The Bugle Call: Song of War Review: Already Among My Favorite Manga.

I have a system where, if I hear about a manga that sounds interesting, I will write its name down in a Google Doc.
Whenever I’m bored, I’ll look at that document for suggestions on what to read.
I first added The Bugle Call: Song of War to that list a few years back and it has pretty much been gathering dust since then… well, if something in a Google Doc could gather dust.
Well, after recently coming across the first two volumes in a bookstore and remembering its presence on my to read list, I decided to buy them and give it a shot.
One week later, I was back in the store to buy the rest of The Bugle Call volumes currently out.
When I was done reading those, I immediately jumped online to read the rest of the story.
If that does not tell you how much I enjoyed The Bugle Call, I do not know what will.

The Bugle Call is a more obscure manga, but I cannot recommend it enough.

The Bugle Call follows Luca; a boy raised in a mercenary band.
Although he would much rather be in a literal band, where he can become a maestro who plays the bugle.
What is unusual about Luca, is that he has a tree branch growing out of his head.
When this branch manifests a power allowing him to guide and boost the morale of armies on the battlefield, Luca finds himself recruited by a mysterious Pontiff to work alongside other branched individuals.
Tasked with protecting the kingdom’s giant Spire from other Branched, Luca makes a deal with the Pontiff: If he kills the Branched known as the Garland, he will be free to become a maestro.

Luca’s goal is a sympathetic one, and it is sad to see him get dragged further into the war the longer this story goes on.

If I had to describe my initial impression of reading The Bugle Call, I would say the beginning of the story feels like a mix between Vinland Saga and X-Men, before branching off into a completely different story with interesting twists and turns.
The mangaka Mozuku Sora takes some seriously wide swings with this story, which I am not sure will work for everyone, but worked for me.
The characters are also pretty great.
Luca is relatable and the squad of Branched he finds himself in is also full of interesting characters.
There’s the child-like Zoe, the determined Demi, the timid Miura, the sadist Cora, and many more.

Each of these characters get their own moments to shine.

The bonds Luca forms with these characters are strong and help serve as the backbone of the story.
His strongest bond is with Zoe, but it is here that I have to get into my one criticism with The Bugle Call, that being their age difference.
Luca is 14 and Zoe is 27.
To make their connection even weirder, Zoe has the mind of a nine year old.
This makes sense for her character arc, but it makes the romantic undertones of their relationship even more problematic.
I hope when the anime releases, they age Luca up a bit to make the whole thing less weird.

Thankfully, Luca and Zoe’s connection does not take up most of the focus, so the rest of the story can still shine.

With that criticism out of the way, let me get back to the positives.
As well as our main cast, the antagonists are also well written, with the Garland and the doppelganger being especially sympathetic characters.
The art for the series by Higoro Toumori is also incredible.
I remember multiple times I had to pause reading just to gaze at the artistry of the paneling.

This panel of Zoe fighting the Looking Glass Branched blew my mind.

With an interesting story, complex characters, and great artwork, The Bugle Call: Song of War is a fantastic manga that I wish I read when I got recommended it years ago.
Now that I have caught up, I will read the chapters as they release, and plan to keep supporting the story by buying the volumes.
I will also be there day one when the anime drops.
Speaking of which, it was kind of funny how that turned out.
I had just started reading this story, and then it was announced not long later that we were getting an anime adaptation.

Hopefully, the anime can live up to the manga and will draw in new fans.

If the series gets popular then eventually, we may see the whole story animated.
Fingers crossed that Mozuku Sora will also wrap up their story in a satisfying way when they reach the conclusion.
Time will tell.
Go read The Bugle Call: Song of War if you have not already.
It is definitely worth your time.

Chainsaw Man Final Chapter, Thank You Chainsaw Man Review: A Happy, But Nonsensical Ending.

