User:DrJrGenHonMrMrs/Sandbox/Makima

Makima
Chainsaw Man character
First appearance	Chainsaw Man chapter 1: Dog & Chainsaw (December 3, 2018)
Created by	Tatsuki Fujimoto
Voiced by	Japanese: Tomori Kusunoki English: Suzie Yeung
In-universe information
Species	Devil (Control Devil)

Makima (Japanese: マキマ, Hepburn: Makima) is a fictional character from Tatsuki Fujimoto's manga series Chainsaw Man. She is the main antagonist of Part 1, the "Public Safety Saga", and serves as the caretaker of main character Denji.

In the anime adaptation, she is voiced by Tomori Kusunoki in Japanese and Suzie Yeung in English. The character was praised by critics and reviewers due to her enigmatic nature and her horror elements. Since the series' debut, Makima has proven to be one of its most iconic and popular characters, making appearances in merchandise and collaborative events.

Creation

Suzie Yeung voices Makima in the English dub of the Chainsaw Man anime adaptation.

According to series creator Tatsuki Fujimoto, Makima was the first character in Chainsaw Man that he solidly envisioned "both inside and outside", as a figure that represented "domination". Makima was inspired by the character Benten from the novel The Eccentric Family, inheriting his nature as an "unfathomable being" ranked above humans hiding his own "sadness". Makima's name was also a play on the series' premise of chainsaws as a cutting tool; "cutting" the syllable "ki" out of her name would form the word "mama", reflecting protagonist Denji's pursuit of "maternal things".

Tomori Kusunoki voiced Makima in the original Japanese version of the series. Before being cast in the role, Kusunoki was an avid fan of Makima as she appeared in the manga, even praying to a photo and altar of her during the auditioning process. Kusunoki admired Makima for being an adult who was "never in a hurry" and would leave "room for everything".

For the English-language adaptation, Suzie Yeung voiced the character. In order to familiarize herself with Makima's final motives, Yeung read the Chainsaw Man manga after being cast as the character. Yeung emphasized how Makima "knows a lot more than she lets on" and that the character's motives factored into her performance. She cited Makima as a "very confident character" and conveyed the character's complexities via subtle changes in her voice, describing the process as a "really big balancing act". Yeung described her overall approach as "soft" and "disarm[ing]" but with a "threatening" undertone, contrasting Makima's "very specific" and secret motivations and intentions with the easy-to-understand nature of her other roles.

Appearances

Makima is the Control Devil, a being born from humanity's fear of control. She takes the appearance of a young woman with red hair tied in a single braid who wears the Public Safety Devil Hunter uniform, resembling that of a security guard. Makima uses her intimidating but gentle facade to hide her true nature as a Machiavellian manipulator who desires above all else to control the world and rid it of concepts that she perceives as "evil". Throughout the series, Makima demonstrates a number of superpowers, including killing targets remotely via telekinesis, using the finger gun gesture to blast targets akin to an actual gun, and most prominently mind control (albeit only once her true nature is revealed).

Makima appears at the end of the first chapter and first episode of Chainsaw Man, offering main character Denji food and shelter in exchange for his service and treating him like a dog, threatening him with death if he refuses to comply.Throughout the series, Makima acts as a mentor figure to Denji and teases him with the prospect of romantic and sexual relations, granting him a job as one of her Public Safety Devil Hunters and setting him up with a found family consisting of fellow Devil Hunters Aki Hayakawa and Power. While Makima's morality and goals are kept nebulous for much of the series, she is eventually revealed to be the Control Devil, and the true primary threat faced by Denji. In a ploy to awaken the true Chainsaw Man, which has taken up residence inside Denji as his dog-like companion Pochita, Makima kills the people most important to Denji and destroys his newfound lifestyle to drive him into despair. Despite her best efforts to dominate Chainsaw Man or be consumed by him, Denji and Pochita are able to defeat Makima by the former cooking and eating her body as an act of "love", causing the Control Devil to be reincarnated into a new being, Nayuta (Japanese: ナユタ, Hepburn: Nayuta) Later chapters reveal the Control Devil to be one of the setting's Four Horsemen, alongside War (Yoru), Famine (Fami), and the then-unrevealed Death.

