they say that before you go out to seek your revenge you should dig two graves this is a pretty common proverb found in many different cultures and worded a number of different ways and attributed to a number of different people but all of them carry the same meaning revenge is much like a disease it could end up consuming the lives of not only those targeted by it but those who seek it as well thus the second grave is always intended for the revenger as it is their actions that tend to end up biting them in
the end especially so if the revenge ends up hollow and if there was one man befitting of this quote more than anyone else it's the tattered troubled top-notch tenacious tamer tangled in treacherous turmoil aki hayakawa [Music] now this video will contain full series spoilers for the entirety of chainsaw man part one so if you want to avoid spoilers you have been warned aki hayakawa is the deuteragonist of the main story of chainsaw man and a member of the tokyo public safety devil hunter committee specifically part of the special division 4 headed by makima he is
a stoic man who joined the committee with a desire shared by many of his peers to seek out and claim revenge on the gun devil a terrifying force which appeared one day and wiped out 1.2 million people in the span of five minutes with aki's family being part of those casualties though unlike the others who over time became disillusioned with their revenge aki never looked at himself in an objective way and this always allowed him to see himself as more of a means to an end and it's thanks to this commitment that he wound up
stumbling down a rabbit hole of failure that he could never escape from though before we get too into that let's discuss the meaning behind his name and design aki haikawa's name is something that was directly tied into fujimoto's plans for the character's future in the planning stages of chainsaw man though before i discuss his given name which is the most important of the two i want to mention first his family name hayakawa which is a rather common name in japan the name itself is translated roughly to fast or early river but his name is also
likely in reference to the famous figure of the sengoku period lady hayakawa a daughter of a hojo clan daimyo hojo ujiyasu she is famous for her role in the khoso soon triple alliance which reunited together three major clans in the sengoku era into one faction and in a similar way in chainsaw man hayakawa was the foundation which makima used to create denji a new family with denji even taking the hayakawa last name on at the end of the series then we reach his given name aki which has no inherent meaning in japanese but during jump
festa 2021 in an interview with tatsuki fujimoto aki's name selection process was discussed the name was selected to coincide with his relationship to the gun devil as aki's name was designed to sound similar to the soviet union's own famous kalashnikov better known as the ak-47 which is actually so popular that out of the estimated 500 million firearms worldwide roughly a hundred million of them are part of the kalashnikov family and 75 million of those are specifically ak-47s the rifle is very well known for its reliability being able to function in just about any of the
harshest conditions out there which matches up very well with aki's own role as no matter the sacrifice as long as it helps him achieve his goal aki is willing to take the hit and at the beginning of the series he kind of fits the aspect of being more of a tool than a person similar to a firearm and this connection to guns and the gun devil also comes up in his character design as aki's most distinct feature is his top knot haircut which was chosen by fujimoto to reference the firing hammer of a handgun and
this is because since the onset of his character aki was doomed to fall and become the gun fiend though other elements of his character also tie into this faded connection as well such as some of the devil contracts that he has which speaking of aki has made quite a few throughout the series with us being able to see a few of those contracts be forged as the plot progresses but first let's discuss the two he had since the very beginning starting first with his first contract shown the fox devil with the simple cost of aki
allowing the fox devil to feed on small parts of his body the devil will allow aki to use the cone summoning technique how this works is aki can form a shadow puppet hand sign in the shape of a foxhead and speak out loud the word cone and in that moment anything aki can see within the gaps of his hand sign instantly are bitten by a massive fox devil following this the fox devil can then consume whatever is in its mouth if allowed though if the target is larger than the fox devil then it will simply
be cut into when it bites down severing parts of the body and even damaging structures around it but it should be stated that the fox devil isn't particularly powerful and if used on stronger devils it's possible that it will have little to no effect or be unable to consume their target or worse they could cut their way out of the fox devil's mouth which careless use of his power like this can cause the fox devil to break its contract with you as shown during the recovery period after the initial fight with the katana man now
this devil is pretty clearly a direct reference to the famous kitsune of japanese mythology with them being powerful shape-shifters which can take on size changing and also being very finicky trying to avoid any real danger if possible along with this the command word kon which is used to summon the fox devil is just the japanese onomatopoeia for the sound a fox makes it's essentially just a fox bark though one very interesting aspect of this is that the attack debuted the same day that jiu jitsu kaizen's divine dog totality technique debuted which in japanese that translates
