Bird and War

Asa is distanced from it as she's contained indoors within the city only able to gaze at it separated by a window. A bystander to her role between construct/structure [city] and earnesty/sentiment. [forestry] (yuko+ysd cover parallels)

The fire is lit in the night, her revival through "selfishness" forming the basis of her role, to do right by her heart via Yuko's justice against the structures (predation/harm via school) that made them victims as children yet contained within it. (belonging/purpose through the csm church)

Asa's disassociation to her place in the narrative, the justice she can only see as taboo distanced from herself as her light in the dark and with the dark as it burns. She's in uniform with her human arms intact, the schoolgirl who yearned to do right by her heart.

The juncture of her revival taking place in the night. The night that claims her justice and burns the world with it.

It's also kinda apt that this volume opens up with the chapter "Two Children".

While it refers to Yoru's children, it draws the parallel to Asa/Yuko and Asa/Ysd too in their position as students turned warrior motivated by their own justice, devil hunters framed in the narrative for war within the city.

Physical pain used to drive away psychological pain.

Someone who saves others and risks herself in the process, who refuses to kill others for weapons and sacrifices her most prized possession instead, who is even sometimes suicidal. Someone who internalizes things and keeps her thoughts and feelings to herself instead of demanding attention. Asa wished to become more selfish and the war devil appeared, but the reality of it is that Asa makes herself as small and unnoticeable as she can and wants to go through life without a bump in the road or making waves. And it seems like Yoru has no idea what to do, how to deal with this. They’re fundamentally opposed in the way they work and cope. It’s not something she knows. She’s at a loss for words. There is no battle plan for this.

⚠️Chainsaw Man Part 2 Spoiler⚠️

Fujimoto is such a demon with his details he slips this tiny moment in the middle of a dramatic life or death scenario revealing not only that Clambon died but that Asa actually saw the body floating in the river. This is probably the root of her extreme aversion to the sight of animals corpses. It’s one thing to have food sensitivity but another to be so offput you choose rather to literally starve.

This also recontextualizes the very first chapter of part 2. The rest of the class is upset but she is the only one so disturbed by Bucky’s corpse it causes her to vomit. In all these cases this visceral response to a corpse is overlayed with rejection by a group where she was beginning to find acceptance.

But in the Acquarium, when everyone else has abandoned her, left her to starve, Denji reaches out to her to try and help her without judgement of her trauma. This simple act of understanding gives her the support she needs to face her own trauma, and in that moment, Denji says that it is this: the weird way she eats fish and is grossed out, her unusual attachment to animals — something itself rooted in trauma — that makes her charming.

This dynamic of Denji reaching out for her when she is abandoned has played out again in 127. But ultimately, just like the Acquarium, all he can do is provide support. She is the only one who can face her own trauma and find a way forward. And when she does, she is the one with the power to save them both.

Asa's story is one about guilt and deep internal conflict. she believes that she is evil and can only bring harm to those around her. that she creates problems for everyone around her. she's miserable and unworthy of love. throughout the story we see her challenging these ideas and actively trying to do good even with a literal devil living within her. she wants to be good. the possibility that yoru was never a devil that inhabited her but rather her true self that she had been ignoring and rejecting would make for such a good twist. it would give her the chance to truly confront the part of herself she hates so much and either accept it or expel it.

the thesis of part one was about understanding who is good and who is evil. looking past traditional indicators and actually engaging with them as an individual and evaluating them based on their actions and not what society has defined them as. this is why the twist with Makima works. she was someone who would naturally assume to be good but really just a bad person using her access to these ideals to cause even more harm. but the limitation was that the idea of good and bad were treated as discrete; that some people are just good while others are just bad.

if asa was always yoru then that would mean she was always both. asa lied to herself about who she was and tried to be the kind of person society believed to be good (a human). but that isn't who she is and she needs to learn how to love herself for who she is and not who she wants to be. being capable of causing harms doesn't make you evil, causing harm doesnt make you evil. morality does not exist in a binary; many things can be true at once. what's more important is what you do and how willing you are recognize that you have done wrong.

