After the last heartbreaking episode, this weeks Chainsaw Man, was always going to be highly anticipated. After the Snake Devil kills the Ghost Devil, Power flees. The last hand of the Ghost Devil pulls Denji’s cord, reviving Denji. Quickly understanding that Katana Man and Akane are the “bad guys,” and prepares to fight them. Denji is excited that he can let loose as no one cares if he carves up a villain. Akane reports the situation to her teammates and request for backup. Two regular men show up. I’m not sure why anyone thought they were going to help but they try to support Katana Man with guns.
Denji easily knocks them down and takes one hostage. The Katana Man kneels, which Denji assumes means he’s surrendering, but he uses his speed to cut both Denji and the hostage in half. I liked the fact that Denji didn’t just come in an save the day. Obviously, he’s not going to die but it’s refreshing to be unable to assume the main character will win. Katana Man takes the top half of Denji and the rest of his crew decide to leave.
The brutal power of Makima
Elsewhere, we see the result of the carnage. Hirokazu Arai, Fushi, and four others are dead, but where’s Kobeni? Makima’s train nears it’s stop and as her killers prepare to leave she appears behind them. When the train stops, Yutaro Kurose and Michiko Tendo are meet by a bloody Makima who denies the blood is hers. Inside the train all her assailants are dead. Without time to return to Tokyo, Makima orders Kurose and Tendo to find “30 convicts serving a life sentence or worse.”
As the Katana Man’s team prepare to leave they see some crows and one of them starts to feel strange. He’s crushed to death in front of Akane and the rest of the team. Panicked, she contacts Team C, who ends up begin crushed to death as well. It’s no mistake this is Makima’s doing. At the shrine, she asks one of the convicts to repeat the name; Shuzo Mishima. Makima then makes some hand gestures and the man is crushed and the convict dies. She kills all the convicts and therefore 30 of Akane’s and Katana Man’s teammates. There the only ones left.
Kobeni’s revenge
In a flashback, we see that Arai died protecting Kobeni. Enraged, she kills the murder and then pursues Akane and Katana Man. After sacrificing her nail, Akane sends the tail of the snake after Kobeni, who dodges the Snake Devil’s attack with the acrobatic skills of Spiderman. She then avoids being shot by Katana Man and cuts off his shooting hand, catches the gun, then shoots him in the back. It’s a marvelous moment for a cowardly character.
It’s still a bittersweet moment, Kobeni saves Denji but lost her closet friends Arai and Himeno. She already hated this job and plans to quit. This is another aspect of this series I like seeing, the characters quit this terrible job. It might seem simple but most characters in anime especially the weaker ones continue to fight for the “good of whatever” only to be slaughtered. In this episode, not only does Kobeni plan to quit, a new character Madoka does, and Kurose and Tendo clearly intend only to train not fight. They may not have a choice in the matter but I hope some of them survive simply because the quit hunting devils.
I’m starting to warm up to Makima’s coldness. She still manipulative and I think she knew what might happened but her attitude is appealing. Obviously, I want to know what her powers are. From this episode it seems she needs to be high up (altitude) for some reason, she needs human sacrifices, they must say the name of the target, crows appear, and she must use hand gestures. Kobeni’s abilities are also a mystery. What did she make a deal with? I’m not sure that this episode was better than the last one but it was more satisfying.
