Chainsaw Man Episode Three, Meowy’s Whereabouts Review: All to Cop a Feel.

The first two episodes of Chainsaw Man started off Mappa’s adaptation excellently but, in my opinion, it is Episodes Three and Four where the quality really gets into high gear.
Directed by Hinori Tanaka, Episode Three, “Meowy’s Whereabouts”, prepares us for the excellent quality of animation we are going to see right from the get-go.
“Meowy’s Whereabouts” begins simply, picking up in the aftermath of Power destroying the Sea Cucumber Devil.
Makima is disappointed in Power for killing the devil since it was already being taken care, and in Denji for not controlling Power.
Makima then questions if Power is cut out to be a Devil Hunter.
This scares Power, who attempts to place the blame all on Denji, causing an argument, which comes to an end when Makima calmly asks them to quiet down.
Despite the calmness of this request Power is again terrified into submission, as she timidly agrees to work with Denji.
Although this opening scene is a simple one, animation wise, I was still amazed by simple details like Makima resting her face in her hand.
Even little details like her fingernails were much more detailed than in other anime, preparing us for the fantastic animation that is to come when Denji eventually faces off against the Bat Devil in the back half of the episode.
“Meowy’s Whereabouts” then goes about setting that fight up with its next scene, as Denji and Power are hanging around some vending machines.
A cat approaches Power and she uses this as an opportunity to talk about her own cat Meowy, who was kidnapped by a devil.
Denji seems uninterested, focusing on his goal of touching boobs.
This results in a good laugh when Power manipulates Denji into helping, saying she would let him touch hers if he saves Meowy, causing Denji to act outraged that the devil stole the cat and vowing to save it.
Yet, he is completley unaware that Power has just lured him into a trap.
Although, so is the audience, at that point.
Following the intro, Denji and Power head off to save Meowy, with Denji attempting to relate to Power by talking about Pochita, saying he is sad he cannot pet him because he lives in his heart.
However, much like Denji dismissed Meowy before Power made her offer, Power too dismisses Pochita, believing Denji is just saying that as a way to get through his grief.
It is interesting how despite having a similar love for their pets, Power and Denji still do not get along at this stage and dismiss each other’s feelings, something that will be resolved as the episode progresses.
Before that can happen, however; the scene cuts to Makima being interviewed by her bosses about her squad, to which she describes Denji as “interesting”, while she and her bosses use plenty of dog metaphors for him again.
On the drive back, Aki questions Makima about finding Denji “interesting”, and it is here that we get one of the first big lore dumps of the series, as Makima describes how devils work.
She states that every devil is born with a name and how much that name is feared determines how strong the devil is.
So, for example, a coffee devil would be rather weak but a car devil would be pretty strong since there is a common fear of being run over.
Therefore, a Chainsaw Devil would have to be powerful as well, which is the implication Makima gives for why she finds Denji so interesting.
Aki still insists on Denji being unhelpful and what happens next initially proves him to be right.
As Denji and Power approach the abandoned house where Meowy is being held hostage, Denji wonders why Power is approaching with him because she said the devil would kill Meowy if she got close.
This causes Power’s entire story to fall apart and, once Denji realizes he has been lured into a trap, he lunges forward, only to be too slow as Power whacks him over the head with a hammer made from her blood.
She then drags the injured Denji inside the house where the Bat Devil is waiting for her.
The Bat Devil’s arm was cut off by a Devil Hunter so he uses Denji’s blood to revive himself, only to be disgusted by the taste.
Therefore, he decides to punish Power.
By this point, one could be forgiven for thinking that Power had lied to Denji about Meowy but it is revealed she was telling the truth as the Bat Devil has taken Meowy hostage.
His punishment for Power is for her to watch as he swallows Meowy hole, while she looks on in horror.
We then get a flashback to show how the bond between the two formed.
After the Blood Devil became the Fiend known as Power, she killed and ate everything she came across.
This was until Meowy found her, after Power had killed a bear.
However, Meowy was skin and bones so Power began to feed them in the hopes of fattening them up so she could eat them.
What she did not count on, however, was becoming attatched to Meowy.
It was after she had this realization that the Bat Devil took Meowy hostage, ordering Power to find him a human to eat to save her cat.
Power ran off to do so, only to be eventually captured by Makima off screen.
With the flashback done, the scene changes to present day, where we finally get the first moment of conciliation between Power and Denji, as Power states that she now finally understands how Denji felt when he said that he could no longer pet Pochita.
The Bat Devil’s punishment for Power continues, as he eats her next.
He probably should have chewed, however, because seeing Power and Meowy trapped in the Bat Devil’s stomach makes Denji rush to save them by catching a ride on the Bat Devil.
“Gimme my tits back!” He humorously shouts, calling back to his deal with Power.
But Denji’s reasons for trying to save Power does not fully conform with this dream as he also wants to save her because he has finally come to sympathise with her, just like she did him.
As Denji pulls the rip cord on his chest to unleash his chainsaw powers, he recalls a time when he lost Pochita and became scared that he had eaten by a devil, only to find him when he came back home.
He and Pochita then slept beside each other and Denji remembers how relieved he felt, before wondering how scared Power must have been sleeping while knowing the Bat Devil had Meowy.
This thought concluded, Denji begins his rescue attempt for Power and Meowy in spectacular and gory fashion, as the chainsaw rips through his own head as he transforms.
He then cuts off the Bat Devil’s arm again, causing the two of them to fall from the sky, crashing into a building, nearly hitting a woman.
Denji urges the woman to flee before she gets eaten.
A gloriously animated fight then follows between Denji and the Bat Devil, during which Denji also saves a father and daughter, both of whom should look familar to manga readers.
This is because they are the father and daughter from Chapter Two who were cut from the anime.
However, even though Denji does save them, he could care less about other people, as he throws a car at the Bat Devil with a man still inside.
The man barely manages to get out in time, thankfully.
Afterwards, the Bat Devil seems to be put an end to the fight, defeating Denji with a sonic sound wave, which has great sound design, by the way.
The Bat Devil is then about to begin feasting on humans once more, only for Denji to emerge from the rumble of a building, angrily declaring how mad he is about not being about to cop a feel yet.
It is quite hilarious to hear Denji’s voice actor, Kikunosuke Toya, scream so passionately about this.
The Bat Devil is also stunned by this because it causes him to drop the person he was about to eat.
The question is if he dropped the man out of fear for Denji or because he was stumped by how stupid Denji is.
My money is on both.
Denji then easily kills the Bat Devil in bloody fashion, ripping him open, as blood rains down on him in a killer shot that brings an end to the episode.
We then get our third ED “Hawatari 2-oku Centi” by Maximum the Hormone, which is my favourite so far, with its visuals and foreshadowing for the future.
The entire fight between Denji and the Bat Devil this episode was absolutley excellent, with incredible animation throughout.
I am extremely glad that it was Mappa who was chosen to animate Chainsaw Man because of how great of a job they have been doing and I cannot wait to see more.


Manga Spoilers Section:
One thing I enjoyed about how “Meowy’s Whereabouts” adapted the manga was how well it translated Power’s fear of Makima.
From the animation of her reaction, to Fairouz Ai’s voice performance; all of this does a great job at foreshadowing how Makima is bad news.
Another nice detail was the inclusion of the father and daughter from Chapter Two, who are saved by Denji from the Bat Devil here, instead of the Muscle Devil.
This meant that they could be used for an Episode Four scene, where Aki flashes back to them talking about how Denji saved them.
I will talk about that scene in the review for that episode, which I will be releasing alongside this one.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 109, The Easy Way to Stop Bullying Review: They Finally Meet.

Going into Chapter 109 of Chainsaw Man, “The Easy Way to Stop Bullying”, I was excited to see what Fujimoto would do with the new devil (either Death or Famine) he introduced last chapter.
It was for this reason that I was slightly disappointed to see that this devil had mysteriously vanished.
That said, what we got in this chapter was still quite good, and it is not as if Fujimoto is dropping this character he literally just introduced.
I just need to be a bit more paitient for him to reveal more about the new character.
“The Easy Way to Stop Bullying” begins with the now resurrected and overpowered Yuko destroying the school in the hopes to put an end to bullying once and for all.
Nobody tell Yuko that bullying can also take place outside of school.
Yuko’s attack is temporarily halted by the recently arrived Devil Hunters who were definitley not prepared for a devil this strong, as Yuko easily kills them, declaring them bullies.
She is clearly way too far gone, at this point.
That being said, Yuko still does have some sympathetic qualities, as she becomes concerned when she sees Asa unconcious on the floor.
Despite her sense of justice being entirely warped, some human part of Yuko cares for her friend.
Unfortunately, this results in violence as she finally finds the last of Asa’s bullies and prepares to kill her.
A good thing that Chainsaw Man is here to save the day because Denji emerges and puts on his heroic act, before finally revealing himself as Chainsaw Man and saving the girl.
Predictably, Yuko is not prepared at all to fight him, even though she recently had a power-up.
Yuko does have one ace up her sleeve, however: her mind reading ability.
But, Denji being Denji, he is not thinking about the fight at all.
No, instead he is thinking about how to naturally expose his secret identity.
Honestly, I’m not sure if this is unintentional genius on Denji’s part or just his stupidity saving him again.
Either way, it’s incredibly funny.
As for Denji himself, though, I do want to briefly touch upon his physical appearance.
There has been a theory flying around about him being depressed and I buy this theory more with every chapter I see him.
In Part Two, Fujimoto has drawn Denji to look rather tired, with bags under his eyes.
He is probably under a lot of pressure, caring for Nayuta, Meowy and Makima’s dogs.
This could be why he is so desperate to expose himself as Chainsaw Man so he can get a girlfriend, as it’s just to make himself feel better about his life.
Quite sympathetic if this is the case.
After Denji concludes his fight with Yuko, Asa wakes up, only to look up and see Chainsaw Man.
Yoru then takes over and we finally get our first confrontation between the two, which has been hyped up right from the beginning of Part Two.
The chapter then ends with the two staring each other down as Denji stands over Yuko’s body… head?
Whatever.
As for the cliffhanger, it would not surprise me if it had some kind of comedic follow up.
Yoru is half naked after all and Denji being Denji I would not be surprised if he became distracted during their confrontation because of this.
Also, Yuko is almost definitley dead now so Asa is clearly not going to be happy about that.
One thing that also interests me just as much as the first confrontation between Denji and Yoru is the fate of the girl Yuko almost killed.
As far as we know, she is still alive and she definitley saw Denji transform, unlike Asa who was unconcious.
So, either this girl is going to die to preserve Denji’s identity, exposes him, or she will stay quiet about it.
If she lives, I wonder if this will make her a recurring character?
There are quite a few ways this could all be followed up on in Chapter 110 and I am interested to see what Fujimoto goes with.
“The Easy Way to Stop Bullying” is another good Chainsaw Man chapter, which ends on an exciting cliffhanger for next week.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 108, Something Important to Asa Review: Death or Famine?

