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.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 145: Kumbaya Review: Asa Returns but at What Cost?

The latest chapters of Chainsaw Man have focused more on Denji’s life than Asa’s.
This is not suprising, considering he was the main character of Part One and the series is named after him, but I was wondering when we would see Asa again.
Well, Asa finally returned to the story in Chapter 145 “Kumbaya”, only for that return to be, as should have been expected, a far from happy one.
The chapter begins in the aftermath of Public Saftey’s raid on the Chainsaw Man Church.
A group of Public Saftey officers are discussing how to spin their raid to the media, and make plans to capture Asa, since she is the poster girl for the Church.
This is also where Fujimoto drops a bomb shell.
Public Saftey knows that Asa is being possessed by the War Devil.
Their knowledge of this all but confirms my prior theory that Yoshida knew about Asa’s possession right from the get-go.
He likely told Public Saftey of her identity.
Another interesting bit of information is the lead Public Saftey Officer saying that he hoped Asa would turn Chainsaw Man into a weapon.
If this was Public Saftey’s goal for a time then it would explain why Yoshida set Asa and Denji up in Chapter 104.
Although, if this is true then it also raises the question of why Yoshida later wanted Asa to stay away from Denji.
The scene ends with one of the Public Saftey officers asking the lead one what the Chainsaw Man Church hoped to achieve, and him responding, “To play at being Chainsaw Man, probably.”
Given the ominus nature of this chapter, I highly doubt this was the case, especially considering Fami’s fear of the Nostradamus Prophecy.
The next scene shows Barem, whose last name is revealed to be Bridge, being arrested by Public Saftey.
He is mentioned to be the Church’s second-in-command, which makes me wonder who the big leader is, Fami or the fake Chainsaw Man?
As he is being arrested, Fumiko offers him a place in Public Saftey, mentioning how Katana Man and Quanxi are also working for them now.
Reze not being mentioned confirms for me that she is not with Public Saftey.
I do think we will see her in the story again but it appears that Fujimoto is holding off on that for now.
Rather than respond to Fumiko’s offer, Barem instead asks to watch the sunset, before the scene again cuts to the lead Public Saftey Officer, who is being shown the corpse of the Devil the Falling Devil tried to feed Asa and Denji to.
It is revealed that this Devil is actually the Justice Devil, meaning that the Devil who has been giving powers to people right from the beginning of Part Two is another Devil entirey who has just been pretending to be Justice.
My money is on that Devil being Fami, at the moment.
Following this scene, we finally see Asa again, who is watching the Chainsaw Man Church being raided on the news.
Before she and Yoru can respond to it, there is a knock on the door demanding the War Devil’s surrender.
Asa instead decides to fight, planning on transforming her apartment into a weapon to fight, which Yoru compliments her on, saying she had become pretty wild since they met.
Before Asa can create a weapon, however, Yoshida uses his contract with the Octopus Devil to crash through the apartment and swing his sword at her.
While this is happening, so is Barem’s arrest.
In probably the most ominous moment of the entire chapter, he sings Kumbaya while being arrested, still watching the setting sun.
As Barem continues to sing, we see that Yoshida has cut off Asa’s arm when he attacked, bringing the chapter to an end.
I think things are going to get pretty crazy in the next chapter.
Barem’s song and focus on the sun seems to be implying that this sunset will be the last peaceful one the characters get for a while.
I am also highly interested in seeing the fight between Asa and Yoshia.
Will it be over quickly or something more drawn out?
I am also curious to see if Asa’s arm can regenerate like Denji’s.
We know Yoru revived Asa when she possessed her but we do not know if that was a one time thing or if Asa can regularly regenerate lost limbs now.
If not then Asa just lost her arm permamently.
Chapter 145 also sets up a lot of mysteries, like how much Yoshida knows about Asa and Yoru, what the Chainsaw Man Church’s true goal was, and what Devil was pretending to be the Justice Devil to make contracts?