to divine dog kon though this is just a happy little coincidence also according to the anime pv for chainsaw man the colors of the fox devil are actually very close to a tenko or celestial fox which legends say are what happens to a kitsune when it reaches 1 000 years of age changing its shape and becoming a golden or white fox color it's also said that one of the ways that these kitsune can gain more knowledge is by accidentally swallowing divine treasures or beings this is likely the reason why the fox devil asks before it
can swallow something though besides the fox devil aki also has a contract with the cursed devil which has gifted him a nail-like sword in exchange for the condition that if he were to use its power his lifespan would be reduced significantly with the last time draining his life down to only two years though the reward is considered worth the risk as how the weapon works is once positioned correctly aki calls out the command fire and then the finger of the cursed devil will flick the back of the sword driving it into his target and if
this action is repeated three times in succession the cursed devil will fully appear and grapple the target inflicting a severe wound onto them that will kill them though sadly this doesn't prevent regeneration so its skills are rather misrepresented in the story of chainsaw man as the two times the cursed devil is used in the series it's on immortal beings which really underplays the power of this devil but himino does give us a bit of perspective as she says that if aki were to use the sword on the infinity devil then they would be able to
escape its trap now while this devil is clearly based on ushinotaki mari or the straw doll cursing technique with the multiple hit requirement being part of the oshinotekimari process which requires the person to repeat the ritual seven times before it takes effect but also the process in which aki uses this ties it into his gun influence as well as not only does he drive the nail sword into his targets like a bullet but he also calls out fire beforehand much like firing a gun the finger of the cursed devil also acts as a hammer in
this way which is fitting given that as i mentioned before aki's design is meant to reflect that of a gun's hammer and these two devil contracts actually reflect the type of person aki was at the beginning of the series with the fox devil being in relation to kitsunes being tied to aki's goal of defeating the gun devil and how it's clear that he would be cut short before he would ever reach that point as most kasunes never get to ascend to becoming a tenco in the end as they usually end up dying in a calamity
that occurs every 100 years which would grant them a tail if they survive along with this the cursed devil is based on an ancient revenge ritual which matches up well with aki's obsession with revenge and how it almost literally consumed his entire life leaving him with only two years left to live and it's because of this obsession with revenge that aki ends up with another dead family this of course being himino of division iv the assigned buddy of aki himano was a tragic survivor going through five partners before eventually having aki assigned to her her
only requirement for him being that he wouldn't die like the rest and together the two grew rather close aki picking up habits for her like smoking and he even defended her honor when he felt like she was wronged to outsiders they must have seemed like lovers denji even bringing up how they casually share a cigarette between each other like an indirect kiss but to himino's own dismay aki never saw it this way and he never realized how she truly felt about him until it was too late as no matter how much she offered to take
him away become a residential hunter and live a calm and easy life he refused set in his ways of hunting the gun devil to his grave which drove himino to follow him and try to protect him ultimately leading to her own somewhat selfish sacrifice to save him though i'll discuss her more in depth in the future and in realizing that he had failed another family and now had a severely limited life aki realized that the cursed devil's sword was too risky to use and he would need to forge contracts with newer stronger devils if he
wanted to continue with his work with the first ironically being the future devil a seemingly insane figure who takes the appearance of a half-tree creature who endlessly is excited about the future the process to afford a contract with him is actually rather simple you place your head inside the chest of the tree so it can read your future and depending on how excited it is by the tragedy that it will come it will make you an offer for some they lost one of their five senses while others paid half their lifespan though for aki he
only had to welcome the future devil to live within his right eye so that it could witness firsthand how he will die in the worst way possible though the future devil isn't being entirely honest here though to aki he didn't care about this cost and in exchange he gained the ability of future sight which he can use freely without having to pay any extra cost to the future devil this allows him to see a few seconds into the future and predict his enemies oncoming attacks and with this ability he was actually able to keep up
with hybrids like the bomb devil now the design of the future devil reminds me actually a bit of lilith from evangelion which could be intentional as fujimoto has listed ava as one of the memorable series he watched growing up though the most important part about the future devil is with this contract also came a change in aki's character as with him taking in the future devil it was seen as him trying to take control of his future and steer it in a better direction starting first of course by putting himself first trying to be more
than just a tool seen best in the scene where he decides to quit smoking also in neat detail the eye in which the future devil inhabits is the same eye the himino lost in her contract with the ghost devil though without his cursed devil sword he would need something else to fight devils with and this is where his final contract and new partner come into play this being the angel devil also referred to as angel who forges aki a new katana with his ability life force weapon creation this allows aki to cut up even those
