Recap / Chainsaw Man - War Devil

"Die for my warm-up kill!"

"I don't really care how you feel, though!"

Synopsis

Part II opens a few months after the end of Part I. We follow Asa Mitaka, a surly and withdrawn young woman in High School. She is cynical about the new polarizing figure of Chainsawman, and hates Devils generally.

Her professor, Mr. Tanaka, decides to introduce a new mascot to the class, the Chicken Devil Bucky, who quickly wins the students over with a surprisingly wholesome and chipper disposition. Bucky reaches out to Asa, trying to have her bond with her classmates over a schoolyard game. In delight, Asa trips over while carrying Bucky, crushing the creature to death in front of the class.

A thoroughly devastated Asa is sometime later approached by the Class President and Mr. Tanaka, who propose a visit to Bucky's grave. On the way, the "Prez" reveals a great hatred of Asa, takes a monstrous form which she claims was granted by the Justice Devil, and slashes Asa's head apart. Just before death, Asa sees a creature nearby, which restores her body to life and takes over, revealing itself as the War Devil and killing the two witnesses.

Come morning, Asa awakes, and War reveals her intentions to infiltrate the school and kill Chainsawman, who she knows to be attending.

Chapters

98. Bird and War
99. Two Birds
100. How To Walk Shoeless
101. Afterschool Devil Hunters
102. Save the Cat
103. Denji Dream
104. Spoiler
105. Red Hot
106. Bonfire
107. School Attacker
108. Something Important to Asa
109. The Easy Way to Stop Bullying
110. A Ring in the Night
111. Aha Ha Ha Ha
112. Between Cat and Criminal

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Tropes:

