Chainsaw Man V6 (finale)

Denji's final conversation with Reze, as they sit on the beach with Beam sort of pacing around them, is surprisingly relaxed. Like they both realize, even before any words are exchanged, that there's no longer any point. Whoever Reze is working for, her chances of getting Denji's heart to them are sufficiently shot by now that she might as well stop trying.

I'm not really sure why that is, being as no one seems to know what happened to them. But, it seems to be a silent consensus nonetheless.

The first words that they do exchange, at least onscreen, are Reze asking Denji why she's still alive. He and Beam could have killed her in the water, instead of letting her revive. Denji's answer is...kind of sad, and kind of inspirational.

Almost everyone he knows has tried to kill him at least once, so he can't hold it against people at this point. Physical pain, likewise, he experiences so much of on such a routine basis that he's grown numb to it. The sheer agony that Reze must have inflicted on him when she, um, you know, reduced him to a limbless lump of half-melted flesh, was only a small outlier. Just like the murder attempts, he can't take it too seriously anymore, he just has to get over it quickly when it happens. His mind has become as regenerative as his devil-powered body.

The saddest part? This experience with Reze has now convinced him that he really is living his best life as Makima's slave, being routinely subjected to the aforementioned pain and violence to the point of inhuman jadedness. That it's something he should fight to keep, and that he can forget and forgive just about anything as long as he's able to return to it.

It's more depressing than his parody-tragic status quo at the beginning of the comic. Like, his living conditions were worse, but they were also so silly and tongue-in-cheek that the only way you can react to them is laughter. This is more psychological. Denji's circumstances as a public security battle-thrall might be more fantastical than his bad fanfic lumberjack era, but watching what they're doing to his mind is way too real to laugh at.

And yet, the fact that he's willing to extend this hand now, in spite of everything? Even taking into account his added motivation in Reze being an attractive woman, that's pretty inspirational, I can't help but feel.

Anyway. Denji does lighten the mood at the end of this bit by adding that if he does die, getting killed by a hot girl would be the best way to go about it. Which gets Reze laughing. And also me a little bit, if only because - from what I've read - this sentiment is coming just as much from the author as it is the character lol.

It also leads Reze to ask Denji one of the obvious questions. Albeit, one with a not-entirely-obvious answer.

That's what you'd expect her to say, of course. But she still hasn't answered Denji's previous question, from the rooftop battle. Why didn't she just kill him the first moment they were alone together? Why drag it out the way she did, especially if time really was a consideration for her?

She keeps dodging the question until Denji puts it to her another way. A way that appears, just barely, just for a brief moment, to crack Reze's armor.

She snaps his neck and leaves him paralyzed on the beach a moment later, with a parting quip about how he really needs to grow the fuck up and accept reality. But, she pointedly doesn't kill him. Beam is sort of lounging around half asleep again at the moment, so she easily could have done it and gotten away with it. But, she very specifically disabled Denji in a way that she knew he could easily recover from, as evidenced by the parting words she bothers to give him as she leaves him on the beach.

Denji shouts after her, from his paralyzed body laying in the surf, that he'll be waiting for her at that cafe at noon. If she reconsiders, if she decides that she really does want out of whatever she's a part of as her earlier procrastination might indicate, she can come to him.

Meanwhile, back in downtown Tokyo, Public Security discusses the woman known as "Reze" as they grimly watch the post-battle cleanup (in addition to rubble, there's a lot of typhoon devil that needs to be scraped off the pavement). They've managed to pick up enough of her trail to infer some things.

Looks like she was a Soviet agent after all. I was 50/50 on whether it was that or a devil-backed Russian crime syndicate.

Of course, what the USSR's black ops department wants with the Chainsaw Devil, and why they felt the need to resort to this instead of negotiating with the Japanese government, remains unknown. The Bomb Devil being a former associate of Gunny's may have just been a red herring when it comes to Reze's agenda, or it may hint at some complicated quid-pro-quo relationship between the Soviet government and the Weapon Devil group. We know the Japanese government is doing similar shady shit with devils (whether or not they know what Makima is, they're still doing it to at least some extent) so that wouldn't be unprecedented.

I doubt Gunny himself is on the same side as Ivan, though. As I recall, the USSR got fucked up just as badly as most other countries did in his initial rampage.

I don't think we'll be finding out until considerably later, though.

For now...well, there's some grim irony in how the Japanese devil-hunters are talking about a foreign government's atrocities, given what we've seen their own boss do a few issues ago.

