Overview of Makima's Plan

Makima's plan in Chainsaw Man is one of the most ambitious and philosophically complex schemes in modern manga. As the Control Devil inhabiting human form, she seeks nothing less than the complete restructuring of reality itself. Her goal transcends mere domination or political power; she genuinely believes that eliminating all concepts that cause human suffering war, death, hunger, disease, and fear would create a better world. The tragedy of her plan is that this "better world" would exist under her absolute control, fundamentally contradicting the freedom that makes a world worth living in.

Makima's plan centers on Chainsaw Man's unique ability to erase concepts by consuming the devils that embody them. When Pochita in his full Chainsaw Devil form devours a devil, that devil's associated concept is permanently erased from existence. A world without the Death Devil would have no death. A world without the War Devil would have no war. By controlling Pochita and directing his consumption, Makima could systematically eliminate every negative aspect of human existence. According to the Chainsaw Man Fandom Wiki, this makes her simultaneously the series' most terrifying antagonist and its most tragic figure.

The Erasure Strategy: How She Planned to Use Pochita

The core of Makima's strategy was gaining complete control over Pochita's Chainsaw Devil form. Unlike Denji's hybrid form, which combines human consciousness with devil power, Pochita's full devil form retained the original erasure ability that Makima needed. Her plan required separating Pochita from Denji and restoring him to his full primordial devil state. Once in control of the true Chainsaw Devil, she would command him to consume the Four Horsemen devils one by one starting with the War Devil, then the Hunger Devil, and finally the Death Devil herself.

This strategy explains many of Makima's seemingly contradictory actions throughout Part 1. She kept Denji alive not out of kindness but because he was the container for Pochita. She systematically eliminated anyone who threatened Denji while simultaneously engineering situations that would push him toward greater dependency on her. She even allowed the International Assassins to operate freely because the chaos served her purpose of isolating Denji and positioning herself as his only protector. Every action Makima took was calculated to bring her closer to the moment when she could take Pochita for herself.

The Four Horsemen Elimination Target

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Makima, War Devil Yoru, the yet-unnamed Famine Devil, and the Death Devil represent the most fundamental sources of human suffering. Makima's plan specifically targeted her fellow Horsemen for erasure because they embodied the concepts she found most objectionable. War, Famine, and Death are the ultimate expressions of uncontrolled suffering, and Makima believed that eliminating them would create a world where no one had to experience these horrors. The irony, of course, is that her fourth Horseman concept Control would become the sole remaining paradigm, replacing all suffering with submission.

The War Devil Yoru, now inhabiting Asa Mitaka in Part 2, represents the primary surviving target of Makima's plan. The fact that Yoru continues to exist demonstrates that Makima's scheme was never completed. The Hunger Devil remains an enigmatic figure whose role in the ongoing story suggests that the Horsemen hierarchy and their relationship to Chainsaw Man's erasure power will continue to be central to the narrative. The Death Devil, as the oldest and most powerful Horseman, remains the ultimate target, with implications that her erasure would fundamentally alter the nature of existence itself according to Wikipedia's analysis of Chainsaw Man's themes.

The Fatal Contradiction in Makima's Desire

Makima's plan contains a fundamental contradiction that ultimately ensures its failure: as the Control Devil, she cannot experience genuine equal relationships, yet what she truly wants is an equal relationship with Chainsaw Man. She admires Pochita as the only being she cannot control, making him uniquely worthy in her eyes. However, her plan to achieve equality with him requires controlling him the very act that would destroy the equality she seeks. This paradox means that Makima can never achieve her goal through her own nature; she is trapped in a loop where her method inherently contradicts her objective.

This tragic contradiction extends to her understanding of love. Makima tells Denji that she wants a family and wants to be loved, but her concept of love is inseparable from control. She cannot distinguish between genuine affection and domination, making every relationship she forms a hierarchy rather than a partnership. The series suggests that Makima's tragedy is not that she is evil, but that her fundamental nature as a devil prevents her from experiencing the very human connections she craves. Her plan to reshape reality was doomed not by external opposition but by her own inability to imagine a world that included genuine freedom alongside the absence of suffering.

The Execution of the Plan in Part 1

Throughout Part 1, Makima systematically executed her plan through a combination of institutional manipulation, strategic violence, and psychological control. Within Public Safety, she rose to a position of authority that gave her access to resources, intelligence, and the ability to deploy devil hunters as her personal agents. She manipulated the Gun Devil incident, the International Assassins arc, and the final confrontation to progressively isolate Denji and position herself as the sole determinant of his fate. Her Prime Minister contract, which redirected damage to random Japanese citizens, made her functionally invulnerable throughout this process.

The execution of the plan reached its climax in the final confrontation where Makima revealed her true nature and objectives. She systematically killed everyone Denji cared about to break his will, forcing Pochita to emerge to protect him. Her defeat came not through military failure but through a fundamental misperception: she could not see that Denji, not Pochita, was the real Chainsaw Man she admired. When Denji consumed her body as an act of love, he bypassed her control ability entirely, defeating her through the genuine emotional connection she was incapable of understanding or resisting.

The Aftermath: Nayuta and the Plan's Legacy

After Makima's defeat, she was reincarnated as Nayuta, a child with no memories of her past life as the Control Devil. This reincarnation represents a second chance for the Control Devil concept to exist without the baggage of Makima's grand plan. Under Denji and Kishibe's care, Nayuta has the opportunity to form genuine human relationships that her predecessor could not. The rebirth of the Control Devil as a child rather than an adult suggests that the cycle of control and domination can be broken through proper guidance and genuine emotional connections.

The legacy of Makima's plan continues to shape events in Part 2. The other Horsemen devils remain active, the consequences of her manipulation of Public Safety persist, and Denji's relationship with Nayuta explores whether a devil can truly transcend its nature through nurturing and love. The unanswered question at the heart of the series is whether Makima's plan was fundamentally wrong in its goals or only in its methods. By giving Nayuta a chance at a different existence, the series leaves open the possibility that the desire to create a better world, even one conceived by the Control Devil, can be redirected toward genuinely positive ends.

The Psychological Profile of the Control Devil

Makima's psychology reveals a fascinating paradox at the heart of the Control Devil's nature. She genuinely admired and respected the Chainsaw Devil as the only being she considered her equal, but her fundamental need to control made it impossible for her to form a healthy relationship. This contradiction — loving someone while needing to dominate them — created a fatal flaw in her grand plan. She could not conceive of a relationship based on equality because her devil nature defined connection through hierarchy. The tragedy of Makima is that her desire for genuine connection was real, but her methods ensured it could never be achieved.

The implications of Makima's psychology extend to Nayuta's character development in Part 2. As the reincarnated Control Devil raised by Denji, Nayuta has the opportunity to develop differently from Makima. Her childlike perspective and genuine bond with Denji suggest that the Control Devil's nature is not fixed — it can be shaped by environment and relationships. This opens profound questions about nature versus nurture in the Chainsaw Man universe and whether devils can transcend their fundamental natures through love, care, and positive human connections.

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