• And Now for Someone Completely Different: Part 2 focuses on the duo of Yoru (the titular War Devil) and her host Asa Mitaka as protagonists.
• Alternate History: Due to Pochita partially eating War Devil in their battle, the world didn't have a single large-scale war since World War I.
• Art Imitates Art:
  • War sits on a pile of viscera at the end of chapter 98, posed very similar◊ to Mars Resting.
  • In chapter 101, the panel of the Bat Devil devouring a person looks a lot like Francisco de Goya's Saturn Devouring His Son
• Bait-and-Switch: Bucky is at first implied to become Asa's equivalent to Pochita based on promotional artwork that preceded Chapter 98's publication. However, Bucky is accidentally killed by Asa at the halfway point, then Asa is possessed by the War Devil and becomes an involuntary Villain Protagonist.
• Bonding over Missing Parents: Asa and Yuko make friends while mentioning both their parents were killed by devils. Their glib tone is played for Black Comedy, especially Yuko's excitement over seeking revenge together, the implication being devils orphan so many children it's barely notable.
• …But He Sounds Handsome: Denji spends the first half of Chapter 103 praising Chainsaw Man to a reporter while also clarifying a bunch of incorrect assumptions and trying to give out his phone number to his fangirls. He goes on for so long that the news crew interviewing him abruptly end his interview and decide to just completely cut him out of the report.
• Brick Joke: One of Yoru's few times controlling Asa's body at school has her coming onto Yoshida in the most tactless manner possible. Five chapters later, Denji asks Yoshida to find him "Girls who are desperate for a boyfriend.", then the two of them are with Asa on the next page.
• Call-Back:
  • Much of Chapter 98 follows similar beats to Chapter 1, portraying Asa's daily life before getting killed, having dying thoughts that pertain to how she wished things were different, and then coming back as a Devil. The chapter's name, "Bird and War", parallels the first chapter's "Dog and Chainsaw" as well.
  • The motif of doors as return as well. Chapter 98 had Asa answering her door to Mr. Tanaka and the Class President leading to her death and her fateful merge with Yoru. Chapter 110 references Pochita's pleading with Denji to not open his door in the form of a freshly transformed Yuko begging Asa to not open her door when she comes to visit after her rampage at their school.
• Cassandra Truth:
  • Since Denji comes across as an annoying, defensive Chainsaw Man Loony Fan, his admittance to being Chainsaw Man himself to Asa falls on deaf ears. Unimpressed, she simply calls him a loser then leaves.
    Yoshida: No one will believe you like that.
  • After Asa shares her "dark secret" about wetting herself when in grade school, Yuko casually talks about how she murdered her neighbor the previous day. Asa assumes she was joking. She was not.
    The body's in my backyard. Wanna see it?
• Chekhov's Gun: When Yoru is furious that Chainsaw Man saved her, we see that she and Asa fall asleep separately. This becomes important at the end of the arc, as Asa wakes up alone, giving her a private moment with Yuko.
• Cliffhanger: The arc ends on Yuko having been decapitated by a figure in silhouette she identifies as Chainsaw Man (even though Denji is elsewhere).
• Comically Small Bribe: While trying to convince him to quit being Chainsaw Man, Yoshida tries to get on Denji's level by ordering him a cake and withholding the cutlery unless he aquieces. Not to be outdone, Denji commenses eating it with his bare hands.
• Cover Drop: The cover of volume 13 has the background drawn upside-down compared to Yuko in the foreground. Her last scene in the arc is the fake Chainsaw Man hanging her body by the leg.
• Deus ex Machina: Asa's attempt to carry Yuko away from the Bat Devil ends with them both run down and Swallowed Whole. Apropos of nothing, Denji accidentally saves them both by throwing a larger devil, which lands on the Bat Devil, killing it while squeezing out the pair unharmed.
• Disposing of a Body: Chapter 106 is titled "Bonfire", in reference to Yuko burning the corpse of her neighbor she murdered in her backyard.
• Dominance Through Furniture: Denji will let people use him as a chair for money. Guys he charges 100 yen per minute. Girls he charges 1 yen per minute.
  Yoshida: This is surprisingly comfortable.
• Downer Ending: Yuko's contract with the Justice Devil doesn't work out for anyone. Yoru's attempt to confront Chainsaw Man and Denji's to expose his identity accomplish nothing. Asa ultimately sees her first friend commit multiple murders in her name, get turned into a devil, and leave town. And while their farewell is bittersweet, their hope of meeting again after Yuko restored her humanity is seemingly dashed soon afterward when someone else kills Yuko.
• Dramatic Irony: When the War Devil asks about Chainsaw Man and Yuko briefly gushes about him, Yoshida denies knowing much about him besides thinking he's cool. There is a layer of amusement to this due to the fact that Yoshida personally bodyguarded Denji in Part 1 previously.
• Dynamic Entry: Denji makes his triumphant return in Chapter 102 when he (unknowingly) saves Asa and Yuko from the Bat Devil by throwing a larger devil into the Bat Devil and crushing it.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • Our first introduction to Asa has her angrily fuming and thinking to herself "Drop dead!" when she sees a boy and a girl happily snuggling in the stairwell, showing her to be equally pathetic as Denji but far more jealous and insecure about her need to find a romantic partner than he ever was.
  • For people who started reading in Part 2, the very first thing we see Denji (in Chainsaw form) do is hurl a monstrous Devil that's easily ten times his size into another Devil (unintentionally saving Asa and Yuko in the process). When the Cockroach Devil he was fighting drops two groups of innocent bystanders simultaneously so he can't save both of them, Denji casually blows straight past its attempt at a Sadistic Choice and tears it to shreds in seconds (letting all the civilians die in the process) so he can rescue an endangered cat that the Devil hadn't even noticed. The first time we see him in human form, he's yammering to a news crew how awesome Chainsaw Man is and deliberately trying to blow his own Secret Identity so he can give his phone number out to a bunch of Chainsaw Man groupies.
• False Reassurance:
  • Asa tells Yuko she "killed a bunch of people", and she counters "Not that many! Only three or four! The Gun Devil killed over a million people!"
  • Shortly thereafter, Asa tells Yuko she's trying for slightly less-than-lethal means.
    Asa: I'm only going to cut off your legs! Sorry!
• Forgotten First Meeting: Denji has completely forgotten who Yoshida is since the latter acted as one of his bodyguards.
  Yoshida: You remember when you had all those assassins after you.
  (Denji stares blankly)
  Denji: Never happened.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Played surprisingly straight for this manga, presumably just to be stylish, in Chapter 102 when Fujimoto cleverly uses a speech bubble to obscure the Bat Devil biting a random woman's head off.
