Chainsaw Man Chapters 173 and 174 Review: Fumiko is Irredeemable.

When Pochita ran wild back in the final arc of Chainsaw Man Part One, Fujimoto released a whole lot of chaotic insanity.
Somehow, things are getting even weirder now that Pochita has returned in Part Two.
Chapter 173, “Hard of Hearing”, and Chapter 174, “Ayyy, Aging”, do an excellent job of showcasing the might of Chainsaw Man’s power, while also showing the true extent of government corruption.
Starting with “Hard of Hearing”, the chapter begins by revealing the consequences of Pochita eating the Ear Devil.
We see people dropping their phones, and animals like cats and elephants without ears, showing that Pochita’s power truly has a worldwide reach.
Upon confirming that the Ear Devil has been eaten, Public Safety begin their operation to get Pochita to puke it up.
They do so by contacting what is later revealed to be the Aging Devil, a Primal Fear.
The way that they make a contract with the Devil is disturbing, as three Public Safety Officers amputate one of their fingers using scissors, before writing the word “HIT” on a mirror.
The Aging Devil, who has a great design by the way, then attacks Pochita, giving Yoshida enough time to use the Octopus Devil to wrap around him, forcing Pochita to vomit up the Ear Devil.
This returns ears back to the world, as seen by the final panel of the chapter where an elephant has its ears returned.
“Hard of Hearing” does a great job of showing the consequences of Pochita’s power and sets up the following chapter perfectly.
“Ayyy, Aging” is definitely the superior chapter of the two, showing the corruption of the government and the irredeemable nature of Fumiko.
The chapter is set in a government meeting, where the officials are mostly elderly.
Using the temporary erasure of ears as proof of Chainsaw Man’s power, Fumiko states that the Aging Devil has agreed to let itself be eaten by Chainsaw Man, which will remove aging.
Because a lot of the government officials in the room are facing their own mortality, they are eager to see this deal happen.
There is a catch, though.
Before it dies, the Aging Devil wants to murder 10,000 children in front of mirrors.
The use of mirrors in this disturbing demand really ties into the nature of the Aging Devil.
In the previous chapter, the Public Safety Officers had to amputate their fingers in front of a mirror, and now the Aging Devil wants to kill thousands of children while looking through them.
Mirrors are the way we tell our own age because, each time we look, we know that we are closer to death.
Wow, I made myself depressed just writing that.
Anyway, this is why it makes perfect sense for the Aging Devil to use mirrors in its contracts, especially the horrifying ones like this 10,000 dead children deal.
The old officials in the room view this as a necessary sacrifice to remove aging, with the oldest official in the room stating that, “Ten thousand lives is a small price to pay for the future of Japan.”
Of course, this is just the way this selfish geezer justifies the monstrous act to himself.
He, and every other official in the room, clearly just want to live longer, even ignoring the potential consequences of aging being removed.
There is one government official who at least has a conscience, but he is threatened into submitting when his own children are mentioned.
The only person left in the room who could stop the order being given is Fumiko, but she suggested the whole thing.
It is funny how I thought Fumiko could have a good side back when she brought up her backstory to Denji.
Ever since then, she has only proven herself to be a terrible person, abandoning Denji and Nayuta, wanting to collect a piece of Denji before he gets dissected, and now helping plan the murder of 10,000 children, all with a smile on her face.
She is truly one of the most despicable characters in the manga, at the moment.
I have even heard some theorize that she is the Death Devil but I am not sure how this would work, since her eyes are different from Nayuta and Fami’s, and she told Denji her backstory earlier… if that was even true.
As for the government officials, they are all corrupt scum and, watching how selfish they are, it is no wonder Makima turned out the way she did.
If the Prime Minister in this chapter is the same one Makima had a contract with then she would have had a front row seat to all of the corruption in Japan.
It adds a lot to her motivation of wanting to use Chainsaw Man to make the world a better place, along with highlighting how great of a job Denji did raising Nayuta.
And now I just made myself feel depressed again by reminding myself how Nayuta died… if she did die that is.
There is a theory that the decapitated head Barem showed Denji was actually not Nayuta’s because there was a mole missing.
However, this could be because Fujimoto just forgot to draw her mole.
Honestly, I would be happy if Nayuta survived somehow or got revived.
God knows Denji needs some happiness in his life after all of the misery he has been through.
If Nayuta really is dead, though, then that makes me hate Fumiko all the more for abandoning her.
Unless she has some sort of major turnaround soon, her character is pretty much irredeemable to me at this point.
I thought we might actually get this turnaround, when Fumiko appears to hesitate before making the call organizing the deaths of 10,000 children.
In some masterful paneling from Fujimoto, we see sweat building along her face, making us wonder if her conscience is making her hesitate, only for the next page to reveal Pochita has eaten the Mouth Devil, removing the concept of mouths entirely.
Now Fumiko cannot make the call, meaning that Pochita just saved 10,000 children.
Chainsaw Man really is a hero, even if the act was unintentional.
In the final panel of the chapter, we see that Pochita has also eaten the Snow, Bitterness and Octopus Devils, meaning Yoshida lost the fight.
I doubt Yoshida is dead though.
It would be weird for him to die off screen after so much buildup.
Of course, Fujimoto also supposedly killed Nayuta off screen so we should at least consider it a possibility.
As for Pochita, him removing the Mouth Devil means that he cannot erase any more concepts, since he does not have a mouth to eat Devils.
It also theoretically means no concepts can return because Pochita can no longer vomit their Devils back up.
I say “theoretically” because of course mouths are going to return, like ears did.
Could you imagine if Chainsaw Man continued without the characters having any mouths?… wait, no, I shouldn’t give Fujimoto any ideas.
In all likelihood, I suspect someone will cut Pochita open to return Devils like Mouth back.
And what character better than the War Devil, who has been powered up over the fear of war?
I am still looking forward to the fight between Chainsaw Man and the War Devil, and I am interested to see if this will bring nuclear weapons back as well.
“Aaay, Aging” is a fantastic Chainsaw Man chapter, and “Hard of Hearing” builds into it well.
Both show off Pochita’s powers, while Chapter 174 alone shows the corruption and irredeemable nature of the government and Fumiko.
The battle between Pochita and Public Safety will continue in Chapter 175.