Denji

Player: Ami/Donut
Age: 37
Contact: Rainbow Donut #5538, or MechaPony
Current Characters: Millie and Madhuri!

Character: Denji
Canon: Chainsaw Man, end of Chapter 97- "I, Love, Chainsaw"
Age: 17


Background Information: The Wiki Entry.

Personality: [CW: Mentions of abuse/grooming. Will keep it vague.]




Because Denji grew up in devastating poverty under an abusive father, his overall socialization comes fairly late into his adolescence. He can be a very crude, naive and standoffish individual at the jump because of this, his language straight from the gutter and often staring in confusion and fatigue when someone explains a concept to him that he have no earthly idea of. He isn't ashamed or frustrated with his lack of book smarts in the least, and is used to relying on his street smarts and ability to improvise in the face of a challenge to guide him through the day to day. He is a survivor, willing to do whatever it takes to just squeak through the day; selling some of his body parts to make ends meet, for example, speaks at length as to how far he'll go to keep his head above water, albeit barely.

Because of these circumstances, Denji is incredibly humble. Living on very little food, having what barely counts for shelter, he dreamed frequently about having "lavish meals" like toast with butter and jam, or even touching a girl, let alone having a girlfriend. What comes so naturally to so many people is a rarity and a marvel to him, enough that he takes what he receives gratefully. He treasures simple every day things, and has no problem scolding anyone who squanders their privileges. He's fiercely protective of his ability to regularly eat and have shelter, and brushes off anyone who tells him he needs loftier goals.

He also had a cute girl doting on him in his new boss Makima, who treated him kindly! He fell deeply, or as deeply as someone like him can feel, for her. Under her guidance, Denji thrived among the devil hunters that found him, doing everything he could not only to fulfill his promise to Pochita, but acting with the promise of Makima growing closer to him. Anything she would ask, no matter how dangerous, he would see it through with the promise that all the pain, blood and guts would earn him the privilege of copping a feel (yup, seriously) or perhaps even more.

This feeds into his massive masochistic streak: In his desperation to survive and uphold his ability to have these regular meals, shelter and Makima's attention, Denji has a tendency to hang on to people- particularly attractive women- regardless of if they treat him kindly or not, with the promise that he may get on their good side. Even in battle, when Denji becomes Chainsaw Man, he regularly takes a beating but always gets up, even reveling in the violence of it all with a bloodthirsty determination if there is any promise of recognition.

But Denji isn't without his heart, in a manner of speaking: He cared for Pochita, his one and only friend in his childhood. He would cuddle his canine-ish friend at night and hold him regularly, and always split what little food he had with him, no matter how hungry he was. He even told Pochita to take his body should he somehow die, if it meant the little devil could achieve his own dreams in his stead. When Pochita took him up on it and sacrificed himself instead, Denji was devastated, and felt an immense loneliness. To this day, he still thinks of him and does his best to achieve his dreams and fulfill the promise they'd made. When he was assigned to live with his mentor and- let's be real- chaperone Aki and fellow fiend Power, he formed an odd found family unit with them. It was his first time living in a comfortable home with people he could rely on.

For a while, however, his streak of good luck gave Denji one significant fear: As Aki and Power suffer injuries and trauma from their work as devil hunters, Denji started to wonder why all these people were crying and worrying around him, and he felt nothing. He even shared a bath with Power once, an attractive girl in her own right, all while wondering if he should be feeling something about sharing a bath with a girl. He feared that having a devil for a heart removed his ability to feel human compassion.

Would that it were so simple, however: With the death of his found family, Denji fell into such a deep grief spiral that he didn't know what to do with too MANY feelings. For the first time ever, he was feeling regret and feared losing more people close to him. It was enough that he wanted to be rid of feelings entirely, keep things simple like before, and even hand himself to the (surprise!) manipulative Makima, who in turn continually fed into this belief as she proceeded to brainwash him. People would keep dying around him, he thought, so he did not deserve good things or a normal life.

It took seeing stories on the news of Chainsaw Man's deeds to help him realize he was wrong. He was a hero, people were thankful for his work. He was being recognized, appreciated, loved...! He wasn't a walking disaster! It also wasn't about what anyone deserved... it was about what could be earned. He would earn his normal life, and continue to work to earn it. In turn, his dreams and ambitions grew: If he could earn toast with jam, could he strive for steak every day? Could he have ten girlfriends instead of just one? He broke free of Makima's grip and chose to protect his hard-earned normal life again, with or without her.

So, moving forward and into present day, Denji strives to be a figure that has earned all the normal, good things he has in his life. He would still mourn the loss of his found family, haunted by survivor's guilt, but he would not let himself sink into that depression again. He would never be manipulated, never hand his mind over to another.

...Of course, he would still do as pretty girls asked, but only on HIS terms. He'll always be a dumbass.


Abilities & Inventory:

No inventory. He's just your "average" dude save for... oh, just one thing:

Chainsaw Fiend- Denji is what is known as a Fiend, someone who is no longer entirely human as a demon inhabits their body. Whether by force or by mutual agreement, a Fiend host is able to use the abilities associated with that demon's domain. Denji houses Pochita, a chainsaw-based devil, in his chest replacing his heart. This grants him heightened stamina, agility and strength beyond human limits. When he yanks the pull-cord jutting from his chest, he is capable of manifesting chainsaw blades from most of his body (head, arms, legs, feet). This harms him in a Wolverine style- each time they come out, they leave bleeding wounds, and so he must finish a fight before the blood loss takes him out of commission. Should he be dismembered, chainsaw chains reconnect his lost body parts.

Nerfs: In Songerein, I intend to use dreamotion magic, rather than blood, as a resource. He will become "anemic" after too much use of his chainsaws, just the same as if he were relying on the amount of blood in his body. To recover, he will need ample rest and plenty of food, rather than blood from his opponent. Should he actually try to drink blood (haha, gross, but that's canon), it will not work. He's technically made of dream magic, not a circulatory system, after all. Severe wound recovery would, naturally, take substantially more dreamotion.

Meanwhile, I'm still workshopping dreamotion abilities while dreamwalking. I'm thinking of using the irony route and going with something about dogs, maybe even fully understanding them. There are enough jokes about referring to him as a dog to warrant it. (Would anyone like a corgi interpreter?)


Suitability & Plans: The entirety of Denji's motivations day by day revolves heavily on his ability to do things like regularly eat, drink, and have a warm place to sleep, as well as pursue relationships. People tell him that's so simple, but they don't understand that Denji NEVER had those things in his childhood. He struggled to find more than a piece of bread to eat or a bowl of flour with some water mixed in as his singular daily meal, and he slept in an abandoned shack that leaked. What is a slice-of-life for others is high living for him that he would fiercely fight to protect.

Denji is also a dreamer, as mentioned before when he would tell Pochita about his dreams of bread with jam, or being able to kiss a girl or "score" with one. He has an imagination like anyone else, but to be able to start over on the right foot has him thriving, and a setting involving imagination would have him grow exponentially, even without conflict that would push him to rev up and become Chainsaw Man.

Dreamotion also revolves around emotions. In his present timeline, Denji had been struggling with the idea that having a devil for a heart had deprived him of human emotions. He'd been proven soundly wrong. However, what he doesn't realize is that he is extremely emotionally stunted thanks to his lack of upbringing and history of abuse, so the way he perceives things like loss is with numbness rather than openly grieving. To explore how to feel about things and understand himself better is another big theme I'm excited to go through with a character like this.

Test Drive Sample: Sample

Questions: What's for breakfast?