• Irony: Bucky manages to reach Asa and convince her to open herself up and start making friends with her classmates. Said attempt to begin socializing not only kills them but manages to further isolate her from her fellow students after they had just learned to love Bucky and spare them from execution.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • The first several chapters lack any appearance by Denji. Chapter 99 opens with a news report announcing that the Chainsaw Man... has yet to appear that week. Har har har, Fujimoto.
  • Several comments in a vox populi news segment could be talking about "Chainsaw Man" the character or Chainsaw Man the manga.
    Man carrying a child: Chainsaw Man? I'm a huge fan. Too gory for kids, though.
    Student: invoked Too popular. It ticks me off.
• Literal Metaphor: Chapter 102 is titled "Save the Cat", in reference to writing slang for the Pet the Dog trope. It involving Asa and Denji each deciding to literally save a cat in different emergencies, even if it's not the smartest or most responsible thing to do.
• Not Even Bothering with an Excuse: Even Denji could tell Yoshida hadn't met him by coincidence, and he pretty quickly stops pretending otherwise.
  Denji: Are you stalking me?
  Yoshida: Ha ha ha ha ha! When you put it that way... you aren't exactly wrong.
• Not Helping Your Case: Denji gets a bit too honest when trying to defend Chainsaw Man's reputation.
  Asa: And in the first place, doesn't he eat people?
  Denji: Eat people?! No way! ... Okay, even if he did, it was just the one time!
• "Not So Different" Remark: Despite unfamiliarity with humans, War isn't surprised by Asa's classmates picking on her, identifying it as a trait devils exhibit as well.
  Bullying is a commonality in communities without social fluidity, both human and devil.
• Painting the Medium: Yuko's speech balloons appear obscured by window frames when the panel is showing a shot from outside the school.
• Production Throwback: The panel of the War Devil's Unflinching Walk has a similar composition to Yuta walking away from the exploding building in Goodbye, Eri. Asa is also wearing a uniform similar to Eri.
• Reveal Shot:
  • As Asa and Yuko talk in chapter 111, there are alternating closeups of their faces where Asa is just saying Yuko's name with increasing urgency. Then a zoom out shows Asa was shouting out for help because Yuko was unconsciously strangling Asa with one of her tendrils.
  • The third-to-last page of the same chapter is a closeup of four different people's faces as they're lying down. Then the ending spread shows the last of them, Yuko, was a decapitated head lying on the ground.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Much like Makima in Part 1, Yoru is aware of Nuclear Weapons Devil being swallowed by Pochita and wants to bring it back into the world.
• Sadistic Choice: The Cockroach Devil tries to distract Denji by dropping a teenager and car full of elderly people, expecting him to agonize over which to save. Denji doesn't hesistate to Take a Third Option by ignoring both, killing the Cockroach Devil, and saving an animal the devil hadn't even noticed.
  Denji: There was a cat too, dude.
• Second Episode Morning: In the second chapter, Asa wakes up the morning after making a contract with the War Devil, in control of her unscarred body and wondering if that was a dream. The War Devil then manifest a mental projection to let her know it's in charge.
  This is no dream, girl.
• Stock Shoujo Bullying Tactics: In a series-appropriate variant of "flower vase on the desk" and "vandalized shoe locker", someone puts raw chicken into Asa's shoes to harass her for accidentally killing Bucky.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Yoshida doesn't really makes his benefactors sound great when he says "It's not an evil organization like in some manga." unprompted. Not helped by him trying and failing to hide that he was stalking Denji the moment before. He's lucky Denji was busy with the food Yoshida bought.
• Teens Are Monsters:
  • Zigzagged. Asa gets bullied by her classmates, though the bullying is largely motivated by their love of Bucky, who she accidentally killed. Played straight with the class president, who's the actual cause of Bucky's death and tries to kill Asa herself.
  • Yuko, as revealed in Chapter 105, is a legitimately delusional Knight Templar who is willing to kill anyone she considers immoral in the name of justice, even something as relatively mild as abusing a disability welfare.
• Time for Plan B: After Yoru's admits she's too weakened and poorly armed to kill Justice Devil-powered Yuko, she resorts to the "Leave it all to Asa" plan—which was Asa's Plan A before Yoru override her to use violence as a first resort.
• Time Skip: Part 2 begins months after the events of Chapter 97, by which points Chainsaw Man is a well-established Celebrity Superhero.
• Too Much Information: Yuko bonds with Asa and pretty immediately starts sharing very personal information.
  I have to pee when I get excited! I'm gonna hit the restroom!
• Unwanted Rescue:
  • The War Devil throws a tantrum about being saved from the Bat Devil by her hated nemesis Chainsaw Man, much to Asa's annoyance while she's trying to sleep.
  • Though unaware that he was getting attacked by Yoru, Denji's clearly unhappy with Yoshida taking him out of his situation.
• Wham Episode: Chapter 105. After a several chapter Breather Episode focused on Denji's reintroduction and his hillariously terrible efforts to get a girlfriend, Yuko reveals herself to Asa as a full-blown Knight Templar who has made a contract with the Justice Devil, has already killed a man, has learnt Asa's secret identity, and now intends to massacre Asa's bullies in the name of justice, in perhaps the series most extreme case of Mood Whiplash to date.
• Wham Line:
  • Late in chapter 98, the Class President's rant to Asa takes a turn from ominous to threatening as she undergoes a bizarre transformation, exposing her and Mr. Tanaka's true colors.
    Class President: Did you know Mr. Tanaka likes you even though he's having sex with me!?
  • The last line of the same chapter also gives us the hook the rest of Part 2 would be based on:
    War Devil: Just you wait, Chainsaw Man! I'll make you vomit nuclear weapons back up!
  • Chapter 105:
    Yuko: Don't worry, I promise I won't tell a soul about your secrets either! About peeing yourself, about how you killed your teacher and class president, and about Yoru.
    Yuko: I'm gonna get rid of your bullying problem. Don't come to school tomorrow.
  • Chapter 108:
    Third Horseman: Anything... for my little sister.
• Wham Shot:
  • Chapter 108: a new mysterious character appears to offer Asa the chance to save Yuko's life. Asa agrees and when she approaches... we see that she has the exact same eyes as Yoru and Makima.
  • Chapter 110: Yuko shows up at Asa's home after her rampage, but begs her to not open the door, claiming she's been turned into a Devil and is scared of eating her. When Asa opens anyways, Yuko turns out to be telling the truth.
  • Chapter 111: Yuko is killed by someone she identifies as and has the same silhouette as Chainsaw Man, despite Denji being shown sleeping at home.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: After Yoru kills Mr. Tanaka and the Class President, the only detail afterward is they were discovered and identified by the next morning, not if anyone has a clue as to their nefarious misdeeds.

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