#chainsaw man famine

[v-3-rdure]

Haruka: people are turning into chainsaw man, a war has broken out and we’re in hiding

Fami:

[asinasura]

chainsaw man chapter 198 analysis !! this is my first time trying to analyze a story i love, so please give feedback as i wish to improve ^_^ i'm also not the best at english, so please forgive me if things get messy or disjointed content / trigger warning for the following: talk or mention of suicide, suicide ideation, self-harm, and depression

At the moment, Death is honest about her intentions, holding some attachment to humanity and loathing her position as a powerful devil. This is in contrast to other characters in Chainsaw Man, such as Yoru wanting more power as the War Devil. Her attachment to humanity is evident in how she responds to Famine's ( the real Famine's ) claim that "…if [Death] feels anything for mankind, please die right away." by revealing the gaping hole in her torso as proof she had, at one point in the story, tried to take her own life. In fact, the prophecy might be the way she does end up taking her own life, assisting both Denji and AsaYoru in gaining strength before their "Big Fight" as the Death Devil descends. At the same time, however, her motivations are founded on "having fun," so to speak. Hanging out with Denji and AsaYoru to "see their confused faces," and even refusing Public Safety's proposal to her due to not finding it fun.

Death is preparing to end her own life, which leads to discussion about the concept of "death" in Chainsaw Man, but more specifically, suicide. One of the ways the audience is shown the strength the Death Devil holds is in her ability to summon primal devils, a key moment being in the Falling Devil arc. In the Falling Devil arc, the audience is introduced to the titular Falling Devil after Asa ruminates on her life, coming to the conclusion that she'd "…be better off dead." Later in the arc, Asa almost floats away due to this ideation of suicide she holds. The entire Falling Devil arc contains themes relating to suicide — such as the Falling Devil's introduction being multiple people taking their lives, or how Asa struggles with wanting to live partway through the arc. However, why do these themes matter in relation to the Death Devil, aside from her being the person to summon the Falling Devil ? These themes are significant because of how they contextualize Death as a character.

She is — both literally and figuratively — a hollow husk of a person, her design reminiscent of a carcass. Her head is tilted like a corpse hanging from a noose, her face is devoid of any emotion outside blank nothingness. She lives her life, from the moment we first see her until recent chapters, trying to enjoy the little time she has left before the prophecy takes hold. Her character feels very "aimless," her end goal being very vague up until the most recent chapter. She's seen helping make AsaYoru and Denji stronger in preparation for the prophecy, something that will help humanity, but is also summoning devils to cause harm to humanity ? In my personal opinion, Death is being honest about doing things "for fun," only really enjoying life in small bursts that distract her from the oncoming apocalypse.

But what's the point of all of this ? Everything I've mentioned, what am I trying to say ? Now, I am by no means a psychological professional, so take this next part with a grain of salt, however from my own personal understanding of the topics, the Death Devil as a character feels like a metaphor for suicidal ideation and depression. She views the prophecy as something that will 100% occur, and thus treats it like such. Rather than actively planning a way to keep her status, she goes along with other peoples' plans to take down the Death devil, the same way Asa telling Denji to kill her can be viewed as a suicide. Instead though, she's seen trying to enjoy life, eating a lot of food, going out with friends, doing fun school projects like a festival… yet we never see her full, we don't see her smile or laugh. She is entirely apathetic to the world and what may happen to it, including what may happen to herself, which ( in my non-professional opinion, speaking from personal experiences with issues like this, ) feels exactly like how it is to be depressed, living simply one day after the next. 

And thus, if my analysis is to be believed, then defeating Death — not necessarily by killing Death — would be our protagonists finding reason to live despite shit conditions, suicide ideation and depressive thoughts, the ultimate "you have to live" moment in Chainsaw Man that acknowledges the struggles one may face while living and the strength it takes to live despite such.

TL;DR / To summarize: I think Death as a character is a metaphor for depression and suicide ideation, coming from someone who has had issues relating to both topics.

[naarinn]

Please never change, Fami. Please never change

[face464]

The three sisters

[zenitsuinamogus]

Famine and War at the Gates of Hell ~☆~ Chainsaw Man Ch. 157 manga coloring

Thanks to those who have liked/reblogged my Chainsaw Man colorings, hope you will enjoy this new page! More to come soon!

[sislost19]

This meme is about Fami

Maybe she's possessed by scoliosis devil

[v-3-rdure]

goretober 01 - rotting

[prompt list under cut]

[asinasura]

with the 200th chainsaw man chapter coming out soon, i wish to add onto my previous analysis on fami with the newfound information in chapter 199 ^_^ i highly recommend you read my thoughts on fami since 198 here, as it will give context to ideas i allude to in this analysis.

spoilers for chainsaw man's manga up to chapter 199, as well as...

content / trigger warning for the following: talk or mention of suicide, suicide ideation, self-harm, and depression

with the release of chapter 199, i found it interesting that death needs to devour whatever devil she controls, and how she used falling to "prepare" the meal. food in chainsaw man has always had a narrative theme of relating to joy, love, and power. this is seen most obviously in denji's moments of eating bread and jam, makima, and the eternity devil as examples respectively.

ever since the falling devil arc, however, food has changed in what it implies, narratively speaking. it no longer holds much joy, but instead puts a heavier emphasis on power, such as denji eating the tree people or, in the most recent chapter, how death eats fakesaw and real famine. food -- and by proxy, eating -- has been perverted, so to speak, into being another thing you do for the sake of it / for power rather than out of love. i mentioned the falling devil arc due to how falling claims her meals are made out of love, despite being made at the expense of human life, modifying the meaning of love in a meal.

but what does this have to do with death ? simply put: eating is living. you need to eat to live, or your body metabolizes itself, your body destroys itself. eating, to death ( fami ), is another thing she does without truly enjoying it, similarly to the school festival, apathetic to her current experience. thus, i believe her inability to either taste or enjoy food -- specifically, her "delicious... ...it was not" -- is further evidence that she is a metaphor for depression and suicide ideation, the inability to enjoy even the simplest joys of life, such as a meal made with "love," speaks to me ( a non-professional dope ) as similar to depression. i shall clarify on the idea of suicide ideation next.

secondly, death's outlook on the prophecy strikes me as familiar, personally speaking. she views it as an inevitability, something that will happen eventually, one day. i wish to make it clear, i am speaking from personal experience, and my word regarding mental health issues such as this are to be taken with a grain of salt.

from my own experience dealing with suicide ideation, the way death has both:

a. a vague plan regarding her own demise / erasure, and

b. the outlook that the prophecy will play a large part in her demise,

largely reminds me of ( to get a bit personal here ) my own experience with suicide ideation. specifically, seeing the prophecy as occurring "…for some reason or another…" and even her own uncertainty regarding the prevention of human annihilation -- mainly, her usage of the word "maybe" in the second photo. in my eyes, her dialogue and characterization read as knowing she'll be killed in some way, living life until the eventual prophecy comes and she "dies"… maybe. death is still uncertain about her own demise, unsure if that's what she really wants, which resonated the most with me regarding her connection to both depression and suicide ideation.

now i wish to recall that a large part of my analysis has speculation to outline some of the more unclear details, such as assuming mankind not being annihilated means her death, and not some wild out-of-the-blue second option... although, knowing fujimoto, i could be completely wrong too, which is always an opportunity to learn and understand what i could do better ^_^ i love chainsaw man, and these most recent chapters have really gotten to me, enough so to be posting my own shitty thoughts.