Not only am I eager to find out the answers to these mysteries, but I also think we may have reached the precipice of normalcy in Part Two… well, as normal as Chainsaw Man gets anyway.
Back in Part One, the precipice was the Bomb Arc.
After that, the story went completley bonkers with the International Assassins Arc.
The events of “Kumbaya” makes me think we have just gone over the precipice for Part Two.
I am excited to read the next few chapters to see if I am right or not.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 144, Guns, Nails, Katana Review: An Expected Return.

Tatsuki Fujimoto is a writer who is incredibly difficult to predict.
I am usually thrown for a loop every single chapter of Chainsaw Man.
Chapter 144, “Guns, Nails, Katana”, was the exception because I actually guessed what would happen as soon as I started reading.
This is because the chapter’s very title spells out its events, which served to hype up what was about to happen.
“Guns, Nails, Katana” begins with the titular guns by having the Chainsaw Man Church members grab the weapons from the basement.
Back in the previous chapter, I thought the weapons that were being referred to were Devil Hybrids since they share the same name, but it turns out the weapons were just firearms.
Nobana is horrified by the amount of guns they have but this does not stop him and the other Church members from taking aim at the command of one of the Church’s apparent leading members.
All it takes is a mention of Chainsaw Man for the students to be ready to kill, showing just how much this Church has brainwashed them.
Outside the building, a Public Saftey Officer orders that two Special Division Agents be sent in, one at the front and one at the back.
The one who takes the front is the “Nails” part of the chapter.
They are a Fiend with their brain exposed and this detail made me think that they were a reincarnated Cosmo, since her brain was also exposed.
However, this Fiend’s reliance on hammers and nails makes me think they are Nail or Hammer Fiend.
Whichever they are, the Fiend easily disarms the students by nailing them to the walls through their clothes.
Given that the Fiend makes sure not to kill the students and that they shout out that children should be studying not using guns, it first appears that the Fiend wants to protect these students.
This makes it all the more darkly humorous when the Fiend smashes a student’s head in with a hammer when they don’t speak politley.
With the students taken care of, the unnamed man leading them then transforms into a Devil, having also clearly made a deal with the Justice Devil, just like Yuko did.
It is good to know that the Justice Devil is still in play and I am interested to see what its role is in all this.
Then, we get the moment I knew was coming ever since I read the chapter title, “Guns Nails, Katana.”
The unnamed man cries out that the Fiend will face the justice of the Chainsaw Man Church, only for Katana Man to make his return by eviscerating him from behind with his signature move.
This likely makes Katana Man the second Public Saftey Agent who was sent in the back.
As for why Katana Man would join Public Saftey after attacking them early in Part One, it makes sense when you look at who he is fighting.
Katana Man hates Chainsaw Man because Denji killed his grandfather so he would obviously be offended that a church worships him.
This can be seen when Katana Man shouts, “There is no such thing as justice with Chainsaw Man!”
So with Katana Man’s expected return that makes six out of seven Hybrids accounted for.
The only one missing is Reze so it will be interesting to see where she is.
Is she with Public Saftey or somewhere else?
Will she turn up next chapter or later in the story?
One thing I am certain of is that she will make her return at some point.
It would not make sense to have the rest of the Hybrids and not Reze.
As for Chapter 144, it was another solid chapter, which introduced the new Fiend well and ended on the great cliffhanger of Katana Man’s return.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 143, Rawr Review: A Dramatic Return.

For the past few chapters, Tatsuki Fujimoto has been building up to a terrorist attack committed by the Devil Hybrids in order to bring Chainsaw Man out of retirement.
As a result, going into Chapter 143, “Rawr”, we were all expecting to see this attack take place.
So, of course, Fujimoto played with our expectations by instead having the terrorists stopped before their attack can even begin, with them being taken out by a fan favourite character who makes their long awaited return in dramatic fashion.
Fujimoto remains as unpredictable of a writer as ever.
“Rawr” begins with the Weapons, consisting of Sugo, and the Spear and Whip Hybrids, prepring to begin their attack.
