Time flies andChainsaw Manis nearing the conclusion of its first season, where the story is starting to feel just as much about Aki as the titular chainsaw gent himself, Denji. Typically, such a thing would be a concern this close to the end, but anime-only viewers are becoming accustomed to the famed “Chainsaw Manpacing,” which seems to mitigate those concerns.
Last week,Aki was mourning the loss of Himenoand dealing with his lack of power, prompting Kurose and Tendo to bring him to the Future Devil to make a new contract. Meanwhile, Denji and Power were exposed to Kishibe’s ruthless training regimen to make up for the Division’s losses during the previous attack.
“Update 29-07-2025: Crunchyroll updated their translation of this episode. The line “Your death in the future will fucking rule” was changed to “Your death in the future will be the fucking worst” to more accurately reflect the manga. The original mistranslation impacted the critique of this episode as well as the interpretation of the story for anime-only fans, thus it felt appropriate to add a correction for posterity.”
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Aki & The Future Devil
Even from the Future Devil’s brief appearance in the opening, it was clear to see that they were quite the character and the ominous fear of what awaited in that cell melted into creepy humor. This energetic dancing devil’s charisma was only outdone by their blunt demeanor towards Aki when making the pact.
“Your death is going to fucking rule” is a difficult statement to parse completely, because depending on your perspective, the future could be epically tragic or just plain sad. One would like to believe from Future’s humorous first impression that their definition of cool would at least imply Aki will die in a manner that makes viewers think “I’m sad but at least it was a fitting death.”
Aki has really become the MVP of the season going into the finale; he’s the most emotionally invested in hunting the Gun Devil and has the most to lose before he can achieve his goal. Meanwhile, Denji and Power’s training from the last episode, which hasn’t quite reached a conclusion, is cut short to set up this grand finale.
It would be a lie to say there isn’t a lingering worry that the season will end before giving Denji a really satisfying moment to shine before the season ends andthe wait for Season 2 begins. Or perhaps the worry that if such a moment occurs, it might be rushed. All that said, this series has proven itself more than adeptly telling its story while introducing loads of new characters and plot details.
The Necessary Evil
The proof is right here in the same episode, as the operation to attack the followers of the Gun Devil kicks off and so too does a new batch of character introductions. The Shark Fiend, the Violence Fiend, the Spider Devil, and the Angel Devil are a who’s-who of stellar character designs and awesome powers.
Through Kishibe’s dry assessment of the individuals, they come off likea veritableSuicide Squadof fiends and devils, lumped in with an already odd bunch of protagonists. When Aki fearlessly walks up to Angel despite the danger, it starts to sink in that despite being the most “normal” Aki is just as weird as the rest, but for completely different reasons.
Perhaps it’s another reason why the time spent with Aki is excusable even at the cost of more time with Denji so close to the finale. The only two humans in the parking garage killing zombies with the rest are Kobeni and Aki and both of them are clearly nothing close to normal. The cast has expanded exponentially after everyone that’s been lost with hardly a rush.
But the standout of this episode had to be Makima, and particularly her scene with Kishibe, just for how thoroughly it sets the playing field. Makima’s foreknowledge ofthe attack by the Gun Devilis brought into question, this time by Kishibe, a character who at the very least acts as if they could kill her.
For the first time, Makima offers an explanation of her larger goal: to save as many humans as possible, no matter the necessary evil used to do so. It’s a dangerous mindset; an extreme form of Utilitarianism that seems like it could make sense for what Makima is pulling, but then that is quickly shot down.
This logic of fighting for the greater good isn’t invisible to the Devil Hunters by any means. Kishibe openly admits that he doesn’t care what Makima does or who she sacrifices, on the condition that it’s for saving humanity. She says it is, but he calls that a lie, which only begs to question:what in the hell is Makima, and what does she want?
Only through a conversation with an imperfect, ominous, and clearly powerful figure like Kishibe could this drama be woven even more effectively than it was already. This is how stakes are raised: assessing where characters stand in the hierarchy, seeing how those competing powers clash, and analyzing what gets revealed as a result.
Ending Theme Week 11
As if Avu-chan from Queen Bee hadn’t already won the year with their performance in Masaaki Yuasa’sInu-Oh, their track “Violence” offers an addicting jam to celebrate the coming end. But perhaps even more attention-grabbing is the visual style, which uses CGI that evencritics of this show’s limited 3Dmight just fall in love with.
A lot of it works in motion thanks to the camera movements and the distinct black-and-white style that give the movements a very realistic look. When shots linger, the movements of fabric and hair have such subtlety that it’s hard to tell what is 2D and what is 3D. Altogether another impressive sequence that wasn’t content to stick to basics.
