Title: Chainsawman Vol. 2
Author: Tatsuki Fujimoto
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genre: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
Publication Date: December 1, 2020
The Story
The second volume of Chainsawman picks up where we left off with Denji battling the Bat Devil who ate Power and her cat. It was a bit of a quick fight and Denji predictably ends up saving Power. From here, Denji wants his reward; however, before he can give it, they are attacked by the Leech Devil who just so happened to be the Bat Devil’s girlfriend (HA!).
Things weren’t going so well for Denji as he learned that he has a limit to his powers. Still, Denji fights in order to protect Power and Meowy but ends up getting saved by Aki. After they are brought in for their debriefing, Power finally gives Denji his reward but it wasn’t anything like he had hoped. This is when Makima calls him in and tells Denji about the Gun Devil, one of the strongest devils in existence. She teases him with a “blank check” for any one wish that he wants if he can kill the Gun Devil but finding him is easier said than done.
Since the Gun Devil appeared, other smaller devils have been getting more and more powerful. This is because the Gun Devil moves so fast, parts of his flesh are broken off and, if eaten, devils can gain more strength. The other thing is that these pieces are attracted to each other like magnets. Once a piece gets big enough, it tries to return to the Gun Devil in order to regenerate. The plan is to hunt devils that may have eaten the Gun Devil’s bits and reassemble them to form a piece large enough to track him down. For this, Denji and Power are now living with Aki, and the three of them, along with his other two rookies, Arai and Kobeni, as well as Himeno all head to a hotel where there is a rumor of a powerful devil there that shouldn’t be as powerful as it is.
They find this devil which is a human head with feet at the base of its neck. Power kills it and suddenly, they are trapped on the 8th floor of the hotel. All rooms and staircases simply bring them back to the same floor. They also notice that time has stopped on that floor so they begin an investigation to figure out just what’s happening. Well, turns out our little head devil wasn’t actually dead and offers them a solution… and that’s where the volume ends.
I loved the mixture of action and storytelling in this volume. Plus, we got some backstory on Himeno and Aki which was pretty interesting. Outside of this, it looks like we are being introduced to the main storyline and/or ultimate goal of the series: Finding and killing the Gun Devil. With all of the descriptiveness given about this devil, it’s pretty obvious that this will be the final boss of the series. While the manga is ending in Japan soon, it looks as if it won’t be ending here in the U.S. any time soon (Currently 97 chapters (and counting) out in Japan and we are on chapter 16 here in the US) so there is plenty of time to develop this story!
Characters
Himeno and Aki received the brunt of the development here as we take a look into their past and see how the two of them came together as devil hunters. Simply, Aki was assigned to be Himeno’s buddy right after her last one died. The two of them kind of hit it off and even though Aki is by-the-book and a bit full of himself now, he was cocky and arrogant back when he was younger… almost like a more timid version of Denji.
In addition, we got a bit of a hilarious moment between Denji and Power when it came time for Denji’s “reward.” He did end up getting to squeeze Power’s boobs; however, the first squeeze revealed something that Denji wasn’t expected which led to his disappointment. Soon after, Makima teaches Denji about how to feel for a woman, and that, alone, motivated him enough to want to take on the Gun Devil. Denji is just the ultimate pervert with no lofty goals. A degenerate through and through and we wouldn’t want him any other way!
Power received a bit of development as well. It seems that she is growing more and more attached to Denji. After he saved her and Meowy from the Bat Devil, he also stuck up for her during the debriefing. This led to Power granting Denji’s wish and from that moment on, there has been a bit of a bond between them. If anything, it seems more like two siblings who can’t stand each other but Power is way more tolerant of Denji than she was in the first volume. You can tell that there is a level of respect there between the two of them now and if it weren’t for Makima strongly coming onto Denji in this volume, I would ship these two immediately.
Final Thoughts
After a great start, Chainsawman continues that greatness here in its second volume. There was a great balance between story progression, character development, and action. The dialogue was entertaining and serious when it needed to be, creating a great balance that kept things fresh and interesting throughout. With (presumably) the main storyline being introduced, our characters now have a goal to work towards and that, in and of itself, is enough to hook in readers.
The alluring mystery of the Gun Devil, how powerful he truly is, what he looks like, where he’s hiding, and everything else that hasn’t been revealed yet, provides a nice mystique to a character set to be the ultimate goal of the devil hunters. All we know is that he can kill millions in a matter of minutes with his super-speed which makes you wonder just how Denji (or anyone else for that matter) even stands a chance. Usually, when you have a main enemy this overpowered, their weakness and/or the solution to defeating them becomes a bit of a plot device or this really cheesy method. I’m predicting it’s going to be the latter given how this series portrays itself thus far. Then again, we have a long way to go and Denji could (and should) get some power-ups that make him a worthy contender to beat the Gun Devil (that is if Arai doesn’t try and beat him to the punch!)
Great series so far and if you’ve been on the fence about it, hop off of it and pick up a copy. It’s a really entertaining read with colorful characters and enough gore to satisfy your indiscriminate blood lust!
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
