Things You Didn't Know About Denji in Chainsaw Man (2024)

Tatsuki Fujimoto truly shows Chainsaw Man fans more of Denji than most shonen series do. He’s a character whose deepest motivations are out on display for all to see, even when they’re disagreeable or just unlikable. Even his backstory as a young boy who grew up in poverty with nothing but a pet Devil to call a friend is well known among fans, but that’s really only the surface. In truth, there’s a lot about Denji that fans don’t know, making him quite a mystery.

In fact, there’s a lot that Denji doesn’t even know about himself. That’s part of what makes it so fascinating to watch Denji grow and mature into a person who gets to know himself a bit better. In that way, fans of Chainsaw Man are on a journey of self-discovery alongside Denji, making every little bit they can learn about him that much more revelatory.

10 Denji Doesn't Have a Last Name

No One in CSM Knows Denji's Last Name, Potentially Not Even Denji Himself

A lot is unknown about Denji’s life prior to the events shown in CSM, and that includes his upbringing. One of the strangest things about Denji is that he’s one of the few characters in CSM who doesn’t have a last name. This is particularly odd considering he’s the main character, but it does add an extra air of mystery to an already enigmatic MC.

This wouldn’t be a big deal if it weren’t for the fact that a good number of side characters have last names in the series. It’s clear that Denji’s lack of a last name was a creative decision for a distinct purpose in CSM, but what that purpose might be is still unknown. Considering Denji lived as an outcast from society and didn’t even go to school as a child, it’s entirely possible that Denji doesn’t even know his own last name.

9 Denji’s Mother is a Big Mystery

Denji's Mom Died When He Was Very Young

A lot about Denji’s early life is enigmatic, including his home life with his parents. However, there are at least a few things fans know about his father. For example, fans know Denji’s dad became an alcoholic who was abusive towards Denji, and who owed the Yakuza a lot of money. However, Denji’s mother is a much greater mystery.

It’s likely that she’s such a mystery to fans because she’s also a mystery for Denji himself. That’s because his mother died when Denji was still very young from a medical condition. According to Denji, this heart disease caused her to spit up blood, but nothing else about her identity or who she was as a person was ever talked about in the series after the first chapter in the manga. This mystery inspired a number of fan theories, including one which suggested that Makima could have been Denji's real mother. While Makima does take on an almost motherly role for him, that's likely due to the very fact that he barely had a mother growing up to begin with.

8 Every Romantic Relationship Denji Had Was With a Devil

Denji Has Kissed One Human, But it Was a Disgusting Drunken Mistake

Denji ends up in a number of toxic and unfortunate relationships throughout CSM. From Makima, to Reze, to Asa/Yoru, Denji can never seem to catch a break with women. Sadly, because of his identity as Chainsaw Man, Denji attracts people interested in his Devil heart, so most of the experiences he had with women tended to have been with Devils. In fact, all of his true romantic relationships and loves have always been Devils.

While things almost went to the next level with Himeno, luckily, she held back before it was too late. Nevertheless, that experience with Himeno throwing up in his mouth had an understandably strong impact on him. Additionally, Denji kissed who he believed was Asa Mitaka multiple times now, but it was actually Yoru, the War Devil taking over her body every time. Another human character who Denji nearly went to the next level with was Fumiko, but nothing substantial ever happened between them either. Denji has been cursed to be used by others due to his identity as Chainsaw Man, when all he ever wanted was to be loved for who he is as Denji.

7 Denji is Used By Everyone he Meets For a Good Reason

The Very Concept of Chainsaw Man Necessitates Denji's Treatment By Others

Denji is constantly being used by people in CSM, whether it’s Makima, Public Safety, or the Chainsaw Man Church. It’s not just that Denji gets the short end of the stick on accident: that’s a fundamental part of what Chainsaw Man is about. According to Tatsuki Fujimoto, just as a chainsaw is a tool that’s used by people, Chainsaw Man is objectified because it’s in his very nature as a chainsaw.

Denji is cursed to live in this perpetual cycle of being objectified due to the very thing he represents as Chainsaw Man. This quality isn’t only exclusive to Denji though, despite how he probably feels. It’s a trait that’s recognizable in every Devil Hybrid in the series. They tend to be used by others - whether large corporations, organizations, or individuals - for the needs of someone other than themselves.

6 Denji Killed His Own Father

The Truth of What Was Beyond the Door in Denji's Subconcious Was Even Worse Than Fans Expected

A recurring image in CSM Part 1 is a strange door in an alleyway thT always appears in Denji’s dreams. This door hides a dark secret which Pochita warns Denji not to open in his subconscious. It isn’t until Makima forces Denji to open this door following Aki’s death that the truth is revealed: Denji killed his father.

As it turns out, when Denji was a child, Denji’s father attacked him in a drunken rage, as he often would. This particular attack was even worse than the others, forcing Denji to fight back or be killed himself. Even though it was in self-defense, the reality that he killed his own father is something that still haunts Denji even far into Part 2.

