 Hey guys, so today I'm going to be trying something a little bit new today. I don't usually do scripted videos nor do I really do any kind of analysis, but this is a topic that I've kind of been wanting to talk about for a while. As a self-proclaimed insufferable feminist and nerd, my opinion on Chainsaw Man is, well, I love it. And I think, correct me if I'm wrong, a lot of women also feel similarly. Anime has never been the top tier for female representation. Many shonen women in anime can be strong, they're capable of it, but they rarely if ever get the spotlight. For example, Naruto's main female protagonist is notoriously annoying and useless. Demon Slayer has an extremely strong woman as the main protagonist, but she's criminally underused and never really gets any speaking lines. Boku no Hero, while on the surface it seems fine, it's got a lot of women, a lot of women who exhibit a lot of strong powers. It has Momo's outfit, great boy, and almost every single woman taking a defensive approach to fighting. Quite frankly, this list could go on for decades if I listed every AAA anime with horribly written women. Is that you Nobara? I love you Nobara. The main matter is, despite anime having lots of women a lot of the time, they're almost always underused, poorly written stereotypes that are kinda just there to be love interest or fan service. And you'd think going over the basic premise of chainsaw men, it'd be the same, right? I mean, we have all the hallmarks of a shitty fan service show. The main protagonist is just horny and wants to touch tits all the time, and will often do things just so he can touch a titty. And I mean, 3 out of 4 of the women in the anime have already given him the opportunity to do it. So, what differentiates this anime and others? Well, I'm going to be going over the 4 main women we've seen in the show so far, and dissect what exactly makes them so well written, and such a breath of fresh air for the anime watching female community. And I also do just want to say that this won't contain spoilers for the manga, but might for the anime. If you haven't seen season 1 yet, I strongly recommend you doing so before watching this video because I will be heading into spoiler territory. I want to note that these characters are in no particular order, and one being at the bottom of the list does not mean they're my least favorite. With that being said, Himeno is my least favorite. Let's face it, she's high key a p*****, but there's some really important aspects of this character flaw that I want to discuss. Chainsaw Man is no stranger to writing scummy people, a big reason I love the writing, but also a topic I'll get more into later. Typically with a character such as Himeno, she'd be a very scantily dressed character, probably with big behungas, portrayed in every single angle that specifically showed off her body to let the viewer know that she's very promiscuous. She would do very little outside of bouncing around and pressing her chest against various characters, and likely only be there for the mature audience's fan service. But Himeno is a playboy. It's been said in the show multiple times that she's kissed almost everyone on her team and is shown to have a thing for at least two characters on the show. However, there's a couple of things that set her off from the typical sultry and lusty stereotype and make her specifically a playboy. This isn't a slut shame or anything of the sort, but I do think there's a way to write a slutty character who's objectified and one who actually feels like a real person. The most important thing is that Himeno has agency, a luxury rarely afforded to these kind of characters. She's the head of her team and is shown to have more experience than the rest of them. She chooses to die for someone else's sake. It's implied multiple times throughout the show that she was one of the only people to survive in her previous teams. She carries a belief system based on this that we see on display in various episodes. And despite this belief, she still visits her teammate's graves because even though she thinks they're weak, she still mourns them. She lived a life entirely separate from the Himeno we're shown on screen and we see snippets of her values in her backstory and the way she treats others. Aside from how she treats others, the way Aki and everyone else treat her is also integral to this subversion of the typical stereotype. Rather than be annoyed by her or treat her as less than, she's rightfully treated as someone with experience. And when she passes, Aki quietly mourns the legacy she left him in the cigarette she chose to save for him. And listen, I get it. How she treated the boys on her team, namely the younger ones, is questionable at best. But I also think this is what makes her a well-written character. She is pointedly flawed. Her actions are never excused purely because she's a woman and I believe the show really does try to imply what she did was wrong. I mean, she even says herself that what she almost did with Denji was illegal. And while it does get pushed under the rug by the end of the arc, it's done because none of the characters in the show are particularly good people. It also gives her a pretty serious flawed that isn't just, oh, a woman too sensitive, cared too much. Which is a direction in flawed women that I feel is way too common. One more thing I want to talk about with Himeno is the scene in the beginning of episode 8. A lot of these scenes weren't in the manga and were original shots