Chapter 231 of Chainsaw Man left me concerned.
Instead of continuing the story naturally, it felt like author Tatsuki Fujimoto had just decided to abruptly end the story.
I started reading Chapter 232, “Thank You, Chainsaw Man,” with my fingers crossed that this would only be the conclusion of Part 2 and not the entire story.
Unfortunately, my fears were warranted.
Fujimoto really did get burned out and decided to end the story here.
I am not surprised, considering how aimless Part Two felt in comparison to Part One.
That is not to say Part Two did not have fantastic moments.
Asa and Yoru are great characters, I enjoyed their bond with Denji, and the Death Devil Twist was brilliant.
But Part One just felt way more cohesive because Fujimoto had a clear end goal.
If he had an end goal for Part Two, he definitely decided to abruptly scrap it.
The chapter begins with Denji, after Pochita reset the timeline, dying of the blood disease and being attacked by the Yakuza.
Pochita really did not think the whole eating himself thing through because of what it would mean for Denji.
Luckily for him, Power shows up to save Deni’s life for some reason, making the contract with him instead of Pochita.
The Control Devil then arrives to recruit them but, fortunately for Denji and Power, it is Nayuta not Makima.
How Nayuta is the current Control Devil, I do not know.
What makes even less sense is that she is supposedly a good Devil in this timeline, despite being taken in by Public Safety instead of Denji.
The entire reason Nayuta had good qualities was because Denji raised her like his little sister.
Public Safety would not do that, so it makes zero sense
What also makes little sense is Denji using a chainsaw to kill a Devil, but I suppose you could explain that away as humanity reinventing chainsaws, the same way they did nuclear weapons in the old timeline.
The Devil Denji kills is at Asa’s school, and it also kills her teacher, so at least we know he will not try to groom her in the future or anything.
In a moment that admittedly does bring Part Two full circle a little, Denji saves Asa from tripping and crushing Bucky.
The full page spread of him doing this is oddly touching for the last time we see the two interact, although their following conversation is brief.
Asa calls Denji “Chainsaw Man” because he fights with a chainsaw, making Denji’s heart flutter as we realize a part of Pochita is still in there.
Power misinterprets this as Denji’s disease, promising to cure him of it, and the two go to grab a meal… or at least go to scam some people for a snack.
And so, Chainsaw Man ends with a somewhat happy ending.
Denji has reunited with Power and Nayuta in a new timeline (although we do not know where Aki is), and Asa was saved from crushing Bucky, meaning she can make friends in her class.
Therefore, the ending is good, right?
Nope.
While this ending is happy, it is just way too abrupt.
Fujimoto probably sat down one day and decided he was too burned out to continue the story, so decided to end it early and quickly to potentially move onto other things.
What makes this obvious is how many unanswered questions Part Two leaves us with.
What happened to Yoru, Kishibe, Kobeni, and Reze?
What exactly was Public Safety’s plan for the entirety of Part Two?
Not to mention that the resetting of the storyline all the way to Part One makes Part Two feel pretty pointless in retrospect.
If I had to sum up my feelings about Chainsaw Man’s ending with one word, it would be “disappointment.”
The story ended out of nowhere, left so many questions unanswered, and reset the timeline to make a lot of things pointless.
If there is any consolation, it is that at least Denji and Asa got a happy ending.
And regardless of my frustration with Chainsaw Man‘s abrupt ending, I will still read whatever Fujimoto does next.
I just hope that whatever he goes on to write it will be in a way that avoids burnout.
Maybe give him the Sui Ishida treatment, where he can release a chapter on his own schedule, rather than weekly.
If that happens, then a well-executed ending for his next work will hopefully be assured.
As for Chainsaw Man as a whole, I still love this series, even though it suddenly ended out of nowhere.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 231, Goodbye Pochita Review: Well, That Was Abrupt.

