The Rise of 'Chainsaw Man' Memes

Chainsaw Man has taken the internet by storm. While it was once a more obscure series recognizable only because of its very strange name, it’s now known for the many people online who have swarmed into the fandom, and while they’re a little late in joining, they’re also just on time — Chainsaw Man has just released its first season as an anime, and the series is now creating a bunch of memes currently flooding social media. Be aware: there will be spoilers ahead.

Many anime shows, like Chainsaw Man, begin as a manga series and earn popularity quickly. But what sets Chainsaw Man apart from the others is the show’s plot, which follows a teenage boy named Denji who gains the power to turn his body parts into chainsaws. He does so by making a deal with his dog, who is also a devil-like creature with a chainsaw sticking out of its head like a narwhal. If you’re confused by this, that’s fair, because it seems like everyone is.

Another aspect of the series that fans are obsessing over is the collection of characters, particularly female characters. One in particular, a female protagonist named Kobeni, is receiving a little too much attention online. If you remember Ankha Zone (and of course you do), an offshoot of the dance has created an entirely new meme known as the Sad Cat Dance, which involves reanimating a hypothetical scene of Kobeni being forced to wear cat ears and do the Ankha Zone dance, causing her to cry. It's unclear why people like the idea of torturing the character they simp for, but here's the borderline cursed video that inspired the trend:

A whole subculture has appeared within the Chainsaw Man fandom of people known as “Makima woofers.” This references a point in the manga in which the character Makima, who is known for treating Denji like a dog, orders him to “bark for me,” which has become a popular phrase amongst cosplayers of the character. Makima woofers respond to Makima cosplayers and just general references to the character on social media by “woofing” in the comments, earning them the title of Makima woofers.

Fortunately, these sorts of memes aren’t the only ones out there about Chainsaw Man. Some new formats have appeared, and they’re aimed primarily at the manga, since the anime’s currently limited content has not yet seemed to inspire cohesive meme trends. There are a lot of interesting formats out there based on specific images in the manga, like the image of astronauts praying. The oldest meme has been trending for about a year now, and shows Makima firing a nonexistent weapon at an enemy, who winds up violently destroyed. It’s become known as "Makima’s "Bang."":https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/makimas-bang

Another relatively prevalent meme has been making rounds for two months now, and it’s an edited panel of Makima claiming she will use Chainsaw Man’s powers to get rid of "death, or war, or hunger," and "hunger" has been replaced with basically anything you can think of in numerous memes. At the same time, it’s unclear how a teenager with the power of chainsaws for hands could prevent death, war or hunger from existing, but that’s an entirely different point of discussion online.

So far, the manga has seen some relative popularity with some of its memes, and since the series is getting a new wave of interest, we’re sure to see some more memes about the anime, too. Chainsaw Man has somehow found a way to confuse and entertain millions of people, and it’s only becoming more widely appreciated day by day, as these quickly-spreading meme formats prove.