Chainsaw Man Chapter 121, Theory of Happiness Review: An Unhappy Chapter.

The cliffhanger of Chapter 120 of Chainsaw Man made me think that we would finally get a reveal of just what is going on with Yoshida.
Instead, we got something kind of funny which, in turn, lead to something much more depressing.
Chapter 121, “Theory of Happiness” begins in the Devil Hunter Club room where Yoshida has got Asa a coffee in the hopes of talking to her.
This makes Asa wonder if he has started to like her since Yoru asked him out.
Yoshida begins the conversation by asking what she was mumbling outside of school.
When Asa explains that she was saying “life is easier on your own,” Yoshida agrees, stating that, while it might be easier to live with another person, there is really no guarantee such a thing will be permanent so a solitary life is less risky.
Yoshida affirming Asa’s “values” makes her believe that the Devil Hunter likes her.
Notice that I put “values” in quotation marks because, despite Asa saying to herself that “life is easier on your own,” everything she does goes against this.
After some reluctance she pursued a friendship with Yuko, then she began to like Denji and was secretly looking forward to going on a second date with him, and now she is anxiously excited at the thought of Yoshida liking her.
Asa is someone who craves social interaction in her life, whether that be friendly or romantic so, even though she claims to want a solitary life, she is just lying to herself.
Such can be seen with Asa’s disappointment when it is revealed that Yoshida actually wants to tell her to stay away from Denji.
The way this is revealed is pretty humurous, as Fujimoto builds up to it with each panel zooming in on Asa and Yoshida’s faces to make you think that Yoshida is about to confess, only for him to say “I want you to stay away from Denji,” in bold, on the next page.
What makes this reveal funnier is how much Yoshida sounds like a jealous lover, not helped by him saying, “you can interpret it however you like.”
His actual reasoning is more likely to be a way to keep Denji’s identity a secret, which the mysterious organization he works for ordered him to do.
However, Yoshida’s change in plan is rather strange.
He was the one who orchestrated the first meeting between Denji and Asa, hoping that if he set them up Denji would have no reason to reveal he was Chainsaw Man.
Now, he is trying to convince Asa to stay away from Denji so what changed?
Maybe he realized that Denji would just want to reveal his identity to Asa anyway, or maybe he became more suspicious of Asa’s power, since he is apparently the only one to notice when Yoru takes over, or maybe it is for some other reason entirely?
Whatever the case, we do not get an answer in this chapter, as the scene then cuts to Denji who is laying on the floor in his apartment, looking depressed after Nayuta convinced him to stay away from Asa.
It is at that moment, however, that Nayuta senses “the nastiest Devil scent I’ve ever smelled.”
She then continuosly slaps Denji’s butt, demanding that he go fight the Devil as Chainsaw Man because she wants to see the fight.
Denji is too sad to fight, until Nayuta points out that a lot of people will like him if he’s Chainsaw Man, even though she will not allow him to get a girlfriend.
We then cut back to Asa, who is walking the streets with Yoru, more depressed than ever.
Yoru actually tries to make Asa feel better about herself but even she looks disturbed at the dark turn Asa’s thoughts take, with her eventually thinking she would be better off dead, heavily implying suicidal thoughts.
It is then that a body crashes down from an apartment building next to Asa in what looks like a suicide.
Yoru immediately takes over Asa’s body, declaring something is wrong, and the two look up to see a bunch of people looking down at them from the apartment building with chillingly emotionless expressions as the chapter ends.
The people staring down at Asa and Yoru really reminded me of the Doll Devils’ power but I do not think this is what it is.
Instead, I think this is most likely going to turn out to be the Suicide Devil.
After all, Asa was just experiencing suicidal thoughts and the man who fell to his death from the building looked like a suicide.
Also the Death Devil is the only horseman we have not seen yet and I feel like the Suicide Devil could be closely connected.
Whatever Devil this turns out to be, Denji is definitley going to try and fight it, which will probably lead to a second confrontation between Yoru and Chainsaw Man.
Overall, “Theory of Happiness” was ironically a rather unhappy chapter, dealing with heavy subject matter like suicical thoughts but I thought Fujimoto handled these subjects well with plenty of realism.