In my review for the previous chapter of Chainsaw Man, I speculated on the story’s future.
It seemed like Fujimoto may have been gearing Denji and Asa up for a fight with Fami, powered up by the growing fear of insects and vermin.
Well, once again Fujimoto did the unexpected by delivering us an abrupt penultimate chapter to Chainsaw Man Part Two.
Yes, the next chapter of Chainsaw Man will be the last chapter for a while, maybe forever if Fujimoto decides not to make a Part Three.
Chapter 231 opens in the immediate aftermath of the previous one, and I was immediately struck dumb by the title, “Goodbye Pochita.”
To me at least, nothing prior seemed to be hinting at Pochita’s death.
Well, this is apparently what just happened.
The chapter begins with Pochita appearing before Denji, revealing they were eaten by the Devil that just attacked them.
Denji is horrified because he no longer has the chance to have sex, but Pochita says this is a good thing because some part of Denji was still unhappy, even when he connected with Asa.
Transforming into Chainsaw Man, Pochita tells Denji that he is, “One that can only find heaven when you’re in hell.”
While this is a compelling quote, I am not sure if I like its implications, considering that Pochita is now saying Denji would be happier being back under the Yakuza’s thumb.
After hugging Denji as Chainsaw Man, something Pochita always wanted, Pochita proceeds to eat his heart, erasing himself and Chainsaw Man from existence, seemingly creating a world where he and Denji never met.
The final panel takes us back to Denji’s rundown shack, where his story began.
So, Denji is seemingly back to square one.
He will probably be indebted to the Yakuza, dying of a disease that makes him cough up blood, and with no Pochita to help him.
Seriously, why did Pochita think Denji would be better off?
I guess we will see next chapter, along with whether this is the last chapter of just Part Two or the entire series.
The reason the latter might be a possibility is because this does feel like the setup for an ending, just not a good one.
If this is going to be the conclusion of Chainsaw Man, there will probably be many questions unanswered.
What happened to Asa and Yoru?
Does this mean Denji and Power will never reunite?
What was the point of this entire last fight if everything just gets reset?
Granted, we do not know for certain that this is the end.
Fingers crossed it is just the conclusion for Part Two.
Although, even if is that, I do not think it will be completely satisfying either.
This whole Pochita-eating-himself-and-sending-Denji-back-to-the-beginning ending just feels really out of nowhere, and not in the usual good way Fujimoto is able to pull off.
Pretty funny how the last chapter restored my faith in Fujimoto, only for this one to make me doubt him again.
On the day Chapter 132 releases, I will be anxious to see if my concerns are warranted.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 230: Sex and Selection Review: The Most Powerful Horseman.

Despite my continued enjoyment of Chainsaw Man, I had been wondering recently if Tatsuki Fujmoto knew where he was taking his story.
It just seemed like a lot of random things were happening in the story.
Well, random for Chainsaw Man anyway.
For example, a few chapters ago, a mysterious and extremely powerful bug Devil interrupted Denji and Yoru’s fight.
This bug was then immediately defeated in the following chapter, with no explanation why it was so strong.
Well, I should not have doubted Fujimoto because he provided an answer in Chapter 230, “Sex and Selection.”
The chapter begins with Yoru continuing to laugh at Denji’s desperation to have sex with her.
After Denji compares her to Power (good to know Fujimoto has still not forgot about her), Yoru agrees to sleep with him, saying Asa consents as well.
Given that Yoru gave Denji a handjob without Asa’s consent a few arc back, I think it is safe to say that Asa really needs to get a say before the deed is done.
Denji will have to wait for any potential deeds, however, because the moment he begins to celebrate, an army of powerful bug Devils ambush them.
Through the communications between various Fumiko’s around the world, we learn that because death has been erased bugs, bats, and other types of animals with a high fertility rate no longer have a large culling of the young to counteract that.
The end result is a large population of predatory insects which will feast upon humanity forever, thus making the Devils representing them extremely powerful.
This is a unique and horrifying consequence to the removal of death, which I had not thought of.
It also has an interesting implication for the future of the story.
After all, what horrifying concept are bugs like locusts associated with?
Famine.
Prior to her erasure, Death was the most powerful Devil, but with people now unable to die and facing the torment of an eternal famine where they are also devoured by insects, Fami may very well take her place.
Since Fami is all about seeing death as salvation, I can see her fighting Denji to force him to throw up Death and return balance of the world.
That being said, Denji is not going to go down without a fight since Yoru promised him sex.
We see this at the end of the chapter when he is determined to stay and fight the bug Devils.
In an excellent callback to the first Chainsaw Man chapter, all of those years ago, Denji declares, “If you’re going to get in our way, then… how’s it go again?”
Denji preparing to deliver his first badass statement of the series, only to fail because he can no longer remember death as a concept is textbook Fujimot humor.
I look forward to seeing Denji and Yoru face off against the Bug Devils and a potentially overpowered Fami in the following chapters.
As for Chapter 230, it restored a lot of my faith in the story.
It paid off the mystery of the powerful bug Devil, had a humorous ending and, not to mention, put the idea of a council of Fumikos in my head.
It would be pretty funny if Fujimoto paid that off by showing said council discussing the events, after everything is said and done.

