Chainsaw Man # 6-7

Chapter 6: "Service"​

The chapter opens with Denji and Power requesting permission for her to take an afternoon free under Denji's watch. It's granted, with a five PM curfew. This is a much more draconian set of restrictions than Denji himself is living under, but considering what he and Power respectivelyareit makes sense.

A surprising amount of sense, actually. To the point where it seems significant to me that Makima isn't present for this scene, which might imply that the more bizarre regulations might be purely her own invention.

The two take a train to the place where Power says her cat Meowy was abducted. She assures him that she can bring him to the culprit's lair, but that she'll have to stay in hiding while Denji goes in. The reason being, of course, that if the catnapper devil sees Power he'll immediately threaten to kill the cat, and then it'll just be a stalemate. He doesn't know about Denji, though, so if a mysterious chainsaw monster just suddenly barges into his lair and attacks he'll have no reason to think of Meowy. Sound enough logic. Although...

...if Power knew the location of another devil all along, particularly a devil that she personally hates, why would she not have told anyone until now? I guess she might have just not trusted any of the devil hunters to retrieve the cat safely until she met one she could bribe with tiddy, but that seems kind of weak. I dunno, this feels fishy.

There's a brief lull in the conversation after Power finishes briefing him. Then, perhaps seeing some common ground, Denji tells her about his own sort-of-lost sort-of-pet.

On one hand, Denji could easily clarify that he didn't mean that in the usual sentimental sense, he was speaking literally. That would probably change her opinion on the subject pretty quickly. On the other hand, that response from her may have just convinced him that she isn't worth trying to talk to, so he won't bother clarifying.

On a hypothetical third hand, Denji just might not know the word "literally," in which case he isn't sure how to communicate this better.

His inner monologue on the next page confirms that it's the second one, though.

So, they sit in awkward silence for the rest of the ride. Awkward for Denji, at least. I'm not sure that Power's emotional spectrum includes those sorts of finnicky social responses.

I do like that Power has come across as fairly convincingly alien in her brief panel space so far. In some ways she's just the brash murderhobo archetype played straight, but I feel like the hows and whys of it in her case are pretty well thought out and point to a very nonhuman - but still somewhat relatable - entity.

Meanwhile, we jump over to Makima facing some kind of board of inquiry. Well, I'll be, she actually does at least work for the government. Whatever she is, it isn't a total fake. Of course, how accurate her pronouncements to her underlings about the state of things actually are is another subject entirely, even if she is who she says she is.

This scene ends up conveying a lot of setting exposition that I honestly wasn't sure if this story would ever bother with. Not sure if this makes the work better and more interesting, or if it just lessens the psychedelic appeal, but either way it's surprising to see.

It starts with a briefing on some recent geopolitical developments. Either the story is set a few decades ago, or the appearance of devils has caused some major timeline changes, because the Cold War is ongoing. Tensions between Japan and the USSR are rising due to some recent shenanigans involving NATO, and there's been intelligence to indicate that the soviet devil weaponization program might have just had a major breakthrough. Whether or not America has a similar project of its own seems to be immaterial, and I can definitely see how geographical proximity would make it thus. Hence, the Japanese government's attempts to tame some devils and hopefully use them as a defensive measure against anything the USSR tries to send their way.

...yeah, I definitely didn't think Chainsaw Man would go in this kind of direction.

They ask Makima about the "dogs" she's been training, and what progress is like in her attempts to turn them into a loyal fighting force. Looks like while she's been telling her minions that she's doing this for inscrutable reasons of her own, her "shanghai devil-adjacent creatures into service and break them into obedience" project is actually a directive from on high.

One "promising" and one "interesting," huh? I wonder which is Denji and which is Power?

The panel tells her that they hope to hear more quantitative results next time, and that her describing some of her subjects as "interesting" sounds troublingly affectionate. Her job is to raise a devil brute squad to defend Japan, not to indulge her personal interests and curiosities. Do not get attached.

Hmm. Not sure if them reigning her in like this is making her worse or better than she would otherwise be.