Tatsuki Fujimoto is, without a dobut, the most unpredictable writer whose work I have ever had the pleasure of reading.
Almost every single time I think I know where one of his stories is going, he turns it in a completley different direction.
This unpredictable style continues in Chapter 108 of Chainsaw Man, “Something Important to Asa”, which ends with a character introduction I never saw coming.
The chapter begins by picking up from the cliffhanger of Chapter 107, where Yuko screamed at Asa that she must absolutley not do what she is planning.
Going into Chapter 108, I thought Asa’s plan might be something that involves endangering her life, which would upset Yuko, since she wants to protect her.
Instead, we got something much more humorous.
Asa’s actual plan is to turn her school uniform into a weapon, which she does, turning it into a sword, and leaving her only in her bra and underwear.
It turns out that Yuko was so horrified because she just wanted to protect her friend’s modesty.
Now looking like a Kill la Kill character with her uniform weapon, Asa threatens to slice Yuko up if she does not stop her rampage.
However, Yuko uses the justification that if she kills Asa’s bullies then this will scare other bullies into stopping their torment across Japan, making her “a symbol of justice… like Chainsaw Man.”
This once again shows the negative impact of Denji’s actions, since Yuko was unintentionally influenced by him to start this attack.
Asa is taken aback by this expanation for a moment, which does make me wonder if this will be another reason for her to hate Chainsaw Man after this fight is over.
Could she end up blaming him for his unintentional role in inspiring Yuko?
Following this, we do get a curious moment where Yoru questions Yuko about what she got in exchange for the Justice Devil’s power.
Yuko responds, “There was no ‘give.’ I only recieved.”
This is interesting because pretty much all devils recieve something from their human hosts when they lend them their power.
So, is the Justice Devil unique, or is this a new trend emerging among the devils?
We do not have to ponder on this for long, though, because Yuko attempts to go and kill Asa’s last bully, only for Asa to lunge at her with her uniform sword, which Yuko easily deflects.
Yoru calls her weak and Yuko tells Asa that any attack on her pointless.
Yet, as Yuko says this very line, we see a slight split in her neck.
The very next page is a full spread of Yuko being sliced to pieces in some kind of delayed attack from Asa’s sword.
Now covered in the blood of her friend, Asa is horrified, while Yoru is impressed by the strength of her weapon.
Asa explains that it is because the uniform she used as a weapon was something her mother gave her before she died, making “Something Important to Asa” a pretty fitting title.
This also seems to indicate that when Asa creates a weapon using the War Devil’s power, it will be much more powerful that Yoru.
Asa is still horrified by the carnage, which causes her to remember Bucky’s death and the guilt she experienced from that, only for her mental state to worsen when Yuko dies in front of her from her injuries.
And then we get the surprise character introduction of the chapter.
A random girl leaning against a doorway suddenly asks Asa if she wants to save Yuko because she can do it.
Asa nervously replies yes and the strange girl seems to slump, as if being taken over.
Then, when she next looks down on Asa, we see her eyes are the same spirals as Yoru and Makima.
“Anything for my little sister,” the girl says.
While this is happening, the Devil Hunters finally arrive to deal with Yuko, only for her to crash right out of the building, fully revived and way, way bigger, bringing an end to the chapter.
So, who is the random girl who just revived Yuko?
Well, it is pretty obvious that she is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, just like Makima and Yoru.
We know this because she has the same eyes as the two and also calls Asa “sister,” although she is likely refurring to Yoru here.
The girl slumping over briefly before approaching Asa also seems to indicate that this horseman is sharing the body of a student, just like Yoru is sharing Asa’s body.
So, now that we know the girl is a horseman, the question is which one?
Makima was Conquest and Yoru is War, so that leaves Death and Famine.
To me, Death seems like the most obvious Horseman because she did just literally revive Yuko from the dead.
However, I do not want to entirely discount Famine because other readers have pointed out that her earrings are the “scales of balance”, something related to Famine apparently.
Although, I do not know how Famine could revive Yuko, so Death seems much more likely to me.
Either way, I am highly intrigued to see what this horseman’s role in the story is and what they are doing at Asa’s school.
Did they come here searching for Yoru or Chainsaw Man?
Did Yoru know about them beforehand, or did she just learn they were here?
There are so many possibilities with the introduction of this latest horseman, making me even more excited for the next chapter.
Overall, “Something Important to Asa” is another fantastic Chainsaw Man chapter, which once again showcases Fujimoto’s unpredictable style as a writer through his sudden introduction of one of the four horsemen.

House of the Dragon Episode Nine, The Green Council Review: Where’s Aegon?