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc Review: Country Mouse or City Mouse?

There was a rather strange disconnect between English speaking and Japanese viewers in regard to their opinions on the first season of Chainsaw Man.
Many English speakers, myself included, loved the first season, especially with how it paid homage to various aspects of film, which the mangaka Tatsuki Fujimoto is a big fan of.
However, the Japanese viewers’ reactions were mostly the complete opposite.
There was a lot of hate directed towards the first season, due to the style being seen as different from the manga, and a few other reasons I do not quite understand.
Therefore, for the movie continuing Chainsaw Man’s story, it was decided a different director would take on the job with a different animation style.
To be honest, I was a bit concerned with what I would think about the new art style, since I really liked the old one.
Today, I got the chance to sit down in a theatre and watch Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc and see this change for myself.

Kind of fitting that the arc chosen for a film has a scene where Denji and Makima go to see multiple movies.

You can imagine my relief when I absolutely loved the new style and actually think it is better than Season One’s.
That is not to sell the old art style short, but the new one has so many unique moments, with many shots looking like a manga panel brought to life.
Along with this, the animation quality is incredible.
Whether the scene was a slow, thoughtful one, a comedic one, or an action extravaganza, I am sure you could pause the movie at any point and end up with a great shot.

Likewise, the music and sound design are top notch, with the sound of explosions being particularly gripping to hear in the theatre.
And then there is the voice acting.
Everyone from the First Season does a great job, as expected.
Kikunosuke Toya brings the perfect mixture of emotion and comedy to his portrayal of Denji.
Tomori Kusunoki makes Makima sound creepy as ever.
Then there is the new voice on the block for Chainsaw Man, Reina Ueda as Reze.
Talk about perfect casting for the character.
Because of her and Toya’s performance, Reze and Denji have great romantic chemistry, making the events that play out later in the film both tragic and epic to witness.

It was a joy to see Reze finally animated.

All in all, The Reze Arc is a fantastic adaptation of the storyline from the manga.
The portrayal of its two leads is excellent, and the animation style, its quality, the music and sound design are all peak.
I am honestly so glad that they chose to adapt the Reze Arc as a film instead of in an episodic format.
Watching Chainsaw Man on the big screen really reminded me of my love for Part One of the story.
I cannot wait to see the rest of this adaptation, whether that be with more movies, or another season.
Unfortunately, we will probably have to wait years to find out which format it will be.
Oh, well, at least Chainsaw Man is still going strong with Part Two, so us fans of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s work are not starved for content.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 217: Two Good People Review: Asa’s Door.

