Chainsaw Man Chapter 156, Whup Whup Whup Whup Bzzz Split Split Review: War, Bomb or Dress?

After Nayuta’s fate was once again left uncertain in Chapter 155 of Chainsaw Man, I had no idea where the story was going to end up.
Well, I certainly did not expect what Chapter 156 gave us.
First of all, when looking at the chapter’s title, “Whup Whup Whup Whup Bzzz Split Split”, I was a little baffled.
Yes, Fujimoto is known for getting creative with his titles, but I wondered what exactly that supposed nonsense could mean.
I did not have to wait long to find out.
The chapter begins with Denji in his hospital room being confronted by Yoshida, who reveals that Denji has been asleep for a week.
He also has no idea what happened to Nayuta, so we are still left in the dark on her fate.
The Darkness Devil must be getting stronger from that.
Joking aside, Denji tries to get up but collapses and is berated by Yoshida for refusing to live a normal life.
He leaves the room and, after Denji falls unconscious, it is revealed that Public Safety plan to dismember him.
Now, I’m doubly curious about what happened to Kishibe because I refuse to believe he would be willing to have this happen to Denji after his actions at the end of Part One.
Well, Kishibe is not there.
Unfortunately, Fumiko is.
As if she could not get any more unlikable, Fumiko wants to pluck some nails and hair from Denji before he is dismembered to add to her “collection.”
Yeah, I’m now 99% sure the sob story she told Denji was a complete fabrication.
As for Denji himself, we see him having another dream about Pochita.
Denji tells his old friend how he has to save Nayuta, only for Pochita to chillingly reply, “How can you do that without your legs?”
The chapter then cuts to reveal Denji on an operating table, his legs being amputated by surgeons.
And so the disturbing meaning of the bizarre title is revealed.
While “Whup Whup Whup Whup Bzzz Split Split” might sound like nonsense, it is actually the sound of Denji being dismembered.
Even more sickening, it appears that the surgeons have amputated Denji’s limbs multiple times.
The lead surgeon says they have amputated “right leg 26” and will amputate “right leg 27” next.
This whole “surgery” also reminds me a lot of what happened to Sun in Fire Punch.
It is always nice to see Fujimoto making callbacks to his prior works, even if those callbacks are disturbing.
I have to wonder why Public Safety are subjecting Denji to such torture, though.
Is it just so they can keep him from escaping or is there some other reason?
Public Safety’s whole motivation in Part Two is one of the story’s biggest mysteries right now.
Another mystery going on at the moment is where exactly Asa and Yoru are, but Fujimoto may be just about to reveal that.
The Devil Hunter guarding Denji during the operation states that he is being held in the Tokyo Devil Detention Center, which is so secure that, “It would take a war to compromise this facility’s safety.”
The chapter then ends on the panel of a woman’s legs facing the prison, with the implication being that whoever this person is will save Denji.
Given the mention of a “war” being the only thing that could breach the facility, Asa and Yoru seem to be the most likely candidates.
It would be great to see them again, and perhaps Fami put them on Denji’s trail in the week that passed.
However, there is always the possibility that Fujimoto is trying to trick us into thinking it’s Asa.
Another candidate being thrown around is Reze.
She is the only Devil Hybrid missing, would have a motive to save Denji, and the “war” foreshadowing would still apply to her since she is the Bomb Hybrid.
Although, if I had to choose between the two, I would want it to be Asa since I am more emotionally attached to her character.
Reze is still great and I want her to come back, but I would rather see what Asa has been up to first.
Or, who knows, maybe the person coming to save Denji is Kishibe in a dress?
Hey, it could happen.
This is Fujimoto we’re talking about.
Overall, Chapter 156 is a disturbing read but for the right reasons.
What is even better about it is that there is only a week until the next chapter, so we will not have to wait long to see who Denji’s savior will be.
Asa, Reze or Kishibe in a dress?
Take your pick.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 155, The Old Me Review: Another Worrying Cliffhanger.

The previous chapter of Chainsaw Man left Nayuta’s survival up in the air.
Going into Chapter 155, “The Old Me” I was interested to see what the resolution would be, only to be meet with another cliffhanger concerning Nayuta’s fate.
The chapter begins with some members of the angry mob regaining their senses, not wanting to attack Nayuta because she’s a kid.
Of course, Barem has to ruin this positive change, as he puts the gun to his head, pretending that Nayuta is trying to make him kill himself.
This turns the mob against Nayuta again, and they all lunge at her, right as her and Denji’s burning apartment collapses.
The chapter then transitions into a flashback from Nayuta’s perspective, showing what happened when Denji first took her in.
We see that Nayuta looked into Denji’s memories while he slept and learned of her past life as Makima.
Wanting to know who she was, Nayuta decided to continue Makima’s plan of making Denji happy and then destroying that happiness.