Another depressingly realistic touch, tbh. And, I think that part of the purpose of this story arc is to let the reader know not to trust any of the governments in this world. They're all doing the same type of shit as the Japanese one, if not even worse types. It also seems likely now that later arcs will get geopolitical.

Later that morning, after Denji and Beam have made their way back from the outskirts, we cut to Reze - in some new clothes and with her hair done up a different way - at a train station. About to get on the train that will presumably take her to an airport or a shipdock that she can escape the country from. Only, she stops before stepping aboard. Stops, pauses, and leaves the station to start creeping her way back across the city toward a certain cafe.

The placement of this scene is important. Until now, the reader could make any sort of guesses about who Reze really is, what her motives are, and where she's planning to return to. After that last scene though, we know that she actually isn't nearly as different from Denji as she made it seem. Both orphans, forced into service to a bloody-fisted state apparatus. Both so thoroughly under the thumb of their own abusers that they can be trusted to return home for more even after being turned loose into the world on missions. Reze may have a better standard of living and more personal freedom than Denji. The fact that she can do a good job of pretending to be a normal person suggests that she had at least some proper socialization and life experience. She could definitely do a lot better for herself without her masters, though, and that's really what matters when it comes to her, Denji, and the prospect of running away.

So, when she heads back toward the cafe, you can understand what might be going through her head. In fact...well, this is sort of a long shot, but it's remotely possible that she may have been genuine when she asked Denji to run away with her. She was dragging her feet with the murder and/or abduction because she was enjoying her all-expenses-paid Japanese vacation and didn't want it to end yet. Was she actually, even before his heart-to-heart with her on the beach, feeling tempted to extend it indefinitely?

Well, probably not. If she really wanted to go rogue at that point, she would have just made herself vanish and not even bothered with Denji. But still. The fact that she was prolonging the mission, even if she didn't even dare to think about running away at that point, is meaningful.

Granted, she could also still go to ground on her own if she wanted to. If she's bothering to meet up with Denji now, then it's possible she wanted him to run away with her before too.

Hard to say.

As she slips through an alley toward the cafe, a swarm of rats suddenly comes surging up in front of her. I thought we were about to meet the Rat Devil or the Vermin Devil or something, but nope, just a new ability for a familiar character.

The rodents squirm together and become Makima. She can turn into rats. Or turn rats into herself. Or both.

Entity composed out of smaller entities enslaved to its will? I guess that makes sense for her, as the State Devil or whatever she is exactly. Still, the conceptual ground her abilities cover is getting broad enough that I'm starting to wonder if I'm totally off about her being a devil at all and this is all just me bending over backward to rationalize every unfitting ability she has into the concept I mistakingly thought she embodies.

Looking at everything she's done before, including this...it's all specifically about controlling bodies. Not other kinds of control, just flesh itself. That lends itself less to something like "government" or "police," and something more...existential.

Yeah, dunno.

...

Also, something to note here is that it's ambiguous whether or not Makima is keeping her rat trick a secret from the rest of the department. Midway through her ambush of Reze, the Angel Devil appears from a nearby rooftop and helps her prevent Bomb Girl's escape. For a moment I wondered if Angel secretly knows what Makima is and the two have been conspiring in secret, but a short conversation between them after the battle suggests otherwise.

Encouraging Aki's sexism aside: if Makima thought that Angel and Aki were both going to reinforce her here, then she couldn't have shown Angel anything that she wasn't comfortable with Aki seeing as well. So, either she did the rat transformation at a moment when she wasn't in sight of her backup yet, or it's an ability that she's okay with Aki knowing about.

Aki definitely doesn't think that Makima is a devil though, so if he knows about that trick then she must pass it off as a power granted by her own diabolical patron(s). Which means that it's the kind of power that a devil could theoretically grant to a warlock, albeit more body-transformation-y than most such.

...

Anyway, during the ambush itself, Makima gives one of her most chilling villain speeches to date. Chilling in large part because of what it implies about the scope of her surveillance. Somehow, she knew that Reze had the city mouse and country mouse duality on her mind, and that it would be an effective button to press.

Given her history of referring to Denji as a "dog," I think it likely that she suspected someone like Reze was inbound, and was surreptitiously watching Denji the entire time like a baited trap.

And, to Makima, this job isn't the city mouse life. For her, running this department is being the country mouse. Low risk. Low reward. Relaxing, if a bit underachieving. But hey, at least she gets to use helpless creatures to murder other helpless creatures. That's kinda fun.

