All devils are born with a name, and of one those names is Makima. Yes, let’s unravel this controlling and manipulative devil from Chainsaw Man! Chainsaw Man is an ongoing manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto that’s soon to be an anime available on services like Crunchyroll. The series follows the troubles of Denji, a debt-ridden devil hunter who fuses with a chainsaw-dog devil named Pochita. After getting to know Denji, Makima enters the story with a soft smile and big plans.
Note that this will contain spoilers up to chapter 103 of the Manga, so go read it or wait for the anime if you want to get the full experience. Anyway, if you’re ready to know Makima now, let’s go!
Who is Makima in Chainsaw Man?
Makima is a lovely official within the Public Safety Devil Hunters (PSDH), a group in Japan dedicated to hunting the toughest devils. She meets Denji as he’s cleaning up the mess of the yakuza possessed by the Zombie Devil. With the threat of death if he says no, Denji agrees to join the PSDH at her request. This positions her as his superior for the first few arcs of the series, but hints of her bigger plans and true identity litter the path to the big reveal.
What Kind of Devil is Makima?
In truth, she is the Control Devil, not a human who contracted with a top-secret devil as she led others to believe.
What Does Makima Look Like?
Makima is a young adult female who dresses in a high-waisted business suit throughout the series, except for some figments of Denji’s imagination. Her auburn hair is kept in a braided ponytail with long side bangs.
Her eyes are one of her most notable features. The base color is yellow, and she has concentric red circles for her pupils – a pattern similar to the Rinnegan from Naruto.
She never reveals a different form.
What is Makima’s Personality?
Makima has an assured and domineering personality that has hints of matriarchal authority. She is commonly seen with a light smile on her face that doesn’t reach her eyes. The most pronounced looks are when she is ordering and looking down on someone, when the disdainful frown clearly shows across her whole face.
She uses whatever is available to move towards her goals, including lying to her allies, using them as live bait, stoking their lusts, and abusing their emotions. Kindness and friendliness aren’t beyond her, but it is always shown to have an end goal.
What are Makima’s Relationships?
Makima frequently uses her aloof appeal to create followers. Denji falls for her almost immediately, and the senior Aki also has a serious infatuation. A later group of subordinates is motivated by the potential of a date for killing Chainsaw Man.
She displays a particular fondness for Denji from the moment she meets him, frequently attempting to be in his presence in a way that was noticeable for other members of the PSDH. In truth, she is interested in Pochita, who she wants as both a tool and a companion. Getting Denji to like her more, including actively seducing him, was part of that goal.
Kishibe, another member of the PSDH, maintains a friendly workplace relationship with Makima on the surface. He takes on Denji and Power, another devil hybrid, as students by her request. Behind the scenes, he views her as a threat and actively works to kill her.
She loves animals, especially dogs. When Denji visits her home, he is overwhelmed by her personal pack for the duration of his stay.
What are Makima’s Abilities in Chainsaw Man?
As the incarnation of the Control Devil outside of Hell, Makima has a set of basic devil powers plus ones that match her thematic. All devil powers scale in power according to the fear that humanity has towards the devil’s concept. For example, Bucky, the Chicken Devil, was weak enough to keep as a high school class pet.
Domination
Makima’s core ability as the devil of control is the power to command others. They instantly follow her orders to the best of their ability, even if it means harm to themselves.
The power works on animals, humans, devilmen, and devils, as shown by her controlling members from all divisions of the Public Safety Devil Hunters. The primary condition is that the victim considers themselves below the Control Devil, so it doesn’t work on strong-willed foes.
Makima uses the control to gather information from small creatures that often go ignored, such as mice and birds.
Blood Drinking
Human blood is a form of sustenance and power for devils, and a fresh batch of blood lets them quickly regenerate from wounds of any severity. They can survive on other food, but they prefer blood in most cases.
Contracts
Contracts are supernatural agreements between a devil and a human. The terms are binding on both ends, though the source of the enforcement is not yet explained.
Reincarnation
Devils alternate between living in the mortal world and living in Hell, reincarnating on the other plane with each death. Being eaten by the Chainsaw Man stops the reincarnation process, along with removing their name and the fear it brings.
Teleporting
Makima ambushes Reze, the Bomb Devil, by commanding a horde of mice to form a mound the size of her body. The mound of mice then morphed into her form.
Force Projection
Makima can project an invisible force capable of major harm from a distance. In personal combat, she typically forms finger guns and says “Bang”, a comical technique that produces devastating results.
Described by another character as a “bullshit power”, Makima performed a ritual where she commanded human sacrifices to say the names of members of a group attacking the devil hunters. A crushing force smashes the named victim to paste, with an accuracy that allowed it to kill one victim without harming the human shield he was attempting to hide behind.
Damage Transference
Through a contract with the Prime Minister of Japan, Makima quickly regenerates from any wounds without the need to drink any blood. Instead, a random citizen of the country takes on the damage. The transference isn’t immediate most of the time, but she seems to recover within a few minutes. When the transference target is close by and directly connected to her, it’s nearly instantaneous.
Physical Prowess
Devils have enhanced speed and strength, and Makima is no different. She goes toe-to-toe with Chainsaw Man in melee combat, his area of expertise.
Intelligence and Manipulation
Makima is highly intelligent and can easily manipulate most of the people around her, even without using her devil powers.
Is Makima the Strongest Devil in Chainsaw Man?
Makima is not the strongest devil or even in the top tier, but her power level is amongst the second highest tier and more than enough to make her a powerful antagonist.
Devil rankings correspond to how feared the devil’s concept is, unless they’ve been gobbled up by the Chainsaw Devil. Makima is not one of the Primal Fears, such as Darkness, but she effectively dispatches a large number of other devils through her manipulations. She is a member of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, equivalent to the Conquest horseman.
What is Makima’s fate in Chainsaw Man?
A complex and supernatural storyline makes the question more difficult to directly answer, but the incarnation of the Control Devil known as Makima no longer exists.
Makima fights Denji in her desire to gain control of Pochita. While she doesn’t explain why she doesn’t use it, she abstains from using her long-range crushing ability and instead fights him directly with the help of several controlled allies. Whether she truly intended to win is debatable, since she actively gives him blood at one point to “kill him [herself].”
In the melee, Denji surprises her by using a doppelganger to trick her into thinking she’s won. Catching her off-guard, he slices a long gash across her body. The chainsaw was made from the blood of Power, so it inhibited her regeneration.
Then, he devises a way to fully kill her, even with her immunity to harm: he would eat her and become one with her. This fate was heavily foreshadowed by Makima herself saying that she’d be fine with that ending. Since Denji is doing the eating and not the Chainsaw Devil, her name isn’t erased.
The plan is apparently successful when Kishibe brings the next reincarnation of the Control Devil, Nayuta, to meet and live with Denji as an adopted younger sibling. He remarks that Nayuta could easily become the next Makima. Denji also took in Makima’s dogs, so don’t worry about them.