Headscratchers / Chainsaw Man

Why Japan?

• Is there a non-meta reason for Japan being a hotbed for devils? I can understand the Fox Devil being located there, but what business do the Bat, Snake and Ghost Devils have in Japan? I doubt Japanese people are more afraid of ghosts than, say, Americans. Or do Devils just appear in random countries?
  • Devils do appear in random countries. If Quanxi and Reze are anything to go by, the Crossbow Devil and the Bomb Devil appeared in China and in the USSR respectively. The Gun Devil first appeared in the USA. And the american president implies that Makima's old incarnations appeared outside of Japan, her reincarnation Nayuta appearing in China. The reason why the story focuses on "Japanese" devils it's ultimately because the story takes place in Japan.
    • It's also possible that the Control Devil and their presence in Japan acts as a natural magnet for other devils.

Gun Devil's Defeat

• Who defeated the Gun Devil the first time around?

"Devil Smell"

• If devils have a certain smell, how was no one able to tell Makima was one the whole time? At the very least, the government could have warned everyone about her.
  • It doesn't really matter if Makima has the "devil smell" or not. She can simply use her Charm Person ability to alter people's perception of her. Also, why the government would warn people about her ? It's heavily implied she was meant to be the government's Living Weapon (though that obviously turned out...poorly).
  • Makima's smell would simply be written off as her being a devil hunter; Kurose and co remark at one point that devil hunters will find Denji because their devils can smell him, and obviously devil hunters collaborate and benefit from their devils.

About Pochita

• What happened when Pochita fought the other weapon devils the first time? We last saw him critically injured on Earth but don't devils need to die in order to reincarnate elsewhere?
  • We see in the Control Devil arc that the Chainsaw Devil can break through the barrier between hell and earth without needing to die, as he does when the Hell devil banishes him.

Hybrids vs Fiends

• How do hybrids work compared to fiends? What causes them to be different?
  • Hybrids are alive (or revived), retain their personalities, and can freely access the powers of the Devil they've bonded with. Fiends are Devils who are inhabiting, controlling, and living through the bodies of people who have died. Basically, one's being an avatar and the other is possession.
    • It's also heavily implied that Hybrids are the result of devils replacing a human's organs, namely the heart. Denji was written to have heart conditions and two other named hybrids were the subjects of experimentations, with one also via the heart. This might also explain why all hybrids we see bar Denji were members of powerful organisations prior to becoming a hybrid; said groups, like the Yakuza, Public Safety, and even world powers are much more likely to afford doctors that can perform such risky surgeries.

"Public Speaking Devil"

• A devil's power is based on how feared the concept they're based on is. If so, then shouldn't there be a Public Speaking Devil who's even stronger than the Gun Devil, considering how widespread glossophobia is?
  • A gun can kill you but speaking in public in most cases won’t end in death. The fear of guns is higher up likely because it’s also associated with the fear of death.
  • Who's to say there isn't one that, like the Darkness Devil, is so powerful it's never been killed and thus is stuck in Hell?
  • Also, something being universally feared doesn't guarantee a devil associated with it exists, it simply means that IF such a devil came into existence, it would be very powerful indeed.

Chainsaw Man's Eating Power

• So if Chainsaw Man eats devils, does he change the timeline?
  • It doesn't seem that he directly changes the timeline but rather causes divergences by making the world at large forget events and fears as they physically vanish. World War II apparently never happened but Japan still looks like post-war Westernized 90s Japan. So it's more likely that the effects of these events still happened but the historical context is lost on a cosmic scale, thus changing the circumstances that would lead to stuff like the Soviet Union dissolving.
    • But it is also worth mentioning other things Chainsaw Man has erased do indeed affect the timeline, such as the USSR still existing past 1991, and the loss of the human 6th sense.

Affecting Memories

• What do chainsaws have to do with erasing concepts from the collective human memory?
  • Chainsaw Man's Abstract Eater ability is not really explained as of now, however it's likely not conected to his concept of origin. Two possiblities exist however:
    • Chainsaw's ability may be a play on its nature. A devil feared by other devils, who themselves beings created and empowered by fear. This might have given him his power.
    • The other it's that The Chainsaw Devil is a Ultimate Lifeform of sorts, to the point of having power over the devils. This is hinted at many times in the story.
    • Possibly for a similar reason as for why people force-fed all the knowledge in the universe end up repeating the word "Halloween", of all things: it makes sense on a level of reality beyond human comprehension.
  • What do Angels have to do with draining people's life force and turning into weapons? What do Snakes have to do with summoning consumed enemies? Devil powers clearly don't always have a 1:1 correlation with their namesake.