Every Chainsaw Man fan remembers the door reveal from Part One of the story.
Tatsuki Fujimoto did an excellent job of building up to the reveal that Denji was the one who killed his father.
Now, over 100 chapters since that reveal, Fujimoto has revealed another door twist, only for Asa instead of Denji.
And, whereas the reveal in Part One was a moment of trauma, the reveal in Part Two is a moment of healing.
Chapter 217, “Two Good People” begins with the aftermath of Asa finding her mother after running down her dream alleyway.
Asa reveals to Denji that when she was little, a Devil came out of the river and cut off her father’s leg before her mother killed it.
Asa ran to get help, tripping along the way, only to find upon her return that her own mother had murdered her father.
She did this because Asa’s father was an abusive drunk, who was cheating on her, although there was also some financial incentive, since Asa’s mother tells her the money from his life insurance will help her go to school.
The reveal of what happened to Asa’s father was a great bit of misdirection from Fujimoto.
At the beginning of Part Two, we are told that Asa’s parents were killed by a Devil.
We then see Asa’s mother and a man being killed by the Typhoon Devil in a flashback.
Back then, I assumed the man was Asa’s father, but I did find it odd that Asa seemed to remember her mother more than him.
Now, it makes sense because her father died at a different time and was abusive.
Asa tells Denji she does not know if her mother’s actions made her a bad person or not, before explaining that she tripped on purpose while running for help, hoping her father would die.
This raises questions about how many times Asa tripping in the past has been intentional.
Asa asks Denji if he thinks she is a bad person for what she did and Denji responds, “I killed my dad and made it look like a suicide… but I’m a good person.”
Never did I think a character confessing murder could be positive development.
All the way back when Denji remembered what he did to his father, he hated himself, believing he did not deserve to live a normal life.
Now, here he is telling Asa that he is a good person despite what he did, cheering her up to the point that the two break out into laughter, while Yoru and Pochita continue their fight in the real world, ending the chapter.
Denji turned this potentially traumatic moment for Asa and used his own experiences with it to turn it into a moment of healing.
The two of them really are made for each other.
They have similar, traumatic pasts but they use that to bring out the best in each other.
“Two Good People” is a great chapter, which provides a lot of growth for its two lead characters.
Its uplifting ending, despite the subject matter, made me even more excited for the Chainsaw Man movie, which is finally releasing in my country this week.
I already have my ticket booked and you can expect my review for it after I see the film.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 198, It’s Fami! Review: Fujimoto Fooled Us All.

In my experience, the best kind of twists are the ones you don’t see coming but once they happen the foreshadowing becomes clear.
Well, Tatsuki Fujimoto just delivered such a twist in Chainsaw Man Chapter 198, “It’s Fami!”
The chapter begins with the “Death Devil” pleading for her life after being defeated by the Imposter Chainsaw Man.
The Imposter goes on a rant about justice, showing that he buys into the Chainsaw Man Church’s propaganda.
This makes complete sense, given the subsequent reveal where the “Death Devil” reforms her body, before giving her own speech and then introducing herself.
“My name is Famine Devil! Please call me Fami!”
The resulting “WHAT!?” I shouted probably echoed throughout my house.
With this single line of dialogue, Fujimoto delivers the most shocking reveal of Part Two.
This entire time, the character we knew as “Fami” was the actual Death Devil impersonating her sister.
As I said earlier, the best twists are ones where the foreshadowing becomes clear in the aftermath.
The reveal of Fami as the Death Devil makes so much sense in retrospect.
Her head is always tilted because it looks like she is hanging, and her being the Death Devil is why the Guillotine and Falling Devils follow her.
Speaking of which, the latter immediately shows up following the reveal, overpowering the real Fami and the Imposter with ease.
With the two subdued, the Death Devil apologizes to Fami for stealing her name, to which Fami says she should kill herself if she feels anything for mankind.
In response, Fami lifts up her skirt, revealing her stomach.
The final panel of the chapter reveals that the Death Devil has cut open her own stomach and removed her organs but still could not die.
This creepy final image once again adds new context to the story.
In previous reviews I have commented on how funny I found it that “Fami” was such a glutton, considering she was supposed to be the Famine Devil.
Now we know she eats a lot not because she is the representation of famine but because she has no organs to digest food so is probably always hungry.
Fujimoto clearly had this twist planned long in advance and his efforts have more than paid off.
I would argue that this is the best twist not just in Part Two but in all of Chainsaw Man.
The question now is, what is the Death Devil’s true goal?
Before she died, Nayuta theorized “Fami” was powering up Denji and Asa to take down the Death Devil.
But the reveal that Fami is actually the Death Devil herself throws this into question.
Of course, there is the possibility that she wants Denji and Asa to kill her.
She admits to having removed her own organs at the end of the chapter, which suggests she did try to end her life.
We will just have to see what happens next.
As for “It’s Fami!” it is already one of my favorite chapters in all of Chainsaw Man.
It delivers the best twist of the series, and I cannot wait to see how this reveal is expanded upon in future chapters.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 196, Chainsaw Man to the Rescue! Review: Unnecessary Salvation.

