Chainsaw Man Chapter 114, Endless Aquarium Review: I’m Seeing Double.

Not long ago, the Chainsaw Man anime wrapped up the Eternity Devil Arc.
Now, in the manga, we seem to be entering a very similar arc, with not only the same concept but very similar characters, leading to me seeing double.
Chapter 114, “Endless Aquarium” begins in the aftermath of Asa and Denji realizing that they are stuck in a loop inside the aquarium.
Well, at least Denji realizes it because Asa apparently refuses to belive it, marching along the hallway, looking for a way out, while refusing to believe Denji’s story of the loop being the Eternity Devil’s doing.
She states that she is in the Devil Hunter Club so she knows more about Devils than him, which is not true but is corroborated by Haruka Iseumi who is also revealed to have been stuck in the loop, alongside Seigi Akoku, the Devil Hunter who lost an eye to Yuko, another Devil Hunter Club member, and even Yoshida.
It is not surprising to see all these characters stuck togethor.
The Devil Hunter Club makes sense because they probably came with Fami, and Yoshida makes sense because he was probably tailing Denji to make sure he does not reveal himself as Chainsaw Man.
This job should be easy for Yoshida, considering that Haruka is there and he is most likely the fake Chainsaw Man.
Speaking of Haruka, there is a pretty good gag where he attempts to introduce himself to the others twice and is cut off both times.
First, by the arrival of Yoshida, and second by the final member of the Devil Hunter Club who freaks out and starts sweating and crying about being trapped in the loop, screaming that they only joined the Devil Hunter Club because their mother said it would get them a scholarship.
Sound familiar?
When I said that I was seeing double, I was not just referring to the storyline but also the characters because this new character looks and acts exactly like Kobeni, right down to the hair pins and moles on their face.
I actually thought this was Kobeni for a couple of seconds, before I realized that she was 20 in Part One so there is no way she would be in school.
This lead me to thinking that the new character is one of Kobeni’s many sisters, or perhaps her brother since this character is supposedly a boy.
However, Kobeni’s brother is said to be older than her so he should also not be in school.
As for this character being one of Kobeni’s sisters, again, the character is supposedly male due to the way I have heard he adresses himself in Japanese, plus he wears the male school uniform.
It is still not out of the question for him to still be related to Kobeni in some way, though.
Perhaps he is just an unmentioned brother?
I do have to wonder why Fujimoto would introduce a character who looks and acts exactly like Kobeni, though?
It just seems to be a bit of a weird choice.
In any case, after the interruptions, Hurka is finally able to introduce himself on his third attempt and asserts leadership over the trapped group.
This causes Asa to have a bit of dilemma, as she wonders if she should either turn Denji into a weapon so Fami will let them go or kill Haruka because she thinks he is the real Chainsaw Man.
While she ponders this, the group look around and, just like in the Eternity Devil Arc, find there is no way out of the loop.
Unlike that arc, however, they do have enough food and water to last a good while.
Not for Asa, though, because she says she cannot eat fish because they remind her of a dead animal.
This is probably due to her trauma from killing Bucky, yet it still earns her a lot of weird looks from the group, causing Asa to leave and then run into Denji, who reluctantly tells her of how he is taking 1,000 yen in a bag he found.
Asa calls him a theif, telling him he is not helping, leading to Denji accusing her of not being helpful either, humorously ending with the two screaming at each other to go to hell repeatedly, as Denji storms off.
Asa seeks reassurance from Yoru, temporarily forgetting that Fami took her away.
I liked this little moment because it shows that Asa is slowly learning to care about the War Devil and value her input, despite wanting her body back.
Realizing that she is on her own and feeling insecure about Denji’s accusation of her not contributing, Asa tries to figure out a way to help the group, only to remember she has a celluar phone from her mother.
She triumphantly reveals this to the group, who all cheer for her as she attempts to find a signal, only for her to typically fall over and break her phone, horrifying the group, except for Yoshida who gets a good chuckle out of it.
Haruka, on the other hand, is extremely disappointed, condemning her constant complaints, refusal to work with the group and now her ruining their one escape attempt.
Ashamed, Asa goes out into the hallway and sits alone, crumpling in on herself and bringing Chapter 114 to a close.
“Endless Aquarium” is a good chapter, overall.
It builds up some of the new characters well, like Haruka, who really came off as the self-aggrandising wannabe leader in this chapter.
However, I do think this arc is just way too similar to the Eternity Devil Arc, at this point.
Not only do we have the same Devil antagonist but pretty much the same character through a Kobeni clone.
It feels kind of like a retread, instead of something really new and interesting.
Let’s hope Fujimoto can add something to make this arc standout a bit in the coming chapters.