Is Aki from Chainsaw Man really a copy of Sasuke from Naruto?

Aki from Chainsaw Man

One of the anime that has generated the most hype among users, has been Chainsaw Man And no wonder, since the quality of the animation in the trailers managed to fascinate viewers by the impressive level of detail and fortunately, the result was as promised. A first season with spectacular characters and a frenetic pace, but unfortunately, a comparison between one of its characters has emerged, Aki, which is being compared to another anime benchmark, and that is Sasuke from Naruto, where users claim that the first one is a copy of the second one and then we will review if both are the same as many suggest or if there is really something that differentiates them.

Chainsaw Man, an amazing shonen, but with recycled ideas?

We should warn you that the following content will contain spilers for both Chainsaw Man as of Naruto, although of the first of these, we will only mention the anime, so if you have already seen the first season of the chainsaw demon, you have nothing to worry about. Without further ado, let's get started.

Chainsaw Man presents us with a world in which demons are real and these are representations of human fears, which means that the greater the fear people have about something, the more powerful the demon that represents it will be.

As an example we have the sea cucumber demon, which emulates the fear that humans have of sea cucumbers, but as it is something that does not generate greater terror, the power of this demon is really low. It is practically useless.

But we can up the ante and another example would be the bat demon, who is much more powerful than the first one we mentioned, and although his power is considerable, he is far from being the most powerful of all, since not all humans are afraid of bats.

However, any demon, no matter how weak it may be, is still a danger to an ordinary human. That is why there are demon hunters, who make contracts with demons that are captured and in exchange for fulfilling certain clauses, they give them their powers.

Among these demons is Denji, a human who has merged with Pochita, the chainsaw demon, and in the aftermath is born. Chainsaw Man. This character ends up joining the government demon hunters, where he teams up with 2 more characters, Power, who is the blood demon and inhabits the body of a girl, and then we have Aki Hayakawa, the focus of this article.

These 3 characters star in most of the scenes, becoming a trio that is very similar to the one we have seen in other works, such as Naruto.

Denji, having an extroverted and carefree personality, is compared to Naruto. Power, although she does not resemble Sakura at all, she is the girl of the group and finally, we have Aki, who is compared to Sasuke for several reasons and according to many users, Aki is nothing more than a cheap copy of the Uchiha, but is it really so?

Aki and Sasuke, how are these characters alike?

To see the similarities between the two characters, we will divide it into a couple of points that cover the development of both, such as their personality, motivation and goal.

Motivation

Sasuke

First we will start with Sasuke, the best known Uchiha on the internet. Sasuke is a ninja who belongs to the hidden village of the leaf, specifically to one of the most powerful clans, but by a misfortune that happened when he was a child, his entire clan, including his family, were killed.

That tragic event conditioned Sasuke to seek revenge against the culprit, so from now on, his only motivation would be to become stronger and confront his brother, the perpetrator of that horrendous crime.

Aki

Aki lived a trauma as a child because of the gun demon, who appeared in his hometown and in a matter of seconds, killed almost all the inhabitants, including his family, so he swears revenge on him. Being the reason why he joins the demon hunters.

Personality

Sasuke

Sasuke is a young man with a cold character who rarely expresses what he feels and on the contrary, tends to act based on the desire for revenge, so he ends up moving away from his friends and developing an even more withdrawn personality on a social level. He is quiet, has a serious look and his only interest is revenge.

Aki

Aki is also a rather serial young man, who puts homework before anything else, so he has a serious and cold personality, rarely showing how he feels.

Goal

Sasuke

Sasuke's goal is to take revenge against the murderer of his clan and thus restore the honor that was taken from him, and later, to return to form his clan as it was before.

Aki

Aki's goal is to finish with the demon of weapons and to be able to vindicate all those who were killed by him, thus avenging above all, his beloved family.

With these 3 aspects, users bring out that Aki is a copy of Sasuke, since both lived tragedies in their childhood that turned them into serious and cold characters. Both are motivated by the desire for revenge and their only goal or objective is to finish with the person responsible for that tragedy.

Evaluating both under that premise, it is undeniable that they are identical and it is not surprising, both share the same characteristics, but it is here where we must review more carefully and we will realize that in reality, they are characters that differ very well.

How are Aki and Sasuke different?

Sasuke's personality has earned him the internet nickname of "emo avenger" for the fact of always being sad or upset and thinking only of revenge. That same nickname, many have given to Aki for the same reasons, for always looking serious and seeking revenge, but the latter is not entirely true and Aki has proven to be more human than many would notice.

Although Aki shares the same basis as Sasuke, the development of his character is very different and this is demonstrated by the fact that Aki does have interest in other things that have nothing to do with his revenge, contrary to Sasuke, who never showed to be interested in anything that was not related to his purpose of collecting revenge.

The cigar, a simple but profound detail

When Aki becomes a demon hunter, he is assigned to work with Himeno, another hunter who instructs him in the trade. At first, the boy is rigid about the rules, to such an extent that he refuses a cigarette that she offers him. The reason is that cigarettes are harmful to health and it is true, but Himeno adds that because of the life they are both leading, the thought of such long-term consequences is laughable considering that they could die at any moment.

At some point, Aki understood what Himeno told him and since then he started smoking, not out of pressure, but as a de-stressor from the complicated life he was leading and although we don't know what he might be thinking about while smoking, at least we know that he does it peacefully, often at home to relax.

An unrequited love

The second detail is in Makima, Aki's boss, with whom he is in love and makes it clear on more than one occasion and although he does not go out of his way for her, he allows his mind to enjoy her beauty and the sensation it generates, thus demonstrating that he is not always thinking about his revenge.

Aki from Chainsaw Man is not a copy of Sasuke.

As we have been able to see, although both characters have a similar base, the development is very different, which derives in even more distant behaviors. Sasuke is 100% focused on fulfilling his goal, which is to get revenge and therefore, throughout the story we do not see him interested in practically nothing but his revenge.

And although it is about his personality, this ends up creating a character that in many cases, seems more like a robot that is programmed to fulfill an objective.

As for Aki, we can see how he succumbs to the vice of cigarettes, a vice that is properly that of an ordinary human, which reminds us that although revenge is his motivation, he is still human and therefore not always focused on it.

The attraction he feels towards his boss, also shows that his heart is not entirely consumed by hate and there is still room to live those emotions that make us human, such as love. In conclusion, Aki is not a copy of Sasuke and although he shares similarities, he is very different in many aspects that allow the reader/viewer to connect much more with him.