來自 Nightsky（@Morningbird_Asa）的推文串

[Part 3] By the end Asa and Denji stop being just mirrors and become two souls held together by pain, guilt, and a love that keeps surviving in the ugliest places. What happens next is about choosing to live, even when life feels undeserved.

After Nayuta’s death Denji reaches the lowest point of his existence. Once again he lost everything. His family, his reason to live and the fragile sense of normalcy he fought so hard for.

In his mind, it’s his fault and he knows at least on some level that his own compulsions whether its his hunger for affection, for validation or for sex are the root of his downfall. When Denji transforms into Pochita, it's surrender.

Pochita rampages outside, devouring devils tied to Denji’s memories and each one is an echo of his pain. But even in that destruction there’s purpose. Pochita isn’t erasing memories to numb Denji he’s trying to remind him of what once made life worth living.

Asa becomes the second voice calling him back. She's vocalizing what Pochita is trying to make Denji understand. She speaks to him the same words he once used to save her. That even though life is full of crap burgers, there are still things worth living for.

Denji dives into the water letting the weight of memory drag him down. He's drowning in his own grief. But the point is not to remember how much he lost, it's to remember how much he can love. Asa embodies exactly that as she reaches for him through the water and pulls him out.

I often highlight this scene because it encapsulates Denji’s struggle more perfectly than almost anything else. It’s the moment that defines not only his confusion but also why so many perceive his feelings for Asa as ambiguous.

When Denji resurfaces from the water he comes to the wrong conclusion. He looks at his reflection and believes that what keeps him alive and what pulls him through suffering is pleasure. The same pleasure he’s been chasing all his life food, sex and distraction.

The tragedy of this moment lies in what he's looking away from. Because while he’s staring into his own reflection (his own hedonistic desires) he’s looking away from what actually pulled him out of the water. The truth is right beside him and it's Asa.

Asa represents the kind of connection Denji truly needs and not the temporary pleasures he wants. She embodies the emotional intimacy and the tenderness that exists without transaction and without demand.

To understand what Asa truly represents to Denji we first need to look at what Barem and Fumiko represent because they are the mirrors that frame her. And once you understand them Asa’s role becomes unmistakably clear.

Barem is a fanatic. He takes pleasure in Denji’s suffering. He loves to see him bleed, to see him fight and to see him become Chainsawman and that’s no coincidence because Denji’s transformation into Chainsawman is in itself a coping mechanism.

When Denji fights he’s not just fighting others he’s punishing himself. Violence is how he numbs his emotions and how he regains control. Barem feeds that. He represents the part of Denji that seeks pain as a substitute for feeling & the part that equates suffering with purpose.

Fumiko on the other hand represents Denji’s other coping mechanism hypersexuality. From their very first meeting, she comes onto him sexually offering attention and validation in the exact way Denji believes he wants it. It's temptation dressed as intimacy.

And that’s where Asa comes in. Because Fumiko is Asa’s foil. If Fumiko represents what Denji wants, Asa represents what he needs. Everything Fumiko represents (pleasure, distraction, validation) Asa rejects. Fumiko loves sushi, Asa hates it.

If Denji is blind to what he truly needs then why wouldn’t he also be blind to his feelings for Asa? His inability to recognize her is due to the very same flaw that defines him. His feelings for Asa seem ambiguous because they’re tied directly to his resolution as a character.

I also think many misunderstand his reaction to Nayuta’s death. They see him walking, eating and they think he’s “over it.” but Denji doesn’t get over anything. He simply keeps moving because he doesn’t know how to stop. He calls himself a perpetual motion machine and he is one.

Yoru suddenly decides to take Denji on a “date.” and while Yoru isn’t the focus of this analysis it would be dishonest to pretend she has no role in the relationship.

In her own way Yoru also feels what Asa feels. The boundary between them has blurred. It’s hard to tell where Asa ends and Yoru begins and some of Asa’s feelings for Denji seem to have seeped into Yoru herself perhaps but Asa's lack of agency in all of this lingers in the back...

When Yoru then uses sex to tempt Denji into fighting the Death Devil. It’s not just manipulation because she knows now that is his weakness but maybe it’s also her way out of turning him into a weapon. Denji is aware that he is being manipulated but let's himself fall anyway.

