Centuria Chapter One, 100 Slaves Review: An Intriguing Beginning.

With Tatsuki Fujimoto being such a fantastic mangaka, it is no surprise that many people he has worked with have also done great things.
Tatsuya Endo’s Spy X Family and Yuji Kaku’s Hell’s Paradise are both excellent, for example.
So, when I heard that another assistant of Fujimoto’s, Tohru Kuramori was releasing the first chapter of his new manga, I knew I had to check it out.
The work is called Centuria and is off to a promising start with Chapter One, “100 Slaves.”
The chapter begins by introducing our main character, Julian, who is a slave.
We first see him rebelling against his abusive master, while narrating about the plight of slaves like himself, who have never owned anything.
The chapter then flashes forward to a ship in the middle of the ocean, which is transporting 100 slaves.
Some of the crew are worried about passing through a supposedly cursed area, yet their complaints to the captain are interrupted by the discovery of Julian, who stowed away.
The captain wants to kill him, but the 100 hundred slaves aboard are having none of it, with many offering to split their food.
It is through this that it becomes apparent many of the slaves are sick or elderly.
The first to speak up for Julian is a pregnant woman named Mira, who explains to him that since slaves cannot own anything, many of them value compassion.
Julian returns this compassion by polishing a knife Mira’s deceased husband gave her.
While he does this, Julian explains his backstory, stating that his own mother sold him as a child to a blacksmith who abused him.
Julian learned the craft from him but then escaped when it looked like his master was about to kill him, which we saw at the beginning of the chapter.
As the journey progresses, Julian and Mira grow closer.
Julian has never known the love of a mother, since she sold him, and Mira lost her son when she was enslaved.
And so, a mother and son type bond begins to emerge between the two in a short amount of time, which is a credit to Kuramori because of how natural it feels.
It even gets to the point that Mira suggests that they live together if they are ever liberated.
At this point, I said out loud, “Yep, Mira’s totally dead.”
All of the bonding scenes between her and Julian were practically screaming that she was a goner.
It was just a matter of how.
Sure enough, after the ship gets sucked into the area they were trying to avoid, the captain decides it is time to kill all of the slaves.
The reason most of them are sick and elderly is because the captain wanted to buy them at a low price and then stage an accident.
He would then get a big insurance payout on their lives.
This brutal sacrifice takes an unexpected turn, however, when Julian and Mira are offered a sacrifice of their own.
With all of the slaves dying to save them, this summons a supernatural entity, which says a sacrifice of love must now be given to earn her blessing of great power.
Julian offers to sacrifice himself for Mira to save her unborn child but, seeing her dead son in him, Mira refuses to lose another son.
Using the knife Julian polished for her, Mira performs a C-Section on herself, gruesomely saving the life of her daughter, whom she names Diana.
Trusting Julian with Diana’s life, Mira throws them one last, tragic look before jumping into the ocean.
Satisfied with the sacrifice, the entity now asks a heartbroken Julian what he wishes for.
Remembering what the ship captain said about their lives being worthless, Julian states he wishes for proof that Mira’s life wasn’t a waste.
The entity grants this wish, as dark cracks begin to emerge from Julian’s eyes, and he gains the strength of all one hundred sacrificed slaves.
Kuramori shows this strength in a frightening double page spread of the aftermath, where we see Julian has absolutely slaughtered all of the slave masters on the ship, with some of them even having their jaws ripped off.
However, just as Julian turns back to Diana, he is stabbed from behind by the ship captain.
But rather than dying, Julian heals, with the entity revealing that he has also gained the one hundred lives the slaves lost.
So, he now has 99 lives left.
Julian then kills the captain, before escaping the ship with Diana, while the entity destroys it, before telling Julian that because of his sacrifice, “The sea will no longer bear its fangs at you.”
The entity departs, leaving Julian alone to look down at his new sister, crying and laughing as he does so.
The first chapter of Centuria then finishes with Julian narrating that he has never had anything valuable in his life, until now.
This was a perfect book end to the first chapter, which opened with Julian reflecting on their being nothing valuable in his life.
Overall, this was a promising opening for Centuria.
It gave off a Vinland Saga vibe, but one with fantasy elements.
I assume that the story will follow Julian using his powers to take a stand against slavery, all the while looking out for Diana.
Apart from that, I have no idea where the story will go.
We know virtually nothing about the world, except for that it is set in a world with slavery and that supernatural beings exist.