without physical bodies like the ghost devil and though this partnership started out rocky with aki even considering angel to be just another devil eventually their partnership would blossom into a close friendship as angel began to show interest and concern in aki's limited lifespan along with recounting aesop's fables to him about the country mouse and city mouse which is not only the story that aki's parents was reading to his brother the day that he died but also seems to directly relate to his and himino's relationship with aki being the city mouse someone who's willing to put
their life in danger in order to get greater rewards where himino was clearly a country mouse living a city life she wanted nothing more but to take aki out of danger and retire safe and happy outside in the country angel himself is also a country mouse as well but this time he seems to have been forced into the position of a city mouse with no hope of escape and in a way aki likely viewed angel the same way he viewed power denji and even himino when she was alive a member of his family someone he
had to protect no matter what be it blocking a fatal strike from quan ji or using the limited time he has left to prevent an unnecessary casualty because aki couldn't stand to see his family broken apart for a third time if you weren't tied to it somewhere far away from me i'm sick and tired of people dying on me right before my eyes which is probably one of the most notable evolutions about aki's character because at the beginning of chainsaw man he was rather cold towards devils wanting to inflict as much pain as possible onto
them and it's sort of understandable as his family was killed right before his eyes by one of the biggest devil attacks in recorded human history though as he warms up to dengi power and even angel he begins to not only see them as more than just devils but starts to reflect himino more and more he wants to ensure that his family won't die as he knows his time is limited by either saving up his money so that denji and power can lift comfortably when he passes or writing a letter of recommendation for angel so that
the committee won't execute him and even pulling out of the raid against the gun devil he has finally realized that revenge is a fruitless pursue but this realization came far too late as in the following chapters aki's life begins to get shattered again and again starting first by him learning that no matter what he does he can't prevent dengi or power by being drafted into the front lines against the gun devil so much like how himino had to stay around to protect him he stays around to protect them then he learns not only has the
gun devil already been defeated it's been contained and parts of its body have been scattered across the world essentially aki's entire motivation was for naught all of his sacrifices in sleepless nights all caused by an empty shadow but not only that the world governments the ones that he has worked for for so long purposely kept this fact a secret from the public to drive up fear in the gun devil to increase its own strength he's starting to realize that he can never get the revenge that he joined for he wasted his life then following this
the future devil comes to inform aki that not only is his end drawing near but he in power will both be killed by denji's hands the future he thought to have grasped and taken control of was really dragging him along for the ride he was powerless weak and worst of all a failure he had failed to kill the gun devil he had failed to save himino and now he was going to fail a third time so in the face of this insurmountable dread like a scared child aki goes to the one person he believes could
help him makima i spoke with the future devil and i found out that my time is near whatever happens i want denji and power to survive be happy my brother's death was my fault i want the strength to change things this time miss makima i'll make any contract with any devil please help me hi akawa in that case will you make a contract with me if you'll give me all of you i'll give you strength hayakawa this is an order say you'll make a contract i'll make a contract and with this decision aki's whole arc
comes to its completion as he becomes the thing he hated most makima forcing the gun devil into him and forging the powerful gun fiend the design of the gun fiend plays around with aki's own design and the common understood designs of fiends as it replaces his top knot with the hammer of a gun and giving him a facial deformity of a 1911 barrel sticking out of his face along with this the arm he lost in the darkness devil encounter is replaced with an m4 carbine these guns were likely chosen over something like an ak-47 or
a makarov pistol even though his namesake is russian based because the gun devil parts that makima fought that day were specifically employed by the united states thus the weapons that aki would grow are american made and use with the two weapons chosen being iconic of the country though with that said the gun fiend is significantly weaker than the gun devil being unable to release the mass destruction that crippled the entire world but even in this reduced power state it can still level city blocks in a single blast along with this like most other fiends the
power speed and durability of aki are enhanced to superhuman levels and he can even fire powerful blasts out of the barrel of either of his appendages though as destructive as aki is in the state from his perspective everything he sees is just one big game a massive snowball fight where he can play to his heart's content as his life has finally gotten fun and the people finally are paying attention to him even denji is here to play with him but the more they pelted each other with snowballs the more denji began to cry until aki