The penultimate episode for House of the Dragon‘s first season, “The Green Council” is an episode full of political intrigue and infighting, as Alicent and Otto fight for control of Aegon during their coup to take the Iron Throne.
Directed by Clare Kilner, the episode begins in the aftermath of Viserys’ death, as a servant quickly relays the news of to Alicent, who is quite distraught.
I think this portrayal of Alicent is great and Olivia Cooke completley sells it.
In the book, I never got the sense that Alicent loved Viserys, since she seemed to fall into the stereotypical evil step-mother character archetype.
The show, however, clearly shows that Alicent did love Viserys, just not in a romantic way.
It makes her much more sympathetic than in the book, along with her reasoning for putting Aegon on the Throne, this being that she misunderstood what Viserys said before he died.
With the possible exception of Otto, clearly no one in the Small Council buys Alicent’s claim that Viserys’ dying wish was for Aegon to be king.
This does not the stop the majority of them from usurping Rhanerya’s throne, as it is revealed that Otto had been spearheading a plan to do this for years.
Alicent is outraged by this but she is not the only one, as the Master of Coin, Lyman Beesbury, is also greatly angered, calling this coup out for the treason that it is.
He is understandably suspicious about the circumstances of Viserys’ death.
Although, his comment that “the king was well last night, by all accounts” is pretty hilarious when you consider that Viserys looked like he was on death’s door constantly.
In any case, Criston does not take kindly to Beesbury suggesting that Alicent poisoned Viserys and murders him by slamming his head into the ball used by Small Council members.
I guess this is why we never saw these things in Game of Thrones.
The members of the Small Council were probably worried about having their heads bashed in with them.
All joking aside, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Harrold Westerling, attempts to take Criston into custody but is talked down.
So this is the second time Criston has murdered an innocent man in front of numerous witnesses and got away with the crime.
It does make sense for him to get away with it this time, though, since Beesbury probably would have been executed for supporting Rhanerya later.
With Beesbury dead, the conversation among the Green Council turns darker, as Alicent realizes Otto means to have Rhanerya, Daemon and their children put to death.
She is angered by this idea and so is Ser Harrold, who quits as soon as Otto orders him to go and kill Rhanerya on Dragonstone.
Now realizing they will have to fight to influence Aegon, Alicent and Otto race to his rooms, only to find Helaena with the children.
“It is out fate, I think,” Helaena tells a servant, before Otto and Alicent walk in. “To crave always what is given to another. If one posesses a thing, the other will take it away.”
This is a perfect reflection on the Green coup.
People really should start listening to Helaena.
Unfortunately, Alicent and Otto just want to know where Aegon is, and Otto departs when he learns he is not there.
For the second time, Helaena warns that “there is a beast beneath the boards” but Alicent dimisses this, although in a caring way.
With Aegon missing, the game to find and control him begins, with Otto sending the Kingsguard twin brothers, Ser Erryk and Arryk Cargyll, and Alicent sending Aemond and Criston.
Erryk and Arryk have the advantage, however, as Arryk is more aware of the places Aegon goes.
This includes a child fighting ring, where some of Aegon’s own bastards fight to the death for the amusement of crowds.
So, Aegon is definitley the worst choice to be king.
Not only is he a rapist but he also allows his children to be sold into fighting rings.
While searching for Aegon at the child fighting ring, they are approached by an associate of Mysaria, who has kidnapped Aegon after Alicent’s handmaiden Talia informed her of the king’s death.
Mysaria now wants a meeting with Otto, who is currently dealing with those who swore fealty to Rhanerya, demanding they now renounce these oaths and swear fealty to Aegon instead.
Many do but some are proud enough to keep their honour and are executed.
One of these is Lord Caswell, who acts as though he has switched sides, only to attempt an escape to warn Rhanerya.
He is sadly caught thanks to Larys spies and executed.
Meanwhile, Criston and Aemond are performing their own searches at brothels Aegon frequented, with Aemond venting to Criston about Aegon and the crown going to him.
When Aemond mentions the way Aegon spoke of women, Criston replies that every woman in an image of the Mother and must be spoken of with reverance.
Well, that’s pretty hypocritical coming from the man who called Rhanerya the C word in Episode Six.
Along with Criston’s hypocrisy, we also get a good look at Aemond’s envy, as he wishes to be king and, honestly, would actually be better suited for it than Aegon.
Yet, as the second son, he is doomed for the support role.
Aemond really has a lot of parallels with Daemon.
Even their names are almost identical.
Despite their lack of success in finding Aegon, Criston and Aemond catch a lucky break when they spot Otto secretly meeting with Mysaria.
Maybe it was the Hand of the King badge he stupidly wore under his hood which gave him away?
As for Mysaria, yep, her accent is still terrible.
I like Mysaria as a character, as her motivation to stop the child fighting rings in King’s Landing is noble, yet it is hard to get into her story when the actress’ accent is so bad it distracts me.
I’m still really hoping they remove this accent in Season Two.
While all this is happening, Alicent meets with Rhaenys, who has been locked up in the Red Keep until now.
Informing her of Viserys’ death, Alicent attempts to convince Rhaenys to side with the Greens, admitting that Rhaenys should have been queen but stating that they can still have power through guiding the men above them.
Rhaenys grows newfound respect for Alicent’s conviction, yet correctly states that, “You desire not to be free but to make a window in the wall of your prison. Have you never imagined yourself on the Iron Throne?”
This was an excellent moment for Rhaenys and Eve Best continues to do great work as the character.
Meanwhile, thanks to Otto’s deal with Mysaria to stop the child fighting rings, Erryk and Arryk are able to locate Aegon, only to be ambushed by Aemond and Criston, who followed them.
A fight ensues, during which Criston and Aemond take Aegon captive, as Erryk leaves, disgusted by Aegon, as he now knows he is not fit to be king.
Aegon begs Aemond to let him go, stating that he will find a ship and never return.
Aemond seems to consider this but, before he can do anything, Criston leads Aegon to Alicent.
With Aegon now firmly in Alicent’s clutches, she meets with Otto where he tries to worm his way into Alicent’s good graces.
Alicent is having none of it, however, leaving when Otto says she looks so much like her mother.
Despite his manipulations, I could not help but think that Otto was oddly proud of Alicent in this moment.
Not everything is going well for Alicent, however, as it is revealed that she trades sexual favors to Larys in exchange for information, specifically by presenting her feet to him.
I had heard the leaks for this scene and I was quite concerned about it but, after having seen it, I think it was handled as well as it could have been.
It certainly makes the moment Alicent takes her shoes off when talking with Larys in Episode Six creepier.
The guy with a club foot having a foot fetish is a bit on the nose, though.
Larys informs Alicent of Mysaria’s spy ring, leading to her ordering an attack on Mysaria, pretty much destroying her deal with Otto, which is not exactly a good thing, since Mysaria pointed out to him just how much power the small folk actually have.
Another blow to the Greens is Erryk Cargyll, as he frees Rhaenys, defecting to the Blacks.
He intends to lead her out of the city, leaving Rhaenys’ dragon Meleys behind, only for Rhaenys to be swept up in a crowd that is luckily heading for the Dragon Pit.
It is here that Aegon is crowned as king by Criston and it is also here that I have to mention one of my criticisms, this being Criston’s role in crowning Aegon being reduced.
Sure, he does place the crown on his head but in the book he played a much more important role, since he was actually the one to convince Aegon to take the throne by claiming that Rhanerya would kill him and his entire family if he did not.
This earned him the title of King Maker.
In the show, however, it is Alicent who convinces Aegon and Criston merely crowns him.
I hope they do not downplay any of Criston’s other actions in future seasons.
As for Aegon, we see that he has overcome his reluctance to become king, due to the love he recieves from the crowd in the Dragon Pit.
As messed up as Aegon is, he did want love and affection from his parents and now he is getting that affection from the people of Kings’ Landing.
Or rather, what is left of the people of King’s Landing because Rhaenys chooses this moment to bash through the ground with Meleys killing an untold number of small folk, and fulfilling Helaena’s “beast beneath the boards” prophecy.
She looks ready to kill the Greens until Alicent jumps in the way.
Having gained a newfound respect for Alicent and also sympathising with her as a mother, Rhaenys spares the Greens’ lives and departs in epic fashion to warn Rhanerya of her crown being usurped, bringing an end to the episode.
This moment is entirely show original and has recieved mixed reactions, since some have said it makes no sense for Rhaneys to kill many civilians but then spare Alicent and the rest of the Greens immediately afterwards.
However, I think it works when you take into consideration that the nobles do not really care about the small folk in general.
I mean, there is a literal child fighting ring going on in Kings’ Landing and no noble did anything about that.
So, I think this change does work.
Overall, “The Green Council” is another solid episode of House of the Dragon. 
It is not one of my favourites but it does build nicely into the finale, which I am very excited to see, as a book reader.

Book Spoilers:
I am probably more excited for Episode Ten, “The Black Queen”, than I have been for any previous House of the Dragon episode.
This is because we will get the first dance between the dragons in “The Black Queen”, if you can even call what happens a “dance.”
It’s more of a slaughter, actually, with Lucerys’ Arrax standing no chance against Aemond’s Vhagar.
It will be brutal and, along with the stillbirth of Visenya, will be a tragic way to end the season, with Season Two almost definitley not arriving until 2024.
It will be a long wait but I think it will certainly be worth it to see many of the epic and horrifying events that take place during the Dance of the Dragons.
One of these horrifying moments is the Blood and Cheese incident, where Daemon and Mysaria send hitmen to murder Aegon’s son in retaliation for Lucerys’ death.
Mysaria’s involvement in this act makes a lot of sense after Episode Nine because of how her chance to end the child fighting rings was destroyed by the Greens in this episode.
We also have to take Helaena’s “beast beneath the boards” prophecy into account.
Yes, she was most likely talking about Rhaenys and Meleys but her prophecy could also have a double meaning by referring to Blood and Cheese.
We will have to wait for Season Two to know for sure.
Until then, we can enjoy the final episode of House of the Dragon‘s first season, which airs today.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 107, School Attack Review: Hello and Goodbye Devil Hunter Club.

Chainsaw Man has been on a roll recently, with Mappa releasing a new episode every week and Tatsuki Fujimoto now releasing a chapter every week.
Well, this week we got Chapter 107, “School Attack”, which continues the fight between Yoru and Yuko, AKA the Justice Devil.
If the school shooter allegory was not clear last chapter then the title “School Attack” definitley clears that up.
Fujimoto does not seem to be putting any problematic messages into this storyline, though, so it is working out.
The chapter begins with Yoru and Yuko fighting, which goes poorly for Yoru at first, as the Justice Devil easily knocks her into a classroom before fleeing to kill Asa’s bullies.
I will say, I did find some of this action to be a bit difficult to follow, although maybe that was just me.
After reading the chapter a few times, however, I did eventually manage to figure out what had happened.
Seeing the Justice Devil passing, the teacher presses an alarm, which sends a schoolwide warning about the devil attack.
This is another good case of worldbuilding, which shows just how widespread devil attacks are in this world, considering that the school has a built in warning system for it.
The class with Asa’s bullies begin evacuating, wondering if it is a drill, only for Yuko to pop around the corner and respond, “this is not a drill.”
Her response is actually pretty funny in a morbid sort of way.
Yuko then begins to systematically take out the girls who bullied Asa.
Yoru attempts to fight her, using Asa’s pencils as weapons but this is not enough.
However, Yoru unexpectedly receives backup in the form of the school Devil Hunters Club, consisting of a brawler named Seigi Akoku, the crossbow weilding Furio, and an unnamed girl with a sword, who looks quite similar to the whip devil girl Makima controlled in the final arc of Part One.
It will be interesting to see if this is the same girl or if it is just a case of characters looking similar, just like how Yuko looks similar to Kusakabe yet apparently has no relation to him.
What will be more interesting, though, is seeing if any of the Devil Hunters actually survive their fight with Yuko because, as soon as they gang up on her, Yuko sees them as bullies so begins to attack them at full strength.
Seigi loses an eye, Furio is impaled, and the unnamed girl is knocked out a window.
So long as Seigi and the unnamed girl remained unharmed next chapter, I would say there is a good chance of them becoming important characters later.
As for Furio, I would be very surprised if he survived this, considering he just got impaled.
One intriguing thing to note is that when Yuko is attacked by the Devil Hunter Club, she uses the word “again.”
I wonder if this was a mistranslation or if the Justice Devil has some kind of history with the Devil Hunter Club?
In any case, after mortally wounding the school Devil Hunters, Yuko warns Yoru to keep out of the fight, reading her mind to point out every single plan and trap she has.
Yoru then decides to go for her last resort, the “leave it all to Asa” plan.
She then allows Asa to take back control.
Yuko is glad to see Asa but, after reading her mind, is apparently horrified by Asa’s plan, saying that she absolutley cannot do that, bringing an end to the chapter.
As for what Asa’s plan is, I have no idea at this point.
What will be interesting, though, is to see if Denji or Yoshida get involved in this fight later.
I have seen speculation that Denji will kill Yuko, making Asa hate him, causing her to fully side with Yoru in her quest to kill Chainsaw Man.
Whether this happens or not, I once again am not hopeful for Yuko’s fate.
She seems too far gone at this point so her death is likely.
As for the school Devil Hunters, their fates are less certain.
Chapter 107, “School Attack” is yet another good chapter of Chainsaw Man.
With Fujimoto now releasing chapters week to week, we can now look forward to receiving a chapter alongside an episode every week on the same day.

