Pochita

"I've always... loved listening to you talk about your dreams. This is a contract. I'll give you my heart. In exchange... show me your dreams."

Pochita (ポチタ, Pochita^?) is the titular overarching protagonist of the Chainsaw Man manga and anime series. He is the Chainsaw Devil (チェンソーの悪 (あく) 魔 (ま) , Chensō no Akuma^?) who embodies the fear of chainsaws. He was the original Chainsaw Man (チェンソーマン, Chensō Man^?) prior to becoming Denji's heart.

Appearance[]

Devil Form[]

Near-death State[]

After disappearing from his battle with the Four Horsemen and Weapon Devils, Pochita is reduced to a “near-death state”. In this state, he appears to be a small orange canine-like Devil with a chainsaw-like appendage protruding from the center of his head. Handles emerge from his body allowing him to be wielded like a chainsaw, and his short tail is in the shape of a chainsaw's pull cord.^[1]

Normal[]

Pochita's true Devil form is of a large, humanoid Devil with four arms and a chainsaw protruding from each, with another chainsaw coming from the front of his head, similar to Denji's Hybrid form. He towers over regular-sized humans and possesses dark armored plates or scales that cover his entire body. An intestine still connected to his stomach is wrapped around his neck, resembling a scarf or a collar. It can be used to carry people like Kobeni Higashiyama or impale opponents with brute force.^[2][3]

Hybrid Form[]

After making a contract with Denji, Pochita assimilates himself with him, fusing with his heart and becoming part of Denji's anatomy, thus creating a hybrid. This allows Denji to become Chainsaw Man by pulling the chainsaw cord in his chest.

In this state, Pochita is smaller, has lost the chainsaw on his head, all his appendages and both handles. Pochita also has blood vessels connected to Denji. Pochita however still retains his trademark cute canine face. Denji's chainsaw cord is also directly connected to the top of Pochita's head.

When preparing to fight Makima, Denji removed Pochita from his body. Pochita then took on a Hybrid form similar to Denji's to fool Makima, with the only difference being that his arms were covered in the armored plates or scales he has in his true Devil form.^[4]

Pochita as Denji's heart

Pochita's true form: The Hero of Hell

Pochita changing his form to resemble Denji as a Hybrid.

Personality[]

Unlike most Devils, Pochita communicated solely through barks and whines like an actual dog.^[5] However, after fusing with Denji, he is able to communicate telepathically with him. He continuously communicates with Denji through dreams, warning him to not 'open the door'.

Pochita deeply cared for Denji after his life was saved by the human, despite the Devil's general hatred toward humankind. He willingly gave up his heart to Denji so that he could fulfill his dreams which Pochita loved hearing about.^[6] He also showed that he knows Denji very well and is able to mimic Denji's personality and behavior to fool Makima.^[7]

Pochita exhibits a more erratic personality when in his true Devil form, as shown when he quickly murders anyone who expressed even the slightest bit of hostility towards him in the burger joint. However, even in this state he remembers his friend Denji's wish of trying a hamburger that isn't rotten and going on a date with a girl, which leads him to kidnap Kobeni Higashiyama.^[8] Later, he tells Denji that he always dreamed of being hugged, but his strength made that impossible, implying that his murder spree at the burger joint was accidental due to him being unable to properly control his strength around others.

He also seems to answer the calls of help from humans and Devils alike, proven when he saved both Makima and Kobeni from their problematic situations, though he later brutally assaulted the former after completing his task.^[8][9] Despite this, his love for Denji remained, as he was keen to fulfill his friend's dreams, and later even sacrificed himself to save Kobeni.^[10][11]

In spite of being a devil, Pochita appears to have a form of attachment or respect for humanity. This can be supported by the fact he has consumed various devils that are dangerous to humanity, such as the AIDS Devil, Arnolone Syndrome Devil, Light of a Star That Breaks Children's Minds Devil, Mount Hio Eruption Devil, Nazi Devil, World War II Devil and the Sixth Sense Devil.^[12] By consuming the Nuclear Weapons Devil & partially consuming the War Devil, he also prevented any more wars from rising and the risk of nuclear armageddon.^[10]

Furthermore, when Pochita disguised himself as Denji to fight Makima, he asked her whether she would eliminate bad movies from the new world she planned to create. After replying that she believes a world without bad movies would be better, Pochita realizes that he has no choice but to kill Makima, demonstrating that he does not use his erasure ability lightly and that he only uses it against devils representing very deadly concepts.^[13]

Abilities[]

Being regarded as the Devil that Devils fear the most, the Chainsaw Devil is considered one of the most powerful entities in the series after the Primordial Devils, being able to fend off hordes of Devils in Hell unscathed. The hunt for his heart alone was enough to cause an international conflict, and even Makima, one of the Four Horsemen, considered herself inferior to him, needing the public's adoration to weaken and defeat him.

As a Devil, the Chainsaw Devil possesses all of the standard Devil abilities. These include the ability to make contracts with humans, restore his health by consuming blood and revival into hell after his death. However, unlike most of the Devils, certain aspects of his personality have never changed. No matter how many times he was killed, he would always come back to killing other Devils.

His first contract with Denji was that, in exchange for consuming his blood, Pochita assists him to pay his debts. It is confirmed later on as a real contract rather than the "promise" presented by a young Denji. Later on, after Denji is fatally injured by the Zombie Devil, Pochita became the heart of Denji in exchange for Denji living a "normal life."^[14]

Physical Prowess[]

• Immense Speed: As noted by Beam, the Chainsaw Devil was renowned for his amazing speed. When fighting Makima and the hybrids, he effortlessly assaulted them before they could even react. He moves almost instantly, making it look like he is teleporting to his opponents. When the Hell Devil was summoned to defeat Chainsaw Man, it couldn't even attack before being effortlessly dismembered.

• Immense Durability: The Chainsaw Devil's body is incredibly tough, being able to survive sonic lashes, explosions, piercing attacks, massive concussive blasts capable of sending him into space and atmospheric entry burns with little to no major repercussions. He was also able to survive the onslaught of Makima's Thousand Year Spear attack, even when weakened by public adoration, though he was in critical condition thereafter.

• Immense Strength: As stated by Pochita himself, when he was Chainsaw Man, he was so strong that he couldn't do basic social interactions like receiving or giving a hug. This is even more highlighted on his visit to the Burger Shop, where even small movements of his arms were enough to kill several locals, probably accidentally. To avoid unintentionally injuring Kobeni Higashiyama with his force, he had to carry her using his intestine scarf. Later, while fighting the hybrids, his attack on Quanxi and Miri Sugo was so powerful that it destroyed several buildings and effortlessly decapitated both of them.

• Immense Healing Factor: As a full Devil, Pochita's regenerative abilities are enhanced to the point that he completely regenerated his body from just his heart after throwing it from space without needing blood, even when suffering intense atmospheric entry burns.^[7] Later on, this ability of Pochita was used cleverly by Denji that he removed Pochita from his body by leaving his body without a heart and let Pochita regenerate completely to mimic Denji and fool Makima.

Makima prepares herself to face Chainsaw Man.

Chainsaw Man defeats Makima almost immediately after.

Chainsaw Man effortlessly kills a man.

Chainsaw Man destroys multiple buildings while fighting the hybrids.

Chainsaw Man regenerates his body from just a heart.

Devil Powers[]

• Devil Erasure: The Chainsaw Devil is infamously able to consume other Devils, causing the "name" they represent to vanish from public consciousness while also erasing their physical existence. Barem Bridge speculates that chainsaws may have had many different uses originally, but Chainsaw Man repeatedly consuming Devils and erasing their related concepts eventually left the chainsaws' only use to cut down trees, with Pochita's concept erasure being a remnant of that.^[15] Kishibe was unable to recall historical events or things such as the Holocaust, Nazis or nuclear weapons, meaning that the Chainsaw Devil at some point consumed their respective Devils.^[12] The erasure process can be partial: after the War Devil was partially devoured, the concept of "war" has remained, but no more wars have broken out in the human world.^[16] Powerful attacks can force Pochita to vomit the devils he consumed and restore their concepts to existence.^[17][18] Pochita can choose which consumed devils he vomits back up, as seen when he vomited the Snow Devil and Bitterness Devil to make Denji remember the concepts when he was at his lowest point.^[19][20] It is unclear whether Pochita can voluntarily regurgitate all the devils he has ever consumed, or if he can only do this for devils he has recently devoured.

• Chainsaw Appendage: As an embodiment of fear of chainsaws, protruding from Pochita's head is a chainsaw shaped appendage that functions as an actual chainsaw.^[1] This ability is activated when the cord in his tail is pulled. As a full Devil, besides his head, he has four arms with chainsaw appendages. He can also generate chainsaws from his legs.
  • Chain Entanglement: Pochita is able to disconnect his chains from his chainsaws to wrap around his opponent's body. He uses this to pull them closer to him. He's able to capture multiple opponents with it. Beam claimed that the Chainsaw Devil could use his chains to hook around buildings to move around quickly in the past, but this has yet to be seen currently.

• Body Assimilation: Pochita can fuse with a human body, restoring it to full health in the process. It was done on Denji, turning him into a hybrid. It is later revealed by Makima that this fusion occurred as a result of the contract. In exchange for Denji living a "normal life", Pochita becomes the heart of Denji.^[14]
  • Devil Transformation: Should Denji's contract with Pochita ever be broken, Pochita can possess Denji's body and return to his original form. Makima stated that he has killed her 26 times in this state. The form seems to be under the control of Pochita as it is shown that he remembers Denji's dreams and tries to fulfill the requirements of their contract by eating a hamburger and going on a date with a girl. After being defeated by Makima to save Kobeni Higashiyama and later being rescued by Power, Denji's contract was restored and Pochita reverted back to his heart form while Denji transformed back into his normal hybrid. Pochita still can transform into his Devil form if Denji removes the heart from his body, in this form, Pochita has retain a calmer personality and has two arms similar to Denji's hybrid form, however his arms are still covered with an armor.

Chapter Appearance[]

Public Safety Saga[]

Academy Saga[]

Anime Appearances[]

Trivia[]

• Pochita's rankings in the Popularity Polls are as follows:
  • Pochita ranked 9th in the First Popularity Poll with 9,527 votes.
  • Pochita ranked 9th in the Second Popularity Poll with 26,722 votes.
• Pochita's dog form bears a heavy resemblance to the Makita brand of chainsaws.
  • In fact, his name might be a play of Pochi (a common dog name in japan) and the suffix "Ta" (from Makita).
• Pochita seems to embody Trionigophobia, the fear of chainsaws or saws in general.
• Pochita's true form was likely inspired by the Black Gauna from the manga series Abara, by Tsutomu Nihei. A series that Tatsuki Fujimoto said served as one of his inspirations for Chainsaw Man.^[21]
  • Coincidentally, the protagonist of Abara is named Kudou Denji (albeit the "Denji" in Kudou's name is spelled differently.)
• The Angel Devil's conversation with Aki Hayakawa implies that all of the Public Safety Devils and Fiends (at least the ones who work as Devil Hunters) were all killed by the Chainsaw Man.^[22]

References[]

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