8 Ways to Understand Denji from Chainsaw Man

This is a text version of my recent video about Denji from Chainsaw Man. If you would prefer to watch that instead, here is the link.

Chainsaw Man is a stupidly stupendous manga, and the recent anime adaptation that covers the first half of the Public Safety arc recently wrapped up and fender-bended my expectations for it. As a result, I highly endorse both iterations over the act of breathing, so you should check them before reading this or anything because everything is a spoiler.

For the most part, I think audiences have met the series on its terms and have accepted the ride for what it is, Denji and all. But now and then, I see the occasional person who isn’t entirely sure how to take Denji himself. Denji, after all, has some inappropriate behaviour and views, yet he is the story’s hero. And when I was watching the anime earlier on, I did start to wonder what the logic was behind me unconsciously accepting Denji the way he is as opposed to other protagonists who might be considered similarly inappropriate.

So here are eight ways to understand Denji better:

1. Firstly Denji, unlike, say, Rudy from Mushoku Tensei, is not a piece of shit. Instead, he is a dirtbag, specifically a teenage dirtbag, perhaps the ultimate teenage dirtbag out of all media. By the way, I would highly recommend…