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.