Fortunately, Denji’s role as a big brother in Nayuta’s life changed her for the better, as we see her running with Denji and their dogs, an adorable smile on her face.
The chapter then changes to Denji’s perspective of the flashback, with him reassuring Nayuta that they are family one night.
This memory causes Denji’s negative emotions to emerge, with a younger version of himself appearing out of the darkness to remind Denji that he told Nayuta he no longer needed her.
“There’s no way I could ever have a family,” the younger Denji says. “I mean, I killed my own dad.”
Denji killing his own father is what haunts him the most, and he is clearly still traumatized from how Makima weaponized this against him.
The chapter then ends with Denji waking up in a hospital, with Nayuta’s fate once again left up in the air.
I have to hope that Nayuta is alive, considering that I don’t think even Fujimoto would kill her off screen.
There is also the mystery of where exactly the story goes now.
Since the mob saw Denji transform, is the whole world going to know he’s Chainsaw Man now?
Is Denji in the custody of Public Safety, or just in a regular hospital?
And what happened to Asa and Yoru after they got that power-up?
Those two have been gone for what feels like forever.
We will have to wait for the next chapter to hopefully find out some of these questions.
“The Old Me” is another short chapter, but it still does a good of characterizing Nayuta, and how Denji’s influence has changed her for the better.
Let’s just hope she survived.

Chainsaw Man Chapters 153 and 154 Review: A Valued Character and a Useless Character.

There have been a lot of breaks with Chainsaw Man Part Two but, thankfully, there was not one between Chapters 153 and 154, “Chainsaw Man Hunters” and “All Pets.”
They are, as usual, brief chapters, although they both highlight the characters.
In particular, Chapter 153 shows how great of a character Nayuta is, while Chapter 154 shows how useless Fumiko is.
Chapter 154, “Chainsaw Man Hunters” begins in the aftermath of Denji defeating the Weapons.
Now severely wounded, he faces another threat, this being the ire of the public.
As expected, many of them are terrified of him now because of the attacking Chainsaw Man clones.
Despite Nayuta and Fumiko’s protests, the angry mob attacks Denji, throwing a net of barb wire over him and then attempting to set him on fire.
Fujimoto has done an excellent job of showing how the public has turned against Chainsaw Man out of fear.
They do not listen to reason, many of them wanting to save their own loved ones, and when Denji defends himself, it only cements his danger in their minds.
The woman who led Nayuta away in the previous chapter attempts to get her to safety, but Nayuta protests, declaring Chainsaw Man her family.
The woman insists he is not her family anymore, calling Denji a “thing” as we see a panel of him being brutalized by the mob while laughing.
We then get my favorite panels of the chapter, where the mention of family causes Nayuta to remember Denji displaying just how much he loved her in a previous chapter.
Nayuta’s decision to save her family is clear as day in the following panel, and she uses her control powers to take over the mind of the woman trying to pull her away.
The chapter then ends with the controlled woman and Nayuta screaming, “Run Chainsaw Man!”
“Chainsaw Man Hunters” is a solid chapter, which elevated my love for Nayuta’s character.
However, if Chapter 153 made me love Nayuta more, Chapter 154 brought my opinion of Fumiko to rock bottom.
Beginning with Nayuta taking over more people to help Denji, Chapter 154 “All Pets” has her turn to help from Fumiko next.
However, Fumiko is completely unwilling to help, stating that “risking my life falls outside the scope of my job.”
Newsflash, Fumiko: If you’re not prepared to risk your life defending someone, then you should not be a bodyguard in the first place.
If this were not bad enough, Fumiko makes herself look even worse by dismissing Nayuta declaring that her family just died.
“Weren’t they just pets?” she asks Nayuta, without a shred of sympathy, before making her escape.
After that display, I would say that Nayuta calling Fumiko a “diarrhea woman” is completely fair (and also hilarious).
But seriously, what has Fumiko even done at this point?
She groped Denji when they first met without his consent and has proven to be a spectacularly terrible bodyguard.
She did not help Denji during the karaoke brawl for most of the fight, spied on him taking a dump, and now abandoned him and Nayuta with barely any effort to help them.
And yet she claimed in a previous chapter that she could protect them?
If I was Yoshida, you can bet Fumiko would be out of a job with her awful track record.
Unless Fumiko leaving is some kind of bait and switch (which I doubt considering her harsh words to Nayuta), then she is easily Chainsaw Man‘s most useless character.
With Fumiko now gone, Nayuta loses control of the crowd, and they quickly turn on her, with an injured Barem stoking the flames.
Before being completely surrounded, Nayuta manages to get control of one person to rescue Denji, using this person to tell him he was wrong about not needing her.
I do have a hard time believing Denji could get away when he was completely surrounded before, but I guess the crowd’s attention had turned towards Nayuta.