Tatsuki Fujimoto concluded the previous chapter of Chainsaw Man by introducing the Death Devil, who said she was going to save everyone.
Based off this statement, and Yoru’s recent villainous turn, I theorized that Yoru would turn out to be the main villain of Part Two, while the Death Devil would serve a more heroic role.
Well, Chapter 196, “Chainsaw Man to the Rescue!” just proved me wrong.
The chapter begins with Fujimoto further exploring the personality of the Death Devil and, because this is Fujimoto, of course she is a complete loser.
She breaks down into a sobbing mess when no one pays attention to her.
Then, when someone tries to include her by asking her to take out the trash, The Death Devil says he should do it because he does not have special powers, unlike her.
The Death Devil being a nervous wreck, having a massive superiority complex and being completely socially unaware makes for a really funny character.
It does not, however, make her fun to be around, and she quickly earns the ire of her classmates, particularly the girl who bullied Asa way back at the beginning of Part Two.
The bully tells the Death Devil to go outside and kill ants, which she does.
The boy who tried to include her earlier attempts to do so again, only for the Death Devil to place a hand on his head.
“Through death I’ll release you from your earthly suffering,” she says, proving my theory about her being a good guy wrong.
The Death Devil certainly seems to view herself as a good guy, though, since she intends to “save” everyone, through death.
Before she can kill the boy, however, she is thankfully interrupted by Chainsaw Man, or rather, the fake Chainsaw Man.
The chapter ends with a full reveal of the fake Chainsaw Man’s form and, once again, Fujimoto has given us a sick design.
A gory mess of blood and bone, the imposter even has a cape made out of guts.
So, it looks like next chapter we are going to get a fight between the fake and the Death Devil.
This makes sense since the imposter is aligned with Fami, and she wants to stop Death.
It will be cool to get a look at Death’s abilities, and I wonder if the boy she tried to kill will survive.
Personally, I hope so because he seemed like a nice guy, trying to include the Death Devil even when she was rude to him.
Overall, “Chainsaw Man to the Rescue!” is yet another great chapter.
Fujimoto does a solid job developing the Death Devil and looks to be setting up a hype fight between her and the fake Chainsaw Man.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 195, Kill Me Tears Review: The Fourth Horseman.