After the briefing, she slams the door on her way out. Or maybe one of the government spooks did the slamming, it's not clear. Makima exits the building and steps into a car being driven by Aki. I guess he's her chauffeur along with everything else he does. As he drives, he complains about her description of Denji as "interesting." Well, that answers my question then. In response to Aki's persistent bitching about how Denji is just a selfish thug who can't be relied on, and a possible devil-sympathizer besides, Makima finally shuts him up and gives us some more relevant exposition. Every devil, she explains, is born with a name. The power of the devil is a function of how much fear that name inspires.

Huh. Could have sworn we heard of "tomato devils" and "muscle devils" plural in the past, suggesting that these were types rather than unique individuals with unique names. Maybe I remembered wrong.

Anyway, she holds up her coffee cup and gives some examples of what she means.

Well, that McDonalds coffee lawsuit might sort of turn Makima's first assertion on its head, there. But in any case, her main point is well made. "Chainsaw" is a word with a lot of powerful, dangerous, and violent imagery associated with it. Denji might have a certain 1974 horror movie to thank for a big chunk of his power, but even without that chainsaws are pretty intimidating. So, Denji's going to neccessarily be at least in the upper third or so of devil potency.

Well, "Denji." Obviously, the actual Chainsaw Devil is Pochita. He just can't seem to use most of his power without a constant source of live human blood, for whatever reason, so he didn't seem that impressive until he had a host. I wonder why Pochita, seemingly unique among devils, has that limitation? He's clearly NOT the same thing as a fiend, even if that's the closest analogue.

...hmm. That Muscle Devil back in chapter two also had a kind of physical symbiosis with humans going on, albeit much more parasitic than Pochita's version. I wonder if Pochita's deal is closer to that than fiendhood.

Then again, the name "muscle devil" innately suggests that kind of relationship with human bodies. "Chainsaw devil" does not. Hmm.

Anyway, Aki keeps on bitching about Denji, but less energetically now. Makima rolls her eyes and ignores him. Return to Denji and Power, who have disembarked from the train and are walking toward a farmhouse on the outskirts of town. Denji is hefting an axe, saying that he'd rather defeat this one without going chainsaw mode if he can help it, as he hates the faintness and anaemia he suffers after doing so. Power asks him what he means by "going chainsaw mode," and doesn't believe him when he tells her. Huh, she actually hasn't been informed? Or maybe she has been, but just forgot about it, that seems likely enough for Power.

They walk toward the house, and Denji notices something odd about Power's behavior. Odd for her to do in these circumstances, that is, not just her default weirdness.

Oh dear.

Foolishly, even though he knows how fast and how strong Power is, Denji tries raising his axe instead of biting the bullet and transforming. Bad call. Very, very bad call. Power cuts her own hand with her fingernails and uses her blood to conjure a hammer, which she cracks Denji across the skull with before he can make an attack of his own. He goes down, unconscious and bleeding.

Yeah, Makima did not vet this one nearly enough. Also, Denji needs to get way, way better at threat analysis. Like I said, he's already seen Power move much faster than he can. Going chainsaw mode so he can tank her opening attacks would have been the obvious thing to do. Ah well, guess he panicked.

Mumbling to herself about how Denji might have been just slightly sharper than she took him for in the end, Power drags him into the farmhouse and announces her presence. Upstairs, the house's lone inhabitant is eagerly awaiting her.

Huh. Just any old human? Well, I guess that in order to nab a random civilian she'd have to slip the organization's leash anyway, and since she always has someone watching her it's most efficient to just use that person since she'd have to fight them anyway.

The Bat Devil, as I assume his name is, remarks that a healthy young male like this ought to have very nutritious blood, just brimming with life force. Which is good, because he'll need some high grade stuff to regenerate that arm he's missing. Apparently humans cut his arm off, and he needs some high quality human blood to regenerate it with.

...

Okay, trying to puzzle out how devils work here.

Human blood is food and fuel for them, regenerating their bodies and giving them magic power.

Human fear of their names is what sets their baseline level of power and capabilities.

And they're born with an innate hatred of humans, despite being dependent on them twice over. At least, assuming that Power was telling the truth about that part.

