Chainsaw Man #17-18

This review was fast lane comissioned by @toxinvictory. Technically it's not supposed to be up for a couple more days, but since I'm having some access issues with the next item in the main queue I figured I'd just get this out of the way while I'm getting that figured out.


We ended the second volume of Chainsaw Man with our...erm...hero? antihero? hero-adjacent protagonist?...in a damned tough spot. Denji, Power, and the rest of Makima's victims underlings are trapped inside a dimensionally warped hotel floor, and the devil that trapped them is demanding they sacrifice Denji to it in exchange for their freedom. If they refuse, it can just wait for them to starve to death (or at least until they're so weak with hunger that it can kill them easily itself). Why it's asking for Denji specifically, rather than any of the others, is currently unknown.

The party leaders, Aki and Himeno, are sharp enough to realize that if their captor wants Denji dead, then that means they should do their best to keep him alive. Likewise, the fact that it's even giving them an ultimatum rather than keeping out of sight and letting them starve suggests that it's not confident it can actually keep them imprisoned for much longer. So, that's good. Unfortunately, the other two human team members - Kobani and Arai - aren't holding together nearly as well, with Kobani being ready to shove Denji into its mouth no matter what anyone else says. Then there's Power, who...well, she's not in the room right now, but when she makes it over there's 50/50 odds of which way she chooses. On one hand, she doesn't like being pushed around. On the other, she has a history of betraying Denji.

Thus starts Chainsaw Man Volume III: “Kill Denji.”

That's the actual title for this volume. Not sure if it's meant to be a Kill Bill allusion or if that's just a coincidence. Each volume seems to take the name of its first chapter, so chapter 17 is also called Kill Denji.

Also, the inside cover text informs us that Tatsuki Fujimoto loves the movie Hereditary. Haven't seen that one yet, so I'm not sure if it's as relevant to the comic as volume 2's Texas Chainsaw Massacre dedication.

Well, let's invite Umma Thurman over and get this party started.

17: Kill Denji​

The maddened Komani comes at Denji with a knife, but she can't even get within reach of him without provoking opportunity attacks from Aki and Himeno. They knock her out, much to the devil's unmasked amusement. Heh, it's possible it doesn't actually want Denji at all. Maybe it just picked a party member at random to get them all to fight each other. Possible, but somehow I don't think that's it. Not sure why, it just feels wrong. Anyway, time to fight this thing. It must be pretty sure of itself if it's giving them a visible target like this, but they've got no better options.

Aki tries to make his Fox Devil swallow it, but no dice. Apparently, Fox Devil has a physical body it projects its consuming ghostly manifestation from, and whatever spacewarping effect is keeping the hunters trapped is also preventing its avatar from entering. So, Himeno tries using her Ghost Devil-granted telekinesis. It appears to be working, at least at first, but their enemy surely must have anticipated this so the other shoe will likely drop on the next page.

Sure enough, while the grotesque, space-warping monster is visibly injured by the attack and reacts in obvious pain, the damage doesn't stick. As soon as Himeno releases the grip, the devil heals completely and expands so that it fills even more of the hallway with its amorphous mass. Apparently, damaging it only makes it stronger.

What is this thing, seriously? I'd been suspecting something along the lines of a Distortion Devil or a Spacetime Devil, but this damage-absorbing power doesn't play into those themes I don't think.

Hmm. Could this actually be the Nightmare Devil? Maybe it put them all to sleep and is holding them in a shared nightmare, with the illusion of days passing in dreamtime despite it only having been a few minutes of sleep? That would explain a lot, actually. Including the way that it seems to have plenty of time, but not infinite time; it can only stretch out their perceptions of time passing to a point, and it knows it'll only have a few hours of realtime to work with before someone comes and wakes them up. The other idiosyncratic details of the world they're stuck in (the stopped clocks, the water and air still coming in even though nothing else can, etc) might be red herrings it deliberately planted to keep them from guessing the truth.

Yeah, that fits. I'm not sure of it by any means, but it's my leading hypothesis for now.

After shaking off the injury, the now-larger devil restates its ultimatum. They cannot kill it from inside of its trap. What they're seeing in front of them is not its main body, but simply an extension of itself projected inside of the reality bubble. It's vitals are all outside, and thus utterly beyond their reach. Their only choices are to either take the offer, or see if they can wait it out.

Notably, while devils CAN normally lie, they are not capable of breaking the terms of a pact. That seems to be the kernel of truth behind the pop culture trope, in this setting. So, the devil is definitely good for the deal, should they accept it.

Aki and Himeno still insist that they're not giving this thing what it wants, but their expressions make it clear that they both feel tempted. Komeni is still knocked out, but Arai emerges from the bathroom he'd locked himself in and says that they should do it. Then, before anyone can argue with him beyond restating their opening points, Power shows up and is her usual supportive self.

She has a Nobel Prize winning invention and a subsequent political career ahead of her. She can't die now.

