Chainsaw Man is, believe it or not, a slow burn. You know that part when we found out the world was full of devils and the main character died and came back as a devil/human/chainsaw hybrid. We also met a fun and sexy blood devil that betrayed the main character for a cat… Yeah, all that we the calm, fun preamble.
Being a devil hunter is a tough job, and you shouldn’t get into the field for the retirement plan.
Denji seems so strong sometimes. But he’s not exactly strong, is he? He’s resilient. That’s always been his actual strength. He has gotten his ass kicked in pretty much every confrontation we’ve seen him in. It’s just that he refuses to stay down and is willing to fight an enemy for days if that’s what it will take. It’s not the same crushing power we’ve seen in other devils, he doesn’t take his enemies out in a single blow. It’s death by a thousand chainsaw nicks with him.
So honestly, this fight went about how you would expect. I guess the clean-cut in half was a bit of a surprise but I didn’t expect Denji to win. Not without help.
But why are they all after Denji’s heart? His heart is Pochita, right? Why does some super-powerful devil want Pocita? Is that also why Makima scouted him in the first place? There’s something oddly cute about the idea of all these monstrosities trying to steal the main character’s heart.
Of course, Makima is alright! We all knew it, right? It would have been too difficult to lose both Himeno and Makima in the same 10 minutes. But something’s up. Why is she alright? They didn’t show us anything. Maybe she had a bulletproof vest. Maybe she has a contract that allows her to regenerate within reasonable limits. Maybe she actually dodged. Her clothes were all dirty, sure, but they never showed us any actual bullet holes. Then again, it would have been easy to miss them as well.
It’s not just that though. They didn’t show us what happened after. How did all those armed men go down? Without getting ahead of myself, they seemed to have giant holes in their chests. And that doesn’t really match up with the power we see Makima have later on. Of course, she could have more than one power, or maybe there is a way to open giant holes in people with the one we saw. But aren’t you curious?
More importantly, isn’t the fact that we didn’t see anything and we have all these questions, ever so troubling? Leave to this show to make the bloodthirsty devils, the less intimidating and upsetting part.
At this point, you have to ask yourself, have you been paying attention? Have you noticed all the crows that have shown up here and there in previous episodes? During scene transitions or as part of the backgrounds. They’re easy to miss and even when noticed, easy to accept. Crows just fit so well into this story. Heck, we don’t even know for sure they have anything to do with Makima. It was very strongly implied but so far, nothing’s been said… It’s so mysterious.
In fact, Makima’s whole power is very mysterious. The Kyoto agents mentioned that the details of her contract are top secret. But we never actually saw her summon a devil. That doesn’t mean anything. It’s quite possible that not all devils need to manifest in order to use their powers. It could also be that the devil she has struck a deal with is not visible. We really have only seen a few of the contracts at work. But so far, Makima’s seems very different from the others.
Here’s another question. How did she know everyone’s name? She literally smooshed about 30 people who had been involved in the coup by sacrificing a convict for each and having the sacrifice speak the victim’s name. It has a bit of similarity with death note in the mechanics. But how did Makima know the full names of everyone involved? Again, there are plenty of answers I can think of, but none of them were shown. Chainsaw Man is not a show that leaves out details like this or keeps things vague without reason.
Tell me, was seeing Kobeni show up just at the right time as satisfying for you as it was for me. I’m not gonna lie, I’m not too cool to get sucked into the classic hero powers-up/returns at the last-minute trope. I know it’s a very cliché thing to include in an action series but I tend to get all riled up and cheer for those moments all the same. This was better. I can’t explain it. I was just so deeply thrilled to see her.
Notice that we got a detailed explanation of how she survived?
It was a blink-and-you-miss-it moment but Himeno had mentioned that Kobeni was extremely efficient when push came to shove. I’m sure some of you wondered why they would let someone like Kobeni into the devil hunters in the first place. Sure, they’re probably hurting for people, after all the turnaround can be quite high when your workforce gets routinely exterminated. However, with how much of a nervous wreck Kobeni was, she was more of a liability. Having her around was literally worse than nothing. Or it could seem that way at least.