from Mappa. And I think despite them being a part of the episode in series, they do an insane amount of work in humanizing Himeno. She's drunk and clumsy. She opens the fridge to get a beer and enjoys the feeling of cold air on her face. She gets dressed for bed into something that's actually plausible and comfortable. And there's also a shower scene in this portion, but they don't show her naked body for fanservice. Just her drunkenly removing her top to push on the fact that she's intoxicated. She's drafted to show her acting for herself, by herself, and aren't just for the sake of another character. I dislike Himeno as a person, but I do also think she feels very real. A real person with real motives and desires and flaws. One that has agency, one that makes mistakes, and isn't just a common stereotype. Kobani's character follows a typical anime trope that I've actually seen applied on both men and women, but I do think she's an interesting example of it. She's constantly terrified of fighting despite being in a position where it's required of her. Some of it reminds me of Zenitsu from Demon Slayer, but generally much more likeable. I won't go into too many details about why these characters with a similar base end up having different fan reactions because this isn't a Demon Slayer character hate video, although even the first time Kobani was shown in the anime was a mixed reaction. Anime-only fans didn't really like her because they found her high-pitched squealing at Zenitsu annoying, whereas manga fans found her relatable. However, as the anime progressed and showed more of Kobani's character, a lot more people started liking her and finding her relatable as well, and I think this is for a couple reasons. And I think most importantly, Kobani is not useless. Sure, she kinda just starts that way at the beginning, but it's not like there was a lot she could have done to just save everyone in the hotel arc besides kill Denji, which, both in her defense and against her, she did try. Her behavior is also mirrored by her male counterpart, Adai, as he's also scared shitless right along with her. Later on in the anime, we see her actively save Denji's life in one scene and sneak up on a character that was previously shown to be powerful in another. Not to mention, this is all while she's awakened cognizant and pushing through her fears to help her coworkers. She's, honestly, kind of a badass, which does wonders for a character that is constantly as terrified as her. Something important to note as well is how this fear is played by other characters. I think Himano especially does a wonderful job at highlighting exactly why this behavior is really not all that crazy. She states at some point in the story that Kobani's fear is the logical way this job should be handled. People who aren't afraid in this line of work have a screw loose, so Kobani reacting in a terrified way is the way any other person likely would have handled it. This is something that I think gets lost in a lot of shodan mongas where the protagonists are facing otherworldly situations. This stuff is fucked up. We're so used to seeing gung-ho protagonists who fight every demon and villain in life or death situations, always winning because I have power or friendship or whatever. The world in Chainsaw Man feels about as dangerous as it really is, and Kobani feels like a very logical piece in that puzzle. And don't get me wrong, Kobani's by no means a new character archetype, even in the realm of men. Actually, from a lot of AAA anime, we have characters like Zenitsu, Usa, Rape Boy, who take up roles of cowardly and occasionally useless in battle. What makes her a treat for the female viewer base is that she's relatable. In cases with the aforementioned men, they're typically cowardly until they're pushed almost to a breaking point. They get very little done in fights unless by some kind of accident or someone else forcing them to do something. They generally have no real reason to even be on the team they're on and could leave at any time if they choose to do so. And while not everybody can have Kobani's exact life, I mean, obviously she's fictional, she's just a woman rightfully scared of her terrifying job that she feels like she has to keep for the sake of supporting her family. She begrudgingly does what she has to do in order to get by, but excels the best she can at the work she's given. Even in the scenes where she's violently terrified, she still makes an effort to fix and survive the situation that she's in. For example, attempting to kill Danji. It's a pretty innovative way to subvert this very annoying character archetype and to subvert it with a woman at that. Hauer is one of my all time favorite women, as I'm sure she is for a lot of other people. I mean, how do you hate a woman based off of Eric Cartman? No, this is not a joke. I looked it up and I can no longer watch either South Park or CSM without thinking of either character. Anyways, there's a lot to say about Power's character, so I kind of just want to get right into it. She's feral, like actually feral, like wild animal feral. And I love that. A girl who's genuinely just stupid and disgusting. It's a very rare thing to see. Very few anime women are genuinely crazy bitches and not in the yandere kind of way, not in the edgy to be edgy insanity, where they kind of just laugh evilly all the time and occasionally do something mildly fucked up to the protagonist. This is a girl who can nonically smells like 10 kinds of ass. And that is so