It only took Denji two episodes to cut into the hearts of mainstream anime fans with the Studio Mappa’s adaptation of Chainsaw Man – and to one’s surprise, this popularity has already spawned a controversy surrounding the divisive seductress Makima.
Source: Chainsaw Man Opening Song “Kick Back” (2022), Mappa
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Ever since the anime adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s best selling manga began broadcasting, a vocal minority of Chainsaw Man fans have been attacking anyone they believe supports what they deem as the “problematic ship” of Denji and Makima.
Due to Makima’s use of her sexuality and Denji’s ‘desires’ to take advantage of his powers, these ‘stans’ believe they are obligated to rescue the burgeoning hero from his ‘groomer’ and her supporters by any means necessary.
Source: Chainsaw Man Episode 2 “Arrival in Tokyo” (2022), Mappa
On October 18th, such fans put their unhealthily obsessed mindset on full display when they seemingly teamed-up to launch a cyberbullying campaign against popular anime and manga YouTuber Chibi Reviews over a tweet wherein he made a joke about the ship.
Source: Chainsaw Man PV 3 (2022), MAPPA CHANNEL Youtube
“That’s it folks wrap it up!” declared Chibi Reviews, sharing a screenshot from the latest episode of Chainsaw Man, ‘Arrival in Tokyo’, in which Makima can be seen declaring “I’m into the ‘Denji’ type”.
Knowing what eventually happens between the two thanks to having read the manga, he exclaimed, “Denji x Makima has sailed!”, jokingly celebrating the doomed ship.
Source: Chibi Reviews Twitter
Proving that sarcasm is dead, soon after making his Joke, Chibi Reviews’ quote tweets were flooded by outraged Chainsaw Man fans who, after took the joke as a literal statement and began accusing him of outright supporting Makima’s predatorial nature towards Denji.
Source: Chainsaw Man Opening Song “Kick Back” (2022), Mappa
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This consisted of overzealous fans like @Maniko101, who labeled the YouTuber a “groomer” over the joke:
Source: @Maniko101 Twitter
@yooongiesfoot, who proclaimed that Chibi Reviews “loves the predator shipping content” and should “go to jail” for this perceived offense:
Source: @yooongiesfoot Twitter
And @fushiquuro, who fanatically demanded that the YouTuber “kindly enter yourself to the feds”:
Source: @fushiquuro Twitter
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A certain extreme sect of fans even took to sending death threats to the YouTuber.
@xprathamx who expressed a desire to outright “kill” Chibi Reviews:
Source: @xprathamx Twitter
@luvmarshy revved things up even further by sharing a meme implying a threat to endanger the YouTuber’s life with “pipe bombs”:
Source: @luvmarshy Twitter
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Unsurprisingly, once they began to realize that Chibi Reviews’ tweet was joke, the cyberbullying did not stop, instead escalating and even being explicitly condoned.
Source: Chainsaw Man Episode 2 “Arrival in Tokyo” (2022), Mappa
“Pedophilia isn’t funny so deserved,” justified @EDGYIDOLS.
Source: @EDGYIDOLS Twitter
Similarly, @lukercsa argued, “I don’t condone death threats, but maybe if you didn’t ship a 16 year old kid with her groomer…”
Source: @lukercsa Twitter
In a video on the situation, Chibi Reviews ultimately described the entire, disingenuous backlash as one of the worst experiences he has ever had with the anime community in his eleven year YouTubing career.
“I’ve been a part of the many communities since I’ve became a YouTuber Years ago,” said Chibi. “However I’ve never experienced what I did today in my entire life. I truly haven’t been in a good emotional state or place at the moment recently.”
“So normally I’d let this all slide, but it really hurts to read when I take pleasure in reading everyone’s comments.” He added. “Didn’t think I’d experience this with Chainsaw Man.”
Source: Chainsaw Man Episode 2 “Arrival in Tokyo” (2022), Mappa
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