Also, devils seem to have only started showing up relatively recently, with the world still learning to adapt.

They definitely seem artificial, at this point. Like somebody's (possibly botched) attempt at using Jungian magic or something.

...

The Bat Devil picks Denji up in one massive paw and *crushes* his body, audibly snapping bones and rupturing organs between his fingers. It's pretty brutal. He holds Denji's broken, wriggling form over his open mouth and starts lowering him into it, but something in the taste of his blood makes the devil stop. He just barely manages to choke down the rivulets that have dripped onto his tongue; the taste is so disgusting that he can't bear to actually ingest the body. So, he forces himself to swallow just enough of the blood to regenerate his arm with, and then tosses Denji away across the attic.

I guess Pochita's presence is doing *something* to make Denji unpalatable, but it's not something as basic as a "this blood is claimed as another devil's property" marker, because if so the Bat Devil would surely recognize it.

Also, this guy seems rather strong for a "bat" devil, going by the rules Makima just gave us. Some people are phobic about bats, but not very many I don't think. Maybe he's empowered by the proximate fear of rabies? Or the proximate fear of being beaten with a baseball/cricket bat? Not sure.

The Sky Puppy Cacodemon breaks through the roof of the house and climbs up into the sunlight. Damn, he's making himself an obvious target for pretty much everyone in this side of the city. Every devil-hunter within two kilometers is probably reaching for their rifle right at this second.

Yeah, good luck with that batboy.

On a side note, I like that he has actual clinging toenails, like a real bat. Not at all intimidating, but appropriate.

Back inside the torn-open attic, Denji wriggles and gasps on the floor. Why the hell has he not transformed? He hasn't done it in a while up until now, so he shouldn't be too exhausted or short on blood (well...okay, he's short on blood now that batboy squeezed half of it out of him, but I mean up until then. He had visibly regained consciousness by the time batboy picked him up, and was even snarking at him...). So yeah, not sure why Denji is just taking it. He looks up at Power, standing in the middle of the room, her head craned up at the broken roof and the cackling gargoyle perched atop it. Hearing Denji's ragged breath, she flicks her eyes back at him and tells him what an idiot he is.

Looks like she was playing the long con on Makima and Co all along. Or, maybe more like the short con, honestly. How long has she even been recruited for?


Anyway, the next and final chapter in volume one is short, and this post is slightly thin on words and very far from the image limit. Let's see if I can finish this up today!

Chapter 7: "Meowy's Whereabouts"​

Huh. That title. Was Meowy actually real after all? Or is Meowy being used as a euphemism for those boobs Denji was looking for? Could be either, but I'm leaning toward the latter. In any case, the parallels with the earlier title "The Place Where Pochita Is" is amusing.

The chapter opens on Batboy, still perched on the rooftop. Surveying the city's edge, he sniffs the air and inhales the delicious scent of so many humans. He decides that he'll hunt some children first. Children's blood is good for a palette cleanser. He's interrupted by Power calling out to him from below.

...huh.

So, um. If that's how it is, why did she betray Denji instead of just going through with the plan she initially gave him?

Maybe she didn't think he was actually up to the challenge? She notably doesn't know about (or even believe in) Chainsaw Man, so she didn't realize she had accidentally stumbled on a much better option.

She's going to feel very silly and/or dead when she finds out.

Batboy turns out to be every bit as much of a prick as she made him sound, though. He produces the cage hanging from his neck and obscured until now by a conveniently deep patch of fur on his chest. Inside, a scrawny-looking cat mews timidly. Then, before Power's eyes, batboy does this:

This ushers in a brief flashback. Power, seemingly early in her life as a fiend, prowling naked through the forest like an animal. After killing a bear (are there even bears in Japan? Well, I guess there used to be at least one), she happens to spot a skinny, starving-looking cat padding up to her. With a smile, she comments that the cat smells delicious, but that it's much too skinny to eat. She'll have to fatten it up first. She names it Meowy, and plans to eat it as soon as it gets big enough.

