Episode Six of Chainsaw Man, “Kill Denji” is the best episode in the history of anime and one could even call it a nobel prize contender.
No, this review is not written by Power.
In all seriousness, the Shun Enokido directed episode is another great one, delivering a fantastic adaptation of the manga with as usual stellar animation.
“Kill Denji” picks up from the cliffhanger of “Gun Devil”, where Division 4 found themselves stuck in a loop on the eighth floor of an apartment building.
The opening of “Kill Denji” follows this up by showing how this loop works, using Kobeni.
First, Himeno has the terrified woman make a peace sign and then runs down the stairs of the eighth floor, emerging at the top.
She sees Kobeni still pulling the peace sign, meaning that there is no illusion going on.
Aki then invesitgates the rooms and learns that the windows connect to the rooms on the opposite side of the apartment, leading back into the eighth floor hallway.
They are well and truly trapped.
Following the opening, the squad debriefs in one of the rooms, establishing that even trying to go through the ceiling leads back to the eighth floor.
The situation is grim and Kobeni is certainly not helping matters, being on the verge of hysterics.
Arai tries to motivate her by mentioning how she joined the Devil Hunters to put her brother through college.
This does the exact opposite of calm Kobeni down because she revealed her parents forced her to get a job to put her brother through college, when she wanted to go too, giving her the choice to either become a Devil Hunter or a sex worker.
A tragic backstory, which Power finds to be utterly hilarious, as she breaks into laughter at Kobeni’s terrified face.
Denji and Power are the only ones in the group not alarmed by their situation as, when Aki says time may be frozen so help is probably not coming, Denji is happy about this because it gives him plenty of time to get some sleep.
He actually manages to do so before being awoken by Himeno.
In the time that Denji has been asleep, Aki has been constantly searching for the Devil, Arai has since locked himself in his room in a panic, and Kobeni tried to drink out of a toilet so Himeno knocked her out.
Most disturbing of all is Power who, in a fit of madness, reveals her plan to win a Nobel Prize so that she can raise sales taxes by 100%, just to see humans suffer!
Oh, wait, no, that’s just how Power always is.
My bad.
True to form, Power is disappointed that Himeno is so calm, and Himeno explains this is because Aki is working hard, revealing that she was the one who introduced him to cigarettes.
Bad Himeno.
We then flash back to Himeno and Aki working togethor as partners, where Himeno tried to convince Aki to start smoking so they could get along better.
Aki refused because “it’s bad for your bones.”
Good Aki.
Himeno explains that most Devil Hunters take up smoking because, with the death rate being what it is, most do not have to worry about living long enough to be affected.
Aki says he plans to live a long time and Himeno says he should because “it’s a pain in the ass when your partner dies.”
This serves as a perfect transition to Himeno being assaulted by the girlfriend of her deceased partner.
Himeno reveals to Aki that this happens regularly, as her partners’ families cannot take their pain out on the devils so they do so on her.
Offended, Aki sneaks before the woman who slapped Himeno and puts gum on her back as revenge.
This juvinile kind of humor is classic Chainsaw Man, and it cheers up Himeno immediately, as she later tells Aki that her master told her that the Devil Hunters the Devils fear most are the ones with a few screws loose.
So, Denji and Power should be fine then.
Himeno then finally convinces Aki to smoke, who swears it will be his only one.
Cue a comedic cut to the present, where Aki enters the room and demands a cigarette from Himeno.
Bad Aki.
Aki reveals that the Devil Power killed has returned and become larger.
Now a giant mass of squirming faces and limbs, the Devil offers a contract to the group: kill Denji and feed it to the Devil and they will be allowed to leave.
A terrified Kobeni jumps at this offer immediately, running to stab Denji, only to be knocked out by Himeno and Aki.
Afterwards, the two attempt to kill the Devil with their own Devil contracts but they have no effect.
Himeno then reveals that if they actually do kill Denji then they will be allowed to leave because the Devil offered a contract and contracts are life binding to a Devil.
Like Kobeni, Arai also wants to kill Denji to ensure their escape but Aki knows this will benefit the Devil so refuses.
Himeno is team agree with Aki and Power is team murder Denji for her nobel prize.
As time goes on, Aki contemplates using his sword to kill the Devil but since this will take many years off his life Himeno refuses, and tells Denji that if it really comes to that then they will have to kill him after all.
Unfortunately, at that exact time, Aki discovers that Power has eaten all their food.
Kobeni loses it, believing Power is somehow behind everything.
Arai speaks up for Power, only for Kobeni to declare that he is a spy too.
“He’s spicy!” Power says in a show of humorous support.
Kobeni runs towards Arai in a threatening manner and their combined fear and screams give power to the Devil, which begins to expand further, revealing itself to be the Eternity Devil.
The Eternity Devil grows so large that it causes the hallway to tilt up, forcing everyone to hide in their rooms.
Aki resolves to use the sword, causing Himeno to suddenly switch to team kill Denji, and she, Kobeni and Arai rush to complete the contract.
Kobeni lunges at Denji with her knife, only for Aki to take the stab.
As the group look on in shock, and Power works to stop the bleeding, Aki explains that he needs all the help he can get to kill the Gun Devil so will not allow anyone to kill Denji.
This causes Himeno to panic and Kobeni to selfishly blame Denji for her stabbing Aki.
The latter action, along with pretty much everything Kobeni does this episode, has caused her a lot of backlash in the fandom.
This is entirely understandable, if you ask me, because I disliked her here too when I read the manga.
Her blaming Denji does motivate him to attack the Eternity Devil, though, with his new plan being to torture it to death using his chainsaws.
Denji jumps down into the mouth of the Eternity Devil and falls through an endless abyss in a great shot that brings an end to the episode.
Overall, “Kill Denji” is yet another great Chainsaw Man episode that adapts the manga excellently.
It is has plenty of laughs and plenty of character development.
Someone give “Kill Denji” the nobel prize.
Manga Spoilers:
While I do understand why people hate Kobeni after this episode, considering I disliked her at this point in the manga too, I am curious to see what their opinions will be of her later in the story.
I came around to her character after she saved Denji from Katana Man and only felt more sorry for her as she went through so much hilarious misery throughout the rest of the manga.
It will be interesting to see if anime only viewers will come to feel the same way about her character or if they will just keep hating her.
We will not get Kobeni’s big redemption moment until a couple of episodes, though, and we have a lot to look forward to before that, especially with the next episode and Denji’s infamous first kiss, one of the funniest and most disgusting moments in the entire manga.
I am curious if the next episode will end with Makima being shot because that seems like a good cliffhanger but it might make the episode too long so it will most likely end with Denji at Himeno’s house.
Whatever ending for the next episode they decide to go with, I am still excited to see it tomorrow.
THE REVIEW MONSTER 