The Control Devil’s last stand then begins, with Nayuta taking over more people to defend herself.
It is not enough, however, and she is quickly overwhelmed.
In a last attempt to save herself, Nayuta screams that she is just a kid.
Thankfully, the angry mob has just enough morality left to hesitate.
Barem, on the other hand, has no such morality, aiming a gun at Nayuta.
“All Pets” then ends, leaving Nayuta’s fate up in the air for another two-week break.
For these past two weeks, I have been wondering if Nayuta will survive.
I hope so because she is quickly becoming one of my favorites.
Although, Fujimoto has certainly not been afraid of killing beloved characters before, and Nayuta’s last words to Denji really felt like a goodbye, so it could happen.
When we get the next chapter tomorrow, I will have my fingers crossed that someone will save her.
Who knows, maybe Asa and Yoru will finally return to save Yoru’s sister?
If Barem does kill Nayuta though, I will be all abord the “Denji better kill him” train.
“Chainsaw-Man Hunters” and “All Pets” are both enjoyable chapters for how brief they are.
I would say I prefer Chapter 153 because of how great Nayuta was, while Chapter 154 made me wonder what the point of Fumiko’s character was.
I hope Nayuta survives in the next chapter, tomorrow.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 152, Massage Review: Revenge Best Served Bloody.

Chapter 151 of Chainsaw Man ended on the ominous note of Denji laughing after finally transforming into the titular Devil.
The disturbing feeling this cliffhanger left us on definitely builds well into Chapter 152, Massage, where we see Denji’s complete mental breakdown.
The chapter begins with a panel showing off Chainsaw Man in his demented glory, before revealing that there were plenty of witnesses to the transformation.
These witnesses think Denji is just another Chainsaw Man wannabe, but I think this impression is definitely proven wrong to them by the end.
Having got what they wanted, the Weapons release Fumiko and begin their own transformations.
As this is happening, Nayuta tries to get Denji to run away with her, but he callously tells her to get out of his way.
The panel of Nayuta’s shocked expression when Denji says this is excellently drawn by Fujimoto.
Nayuta is led away by a woman in the crowd and Denji begins talking to Pochita again.
He states that he is the worst because, despite his apartment being burned down with his pets supposedly inside, he still feels “like a million bucks’ because he gets to be Chainsaw Man again.
What follows is, unfortunately, a messily drawn fight.
Before this point in the chapter, the art was actually really good, but when it gets to the action it is pretty hard to tell what is going on.
Perhaps Fujimoto wanted to make the fight chaotic to show the danger of Denji’s transformation?
If that was his intent, I would say that he did too good of a job.
Still, despite this fight being hard to understand in certain panels, I would still not call it bad because we can get the general gist of it.
Denji is stabbed from behind by the Spear Hybrid but then bisects the both of them so he can start to eat him.
When the Whip Hybrid tries to intervene, Denji does the same to her, while she begs Sugo to help.
It is kind of funny seeing the Weapons be so overconfident in the previous chapters, only to now be dealt a hand of extremely bloody revenge.
Sugo does attempt to fight Denji, but this goes as well as you would expect, with both impaling each other, although this clearly affects Sugo more than Denji.
Nayuta tries one more time to convince Denji to flee with her, but Denji instead says she should not be around him anymore, resulting in another gutting panel of Nayuta’s reaction.
Denji then compares the fight he is having to a massage, “where it hurts just right, and damn do I feel good!”
A chapter then ends on Denji’s maniacal laughter for the second time.
“Massage” is yet another great chapter for Chainsaw Man.
My only issue is that some of the action is hard to follow.
Otherwise, it delivers both satisfying karma for the Weapons, and gut-wrenching moments of Denji pushing Nayuta away.
This likely will not end well, considering it was Denji’s influence which stopped her from becoming another Makima.
There is also the question of what will happen to the Weapons.
Barem is still yet to jump into the fight, and the Whip and Spear Hybrids could be in danger of disappearing forever.
Keep in mind that Chainsaw Man’s power is to erase what he eats from history, and Denji did start eating them.
However, he ate Makima and this only reincarnated her, so we will have to wait and see what happens to the Weapons.
As for Denji, he seems to have completely lost his mind and is powered up by the public’s fear of Chainsaw Man.
This would be the perfect time to bring Asa and Yoru into the conflict.
They could be drawn in by the sound of battle and be the only ones capable of fighting Denji, considering they have also been powered up by the fear of war.
We will have to wait and see if this happens though.
Overall, “Massage” is another good chapter, which delivers satisfying, if a little hard to follow action.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 151, The Return of Chainsaw Man Review: What’s so Funny?

Chainsaw Man Chapter 151, “The Return of Chainsaw Man” features, well… the return of Chainsaw Man.