"but yoru is objectively evil! if that was asa all along then wouldn't that also make her objectively evil?" yes! but also no. yoru is a manifestation of asa's devil nature. she is all of it with none of the humanity that defines the four horsemen. yoru is the version of asa that isn't limited by morals or a sense of humanity. she empty without any personal drive. she only acts in whatever she believes will cause the most because to asa that is what will happen if she let's herself go. it's a fascinating look at what happens when you ignore parts of yourself to fit in.

but would be the solution? acceptance. had asa accepted yoru from the beginning she would have been able to better control that part of herself. if she took the time out to understand yoru and accepted her desires then she would have had a better time making yoru think more rationally. had asa accepted that she was a devil but that being a devil does not make her inherently evil then she would have been able to learn how to be a good devil.

The overarching message of part 2 was that when Denji’s life is destroyed once again, he becomes despondent to the basest of worldly pleasures, and apocalypse wreaks upon the world. The tragedy that is Denji’s relationship with Asa/Yoru exemplifies that the implication of regressing back to primal human desires (or the way he was at the start of the story) is still no way to live, and was never going to work out.

‘YOU WERE FAR HAPPIER STARVING AND SUFFERING, FIGHTING DEVILS... AND EATING SPOILED BREAD IN THAT RUN-DOWN SHACK.’

But Pochita is right, here. He was happier in the sense that he was living in oblivion from the emotional complexities and adversities of being socially integrated into society and of normal human relationships. There is bliss and shelter in being outcast from society (hence the ‘run-down shack’ in the forest also being a symbol for this) and not needing to participate in it in the normal, expected way. The philosophy here is clearly that of Sisyphus, but subjected to the influence of wider society’s views on acceptable standards of human living. This alongside happiness and how the two are not proportionate to each other is a theme Fujimoto unpicks to shreds with his exploration of extreme polarities:

‘...YOU HAD THE CRAPPIEST BUT BEST KIND OF BRAIN. ONE THAT CAN ONlY FIND HEAVEN WHEN YOU'RE IN HELL.’

Denji was ‘happiest’ when his life was ‘crappiest’. Denji was the least happy when his life was, by the standards of human rights and society, “the best”, i.e. finally going to school, “dating” a girl (Asa) and trying to live a “normal life”. But he was also happiest with Power, Aki, Meowy and then with Nayuta and Makima’s dogs, who are all taken from him. So the world essentially ends when Denji finds himself in a situation with Asa/Yoru that gives him the opportunity to have sex, the only means by which he thinks is able to find pleasure at all, and that opportunity is wisely taken away from him by Pochita:

‘IT'S GOOD THAT YOU DIDN'T GET TO DO THAT, DENJI’

Denji’s hamartia is his hyper sexuality. It is only in the pain of apocalypse that Denji and Asa can finally connect on the deeply emotional level that renders their non-platonic love for each other redundant, yet their platonic relationship is never permitted to and cannot flourish because of Yoru stripping Asa of her agency and using Asa as a proxy to sexually abuse Denji. Again, up till the end he is unable to recognise this as his perception of pleasure and pain is warped by all the shit he has gone through. He lost his family twice. Denji is as much as a victim to others as he is to his own sexuality and it is the confluence and interplay of these two things that makes Denji’s struggle so nuanced, and unfortunately so misinterpreted. Pochita does him a service at not helping this particular dream of his come true because he knows it will be detrimental to him, and he only wants the best for Denji. In that world, the best is where he never gets this at all. He stops Asa from the accident that catalysed her story, that eventually led to them meeting, their relationship, and their tragedy. The best for them was if they stayed strangers.

And thats what he gets in the end: a mundane life as a public safety devil hunter and Power’s buddy.

