Chainsaw Man #25 and bonus ("Ghost, Snake, Chainsaw" and "All About Power")

Issue #26, "Ghost, Snake, Chainsaw," starts off with an incredibly ominous piece of splash art.

It's not like I expected her to survive that much longer, what with all the death flags. Hell, she herself seems to fully expect Aki to outlive her, and she doesn't expect him to live that much longer himself. On the other hand, I was expecting her weird little game with Denji to continue for at least another one or two beats. If you asked me before, I'd have guessed Himeno would die in another 3-4 chapters.

Well, her death (if this really is her death? I think it is, now, but I'm not totally sure) comes dramatically enough, anyway.

After Power has bound her wounds, Himeno is able to see what's going on. She tells Power to leave her and attack Katana Man before he finishes Aki off, but Power refuses; she's strong, but she knows she isn't agile, and she doesn't think she'd stand a chance against an opponent who moves the way he does. Himeno then tries to summon her Ghost Devil to do something about this, but the answer it gives her is...disheartening, to say the least.

Looks like Blondie over there has a lot more powers up her sleeve than just the healing/reviving hax. The "archvillain's right-hand woman" vibes I get from her are definitely intensifying.

...

As an aside...I'm starting to feel like the devil designs are getting a bit too one-note. The Eternity Devil, the Curse Devil, and now the Ghost Devil all looking like a cluster of mismatched human body parts in some configuration or another? With none of those words even having particularly gory or body-horror adjacent connotations to their relate fears?

I don't know, it kinda feels like Fujimoto was either running out of visual design ideas while drawing this handful of chapters, or else just saving all the good ones for the future.

...

Anyway, what Himeno does next partially answers my questions about how possible peaceful coexistence between humans and devils actually is in most cases. Denji (and presumably Yakuza-kun) seem to represent the best, least-predatory, possible relationship between the species. The arrangement that the more typical warlocks like the devil-hunters have with their own patrons, we now see, is quite a bit rockier and more dangerous.

Well, maybe. We also did learn recently that some devils, like Fox, are exceptionally friendly and forgiving toward human summoners. This might not apply as much to those ones. But for the Ghost Devil, well...

Himeno tells it that if it uses its full power in this battle, brings all of itself to bear, then in exchange it can have all of her. It can consume her entirely. It accepts.

As Ghost manifests in its full power to engage Katanaman and Blondie, Himeno thinks out a silent death speech for herself.

I don't think we ever learned about Himeno's family situation, or if she has one at all. But anyway, the idea that Aki will cry for her after her death is enough to make said death worth it, provided that it does in fact give him a chance for survival.

Himeno is...well, like I said, it certainly looks like this is the end for her.

For extra horror, we see her body slowly disappear, limb by limb, under her clothes as she thinks her final thoughts.

The implication, I think, is that when a devil makes a contract, it's usually hoping that it's human contractor is going to end up putting themselves in a situation where they have to do this.

It might also be that they can always just eat their summoner's body after the latter dies, but on second thoughts that creates opportunities for screw-overs that I think the human would see through, heh.

Anyway. Himeno is dead, and her devil is now fighting Katanaman and Blondie while Power flees like a coward and Denji...erm...how long is it taking him to regenerate, exactly? The heck is even going on with that?...well, anyway he's still down. Ghost seems to initially have the advantage against Katanaman, but then Blondie summons her own devil. Seemingly at much less cost. And it wins.

I wouldn't have expected the Snake Devil to take out Ghost that easily, even with the element of surprise. But it probably has a bunch of Gunny's bullet casings souping it up, since it and its human partner appear to be working for him directly.

Snakes are also associated with medicine generally and immortality specifically in quite a number of cultures, so I'm guessing that's the source of her healing powers as well. Makes sense, at least for a version of Snake that's been jacked up by Gunny as this one probably has been.

As it withdraws its wounded mass back into the ether, the Ghost Devil uses its last moments on the scene to use one of its detatchable flying mouth-hands to...oh RIGHT, that's why Denji hasn't gotten back up yet!

I totally forgot that he needs to pull the wire to activate his powers. He didn't get a chance to before the headshot, so he hasn't actually been healing up until this moment.

I wonder if Katanaman has a similar weakness? Obviously, you don't need to turn a Katana on before using it like you do with a chainsaw, but it would feel weird to me if there wasn't at least some kind of other little ritual he needs to do that reflects that. Maybe something that's suggestive of unsheathing? IDK, his transformation happened inside the Fox Devil's stomach, so we didn't get to see how he triggers it.

Well, Denji is up now. And he might not understand what's going on or who any of these people are, but for Denji that's honestly more of an advantage than anything else.

No plot bullshit he needs to be distracted thinking about. Just gameplay that he's learned to enjoy.

Although, granted, even if he's a match for Katanaman or the snake lady on their own, I'm a little sceptical that he can take them both. Those two have powers that complement each other well, and they're seemingly at least moderately accustomed to fighting as a team.

Well, hopefully Power will decide to turn around and help out once Denji has them distracted. For now though, at least we get this badass action pose to end the issue on.

And, with that ciffhanger of a chapter break, we now have a little humorous omake. "All About Power."

It's just an illustrated list of unflattering facts about Power. For instance, that she's a compulsive liar.

And a coward.

Heh, I'm trying to remember if she expressed any fear of Himeno's patron, back in the Eternity Devil sequence. That would have been a clever piece of buildup for this gag.

...heck, what does it mean for a devil to fear something? Can devils be empowered by the fear of other devils? Maybe we'll learn eventually.

Anyway, ever more amusing and bizarre personality flaws are listed, until the final panel kinda calls the reader out for their own reaction on everything they've read thus far.

Funny. But also kind of a tease given it's placement.


The next two chapters are deeply integrated and have a lot going on in them. So, next post.