Warning: This page contains major spoilers for the Chainsaw Man series. Please read at your own risk.
"Your necessary evil... is just an excuse to justify your own crimes. Those excuses are unnecessary to society. The truly necessary evils are always kept collared and controlled by the state."
"I want to use Chainsaw Man... to create a better world."
Makima (マキマ Makima?) is a high-ranking Public Safety Devil Hunter, who took Denji as her human pet. She is later revealed to be the Control Devil (支配の悪魔 Shihai no Akuma?) which embodies the fear of control or conquest. She is the main antagonist of the Public Safety Saga.
Appearance
Makima is a beautiful woman who appears to be in her mid-twenties. Her hair colour is a light red, normally kept in a loose braid with bangs reaching just past her eyebrows and two longer side bangs that frame her face. Her eyes are yellow with multiple red rings within them.
Personality
Makima is extremely cunning and manipulative. She controls Denji through the promise of a romantic and sexual relationship while also threatening him with extermination if he disobeys her. Ruthless and normally dispassionate, she will do whatever it takes to reach her goals, even at the cost of the people she should be protecting.
Makima is an extreme fan of Chainsaw Man, the "Hero of Hell". Fascinated by its ability to wipe out the embodied concept of a devil through consuming them, her stated goal is to bring Chainsaw Man under her control in order to use its abilities to create an ideal world without fear, death, and “bad” movies. However, failure is also acceptable, as it would mean being eaten—an honor according to her.
Makima's true goal, however, was to be together forever with Pochita and lead a happy life with him. She always yearned for something like a family, being incapable of forming equal and meaningful relationships as the Control Devil.
Abilities
Makima is one of the strongest individuals in the world of the Chainsaw Man thanks to her physical and supernatural abilities as a devil, along with her cunning and manipulative personality. She is feared by humans, fiends and devils all around the world, which also increased her powers as a devil. According the President of the United States, other countries beside America already given up to fight against her.
Physical Abilities
Immense Strength: Makima possesses a great deal of physical strength allowing her to fight effectively in hand-to-hand combat without relying on any of her subordinates. Her strength was great enough to overwhelm Pochita and shatter his chainsaws with her strikes.
Enhanced Smell: According to Denji, Makima primarily differentiates others through smell. In their first encounter, she was able to detect that Pochita still existed within Denji through his scent.
Supernatural Abilities
Domination: As she embodies the fear of control or conquest/domination, her abilities reflects this nature. Besides her manipulative way of thinking and acting, she is able to control any being who she believes is inferior to her, even being able to force them into making contracts with her or another devil. It seems as though once placed under her control, the victim subsequently loses their memory. This ability works on humans, animals, devils, fiends and hybrids. She can channel the power of her victims by summoning them through a chain connected to her body. It has been shown that she can use the abilities of Angel Devil, Future Devil, Snake Devil, Punishment Devil, Spider Devil and Zombie Devil. Even deceased individuals can be controlled in this manner. Makima was able to form a squad of weapon hybrids, three of which (Reze, Quanxi, and Katana Man) were former enemies who now behaved affectionately towards her. This suggests Makima can control individuals outright as well as changing their personalities in subtle ways.
- She borrows the hearing of rats, birds, and other lower life forms she controls to hear conversations remotely, seemingly anywhere on the planet and possibly extending into Hell itself.[1][2][3] She was able to spy on Denji's and Reze's conversation and was listening in on Kishibe's conversation with Quanxi.[4] This ability can be circumvented by communicating nonverbally such as writing on a piece of paper.[1]
- She has been shown to control a large number of rats which allow her to travel around using them. These rats can then cluster together to form the shape of a human and thus allow for Makima to be transported to that location instantly.[5]
- She has shown to transmit her voice in others by placing her hand on his or her head even if the person is dead[6]. She uses this to command the devils that the person is currently contracted with.
Force Manipulation: Makima has been shown to offensively manipulate an invisible force in a variety of way similar to Darkness Devil. This force can be used to damage her weak targets internally by simply staring at them. Depending on the situation, she can use this power in other various way such as;
- She has shown to cause her target to be crushed by an invisible force from over long distances. In order to use this technique, Makima appears to require a higher place such as a shrine, the name of a target and a human sacrifice. Makima forms a symbol with her hands and instructs the sacrifice whose eyes closed by a white cloth to utter the name of the target. The sacrifice then dies and target subsequently is crushed just before realizing something is wrong, leaving only a splatter of blood behind and their clothes. While she is using this ability, the people around herself close their eyes with a black cloth. She used this ability once from Kyoto to kill the Sawatari`s gang.
- She has been shown to inflict damage by projecting an invisible force to targets she points at with her index finger[7] which is strong enough to damage Darkness Devil who is a Primal Devil heavily, kill Power in instant[8] and send empowered Chainsaw Man to outer space even though she used it repetitively against him. She usually says "Bang! (バン!)" while using this ability.
