Bark for Me / Makima Woofers

About

Bark for Me refers to social media requests made by cosplayers of Chainsaw Man character Makima, and sometimes other characters, in which they demand that their followers "bark" for them. Such requests reference the dog-master dynamic between Chainsaw Man characters Makima and Denji. Those who respond to the request by typing out "bark" and "woof" in comments are sometimes referred to as Makima Woofers.

Origin

In the Chainsaw Man manga series, the dynamic between the characters Denji and Makima is similar to that of a dog and its master. On more than one occasion,^[1][2] Makima calls Denji her "dog" or treats him like a pet, with Denji reciprocating (example panels shown below).

Fans of the series have been reacting to fan art and cosplay of Makima by "barking," which means typing comments such as "woof" and "bark" to reference the dynamic between her and Denji in the manga. These commentators have sometimes been referred to as "Makima woofers."

On March 13th, 2021, Twitter^[3] user @yoracrab (formerly @StormYorha) posted fan art of Makima, writing "makima told you to bark for her," with some users responding with comments imitating the barking of a dog (shown below, left). On March 19th, 2021, Twitter^[4] user @todopokie posted a photograph of her Makima cosplay, writing "bark for me." The tweet received over 5,800 retweets and 54,300 likes, with multiple users responding in the requested manner. In the following days, screenshots of the thread received viral spread online; for example, on March 25th, Redditor EpicWafflesXV posted a screenshot to the /r/ChainsawMan^[5] subreddit, where it gained over 3,000 upvotes (shown below, right).

Spread

Following the viral spread of the post online, the catchphrase "bark for me" gained a strong association with Makima cosplayers, who often used it as a caption for their photographs. For example, on October 12th, 2022, following the premiere of the anime adaptation of the Chainsaw Man manga series, cosplayer @emiru made one such post, with the tweet^[6] gaining over 3,800 retweets and 93,000 likes (shown below).

The catchphrase has also been used for the domination-themed cosplay of other characters. For example, on December 25th, artist TehHank posted a fan art of Helltaker character Pandemonica to Newgrounds^[7] (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References