I think that’s why I loved this scene so much. Not only was the hero appearing n the nick of time, it was justification for the entire character. It fixed what was a potentially weak plot point. And it was just fun o watch. And we didn’t even see her use her contract, did we? She’s just a natural-born killer. A nervous fussy one.
Fight scene aside, hearing her apologize to Denji’s upper body as she was obviously losing her grip was a good way to end the scene. It was a little sweet and wistful, funny and disturbing all at once. Hearing her say that she was going to tell Himeno she was quitting the next time she saw her, was a GREAT way to end the scene. Devastating in the best way.
If you have a healthy sense of self-preservation, the gif I created for this week’s post should fill you with dread. Makima is scary, we’ve known that for a long time. However, we can’t ignore it anymore, can we? We can’t sweep those uneasy feelings under the rug anymore? I mean even the bad news lady who hadn’t shown any emotion the entire time was terrified of Makima. And that was before she saw her power.
The show isn’t telling us anything so we just have to speculate. Madoka thinks she knew about the attack in advance. Did she? If so, why didn’t she warn anyone? Why did she prepare her team better? Does it have anything to do with the fact that things worked out in her favour in the end?
Think about it, she kind of got a promotion out of this, didn’t she? She was head of one of Tokyo’s 4 divisions now she’s the only head of those Tokyo divisions the team she’s leading is made up of the strongest members of each team. If she wanted to have a super team at her disposal and little to no opposition on the terrain, well then that is exactly what she got.
She certainly didn’t look particularly sad about having lost coworkers, did she? I have to admit, during the smooshing scene when I saw that the Kyoto agents were also blindfolded, I really thought that she was going to use them to get at the final two. That is that she was going to sacrifice them to kill Katana man and bad news snake lady. She didn’t but I really thought that was an option and it wouldn’t have surprised me at all. That’s saying something about Makima. I pity the two that survived, I have a feeling that if she catches them, it’s not going to be fun.
I don,t know if the new ED we got this episode is going to be the same for the remaining 3 episodes. now, only 3 left! It’s going to be crazy! In any case, that ED was macaberly beautiful. That’s probably not a word. t was dark and went out of its way to show some of the worst moments in the series and yet all I could think of was that it was beautiful Haunting even. Great job on that MAPPA!
Previous Posts
- Chainsaw Man ep1 – A Normal Life
- Chainsaw Man ep2 – The Power
- Chainsaw Man ep3 – Motivations
- Chainsaw Man ep4 – Little Dreams
- Chainsaw Man ep5 – House of Mirrors
- Chainsaw Man ep6 – Power for President
- Chainsaw Man ep7 – The Sane Die Young
- Chainsaw Man ep8 – The Pact
Yeah, as Fred says, I, too, think Makima was shot in the back of the head. She’s seriously scary, and glasses guy quitting means she’s not trusted by all. I’d be thinking she left the two big guns alive for a reason. I mean she knew the names of everyone, there; if she wanted them dead they’d likely be dead by now. I suppose she needs the threat? She’s seriously scary; she’s got the power *and* the smarts *and* the charisma.
One thing I’ve been wondering for quite some time: demons get their power from the fear their form illicits, so what about the chainsaw? I mean Pochita didn’t exactly look as powerful or scary as you’d expect a chainsaw demon to be, was he? And now he’s Denji’s heart, and everyone wants him? Not sure what’s going on here.
There’s so much we don’t know yet. I’m not even sure the other guys are the bad guys. It might just be some sort of free-for-all without any clear lines drawn… I don’t know. I mean all we know is that they want the chainsaw. So did the eternity demon. And so on.
Kobeni was quite a surprise, to be honest. And we still don’t know who or what she’s contracted to. Fun show.
I’m not sure if it’s the form itself or what it is associated to. Has anyone even seen the gun devil? He only appears for seconds and kills everyone. He might be an adorable gun kitten. But the idea of guns is scary enough to make him powerful.