In many of my previous reviews I stated that Tatsuki Fujimoto was saving Denji transforming again for something big.
If the ending of this chapter is anything to go by, then that big moment has arrived.
But I am getting ahead of myself.
“The Return of Chainsaw Man” begins with a hostage situation, as the Weapons take Fumiko captive in another attempt to force Denji into transforming.
Sugo once again spouts off his absurd belief that tormenting Denji into becoming Chainsaw Man will save the world.
Even the Whip Hybrid calls out Sugo’s idiocy in believing this, and she has been presented as not very bright in the past.
She even says this right in front of Sugo and he still, somehow, does not catch on that he is being used.
I still believe Sugo will eventually help Denji but, at this point, it seems like it is going to take a while for him to get there.
Barem, on the other hand, is quick to arise after being shot in the previous chapter.
Nayuta is enraged by the apparent death of her and Denji’s pets so she uses her power to try and make Barem kill himself.
Unfortunately, this has no effect on Barem, as he marches towards Nayuta and grabs her by the throat.
He then speculates that the reason Nayuta could not control him was because his heart still belongs to Makima.
Even though she is dead and reincarnated, Makima is still affecting things, showing just how great of an antagonist she was.
As he holds Nayuta captive, Barem begins his own monologue, expressing his longing for the same world Makima sought to create.
He then blames Denji for the fall of this potential world, scorning him for living in peace.
It is interesting to see Barem show such disdain for Denji, since he has called himself a Chainsaw Man fan multiple times.
Then, in a panel in which Fujimoto draws him to resemble Alexandre Cabanel’s The Fallen Angel painting, Barem declares that “these flames are your punishment.”
In my opinion, Barem has been the most interesting Chainsaw Man antagonist since Makima.
Like her, he is ruthless when he attempts to achieve his goals, for which he holds a strong amount of conviction for, which we see in this chapter.
From what he says, it seems like he is trying to bring about the world Makima wanted by making Denji strong enough to defeat the Death Devil, for which he sided with Fami.
Following Barem’s declaration, Nayuta takes control of a dead Public Safety Officer’s body and uses it to shoot Bare, again, freeing herself.
This finally gives Denji the chance to transform, yet he still hesitates, only to see a vision of Pochita standing in front of his and Nayuta’s burning apartment building.
Pochita waves at him, a child Denji waves back, and Denji pulls his ripcord, transforming into Chainsaw Man for the first time since the Falling Devil arc.
He breaks out into laughter as he does so, with Nayuta questioning him about why, before the chapter ends on an ominous panel of what looks like a burning cross overlaying Denji’s transformation.
As for why Denji was laughing, I think it was relief.
For so long, he has been trying to convince himself that living a normal life was enough for him.
Now, Denji has finally let go of that lie and embraced his desire to be Chainsaw Man fully.
It is fitting then that, as soon as Denji accepts this, he pretty much exposes his identity to the world.
Fujimoto draws a random civilian spying on the situation as Denji transforms, so word is going to spread quickly about his identity.
This will not be good, since it seems most of the world is now afraid of Chainsaw Man because of what the church did.
Although, this fear is going to make Denji absurdly powerful, just like it did Yoru, so I don’t think the Weapons will do very well in the coming fight.
There are also a few other characters in the wind.
We still do not know if Meowy and the other pets were really killed, or where Asa and Yoru are.
I especially hope we see the latter soon because the two of them have taken a bit of a backseat in this arc since they joined the Chainsaw Man Church.
Sure, we got that moment where Yoru regained her power, which was great, but I hope her and Asa go back to being central characters soon.
“The Return of Chainsaw Man” is another great chapter, which leaves us on the cliffhanger of Denji’s transformation.
The wait to see what happens next would already have been enough, but the three week break because of the holidays makes it extra-long.
When the story eventually continues, I am anxious to see where Fujimoto takes it and what the fates of various characters will be.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 150, Dream’s Next Stage Review: The Ultimate Sin.

Chainsaw Man‘s 150th chapter, “Dream’s Next Stage” is a short one, yet also very significant based on what happens in it.
The chapter begins with Denji and Nayuta traveling home in the midst of the new Chainsaw Man War.
However, while they walk, they notice that the carnage is perhaps not as bad as it first appeared.
They see ordinary people walking around, using their phones, all the while bodies are being loaded into the back of a truck.
This makes Nayuta speculate that she will have to go back to school tomorrow, which causes Denji to flash back to the normal life he had been living after the Falling Devil attack.
In every single one of the panels Fujimoto shows us, Denji looks depressed but in the present he lies to himself, thinking to Pochita that he is “super happy right now” despite all evidence to the contrary.
Well speak of the literal Devil, Denji thinking of Pochita causes him to appear before him.
This happens when Denji steps on a dead bird as he runs, pararelling Asa’s nightmare of running in an alley full of dead chickens.
The bird then transforms into Pochita in Denji’s mind, and sits up to talk with him.
Pochita agrees with Denji that his dream of living an ordinary life came true, asking Denji what dream he will pursue next.
It iis with this prodding from his old friend that a young version of Denji admits that he wants to be Chainsaw Man.
The implications of this realization are left for later, however, as Denji and Nayuta finally make it back to their apartment, only to find it burning to the ground, supposedly with all of their pets inside.
Denji runs to help, only to be tripped over by none other than Barem who, as expected, was just waiting for Denji to return home.
Barem also claims to have killed Denji’s pets, all to anger him to the point of transforming into Chainsaw Man.
So, Barem has supposedly committed the ultimate sin in all of fiction: Killing someone’s pets.
He and Asa’s orphanage caretaker would really get a long well.
However, what Barem has done is actually way worse than just killing Denji’s pets and burning down his apartment.
When you consider what all of these things meant to Denji, it is an especially heinous act.
The apartment was gifted to Denji by Aki, Meowy belonged to Power, and the dogs belonged to Makima.
These were all important people in Denji’s life, for better or for worse, and Barem just destroyed the apartment and pets which made him think of them.
I honestly believe Barem would have succeeded in angering Denji enough to transform by doing this, had it not been for Fumiko’s arrival.
Turning up with various other Public Saftey Officers, she and her fellow officers pour bullets into Barem to prevent him from transforming.
This only works temporarily, however, because the chapter then ends with the Whip Hybrid showing up and killing the Public Saftey Officers, excluding Fumiko.
So, this means that the Weapons escaped from custody after the war began.
Therefore, I think we can expect the Spear Hybrid and Sugo to appear next chapter.
Although, I still think that Sugo is going to betray the Weapons to help Denji eventually.
Maybe Asa and Yoru might even show up, drawn in by the sound of battle.
I know they are technically aligned with the Weapons through the Chainsaw Man Church, but given that Asa was devestated by the loss of her own cat, she may take particular offence to Barem killing Meowy.
Well, if Barem did kill Meowey, that is.
After all, we don’t see the pets’ bodies so there is always the chance that they survived somehow and Barem is just saying that he killed them to motivate Denji.
I mean, if Fujimoto is ever going to follow through on bringing back Power, I don’t think she would be too happy returning to find her cat had been killed.
We’ll just have to cross our fingers that the pets made it somehow.
Like I said at the beginning of this review, “Dream’s Next Stage” is a significant chapter for Chainsaw Man.
This is not only because it is its 150th chapter but also because of Pochita returned and Denji’s loss of many things which reminded him of his dead friends.
It will be interesting to see how this loss affects him going forward.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 149, Devil’s Choice Review: Murderous Wholesomeness.

In Chapter 148 of Chainsaw Man, we finally saw Asa and Yoru get some big development after a while.
Going into Chapter 149, “Devil’s Choice,” I was hopeful that we would see more of them.
Unfortunately, Fujimoto decided to leave them out of chapter but what we got with Denji and Nayuta was just as good.
The chapter begins with the mad preacher we first saw in Chapter 101 preaching to a crowd who is now much more inclined to listen.
With a burned Chainsaw Devil’s corpse laying in front of him, the preacher urges the crowd to join him in destroying the Chainsaw Man army.
As the crowd chants “Burn Chainsaw Man!” Denji, Nayuta and Fumiko are watching from a nearby alley.
Denji is not concerned, stating he can just transform into Chainsaw Man if the crowd see them but Fumiko points out that this would just turn the people against them.
She promises to protect him and Nayuta but the latter views this as unnecessary because she is strong enough to protect herself, even being willing to kill humans.
Given who Nayuta was in her previous life, this obviously concerns Fumiko, who asks Denji what he has been teaching her.
Denji replies whatever is on educational tv, and the thought of television makes him and Nayuta concerned about their apartment and the pets they have inside.
Fumiko is against them going back, knowing the mob will have gathered outside Denji’s house by now, but Denji and Nayuta completley ignore her.
Fumiko tries to stop them, wanting to shelter them at Public Saftey, only for Nayuta to go on the attack, using her powers as the Control Devil to compel a random elderly woman to attack Fumiko.
The only thing that saves Fumiko is Denji stopping Nayuta… by tickling her.
Nayuta may be the Control Devil but she is still just a child and it is darkly humorous to see Denji stop her murderous actions with such a childish tactic.
Fumiko escapes at Denji’s behest and he then questions Nayuta about whether she really would have killed her.
Nayuta responds that it is normal for Devils to kill humans, suggesting that she and Denji join the Devils so they can live as they like.
Denji attempts to ask about his friends at school but stops himself, instead asking about Nayuta’s.
Denji’s hesitation shows that he really does not have any friends at school, which makes his life pretty tragic when you think about the life he had with Aki and Power before Makima cruelly took it away from him.
Nayuta responds to Denji’s question by saying she is all he needs, her controlling personality coming into form again.
Denji hesitates and this makes Nayuta realize he is thinking about Asa.
Denji says he is thinking about her because they kissed.
Nayuta obviously thinks this is absurd, although it would be pretty par the course for Denji.
His actual reasons for thinking about Asa are pretty sympathetic though.
He reveals to Nayuta that the reason he is thinking about Asa is because their kiss was the only one where he did not get hurt.
This whole situation is actually tragic because what Denji does not realize is that it was Yoru who kissed him, not Asa, and it was to use him.
It will be a pretty tough pill for him to swallow when he inevitably comes to this realization.
After Denji explains his reasoning to Nayuta, she asks him how much she loves Asa, to which Denji measures the distance with his hands.
When Nayuta asks him how much he loves her, Denji’s extends his hands even wider.
Nayuta’s following smug smile is adorable, as is the way she jumps into Denji’s arms, creating a wholesome moment for a character who just tried to murder someone a few pages ago.
The chapter then ends with Nayuta declaring she will not kill humans, telling Denji to “mush!” back home, like one of the huskies they own.
This chapter really illustrates why Kishibe was right to task Denji with raising Nayuta.
With the simple act of loving her, he is able to convince her to let go of her murderous ways, providing the connection that Makima had always wanted.
As for what will happen next chapter, I expect there will be a fight when Denji gets to their apartment, since Fumiko said the mob would be waiting for him.
Granted, I do not know how this fight will play out considering that Fujimoto seems to be holding back on Denji’s transformation for something significant.
Although, maybe Nayuta could just use her power to control the crowd into leaving.
However, if Barem is leading the mob this will make the whole situation much more difficult.
As for Asa and Yoru, I am still interested to see what they are up to.
Yoru will probably be having a field day with her newfound strength and plenty of Chainsaw Man substitutes to kill.
I am eagerly awaiting the moment they reuinte with Denji and he learns of their true nature, whether that happens now or much later in the story.
“Devil’s Choice” is a solid Chainsaw Man chapter, which provides one of the most wholesome sibling moments between Denji and Nayuta.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 148, Room 606 Sword Review: The World Remembers.

The previous chapter of Chainsaw Man made me slightly concerned that Fujimoto would skip the fight between Asa and Yoshida.
Well, Chapter 148 “Room 606 Sword” put those fears to rest with its title alone.
It begins from where the previous chapter left off, with Denji being accused of being a wannabe Chainsaw Man by the random old man.
I had figured that this old man would turn out to be someone Denji had met to in the past but it turns out that they have not met and the old man is just being paranoid, which works entirely for the fear of Chainsaw Man Fujimoto has created in his world.
Fumiko tries to difuse the situation by revealing herself as a Public Saftey Agent, only for this to be countered by people saying they saw these agents become Chainsaw Men as well.
A member of the crowd then pulls a gun on Denji, demanding that he show them his chest to make sure he does not have a starter, which Denji will have since he is Chainsaw Man.
If I’m not mistaken, the man who pulls a gun is a Public Saftey Agent himself, based on the suit, so it is interesting to note that not all of them know Denji’s identity.
Quanxi tells the group to run and they do so, with Denji carrying Nayuta.
It is kind of funny to think about Quanxi now protecting Makima’s reincarnation.
The man fires at them but Quanxi easily blocks the bullet with her arm, which does cause Fumiko to look back at her, appearing worried for her.
I am not sure why she would be concerned.
This is Quanxi we’re talking about.
She could take out a rioting crowd without breaking a sweat.
Although, maybe Fumiko looks worried because she and Quanxi are togethor?
I know I could be reading too much into this, given that I’m basing the theory off a single look, but it is possible, considering Quanxi had an entire harem in Part One of the story.
Following this scene, we get the best paneling of the chapter, as Fujimoto draws Quanxi’s bleeding arm in one panel, dripping blood in the next, and then, to end the transition, he shows Asa’s cut off arm.
It is with this fantastic transition that the chapter follows the title’s promise of showing us the fight between Asa and Yoshida.
Much to Yoshida’s shock, his second sword strike does not even cut through Asa’s other arm.
This is because the fear of war has finally kicked in and strengthened Yoru.
Yoshida calls upon the Octopus Devil to help him but it is too late because Asa can now transform weapons without touching them.
She uses this upgrade to finally create the Room 606 Sword.
Yoru then takes control and cuts the Octopus Devil apart in a fantastic panel, which makes me wonder what a lot of people were talking about last chapter when they said Fujimoto’s artwork was losing its edge?
Yoru then attempts to attack Yoshida but her power has become so great that she misjudges the distance and smashes into the wall next to him instead, giving Yoshida enough time to flee.
