Chainsaw Man Chapter 101, Afterschool Devil Hunters Review: Na na na na na na na na Bat Devil!

Tatsuki Fujimoto is still going strong with his fourth chapter of Chainsaw Man Part Two, Chapter 101, “Afterschool Devil Hunters.”
The chapter begins the day after Yuko gifted Asa with her shoes because bullies covered her old ones in raw meat.
Despite Yuko’s kindness, Asa is still uncertain about this new friendship, as proven by her refusing to look Yuko in the eye and her giving the shoes back, her excuse being that they were too small.
Yuko is undeterred, however, and suggests the two of them go Devil hunting after school which, again, I am not sure why the school allows.
Later that day, as the two are eating togethor on a bench, Yuko brings up how Yoshida was not at school, wondering if he is serious about joining the Devil hunting club.
Little does she know that Yoshida is already a Devil hunter, meaning he probably did not attend because he has an important job.
Or maybe he is tailing them in secret to keep a closer eye on Asa, since he probably suspects her after seeing the War Devil take control of her body in Chapter 99.
Yuko wondering where Yoshida is then leads Asa into asking why she joined the club and Yuko replies that she wants to become a Devil hunter to earn money and also to avenge her parents, who were killed by a Devil, like Asa’s.
Yuko’s parents being killed by a Devil could earn credence to the theory that she is Kusakabe’s daughter, since she looks quite similar to him.
Either way, both of their parents being killed by Devils creates a stronger connection between Asa and Yuko, with Yuko saying they should become Devil Hunters and partner up as buddies because they are, “kinda like manga main characters.”
Well, Yuko, to be the main character of a manga, you kind of have to live a while and, given that you are in a story written by Tatsuki Fujimoto, I am not sure how long you’ll actually last.
This worry of mine increased when Yuko left to go to the toilet, only for the War Devil to appear before Asa again and suggest killing Yuko.
As an aside, I really liked how Fujimoto went about paneling Asa realizing the War Devil was there.
First we get a panel of her watching Yuko leave, a rare smile on her face, which is followed by a few small panels of her eating, then the last panel of the page, where Asa looks beside her and the smile vanishes.
On the next page we then see the War Devil sitting next to Asa, announcing in bold that they should kill Yuko.
The War Devil explains that the guiltier Asa feels about killing someone, the more powerful that person’s body will be as a weapon.
This gives off a frightening visual, since the War Devil was already quite powerful when it used the teacher’s body in Chapter 98, so imagine how powerful it could be if it used Yuko, who is actually friends with Asa?
It presents quite a morbid usage of the power of friendship trope.
Asa is, of course, disgusted with the idea of killing Yuko, and this causes an argument between her and the War Devil, resulting in multiple people and a cat staring at them.
Asa and the War Devil are not too bright at keeping their identity a secret.
First the War Devil foolishly exposes itself to Yoshida and now Asa is shouting at the War Devil, which is invisible to everyone else, and even calls it by name in public.
Way to be subtle, girls.
Speaking of which, Asa has grown tired of the War Devil referring to her as “girl” so, in the hopes of changing the subject from killing Yuko, tells the War Devil to call her Asa instead.
The War Devil hits back by telling Asa that she never uses its name either, and Asa responds that War Devil is a weird name to use.
This causes the War Devil to relent, despite knowing that Asa is trying to change the subject, since it knows her every thought.
The War Devil then tells Asa to call it Yoru, which is interesting because it means night, the exact opposite of Asa’s name, which means morning.
The two then seem to come to an agreement, now calling each other by their names.
Asa also finally seems happy, as she admits to herself while walking with Yoku that she does not care about killing Chainsaw Man now that she is having fun with her friend, which she has not felt in forever.
So, now that Asa is happy, of course something has to go wrong.
The scene cuts to a street preacher, who is ranting to the passing populace about the dangers Devils pose, stating that out of a random twenty people, seven will be killed by Devils.
If this is an accurate number then it presents a horrifying reality that the people of the Chainsaw Man world live in, made even scarier by the following page, which shows Asa and Yuko running into the Bat Devil, which is currently killing a bunch of people.
The Bat Devil actually appeared in Part One, being one of the first big Devils Denji fought and killed.
So, it seems that the Bat Devil was eventually killed in hell and has now reincarnated on Earth again to wreck havoc, and in a disturbingly artistic way, at that, because Fujimoto appears to have drawn the Bat Devil eating a man to resemble the 1800s painting Saturn Devouring his son by Fransisco Goya.
As Asa looks on in terror, Yoru appears before her again and humorously tells her she has bad news and more bad news.
The first bit of bad news is that they are not strong enough to defeat the Bat Devil the way they are.
The second, and most important, bit of bad news is that Yoru has just found out that she cannot take over Asa’s body when her vessel is scared, making them essentially powerless in this situation.
The way Fujimoto colours the panel revealing this is also great, with it being much brighter than the other, darker panels, highlighting this reveal’s importance and the terror it holds for Asa.
Yoru advises that Asa slowly back away from the Bat Devil, only for her and Yuko to bolt,  causing Yoru to call her an idiot, bringing an end to the chapter.
So, how are Asa, Yoru and Yuko going to get out of this one?
Well, I see three possibilities.
The first is that Asa manages to overcome her fear so Yoru can take over her body, kill Yuko, and use her body as a weapon to kill the Bat Devil.
However, I think this theory is the least likely because we have only just met Yuko and I feel that if Fujimoto is going to kill her off he would want to give her more page time so her death will hurt us more.
The second possibility is that Yoshida shows up to save them.
As I said earlier, he could be tailing them because he is suspicious of Asa, so this could be a good time to reveal him as a Devil Hunter to Asa, Yoru and Yuko.
The final possibility is that Denji shows up as Chainsaw Man to kill the Bat Devil.
Along with serving as the return of Denji, this happening could also be used for comedic purporses, as the Bat Devil could cry out “Not again!” before it gets killed by Denji and sent back to hell.
This could lead to us seeing Chainsaw Man a few more times before Asa meets him officially as Denji at school, while potentially being unaware that he is Chainsaw Man.
Knowing Fujimoto’s writing style, however, I would not be surprised if Asa and Yuko are saved in a different way, which none of us have thought of.
It will be interesting to see what he does in Chapter 102, which will be released in two weeks time, since Fujimoto is taking his first break for Part Two.
“Afterschool Devil Hunters” is another great Chainsaw Man chapter, which has me excited for what will unfold next.