Discover Top Posts Tagged with #csm198

but I still couldn't die.

#chainsaw man #chainsawman #csm #csm198 #death devil #famine devil #famine #death #gore #tw gore #spoilers

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.