Gun Devil's Popularity

• How is the Gun Devil so powerful when modern society has glorified firearms through various media platforms?
  • Assuming that this Alternate History doesn't moderate media featuring guns, why would the glorification of firearms in media negate any fear actual dangerous weapons could instill in people? Leaving aside the fact that a terrorist attack gave the Gun Devil a big boost in power and it decimated a huge part of the world to cement said power for the foreseeable future, thinking the gun fights in John Wick were super cool would not stop you from being scared shitless if someone walked up to you and pointed a real gun at your head.

Denji's Enrollment

• How is Denji able to enroll in high school despite his complete lack of a formal education?
  • Someone like Kishibe could easily fake whatever credentials Denji would need to get enrolled at a regular high school. Either that or Denji got enrolled in some kind of remedial educational program for people with educational delays.

When Denji Ate (SPOILER)

• Shouldn't Denji's eating of Makima retroactively erase the concept of "control" from reality, presumably resulting in the complete collapse of human civilization? I suppose you could justify this by saying that Denji isn't quite the same being as the Chainsaw Devil and doesn't have that quality (but then, if that's the case, why was Makima so convinced she could use him to apply it?), or that only devils consumed in hell are erased (which would explain the Control Devil reincarnating as another person rather than being obliterated from existence), but it seems like something that perhaps should be elaborated on a bit more.
  • You answered your own question: While admittedly lacking a proper explanation, Denji does not have the Ret-Gone Abstract Eater ability, only the Chainsaw Devil itself. Denji eating Makima just killed her, nothing more. Also, Makima's plan likely involved bringing Pochita back somehow-likely by ripping him out of Denji's heart. Last, the Control Devil seems to be more related to humiliation and loss of free will than authority or power, so human civilization might survive if Makima was destroyed for good.

Denji's Teeth

• I am a total noob regarding this series so perhaps later it will be a plot point, but is there any reason for why Denji had those serrated teeth even before fusing with Pochita?
  • It's a stylistic choice to show off that he's far more animalistic in personality than the average human.
  • It may also be a stylized way to show him having bad teeth due to his bad hygiene and no dental care for most of his life.

Power is less powerful than she should be

• Shouldn't the Blood Devil be a Primal Fear on the same level as the Darkness Devil? Weapons and tools come and go, animals aren't feared until humans encounter them for the first time, and even abstract concepts like eternity have to be conceived of before people can start worrying about them, but humans have been scared of bleeding to death for our entire existence as a species.
  • Fear of bleeding to death would be just that: fear of Death. Fear of blood, or hemophobia, is not uncommon but nowhere close to a universal primal fear. It may also be noteworthy that fiends are less powerful than devils, so Power must have given away a considerable portion of her power to inhabit a human body.

What is 76.1?

• Power has a sweatshirt with "76.1" emblazoned on the front. Why did Fujimoto pick that number? It can't be the temperature of blood (37 degrees Celsius/98.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
  • Apparently, it's the number for the Japanese radio station LOVE FM 76.1.

Is the Death Devil ACTUALLY the strongest Devil?

• Isn't the whole reason Death Devil is prominent because Pochita ate the other possible end-of-life devils, and as such, Pochita would be the strongest?
  • Pochita, while not weak, is also far from the strongest devil. In terms of raw power, it appears that the Horsemen are stronger than him (not counting Death). His advantage is his unique ability, which makes him especially dangerous to devils. The point is, he's not strong enough to personally threaten the entire world directly (indirectly is another story), compared to Death.

What do devils get out of deals?

• Some devils get clear, obvious benefits out of deals; Pochita just wants to watch his friend live a normal life, the Eternity Devil wanted Denji. But what about all those devils demanding lives or years? Do they actually get anything from consuming lifespan or random body parts?
  • They simply hate humans, it is something that has been in their being since they existed.