The final chapter is synoptic of the most important of all of Denji’s relationships: his relationship to Power. It is because of the sisterly role that Power plays that he undergoes his arguably most vital character development: realising the difference between platonic and non-platonic love and finding the best kind of love to be with his family that Power and Aki form (From making sexual advances towards her in the very beginning to only be let down, to the bath scene where Denji realises ‘This doesn’t feel naughty at all’). In 232 she appears miraculously at his aid when he faces the zombie devil not as Power, not as a devil, but a ‘naked woman’, clearly showing a realisation for his sexuality. But this goes no further than that, not even to the famous(ly ridiculous but more so heartwrenching) Denji line ‘I wanna touch some boobs’. Unlike the beginning of the story, their friendship is tied by a contract Power makes with him (as the substitute for Pochita) by saving his life, rather than simply only coming about because of the ‘Buddy’ system. Their friendship is legitimised by the bureaucratic, permanently binding nature of a devil contract, and flourishes. The manga ends on them talking about ‘shaking up their seniors’ for money for good food — it is something indulgent, trivial, mundane, but here that evokes a bathos and an absolutely unbeatable wholesomeness that he couldn’t get from anyone else (and in my eyes, a satisfying ending). Aki himself said all he wanted was for Power and Denji to live and be happy, hence not being present at all, because he also plays a similar role to Pochita here by wishing the best for Denji. Let them have their fried rice, ramen and potstickers.

(On a tangent, ‘potstickers’ clearly reference Asa here too. I don’t think Fujimoto did a disservice to her by estranging her completely from Denji’s life in the end. Yes the moment where Denji stops her from falling is very chivalrous-male-saviour-and-damsel-in-distress, but realistically Asa would have appreciated that because she has also felt “unloved”, hence all the “femcel” allegations when she was introduced to the story. She is blushing in the panel not for fanservice purposes but naturally because she would. Denji getting into a situation that happened to place the two in a fleeting yet still romantic physical interaction with his hand on her waist was still not motivated by his sexual urges but pure altruism, selflessness, and that makes all the difference. How can you say that that isn’t character development? He saves her from tripping — her involuntarily fatal flaw being her clumsiness — and falling to her doom, i.e. killing Bucky, whilst he has no clue about the true weight of the favour he just did for her because it is framed so trivially. It is because of his selfless actions that she never has to suffer anything she ended up going through. This is why I think this moment works, and Asa is not undermined by these patriarchal clichés.)

I felt that almost nostalgic hesitation from rush to person you never knew, but must save, no matter how absurd it may feel or even sound to somebody

Perfect catharsis and quintessence of both parts

I felt that emotianally complicated almost one-sided situationship that existed only in your head in desperate need of finding literally anybody to love and accept you but masked with want of sex with them due to traumatic hypersexuality

Fujimoto doomed us with their first dialoge in this timeline.

They won't be together.

Not even as friends.

Asa, Denji, Fujimoto and me knows that.

What a good representation of awkwardness with your new never fading and hunting you with guilt to your last day to never confess crush

YOU HOES, SHE WAS MY COMFORT CHARACTER THAT I COULD PROJECTED ON WHEN I WAS AT MY LOWEST BACK IN 2023.

She's a well written teenage girl, who gets mad at people and the things they love, because she was isolated from those people and those experiences, until she gets them by the end that she appreciates them.

She self loathes herself because of the things she did, and eventually led to her believe she would deserved it when she thinks in a situation people would kill her. Especially that she intentionally trip to make the rescue longer to her dad.

She doesn't know what she wants whether to go for solitude or companionship, since solitude is what makes her feel alone and empty but companionship can make her feel trapped and be a burden in her friendships.

In my interpretation for her trips can be reflected as a self sabotage from her opportunities, mirroring the guilt that she won't deserve those opportunities since she killed her own dad through tripping, burdening others because she needs assistance to get up in the cost of everything. Like a punishment from that childhood event.

Bullying and passive exclusion can effect you deeply guys 🥀🥀🥀

She's so relatable, like bringing up facts about sea creatures to entertain your date even though it's boring but it's said by the book.

Also comparing herself to celebrities and how she's better than them.

I guess one of the things with "you were far happier in that shack" is that back then, despite having a terrible life/knowing other people had it much better, Denji could still kinda live in some sort of 'blissful ignorance' as long as he had Pochita. With him. That happens again in p2: Denji lives in 'ignorance' of the past because he tries his best to forget about the bad things that happened. That makes it worse when he remembers.

