Anti-Heroes in anime seem to have regained their popularity in recent years. After all, characters like Eren from Attack on Titan, Ainz from Overlord, And Moriarty from Moriarty The Patriot, just to name a few, are extremely famous among anime fans.
However, if there’s one character that deserves the title as the ultimate anti-hero who stands smugly on top of the other anti-heroes in anime, then it has to be Denji from Chainsaw Man. Yes, he might be the newest addition to the extremely long list of anti-heroes that has graced the screen throughout the years, but we found several convincing reasons as to why he should be considered to be the ultimate anti-hero.
He is an Enemy of Evil, Not an Ally of Justice
One of the most common principles of iconic heroic characters, such as Deku from My Hero Academia or Tanjiro from Demon Slayers, is the fact that they are both an Ally of Justice, and an Enemy of Evil. This means that they will uphold justice to the best of their ability, while also doing everything they can to vanquish evil. They will protect innocent citizens, and defeat the bad guys.
An anti-hero like Denji is certainly an Enemy of Evil, but he is not an Ally of Justice. Yes, he will do everything that he can think of in order to defeat the bad guys, but he couldn’t care less about innocent citizens. He is there to beat the living hell out of the villains. He’s not there to protect any careless civilians who may be caught in the crossfire.
In Denji’s head, his only responsibility as a devil hunter is to hunt devils. To him, protecting the people is not part of his job description. So as long as he can defeat those pesky devils, then he doesn’t really care about anything or anyone.
Extremely Selfish And Self-Centered
When they decide to go after an enemy, an anti-hero is typically driven by personal reasons. It may be revenge, it may be due to a certain objective that they have to fulfill, it might even be due to something as simple as because they like doing it. One thing for sure, they do what they do because of selfish reasons. Most of the time, they simply happen to help other people during their quest to reach their objective.
For Denji, his reason to be a Devil Hunter is so that he can lead a normal life. He faces all kinds of powerful devils just so that he can eat whatever he wants. He tries his best to find the catastrophically dangerous Gun Devil because he wishes to impress Makima, and maybe even get a chance to touch her boobs.
He doesn’t care about what other people think about him either, because he is unapologetically self-centered. After all, he’s been living a tragic life for as long as he can remember, so now that he finally gets the chance to live a somewhat free life, he damn sure will do whatever he wants from now on.
Total Disregard to Collateral Damage
The fact that most anti-heroes are extremely selfish and self-centered, and add to that their tendency to do whatever it takes in order to defeat their enemy, then it’s no surprise that they have a total disregard to any collateral damage that might occur because of their actions. If defeating the enemy means they have to destroy half the city, and possibly even cause the death of some innocent bystanders, then that is a sacrifice that they are willing to make.
Denji is pretty much the same way. His main objective is to defeat the devil in front of him. And in the process of doing that, he has caused chaos and destruction that may be bigger than his enemy intended to do. This is exactly what happens during his fight against the Katana Man, the Bomber Girl, and almost every other fights that happen at the second half of the first part of Chainsaw Man series.
Still A Good Guy Though
Despite his many shortcomings, Denji is actually still a good guy. He may be simplistic in nature, and quite self-centered in action, but that doesn’t change the fact that he truly cares about the well-being of those who he considered to be important to him. He may be a bit awkward in showing his feelings and appreciation, but it doesn’t change the fact that he genuinely values the existence of Aki, Power, and Makima in a high regard.
Not only that, Denji may also seem like a callous and uncaring person to those who don’t really know him. But the truth is he has a gentle heart that can easily feel sympathetic towards other people, especially with children. His interaction with the girl who befriends the Muscle Devil is the perfect example of that rarely-shown side of him. It’s only until the Muscle Devil shows its true face that Denji finally thinks about defeating it, while also trying to save the little girl at the same time.
Denji might seem like a common muscle-head that has become the staple in most action-shounen series, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The more you follow his journey, the more complicated he becomes. Add to that his tragic upbringing, and you got yourself a well-written main character on your hand. But make no mistake, he will still do tons of outrageous stuff that will make you scratch your head. After all, he is, without a doubt, the ultimate anti-hero.