After so many memes in the fandom about different characters being the Death Devil, it seems that Fujimoto has finally revealed her in Chapter 195, “Kill Me Tears.”
The chapter begins with Asa turning her finger gun on herself, but she is thankfully too scared of death to end it.
She then goes back to aiming at Denji and threatens to kill him if he does not kill her.
Asa’s reasoning for doing so is that Yoru is planning something much worse than the extinction of humanity, so she wants to stop Yoru before she can accomplish it.
Asa calls herself an idiot for thinking that she could be friends with a Devil, but Denji responds, “I think you could be friends.”
This is a great callback to Part One where Denji was confident in being friends with Devils, due to his bond with Pochita.
However, after much insistence from Asa, Denji relents and attempts to kill her with a chair, only for Asa to jump out of the way and humorously call him a murderer.
She states she was not mentally prepared to die, and Denji responds that nobody is, even him, and he can come back to life.
This paints a grim picture of Denji’s constant deaths throughout the series since, despite his immortality, they still impact him.
In the end, he is able to temporarily appease Asa by convincing her to have fun with him shooting buildings.
This was a great scene between the two.
It built upon Asa’s growing fear of Yoru and showed Denji’s opinion on his constant deaths.
Fear of death is a clear theme in this scene and the entire chapter, which makes it very fitting that Fujimoto ends it by supposedly introducing the Death Devil.
We see her arriving as a transfer student at the school, where the other students are preparing for the festival Fami talked about last chapter.
The supposed Death Devil nervously introduces herself, claiming she is here to save everyone, ending the chapter.
It is strange that the Death Devil turned out to be such a nervous wreck.
I mean, she should theoretically be the strongest Devil since every human fears death.
For her to end up with a personality similar to Kobeni is pretty funny.
That is, if she is the Death Devil because she could always be the reincarnation of the Control Devil.
This seems unlikely though because Nayuta was a kid when she reincarnated, and this new Devil looks like a teenager.
Assuming she is the Death Devil, her saying she is here to save everyone is especially interesting.
Combine that with Asa’s terror at Yoru’s plan, and it makes me think that Yoru may actually turn out to be Chainsaw Man Part Two’s big bad.
Perhaps she intends to kill the Death Devil so there can be constant war with no death, which will empower her?
Either way, I am looking forward to seeing how the Death Devil (if this is her) will interact with the other horsemen.
Her and Yoru will obviously be at odds but what about Fami?
Overall, “Kill Me Tears” is a great chapter.
Fujimoto used the theme of fearing death to supposedly introduce a Devil fans have been anticipating for a while.
The fallout of her arrival should be interesting.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 194, Fun School Festival Review: A Great Visual Gag.

Having missed a few of my usual Chainsaw Man reviews, I will begin by saying the last few chapters have been solid, with some great humor and development for Denji and Yoru.
The previous chapter brought the story full circle, with Denji once again being promised sex if he takes down a Devil.
Yoru really proved to be very similar to her sister Makima.
The only differences in her offer to Denji is that Yoru wants Denji to kill the Death Devil instead of the Gun Devil, and Yoru actually likes Denji because her feelings are influenced by Asa’s.
Sadly, Denji was just happy to have someone who genuinely likes him, so Chapter 194 “Fun School Festival” begins with him having stayed with Yoru.
The chapter starts with some regular Denji humor, as Denji states he could not sleep because he had “too many boners.”
But it is here where Fujimoto also shows how Denji has developed because, rather than touch Yoru while she’s sleeping, he instead covers her up with a blanket.
He’s not completely delusional about his situation though because he acknowledges to Pochita that staying with Yoru and Asa is likely to end with him getting screwed over, given his track record with women he likes wanting to kill him.
From here, the chapter cuts to Yoshida and Fumiko, who reveal Public Safety are so desperate they are willing to team up with Fami.
Unfortunately for them, the day the Death Devil is supposed to arrive is also the day of a festival at Fami’s school, which she has been chosen to help plan.
Much like Yoru proving to be like Makima, Fami proves herself to be like Nayuta, as both humorously refuse to save the world because of school.
The situation gets even funnier when Fami’s friends arrive and literally hoist her away in a fantastic visual gag which gave me the best laugh of the chapter.
The comedy continues when Yoshida is more disappointed in Fami claiming he is no fun, frustrating a somehow still alive Fumiko.
A few chapters ago, Fumiko seemingly gave her life to help Yoshida and the others escape the Aging Devil.
However, she has still stuck around.
Fumiko is one of the most confusing characters in the manga to me.
Her motives seem weird to me, and her still being alive is weird to me.
I honestly cannot tell if Fujimoto plans to reveal something about her or not.
The final scene of the chapter shows Denji and Yoru hanging out, with Yoru blasting buildings for Denji’s amusement.
The fun and destruction ends when Asa takes back control and holds Denji at finger gunpoint, proving him right and concluding the chapter.
We have not seen Asa’s perspective since she escaped the Aging Devil’s world so I’m curious to see what she thinks of Yoru’s actions, and why exactly she is now threatening Denji.
Overall, “Fun School Festival” is a fun chapter.
It has development for Denji and a hilarious scene with Fami, including one of the series’ best visual gags.