Chainsaw Man Chapter 125, Apple Thief Review: A Polite Primal Fear.

Way back in the International Assassins Arc of Chainsaw Man Part One, we met the Darkness Devil.
This terrifying entity was the first Primal Fear Tatsuki Fujimoto introduced us to; a Devil so powerful and created from a fear so primal that the Devil itself had never experienced death.
There was no reasoning with the Darkness Devil.
If it wanted you dead then you were probably dead, which is why it is so weird to read Chapter 125, “Apple Thief”, and see the Falling Devil being so unusually polite.
Well, as polite as a Devil can be, anyway, as the chapter starts with her brutally gathering ten eyes and four ears for her dish, after which, she goes to a supermarket like any average shopper would.
We then see her engaging in an oddly respectful talk with a staff member, who she has made fall up to the ceiling.
The Falling Devil asks the worker if she has a variety of apple that goes well with human flesh, a question which honestly got a chuckle out of me because how does the Falling Devil expect this woman to know that.
As for the worker, she is too terrified to respond, until the Falling Devil assures her that she has no intention of killing her unless attacked.
After leaving the shop, the Falling Devil remembers she forgot an ingredient, again, just like any regular shopper, only the ingredient she forgot is a human head.
Displaying more bizarre yet disturbing politeness, she asks if anyone is willing to spare a head.
It is then that a group of unwilling volunteers arrive, as a group of Devil Hunters take on the Falling Devil with sniper rifles.
They reduce her to a pile of limbs and guts but, being a Primal Fear, this is naturally not enough to kill the Falling Devil, who says she would rather avoid meaningless slaughter, before asking for a head again.
She only kills the attacking Devil Hunters and destroys much of the surrounding area when they attack her again but she seems to do this fairly reluctantly since she sighs beforehand.
Again, it is quite bizarre to see this powerful Devil act polite while killing and mutilating people left and right.
It is also quite interesting how the Falling Devil seems reluctant to hurt anyone outside of her goal to serve up some people as food for the Devils, including Asa and Yoru.
Speaking of those two, with the head now in her hands, all the Falling Devil needs to do is make Asa fall and then her dish will be complete.
Before she can do so, however, Denji finally shows up, ripping through the Falling Devil and accusing her of stealing apples… you know, as opposed to all of the murder and mutilation she just committed.
Denji has his priorities straight, although that is nothing new for him.
Another thing that is not new for Denji is being sliced up into pieces while he fights.
Good thing he’s basically immortal.
Unfortunately, so is the Falling Devil, as she seems completley unfazed by Denji ripping her apart, as she complains this is the first time that she has been on the menu, which is the end of the chapter.
I wonder if this is Fujimoto foreshadowing that Chainsaw Man will eat the Falling Devil, thereby erasing the fear of falling from humanity?
Although, if this does happen then it could have a lot of unintended consequences, since I would argue that a fear of falling actually helps out humans a great deal.
As for Denji finally showing up to fight the Falling Devil, there is a theory going around that this is actually not Denji but the Chainsaw Man imposter who killed Yuko.
While this is possible, I doubt this is the imposter because we saw Nayuta convince Denji to go fight a few chapters ago.
Most likely, Denji will have to team up with Asa and Yoru to defeat the Falling Devil and then whatever Primal Fear comes next.
All in all, “Apple Thief” was quite a short Chainsaw Man chapter but one with interesting characterization for the Falling Devil.
It also ended on a great cliffhanger, which has me excited for Denji and the Falling Devil’s fight going forward.