Call Chainsaw Man weak and he proceeds to take down Makima’s Special Fifth Division. Some of those from the latter group, who was built up as a strong foe to Denji, became insignificant fodder at the present day.
Yet again, I fail to understand the rational nuances of Chainsaw Man. On the other hand, I can understand the contents of the fight happening between Denji and Makima in Chapter 94.
As Makima and her army approached Denji on the massive graveyard, she resuscitated an additional force consisted of zombies by summoning the Zombie Devil, giving her one final edge before the start of the fight. Those zombies easily took their crosses and gripped them as one would a sword so they can swarm around Denji at the call of an order.
Standing clad in the middle of the entrapment and carefully observing the premises, Denji hunched down and dug his chainsaw arms in the earth, and lifted a massive chunk from behind him. The length of his chains extended beyond a mile as the gigantic mass of rubble stunned all of Denji’s adversaries—except for Makima of course.
Denji flung the colossal earth that was chock full of hard dirt and corpses to Makima, but it was smashed out of protection by Katana Man and That-One-Guy-Whose-Head-Closely-Resembled-The-Logo-Of-Team-Vitality-An-Esports-Team-From-France…I mean, Knife Man. But immediately after the pair deflected Denji’s initial heave, the latter flung in for a brisk follow up and slashed them to impairment.
But while Denji was stuck in the air for a few seconds, Harpoon/Spear Man dove from behind and pierced him right to the heart, laying a critical hit to the protagonist’s health—literally copying the events of their previous encounter on the city skyline. This time around however, Reze and Whip Girl leapt at Denji to support Harpoon Man so they could deal one last blow. Fortunately for Denji, he deduced their ferocious attack just in the nick of time so he spread out his limbs and sawed the three foes simultaneously.
Where did this newfound power and spatial awareness come from for Denji? In the beginning of the story, Denji mustered his strength by wielding a small hammer and struggled against traditionally feared foes such as the Bat Devil. Now, he’s fucking around by flipping and shit in the air, extending his chain at an endless limit, and withstanding an unforgiving succession of damage.
Soon after fending off Katana and Knife Man, Denji was suffocated by Makima’s zombies as they piled on top of him and denied him not even a spare of breathing room. As Makima observed Denji getting ravaged by her zombies, she was chimed by the words of Flamethrower Man about her former dog’s physical state, which was a rehash of what she said moments before.
As it has been mentioned multiple times before, since the Chainsaw Man that Denji is upholding is no longer feared by the public, his resultant power was diminished to a modicum of its old size. It was through this circumstance that Makima finally defeated Chainsaw Man, to which she reiterated in this chapter by saying that “there’s no need to fear him anymore” and how he’s become “a merchandised character for consumption,” that which coincidentally echoed the sentiments of real-life readers for the series.
However, unlike the people within the story, the readers have seen the other side of Chainsaw Man, or rather Denji. They know that he’s a reckless, good-for-nothing, and lewd person who’s steadfast on indulging himself in the world’s riches at the first opportunity given. Readers are aware that Chainsaw Man is a front to Denji’s existence, whereas the fictional crowd is unaware of the subject. Regardless of the fact, Denji is transcendently adored through the combination of his heroic traits and brute flaws. But the one underlying difference between the readers affinity for Chainsaw Man and the fictional crowd’s is its adverse effects on their hero. Unfortunately for the real-life cohort, they can’t interfere with Denji and his fight with Makima by propping up his strength.
However, the story of a grassroots protagonist besting innumerable odds for the betterment of society wouldn’t fold to a horde of zombies—not to mention him being set ablaze by Flamethrower Man. Instead, they rise up from their predicament and neutralize the threat. Attaching his chains with a pair of crosses set on the ground like a slingshot, Denji shot himself out of the zombie pile and lunged towards the hostile Makima. Fortunately for her, the person formerly known as Quanxi stood at the ready for protection, though it came at the cost of her and Flamethrower Man’s life.
Nevertheless, there was some solace for the vanquished foundational devil hunter because as she was getting beheaded, she punctured Denji’s middle and upper torso. Though Denji withstood an inordinate stream of attacks from Makima’s army, the total damage he suffered proved to be too much for him to withstand, forcing him to collapse at Makima’s steps.
But as someone who thrives in control, superiority, and solidifying one’s relative inferiority to her, Makima wasn’t going to allow Denji to rest. She just witnessed her dog, the same one whose consciousness was extremely exacerbated to her will, defeat her army of zombies and seven hybrid goons by himself.
Allowing Denji to supplant her previous disposition of dominance over Denji will cause her to perceive him as a veritable threat and fear him as a result, thus regenerating an influx of power back to him. That “devil that devils fear most”? That devil is Chainsaw Man, and if one remembers the type of living being Makima is, she’s a devil, ergo she fears Chainsaw Man, ergo she wants to defeat him at her own hands to gain that physical and mental edge.
Since Makima is adamant on stamping her manipulation down yet again on Denji, she will fight him one-on-one, mano-a-mano, devil against devil, world-altering fiend against world-altering fiend, to do it.
Man, when did the story go off the rails to the point where the stakes has risen to world-changing levels?
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