Kuramori really could take the narrative anywhere at this point and, after this first chapter, I am intrigued to see where it goes.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 160 and 161 Review: A Long-Awaited Reveal.

For the past few weeks, I have been wondering if Tatsuki Fujimoto has been enjoying writing Asa’s chapters more than Denji’s in Part Two.
After all, there was a two week break between pretty much every chapter in Denji’s arc, whereas now that the story is focusing on Asa again, we are back to a week between chapters.
This was the case for Chapters 160 and 161, “That for Which the Heart Beats” and “Chainsaw Man Puzzle.”
These two chapters are great, progressing the plot with both hilarious and unexpected developments.
Chapter 161 begins with Asa and her gang about to face off against Katana Man and Nail.
Going into the chapter, I was curious to see how such a fight would pan out, only for that fight to not happen at all.
This was far from disappointing though because of how funny what we got instead was.
Katana Man starts the confrontation off by basically fangirling over Asa, before denying that he was to Nail.
After an argument, the two go to attack Asa when the Public Safety Officer orders them to, only for Asa to stop them by shouting that she’s here to fight Chainsaw Man.
I like how smart Asa was here, picking up on the fact that Katana Man had beef with Chainsaw Man during his argument with Nail and now using that to her advantage.
The Public Safety officer attempts to blackmail Katana and Nail back to his side but the effort fails, with Katana Man shouting that killing Chainsaw Man is the reason his heart still beats.
Fujimoto then gives us an unexpectedly mournful moment, when the Public Safety Officer tells his transformed wife that she was right when she said he should never have joined Public Safety.
Before Katana Man can kill the man, however, he flees, going to get someone who can actually kill him and Asa.
Following this exchange, Haruka is understandably freaking out that Asa and Katana Man want to kill Chainsaw Man, his hero, calling it stupid.
The chapter then ends on another humorous note, with Asa stealing Katana Man’s line that, “the reason my heart’s beating is to fight Chainsaw Man”, which Katana Man calls her out on.
“That for Which the Heart Beats” was a fun read.
The expected direction of the story took an unexpected direction instead, with Asa convincing Katana Man to join their side in finding Chainsaw Man to fight him.
The following chapter, “Chainsaw Man Puzzle” is even better.
The chapter begins with the doctors who were dismembering Denji finishing up their job, only to be interrupted by Asa, Katana Man and the others bursting into the room.
They demand to know where Chainsaw Man is, only to learn the doctors have completely dismembered him and put his parts in boxes.
The head surgeon is comedically unbothered by the threat to his life, demanding that everyone apologize for interrupting his work.
Of course, Nobana is the only one to apologize, which got another laugh out of me.
The group begin to reassemble Denji, resulting in a lot of humorous moments, like when Akoku finds his wiener and Katana Man wants to shove it up his behind.
The guy is definitely not over Denji and Aki’s competition from Part One.
Another funny moment is when Haruka also fangirls over holding Chainsaw Man’s guts.
However, his fangirling quickly ends when Nobana finds Chainsaw Man’s head and Haruka gets a look at it.
And so, the moment that we have been waiting for ever since Asa first met Denji in Chapter 104 arrives.
Haruka opens the box and shows Asa Denji’s head, revealing to her that he is Chainsaw Man.
The shock is so great it launches Yoru right out of control of their body, and Asa’s stunned face left me grinning at the reveal.
Asa has very little time to dwell on it, though, because the Public Safety officer returns with Quanxi, who he orders to kill everyone.
In my review of Chapter 159, I speculated that Asa would have a lot of trouble fighting Quanxi, but this theory was based on the idea that Katana Man would be fighting on the side of Public Safety.
With Katana Man now on Asa’s side, it levels the playing field quite a bit.
Or, at least, it could.
We have never seen Katana Man fight Quanxi, so maybe she will wipe the floor with them.
Or maybe Fujimoto will pull another Katana Man and have Quanxi also betray Public Safety.
We don’t know why she’s siding with them, after all.
Maybe her motives are similar to Katana Man.
It’s revealed in Chapter 160 that Public Safety offered to help him get his syndicate back.
Maybe they offered to help Quanxi find her Fiend girlfriends again, much like how Denji hopes to find Power.
As for Denji himself, the fallout of his identity being revealed to Asa and Yoru is sure to be interesting, and probably hilarious.
