Makima‘s powers have often been the topic of discussion in the Chainsaw Man fandom, primarily due to its mysterious nature. This has prompted many readers to look for any hints or references that author Tatsuki Fujimoto might have left in series in conjunction to her powers.

And recently, a fan found such a reference for one of Makima’s famous ability.

Reddit user u/TheGreatPhallus pointed out in their post that Makima’s finger gun was a callout to a popular dog trick.

“It might be obvious to everyone…but it’s that dog trick,” they wrote.

However, it seems that this reference wasn’t as obvious to everyone as the user thought, with many fans only realizing it once they went through the reddit post.

Comment from discussion Orus12’s comment from discussion "I have only now realized this about Makima’s finger gun".

Comment from discussion Because_Rai’s comment from discussion "I have only now realized this about Makima’s finger gun".

Even pet owners, who had read the manga, failed to notice the similarity between the two.

For those who are unaware, the finger gun is a common trick that is taught to dogs, where you point a finger at them and say ‘bang’ mimicking a gun firing. The dog will roll on the floor and pretend dead.

While some fans pointed out that the finger gun could also be a reference to Yu Yu Hakusho, the dog trick makes more sense as Makima is a dog lover in the Chainsaw Man series. At one point, she also treats Denji as her dog and expects others around her to be as obedient as dogs.

The dog trick reference adds more depth to the finger gun attack, when we take a look at Makima’s personality in the series.

Chainsaw Man is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto. It was serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine from Dec 2018, with its chapters collected in eleven tankōbon volumes.

The manga was nominated for the 13th Manga Taisho awards in 2019, and ranked at #4 on the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2020 (This Manga Is Amazing!) guidebook’s top manga for male readers. The manga won in the Best Shōnen Manga category at the 66th Shogakukan Manga Awards in January.

Additionally, the manga topped the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2021 list for male readers. Chainsaw Man also won the Best Manga award at The Harvey Awards in October.

MAL describes the plot of the anime as:

Denji has a simple dream—to live a happy and peaceful life, spending time with a girl he likes. This is a far cry from reality, however, as Denji is forced by the yakuza into killing devils in order to pay off his crushing debts. Using his pet devil Pochita as a weapon, he is ready to do anything for a bit of cash.

Unfortunately, he has outlived his usefulness and is murdered by a devil in contract with the yakuza. However, in an unexpected turn of events, Pochita merges with Denji’s dead body and grants him the powers of a chainsaw devil. Now able to transform parts of his body into chainsaws, a revived Denji uses his new abilities to quickly and brutally dispatch his enemies. Catching the eye of the official devil hunters who arrive at the scene, he is offered work at the Public Safety Bureau as one of them. Now with the means to face even the toughest of enemies, Denji will stop at nothing to achieve his simple teenage dreams.

Source: Reddit