Chainsaw Man Episode Two, Arrival in Tokyo Review: Always go for the Nuts.

After the fantastic first episode of Chainsaw Man‘s anime adaptation, Mappa continue to impress with Episode Two, “Arrival in Tokyo”, directed by Tōko Yatabe.
Picking up right after Denji agrees to work for Makima after she offers him food, the episode begins with a close-up of Makima’s eye, highlightly how unusual her eyes are.
The animaton of this close-up is incredible, from the reflection of the passing countryside in Makima’s eye, to even the way she blinks.
This quality of animation is continued throughout the episode, with every little moment being so well animated.
Inside the car, Makima and Denji have a conversation, where Makima continues to compare him to a dog, saying she only wants to hear “yes” or “woof” from him because she does not need a dog who says “no”, threatening to have him “put down” if he is not useful.
This naturally freaks Denji out, or at least it does until Makima offers to pay for his food and gives him her jacket.
No one has been nice to Denji before, so this small kindness from Makima causes him to fall in love with her instantly, seemingly forgetting how she literally just threatened his life.
That is the tragic thing about Denji: He will accept being worked like a dog for the smallest of rewards because his harsh life has caused him to value those small things that most of us take for granted.
After the OP, we see Denji and Makima getting their food, where Denji explains to Makima how Pochita became his heart and Makima says there is no precedent for his condition, so it does not have a name.
Denji looks dejected about this, until Makima says she believes him because she has a strong sense of smell, allowing her to sniff out that he is part human and part devil.
This is, of course, a huge relief to Denji but he then passes out because of his exhaustion and, when he wakes up, Makima feeds him, increasing Denji’s affection for her to the point that he asks if there is a guy she likes.
Makima replies “I’m into the ‘Denji’ Type”, pretty much sealing the deal on Denji’s feelings for her.
However, what anime only viewers may not know about this scene is that there is actually a big cut from the manga.
In Chapter Two, right before Denji and Makima order food, an injured man runs up to them shouting that his daughter has been kidnapped by a devil.
Makima threatens Denji into going to rescue the girl but he finds her playing with it instead.
The girl claims that her father beats her so the devil saved her and, now scared of Makima, Denji offers to run away with the girl and the devil.
Unfortunately for him, this is a trap because the devil is the Muscle Devil and has taken control of the girl’s body.
The Muscle Devil attempts to kill Denji and the girl but Denji transforms into his devil form and kills it, returning the girl to her thankful father.
While it was unfortunate to see this moment from the manga get the axe, it is not too important in the grand scheme of the story.
Also, I think they manage to construct the opening scene of the episode just fine without it.
Making Makima threaten Denji in the beginning, instead of when she sends him to kill the Muscle Devil, does add to the theme of Denji accepting being treated like a dog, when he decides he loves Makima after she treats him well a moment later.
With this scene done, the episode cuts to Makima leading Denji through the city to the Devil Hunters’ Tokyo headquarters.
It is there that Denji is given a change of clothes and, more importantly, meets his new colleague and another fan favourite character, Aki Hayakawa (Shogo Sakata).
Denji is upset that Aki will be his colleague rather than Makima, causing Aki to drag him away, passing a painting of what I have been told is an illustration by Gustave Dore of Dante’s Divine Comedy.
In order to reassure Denji, Makima tells him they can only work togethor if he does a good job, doing up his tie.
However, it will be hard for Denji to do a good job if Aki succeeds in getting him to quit the Devil Hunters, which is exactly what he tries to do, leading Denji into an alley and then beating him up.
Aki berates Denji for only joining the Devil Hunters to get close to Makima, believing only those with strong convictions can survive as a Devil Hunter, chucking a cigarette at him and then spitting on him.
Aki underestimates Denji, however, because he attacks him from behind, kicking Aki right in the family jewels and then continues to kick saying whenever he fights, “It’s nuts or nothing!”
Denji then further proves how much Aki underestimates him because he explains he does have strong convictions in regards to living a good life, stating, “if I get to keep up this kind of life? I don’t care if it kills me.”
Aki then proves how he did not entirely have good intentions by attempting to convince him to leave the Devil Hunters, since he takes offence to Denji believing he could get with Makima, showing off his jealousy.
Aki prepares to fight Denji, yet he apparently was not listening when Denji says he fights “nuts or nothing” as he leaves said nuts undefended, leading to Denji kicking them in again.
Denji then takes Aki back to Makima, humorously claiming that the nut devil attacked his testicles.
Despite Denji and Aki clearly not getting along, Makima puts Denji in his squad.
Aki is reluctant but Makima insists, explaining Denji’s situation and that he will be disposed of as a devil if he tries to leave.
Denji asks what this means and Makima replies, “it means we’re working togethor until you die.”
Personally, I was sad to see the translation from the manga I have was not used, which is, “it means we’ll be working togethor until death do us part.”
The marriage proposal elements to that line always seemed like a good way for Makima to lure Denji in more, so I am not the biggest fan of this new translation.
Although, it is just one line so it is not too big of a deal.
Anyway, after Denji and Aki are partnered togethor, Aki takes Denji to live in his apartment.
On the way there, Denji questions if Makima is a good person, yet still wants to hug her.
Upon hearing this, Aki gives a cry of shock, which seemed much more exagerated in the anime and was thus way funnier.
Even funnier still is how Aki’s life takes a turn for the worse with Denji as a roomate.
Denji makes a mess by making a mess of a sandwich, sings loudly in the bath, and uses up all of the toilet paper.
Aki’s frustration only grows when he and Denji are sent to kill a Fiend, a devil which has taken over a dead body.
To see what Denji is capable of in his devil form, Aki orders him to transform and then kill the devil, only for Denji to simply kill it in his human form.
This angers Aki and he accuses Denji of not taking things seriously, revealing his entire family was killed by a devil right in front of his eyes.
He follows this up by questioning if Denji wants to make friends with devils and Denji responds yes because he does not have friends.
This appears to strike a cord with Aki, causing him to leave Denji alone with the dead Fiend… and a bunch of porno mags to steal.
The real reason Denji did not transform into his chainsaw form is that he did not want to get blood on the porn.
Remembering his deal with Pochita to live his dreams, Denji replies that he is living his dream but he feels something is missing.
This leads to Denji deciding what his next big, massively important goal in life is, and that is to touch boobs.
Yes, I am serious.
It is kind of funny to compare Denji to other shounen protaganists.
Some want to save the world, while others want revenge.
Hell, even Aki fits the latter type of character, yet he is not the protaganist; Denji is, and Denji just wants to touch some boobs.
So strong is this new conviction he has that it leads to him shouting about boobs in Makima’s prescence.
Again, this was an instance where I found the manga translation to be better.
In the manga, Denji shouts “melons” at Makima, rather than boobs, causing her to question, “fruit?”
This is a lot funnier than the anime version, which just has Makima repeating back what Denji says, rather than the humorous misunderstanding in the manga.
There was not much time to dwell on this small issue, however, because we then get our introduction to yet another fan favourite character, the Fiend, Power (Fairouz Ai).
Fun fact for anyone who does not know: Power’s personality is actually based off Eric Cartman from South Park. 
No, I am not kidding.
Everything about Power’s introduction is great in the anime.
The animation is excellent, Fairouz Ai’s performance is also great, and the marching band-like soundtrack suits Power’s character perfectly.
Denji is at first reluctant to work with a Fiend, until he gets a look at Power’s chest and instantly decides he’s okay with it.
The two are then sent out on their first patrol, which does not go well because they cannot find any devils.
Power claims this is because she was a devil all others feared before she became a Fiend, showing off her arrogance.
Denji believes her, however, and speculates that Aki set them up togethor to fail, imagining Aki pulling a funny face at him that is 100% a face Aki would never pull.
His inner turmoil is quickly interrupted, though, when Power smells bloods and runs off in a mad dash to attack and kill the Sea Cucumber Devil.
This is another moment I think was funnier in the manga but not due to the translation this time.
No, I think it was funnier in the manga because the focus was on the civilian Devil Hunter in the phone booth trying and failing to tell his colleague about the Sea Cucumber Devil, only to be interrupted by Power obliterating it.
In the anime, the scene passes by very quickly with not much focus on the humor of Power interrupting the man.
Still, the animation of this moment is once again great and Fairouz Ai does a fantastic job delivering Power’s maniacal laughter, which brings an end to the episode.
Overall, “Arrival in Tokyo” is another great Chainsaw Man episode.
I did have some issues with the translations and certain moments not being as funny as in the manga but, that aside, this is still an enjoyable episode with fantastic animation, music and voice acting.


