Aki Hayakawa of Chainsaw Man is a restrained, reserved, and righteous Devil Hunter, and one essential aspect of his character is his intense drive to kill the apocalyptic Gun Devil. Here’s why the hunter wants the abomination wiped off the face of the Earth.
Warning: This article contains light spoilers
Aki Hayakawa doesn’t share the most amicable relationship with Chainsaw Man’s titular rookie when they meet each other for the first time. It’s an explosive and bitter beginning, with a couple of groin punches and gut shots being exchanged.
Over the course of just a few episodes following that, though, they have developed quite a brotherly bond, even if on the outside, they’re constantly growling and glaring at each other.
Aki deems Denji a lot of things, calling him an irresponsible man with no discipline or goals. However, his perception has changed since and it’s evident in the latest episode when Aki gets stabbed himself while trying to save Denji.
His reason for saving Denji is that he thinks he doesn’t deserve to die, even if he might be a pain in the butt (solid moral compass). Another reason is that Denji is willing to kill the Gun Devil, and Aki needs as much manpower as he can get to take down the devil.
A quest for vengeance
While the devils are agents of chaos and mostly there’s no special reason for the hunters to dispose of them. However, Aki has a personal vendetta that’s pretty much the objective that has driven him all his life.
Whereas Denji has some characteristically pervy motivations for killing the Gun Devil, Aki has a much more serious and grim reason for his vengeful drive against the enemy.
His entire family was wiped off in a fraction of a second by the Gun Devil. It was when the devil appeared for the first time and wreaked unimaginable destruction throughout the world in a period of just five minutes.
Three of the millions of casualties were Ali’s mother, father, and younger brother. It was a cold day and it became colder in a blink of an eye, with all that Aki held near and dear to his heart vanishing in a second.
It’s only understandable then, the absurd furnace of vengeance Aki carries within him, one that burns to find the devil incinerate him. Going by the trajectory Aki is currently on, Chainsaw Man’s future only seems to entail a fair share of diabolical drudgery for the hunter.
Inching closer, bit by bit
However, Aki is a man not driven by pure emotions alone, but also by a pragmatic, realistic understanding of how to contend with his arch-nemesis. He knows that to take down the Gun Devil, he needs all hands on deck, and then some.
Denji’s limbs would be a great addition to the arsenal against the colossal mythological abomination. Aki is on a warpath towards the same devil and intends to track him down and kill him.
Currently, in Chainsaw Man, the team has inched only a bit closer to the devil in question, making their way to him by trailing all his body parts.
The grim future ahead
The future of their mission ‘Gun Devil’ stores a great deal of dark and depressing turn of events, as Chainsaw Man manga readers might already be familiar with.
Aki is a man engulfed by the flames of vengeance and it’s already been established in the anime that he’s calculative and pragmatic in his approach.
However, as is the case with many calm and collected anime characters, there comes a time when the levee breaks and they turn from their composed selves to maniacal beasts.
Something similar awaits Aki when he eventually faces the foe that took everything from him. However, the tragedy of Aki isn’t confined to his past, but also his future, ultimately rearing its head in the worst, most-twisted way following his battle with the Gun Devil.
Also read: What is a Fiend in Chainsaw Man?