Makima

**Makima** (マキマ, *Makima*) is a high-ranking Public Safety Devil Hunter who took Denji in as her human pet.

She is later revealed to be the **Control Devil** (支 (し) 配 (はい) の悪 (あく) 魔 (ま) , *Shihai no Akuma*) who embodies the fear of control or conquest.

## Description

### Appearance

Makima is a Devil resembling a beautiful human woman in her twenties of marginally above average height. She has long light red/pale auburn hair, normally kept in a loose braid with bangs reaching just past her eyebrows and two longer side bangs that frame her face. Her eyes are yellow with multiple red rings within them, making them the only visible sign of her inhuman nature. Her usual Public Safety uniform consists of a white long-sleeved shirt, a black tie, black pants and brown shoes.

### Personality

On the surface, Makima seems to be a nice, gentle, social and friendly woman, she is seen almost the entire time wearing a smile on her face and acts relaxed and confident even during a crisis, speaking in a professional tone to her workers. As her natural appearance is nearly identical to that of a human, she avoids disclosing her Devil nature to most of her underlings, and spends much of the series posing as a human contracted to a Devil rather than a Devil herself. However, this is only a façade that she uses to fulfill her ultimate goal: After the death of Aki Hayakawa, Makima begins to reveal her true colors to Denji. Makima's true face is of someone that is Machiavellian and calculating, who sees people around her as nothing more than "dogs" she can use as she much as she likes and must obey her without any hesitation.

Makima has demonstrated herself to be extremely cunning, cold and manipulative. She controls Denji through the promises of a romantic and sexual relationship while also threatening him with outright extermination if he disobeys her. Ruthless and normally dispassionate, she will do whatever it takes to reach her goals, even at the cost of the people she should be protecting.

Makima also realizes that she is not a good person and deems herself as "necessary evil"; a weapon under control of Japanese government, just like Gun Devil which is under the control of the American government. She is not afraid of her plans derailing, since whether her plans fail or succeed, she will almost always achieve something she wants.

Makima is an extreme fan of Chainsaw Man, the "Hero of Hell". Fascinated by its ability to wipe out the embodied concept of a devil through consuming them, her stated goal is to bring Chainsaw Man under her control in order to use its abilities to create an ideal world without fear, death, and “bad” movies. However, failure is also acceptable, as it would mean being eaten—an honor according to her.

Makima's true goal, however, was to be together forever with Pochita and lead a happy life with him. She always yearned for something like a family, being incapable of forming equal and meaningful relationships as the Control Devil.

## Etymology

* Makima's name is written in katakana (マキマ), though it seems to have no special meaning to it. However, the "maki" (マキ) in her name seems to be from "Makita", which is the name of a Japanese manufacturer of power tools that also creates chainsaws (noting her idolization of Chainsaw Man).

## Trivia

* Makima smokes "hi-fight"s, likely a reference to the Japanese tobacco brand "hi-lite."
* Makima was the first character Fujimoto had a solid image of as she is a character in "Breath of The Stars", one of the serialized works in Fujimoto's head, out of many fantasy stories he imagined in Junior High.
* Makima was partially based on "Benten", a character in "The Eccentric Family" that Fujimoto liked, for she is an unfathomable higher being, with her own sadness that we lowly humans can't comprehend—something Fujimoto wanted to convey in Makima.
* Fujimoto has mentioned FLCL as a source of inspiration for the girls of Chainsaw Man, and Makima is likely based on Haruko from FLCL who is a manipulative, unpredictable being.
* According to Fujimoto, if you remove the "ki" from Makima's name, you're left with "Mama", which ties in with Denji, who has always been pursuing maternal things since the death of his mother at a young age.
* Makima's Japanese Devil Name, Shihai *(支配)*, uses the same kanji as the Japanese translation for the first of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Christian mythology. Given Makima's status as a member of the group, her name could also be interpreted as the **Conquest Devil**.
* Makima's final battle at the end with Chainsaw Man was inspired by the Shinobu vs. Koyomi fight in the Kizumonogatari III movie according to a tweet by Fujimoto.
* In Makima's apartment (shown in Chapter 81), there is a painting showing "*The Fall of Lucifer*", similar to Gustave Doré's illustration for John Milton's poem Paradise Lost.
* In both the anime and the manga, Makima is often seen with pests and parasites.
	+ In the opening theme "*Kick Back*", Makima is allegorically represented by two animals: the jade wasp (*Ampulex compressa*) and *Leucochloridium paradoxum*, both parasites that control the actions of their host.
	+ Her association with pests could be reflective of how the Conquest Horseman is often interpreted as the Horseman of Pestilence. The reason for the Conquest Horseman being changed to Pestilence in some interpretations is because scholars found Conquest to be too similar to War. Pestilence was an easy change because at the time, bows and arrows were laced with poisons and toxins and the Conquest Horseman held a bow and arrow. Even though Makima's hands are in a more gun-like position, her "Bang!" ability can also be comparable to shots from an arrow.
* Her gut halo is often seen as being symbolic of the crown that the Conquest Horseman would wear.
* She is very similar to Silene/Sirene from the Devilman series. Silene is a demon whose motivations against the protagonist, Akira, was because he was a human fused with the demon she either admired or was in love with (depending on the version), Amon. She only lured Akira so that she can kill him herself because she wanted Amon, just like how Makima only lured Denji because he was fused with the real Chainsaw Man, Pochita. The difference between them is that Silene was originally, until she became more popular, just a very minor antagonist whereas Makima was always planned to be a major character from the start and is later revealed to be a major antagonist.
	+ In the original Devilman manga, Sirene had two demons who assisted her called Ghelmer and Agwel who had water and intangibility powers respectively. Two of Makima's subordinates, Beam and Princi, are both devils with intangibility powers and Beam is a shark fiend and sharks are aquatic animals with his intangibility being his own way of representing sharks swimming.