The following contains spoilers for Episodes 1-3 of Chainsaw Man, now streaming on Crunchyroll, as well as brief discussion of suicide.

Chainsaw Man is, in one word, dark. The first episode has protagonist Denji counting how much money he's made from selling various body parts. Even its overall color palette is gray and washed-out, setting up the series and Denji's future to be filled with tragedy. The one shining light in the story so far is the friendship between him and the devil dog, Pochita.

Despite their natures pitting them as enemies, Denji and Pochita genuinely love each other and want nothing more than the other to be happy. They work well as a team and have each other's backs. In the span of a single episode, Denji and Pochita have simultaneously made fans root for them -- then cry when the life of one is tragically cut short.

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Denji and Pochita Saved Each Other

Denji hugging Pochita in the Chainsaw Man opening.

Denji met Pochita the day his father killed himself and left him with a massive debt. As he stood in front of his father's crudely-built grave, Denji had no will to live anymore. When he was confronted by Pochita, the boy didn't even try to protect himself. Death was inevitable to him; it was now just a matter of when. Seeing Pochita gravely injured sparked pity in Denji, but also the recognition that Pochita was a mirror reflection of himself and the startling realization that Denji, despite how hopeless everything was, did not want to die.

As the two lay dying in the dumpster, Pochita flashed back to a conversation he and Denji had before. Denji told him it was very likely he would die fighting a devil, and while he was still resigned to his death, the emotions behind his words were different from when he was standing before his father's grave. He wouldn't have cared if he died back then because there was no one left he cared about -- and nobody who cared about him -- but the situation had changed: now he would be leaving Pochita behind.

Unlike the other Devils and humans in Chainsaw Man, Denji and Pochita genuinely care about each other. Denji doesn't make enough money to buy food for them, and he lets Pochita eat most of the single slice of bread. Instead of abandoning Pochita, Denji has saved him more than once: the first time when he offered his arm for the devil dog, and the second when his blood trickled down into Pochita's mouth, reviving him once more. Even dead, Denji was still trying to save Pochita.

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Chainsaw Man's Denji and Pochita Are True Best Friends

Pochita and Denji in Chainsaw Man.

Because of his upbringing and circumstances, Denji's dreams were painfully simple. He wanted to live a normal life: share a jam-slathered piece of toast with Pochita, ask out a girl on a date and have a girlfriend. Normalcy was a luxury that was far out of his reach. It was a fact he had long accepted, but he hoped his death would give Pochita an opportunity to "live a normal life, and die a normal death," and essentially carry Denji's dream on for him.

In Episode 3 of the anime, Denji remembers a time when Pochita had gone missing. He had searched everywhere for him before going home where Pochita was crying, waiting for Denji. By this time, Pochita should have recovered enough to leave, but he didn't want to leave. The two had developed an incredibly strong bond in a short period of time. In a world where it seemed like everyone and everything was out to get them, the only people Pochita and Denji could count on were each other.

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Denji's Contract With Pochita Is Unlike Any Others

Denji and Pochita from Chainsaw Man.

However, Pochita didn't want to live Denji's dream. He wanted to see Denji live out his own dream, thus sacrificing himself to save the boy's life. This is the second time Denji has made a contract with Pochita, the first time being when he offered up his blood to save the devil dog. Both contracts are unusual in Chainsaw Man, different from the others that Devils make with humans. There has to be an offer of some sort that usually involves suffering on the human's part for the human to use a Devil's powers. The sacrifice can range from body parts to a portion of their life span.

Both of Denji's contracts with Pochita can't really be categorized as contracts in the traditional sense because they're not transactional. While Denji did offer his blood to Pochita in the first contract, it doesn't appear to be a regular occurrence. On the contrary, Pochita is content to work with Denji as a team and has no desire to gain anything from him other than companionship.

In the second contract, Pochita had the chance to take Denji's body as his own when he died, which Denji wanted him to do. Instead, Pochita gives Denji his heart and wants nothing in return other than for him to show Pochita his dreams. While it can be argued that Pochita's sacrifice did involve Denji's suffering, it was never the devil dog's intention. If Denji's dream was to live a normal life, Pochita's dream was to help him finally achieve it.

NEXT: How Denji and Makima Are the Guts and Griffith of Chainsaw Man