Manga Spoiler Section:
Upon my second read through of Chainsaw Man, it was quite enjoyable to see how Tatsuki Fujimoto had put foreshadowing for how the manga would end in the opening chapters.
“Arrival in Tokyo” did a good job of adapting this foreshadowing, with Makima telling Denji that she has a good sense of smell, hinting at how she will eventually be defeated by him.
There is also a good amount of symbolism for Makima with the Divine Comedy painting seen when Aki drags Denji away.
The painting appears to show a demon attacking or chasing a man, probably hinting at Makima torturing Denji by taking everything he loves away, all with the end goal of relasing Pochita as Chainsaw Man.
Throughout the episode there are also nice little nods to other characters’ future actions.
One of these is small moment at the end of the episode, when Power looks at a cat she and Denji pass, foreshadowing how rescuing her cat is currently her priority, which we will see next episode.
“Arrival in Tokyo” had a lot of great character foreshadowing, which I am sure will make it an interesting rewatch for anime only viewers, once the adaptation of Part One of the manga is complete.

House of the Dragon Episode Eight, Lord of the Tides Review: Give Paddy Considine His Emmy.

Going into Episode Eight of House of the Dragon, “Lord of the Tides”, I was expecting the Geeta Vasant Patel directed episode to be a pretty standard one but nothing special.
This is why I was surprised when “Lord of the Tides” more than exceeded my expectations, becoming my favourite episode of of the show thus far.
The episode picks up six years after the events of “Driftmark.”
In that time, Corlys has returned to fighting in the Stepstones, only to suffer a potentially lethal wound, from which his life now hangs in the balance.
And so the succession to the Driftwood Throne is now in question.
Ordinarily, it would pass to Lucerys, like Corlys wanted because, even though he is a bastard, “history does not remember blood, it remembers names,” as Corlys said last episode.
However, Corlys’ brother Vaemond wants the throne to stay in the Velaryon bloodline, so he petitions the Iron Throne to hear his claim.
This would not have ended well for Vaemond had Viserys been sitting the throne but, as Vaemond points out to Rhaenys, it is Alicent who is in charge while Viserys is bedridden with his sickness.
Meanwhile, on Dragonstone, we see Daemon retrieving a clutch of eggs from Syrax for his children with Rhanerya.
These are Aegon, Viserys, and the baby soon to be born.
His subsequent meeting with the dragon keepers is quite funny, as Daemon seems like a giddy child, having retrieved the dragon eggs for his own kids.
This giddiness is dulled, however, when he recieves a letter from Baela (Bethany Antonia), whom has become a ward of Rhaenys, warning him of Vaemond’s incoming attempt to have Lucerys illegitimized so he can take the Driftwood Throne.
Upon Daemon going to inform Rhanerya of this, he finds her tutoring Jace (Harry Collett) in High Valyrian.
Rhanerya is understandably distressed by the news of Vaemond’s actions, even more so by the uncertainty of which side Rhaneys will take, due to her believing Rhanerya and Daemon had Laenor killed so they could marry.
In the end, Rhanerya and Daemon travel to King’s Landing, only to recieve a frosty reception, as only one loyal lord greets them, despite Rhanerya being the heir.
Not only this but the Targaryen iconography seen in previous episodes has been entirely replaced by ones representing the Faith of the Seven, which the Hightowers worship, showing just how far their influence has spread.
While Daemon and Rhanerya wish to continue Targaryen traditions, as seen with Rhanerya teaching Jace High Valyrian, the Hightowers seek to replace this.
Even worse is the state of Viserys, whom Rhanerya and Daemon find bedridden, with his leprocy having consumed half of his face.
Daemon’s reaction to seeing his brother like this is a particular gut punch.
The scene turns more heart warming when Rhanerya introduces her father to Aegon and Viserys.
As for why Rhanerya would also name one of her children Aegon, in the book it is most likely a slight against Alicent.
King Viserys is overjoyed to see a grandchild named after him, saying he has a name “fit for a king,” only for pain to overwhelm him, needing milk of the poppy to sooth him.
Meanwhile, Alicent has problems of her own, as Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) has raped a servant named Dyana.
Maddie Evans’ performance as the abused Dyana is gut wrenching and you cannot help but feel sorry for her and disgusted at Alicent’s actions, as she pays her off with gold to keep silent, gives her a tea to prevent pregnancy (which is kind of hypocritical since she judged Rhanerya for this in Episode Five) and then sends her away.
Alicent then goes to berate Aegon over what he did to Dyana, with Aegon grossly saying, “It was just harmless fun.”
When Alicent slaps Aegon and calls him “no son of mine”, Aegon throws a pity party, saying nothing he does is good enough for Alicent or Viserys.
Well, if you want your parents’ love and affection, Aegon, maybe you could start by not sexually assaulting women and be an actual decent human being for a change?
Just an idea.
The argument between Aegon and Alicent is then interrupted by Helaena (Phia Saban), who wonders where Dyana is because she was supposed to dress her children with Aegon.
Alicent then embraces Helaena, clearly regretting marrying her to Aegon.
Helaena seems like the only completley innocent character on the Green’s side, so you have to feel sorry for her being married to such a piece of work.
Afterwards, Alicent meets with Rhanerya and Daemon who both accuse her of keeping Viserys drugged up on milk of the poppy.
Alicent does make a good point, however, as she states that Viserys is in a great deal of pain without it, something we see to certainly be true.
Meanwhile, Jace and Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) are looking around the training yard when they see an older Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) training with Ser Criston Cole.
I have to say, of all the aged up actors, Mitchell is particularly great as Aemond.
He gives off the perfect feeling of menace as, after defeating Criston, he calls out to his nephews without even looking at them.
Despite only having one eye, Aemond’s senses are keen, making him quite dangerous.
Any potential confrontation between Aemond and Jace and Luke is interrupted with the arrival of Vaemond, who meets with Alicent and Otto in an attempt to convince them to support his claim, promising his loyalty in the coming Targaryen succession crisis.
Meanwhile, Rhanerya meets with Rhaneys in an attempt to persuade her to her side.
Interestingly, Rhanerya does not reveal that Laenor is alive to win Rhaenys’ support.
This shows just how deep her loyalty to Laenor goes.
As for Rhaenys, Rhanerya suggests marrying Jace to Baela and Luke to Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell), which would make Baela the future Queen of the Seven Kingdoms.
Rhanerya says this is a generous yet desperate offer, and Rhanerya hits back that desperation does not matter because it would still benefit Rhaenys and her grandchildren.
However, Rhaenys is correct in her next comeback that such an alliance would be worthless if the Hightowers succeed in declaring Rhanerya’s children illegitimate.
That night, Rhanerya visits her ailing father, begging him to help her, bringing up Aegon the Conqueror’s dream about the Prince that was Promised.
This is something that will have both positive and disastrous consequences.
The next morning, Vaemond makes his petition to Otto, who sits the Iron Throne in Viserys’ absence.
Things look dire for Rhanerya until, in what is the best moment of the show so far, Viserys enters the throne room and stumbles to the Iron Throne with his cane.
Much like Alicent’s entrance in the green dress during Episode Five, this epic entrance is accompanied by Ramin Djawadi’s excellent score, hyping up the bravery of this moment.
Viserys is in incredible pain, yet he still struggles to the throne to protect his daughter.
He stumbles twice, the first time refusing help and the second time accepting help from Daemon of all people.
The brothers went from at odds during the beginning of the show to reconciled near the end, and it is beautiful to watch Daemon help Viserys to the throne with gentle encouragement and then place his fallen crown upon his head.
Now upon the throne, Viserys asks to hear Rhaenys thoughts on who should inherit the Driftwood Throne, since she is the only one who would understand her husband’s wishes.
Rhaenys makes her decision, supporting Lucerys’ claim, backing Rhanerya.
However, she also plays the situation in her own favour, by announcing the betrothal between Jace and Baela, and Luke and Rhaena.
Viserys accepts this and reaffirms Lucerys claim, only for Vaemond to angrily denounce this.
Spurred on by Daemon, Vaemond goes on to call Jace and Lucerys bastards but goes a step even further, calling Rhanerya a whore.
And the Darwin Award goes to… Vaemond Velaryon for stupidly calling the heir to the Iron Throne a whore, somehow thinking this would not get him executed!
To Vaemond’s credit, he may have known this would get him killed but he decided to die getting the truth of Rhanerya’s children’s parentage out into the open once and for all.
In the end, his death is pretty quick and brutal, with Daemon cutting half his head off right after Viserys demands his tongue, stating, “he can keep his tongue.”
The reaction to this from the Hightowers are priceless, with all of them being horrified, except for Aemond who appears to be quite impressed with his uncle/brother-in law… man, Targaryen family trees are weird.
That night, after recovering somewhat, Viserys orders a dinner to take place with his family in the hopes of reconciling the two factions.
His speech is heart breaking and it seems to get through to Rhanerya and Alicent in particular who both raise their cups to one another.
Alicent even says that Rhanerya would make a good queen, seemingly accepting her rise to the throne following her own son’s terrible actions.
Aegon attempts to provoke Jace by making a sexual advance on Baela but Jace plays this off, being the better person.
This all prompts Helaena to make her own toast, encouraging Baela and Rhaena in their marriages.
“It’s not so bad,” she says. “Mostly he just ignores you, except when he’s drunk.”
Helaena is just too pure for the terrible world of Westeros.
Her toast leads to Jace dancing with her afterwards, in what is both a noble attempt to cheer her up and also to get back at Aegon for his pot stirring.
Much celebration follows, with the two sides seemingly getting along and Viserys heart is clearly warmed at the sight, as he clearly thinks his family has reconciled.
So, of course, as soon as Viserys departs, due to the pain he feels, fighting breaks out.
A pig is placed in front of Aemond and this clearly reminds both him and Lucerys of “the pink dread” prank he, Jace and Aegon played on Aemond when they were younger.
Lucerys tries not to laugh at the memory.
It was really not a good plan to provoke the guy whose eye you cut out and now definitley has a grudge against you, Lucerys.
This is proven when Aemond makes his own toast to his nephew’s health, calling them “Strong” in a clear reference to their true father.
Jace punches Aemond in retalitation but Daemon steps in before a brawl can break out and someone else loses an eye.
As Jace and Luke go to their rooms, Aemond and Daemon face off silently, before Aemond relents and leaves.
Alicent and Rhanerya then reconcile further, with Rhanerya saying she will return to visit “on dragon back.”
After Rhanerya and her family leave, Alicent puts Viserys to bed, giving him milk of the poppy again for the pain.
Unfortunately, this has the worst of consequences, as it causes Viserys to hallucinate, thinking that Alicent is Rhanerya from the night before, asking about the Prince that was Promised.
Viserys response causes Alicent to think that he is saying Aegon should be king over Rhanerya, when he is actually saying Rhanerya is the heir who will continue Aegon the Conqueror’s line.
I have made it clear that I have disliked the inclusion of the whole Prince that was Promised plotline, given that it never amounted to anything in Game of Thrones.
However, I think this was the perfect usage of it, with this natural misunderstanding between Alicent and Viserys leading to the Dance of the Dragons.
If this misunderstanding never happened then Alicent very may well have supported Rhanerya’s claim over Aegon’s, following Viserys’ death.
And because Viserys dies he can never clear up the misunderstanding that just happened.
Viserys passes alone, in his bed, seeing his dear Aemma in his final moments.
“My love,” he whispers, as he breaths his last breath.
So dies King Viserys Targaryen, the First of his Name, King of the Andals, and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm.
With Viserys’ time on the show now at an end, I am now going to say what many people have been saying since this episode aired… Give Paddy Considine his Emmy!
Seriously, the guy gives an incredible performance as Viserys, turning the bland character from the book into one of the most tragic characters in the show.
If he is not at least nominated for this role then I do not what the world is coming to.
Viserys’ storyline alone makes “Lord of the Tides” my favourite episode of House of the Dragon thus far.
It is a fantastic episode, which serves as a great goodbye to Viserys and is the final calm before the storm.
And now the dragons dance.

