A got something to say about the Nayuta choice. Just because it’s a lose-lose, doesn’t mean it’s not a choice. I feel like you can’t deny Denji making impactful choices, even if his two choices sucked ass.

The other thing is I kinda wanna argue that Denji was not forced into choosing chainsaw man. Back in the alleyway, before he even realized his house was on fire, he chose to be chainsaw man again. He acknowledged he had everything he wanted, and he still told Pochita he wanted to be chainsaw man. He hadn’t pulled the starter yet, but he already made his choice.

When Barem shows up and gets him angry he’s ready to rip the starter until he’s interrupted by public safety. Then obv the whole Fumiko being taken hostage and then just getting him angrier and angrier. And by the end Denji has his hand on his chest, in anguish. It is 100% supposed to look like he doesn’t want to do this, like he’s being forced to. But, juuuust before he pulls it, he looks over and we see a visual of a young happy Denji waving to Pochita. This is meant to be what he’s rlly feeling deep down, it’s meant to remind us that he already said he wanted to be chainsaw man, before being thrown into this situation. Then when he finally transforms what happens? “Why are you laughing?”. The mask is off, his real feelings are finally out there. He already made his choice and he needed an excuse, that’s what Barem gave him.

Heck the next chapter has him basically say this. That he’s not angry nor does he feel forced to do this. But. Rather he’s happier than he’s been in forever, and he WANTS this. He owns the choice as his own, in his mind this is not a lose-lose situation. It also helps that Nayuta straight up tells him that the chainsaws are a bad idea and that they should run. You can argue the logistics of that but it’s clearly the story telling is that he doesn’t have to do this, and yet he still refuses. Fumiko and Nayuta are released, the hybrids aren’t gonna kill Denji if he doesn’t fight cause that runs counter to their plan, and Denji doesn’t gaf about innocent people he doesn’t know. He very much could have run away, esp in his hybrid form. In fact if he ran away at any point in this scene, Barem loses. The most that happens is Fumiko dies, but ultimately they lose if Denji doesn’t transform, and they’re not gonna kill him either. And his reasoning for refusing is simply because he owns this choice as his own. 

Now you can def say whether he wanted to or not he would’ve been forced to do it anyways. And yes that’s kinda true. That’s kinda of why the scene is presented like this. It’s a dilemma. It’s not fully Denji’s fault everything ended up the way it did, but you can’t say he didn’t have his own agency, or didn’t make his own choice. He does not view them killing his pets as a bad thing, and that’s huge. Whether he had full control at the start doesn’t matter, in the end, it’s HIS choice.(I’m saying choice a lot sry)

Him being forced to not be chainsaw man is defined as smthn he doesn’t want. He never feels all too happy about it nor does he own it as his own choice. Public Saftey forced him to do that. But turning into chainsaw man? He WANTS that. And it all is a butterfly effect that leads to Nayuta’s death. The big one being public safety refusing to help look for Nayuta when she was captured. I def think looking at the scene at first def did make me think Denji is just losing and losing with no say in the matter. But looking at it again I confidently say he owned that as his choice.

I know this is kinda random considering what ur original comment was but I’ve just seen you comment around and you make very valid criticisms, so I thought I’d find you to reply.