Chainsaw Man’s creator revealed a disturbing fact about Makima’s name! Makima is one of the most peculiar characters in Tatsuki Fujimoto’s original Weekly Shonen Jump manga series, and that’s saying something for a wild series like this one. Part of what made Denji (and fans) hooked so closely to the character is that the more we learned about her, the more mysterious she became. This even goes as far as the inspiration behind her character as Fujimoto revealed a disturbing reality about the hidden meaning in her name. From her conception, she’s been a motherly point of interest for Denji himself.
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Fujimoto recently opened up about Chainsaw Man during a special interview with Shueisha (as spotted by @YourAnimeGuy on Twitter), and revealed that Makima’s name actually ties into the fact that Denji’s always looking for the approval of a motherly figure considering how rough his upbringing was revealed to be at the beginning of the series.
First Fujimoto broke down how he originally started to craft the ideas behind Chainsaw Man, “When I was in junior high school, I started making fantasy stories in my head, and there are several serialized works, but only one of them, ‘Breath of the Stars’ ‘is’ Chainsaw Man,” Fujimoto explained. “In it, Makima is a character that symbolizes ‘domination.’ That’s why Makima was the first character in Chainsaw Man that I had a solid image of both inside and outside.”
Continuing further, Fujimoto explained how Makima’s inspirations eventually led to her characterization, “I like the Benten character in The Eccentric Family (based on the novel by Tomihiko Morimi), because he is an unfathomable being who is higher than humans, but he has his own sadness, but we, the lowly ones, can’t be there for his sadness…I like it. It would be nice if we can show that in Makima, too.“
Finally, Fujimoto revealed the bombshell that completely puts Makima in a twisted, motherly perspective, “By the way, isn’t a chainsaw originally a tool to cut wood? If you cut the ‘ki’ out of ‘Makima’ you get ‘mama.’ Denji has always been pursuing maternal things.” This certainly puts the final events of the series’ first part in a whole new perspective.
What do you think of Makima’s motherly ties hidden just under the surface? What did you think of her and Denji’s relationship in Chainsaw Man? Curious to see how the second part will top Makima with a new foe? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or you can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!