Book Spoiler Section:
Once again for the book spoiler section, I will begin by attempting to guess what Helaena’s prophecy means.
“Beware the beast beneath the boards,” is what Helaena murmers at the dinner party.
I think this is a reference to Blood and Cheese, the tragic event in the Dance of the Dragons, where assassins are sent to kill one of Helaena’s children in retaliation for Luke’s death.
It will certainly be a horrifying moment in the show when this happens in Season Two, considering how sweet Helaena is.
“Lord of the Tides” also has a lot of great foreshadowing for the future of the show.
There is Rhanerya saying she will return “on dragon back”, which she does when she takes King’s Landing during the Dance.
There is Aemond and Daemon’s brief stand off, hinting at their final fight above the God’s Eye.
We see Mysaria has a servant of Alicent as an informer, foreshadowing her future role as a Mistress of Whisperers.
Then, there is Viserys comment about his grandson having a name “fit for a king,” which Viserys the younger will eventually become.
Although, this is decades down the line, so we likely will not see it in the show.
The next book spoiler I wish to discuss is actually not related to the episode itself.
This spoiler concerns the character of Daeron.
In the book, he is Alicent and Visery’s fourth child who has a key role to play in the Dance. However, he has been completley absent in the show.
Many have speculated that he is squiring in Old Town and George R.R Martin has seemingly confirmed Daeron’s existence in the show.
However, him not even being mentioned previously will make it quite strange for show only viewers to meet him in the following seasons.
I just hope he is introduced right and in a way that feels natural, despite him not being mentioned.

House of the Dragon Episode Seven, Driftmark Review: Eye for an Eye.

I was quite excited going into Episode Seven of House of the Dragon, “Driftmark.”
This was because the Miguel Sapochnik directed episode would adapt an event I had been looking forward to seeing ever since the show was announced, this being Aemond claiming Vhagar and then losing his eye.
The end result did not disappoint, with “Driftmark” being my favourite episode, until it was unexpectedly overtaken by Episode Eight, “Lord of the Tides.”
As for Episode Seven, it entirely resolves around the titular “Driftmark”, beginning with Laena’s funeral, after she died by Vhagar last episode, choosing to die as a dragon rider, rather than being ripped open in a medieval c-section.
However, this being Westeros, even a funeral is not safe from political manuvering, as Corlys’ brother, Vaemond Velaryon is clearly unhappy about Lucerys being set to inherit Driftmark, due to him being a bastard.
This leads to him insulting Lucerys, Jacaerys and Rhanerya by subtly calling them out in his funeral speech.
The insults do not go unnoticed, causing Daemon to laugh, potentially because of his incredulity at this happening at his own wife’s funeral; also potentially to draw attention away from Rhanerya and her sons to protect them.
Again, I love the ambiguity the show is painting Daemon’s actions with.
There are multiple different ways you could interpret his decisions over the course of the show so far.
Following the funeral comes a pretty awkward wake for Laena, as the green and black factions all interact, with various disdainful looks being thrown about.
Jacaerys clearly does not understand the severity of the situation, as he complains to Rhanerya about wanting to be at Harrenhal, mourning Lyonel and Harwin, whom he now knows was his true father.
Rhanerya’s concerned look to make sure no one heard Jace talking is well played by Emma D’Arcy.
While the tension is clearly growing at the wake, Helaena remains oblivious to it all; content to play with her bugs and spin prophecies.
“Spools of green, spools of black,” she murmmers. “Dragons of flesh weaving dragons of thread. Hand turns loom, spools of green.”
It is pretty obvious after this episode and Episode Eight that Helaena is a dreamer and I will get into what this specific prophecy may mean in the book spoiler section below.
As Helaena is murmmering her prophecy, she is looked over by Aegon and Aemond.
Aegon has been bethrothed to his sister but is clearly not happy about this,
Aemond, on the other hand, says he would gladly marry his sister.
Targaryens gonna Targaryen I guess.
Aemond does have quite an intriguing moment later on, however; when he walks over to Jace and looks like he might be about to console him over his own loss, only to walk away without saying a word.
This is yet another moment where we can only speculate about whether things could have turned out for the better, if only a different decision had been made by these characters.
While Jace is interacting with Aemond, and also comforting Baela and Rhaena, Lucerys is lectured about inheriting Driftmark by Corlys, only for him to say, “I don’t want it.”
This, I am sure, triggered many PTSD flashbacks for Game of Thrones fans, as they remembered Jon Snow’s most overplayed sentence from Season Eight.
Thankfully, the line that follows this is much more impactful, with Lucerys stating, “If I’m the Lord of Driftmark, that means everyone’s dead.”
More tragic shots follow, including Laenor sitting in the tide, mourning the loss of his sister, prompting Corlys to demand Qarl retrieve him.
Probably the most interesting interactions of the wake, however, are those of Viserys.
First, he tries to convince Daemon to come back to Kings Landing and reconcile, only for Daemon to outright refuse.
In another subtle moment, Daemon appears to almost say he needs Rhanerya before catching himself.
Viserys then goes to bed for the night, informing Alicent but accidentally calling her Aemma, showing just how much he is slipping.
The final shots of the wake see Aemond looking up at the sky as Vhagar flies overhead, foreshadowing what is to come.
That night, Rhanerya meets with Daemon and the two walk on the beach, discussing the loss of their loves, Laena and Harwin.
Daemon is also shown to heavily suspect Otto (whom has since returned as Hand of the King), along with Alicent, of orchestrating the murder of Lyonel and Harwin.
Rhanerya, however, speaks up for Alicent because she does not beleive her to be capable of murder.
In a sense, both are kind of right.
Daemon is right to suspect Otto of benefitting from Lyonel’s death and Rhanerya is right in so far as that Alicent did not actually order Lyonel’s death, rather it was orchestrated by Larys, with Alicent unwittingly playing a part.
Regardless of their disagreements of the Hightower’s involvement in Lyonel and Harwin’s deaths, Rhanerya and Daemon reconcile and sleep togethor.
Targaryens gonna Targaryen, right?
Well, for those of you especially creeped out by the incest in the show, no need to worry because it is so dark you probably will not see anything.
Seriously, the colour grading for these night scenes is quite bad at times.
I had to to turn off every light in the house and squint at times just to see what was happening.
It is a shame too because the night scene where Aemond claims Vhagar as his dragon is excellent.
This episode really showed just how massive Vhagar is, making Aemond’s taming of her even more epic, as he calms her with the valyrian language, climbs into her saddle and then orders her to fly, nearly dying on multiple occasions.
The massive dragon nearly shakes him off and Aemond nearly falls to his death on the ascent, yet he still succeeds in claming Vhagar, or stealing if you ask Baela and Rhaena.
I have seen a lot of debate online about whether Aemond taming Vhagar counts as stealing or not.
Rhaena was supposed to claim her, yet because she was mourning her mother she did not.
This lead to Aemond taking his opportunity and claiming Vhagar before Rhaena could.
Is this in poor taste?
Definitley.
But I would draw the line at saying it’s stealing, since Vhagar did choose Aemond as her new rider.
Rhaena and Baela’s anger is certainly understandable, though, and it is a much better reason for the fight happening, rather than Aemond throwing Joffrey into dragon poop, which is what happened in the book.
What is less understandable is Aemond insulting them all after claiming Vhagar, stating maybe Jace and Luke can find Rhaena a pig to ride.
This insult definitley stems from the bullying Aemond suffered from in the previous episode, directing his anger at Jace and Lucerys.
Unfortunately, this leads to the conflict escalating into a full on brawl, resulting in the best fight in House of the Dragon so far, and it is a fight between literal children.
Again, we have to think of that moment when Aemond almost comforted Jace back a the wake.
If either of them had spoken up, would they have ended up in such a violent showdown?
We will never know.
Instead, the resenment grows into bloodshed as, after threatening Jace with a rock, Aemond gets his eye cut out by Lucerys, before the Kingsguard finally show up to intervene.
Upon hearing of the fight, Viserys is understandably outraged, berating Ser Harold Westerling and Ser Criston.
It is here that we see the difference in standards among the Kingsguard.
While Ser Harold accepts responsibiltiy and apologises, Ser Criston attempts to redirect blame onto Rhanerya’s sons.
Tensions rise when Rhanerya enters the room, with Daemon just observing.
Viserys is focused on learning what happened, until Rhanerya reveals Aemond called her sons bastards.
Viserys then focuses on this, rather than his own son losing an eye.
This is most likely because of his love for Rhanerya but also because he knows that if Jace, Luke and Joffrey are considered bastards by the realm then it could plunge Westeros into war.
So, Viserys focuses on this instead of Aemond, likely increasing his own son’s hatred for his nephews.
In the end, Aemond blames Aegon instead of his mother for spreading the bastard rumor.
Aegon’s following response to Viserys when he questions where he heard this, “everyone knows, just look at them,” is a great line adapted from the book.
Viserys’ following frustration about the infighting in his family is palpable, with Paddy Considine giving another fantastic performance.
Alicent is understandably unmoved by Viserys order that everyone should make ammends.
She is angered by Aemond losing an eye, leading her to demand an eye for an eye from Lucerys.
When Viserys refuses, she steals the catspaw dagger from him and lunges at Rhanerya and her children, a moment that had been especially hyped up in the trailers and does not disappoint, with both calling the other out, leading to Alicent slashing Rhanerya’s arm.
Afterwards, the tension is finally calmed when Aemond reassures Alicent with another excellent line from the book, “I may have lost an eye but I gained a dragon.”
It really would have been better if you said that before Alicent tried to stab the heir to the throne, Aemond.
On another note, I would like to praise Leo Ashton for his role as Aemond this episode.
He was the best of the child actors this episode and perfomed the claiming of Vhagar scene especially well.
As for Alicent, she is confronted by Otto in her chambers and, for the first time, he seems to be proud of her, saying he now sees that she has “the determination to win” the “ugly game” they play.
Alicent takes her father’s support to heart by also embracing Larys’ support on the ship back to Kings’ Landing, further cementing an alliance with a powerful and dangerous ally.
Rhanerya is also cementing more allies, with Laenor committing to helping as her husband in a touching scene between the two.
This is despite the fact that we can see how conflicted Laenor is about the direction in his life.
The second ally Rhanerya gains is Daemon, offering marriage to him, to which Daemon says Laenor would have to die.
I will admit, I was completley fooled when it looked like Daemon hired Qarl to kill Laenor.
I thought Rhanerya had turned down a dark path and helped orchestrate the death of Laenor, and I was quite unsure about it, considering how much Rhanerya had seemed to care greatly for Laenor beforehand.
This is why it was a relief to see that Laenor’s death had been staged, allowing him and Qarl to row off into the sunset togethor.
Laenor did the smart thing getting out of the Game of Thrones.
He will live much longer that way.
Shame about the random guard whose body was used as a stand in for him, though.
Laenor living is an interesting change from the book and I wonder how if it will play into the future of the story?
There is a theory about Laenor’s future role going around but it is one I do not particularly like.
I will have to mention book spoilers, though, so I will explain what the theory is in in the section below.
As for Daemon and Rhanerya, they are finally able to marry, in a scene that is actually kind of funny when you see the disgusted faces of their children, Rhaena and Baela in particular.
I also wish we could have seen Viserys reaction, since he was so against any union between Rhanerya and Daemon in Episodes Four and Five.
All in all, “Driftmark” is one of the best episode of House of the Dragon so far.
It more than delivered on the Vhagar and Aemond storyline I have been waiting to see play out ever since I read “Fire and Blood.”


