Did Makima Death Resolve The Control Plotline In Chainsaw Man?

I just finished reading 'Chainsaw Man, Vol. 17' and the whole Makima situation left me with mixed feelings. Without spoiling too much, her presence in this volume is handled in a way that's both surprising and fitting for the story's chaotic vibe. The way Tatsuki Fujimoto plays with expectations is masterful—just when you think you've figured out the rules of the 'Chainsaw Man' universe, he flips the script. Makima's influence lingers in unexpected ways, affecting character dynamics and power struggles even when she isn't physically present on the page. The volume explores the aftermath of her actions, showing how deeply she manipulated events and people. Some scenes made me re-examine earlier volumes for clues I might have missed. What's fascinating is how Fujimoto uses visual storytelling to hint at her legacy. There are panels where shadows fall just right, or where characters react to something off-screen, that made me wonder if we were seeing echoes of her control. The art style shifts slightly during these moments, becoming more unsettling. Power balances between devil hunters shift dramatically in this volume, and much of it ties back to the power vacuum Makima left behind. New threats emerge that feel connected to her schemes, like dominoes continuing to fall long after the first push. It's less about whether she appears and more about how her presence reshaped the world.

That final confrontation in 'Chainsaw Man' still sits with me like a cold aftertaste. I’ll cut straight to it: Denji is the one who kills Makima — he delivers the decisive blow. But the scene isn’t a tidy one-on-one knockout; Fujimoto layers it with manipulation, clones, and psychological trickery so the victory feels earned, confusing, and bleak all at once. What made it sting was how personal it was. Makima had been pulling Denji’s strings and rewriting what he wanted, so the act of killing her reads like both revenge and a reclaiming of his own agency. There’s also that annoying, fascinating ambiguity about which Makima actually dies: she’d been using other bodies and creating near-identical versions, so the narrative leaves you thinking about identity and whether the Control Devil’s influence truly ends. For me, Denji’s act is the climax of the series’ themes — power, longing, and the cost of freedom. It’s messy and imperfect, and I like that: it doesn’t let you walk away whistling. I still find myself turning pages in my head when I think about it.