5 Denji Feels Genuine Pain Every Time he Becomes Chainsaw Man

Denji's Transformation Into Chainsaw Man Hurts Him Just as Much as it Looks

As Chainsaw Man, Denji is part Devil, given him incredible strength and regenerative ability that makes him essentially immortal. However, he’s still a human being first and foremost, making the terrifying truth that he can feel his own chainsaws tear through his skin upon first transforming even more horrifying.

This explains a lot about Denji, because he seems to revel in pain. Denji even outlasted the Eternity Devil, who gave up during their fight because he couldn’t endure the pain anymore. Denji is more than willing to cut his own body in half if it means it’ll also hurt his opponent, as seen in the fight against the Whip, Sword and Spear Hybrids in Part 2. This willingness to embrace pain is what makes Quanxi admit to Yoru in Chapter 162 that, while Denji isn’t as good a fighter as she is, he’s “far more fearsome.”

4 Denji Was Created With a Lack of Ambition to Mirror Gen Z

Fujimoto Admires the Younger Generation's Ability to Live Day-to-Day

Part of what characterizes Denji is his general lack of personal desire or a meaning to his life. Denji searches for that meaning in his life, but generally his ambitions are quite minor. All he wants is to live a normal life, with good food to eat and a roof over his head. Anything other than that is just extra for him.

According to Tatsuki Fujimoto, this trait of Denji’s was created intentionally to mirror the younger generation today. As he put it in an interview with French publication BFMTV: “They want to live a simple life, day by day. I don't criticize them, I think that's very good to live like that. That's why I created Denji whose ambition is extremely low." Denji is supposed to mirror this trait in Gen Z that Fujimoto admires, and also make Denji a more relatable character to Shonen Jump’s core fanbase of young people ages 13 to 17.

3 Denji Had to Eat Toilet Paper to Survive

Denji is Known to Swallow Anything With Nutritional Value Due to His Tragic and Traumatic Childhood

Everyone knows Denji went through a terrible time in his childhood. Without his parents around, Denji had to fend for himself, leading to an early life of squalor with little more than the clothes on his back. Denji eventually learned to make a little money as a Devil Hunter along with Pochita’s help, but even in that case, he had to give all his money to the Yakuza to pay off his late father’s debt.

As poor as Denji was, he had to learn and adapt to survive in that situation. One of the most shocking revelations of his early life that he reveals to Asa in Chapter 165 is that he had to eat toilet paper in public parks. It’s a small detail that adds extra depth to what made Denji who he is in the series, helping to explain why he ever went to the extreme of fighting Devils to begin with.

2 Denji Would Have Died Young if He Didn’t Become Chainsaw Man

There Were Indications Denji Had the Same Terminal Illness as His Mother

Denji’s mother is known to have died due to a terminal illness that caused her to spit up blood. It’s unknown what this disease was, but according to Denji it was a heart condition. Sadly, it seems to have been passed down genetically. In chapter one of the manga, Denji is shown throwing up blood, just like his mother once did.

This seems to imply that Denji could have been fated to die young to the same disease that his mom did. Luckily for him, he was killed even earlier, forcing Pcjita to become Denji’s heart and turn him into Chainsaw Man to bring him back to life. In this way, not only did Pochita save Denji’s life from the Zombie Devil, but he also inadvertently saved Denji from the same terminal illness that killed his mother.

1 Denji is No Angel, But His Name Suggests Otherwise

Fujimoto Thought Naming Denji After Angels Made Sense Since He Fights Devils

Denji is far from a saintly figure in Chainsaw Man. In fact, he can often commit deplorable actions, and he has even admitted that his main motivation for being Chainsaw Man was because he “wanted the ladies to be all over me!” This is far from the traditional religious view of morality, yet that’s exactly what Fujimoto tapped into when naming Denji as a character.

According to Fujimoto, Denji’s name is based on the sound of the word “angel”, which is “tenshi” in Japanese. Fujimoto felt that Denji's personality didn't fit the name Tenshi, though, so after making the consonants more pronounced, Fujimoto ended up with Denji. The reason Denji was even named after an angel to begin with was simple: he fights Devils. This makes perfect sense, and it also explains the constant Christian imagery that crops up in the series, such as how many of the Fiends in the series being named after the choirs of the angels in the Bible.

Chainsaw Man

TV-MA

Anime

Action

Adventure

Following a betrayal, a young man left for dead is reborn as a powerful devil-human hybrid after merging with his pet devil and is soon enlisted into an organization dedicated to hunting devils. When his father died, Denji was stuck with a huge debt and no way to pay it back.

Release Date

October 11, 2022

Cast

Kikunosuke Toya , Ryan Colt Levy , Tomori Kusunoki , Suzie Yeung

Main Genre

Anime

Seasons

1

Studio

MAPPA

Creator

Tatsuki Fujimoto

Main Characters

Denji, Makima, Pochita, Power, Himeno, Kishibe

Number of Episodes

12

Network

Crunchyroll

Streaming Service(s)

Crunchyroll , Hulu