Synopsis
TBD
Chapters
- Between Cat and Criminal
- I Wanna See Penguins!
- Endless Aquarium
- High Schoolers These Days
- Taste of Starfish
- Penguin and Weapon
- Saying Goodbye
- Thief
- Goodbye
Tropes:
- Ambiguous Situation: Yoru's attempt to turn Denji into a weapon completely fails, much to her and Asa's confusion. While Asa assumes this means that her newly developed feelings for him are unreciprocated, it's also possible Denji's contract override her power because he "belongs" to Pochita.
- The Bus Came Back:
- A reincarnated Eternity Devil returns as Denji, Asa and co. are visiting the aquarium.
- Nayuta herself makes a full reappearance as she subdues Yoru and Asa in Chapter 119.
- Call-Back: Denji giving Asa the starfish to cheer her up is framed very similarly
to his giving Reze a flower in the phone booth, complete with his cheerful "tada!". The crucial difference this time being that this comes after she's admitted to him that she was using him. - Cell Phones Are Useless: Since it's still around 1997, most people don't have cellphones. The one time Asa tries to use hers in an emergency, she breaks it trying to get a signal. Then Yoshida quietly confirms on his own cellphone that it wouldn't have worked anyway, because the Eternity Devil had trapped them in time as well as space.
- Chekhov's Classroom: Within Asa's Walls of Text about aquatic life is a mention of starfish being eaten by people. Whether or not that's where he got the idea, Denji puts it into practice two chapters later, when Asa is starving because she won't eat fish, inviting her to eat the starfish instead.
- Confirm Before Reveal: In Chapter 113, after Fami takes Yoru away and tells Asa she can't leave the aquarium until she turns Denji into a weapon, Denji, who left her to go look at the penguins, returns to Asa to tell her they have an emergency. He asks her if the aquarium they're in isn't that big, and when she confirms it isn't, he reveals the hallways goes on forever and believes the Eternity Devil has returned.
- Dramatic Irony: After Asa comes to believe Haruka Iseumi, a member of her high school's Devil Hunter Club, is Chainsaw Man, she and Yoru immediately start formulating a plan to turn someone into a weapon they can use to kill him. The person they mutually settle on? Denji. In other words, Asa and Yoru are planning to turn the real Chainsaw Man into a weapon to kill the fake one. The irony is absolutely palpable.
- Fun with Homophones: When Denji's at the aquarium, he keeps wanting to see the penguins up until the Famine Devil shows up. In Japanese, the word for penguin he uses is "kiga (企鵝)", which is pronounced the same as the "famine (飢餓)" part of the devil's name.
- No-Sell: Denji unknowingly does this to Yoru's efforts to turn him into a sword.
- Painting the Medium:
- When Asa asks Denji out on a date, her embarrassment literally affects her speech balloons so the text is now a different font.
- During said date at the aquarium, the boredom Asa induces talking about sea life shows through the composition of the pages. One Wall of Text is filling up a speech balloon covering the enormous gap between her and Denji, representing her failing to connect emotionally. A pair of pages also repeat with different informational text and almost identical visuals as she moves from one exhibit to the next.
- When Asa and Denji argue over Denji keeping some money he found, their repeatedly yelling "Go to hell!" at each other is written with kanji in Asa's balloon but only kana in Denji's, reflecting his low literacy. The English version has Denji's text in a cruder, more angular font.
- Rule of Symbolism:
- There are two potted plants in Denji and Nayuta's apartment that they are each taking care of. Denji's plant is growing nicely, clearly nurtured and cared for, showing how much he's matured since Part 1 and is far more capable of kindness. Nayuta's meanwhile is wilted and dying, demonstrating that as the Control Devil, she has trouble extending the same type of kindness Denji extends to her. However, her plant is noticeably moved to be closer to Denji's, symbolizing how she's still learning, might actually be eager to learn, and is genuinely affectionate towards her adoptive brother.
- Alternatively, it's been noted that Denji and Nayuta's plants appear to be Aloe, which actually require infrequent watering. It may be that Denji's casual and laidback care for his plant allows it to grow, whereas Nayuta's overbearing possessiveness leads her to overwater hers.
- Status Cell Phone: Since it's still the late 1990s, Asa only has a cellphone because it was handed down from her recently-deceased mother. It briefly impresses her peers before she accidentally breaks it. Yoshida also has a cell phone, though he only shows it to Denji, showing he's well-connected and probably very well-paid for his devil-hunting work.Yoshida: Do high schoolers these days own cell phones?
Seigi: Luckily for us, Mitaka's ahead of the times! - Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Unfortunately, the life lessons Denji learned in Part 1 that helped him regain his will to live didn't change him overnight. As an abuse victim who Desperately Craves Affection, it's shown that old habits die hard as he's still a Hormone-Addled Teenager letting himself be humiliated for scrap, and it seems that after (and in spite of) his experiences with Makima, he's concluded that getting a girlfriend will solve all of his problems. He's very obviously grown, it's just that he still wants to be loved.
- As shown in Part 1, Denji might be a Hormone-Addled Teenager, but once he finds out that the girl's personality is not to his liking, it won't take long for him to reject her. Asa's overly controlling plan for their date to the aquarium ends up boring Denji enough for him to wander off to look at exhibits he wants to look at.
- The Eternity Devil, of all people, gets downright indignant when Asa thinks that 1 million yen (about $8,000 US in today's money) will be enough to purchase an entire aquarium and the public land it occupies.
- Wham Line:
- Chapter 113:Third Horseman: I'm War Devil's big sister... Famine Devil.
- Chapter 115: Yoshida drops a massive one while talking to Denji, revealing that he knows about Pochita's power.Yoshida: Do you think Chainsaw Man would eat it for us? The Death Devil.
- Chapter 117: After a heartwarming moment with Denji and Asa, Yoru reminds her that their mutual affection towards each other fulfills the conditions for her power.
- Chapter 113:
- Wham Shot:
- Chapter 112: Yoru asks the president of the Devil Hunter club, Haruka Iseumi, if he knows the secret identity of Chainsaw Man. In response, he pulls up his shirt... to reveal a chainsaw pull cord.
- Chapter 113: The last page shifts the point-of-view to show the aquarium exhibit hallway extending infinitely into the distance, which along with Denji's reaction imply the Eternity Devil is back and trapped Denji once again.
- Chapter 119 ends by finally showing us Nayuta: She's styled her hair exactly like Makima, calls Yoru a "thief" for kissing Denji, and shoots a chain out of her finger and through Yoru/Asa's head.
- The Worf Effect: Nayuta easily subdues both Asa and Yoru (despite being a fellow Horseman) into becoming dogs and forgetting the day.