The Spear Hybrid seems to be in charge of the three, and my earlier impression of him being reluctant to take part in this attack is proved immediately wrong, as he horrifyingly suggests to target women and children.
Whip is just as messed up as, at 82 years old, she is eternally young and believes she was chosen by god, which she and the Spear Hybrid use this justify their oncoming atrocity.
Sugo is the only one of the three who is hesitant, which can be seen when a child falls over in front of him and begins to cry.
Sugo looks horrified at the thought of killing the kid but pushes his hesitancy aside, talking himself into believing this is a message from god.
Yeah, Sugo is still clearly brainwashed, yet his hesitancy still makes me believe their is some redemption for him.
As the clock strikes five, the three Hybrids reach to activate their transformations when, to the shock of probably all the readers, Quanxi dashes in from out of nowhere and cuts down the Whip and Spear Devil.
Sugo takes a little longer to take down, but only by a few seconds, as Quanxi executes him with pure casualness.
The little boy who Sugo was scared of killing earlier then looks up at Quanxi and the bloody carnaged she has unleashed.
“Rawr” Quanxi says to him, and the little boy runs off screaming, in complete fear of the chapter title!
Joking aside, I was not expecting Quanxi’s return at all and screamed out her name in surprise when she showed up.
It is good to see her again and the casual way she took down the Weapons was fun.
She is also revealed to be working with Public Saftey so I wonder how that occured, seeing as she was against them in the International Assassins Arc.
I have to imagine there was some hesitancy, considering that Makima was a part of Public Saftey and she killed Quanxi’s girlfriends.
Still, it will be cool to see Quanxi interact with her old buddy Kishibe, if Fujimoto decides to write that.
Following Quanxi’s return, it is revealed that Public Saftey covered up the planned Hybrid attack, instead portraying it as an attack by gunmen from the Chainsaw Man Church.
The Church is about to be raided by Public Saftey, and one of its members says that, “If they find the Weapons in the basement, we could be charged with treason.”
So, this suggests the Chainsaw Man Church has more Weapons at their disposal or held captive.
Maybe they have Reze and Katana Man, who are the last of the Weapons who remain unnaccounted for now that Quanxi has returned.
The chapter then ends with Haruka and Nobana being shocked to learn that the Church has Weapons, only for the random man who commented this to tell Haruka that he never heard a thing about Weapons, attempting to keep him quiet.
So, yeah, Haruka and Nobana are clearly out of their depth, although this was always apparent.
What is less apparent is just what Denji was thinking while all of this was taking place.
I mean, Barem just shows up, tells him the Weapons are going to attack and that Denji should transform into Chainsaw Man to help them, only for nothing to happen at all.
I have to imagine Barem was quite embarassed about that, which is funny to think about.
Barem is still out though and he is crazy enough to be danger.
As for the captured Weapons, I wonder if this will be the last we see of the Whip and Spear Hybrids?
I am pretty certain that we will see Sugo again, though, because Fujimoto seems to be giving him an arc, what with his clearly growing doubts.
Overall, I found “Rawr” to be a fantastic Chainsaw Man chapter.
Yes, it was brief, but it had the return of a fan favourite character and, with it, a classic Fujimoto subversion of expectations.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 142, Denji Fan Club Review: A Different Side.

Despite the ominous ending to the previous chapter, Chapter 142 of Chainsaw Man, “Denji Fan Club”, has one of the most wholesome openings of the entire story.
Denji has taken Nayuta to an amusement park and we get a panel of her enjoying herself on a ride.
Sadly, this wholesome image is not enough to make even Denji feel better because he still looks incredibly depressed while watching her from the bench he is sitting on.
Fumiko is still guarding him and Denji assures her he is not going to turn into Chainsaw Man again.
Fumiko says this is disappointing but Denji points out that his time as Chainsaw Man was not all good, and Fumiko agrees, revealing that Public Saftey has even been keeping watch on Denji in the bathroom.