Pochita's solution is forgetting everything, which.. I guess would just be blissful ignorance again.. cycle...

what I'm trying to say is this all is like some cycle, as in we're coming back to some themes of p1,, ignorance is bliss and–

–desires unmet. Chasing dreams but feeling unfulfilled after accomplishing them. Denji is someone with a 'survival instinct'; he had to survive for so long, that he's only ever known how to thrive within the suffering to survive. He's happy in the suffering, sorta. He struggles to find himself in happiness. What better way to disconnect from that 'survival' than to disconnect what makes him survive - Pochita?

Yet you need the bad things—there's no existing without suffering, which is clear in p1 and p2—just like the good things. You need the bad movies and bad first experiences and bad things like Death! Hell, Death is a necessity for the cycle of life. Life needs death. And by reseting the world, perhaps it can find a natural balance by giving birth to a new Death and Pochita.

That said, it was sad that Denji didn't even get a say in it. Well, he didn't ever get a say in anything in his entire life lmao. Not in the Yakuza, not in Public Safety, etc. But maybe, starting this all anew, he'll actually have the freedom to decide and think for himself. Honestly reminds me of Asa, wishing him 'happiness' without asking him if it's what he wants, with her wanting him to eat her to kill Yoru ; Asa/Pochita tries to save Denji by getting rid of themselves even though Denji doesn’t want that.

^ Talking about Asa/Yoru, it's interesting to think that just like Asa's human feelings bled through Yoru, Denji's human feelings (in this case, feeling like a burden to everyone in his life) could've bled through Pochita and be one of the reasons he erased himself - Chainsaw Man is the reason Denji was so miserable, the reason everything started, so... mm. Much to think about. Pochita feels guilty since this Chainsaw Man persona brought so much suffering to Denji.

Anyway. Interesting that the supposed end (?) of CSM returns all the way to the start, to what this story has always been:

a boy and his dog.

Perhaps Denji could live peacefully in a world where he's not Chainsaw Man. Even if for that, one would have to rewrite history itself, erase themself, get rid of all those memories? Yes. Yes, because nobody loves Denji like Pochita does. Pochita would and literally does that. Which, in a way, breaks the cycle. Denji's cycle of constant violence and suffering. (And restarts the cycle of Denji and Pochita's life together ever since the beginning...)

Maybe like that, Denji can keep dreaming.

The chapter starts with Yoru doing the same Bang posture she was doing before trying to attack Aging with the finger bullet. With this, we confirm that the whole Aging speech at the end of 179 happened while he stopped/slowed time (hence the blurred lines).

After that, we've got the dream scene, which an incredibly cool detail.

For those who don't remember, in chapter 110 we have a dream sequence with Asa. It's a recurring dream where she's running down an alleway, the ground full of dead chickens (a reference to Bucky, at that point of the story). She tries not to step on them, but it's so full of bodies that she can't avoid it.

People have been talking a long time now about how this dream sequence actually connects with Asa and Yoru's relationship (specially this last chapters, with Asa being just an spectator as Yoru murders thousands with her own body). Although it is important to mention that this time, there are no chicken on the floor (or at least we don't see them during the chapter 180 dream sequence).

In any case, I think it's always cool when this kind of analysis that has been under discussion for months is being adressed so directly.

After seeing Denji for the first time since July 17, we've got the Aging World scene, and the main point of speculation in this chapter: the human that escaped that world a long time ago.

I've seen people theorize about that human being Quanxi. However, I think the most plausable option (albeit it's still just speculation) is Yoshida. Not only is he someone who looks like a teenager but clearly isn't one and can survave a 1v1 against Quanxi, but also we've got this inside cover art of him from two volumes ago:

Doesn't this place look familiar?

And yes, I know it might sound crazy to interpret cover art as foreshadowing. But it's not the time this happens in CSM. Take for example the inside cover art from volume 12, where we can see what looks like the buildings Yoru destroyed on chapter 178.

Not only that, but Yoshida being that person would add to Yoshida's and Aging interaction some chapters ago (as it wouldn't be the first time Aging is surprised at something Yoshida does) and that one dialogue from part 1:

And to close, I'd like to talk about the sideburns guy "Mreeee" at the end (as well as the whole pressing his head against the tree thing).

People have pointed out that it looks as if he's trying to mimick a cycada at the end of its life (maybe hoping that it will kill him). This might also relate to cycada's role in greek mythology, as they're related to inmortality: