Chainsaw Man Rewatch Analysis: Episode Two

im a little unhappy right now because i dont have access to my chainsaw man themed layout (i cant read or edit my blogs due to a current glitch right now) but we can all agree to blame tatsuki fujimoto for that idk.

anyways, to start off, the episode immediately touches on Denji's connection with dogs again. an important thing to note about Denji and Makima's dynamic in this episode is that Denji at first dislikes Makima for essentially threatening to kill him if he ever disobeys her. while he does quickly change his mind after she offers him her jacket in the anime, there's a scene from the manga that's left out. when the two are ordering udon, Denji is told to go handle another devil attack, and is once again threatened by Makima when he argues his food will get cold, leading to him expressing distaste for her shortly afterwards.

an interesting bit of symbolism can be seen in the background of a shot. Makima has this painting in the background of her office, that can be seen when Aki and Denji walk past:this painting depicts a scene from Dante's Divine Comedy, in which demon attempts to escape punishment by jumping into a boiling pitch, which may symbolize Denji escaping the less-than-comfortable life of working for the yakuza and going to work for public safety instead, when life as a public safety worker isnt as comfortable as it's made out to be by Makima. it's also worth noting that the part of hell that the boiling pitch appears in is designed to punish those who used their personal wealth and status to harm others, which is exactly what happened to Denji in the first episode- the yakuza use their wealth to bring harm towards him. 

when Aki asks Denji if Makima is the reason he joined public safety, it implies that Makima has convinced multiple people to join or stay in public safety in the same way she did Denji- she manipulates him through the false promise of a relationship in order to convince him to join and stay. however, she also holds the somewhat-true promise of a "normal life" as a reason for Denji to stay. before joining public safety, Denji was broke, essentially homeless, and was treated poorly. under public safety he's able to access food and shelter, as well as have some form of income. Aki, on the other hand, is in it mainly for revenge, as he mentions a devil having killed his family.

this episode introduces a major recurring theme of Denji's character in part one of the series: the idea of running away. at this point in the series, Denji does want to run away, and has to be threatened not to. in the aformentioned cut scene from the manga, he finds a little girl playing with a devil, and suggests the two of them run away so that he wont be killed for letting the devil go. later, Aki tells Denji that hee's been instructed to kill Denji if he tries to run away.

this sets up a conversation that happens within the movie, so remember this detail. i promise it's important; themes and such.

that concludes Episode Two's analysis, thank you for reading!!