Over the following weeks, she kills additional animals and lets Meowy have as much of their meat as it desires. Sure enough, the cat puts on weight and gets healthier and glossier looking, as well as more friendly and placid in its behavior. Power gets to the point where Meowy is looking very edible, but somehow finds herself unwilling to kill it. One night, Power and the cat recline on a rooftop - it looks like THIS very rooftop, in fact - and she muses on this strange new experience she's having. She's interrupted by someone calling for her by her old name, that being Blood Devil.

And that, with very little ceremony, brings us to where Power was right before Makima captured her, and then ends the flashback.

You know, with her being as strong and fast as she is, and him missing an arm and seemingly too crippled to just go out and get a damned human himself, I'm not sure why she didn't just handle this problem on her own. Maybe she just couldn't be sure she could get him before he crushed the cat.

Hmm. Actually, come to think of it...the fact the Batboy both a) recognized Power as the blood devil and b) inferred that she'd actually care about the cat suggests that some forms of affection aren't actually that unusual for devils. Unusual enough for Power to be unfamiliar with it, but not unknown. I'm more and more curious about what devils actually are, since this comic appears to have actual worldbuilding to it now.

As she watches Batboy devour the cage with Meowy in it, Power hears another struggling gasp from Denji. Morosely, she admits that she understands now. How he feels about Pochita. She was foolish to be so dismissive about that.

Then, for reasons I can't entirely fathom, Batboy grabs Power and stuffs her into his mouth as well.

If she was edible, why didn't he just start their entire interaction by...oh, whatever.

He remarks that she tastes pretty bad herself. It's sounding to me like devils taste bad to other devils in general, and also that Batboy is somehow too stupid to understand this. That...might actually be evidence against my earlier assessment about devils showing affection; this guy is apparently too clueless to know devils from humans in general.

After gulping down Power and gagging at the taste, Batboy resolves to go out now and get some real food. After those children, he's going to eat some old people, a young woman, a fat guy...the list goes on and on. His arms, formerly apelike, have now reshaped themselves into functional-looking bat wings, so if those hypothetical devil hunters in the city below don't shoot now he's going to get a lot harder to hit in just a second.

Before he can take off OR get his dumb ass sniped, Batboy feels something latch onto his leg. It's Denji, and he still wants what he was promised at the beginning of this outing.

Denji is drinking Batboy's blood? Curious. Is he just trying to provoke him, or can absorbing the blood of another devil somehow give Pochita an extra boost?

Batboy grabs and crushes him again, this time intending to make sure he finishes him off. As his immense fingers compress around Denji, Denji thinks about what he just saw and overheard. Power, doing anything to get her cat back. He remembers one time, when he was living in his shack, when Pochita went missing for a while and he didn't know if he'd find him again. He remembers, also, the time right after he and Pochita fused, and he thought the latter was dead. He can't bring himself to blame Power; he'd have done the same, in her place. And now, she's been betrayed and denied her promised reward, just like she betrayed him and denied him his promised reward. They're even.

And, more importantly, this bat monster has those boobs Denji wanted inside of it, and he intends to take back what's his no matter what happens to be in the way.

He just regrew that hand. Well, I don't think he'll have to suffer that frustration for very long, at least. Also, exceptionally well drawn panel at the end there.

End chapter, and end volume one of Chainsaw Man.


"High school writing, but by an adult who actually knows what he's doing" continues to feel right on the money for this comic. It takes its own absurdity just far enough to hit psychedelia without falling off the edge into lolrandum, and the juxtaposition of low-brow humor and splatterpunk violence on one hand with playfully heartwarming sap on the other is basically what most high school authors try to write but can't manage.

I'm very curious to see where things are going with Makima and her true goals and intentions within the parameters she's working in. She might turn out to be somewhat more sympathetic than it initially seemed, or she could turn out to be even worse than I thought. Watching Denji stumble his stunted, barely-socialized way through a really weird growing up arc is delightful, and I assume will continue to be so. I'm also curious to see how Power is changed by this experience, assuming that she (as I suspect she will) ends up emerging alive from Batboy's stomach, with or without her cat.

I'll be starting the next volume shortly. In the meantime, I'll take a break from hunting devils and kill demons instead.