Yoru then leaps down from her and Asa’s destroyed apartment and finds the recently started Chainsaw Man War has thrown the world into chaos.
The chapter then ends with Yoru breaking out into laughter, declaring that the world finally remembers her.
Is it weird that I feel happy for Yoru because she was scared about being forgotten earlier in Part Two?
I also hope Yoru powering up signifies that we will be getting more of her and Asa in the next few chapters, since they have been put to the side for a bit previously.
As well as this, I am still interested to see if Asa can regenerate her missing arm or not.
Overall, this was short chapter of Chainsaw Man but it was still an exciting one.
Denji, Fumiko and Nayuta are on the run, and Asa and Yoru are now growing in power.
I look forward to seeing where Fujimoto goes with these characters next.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 147, Cremation Review: Short Carnage.

After the explosive reveals of Chapter 146, Chapter 147 of Chainsaw Man, “Cremation”, takes a much shorter approach.
The chapter begins from where the previous one left off, where Nayuta revealed Fami’s plan to make both Chainsaw Man and the War Devil super-duper strong so they can kill the Death Devil.
Barem confirms Nayuta’s theory, but he still wants Denji to transform into Chainsaw Man so orders the new Chainsaw Devils to kill Nayuta to force Denji’s hand.
Barem calls her a witch who will one day plunge the world into darkness.
His statement is most likely Fujimoto creating a parralel to his previous oneshot Yogen no Nayuta, which Nayuta is based off.
It could also be him foreshadowing Nayuta’s future role in the story, as someone who will cause the end of the world as Barem predicts.
Motivated by Barem’s prophecy, the Chainsaw Devils rush to attack Denji, Nayuta and Fumiko but they are intercepted by Quanxi.
What follows is a few pages of Quanxi rescuing the three, jumping from a ledge with them, biting Fumiko’s torso so she will heal when she lands and innevitably breaks her legs, and then killing the rest of the Chainsaw Devils after she has healed.
Barem’s following line that Quanxi is “like a manga character come to life” is a pretty humorous fourth wall break from Fujimoto.
Following this, we see that Public Saftey has killed most of the Chainsaw Devils in the area and are now burning their corpses to keep them from regenerating.
Although, given that they were created by contracts with the Fire Devil, burning them might not be the best idea, but we will see.
The chapter then ends with a random old man pointing at Denji and accusing him of being a Chainsaw Man wannabe, offending Denji.
It is funny to think that Denji is probably more offended by being called a “wannabe” than being suspected of being in league with the Devils.
This ending also highlights just how much Fami’s plan is working because it is creating a lot of paranoia among the people, thus creating fear which will make Chainsaw Man stronger.
As for how this man knows Denji, I have no idea.
Maybe he was a background character from a prior chapter in Part Two, or maybe he just saw Denji bragging about Chainsaw Man off screen.
We will probably find out next chapter, when the new Chainsaw Man paranoia probably turns the crowd against Denji.
With Quanxi there, though, I doubt an angry mob could do much.
Quanxi’s presence also will not leave enough room for Denji to transform again.
I think Fujimoto is going to hold off on Denji transforming for a long while yet.
He is probably saving it for a big moment, maybe when Denji meets Asa again.
Speaking of, I was a bit disappointed to see she was not in this chapter.
I want to see how her fight with Yoshida ended.
I hope the fight is not left off screen.
As for the chapter itself, I was surprised to see a lot of criticism directed towards it, both in terms of story direction and artwork.
It sounds like some readers were annoyed there was not much story progression, since we had to wait two weeks for this chapter after such a big one.
This did not bother me, personally, since the action was still good, if brief, and the ending shows off just how well Fami’s plan is going.
I also saw a lot of people criticizing the artwork this chapter, some of them even saying Fujimoto needs to take a break so he can improve his work.
Honestly, the only panel which took me out of the chapter was of the old man first pointing at Denji.
Otherwise, this chapter’s art was pretty good.
Far from Fujimoto’s best but nowhere near bad.
That being said, if Fujimoto does need more breaks between chapters then I am fine with that.
His health should take priority.
Overall, Chapter 147 was a pretty good action chapter, if a little on the short side.
I hope the next chapter has more content, since we have to wait another two weeks for that.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 146, Chainsaw Man War Review: Crossing the Precipice.

In my review for Chapter 145 of Chainsaw Man, I theorized that we were crossing the precipice of normalcy for Part Two.
In the first part of Chainsaw Man, the story reached a specific point where it evolved into outright insanity and just got crazier as it went along.
After reading “Kumbaya” and seeing Barem sing that titular song to the ominous setting of the sun, along with Asa getting her arm cut off by Yoshida, I theorized that Part Two had crossed the same precipice from normalcy into insanity.