realized he didn't actually like snowball fights and soon denji would vanish he now realizes that he wasn't playing snowball fights he was waiting for his brother and so they can finally finish that game of catch that got so rudely interrupted while in reality aki is no more denji had dug his chainsaws through his chest and finally put an end to that snowball massacre with the future devil watching on in gleeful delight giving greater context to his contract aki didn't exactly die in the worst way possible for him as in his death he was reunited with
his brother in the afterlife he felt joy for the first time in years he even dragged the gun devil down with him in the process it's actually the perfect self-sacrifice that he has always longed for but he did die in the worst way possible for denji aki is unsurprisingly the most popular character in chainsaw man being placed both third and first place in weekly shonen jumps popularity polls his tragedy is delivered in slow motion and shows the ugly side to a quest for revenge and how empty they tend to be and he also acts as
a rather good deconstruction of the archetypical lancer character as while being depicted as more motivated and serious than the main cast with everything figured out in reality aki is just as childish and lost as denji and this is likely because they share a similar design origin this being nauto nandaba from flco so when describing chainsaw man to celebrate 3 million copies sold tatsuki fujimoto called it a wicked or twisted flco and this is clear in its themes with both stories as to put it simply focusing on elements about maturity and growing into your own identity
through outlandish visuals and supernatural entities along with this characters in chainsaw man tend to mirror similar ones in flcl like how makima is very heavily inspired by the space alien haruhara haruko he even borrowed visual elements from flcl like the easy revenge cigarette being a direct reference to the never knows best cigarettes smoked by mommy in fact let's talk about those really quick the easy revenge cigarettes can actually be taken as a double meaning that correlates with never knows best as momimi is someone who doesn't really have a solid structure in her life she never
knows what's best for her himino is very similar to that she lost her sense of self and chose to live a life of easy revenge or only chasing things within your grass instead of those that are far off and distant and she uses the cigarette as one final message to aki to give up his life as a city mouse and take easy revenge and live a peaceful life also speaking of mommy me nauta and momimi's relationship is actually rather similar to that of himino and akis with mamimi being this selfish depressed truant partly detached from
the world that she's living in and sometimes actively forcing herself onto nauta in a desperate attempt to rekindle the happiness that she had lost years ago and they are constantly looking for someone to help them organize the chaos in their life this is almost exactly how himino views aki she wants to run away with him not because he's someone special to her but almost because he isn't she viewed him as both cool and extremely normal and she knows what happens to normal people in the devil hunter committee and thanks to chainsaw man's anime pv we
actually see that she fantasizes about a future together with him and it being a very peaceful one though like naota and mamimi's interactions aki is called to these advances and himino doesn't have the control that she thought she had as he doesn't view himino as someone he could be with but more as someone who is damaged and needs protection and more specifically in episode 5 of flcl brittle bullet the two heavy reoccurring motifs of that episode are guns and nauta and mamimi's relationship demonstrating momemi's jealousy of haruko which in a similar way himino disliked makima
along with this harkening to aki's gun motif the medical mechanica mecca looking to escape through naota's no channel was a hand-shaped mecca with each of its fingers wielding a different gun which in some way reminds me of the gun devil and is somewhat reinforced by the fact that it initially takes the form of a massive trigger sticking outside the back of the head of nauta in a similar way to aki in his gun fiend form finally one of the major connections between nauta and aki comes in their connection to baseball as an flcl baseball is
sort of elevated to this mythical sport it's used in many analogies for maturity and nauta's brother is someone so good at it that he was able to go to america and find a career doing it which also can connect back to aki as he has a connection to his brother in the form of baseball as he always wanted to play catch with his brother on the day that he died instead he wasted their time together by taking his aggression out on his brother in a snowball fight which is also likely the reason that aki viewed
everything as a snowball fight from within his gun fiend form it's a way for him to childishly release the aggression that he has been storing within himself all that time aki is without a doubt one of fujimoto's best characters he not only demonstrates the danger of knowing too much as every time aki is privy to nude information or the true nature of the world it breaks him more and more as kuan xi puts it ignorance is bliss in the world of chainsaw man and aki is anything but ignorant along with this he's also used perfectly
to capture the pointlessness of dedicating your life to revenge as most if not all of aki's failures stems from him never trying to grow beyond the trauma that he faced as a child and he would give up anything just to see that devil die his lifespan or his body but the moment that he realizes that he had to change it was too late strike three he's out and if you enjoyed this video and want to see more videos like in the future i have a patreon at patreon.comthebadguy and if you want to seek power that
will allow you to strike down revenge upon those who have wronged you well you can do so by consuming a copy of shimano a boring world where the concept of dirty jokes doesn't exist at bioshimanetta.com