- She has been shown to remove the heads of her targets in the vicinity from a short-to-mid range by using a sword; similar to her ability to crush her targets remotely, the people around her close their eyes with a black cloth.
Contract Creation: As a devil, the Control Devil can bestow contracts upon humans for a price. Thanks to her ability to control humans, she can force them to make a contract with herself. The Control Devil has a contract with the Prime Minister of Japan in exchange of working for Japan.
- As a result of her contract with the Prime Minister, any fatal damage inflicted to Makima is transferred into an appropriate illness or ailment affecting a random citizen of Japan. She was shown to have been shot in the back of the head and seemingly killed, only to stand up later with no visible wounds. She stated that she was merely grazed by a bullet, however, this is unlikely given the placement of the gun when it was fired, as well as the location of the blood from the exit wound. Later, she has been killed by Gun Devil after it fires a gunshot through her head. It is confirmed that she has been killed twenty-six times up until the attack of Gun Devil. Later on, she is also killed by Pochita several times during their final confrontation. However, Denji, who loves Makima, found a way to bypass this condition of the contract by interrupting her regenerative abilities through the Blood Devil`s blood and eating her piece by piece.
Blood Consumption: As a devil, the Control Devil should be able to restore its health by consuming blood.[9] However, she does not need to consume blood to regenerate due to her contract with the Prime Minister which allowed her to regenerate and avoid death several times.
Revival: As a devil, the Control Devil will revive in Hell after being killed effectively making it immortal.[10] After she has been eaten by Denji, she returned to Hell and subsequently reincarnated in China as Nayuta.
Other Abilities
High Alcohol Tolerance: Makima has an exceedingly high tolerance for drinking alcohol; able to out-drink both Aki and Himeno without showing any signs of being debilitated by the vast quantities of drink.[11]
Chapter Appearances
1. Dog & Chainsaw | Debut |
2. The Place Where Pochita Is | Appears |
3. Arrival in Tokyo | Appears |
4. Power | Appears |
5. A Way to Touch Some Boobs | Appears |
6. Service | Appears |
7. Meowy's Whereabouts | Absent |
8. Chainsaw vs. Bat | Absent |
9. Rescue | Absent |
10. Kon | Absent |
11. Compromise | Appears |
12. Squeeze | Appears |
13. Gun Devil | Appears |
14. French Kiss | Flashback |
15. Endless 8th Floor | Absent |
16. The First Taste | Absent |
17. Kill Denji | Absent |
18. Chainsaw vs. Eternity | Absent |
19. Nobel Prize | Absent |
20. Drinking | Appears |
21. Taste of a Kiss | Appears |
22. Cola-Flavor Chupa Chups | Appears |
23. Gunfire | Absent |
24. Curse | Absent |
25. Ghost, Snake, Chainsaw | Absent |
26. The Gun is Mightier | Appears |
27. From Kyoto | Appears |
28. Secrets & Lies | Appears |
29. Perfect Score | Appears |
30. Bruised & Battered | Absent |
31. The Future Rules | Absent |
32. Over and Over Again | Appears |
33. Mission Start | Appears |
34. Full Team | Absent |
35. Minor | Absent |
36. Katana vs. Chainsaw | Absent |
37. Train, Head, Chainsaw | Absent |
38. Easy Revenge! | Appears |
39. Tearjerker | Appears |
40. Love, Flower, Chainsaw | Flashback |
41. Before the Storm | Flashback |
42. Teach Me How to Swim | Flashback |
43. Jane Fell Asleep in the Church | Mentioned |
44. Boom Boom Boom | Absent |
45. A Fine Day for Explosions | Mentioned |
46. The Melody of a Massacre | Absent |
47. Luck With Women | Absent |
48. Kaboom Kaboom Kaboom | Absent |
49. Shark Hurricane | Absent |
50. Sharknado | Absent |
51. Dark Diving | Absent |
52. Lost Love, Flower, Chainsaw | Appears |
53. In a Dream | Appears |
54. To Go to Enoshima | Appears |
55. Let's Go | Flashback |
56. A Curse and A Fist | Mentioned |
57. Suddenly | Absent |
58. Yutaro Kurose | Absent |
59. Mess | Appears |
60. Quanxi and Fiends' 49-Person Massacre | Absent |
61. News Reporter | Mentioned |
62. Super Mess | Absent |
63. Trip To Hell | Absent |
64. Welcome To Hell | Absent |
65. The Darkness Devil | Absent |
66. Woof! | Appears |
67. The First Devil Hunter | Appears |
68. Dark Power | Absent |
69. Shining Power | Absent |
70. Pinch | Appears |
71. Bath | Flashback |
72. All Together | Absent |
73. Everyday Life No More | Appears |
74. What the Waves Say | Appears |
75. 9,12 | Appears |
76. Don't Open It | Appears |
77. Ring Ring Ring | Appears |
78. Snowball Fight | Absent |
79. Play Catch | Absent |
80. A Dog's Feelings | Appears |
81. Paw | Appears |
82. Always Eat A Hearty Breakfast | Appears |
83. Death, Resurrection, Chainsaw | Appears |
84. Hero Of Hell | Appears |
85. Bloody Good Gut Feeling | Appears |
86. Date Chainsaw | Appears |
87. Chainsaw Man vs. the Horrifying Weapon Humans | Appears |
88. Star Chainsaw | Appears |
89. Go Get 'Em, Chainsaw Man | Appears |
90. Super Power | Appears |
91. Power, Power, Power | Appears |
92. Zombie, Blood, Chainsaw | Mentioned |
93. You & Crappy Movies | Appears |
94. Chainsaw Man vs. the Weapon Humans | Appears |
95. Chainsaw Man vs. Control Devil | Appears |
96. This Kind of Taste | Appears |
97. I, Love, Chainsaw | Appears |
Etymology
- Makima’s name is written in katakana (マキマ) thought it seems to have no special meaning to it but if you take the “maki”(マキ) in her name its comes from “Makita” a Japanese manufacturer of power tools that creates chainsaws Noting her idolization of chainsaw man.