Reception

Rafael Motomayor praised Makima as "one of the best characters in an already rather phenomenal show", as well as a "clever take on the archetypical female anime character" that stood out due to her sinister and manipulative nature. In particular, Motomayor praised a scene in Episode 9 of the anime where she uses ritualistic hand gestures and human sacrifices to kill the Gun Devil's agents as one of the most "unnerving" and "terrifying" scenes in the series. Louis Kemner drew attention to Makima's popularity and memorability, stating "she may be a monster, but fans still love her". Kemner juxtaposed Makima's "selfish" goals and actions with the more sympathetic motivations of the series' other characters, and compared and contrasted her relationship with Denji to that of Satoru Gojo and Yuji Itadori in Jujutsu Kaisen, as well as Jiraiya and Naruto Uzumaki in Naruto. Skyler Allen highlighted Makima's "apparent kindness" towards Denji and contrasted it with the latter's other interactions in the series, highlighting Denji's relationship with Makima as a "truly intimate moment" from his perspective as opposed to the other interactions being "purely transactional", despite the dramatic irony of viewers catching on to Makima's malevolent nature.

In a popularity poll of the manga, Makima took the second spot, only behind Power. In another poll, she retained her second-place ranking, this time behind Aki Hayakawa. Makima also appeared in the crossover from Goddess of Victory: Nikke representing Chainsaw Man with Power and Himeno. The web series Death Battle depicted a fully-animated deathmatch between Makima and Satoru Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen in a 2023 episode due to both characters' similar positions of power and influence, with Gojo as the victor. At the 8th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, two of Makima's international voice actors were nominated for the "Best Voice Artist Performance" category, namely Luísa Viotti (Brazilian Portuguese) and Bernadetta Ponticelli (Italian); however, they lost to Léo Rabelo's Gojo and Mosè Singh's Denji, respectively. At the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, singer Shania Twain wore an outfit and wig that were noted to closely resemble Makima's signature look.

(Power workspace)

Critics enjoyed the handling of Power. By her introduction, Anime News Network praised her, calling her "best girl" despite how she sets up Denji in her introduction. Anime UK News enjoyed the introduction of Power and her first interactions with Denji as Denji tries to manipulate her to touch her chest which Power accepts, bringing more humor. Her platonic relationship with Denji was praised, for causing a major contrast between other relationships in the series. Due to negative views on Denji's characterization, Polygon believed the series became far more interesting when introducing the characters of Power and Makima. The Fandom Post also enjoyed Power's character for how she allows Denji to touch her chest after her introduction and how comical are the mentions of her excrement when she starts living with Denji and Aki.

Comic Book Resources found it strange how in early chapters of Part 2, Denji rarely recalls Power and the promise the two made in Part 1. Kotaku also praised the dynamic between Power and Denji, while also highlighting how they are related with Aki to the point of calling them "wholesome". Meanwhile, Otaku USA praised the handling of the main trio in early chapters due to the drama the cast endures. The Mary Sue went on to call her the best character in the series. Her brutal training sequences were also well received as another way to bring comedy and keep the leads as antiheroic regardless of the loss of Himeno in the series, contrasting the more relatable Aki. IGN praised how contrasting is Power's personality from the rest of the cast with the most serious one as she is not exaggerated through her comical scenes. The character's role from the light novel Buddy Stones was praised by Anime News Network for her comical traits and her chemistry with Denji.

In a popularity poll of the manga, Power took the first spot. In another poll, she took second place behind Aki Hayakawa. Christopher Farris from Anime News Network listed Power as his favorite female character from 2022, praising her dynamic with Denji and the portrayal given by Ai Fairouz. A figurine of Power was also made by MAPPA. At the 8th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, Power was nominated for Best Supporting Character. Three voice actors of the character were nominated in the Best Voice Artist Performance categories which includes French's Zina Khakhoulia and German's Franziska Trunte, with the latter winning the award.