I imagine that once the chaos has calmed down, Yoru will be rubbing it in Asa’s face that Denji was telling the truth about being Chainsaw Man in Chapter 104.
Not only that, but I am intrigued to see how Denji will react to the fact that Asa has been possessed by the War Devil the entire time, meaning that yet another woman he dated tried to kill him.
I doubt he will take it well, although he will probably be focused on trying to find out what happened to Nayuta.
Overall, Chapters 160 and 161 were a lot of fun.
They had great humor and progressed the plot in interesting ways, most importantly with Asa finally learning Denji’s identity.
I am very excited to see where Fujimoto goes with all this.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 159, Attack on Samurai Review: Katana Man or Kool Aid Man?

Chapter 159 of Chainsaw Man, “Attack on Samurai,” continues the ongoing rescue arc with more hilarity.
The chapter begins with Haruka telling Nobana and Akoku that they don’t have to come with him, but they both have their own reasons for doing so.
Nobana’s is simply that he does not know how to get out of the building, while Akoku claims he has nowhere else to go.
Although, if Akoku does turn out to be the Fire Devil, then following Haruka to Chainsaw Man would most likely suit whatever his motive is.
Nobana, on the other hand, eventually comes across what he thinks is an exit, only to find it is a cell for people transformed into Chainsaw Men.
The group is confronted by a Public Safety Officer, whose wife is transformed inside the cell.
The man contemplates why his wife transformed, while his annoying neighbor and the Chainsaw Man Fan Club remain human.
When the man claims to have done nothing bad in his life, Asa asks if that’s really true, and the man reveals he cheated on his wife.
Yoru calls him a piece of crap, not for cheating, but for trying to buy time.
She then kicks Fami out of the way, as Katana Man bursts through the wall like he’s the Kool Aid Guy.
Fami tries to get Guilly to protect her, but the Guillotine Devil has already changed back into its totem.
It’s kind of funny how last chapter I wondered how long Guilly would stick around, only for them to immediately leave in the next chapter.
Fami also almost takes her leave, as the Hammer Fiend arrives next to bash her head in with a hammer.
Thankfully, Yoru is there to once again kick her sister in the head.
What else are siblings for?
The chapter then ends with the Hammer Fiend mocking Yoru for kicking Fami out of the way, and Yoru replying that they should try having one arm.
And so, we are left with a cliffhanger teasing the fight with Katana Man and the Hammer Fiend.
We could also hopefully learn the Hammer Fiend’s name and what their deal is next chapter.
As for the fight itself, I think Yoru and Fami will be able to handle it, so long as there are no other complications.
One such complication could be Quanxi.
If she shows up then, yeah, they are probably screwed.
“Attack on Samurai” is a solid Chainsaw Man, which has great physical humor, with Yoru constantly kicking Fami to keep her safe.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 158, Gyohnee Guillotine Review: Meet Guilly.

After Asa hilariously tripped again at the end of Chainsaw Man Chapter 157, I was intrigued to see what kind of Devil Fami would use to protect them.
Chapter 158, “Gyohneee Guillotine,” starts by revealing this Devil.
As the Public Safety officers fire their guns, Fami drops the totem, releasing the Guillotine Devil, whom she calls Guilly.
A giant bird with a tilted head, like Fami, a skeletal body beneath its wings, and a guillotine hanging below its neck, Guilly makes for quite a unique and unsettling design.
It certainly makes an impression as well because, when Fami orders it to kill the Public Saftey officers, Guilly instead cuts apart their guns and clothes with a flap of its wings, leaving them all naked.
This also raises the question if Guilly is just dumb or reluctant to kill, the latter of which would be interesting for the literal Guillotine Devil.
Asa demands to know why Fami did not release Guilly earlier, before she fell and embarrassed herself, and Fami explains that the Devils she summons are weakened.
It is pretty terrifying to think that this means the Falling Devil was weaker than usual when Fami summoned it.
Despite this weakness, it was still strong enough to have consequences for the entire world.
That just goes to show the overwhelming power of the Primal Fears.
Another reason Fami did not use Guilly sooner is because her power to use Devils has restrictions.
When Asa asks what Fami means by this, she refuses to say.
I smell something being hinted at which will be important later.
Asa and Fami’s conversation is then interrupted by one of Public Safety officers, this one thankfully wearing underwear, who tries to attack them.
Asa manages to parry them, however, and Yoru takes them down, before complimenting Asa’s skill.
It’s nice to see these two getting along and I am interested to see if it lasts.
