Title: Chainsaw Man Vol. 8
Author: Tatsuki Fujimoto
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genre: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
Publication Date: December 7, 2021
The Story
Volume eight of Chainsaw Man took a bit of a surprising turn… much as it did with the previous volume.
The real Santa Claus revealed their true identity which is… something I’ll leave to you all to read. Once Denji accidentally steps on a nail (remember that from last volume?) He and everyone else is transported to hell.
Yes… actual hell.
There, they speak of devils far stronger than the Gun Devil residing there. One of them, known as the Darkness Devil, arrives and… well… let’s just say that no one stands a chance. With the mere flick of a finger or a raise of the hand, the Darkness Devil can destroy, twist, break, sever, or crush any physical object including your body. Denji gets absolutely destroyed and is brought before the Darkness Devil by the Doll Devil, fulfilling the contract; however, things don’t go as planned.
Here, it’s just page after page after page of bodies getting twisted, beheaded, and every other unspeakable thing you can imaging happening to them. Makima has Princi call her into hell where she comes face to face with the Darkness Devil! Even Makima can’t seem to do anything until the Doll Devil offers all of himself to the Darkness Devil in exchange for setting them all free.
That section of the manga was just one big convoluted mess but once we get out of it, Santa Claus is back in town and they have the gift of an epic encounter. Denji transforms into Chainsaw Man. The back half of the volume covers this fight which ends in explosive fashion! While Santa Claus has been dispatched… the issue is far from over!
Characters
I, honestly, don’t even know where to begin with this one. Pacini helps Makima go to hell to face the Darkness Devil; however, Makima can’t do anything about it which makes me wonder why she even elected to go there, to begin with? The only thing this does is make us question just who Makima truly is. Moving between Earth and Hell as if it’s just a casual stroll through the park isn’t exactly normal… even in the realm of manga. This means that there is way more to Makima than we have been told thus far.
The reveal of Santa Claus and their true form was interesting. The fact that their dolls live on and continue the curse no matter what is also an interesting facet to the character. Their final form on the other hand… well… it’s easy to see the lengths of their contract to the doll devil was. By having the Doll Devil become one with the Darkness Devil, Santa ends up getting a nice upgrade in power as they can tap into the Darkness as well.
At least Denji didn’t change all that much!
Final Thoughts
Honestly, even though I read the volume… I have no idea what I read. Once everyone was transported to hell, it was akin to a black and white acid trip. I really hope we get to this chapter in the anime because this is going to be one crazy episode! The issue with Santa Claus’ dolls and Halloween’s influence is still very much a threat… so this assassination arc isn’t over just yet. I suspect it will wrap up in the next volume as we’re only three away from the grand finale and we still have the Gun Devil to deal with. Then again, I predicted we would be on the arc already and, yet, here we are!
The biggest complaint I had about this arc is the quick influx of new characters that weren’t allowed much time to breathe. Then, just when you’d think we would slow down a bit and get to know them, we are thrown into a convoluted plot point where things just happened on a dime and really left you guessing just what the heck was going on.
In other words, it was a major battle from Tokyo Ghoul!
Things did settle down a bit at the end so hopefully, we can move past this in Volume 9 and get back to a more sensical story. For what it was, this volume had a lot of head-scratching moments on top of some great action once Denji went up against Santa Claus. Of course, he would end the fight in the dumbest, most over-the-top way possible that only an idiot like him could. It proves that no matter what kind of fight he’s in, Denji will find a way to make it entertaining… even if it is at his own expense!
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