Denji rightfully points out how screwed up this all is, calling Fumiko a stalker which, after all of the creepy stuff she has done, is totally justified.
Fumiko, however, demands that Denji call her his fan, but Denji says that every woman who comes onto him ends up hating his guts.
With Denji’s interactions with Makima, Reze, and many others, it is hard to exactly fault him for thinking this.
Fumiko, on the other hand, admits that she does hate Chainsaw Man a little bit because he did not save her parents.
We then see a different side to Fumiko than the creepy stalker, as she reveals that she was there when Denji fought Aki who had been turned into the Gun Fiend.
Denji then asks Fumiko if her parents survived, which is pretty stupid of him, considering that she just said Chainsaw Man did not save them.
I am not sure if that is Fujimoto just showing Denji having a dumb moment, a writing issue, or a translation issue.
In any case, Fumiko reveals that she also saw Denji transform back into a human and cry over Aki death.
She states, “When I saw it, I realized for the first time… that the one who’s been fighting all this time, while Devils kill him over and over again… was just a kid.”
A kid who she touched inappropriately… yeah, Fumiko’s a creep.
Fumiko concludes her speech by saying she swore to save Denji after she saw who he was, making her, not a Chainsaw Man fan, but a Denji fan.
This is a very well written speech and it does make Fumiko sympathetic but, again, it is complicated by her prior actions.
She says she knew Denji was young yet she still pretty much assaulted him in the theatre.
Fumiko’s statement does seem to break through Denji’s depression, at least, because he is still considering what she said when Barem approaches, contrasting Fumiko as a Denji fan by saying that he is a Chainsaw Man fan.
Barem says it was not easy to sneak over to Denji without getting spotted by Public Saftey, indicating that they are looking for him.
Barem then shows his Chainsaw Man lighter to prove that he is a fan before asking Denji to grant his “fan request.”
What follows is a moment that feels like Fujimoto is speaking directly to the reader.
“Personally, I want to see Chainsaw Man fighting. I want to see him carving up Devils with his chainsaws… getting covered in gore… suffering and struggling and getting killed… and despite it all, returning to life and getting back up again.”
It feels like Fujimoto is just repeating what he has heard some fans say about Part Two, which has been much slower paced than Part One.
I am not complaining, though, since I have personally quite enjoyed the direction Part Two has taken but it does appear that Fujimoto is aware that there are some readers who do not.
It will be interesting to see which direction Fujimoto decides to take this.
Will he decide to give into some fan pressure and make the story more violent, or will he stick with the more character focused approach he has been taking?
It looks like we will get an answer next chapter because Barem reveals that the Weapons are about to attack, and we see Sugo, the Whip Hybrid, and the Spear Hybrid standing in a store ready to begin, as the chapter ends.
Of the three, I would say that the Whip Hybrid is the only one who looks comfortable with what she is about to do.
Sugo and the Spear Hybrid look much more uncomfortable.
I have said before that I think Sugo will probably end up betraying the Weapons to help Denji and I still believe this to be true but I am interested to see if my impression of the Spear Devil’s reluctance is correct or not.
Will Denji fight the Weapons when their attack begins or will he back down and let the attack happen to live a normal life?
I could see this going either way but, if he does fight the Hybrids, it will certainly not go as well as when Pochita fought them at the end of Part One.
Chapter 142 is a solid Chainsaw Man chapter, which promised an imminent attack from the Weapons while showing a new side to Fumiko.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 141, Normal Life Plus Review: An Ominous End.

Chapter 141 of Chainsaw Man, “Normal Life Plus”, feels like the shortest chapter we have had in a while, not that it’s a bad thing.
The chapter begins by showing that, despite Denji trying to live a normal life, he will never be able to escape reminders of Chainsaw Man.
We see this in the Chainsaw Man Curry Buns he buys while shopping with Nayuta, and even with the Asa posters they pass while walking home.
Also on their way home, they encounter a Devil, which Denji and Nayuta look pretty happy about.