Well, this theory was absolutley correct because Chapter 146 “Chainsaw Man War” is the one where so much of what Tatsuki Fujimoto has been building up to in Part Two falls into place.
“Chainsaw Man War” begins from where the previous chapter left off, with Yoshida attacking Asa.
Yoshida apologises to Asa for attacking her after she followed his advice to stay away from Denji and then goes to strike her again, the scene ending before we can see if he lands the blow or if Asa is able to counter him.
Unfortunately, this is the last we see of Asa this chapter, but the rest of “Chainsaw Man War’s” events more than makes up for it.
Following his arrest, Barem explains to Denji and Fumiko the lie that Chainsaw Man Church members were making contracts with the Justice Devil.
He states that, while the name of the Devil was a lie, its power to transform people into what they desire the most was not.
This Devil is then revealed to be Fire and, at that very moment, Part Two of Chainsaw Man crosses the precipice into insanity, as multiple people start sprouting chainsaws from their heads and arms, and start massacering everyone around them, including each other.
We see a grandmother transforming in front of her grandchild (which probably did not end well for the kid), people transforming in the park, and people transforming in the streets.
We even see that all of the Chainsaw Man Church members the Hammer Fiend restrained have transformed.
Speaking of this Fiend, they and Katana Man watch the transformations, with the Fiend looking quite unbothered by it.
The transformations trigger Katana Man immensely, however, as he shouts Chainsaw Man’s name in anger when the Church members rush him.
As the massacre continues, Barem explains that the more contractors the Fire Devil has, the stronger those contracted will be.
So it seems that the Fire Devil’s power is more metaphorical than being based solely around fire.
The Fire Devil allows those who make a contract with it to transform into what they desire, which is similar to an inner fire.
Along with this, the strength of those who transform grows the more people are contracted, with the power spreading like a wild fire.
Back with Denji and Fumiko, The Fire Devil contracts have killed all of Barem’s arresting officers, and the Hybrid continues to explain the situation, stating that large mass scale weddings were held at the Chainsaw Man Church Chinese and Canadian Chapters.
Contracts with the Fire Devil were made along with these weddings, resulting in around 350,000 people who have now been transformed into Devils which look like Chainsaw Man.
Following this explanation, we see just how far the chaos is spreading, as Denji and Fumiko see a nearby building explode.
Barem then refers to the Nostradamus Prophecy, stating how he and Fami plan to kill the “Great King of Terror.”
Denji does not beleive this but Nayuta confirms his story, stating that she can tell it is the truth because both she and Fami can sense this threat coming.
This is because both Nayuta and Fami are sisters with the “Great King of Terror” herself, the Death Devil.
Nayuta then reveals Fami’s ultimate plan is to make Yoru and Denji strong enough to kill the Death Devil by starting this Chainsaw Man War to make people afraid of both war and Chainsaw Man.
And so Chainsaw Man Part Two crosses the precipice into insanity and the pieces fall into place.
The purpose of the Chainsaw Man Church is now known, along with Fami and Barem’s ultimate plan, along with the role of the Death Devil in the story.
Well, unless Fujimoto builds up the Death Devil to be the ultimate threat and then makes it something else, like he did with the Gun Devil in Part One.
No matter what Fujimoto’s intent with the Death Devil is, however, it is exciting to see it finally becoming a part of the story.
We got hints of its importance when Yoshida mentioned it for the first time all the way back in the Aquarium Arc, and now it is finally coming into play.
The Death Devil being the “Great King of Terror” from the Nostradamus Prophecy also makes a lot of sense because death is the ultimate fear every human has.
That being said, I am not so certain that Fami’s plan to kill the Death Devil will result in anything good if it succeeds.
I mean, death being removed would make everyone immortal and create more chaos with the world order.
There are clearly so many different directions Fujimoto could go with this Death Devil reveal and I am excited to see which one he chooses.
As for what will happen next, I expect the following chapters will only get crazier, like it did in Part One from the International Assassins Arc onwards.
How the Asa and Yoshida fight will go is anyone’s guess, and I am wondering if Denji, Fumiko and Nayuta will have to fight their way through Barem and the Chainsaw Man clones.
There is also the fate of some characters, which are still uncertain.
We know pretty much all of the Chainsaw Man Church members were transformed into Devils but what about Haruka and Nobana?
We did not see them transform and they seem like significant enough characters for Fujimoto to show their transformation.
This leads me to believe that they are still human at this point.
As for their friend, Seigi Akoku, he is not only still my leading candidate for the original fake Chainsaw Man but also the Fire Devil as well.
The guy bares a strong resemblence to Agni from Fire Punch so it would not surprise me if he turned out to be the Fire Devil who had been handing out contracts since the beginning of Part Two.
As for Chapter 146, “Chainsaw Man War”, it is a stellar chapter which answers many questions and officially crosses the precipice into insanity.