Then comes the small and quiet scene. The one where it looks like Denji’s about to touch Asa’s (Yoru’s) chest but instead he covers her with a blanket. It’s a controversial moment but I think Fujimoto meant it to show exactly where Denji’s line is drawn.

I think the thought to touch her actually crossed his mind which I think is probably controversial but let me explain. It was an impulsive flicker of someone at his lowest, desperate for anything but he doesn’t act on it because even now even at rock bottom he’s not that person.

He is capable of lust but not of harm. A thought isn’t a crime and Denji’s restraint says more about his humanity than his impulse ever could. Denji covers what looks like Asa with a blanket. That's when I understood Denji would never use Asa's body even if Yoru offers him sex.

Asa reclaims control of her body and warns Denji about Yoru’s plans and begs him to kiII her before Yoru can carry it out. Denji though doesn’t fully understand. He projects his bond with Pochita onto Asa and Yoru, believing they can learn to coexist the way he and Pochita do.

When Asa insists he kiII her Denji suddenly grabs a chair and strikes. I think it shocked everyone but it's impulse.

Many say it was Denji trying to teach Asa the lesson of her not wanting to die but I disagree because if that was the case he wouldn't be surprised at her dodging it.

Or maybe he did actually try to teach her a lesson and he was just mad at getting called a murderer and Asa's offended reaction eventhough she asked him to do it lol. Idk this scene has always been hard for me to understand.

But to explain why he did it we must remember the conclusion he came to during the aging arc. He’s been running on autopilot since Nayuta’s death still repeating the conclusion he reached in despair. That people he loves can always be replaced.

He realized Asa doesn't actually want to die and tells her “Even though I die all the time, I’m never ready.” Its his way of saying you don’t really want to die either.

But then Asa cries and it wakes him up. Her tears pull him back and In that instant, he realizes what he’s done and decides to comfort her the way he did during Aquarium arc.

Afterward he tries to comfort her the only way he knows how by teaching her his own flawed coping mechanism. He tells her to distract herself with fun. It's the blind leading the blind and Asa takes it to heart as she wants to become a "Toxic woman" to stop caring caring so much.

And when she can’t do that as herself she lets Yoru take over completely. Yoru is everything Asa believes she can’t be. Fearless, unapologetic and selfish. But Yoru isn’t freedom she’s escape. She’s who Asa hides behind when the guilt and pain become too heavy to carry.

After everything, Denji falls again confronted by the fake Chainsaw Man and forced to face his guilt over saving a cat instead of people. His guilt over...everything.

Suddenly, Yoru remembers Nuclear weapons. I think this page proves to me that Yoru mistakes Power for Love. Yoru wants to be the most feared and powerful to not be forgotten and to loved.

But Asa refuses to trip this time. For the first time her love for someone outweighs her instinct to self-sabotage. She takes back control and tells him what no woman ever has. That he has the right to think for himself, even if he’s dumb and that they’ll figure it out together.

After that they’re thrown into a shared dream. A trauma space where Asa meets Denji’s childhood self. The boy who has been wandering those alleys for what seems like years representing Denji's hurt inner child the same one Makima once told he didn’t deserve happiness.

Asa understands because she’s lived there too. She’s carried her own guilt since childhood. The guilt of letting her abusive father die, the pain that convinced her she doesn’t deserve love. Asa deeply cares about Denji and she wants him to be safe no matter what.

They finally see each other for who they are. Two children broken by love, shaped by abuse and bound by shame. Asa wants to end it all, to let Denji eat her so he can live. But Denji refuses he won’t repeat the same mistakes won’t lose someone he loves again.

This time Denji thinks for himself and chooses to create his own world in which he invites Asa to. And Denji smiles. I think it's because in his mind Asa is "good" and if Asa has experienced the same thing he has then maybe he can be good too and deserves to be happy too.

Even if the world wants Denji to eat Asa to save humanity and even if the world wants Asa to turn Denji into a weapon and even if they themselves want the other to do it neither of them will ever let go of the person who spoke to their soul the most even if it costs humanity.

There’s no definitive villain in Part 2 only mirrors. Fumiko is Denji’s lust, Barem his violence, Yoru Asa’s desire, Death the s**cidal impulse they both share. In the end, Asa and Denji were always fighting themselves in a way.