Denji is about to transform but hesitates and, in that moment, a bunch of Chainsaw Man Church members show up and kill the Devil for him.
As Denji and Nayuta depart, a store named after Fujimoto can be seen behind them.
This doesn’t have anything to do with Denji’s predicament, I just find it a fun easter egg, like when Fujimoto named the karaoke place Denji and Fumiko visited after himself.
Fujimoto then presents us with more panels of Denji living his depressing normal life with Nayuta, until the two eventually go to bed with their dogs and Meowy.
Denji, however, cannot sleep and when he wonders if he will eventually get happy in this normal life, Nayuta attempts to console him by saying she will stay with him forever.
This does seem to comofort him, somewhat, as Denji goes to sleep hugging his little sister.
However, this is Chainsaw Man so trouble is innevitably on the horizon, as we see the Weapons of the Chainsaw Man Church meeting up at Family Burger to discuss their plans.
Barem is leading the discussion, with Sugo and the Whip and Spear Hybrids also in attendance.
Just like many of us thought, Barem is up to no good, as he plans to launch an attack with the other Weapons.
Since tomorrow is the Chainsaw Man Church’s day of worship, the Church’s followers will not stop any Devil attacks.
This will cause the Public Saftey Devil Hunters to emerge, who the Weapons then plan to kill to draw Chainsaw Man out.
Out of all the Weapons, Sugo seems to be the only one reluctant about enacting this plan, as he demands to know why they are going so far to make Denji transform into Chainsaw Man again.
It would seem that Sugo is being kept out of the loop.
In response to his demands, the Whip Hybrid tells him that they will be Weapons tomorrow, so he should remove all of his thoughts.
This, again, causes Sugo to reassert his humanity, telling her to let him think for himself.
Sugo really is similar to Denji in a lot of ways and this only reinforces my belief that he will eventually betray the Weapons to help him.
As for Barem, he does agree with Sugo that they are human, but also acknowledges that they are weapons, asking the group what they have in common.
The Whip Hybrid guesses that they are hard to spell.
It would seem that she is not the sharpest weapon in the shed.
With a creepy face, Barem states that the thing humans and weapons have in common is that they are both born to kill, so god will forgive them, no matter how many people they kill.
On this ominous note, the chapter concludes, promising that Denji’s normal life is about to come to a violent end.
Why the Weapons want to draw Denji out, I could not say at this point, but I do think there is one thing they have not accounted for: Asa.
Just like Denji, I doubt she is going to be able to stay out of the fray, which will probably lead to a second team up between her and Chainsaw Man, against the Weapons this time.
“Normal Life Plus” is a solid Chainsaw Man chapter, which I think signifies the end of Denji’s attempt at a normal life.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 140, Scales Review: Meeting Another Weapon.

I went into Chapter 140 of Chainsaw Man, “Scales”, excited to see if another Devil Hybrid would return to the story.
Sure enough, there was one, and an intimidating one at that.
The chapter begins with Denji and Sugo arriving at the Chainsaw Man Church, which has a giant model of Chainsaw Man’s face sticking out from the top of the building.
Sugo tells Denji that a cult used to own the building before the Chainsaw Man Church absorbed them, claiming they “vanquished evil.”
Well, it turns out that the cult elements of the Chainsaw Man Church are far from vanquished.
Before this is revealed, Sugo introduces Denji to his guide, the Kobeni clone from the Aquarium Arc.
He introdues himself as Nobana Higashiyama and, with this last name-drop, we finally know that Nobana is Kobeni’s brother and not just a weird male clone of her.
I wonder what Kobeni thinks of her brother joining the Chainsaw Man Church, and if we will see her again?
As for Nobana, he is exactly like his sister, stuttering over his words, as he gives Denji a tour of the Church.
When Denji notices that all of the Church’s members are students, Nobana says it’s because all of the adults’ minds have been altered by an American ultraviolet ray weapon hovering over Japan.
Why do the Church followers believe this?
Well, because Chainsaw Man discovered it with his super vision, of course.