As Reze collapses to the alleyway pavement, limbs severed by Makima's body-warping attacks and torso punctured by one of Angel's magical spears, she weakly looks up at the cafe across the street. It's nearly noon, and she can make out the back of someone's head as they wait at a table by the window.

As she breathes her last, unable to activate her Bomb Girl form for want of hands, she makes a silent admission to herself, addressed to Denji.

Thus ends the life of an alleged city mouse. Killed by a cat. Didn't even get to eat any good food. To a greater degree than Denji, with his deprived life prior to falling under the state's dominion, Reze was aware of all the things most people get to have but she doesn't. Denji's ability to be, at least superficially, happy with what he was given seems to have struck a nerve that she wasn't sure how to react to.


Presumably, her over-the-top sadism toward Denji in the earlier parts of this volume were a defense mechanism. Forcing herself to stop seeing him as a potential friend. Trying (unsuccessfully) to ensure he would not be receptive to any future offers she could make him. Locking that door before she could be tempted to open it.

I doubt her romantic interest in Denji was even remotely genuine. But I do think she enjoyed his company, childish though she found him.

And now, thanks to her dragging her feet and being paralyzed by fear of her masters for so long, he'll never know that.

In the cafe, Denji - floral bouquet in hand - reluctantly gives up his faint hope.

To him, it seems like no one really is interested in Denji's heart. Anyone who claims to be, or acts like they might be, is just trying to manipulate him. All while Reze dies while whispering to him a mere couple dozen meters away.

While this has been going on, the final chapter has given some indications of Power - at long last - being back from her de...power...ing.

It ends with her finding Denji at the cafe, and serving as Reze's cut-price chaotic stupid replacement.

A little levity to help the rest of it go down.


But then, in a way, this actually is a salve. Sure, Power did try to kill Denji once, just like most other people he knows have. Sure, she's in the same situation that he is, and offers no prospects for freedom. But...can you doubt, at this point, that Power likes Denji? That she enjoys his company? Goofing off with him, conspiring against their psychotic drill sergeant with him, annoying Aki with him?

Sure, she's not exactly an intellectual peer. But then, well, that kind of disparity doesn't stop her and her cat from loving each other, so it doesn't have to stop Denji and her either.

If Power can like Denji for who he is, then people who aren't chaotic stupid monstergirls theoretically can too. Denji just isn't being allowed to put himself in situations where he can meet normal people in normal contexts. Just like Reze wasn't, to the point where she was so eager to play-act that freedom that she prolonged her mission to the point of self-sabotage.

Reze might not have been an escape, but she was a warning. Become free, or become Reze.


So, that's the Bomb Girl arc. Easily the most action-heavy volume of Chainsaw Man thus far. It ended up having a lot going on thematically, but it only came together in the last couple of issues, so my analysis material was a little lopsided.

Visually, I found this to be the most impressive story arc yet. The atmosphere, the symbolism, the brutal violence and the serene landscapes, it was peak Fujimoto. On the other hand, the visual storytelling in the fight scenes was, uh...well, this has been a problem throughout the comic, but the greater complexity of the battle in this volume showed the creators' limitations much more than usual. The mangaka shows his strengths and weaknesses both in this arc, and while the former will stick in my memory much more strongly, the latter made reviewing it a little frustrating at times.

I do have to say though...for all the thematic power that this arc ended up having, I can't help but feel a little disappointed that Reze turned out to be another monster that needs fighting. She showed the potential to break out of that at the end, but for most of the volume she was essentially just another combat encounter. I was fully expecting her and Denji to have to fight at some point, but I was hoping there'd be more before (and/or after) that. A longer nonviolent relationship - adversarial or otherwise - with Reze could have been an interesting change of pace for the story. I like what we got, but I feel like I might have liked something else a little more.

Anyway. Denji's growing trust issues are definitely going to be a thing going forward. If Angel ever ends up telling him about the killing of Reze, then that could be the last straw that ends up finally turning him against Makima. As for diplomatic fallout between Japan and the USSR...well, we'd need to know more about Chainsaw Man world's politics before I could make any inferences.

For now though, that bullet casing mass is slowly moving toward what they hope is the Gun Devil rather than another country's casing collection. And, Aki has very little time to live. Given his goal, I have a feeling that those deadlines will coincide. Either next volume, or the one after it.


I guess that's all for now.