real. She's actively big headed in a way that feels like an overconfident child, while also having the IQ of a bag of peanuts. She gets her ass kicked and still pretends she was the toughest one in battle and sometimes she genuinely does kick ass. Everything she does is in character and never stops just to be a plot point. It's hilarious, but also so refreshing. Another one of my favorite aspects of Power's character doesn't even directly come from her, but the way other characters interact with her. Normally in a three lead cast, two males and one female, the girl is always predisposed to a relationship with the lead man in that three. Oh, that's not so much. So. It makes her feel like all she's there for is to be the token woman and the only thing they can think to do with her past as purpose is to make her a love interest for the main character. It is outstanding how well Power and Denji's relationship is written, how close they are, without it ever getting to the level of love interest. There's never been characters where they're opposite gender main leads and I can confidently say they are platonic soulmates and nothing more. In fact, both male leads are never shown to have any interest in her and they view her as nothing more than friends or coworkers. When she trains with Denji, they're equals in the fight, each bringing their own fighting style to the table. It makes her feel like she's an equal part of this friendship and it fucking rocks. I'm gonna try my hardest not to go into manga spoilers in this one. I haven't read a whole lot of the manga so far and I'm still working on it, but unfortunately a lot guides both for me so it's a bit hard to discern what the wider anime fandom does and doesn't know. However, I do think that many people are picking up on Makima's general vibe. She is a genuinely terrifying person which feels uncommon for characters in general, but I think it's especially exciting for me that it's done through a woman. The way she coldly stares anytime you look at her, the way her eyes never smile with her mouth, the cold unflinching demeanor she has even when dealing with people that others would be scared of because she knows exactly how to work them. She knows that regardless, she'll be on top based on pure intimidation and power alone. Now, references aside, I think this is best highlighted in the anime when she's talking to the Yakuza leader. Anyone in the same situation as her would have showed some signs of fear even if just a little. These are dangerous people that have a lot of power to hurt somebody they don't like and yet she sits there surrounded by powerful men with an unwavering and uneasy smile that shows she has no fear of coming into the situation. She knows exactly what she's doing and has the situation in the palm of her hands with nothing more than her power and cold, brutal wit. For this little tidbit right here, I'm gonna put a trigger warning. So if you're uncomfortable with anything related to child grooming, I recommend skipping to the time stamp on the screen. All right, back to it. A very important aspect of Makima's character is how she uses her sexuality. This is something that is poorly handled in media in general, but I think Makima's creep factor is where the stereotypes of her expectations. When she does it, it's terrifying and for a lot of people, even uncomfortable. Even in the scenes where she's being flirtatious with Denji, it all feels so calculated. Denji is by all accounts a little more than a homeless and horny teenage boy starved for human affection. Given he's an easy target for the kind of grooming she does, and it is grooming, but that's what makes her so terrifying. While demon hunters in this capacity don't exist in real life, groomers with real power over disadvantaged children do. It's a truly horrifying thing that makes the power of Makima feel so real. Makima's subtly manipulating this teenage boy into cooperating with her and doing her bidding simply by giving the poor kid a titty to hold and enticing him with the promise of more physical affection. And she's doing it all with a blank face. One that says she has no problems doing this and one that says she knows her every intention. Makima is a terrifying foreboding woman who makes calculated plays into achieving her goals. She's an extremely evil and nuanced female character one we rarely see in media, let alone with women. Every woman in this series is just a little bit fucked up which I think is a great draw and makes for some very well written characters. Given a lot of this is boiled down to Fujimoto just being a great storyteller his world feels very lived in and his characters feel very real including his women. If you haven't read the manga and are hungry for more content after the anime I strongly recommend reading it. And if you don't wanna reread what you've already seen season one ends right before chapter 39 so you can start there. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the video. Sorry about the amount of time this one took to put out. I planned it for last week but it ended up being a much heavier editing job than I expected. I hope you guys all think it's worth it. If you guys like content like this please be sure to leave a like and let me know what other manga or animes you'd like explored. I do love delving into topics like this and would love to do more. Also be sure to tune in on the 24th as I'll be doing a cosplay showcase and vlog from the anime con I do every year but thank you guys for watching. Bye.