So, basically, the fake Chainsaw Man is brainwashing his followers with outlandish conspiracy theories, which bear a strong resemblance to the extremist conspiracy theories of today, like the idiotic jewish space laser conspiracy.
This is not the only extreme thing the Church is doing because, when Nobana takes Denji to the Chainsaw Man Wedding Chapel, he tells Denji he will be having sex with a girl and then marrying her.
So the Chainsaw Man Church is also engaging in coerced underage marriages.
But, yeah, the cult elements have been totally vanquished.
Sugo said so.
Denji rightfully calls this cult behavior out, revealing to Sugo that he never found a ultraviolet weapon.
At this revelation, Sugo merely doubles down, saying it’s okay if one person gets screwed over so long as hundreds are saved.
Sugo is clearly brainwashed but he does seem like a good person despite this, so if his brainwashing is broken I could see him betraying the Church eventually to help Denji.
If this does come about, however, Sugo and Denji will have a lot to worry about from a particular member of the Church because this is the moment when one of the Devil Hybrids finally makes his appearance.
His name is Barem and he is the Flamethrower Hybrid whom Makima controlled to attack Denji.
He is also, clearly, a massive psycho, jabbing his fingers up Denji’s nose and then threatening the city and eventually Asa in an attempt to make Denji become Chainsaw Man again.
He then tells Denji to picture a pair of scales.
On the right side is Denji’s home, family, pets, a wonderful life, and on the left in Denji’s starter which transforms him into Chainsaw Man.
Barem asks Denji which side is heavier but, instead of answering, Denji pushes him off and storms off, while Barem cheerfully shouts out to Denji that he should, “Enjoy your normal life while you can!”
The chapter then concludes with this threat.
“Scales” had a lot of moments that are interesting to consider in their implications for the story,
chief among these being the introduction of Barem.
He is most likely going to be a threat going forward, and there are already quite a few theories about him already.
I have seen some theorize that he is the man who placed his hands on Haruka’s shoulder in a threatening way in Chapter 132.
This seems likely to me, considering he is introduced in almost the exact same way in Chapter 140, with him placing his hand on Nobana’s shoulder.
Another theory about Barem is that he was not actually under Makima’s control when he fought Pochita.
In that fight, all of the Hybrids are talking about how much they love Makima, while he simply states, “Hmmm. Everyone really loves Ms. Makima, don’t they?”
It is almost as if he is not under control like the rest of them and is just fighting because he enjoys it, which would certainly match up with his creepy personality we saw in his chat with Denji.
As for the other Devil Hybrids, with Barem’s introduction, there are now two unknown ones left who we have not been introduced to.
These are the Spear Hybrid and the Whip Hybrid, the latter of whom is already theorized to have shown up, which I mentioned in my previous review.
As for the other remaining Hybrids, Reze, Quanxi and Katana Man, I now do not see them being involved in the Chainsaw Man Church, given how much of a cult it is.
The fake Chainsaw Man, Fami, and the Justice Devil are clearly indoctrinating people to suit their own ends.
As for what this end is, I think a war with America is one possibility.
Makima mentioned that there might be a war in Part One of Chainsaw Man, and Yoru said “War draws nigh” in Chapter 135.
As for the American component, it seems like Fujimoto has been setting up a lot of anti-American conspiracies among his characters.
There is the random guy who says Chainsaw Man is just American propaganda in Chapter 103 and, of course, there is the Chainsaw Man Church spreading extremist conspiracy theories about America in this chapter.
A war with America would also make Yoru stronger as the War Devil, which may be a part of Fami’s plan to end the Nostradamus Prophecy, since the prophecy states that Mars, meaning Yoru, will reign.
Fami is also intertwined with justice as the Famine Devil, with justice being a big theme, what with the mention of scales from Barem in this chapter, like the scales of Lady Justice.
Like I said, there are a lot of implications which could be drawn from this chapter and other recent events.
We will just have to wait and see what these implications amount to.
