Nayuta is a sweet girl who claims to want what’s best for Denji, but is she falling into the same dangerous patterns as Makima?
One of Denji’s greatest trials in the first part of Chainsaw Man was overcoming Makima. As much as he loved her, she only gave him false happiness in a Machiavellian attempt to literally steal his heart. When he finally learned to think for himself — killing Makima in the process — it opened the door for him to begin finding true happiness with other people. This ironically included Makima’s reincarnation, Nayuta, with whom Denji has formed a familial bond.
Unfortunately, Nayuta seems to be instinctively doing some of the same reprehensible things that Makima did. She wants Denjii to find happiness, but only with her. This obviously comes at the cost of Denji potentially finding happiness with other people, namely women. She may genuinely care about Denji, but if she’s not careful, the two could end up repeating the same mistakes as her past life.
How Is Nayuta Turning Out Like Makima?
As much as Makima may have made it seem like she was being nice to Denji, it was all part of her master plan. She wanted Denji to experience all of life’s joys so that when she took them away from him, it would send him into inescapable despair. This included causing the death of everyone important to Denji, like Aki and Power. It was all meant to nullify the contract he had formed with Pochita to show himself living a good, normal, fulfilling life.
Nayuta is similarly possessive of Denji. She considers him his property and gets angry at girls like Asa who try “putting their spit” on him. She even goes as far as to make Denji promise never to see her again. This is partially to avoid another bad experience similar to the one he had with Reze, but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s removing Asa from his life, just as Makima would.
The only difference with Nayuta is that she’s technically acting in Denji’s best interest. In fairness, if she hadn’t intervened during his date with Asa, then the War Devil within her might have turned him into a weapon; Nayuta might not have realized this, but she did get a generally bad feeling from the girl. In this regard, she’s better than Makima because she genuinely wants to maintain Denji’s well-being.
However, this doesn’t mean Nayuta is without blame. Nayuta doesn’t just want Denji to stay away from Asa, but from girls in general. To that end, she convinces him that being Chainsaw Man will earn him the love he’s looking for through the adoration of his fans. She isn’t evil like Makima, but she’s still causing Denji to lose out on the pleasures of an intimate relationship and possibly human interactions in general.
What Should Denji Do About This?
What’s especially bad about all of this is how Denji is reacting to the situation. Back when it was Makima manipulating him, he made her his goal at the cost of forming genuine bonds with others; he was unwittingly letting himself fall deeper into the Control Devil’s trap. Now, once again, he’s prioritizing Nayuta at the cost of forming a relationship with Asa. It’s as though he didn’t learn anything from his experience with Makima.
Denji come a long way from where he was, but relapses like this can make it hard to believe. His best hope for finding the true happiness he seeks is to define it for himself. If Nayuta wants to help him stay on the right path, that’s fine, but she shouldn’t get too intrusive over who he does or doesn’t end up with. If the two of them can strike a balance and reach a compromise then Denji can have the happiness he needs out of life as well as Nayuta.
