This still rings true to the very end of csm. Power was/is the most important person in Denjiās life. Stand by as I unleash the essay:
The overarching message of part 2 was that when Denjiās life is destroyed once again, he becomes despondent to the basest of worldly pleasures, and apocalypse wreaks upon the world. The tragedy that is Denjiās relationship with Asa/Yoru exemplifies that the implication of regressing back to primal human desires (or the way he was at the start of the story) is still no way to live, and was never going to work out.
āYOU WERE FAR HAPPIER STARVING AND SUFFERING, FIGHTING DEVILS... AND EATING SPOILED BREAD IN THAT RUN-DOWN SHACK.ā
But Pochita is right, here. He was happier in the sense that he was living in oblivion from the emotional complexities and adversities of being socially integrated into society and of normal human relationships. There is bliss and shelter in being outcast from society (hence the ārun-down shackā in the forest also being a symbol for this) and not needing to participate in it in the normal, expected way. The philosophy here is clearly that of Sisyphus, but subjected to the influence of wider societyās views on acceptable standards of human living. This alongside happiness and how the two are not proportionate to each other is a theme Fujimoto unpicks to shreds with his exploration of extreme polarities:
ā...YOU HAD THE CRAPPIEST BUT BEST KIND OF BRAIN. ONE THAT CAN ONlY FIND HEAVEN WHEN YOU'RE IN HELL.ā
Denji was āhappiestā when his life was ācrappiestā. Denji was the least happy when his life was, by the standards of human rights and society, āthe bestā, i.e. finally going to school, ādatingā a girl (Asa) and trying to live a ānormal lifeā. But he was also happiest with Power, Aki, Meowy and then with Nayuta and Makimaās dogs, who are all taken from him. So the world essentially ends when Denji finds himself in a situation with Asa/Yoru that gives him the opportunity to have sex, the only means by which he thinks is able to find pleasure at all, and that opportunity is wisely taken away from him by Pochita:
āIT'S GOOD THAT YOU DIDN'T GET TO DO THAT, DENJIā
Denjiās hamartia is his hyper sexuality. It is only in the pain of apocalypse that Denji and Asa can finally connect on the deeply emotional level that renders their non-platonic love for each other redundant, yet their platonic relationship is never permitted to and cannot flourish because of Yoru stripping Asa of her agency and using Asa as a proxy to sexually abuse Denji. Again, up till the end he is unable to recognise this as his perception of pleasure and pain is warped by all the shit he has gone through. He lost his family twice. Denji is as much as a victim to others as he is to his own sexuality and it is the confluence and interplay of these two things that makes Denjiās struggle so nuanced, and unfortunately so misinterpreted. Pochita does him a service at not helping this particular dream of his come true because he knows it will be detrimental to him, and he only wants the best for Denji. In that world, the best is where he never gets this at all. He stops Asa from the accident that catalysed her story, that eventually led to them meeting, their relationship, and their tragedy. The best for them was if they stayed strangers.
And thats what he gets in the end: a mundane life as a public safety devil hunter and Powerās buddy.
The final chapter is synoptic of the most important of all of Denjiās relationships: his relationship to Power. It is because of the sisterly role that Power plays that he undergoes his arguably most vital character development: realising the difference between platonic and non-platonic love and finding the best kind of love to be with his family that Power and Aki form (From making sexual advances towards her in the very beginning to only be let down, to the bath scene where Denji realises āThis doesnāt feel naughty at allā). In 232 she appears miraculously at his aid when he faces the zombie devil not as Power, not as a devil, but a ānaked womanā, clearly showing a realisation for his sexuality. But this goes no further than that, not even to the famous(ly ridiculous but more so heartwrenching) Denji line āI wanna touch some boobsā. Unlike the beginning of the story, their friendship is tied by a contract Power makes with him (as the substitute for Pochita) by saving his life, rather than simply only coming about because of the āBuddyā system. Their friendship is legitimised by the bureaucratic, permanently binding nature of a devil contract, and flourishes. The manga ends on them talking about āshaking up their seniorsā for money for good food ā it is something indulgent, trivial, mundane, but here that evokes a bathos and an absolutely unbeatable wholesomeness that he couldnāt get from anyone else (and in my eyes, a satisfying ending). Aki himself said all he wanted was for Power and Denji to live and be happy, hence not being present at all, because he also plays a similar role to Pochita here by wishing the best for Denji. Let them have their fried rice, ramen and potstickers.
(On a tangent, āpotstickersā clearly reference Asa here too. I donāt think Fujimoto did a disservice to her by estranging her completely from Denjiās life in the end. Yes the moment where Denji stops her from falling is very chivalrous-male-saviour-and-damsel-in-distress, but realistically Asa would have appreciated that because she has also felt āunlovedā, hence all the āfemcelā allegations when she was introduced to the story. She is blushing in the panel not for fanservice purposes but naturally because she would. Denji getting into a situation that happened to place the two in a fleeting yet still romantic physical interaction with his hand on her waist was still not motivated by his sexual urges but pure altruism, selflessness, and that makes all the difference. How can you say that that isnāt character development? He saves her from tripping ā her involuntarily fatal flaw being her clumsiness ā and falling to her doom, i.e. killing Bucky, whilst he has no clue about the true weight of the favour he just did for her because it is framed so trivially. It is because of his selfless actions that she never has to suffer anything she ended up going through. This is why I think this moment works, and Asa is not undermined by these patriarchal clichĆ©s.)
Chainsaw man is a story about living and love.
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