Book Spoilers Section:
Regarding Helaena’s prophecy this episode, I think it is a clear reference to the beginning of the Dance of the Dragons.
“Spools of green, spools of black; dragons of flesh weaving dragons of threads,” references the division between the blacks and the greens, leading to the Dance.
“Hand turns loom, spools of green,” references Otto’s work in the coup to put Aegon on the throne, and the greens in power, following Viserys’ death.
With my speculation for Helaena’s prophecy out of the way, I can now talk about the theory concerning Laenor’s survival.
This theory states that in Season Two of House of the Dragon, he will take on the role of Addam of Hull, the dragon seed who joins Rhanerya’s cause.
The theory is that Laenor will pose as his own bastard to come back and help Rhanerya, taking on the name Addam.
Personally, I am very much against this theory.
If Laenor is Addam, it would ruin Addam’s entire arc about proving the worth of bastards.
Rhanerya suspects him after Hugh Hammer and Ulf the White’s betrayal, something Rhanerya would never consider of Laenor.
Addam then flees to avoid arrest, only to rally Rhanerya’s supporters in an attempt to take back Tumbleton, dying in the fighting.
Having proven his worth, his brother Alyn then has the words “loyal” carved into Addam’s tombstone.
Laenor just does not fit into this storyline because he is not a bastard and he does not even have a brother to pose as Alyn.
Just keep Laenor and Addam as seperate characters please.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 106, Bonfire Review: War vs Justice.

Coinciding with the first episode of the Chainsaw Man anime, Tatsuki Fujimoto released Chapter 106, “Bonfire.”
It is a much shorter chapter than the prior ones in Part Two but that does not make it any less significant, building up to a fight between Yoru and the Justice Devil at Asa’s school.
“Bonfire” begins by detailing the fallout between Asa and Yoru, following Yuko revealing that she made a deal with the Justice Devil and now plans to kill all of Asa’s bullies.
Asa wants to talk Yuko out of it but Yuko attacking the school plays right into Yoru’s plan to draw out Chainsaw Man, so she takes over Asa’s body to make sure the attack happens.
So much for them seemingly coming to an agreement in Chapter 101.
Yoru’s other reasons for taking over Asa’s body is to silence Yuko about her, and also that killing a Devil will get her and Asa into the Devil Hunting club, thus getting them closer to Chainsaw Man, or so they think.
Either way, Asa has no say in the matter, as Yoru plans to stay in control until Yuko is dead.
Speaking of Yuko, we then see her burning the body of her neighbour in her backyard, promising to kill all of Asa’s bullies.
Her wording, “I’ll kill all the bad guys for you, just like Chainsaw Man” appears to be Fujimoto showcasing some of the negative effects of Denji’s actions, such as Yuko sees herself as like him by murdering those bullying Asa.
The next day, Yuko journeys to school, only to be confronted in the hallway by Yoru with a sword.
Using the Justice Devil’s power to read her mind, Yuko realizes it is Yoru she is talking to and that Chainsaw Man goes to their school.
As she reflects on her disappointment about this, we get a curious panel, where the speech bubbles are shown behind a window, partially blocked but not to the point that we cannot read what is being said.
Perhaps this is Fujimoto showing how the sound of their conversation is muffled elsewhere.
Or maybe they are being observed?
Perhaps by Yoshida?
In any case, Yuko asks Yoru to step aside, saying they can fight after she kills the bullies but Yoru refuses, knowing Yuko will run after this to escape the Devil Hunters.
Yuko then tells Yoru that she cannot beat her because she can read her mind.
Although this does raise the question of how Yoru managed to defeat the Justice Devil back when it controlled the Class President in Chapter 98, it does lead to a smart moment from Yoru, where she uses Asa as a hostage, saying if Yuko kills her then she will be killing Asa as well.
This angers Yuko, causing her to say that she likes Asa but hates Yoru, before transforming into the Justice Devil, bringing this short chapter to a close, with the cliffhanger teasing the rematch between the War and the Justice Devil.
One thing that is interesting to note about the Justice Devil, though, is that its design has changed.
Back in my review for Chapter 98, I criticized its design, stating that its form did not seem to resemble the fear it was based off, like all the other devils.
Well, this issue I had is fixed with this chapter, as the Justice Devil now has a form that kind of looks like a monstrous version of Lady Justice, to me.
I do wonder why the Justice Devil changed forms between its hosts?
I have heard a theory that it is because Yuko has a keener sense of justice than the Class President, so maybe that is it?
Either way, the fight between Yoru and Yuko should be interesting.
It could lead to Yoshida stepping in or even Denji revealing himself as Chainsaw Man.
As for Yoru and Asa, they actually have an advantage against the Justice Devil.
Because Asa considers Yuko a friend, this means Yoru can transform her into a weapon, although I am sure Asa will try to stop this.
Yuko is probably going to end up biting the dust, though.
If this does happen, it sure will sure have been an unexpected way for her to go.
When Yuko was first introduced, we all thought that when she died it would be in a way to motivate Asa, not as an antagonist.
It just goes to show how inventive Fujimoto is as a writer.
All in all, “Bonfire” is another good Chainsaw Man chapter.
It is a short one but this has an upside because it means we will be getting Chapter 107 next week, rather than two weeks for now.
I am intrigued to see how the fight between Yoru and Yuko will play out.

