Prior to chapter 134, when Denji departed from his meeting with Hirofumi Yoshida at the end of Chapter 133 of Chainsaw Man, there was a sense of worry from the latter about whether the protagonist understood the terms of his ultimatum. He warned Denji to never turn into Chainsaw Man lest he wants to see Nayuta get killed by her captors.
Fortunately for Yoshida, Denji understood everything from the jump by the time Chainsaw Man chapter 134 started, which was set sometime after that conversation took place. Public opinion of Chainsaw Man continues to waver as a result of the counter-protests that spawned from the last chapter and serious criticism from TV personalities in this latest chapter, but there’s a stark contrast between that and the favorable opinion younger people have of the devil-human hybrid, as evidence from when Denji overheard a conversation from two of his classmates in high school.
This sharp split in opinion is observed by Nayuta as she watched a news segment about the Chainsaw Man Church, which is a pro-Chainsaw Man faction that was kickstarted by Haruka Iseumi, the president of the Devil Hunter Club and self-proclaimed Chainsaw Man fanatic.
Although Denji appreciates the support Chainsaw Man has gained from people like Iseumi and the Church, he tells Nayuta of his intention to stop turning into Chainsaw Man as it guarantees her death. Even if it hurt Denji to make this difficult decision, considering the things he has now–a home and family environment with Nayuta and a relatively stable social life by him going to school; all of these mostly equate to the dream life he and Pochita yearned for at the start of this whole story–it was one that he was willing to make in order to preserve. After all, in his words, “nothing beats a normal life.”
Even so, Nayuta replies by questioning and challenging Denji if he really thinks “nothing beats a normal life,” as in absolutely doing nothing besides meeting the basic needs a human requires. To that, Denji reaffirms his decision that yes, he is indeed fine with not having to do a single thing involving Chainsaw Man.
However, that all changed once day turned into night and Denji pondered whether the normal life he has now is the life he truly wanted all along. “For us, this life is like heaven, right,” said Denji to Pochita, who resides in his body as his heart, “but, like…despite that, it’s like…now I’m dreaming of an even higher heaven.”
At that moment, Meowy, Power’s cat from when she roamed the world in Act 1, entered the bathroom. Let’s not forget that, should Denji stop turning into Chainsaw Man, he also stops his pursuit of finding Power again. So many things are affected in Yoshida’s ultimatum and it’s not just concerning Denji and Nayuta.
Later that night, Denji channel surfs on the TV before stopping at a program that saw Iseumi delivering another speech in support of Chainsaw Man and the Church which was interrupted by a member of the observing crowd. The crowd member raises concerns about the risks high school students are making as a result of being a member of the Church, which includes directly fighting devils.
Iseumi responds by saying that the Church has taken every step of precaution by informing the city and ministry of defense of their actions. Furthermore, Iseumi explains that everyone is active members of the Devil Hunter Club in their respective high school life who gained actual combat experience. “This is not just a game to us,” says Iseumi.
These moves are only done by those who have accepted the “teachings” of Chainsaw Man, Iseumi explains, and anything besides that would be counter to the cause the Church is trying to profess.
To that, the crowd member asks whether these “teachings” were legitimately given to Iseumi by Chainsaw Man, but Iseumi insists that he did receive them from the man himself. In fact, he can bring Chainsaw Man out into the stage to deliver his “teachings” in person.
Denji, actual Chainsaw Man himself, was shocked to watch everything unfold, and once he listened to everything Iseumi said, he bolted to the telephone to wait for his call–but to no avail.
Instead, Denji saw Iseumi introduce a person posing as Chainsaw Man, who discusses his supposed origin story and for his goals. For that reason, we will run through how the imposter Chainsaw Man compares with the goals of Denji and what he wants out of his Chainsaw Man actions.
- “My body is halfway between human and devil.” That much is true so we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
- “I gained the power to turn into Chainsaw Man in a fateful encounter with the Justice Devil.” No. Denji met Pochita, the Chainsaw Devil, in a chance encounter as a child when the former found the latter on the verge of death near his father’s grave. After Denji was deceived by the Zombie Devil, Pochita fused with Denji to become the devil-human hybrid everyone knows and loves…to an extent. As a matter of fact, the only person to have come into contact with the Justice Devil within Denji’s sphere is Yuko and the class president from Asa Mitaka’s homeroom.
- “The reason I fight? I fight to create a world without devils.” No. The man clearly hasn’t read the Chainsaw Man manga. If anything, it bears a resemblance to Makima’s goal of creating “a better world.” Denji’s goal at the start was to live a normal and happy life, but though it has morphed into it being a life of indulgence (wanting steak for breakfast and having plenty of girlfriends), as evidenced in Chapter 93, the core concept has remained the same.
As Fakesaw Man begins to explain his idealized world in Biblical terms, Denji objects to everything he has seen from his apartment and collapses to the floor with Nayuta comforting him by his side. Also, it was Fakesaw Man that killed Yuko, who was contracted by the Justice Devil by that point, at a rooftop in Chapter 111. That best explains the connection between that devil and Fakesaw Man more than anything.
No matter what the imposter Chainsaw Man does, he will never be the real Chainsaw Man, but that won’t stop him from persuading the public into thinking he is the genuine Chainsaw Man. That way, people will start looking at Fakesaw Man as Realsaw Man–or Chainsaw Man.
There are many things that can be taken away from this recent chapter, but for this case, it’s best to take a closer look at the Justice Devil, who’s taking a bigger presence the further this current arc progresses. Rewinding to Chapter 98, the class president made a contract with the devil to kill Asa to end up with Mr. Tanaka, their teacher.
Later in Chapter 105, when Yuko revealed her contract with the Justice Devil, she lists the things she can do with her newfound power: her sense of justice becomes power and she can read minds. It was through her vow of revenge towards the people that bullied Asa that her power amplified to an unimaginable scale in Chapter 107.
Then, In Chapter 111, after Yuko was defeated by Denji, she warned Asa to not make a contract with the Justice Devil as it was still present in their high school. And now, in this chapter, Fakesaw Man cites the devil as a major reason for how it became Chainsaw Man. Add to that the capabilities of the Justice Devil, it can be possible that a person, thanks to their resounding sense of justice that is vicariously seen through the actions of Chainsaw Man, might have created Fakesaw Man, with his presence throughout Part 2 of the story, to help whatever it is they’re affiliated with such as Fami, Iseumi, and the mysterious figure hovering behind them… With Fakesaw Man’s presence, they can sway the public’s attention from Denji, the actual Chainsaw Man, to them.
This, in turn, leads to more people shying away from Denji in favor of the Fakesaw Devil, leading to continued despair for the protagonist as one of his chief goals, the unwavering support for Chainsaw Man, is vanishing before his eyes…which brings everything back to the moment Denji decided to stop turning into Chainsaw Man.
If Denji does nothing, then sure, his life will continue as normal, but at the same time, the world will descend to a time of peril as prophesied by Nostradamus. Unless Denji doesn’t turn into Chainsaw Man, the world will continue its countdown toward being the new home for devils. Furthermore, no more support means no more girls for Denji! Surely he can’t let that pass by him, right?
Looking at Chainsaw Man chapter 134, at face value, while it may be hilarious to see Denji break down even though he is the real Chainsaw Man, there’s a significant development in regards to him clearing up his priorities. Is there a world where Denji can strive for bigger and better things as Chainsaw Man than just being complacent with what he has now? And is Denji fine with someone else posing as Fakesaw Man without any pushback? This is the stuff that Denji must decide before it’s all too late.
The comments are temporarily unavailable for maintenance.