with the Zombie Devil.[10] Heading out to confront their enemies, Akane tells Katana Man that they'll kill as many Devil Hunters as possible and try to steal Denji's heart if possible before escaping through the Snake Devil. After Katana Man swears he'll kill Denji, Akane tells him not to lose his cool.[11]
Akane's unceremonious death.
Aki eventually confronts Akane after fighting his way through her zombie army, Akane commands the Snake Devil to spit out the Ghost Devil which now fights on her behalf.[12] Although initially overwhelmed by the Ghost Devil, Aki eventually manages to decapitate and defeat it as Akane watches in shock. She tries to summon the Snake Devil to fight Aki but is swiftly stopped by Kobeni who holds a knife to her throat.[13]
Later, Makima reports to Public Safety on Akane's history as a former civilian devil hunter who made a contract with the Gun Devil. She reported that Akane was killed by the Snake Devil which she explains is likely due to an involuntary suicide clause in her contract with the Gun Devil.[14]
Gun Devil arc[]
During the Gun Devil's attack on Makima, Akane's body is one of the many chained to the latter alongside Yutaro, Michiko, Princi, Aki, and the Angel Devil. Akane's antemortem contract with the Snake Devil is used with various other Devil contracts and powers against the Gun Devil.[15]
Abilities[]
Devil Contract[]
Snake Devil Contract: Akane has a contract with the Snake Devil that allows her to summon it at will through the following commands:
- "Swallow it whole" (
丸 飲 み Marunomi?): Akane fully summons the Snake Devil to absorb the target as seen when she used this ability to devour the Ghost Devil almost completely, except for it’s head. - "Spit it out" (
吐 き出 し Hakidashi?) [16]: After being absorbed into the Snake Devil, the target being is restored and can be used to fight alongside Akane after speaking the command followed by the absorbed being's name.[17] She used this against Aki Hayakawa to summon the Ghost Devil. However, releasing absorbed being caused her nose to bleed which indicates an internal damage due to sacrifice. - "Tail" (
尻 尾 Shippo?): Akane is also able to summon the tail of the Snake Devil. A example of this is when she used this ability against Kobeni Higashiyama.
In exchange for using each command, Akane loses one fingernail, leaving the sensitive nail bed and matrix exposed. Additionally, use of the Snake Devil's abilities requires hand motions, so, if her hands are restrained, she cannot use the abilities.
Chapter Appearances[]
| 23. Gunfire | Absent |
| 24. Curse | Debut |
| 25. Ghost, Snake, Chainsaw | Appears |
| 26. The Gun is Mightier | Appears |
| 27. From Kyoto | Appears |
| 28. Secrets & Lies | Appears |
| 29. Perfect Score | Absent |
| 30. Bruised & Battered | Mentioned |
| 31. The Future Rules | Absent |
| 32. Over and Over Again | Appears |
| 33. Mission Start | Appears |
| 34. Full Team | Appears |
| 35. Minor | Appears |
| 36. Katana vs. Chainsaw | Absent |
| 37. Train, Head, Chainsaw | Absent |
| 38. Easy Revenge! | Death |
| 71. Bath | Absent |
| 72. All Together | Absent |
| 73. Everyday Life No More | Absent |
| 74. What the Waves Say | Absent |
| 75. 9,12 | Absent |
| 76. Don't Open It | Corpse |
| 77. Ring Ring Ring | Absent |
| 78. Snowball Fight | Absent |
| 79. Play Catch | Absent |
Anime Appearances[]
| 1. Dog & Chainsaw | Absent |
| 2. Arrival in Tokyo | Absent |
| 3. Meowy's Whereabouts | Absent |
| 4. Rescue | Absent |
| 5. Gun Devil | Absent |
| 6. Kill Denji | Absent |
| 7. The Taste of a Kiss | Absent |
| 8. Gunfire | Debut |
| 9. From Kyoto | Appears |
| 10. Bruised & Battered | Absent |
| 11. Mission Start | Appears |
| 12. Katana vs. Chainsaw | Death |
Etymology[]
- The name Akane is written in katakana (アカネ), thus having no semantic meaning.
- Akane's surname Sawatari means "marsh" (
沢 sawa?) and "transit, ford, ferry, cross, import, deliver, diameter, migrate" (渡 tari?).
Trivia[]
- Akane's rankings in the Popularity Polls are as follows:
- Akane ranked 31st in the First Popularity Poll with 490 votes.
- Akane ranked 37th in the Second Popularity Poll with 847 votes.
- Some concept art Fujimoto has dumped on one of his alternate Twitter accounts seems to show that Akane may have been based on an early design of Power.
- There also seems to be an early version of the Snake Devil wrapping the prototypical Power, clearly showing inspiration for Akane's contract.
- While it is obvious that Akane's snake eyes are meant to represent her devil contract, it is unknown if it only a stylistic choice or if they are actually there as it is never hinted by people pointing them out or not.
References[]
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Anime Exhibition - Character Height Chart
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 24, Pages 13 - 14
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 27, Pages 6 - 9
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 36, Page 12
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 24, Pages 12 - 15
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 25, Pages 9 - 17
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 26, Pages 1 - 2
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 28, Pages 1 - 8
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 28, Pages 9 - 11
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 32, Pages 16 - 19
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 33, Pages 16 - 19
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 34, Pages 16 - 19
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 35, Pages 1 - 19
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 38, Pages 17 - 18
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 76, Pages 14-16
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 34, Page 17
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 25, Pages 11 - 13
[]
| Public Safety Devil Hunters | Aki Hayakawa † • Angel † • Beam † • Denji ‡ • Division 2 Vice Captain † • Division 4 Female Member † • Division 4 Male Member † • Ear Devil † • Fumiko Mifune • Furuno • Fushi † • Galgali † • Himeno †• Hirokazu Arai † • Kato † • Kishibe • Kobeni Higashiyama ‡ • Kusakabe † • Madoka ‡ • Makima † • Masaki Ando † • Michiko Tendo † • Minami Nakano ‡ • Nail Fiend ‡ • Nakamura † • Nomo † • Pillbug Fiend † • Power † • Princi † • Quanxi • Sato † • Subaru † • Takagi † • Tamaoki † • Tanabe † • Yutaro Kurose † |
|---|---|
| Civilian Devil Hunters | Akane Sawatari † • Aldo • Denji ‡ • Hirofumi Yoshida • Joey † • Katana Man • Kenzo • Santa Claus ‡ • Tolka † • Asa Mitaka ‡ • Yoru ‡ |
| Devil Hunter Club | Asa Mitaka ‡ • Fami ‡ • Furio • Haruka Iseumi • Hirofumi Yoshida • Nobana Higashiyama • Seigi Akoku • Yoru ‡ • Yuko † |