Either way, this was another great Chainsaw Man chapter, which showed the indoctrination of the Church and introduced the new threat of Barem very well.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 139, A Chair’s Feelings Review: Teleportation Activated.

Chapter 139 of Chainsaw Man, “A Chair’s Feelings” picks up right from the reveal of Sword Man’s arrival, with Denji still not having a clue who he is.
In an attempt to remind Denji (and probably the reader as well), Sword Man brings up the battle with Makima, only for Denji to inform him that it was Pochita fighting her, not him.
Denji leaves a dejected Sword Man, telling him he has to go to school, only to be dismayed when he sees Sword Man is joining his class.
Sword Man introduces himself as Miri Sugo to the class but it is unclear if that is his real name or just an alias.
Sugo informs the class that he is not there to make friends, only for a bunch of girls to take interest in him, much to Denji’s apparent envy.
Later in the day, Sugo attempts to talk with Denji, who is being a chair for Fumiko.
He tells Denji that he is here to invite him to join the Chainsaw Man Church, stating that “the weapons walk” with them.
This statement means there are probably many hybrids from within the Church who we will be introduced to soon.
We may have even been introduced to one of these “weapons” already.
Back in Chapter 107, we see a girl from the Devil Hunter Club fighting Yuko.
This girl has a cap over her eyes, hiding her identity, but she resembles the Whip Hybrid who was under Makima’s control, like Sword Man was.
Many readers noticed this similarity but the theory died off when the girl was implied to have left the club after Yuko’s attack.
Now, with Sword Man returning and claiming that “weapons” have joined the Chainsaw Man Church, it seems that this theory may have some weight after all.
Getting back to the chapter itself, Sugo and Fumiko begin arguing to convince Denji to stay on their side.
Sugo wants Denji to join the Church, while Fumiko wants him to stay living a normal life.
During their argument, my prior impression of Sugo attempting to manipulate Denji was seemingly proven wrong, as Sugo seems genuine in wanting to help Denji.
This is because he holds a lot of gratitude for Denji freeing him from Makima.
Denji, however, is content to live as a chair.
Sugo is disappointed, saying that he actually wanted to be Denji’s friend.
As he leaves, Sugo happens to mention that if Denji joined the Chainsaw Man Church he could sleep with all the women he wants.
And, just like that, Denji gains the power of instant teleportation.
Joking aside, Denji does not actually teleport.
We can see from little dash movements in the panels that Denji actually uses super speed to get in front of Sugo.
This is probably for comedic affect, though, rather than being an actual Chainsaw Man power.
It is also very funny, along with the potential implication that Fumiko fell over when Denji dashed to confront Sugo.
Denji tells the Sword Man that he has given what he said a lot of thought, as if hours had passed and not just a few seconds, before declaring he will join the Chainsaw Man Church, bringing an end to the chapter on this comedic note.
So now we have Denji, Asa, Fammi, Sugo, and Haruka as members of the Church, along with the hybrids mentioned in this chapter.
All of the important characters seem to be joining up with the Church, which will probably result in a lot of great and funny character interactions over the next few chapters.
It will be interesting to see which “weapons” are part of the Church.
We could see Reze, Quanxi, Katana Man, Whip Hybrid girl, and even some of the other unnamed Hybrids who fought Pochita under Makima’s control.
These characters could very well reappear in the next chapter tomorrow, or later in the story.
As for Chapter 139, it did a great job of building up this intrigue.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 138, Sword Man Review: The Return of… Who?

After a two week break, Chainsaw Man has returned with Chapter 138, “Sword Man.”
The chapter begins by immediately disproving my theory that the creepy girl laid a trap for Denji because, instead of attacking him, she actually attacks an injured thug who was pointing a gun at him.
The girl then realises the gun is a fake, which did make me wonder why the guy even pointed it at Denji in the first place?
It was a bit of a weird detail.
Getting back to the creepy girl, Denji is surprised that the girl is not his enemy, and Yoshida shows up to confirm this, telling Denji that the girl is named Fumiko Mifine, a 22-year-old Devil Hunter.
