Chainsaw Man Chapter 124, Soup Review: Falling Deeper.

Chainsaw Man is back after its two week break, delivering another chapter which delves into the depths of Asa’s psyche.
Chapter 124, “Soup” picks up with Asa from where we left her, dangling from a street railing as she risks falling upwards because of a trauma attack brought on by the arrival of the Falling Devil.
Despite Yoru’s insistance that she hand over control of her body to save herself, Asa loses her grip and begins to fall upwards again, only for Yoru to yell at her to scream, “Nail Knife!”
This causes one of Asa’s nails to fly off and form a knife due to the War Devil’s power, and Asa’s focus on her pain allows Yoru to get back in the driver’s seat of her body.
Yoru then begins speculating on the identity of the attacking Devil, like many of us readers did after Chapter 122.
She speculates that it could be tauma, gravity, suicide, and others, before correctly deducing that it is the Falling Devil.
The Falling Devil being linked to trauma does make a lot of sense though because of the concept of falling deeper into trauma.
Asa nearly does this herself, as she remembers her dead cat lying at the bottom of a river, only for Yoru to cut their hand so the trauma will not cause them to fall up again.
This fails, as Asa falls up into an apartment building, with Yoru demanding that Asa stop being afraid of her and to trust her.
Asa hits back by pointing out all of the reasons she does not trust Yoru, ending by screaming that she cut her hand.
This builds into Asa explaining to Yoru what she is really afraid of, stating that she sometimes approaches people out of lonliness, only for something to go wrong and for her to end up alone again.
“Solitude and companionship… I’m afraid of both!” She shouts to Yoru and this explanation does hit hard because we have seen exactly why Asa is afraid of companionship time and time again.
She had companionship with her cat but he was murdered by the orphanage director.
She had just accepted Bucky when the class president tripped her, causing Asa to accidentally kill him.
Yuko became her friend, only to accept a deal with the Justice Devil and then go on a killing spree, before being killed by someone resembling Chainsaw Man (not that Asa knows that last detail).
She went on a date with Denji but she now believes he stood her up on their second.
Asa even allowed herself to get her hopes up about Yoshida liking her but he shut down this idea practically immediately.
And then there’s Yoru, the only one whose companionship she is forced to endure, who keeps threatening and hurting her.
Asa’s entire life really is a cycle of gaining and then losing those close to her through tragic means.
It’s why the Falling Devil is a perfect foil for Asa to face at the moment.
Not only does Asa have a tendancy to fall at the wrong times, like when her parents died and in the aquarium, but the trauma she has experienced from these events make her the ideal target for the Falling Devil’s attacks.
Speaking of the Falling Devil, the final scene of the chapter sees her entering a door into hell with a captured Devil Hunter; his nose, eyes and tounge made into a soup for a slug-like Devil with a bib to consume.
As the Devil Hunter is horrifically eaten off page, the Falling Devil states that the main course is almost ready, this course being Asa and Yoru.
It is interesting to note that the Falling Devil is directly targeting the both of them.
It would have been a bit of a coincidence for the two to stumble across an attack from a Primal Fear so this attack being on them makes a lot more sense.
The question is, why are they being targeted?
Yoru is apparently mentioned in the Nostradamus Prophecy, being called Mars, so would she not tie into the Falling Devil’s goal of shepherding “the world to the ultimate terror” as Fami said?
Unless the Falling Devil’s intent it stop that specific part of the prophecy?
I guess we will just have to wait and see why the Falling Devil wants Yoru and Asa consumed.
As for what will happen to the two of them, Asa will have to gain control over her trauma if she is to have any hope of defeating the Falling Devil with Yoru.
Yoru will also have room to grow by treating Asa better, probably with less death threats.
The real wild card in of all this, though, is Denji.
Nayuta did sense the Falling Devil’s arrival, and convinced Denji to go fight it as Chainsaw Man, which we have yet to see.
Maybe Asa and Yoru will be forced to team up with him to get the job done?
Overall, “Soup” is another great Chainsaw Man chapter, building up the conflict between Asa and Yoru well, while delving into Asa’s traumatised mind.