Trivia
- Makima's ranking in the Popularity Polls are as follows;
- Makima ranked 2nd in the First Popularity Poll, with 27,224 votes.
- Makima ranked 2nd in the Second Popularity Poll, with 76,733 votes.
- Makima smokes "hi-fight"s, likely a reference to the Japanese tobacco brand "hi-lite."
- Makima was the first character Fujimoto had a solid image of as she is a character in "Breath of The Stars", one of the serialised works in Fujimoto's head, out of many fantasy stories he imagined in Junior High.
- Makima was partially based on "Benten", a character in "The Eccentric Family" that Fujimoto liked, for she is an unfathomable higher being, with her own sadness we lowly humans can't comprehend. Something Fujimoto wanted to convey in Makima.
- Fujimoto has mentioned FLCL as a source of inspiration for the girls of Chainsaw Man and Makima is likely based on Haruko from FLCL who is a manipulative, unpredictable being.
- According to Fujimoto, if you remove the -ki- from Ma-ki-ma's name, you're left with Mama. Which ties in with Denji, who has always been pursuing Maternal things since the death of his mother at a young age.
- Makima's Japanese Devil Name, Shihai (支配), uses the same kanji as the Japanese translation for the first of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Christian Mythology. Given Makima's status as a member of the group, her name could also be interpreted as the Conquest Devil.
- Makima's final battle at the end with Chainsaw Man was inspired by the Shinobu vs. Araragi fight in the Kizumonogatari III movie according to a tweet by Fujimoto.
- In Makima's apartment (shown in Chapter 81) there is a painting showing "The Fall of Lucifer", similar to Gustave Doré's illustration for John Milton's poem Paradise Lost.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 66, Page 16
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 66, Pages 5 - 6
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 67, Page 2
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 52, Page 8
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 52, Pages 6 - 8
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 66, Page 11
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 66, Page 8
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 81
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 1, Page 13
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 53, Page 13
- ↑ Chainsaw Man Manga: Chapter 21, Pages 2 - 4
Devils | Angel Devil • Bat Devil • Bomb Devil • Chainsaw Devil • Chicken Devil • Claw Devil • Control Devil • Cosmos Devil • Crossbow Devil • Curse Devil • Darkness Devil • Doll Devil • Eternity Devil • Flamethrower Devil • Fish Devil • Fox Devil • Future Devil • Ghost Devil • Grape Devil • Gun Devil • Hell Devil • Justice Devil • Katana Devil • Knife Devil • Leech Devil • Longsword Devil • Mantis Devil • Mold Devil • Muscle Devil • Needle Devil • Octopus Devil • Pig Devil • Punishment Devil • Sea Cucumber Devil • Shark Devil • Skin Devil • Snake Devil • Spear Devil • Spider Devil • Stone Devil • Tomato Devil • Typhoon Devil • War Devil • Whip Devil • Zombie Devil |
---|---|
Fiends | Aki Hayakawa • Beam • Cosmo • Galgali • Long • Pingtsi • Power • Tsugihagi |
Hybrids | Denji • Katana Man • Reze • Quanxi |
Public Safety Devil Hunters | Aki Hayakawa † • Angel • Beam † • Denji • Furuno • Fushi † • Galgali † • Himeno † • Kato † • Kishibe • Kobeni Higashiyama ‡ • Kusakabe † • Madoka ‡ • Makima † • Masaki Ando † • Michiko Tendo † • Nakamura † • Nomo † • Power † • Prinz † • Subaru † • Tamaoki † • Tanabe † • Yutaro Kurose † • Hirokazu Arai † |
---|---|
Civilian Devil Hunters | Akane Sawatari † • Aldo • Denji ‡ • Hirofumi Yoshida • Joey † • Quanxi • Santa Claus ‡ • Tolka † |