But I also don’t know why Pochita seems so important…
Makima is cool. A good guy with incredible power that you aren’t completely sure is a good guy. I’m pretty sure she was shot in the head on that train. I figured she was somehow “special” from the beginning.
Himeno was pure tragedy. Very literally giving everything she had to protect her human partner.
Denji is even half the man he used to be. Thank heaven for regeneration.
I think I remember a shot showing a bullet-hole in her head, but I might have imagined it.
In the last episode right? I thought so too but I don’t know if we saw the hole…
Right — episode 8. I couldn’t remember for sure, and now you have me curious! So I just checked. Look around 12:41 — upper forehead. A lock of her hair bisected the exit wound. That was from the first shot. The second guy fired at her heart, I think.
And this is one of the most unusual comments I’ve ever left!
You think Makima is a good guy. Interesting. She sacres me to my core
Glasses’ question surprised me. Well, not the question itself — I wondered about it myself — but the fact that Glasses asked it. Was the question there just for the creators to guide the audience, or are there already rumblings about Makima’s motives within the organization? I’m guessing it’s the former, but hoping it’s the latter.
In a few short scenes, the show’s mise-en-scene had previously hinted that Makima’s nature was non-human, that she was covertly at odds with her white-haired superiors, and that she may view the organization as a potential threat. Now that she’s been given carte blanche to amass power a go-go, we can only blindly guess what her actual plan is, or how Gun & Chainsaw figure into it.
More generally, we lack so much information on the show’s setting. We know far too little about devils, devil contracts or devil hunters. Also, who is the devil-hunting organization ultimately accountable to? What are its structure, its mandate, its priorities? Why would regular humans oppose it? Then you have the larger geopolitical climate — with devils used as weapons, are they the latest iteration of the nuclear arms race? Where does Japan fall into this Cold War context? And how are different devils worldwide taking this development?
Like Makima, this story likes to keep its cards close to its chest. It’s one of the reasons I like it. (Makima can rot in hell though.)
Random boozy pre-dawn thoughts:
– Interesting how Makima’s earned enough credibility within the organization to request for some privacy. Did she manage that on her own, or is there someone else helping her politically?
– Why didn’t she finish off Snake lady & Sword man, the two most important threats we’ve seen? Was she unable to kill them, or unwilling? They certainly seemed scared for their lives.
– “Detarame na chikara” indeed, Snake lady.
– Love how Power-chan just decided to nope the fuck out of there. Smart move. I wish characters took these decisions more often.
– I wonder why Ghost pulled up Denji’s chainsaw. Does she feel a genuine attachment to Himeno, and wanted her loss not to be in vain? Or is it a matter of professionalism, doing all you can to accomplish the task you were contracted to do?
– We will get three new endings, I’d bet a couple bottles of rum on it. The showrunners can’t stop spoiling us now!
– I’ve seen some of the ED animator’s work before, in music videos. “More” from Flying Lotus, “Darkroom” from Dios. He / she has a talent for contorting grotesque mounds of flesh in a way that entrances you. Oh, maybe the last ED from Made in Abyss, come to think of it.
– Shout-out to the music & sound-design team. Along with whoever’s responsible for cinematography, they’ve really elevated the show, for me.
– I need to sleep.
– Bring on episode 10.
Makima has fiend eyes. They never hid that, in fact they insist on it. I think it’s great how much theory crafting the show inspires people to do
I don’t know how they do it, but every new episode leaves me in more shock than the one before! The past two have definitely been shocking, to say the least, haha. I was definitely not expecting to lose Himeno, especially after her backstory. Fingers crossed she comes back as some sort of ghost/ human hybrid lol. I’m loving your recent posts btw.
The show seems to be revving up for a grand finale too. I’m on the edge of my seat. And thank you!
This show is indeed a slow burn, to my dismay. The fight scenes are always so much fun…but they end before I get the chance to truly enjoy them. But I hear it gets even better as time goes on.