Before they can deal with the other Public Safety officers, they are again interrupted, this time by Haruka, Nobana and Akoku, who appear just like I predicted in my review of the previous chapter.
Thinking that Fami is there to save them, Haruka instead demands that she leave them alone.
“Okay,” Fami responds.
Haruka then declares himself his own man, free from Fami’s influence, and expels both her and Asa from the Devil Hunting Club.
“Okay,” Fami responds again.
Fami’s deadpan, uncaring response to Haruka’s character growth is by far the funniest moment of the entire chapter.
Haruka gives this big speech he thinks is going to shake Fami to her core and she just does not care.
Instead, Haruka is the one who actually comes to care because, as soon as Asa tells him they are only there to save Chainsaw Man, his decision flips entirely.
The chapter then ends with Haruka, Nobana and Akoku following an unwilling Asa and Fami, while Guilly continues to squawk behind them.
Of course, being a Chainsaw Man fan, Haruka would immediately throw his character development away to meet his hero.
I wonder if he will be disappointed to learn that this hero is Denji?
However, him, Nobana and Akoku going with Asa and Fami will probably not end well, if the theory of Akoku being the Fire Devil turns out to be true.
Overall, “Gyohnee Guillotine” is another hilarious chapter for Chainsaw Man, with Fami and Guilly delivering the best laughs.
I am curious to see if Guilly lasts a while or is simply a Devil who will leave the story quickly.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 157 College Fund Review: War and Famine it is.

In the week following Chainsaw Man Chapter 156’s release, there was a lot of debate about who was going to attack the facility Denji is being held at.
Asa was the most obvious candidate, but Reze’s name was also being thrown into the ring, along with Kishibe’s as a joke.
Chapter 157 “College Fund” begins by confirming that it was indeed Asa we saw preparing to free Denji.
While it would have been good to see Reze again, I am glad Asa is finally back in the story.
She has only shown up in a couple of chapters since the Falling Devil Arc, so it is good to have her back as an important character.
It is also interesting to note that Asa’s arm has not grown back.
This makes her fundamentally different from hybrids like Denji and the Weapons.
It also reminds me a lot of Aki, which I hope is not Fujimoto hinting that something terrible will happen to her, like it did Aki.
Asa is not alone, however, because Fami is joining her in the assault on the facility.
We get a little more insight into Fami’s personality, as she refuses to respond when Yoru calls her “Famine,” only answering to “Fami.”
There is also this curious question from Asa: “Beating Chainsaw Man… will really save Chainsaw Man, right?”
Unless this is a mistranslation, Fami seems to have manipulated Asa into believing that she needs to beat Chainsaw Man now.
I am not sure why she would do this since Nayuta stated her plan is to make both Chainsaw Man and the War Devil stronger, but I guess we will have to wait and see.
In any case, Asa and Fami make their move on the facility, only for the staff to try and kill them with turrets.
This does not work because of how Asa’s power has increased, due to the growing fear of war.
Fami wrote up a fake contract to buy the turrets, which Asa believes she bought using her college fund money, from the work she did with the Chainsaw Man Church.
Not only is this humorous because of Asa’s naivety but it also shows how powerful she is now, being able to turns things into weapons without touching them.
Asa uses her “College Fund Turrets” to blow a hole in the facility.
She and Fami then run inside but the latter refuses to fight because she is the trump card which should be used last.
The two come across armed guards waiting for them and attempt to sneak past but, Asa being Asa she, of course, trips and faceplants.
The recurring joke of Asa tripping at critical moments, followed by an inevitable panel of her dying inside, always gets a good laugh out of me and this time was no different.
With the guards now aware of them, it forces Fami to release her trump card early.
The chapter ends with her calling Asa a klutz, and pulling out a small figurine, similar to one she put the Falling Devil in.
Does this mean that Fami is about to release the Falling Devil or some other Primal Fear on the facility?
That would be pretty overkill, but it would definitely ensure success.
As for what happens next chapter, it was stated that the leaders of the Chainsaw Man Church were being held in the facility.
This means Haruka and Nobana could be returning so Asa might just free them.
It will also be interesting to see if this is the arc Asa will finally learn Denji is Chainsaw Man.
Either way, “College Fund” is a great, short chapter.
It reintroduces Asa and brings back a funny, recurring gag.
With there once again only being a week break between chapters, it will not be long before we see what happens next.

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.