Chainsaw Man Episode One, Dog & Chainsaw Review: Simple Dreams in a Horrifying World.

After well over a year of anticipation and hype, Mappa just released its first episode of the Chainsaw Man adaptation, “Dog & Chainsaw”, directed by Ryū Nakayama.
If anyone had any doubts about whether this anime would live up to expectations, I am certain that this episode blew any skepticism clear out of the water.
“Dog & Chainsaw” is a phenominal beginning for the anime, delivering excellently on all fronts, including animation, voice acting and soundtrack.
The episode begins with an anime original scene of our main character Denji (Kikunosuke Toya) having a nightmare about approaching a strange door in an alleyway.
As a manga reader, I know what this dream means but I will leave that for the spoiler section below, just in case any anime only viewers happen to stumble across this review.
After waking up, Denji goes Devil hunting with his own pet Devil, Pochita (Shiori Izawa), an orange, dog-like creature with a chainsaw attatched to its head.
Denji lives in a world where Devils representing human fears plague humanity.
Unfortunately, Denji is dirt poor because his father killed himself after becoming indebted to the Yakuza.
Now, Denji has to pay off all of his father’s debt or be murdered, which lead to him selling one of his eyes, kidney, and even one of his testicles.
What gets him the most profit, however, is Devil hunting, as we see him prepare to use Pochita to take out the Tomato Devil,, before the episode cuts to the opening “Kick Back” by Kenshi Yozenu.
This opening is a lot of fun, with a great song and visuals which I will discuss the meaning of in the manga spoiler section.
After the opening, we see the aftermath of Denji and Pochita’s fight with the Tomato Devil, handing the corpse off to the Yakuza Boss who kindly gives Denji his payment… before ripping him off by taking most of his hard earned money for petty things like a “finder’s fee.”
On top of this, another Yakuza member mistreats Denji further, by offering him money if he eats a cigarette to which, desperate for money as he is, Denji accepts.
He does prove his intelligence, however, by not swallowing the cigarette so he can spit it out when the Yakuza leave.
Returning to the shed in the forest he calls home, we see how much worse Denji’s life is since, because of the Yakuza’s extortion, he can only afford to buy a single piece of bread for him and Pochia to eat.
This harsh life has caused Denji to view simple dreams, like going out on a date with a girl, to be akin to life changing ones; a key component of his character, which will be explored in later episodes.
None of this exploration would have happened without Pochita, however, as we see how he saved Denji’s life in a flashback.
After Denji’s father died, the Yakuza boss demanded money from him to be ready the next day, threatening to cut him up and sell his organs if he fails.
It was at this hopeless moment when Denji met Pochita and accepted his death by a Devil, only to see that Pochita was injured.
Remembering his own father’s suicide, Denji decides to save Pochita by offering his blood, making a contract with the little Devil and starting his Devil hunting career.
Following this flashback, Denji reminisces more on his simple dreams, before coughing up blood, leading to him remembering being told that his mother died from a heart condition, which caused her to cough up blood.
So, on top of the crushing poverty and extortion by the Yakuza, Denji then realizes he probably does not have long to live, meaning the simple dreams he lives for can never be achieved.
The poor guy just can not catch a break.
This is proven when the Yakuza boss takes him to kill another Devil, only for it to be a trap.
The Yakuza boss and his underlings stupidly made a contract with the Zombie Devil to obtain a Devil’s power like Denji did.
All this did was turn them all into the undead, now completley under the control of the Zombie Devil, who wants to kill Denji and Pochita for being Devil Hunters.
What follows is the brutal murder of the two, as they are struck from behind, chased down, stabbed to death, cut into pieces and thrown into a dumpster.
Kikunosuke Toya gives an excellent performance during this scene, with his agonised screams adding to the horror.
And so Denji’s short and cruel life ends cruely, or, at least, it would have if it were not for Pochita again.
Revived by Denji’s blood, he makes a contract with Denji, “I’ll give you my heart. And in exchange, I want you to show me your dreams.”
Now revived, Denji emerges from the dumpster, the only remaining remnant of Pochita being a cord now attatched to his chest.
Upon noticing his revival, the Zombie Devil orders his zombie slaves to eat Denji, and they tackle him to the ground as he pulls the cord.
The sound of the groaning undead is slowly overtaken by the sound of a revving chainsaw.
With a gory slash, Denji emerges from beneath the hoard, his face now that of a monstrous chainsaw, along with his hands.
The gore galore promised by the trailer then comences, as Denji quickly cuts the screaming Zombie Devil apart in bloody and spectacularly animated fashion.
Denji’s chainsaws are clearly CGI but they are the good kind, mixing well with the 2D animation.
After the Zombie Devil has been brutally despatched, Denji moves onto the zombified Yakuza, including his former boss, killing them all and washing his debt away in a river of blood.
Some time later, the government Devil Hunters arrive, lead by a woman named Makima (Tomori Kusunoki).
They find Denji inside the warehouse, surrounded by the dead zombies.
In a daze, Denji asks Makima to hug him, clearly remembering his old dream, and Makima accepts this requet, causing Denji to return to his human form.
Makima then gives him two options.
Either, A, he can be killed by her as a devil, or B, Makima can keep him as a human, offering to feed him.
This prompts Denji to ask what he will have for breakfast and Makima replies simple things like, “bread with butter and jam, salad, coffee, and then maybe something for desert.”
Well, as we know, simple dreams like breakfast are big ones for Denji, so Makima is really offering to fulfill one of his dearest wishes, leading to him accepting the offer, as the episode comes to an end.
Throughout this scene, the soundtrack by Keunsuke Ushio presents a melancholic feeling that represents the hope Denji is feeling in this moment really well.
I just knew that the composer for anime like A Silent Voice would do a great job with the soundtrack for Chainsaw Man.
I look forward to hearing the rest of his work, just as I look forward to seeing the rest of th3 ending songw we get.
Mappa took an interesting approach to the Chainsaw Man’s episode endings, as each one will have a different song, with Episode One’s being “Chainsaw Blood” by Vaundy, which is another banger, just like the opening.
All of the music, from the opening and ending song, to Ushio’s soundtrack, are amazing.
Along with this, the animation of the episode is great throughout, with plenty of little details throughout, like the veins in some character’s eyes.
Finally, there is the voice acting, which is so far also really good.
Watching the trailer, I was admittedly surprised to hear Tomori Kusunkoki’s soft voice as Makima but I think it works perfectly after this episode by making the character perfectly alluring.
“Dog & Chainsaw” is an all around fantastic first episode for the Chainsaw Man adaptation.
Studio Mappa is clearly dedicated to giving the manga the best adaptation that it can and I cannot wait to see the rest of my new favourite manga be adapted in anime form.


Manga Spoiler Section:
The first thing I will talk about concerning manga spoilers is the anime original scene of Denji having a nightmare about the door.
This early foreshadowing will work wonders, setting up the reveal that Denji killed his own father, which will come later in the story.
Placing the dream right at the beginning puts the mystery of the door firmly in the audience’s mind from the start, which is a good thing.
Now, for my thoughts on the opening’s foreshadowing.
For starters, one of my favourite moments from it was the moment with the entire gang sitting in a movie theatre.
It felt like it was hinting at Chapter 39, where Denji and Makima go to the movies.
Not only that but this moment in the opening also hints at what the character dynamics will be like in the future of the anime.
We see Makima feeding Denji popcorn, hinting at her control over him, Power stealing Kobeni’s seat, and Aki being the only one of the group to be focusing on the movie.
The opening having a moment in the theatre is also perfect for Chainsaw Man, considering how much of a movie fan Tatsuki Fujimoto is.
This fact can be seen throughout the opening, with various other moments refrencing popular films, with shots resembling those found in Pulp Fiction, The Big Lebowski, and many other films, being present.
After the movie theater moment in the opening, we then get various little hints to Makima’s hold over Denji, some subtle and others not.
Probably the most unsubtle of all is Makima having Denji on a dog leash.
More subtle is the moment when Makima feeds Denji a snail, which, I am told, looks to be infected by a parasite which controls its brain, further hinting at her attempting to manipulate Denji.
Other cool little teasers in the opening show glimpses of the Future Devil, Ghost Devil and Katanna Man, along with hints at Aki and Power’s pasts.
The opening then ends by showing the family dynamic that will emerge between Denji, Power and Aki, with Denji and Power goofing around dancing, while Aki watches.
This opening was great and its hints towards future events from the manga were fun to catch.
As for the original anime only scene, I wonder if there will be any more throughout the anime?
It will be interesting to see what gets added across Chainsaw Man‘s adaptation.