So she is a 22-year-old making moves on a 16-year-old?
Well, Fumiko just got a whole lot creepier than she already was.
As for why Fumiko did not help Denji when he was being attacked by the group of thugs last chapter, she says that she did not want her song to be interrupted, looking embarassed.
Denji rightfully wonders just what is wrong with Fumiko and Yoshida, while Yoshida inspects the bodies of the thugs, finding no means to identify them.
So who sent these thugs to attack Denji and how they knew his identity is currently a mystery.
Denji is dejected that a girl was only acting interested in him as her job but Fumiko insists that she is into him because he is Chainsaw Man.
No, Fumiko, enough with the grooming, please?
At least Denji’s reaction to Fumiko saying this looks less than positive.
I hope?
The scene then ends with Yoshida promising to set Fumiko straight so Denji will not have to fight again.
The chapter then cuts to Asa, who is watching news about her exploits at home.
Asa seems happy when a commentator on the news calls her beautiful, yet completley contradicts this when she tells Yoru they are not doing this for praise.
Yoru agrees, saying that they are doing this to kill Chainsaw Man, while Asa says they are doing this to help him.
Yeah, they are definitley going to butt heads over this in the future.
After stating their goals, Yoru complains about the rush Asa is feeling, due to her newfound fame, to which Asa says fame creeps her out because people are invading her privacy.
Yoru looks likes she wants to call Asa a liar and the next panel proves her as one, with Asa sporting a tired and delirious grin at her fame.
This panel not only had me laughing out loud but also reminded me of Denji learning that people loved him as Chainsaw Man near the end of Part One.
Both he and Asa want to be loved, only now Asa is actually experiencing that while Denji gets none of the fame he had previously.
This is epitomized by the next panel, which sees Denji looking dejected as he stares at a poster of Asa.
He is then approached by a hooded man who is also angered by people overlooking Chainsaw Man for Asa.
Given the shape of this man’s hood, I thought he might be Violence before we saw the bottom half of his face in the following panels.
In these panels, the mysterious man confirms that people can see Yoru’s scars when she takes control of Asa’s body, meaning that Yoshida would have seen them when they first met in Chapter 99.
It makes me wonder what Yoshida’s actual plans regarding Asa are?
After the man finishes talking, Denji is annoyed, wondering why strangers keep talking to him.
The man seems disappointed Denji does not remember him but states that is okay because he does not remember him either.
When Denji insists to know who he is the man pulls back his hood and identifies himself as “Sword Man.”
Denji’s response is the one which many fans probably had reading this reveal, “Seriously, who is this loser?”
Well, turns out this “loser” is actually one of the Devil Hybrids Makima controlled to fight Pochita at the end of Part One.
He only gets a few lines and is killed pretty quickly in both fights, so he is not that memorable.
This makes it interesting that Fujimoto chose to bring him back, of all characters.
Perhaps Sword Man is the mysterious figure who healed Denji back in the Falling Devil Arc?
Maybe he was the one who sent those thugs to ambush Denji and Fumiko?
Whatever his role is, he clearly wants Denji on his side, as he appeals to his vanity by talking about Asa stealing his fame.
As for why he says he does not remember Denji, this is probably because he was under Makima’s control at the time.
Same goes for Denji, his body was being controlled by Pochita when he fought Sword Man and the other Hybrids.
Probably the most interesting implication of Sword Man’s return to the story, however, is the fate of the other Devil Hybrids.
If he is alive then that means the other Hybrids, like Reze, Quanxi and Katana Man are probably alive and could very well return to the story at some point, which is exciting to think about.
“Sword Man” is yet another great Chainsaw Man chapter.
It sets up Fumiko’s role as Denji’s creepy bodyguard, along with Asa’s enjoyment of her newfound fame, and the return of Sword Man has exciting implications for other missing characters.
It will be interesting to see what this set up amounts to in future chapters.