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.