Then it turns out that, despite having a very powerful will to live (due in part to the pact he made with Pochita), Denji is starting to wonder if sacrificing himself might be the best option even for him. If it's die slowly of starvation or die quickly of devil teeth and claws, well, one is obviously less bad than the other. Damn. That really is bleak.

Aki reassures him that if things get thaaaat desperate, they still have a last resort weapon they can try. He refers to it only as "the sword." What that means, and why they can only use it as an absolute last ditch, he does not explain.

Himeno, for her part, tells Aki that the sword is too valuable. If worst comes to worst and they're sure they're going to starve, then they should sacrifice Denji and save the sword for later.

Denji is much less willing to be sacrificed now that he knows there might be another option. And now that Aki and Himeno have talked about it where he can hear, he's not going to cooperate. Neither of them are willing to explain what this sword is or why using it is so costly, even when Denji demands to know.

Hmm. Okay, then. Guess we'll find out when we find out.

As Denji, Aki, and Himeno argue in front of the devil, Arai and a somewhat-recovered Komeni go back into the suite the party has claimed to get some food and calm themselves down. Unfortunately, they get there just in time to see Power finishing the last of it. Seriously, making them keep Power is possibly the most sadistic thing Makima has ever done to these kids.

Well, needless to say, a fight breaks out. And Kobeni is so emotionally damaged at this point that she starts accusing Arai of being a devil spy along with Power, just because he isn't as eager to fight her as Kobeni is. Out in the hall, Denji, Aki, and Kobeni hear the fight and run back there to see what's going on.

Behind them, the amorphous, many-mouthed devil laughs.

As the group fight among themselves, anxieties growing beyond control and dread breaking into fight-or-flight frenzy, the devil laughs harder. For a few panels, we slip into the devil's own perspective, peering through the door at the discord from behind its mass of deformed limbs and flaps of flesh. Even if they give it Denji, it now knows, it will have gotten the lot of them. They'll kill each other after getting free, and those that survive will be ruined by paranoia and fear for whatever remains of their lives.

The Eternity Devil. Wouldn't have guessed that. I suppose that's the significance of this being the eighth floor of the hotel. "8" looking like the infinity sign turned on its side. So much for my nightmare theory.

Not sure how all of this thing's powers are conceptual extensions of "eternity" though. Or its appearance for that matter (though to be fair we know that that's not its real/entire body, so looking at it from the outside might make it make more sense). Eternity is a pretty scary concept, for a great number of people in both modern times an throughout history, so it makes sense that it would be a very powerful devil. Hell, having one of the Gun Devil's fragments probably only gives it a minor boost. Definitely one of the Big Names of devilkind, likely up there with the Darkness Devil and the Public Speaking Devil. Not quite on par with the Death Devil or the ChuChu Devil, but still a big name.

And it does have it out for Denji specifically, it seems. It didn't just pick the party member who it thought demanding the life of would sew the most discord. Either it was friends with one of Denji's previous opponents, someone else put it up to this, or it's got some old grudge against Pochita.

Seeing the party give in to panic and turn on one another, the Eternity Devil bellows with laughter and starts shaking the floor, turning it on its side and slamming the hunters into the furniture and walls, before shouting its demand again: Denji's heart.

The heart, specifically. And before, it didn't say it wanted them to kill Denji in general; it asked them to feed him to it.

So, its real target is definitely Pochita. Probably because of some old vendetta against the Chainsaw Devil from before its friendship with Denji. I doubt that the Chainsaw Devil is more powerful and feared than the Eternity Devil (unless there was a big rash of chainsaw related crimes like the one with firearms that empowered the Gun Devil), so I doubt Eternity Devil would benefit from absorbing any bits of it. Yeah, has to be something personal.


That's one chapter. On to the next! Going by the title, Denji is going to find a way to deal damage to this thing and make it count in the next few pages.

#18: Chainsaw vs. Eternity
​

The Eternity Devil sees them fighting, continuing to scuffle even as it shakes the building around them, and starts roiling its fractal flesh-mass forward to finish the job in person since they're so weakened. As they try to fend it off, Himeno explains the situation with the sword to Denji, and Aki begs her for permission to use the sword.

Apparently she's the one who owns it, but he's the only one who can use it. Not sure how that happened. But anyway!

Hmm. From how Himeno spoke during the backstory section, about her knowing she has limited life left, I wonder if maybe she's already used the sword once. Every person can only use it once, at the cost of most of their remaining lifespan? And the previous wielder must choose to grant it to the next? Something along those lines. Maybe the sword is a manifestation of the Execution Devil or the Fate Devil or something.

Aki refuses, though. In fact, when Himeno's attention is taken away by the need to hold Eternity Devil back and Kobeni tries to take a cheap shot at Denji's back with a knife, Aki even takes a nasty cut for him while wrestling her away.

The reason being that the only thing Aki REALLY wants to make sure he does in his remaining life is kill the Gun Devil. And, while having more years of life to do it in would be helpful, they're less so than certain other things. For instance, Aki knows that he has no chance of defeating the Gun Devil in single combat. There likely isn't a single human alive who'd have a hope of managing that. He'll need a party. And, while he dislikes Denji both as a person and as someone with an uncomfortably intimate connection to their patron devil, he knows he's unlikely to ever find a better party tank. So, the sword it will have to be.

Heh, I'm sort of impressed. Aki seemed like an impulsive egotist and first, and he still IS that, but he's clearly able to temper those issues with cool rationality when it comes to the important things. It also retroactively explains some of his more puzzling decisions. When he was first assigned to Denji, he wanted to be rid of him. After seeing what Denji can and (just as importantly) will do in battle though, he changed his stance entirely and made efforts to keep him on the team and on a short, blackmail-weighted leash. He's more mature about his planning than I'd have thought.

I also like that Aki's turnaround regarding Denji wasn't because of a blossoming respect or the power of friendship or the usual shonen beats. Just tactical analysis. Especially satisfying because it's good tactical analysis. Aki is completely correct. He probably won't ever find a party tank as good as Denji. I'm sure some actual changes of heart come in the future, but the pragmatic step preceding the emotional one makes sense for Aki and is a refreshing break from the norm.

Denji asks Power if she can use her blood powers to stop Aki's wound from bleeding too much. It's hard for her, controlling blood that isn't her own, but she can still make herself do it if it'll help them survive this bullshit. Kobeni...is actually even dumber and less helpful than Power, at this point.

I was surprised at Denji being sharp enough to think of asking Power that. I'm even more surprised at this next deduction he makes. It's pretty close to one that I already made myself, and it wasn't one I was especially proud of. Considering Denji's batting average when it comes to intellectual puzzle solving though, well, it's a pleasant surprise. The Eternity Devil is pressing in on them now, but the one person who's come close to it that it hasn't tried to physically attack yet is Denji. And, it keeps saying that it wants the others to FEED Denji to it, rather than just letting him face it alone. That has to mean something.

Maybe it was telling the truth about this extension of itself being nonvital. However, it does seem to FEEL everything that happens to that extension. And, Denji wonders, it may or may not be able to withdraw the appendage while someone else is grappling with it.

So, even if he can't kill it, maybe a fully combat-ready Denji can make it wish it was dead. Keep it locked in place and keep hurting it until it's forced to release them.

Really not a bad plan. Again, surprisingly good deduction, coming from Denji. He is making a bit of an assumption about whether or not it can withdraw from him while keeping everyone trapped, but even if he's wrong they won't be any worse off than they already were, and they don't have any better ideas regardless.

He just wants that kiss from Himeno after he gets them all free. And also for Aki to not whinge at him about taking the knife wound for him, Denji's not gonna' owe him shit after this.

Reasonable on both counts. Hell, if I were Himeno I'd probably feel obligated to go a little further than first base after what Denji is about to put himself through. Maybe not as far as third, but definitely second. Not whining might be against Aki's nature, but likewise I think he really will owe it to Denji to reign it in as best he can after this. Especially considering that they still have the sword option as well; Denji is risking his life and definitely taking on a lot of pain and effort to protect Aki's lifespan. Mostly of his own volition.

Denji marches himself into the enormous central maw that Eternity has exposed. And then, once the jaws have shut behind him, transforms and cuts his way right back out through the devil's chorus of agonized screams. Apparently, while the Eternity Devil did know that Denji has some powers from the Chainsaw Devil in his chest, it didn't expect them to be quite this extensive.

"So you were alive after all, Chainsaw." Hmm. Seems like he thought that Denji was a fiend rather than a living human fused to a corporeal devil. Which in turn, if Denji's powers are that surprising to it, probably means that Pochita's dog body is NOT an animal-based fiend like I'd been suspecting. That's another theory of mine discarded.

And so, the battle begins. Eternity Devil attempting a kill. Denji trying to just cause as much pain as possible and not let it get away. Thus ends the chapter. It was a short one, but the amount of detail the artist put on some of those close-up Eternity Devil drawings is way beyond this comic's usual, so that's not too surprising. I imagine a few of these panels must have taken three or four times as long as usual.


And, that's December's fast lane review. I can only imagine that Aki will be reevaluating some things, seeing how Denji conducted himself in this situation while the fully-human Kobeni and Arai were useless at best and much worse than useless at most. Even Power, for all that she hogged their food, ended up being more useful and also more trustworthy than Kobeni.

Likewise, knowing that Aki was literally the only party member who didn't even entertain the idea of sacrificing him has got to adjust Denji's opinions about him in turn. And that, unlike taking the knife for him, isn't something that Denji could see as a debt incurred and resent accordingly. Denji also seems to be getting smarter in general; he's been getting a lot more intellectual stimulation since his rebirth as Chainsaw Man, so perhaps we're finally seeing him growing to his adult potential. He might never be a smart dude, but I'm not sure that he's still a dumb one at this point.

They still aren't going to like each other, but I do feel they'll have a genuine mutual respect now that goes beyond the pragmatic.

How things develop with Himeno remains to be seen. Power...eh, she's just gonna keep on being Power lol.