Title: Chainsaw Man Vol. 20
Author: Tatsuki Fujimoto
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 193
Genre: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
Publication Date: March 3, 2026
The Story
We open up with Asa/War Devil facing down Chainsaw Man; however, it’s proving to be a rather difficult task. Asa tries to talk to War Devil to see if she would just forget about defeating him, but she won’t have any of it for some rather shallow reasons. On the verge of defeat, War Devil pulls out her two trump cards and turns the tide. Denji is now on the verge of defeat; however, the Aging Devil shows up and offers up his body to restore Denji, but he refuses to do it. War Devil attacked the Aging Devil; however, Denji, Asa, and War Devil all get absorbed into an alternate reality.
Here, people cannot age or die. They reflect on things until they turn into a tree. It is said that once you turn into a tree and are reabsorbed into the world, your body will be returned to the real world, but that process can take thousands of years! Denji wakes up and devises a plan to escape; however, Aging Devil taunts him, saying it’s useless… or is it?
Will Denji’s plan succeed?
Characters
While this was primarily an action-oriented volume, there was some nice character development to be had… namely with the War Devil.
As I said, the reasons for wanting to defeat Chainsaw Man are rather shallow and egotistical. She only wants to defeat him to prove that she, as the War Devil, is stronger than Chainsaw Man. What she makes very clear is that she doesn’t want to kill Denji… just the Chainsaw Man devil… aka Pochita. Her wish is to prove she’s stronger than Chainsaw Man and to grant Denji his wish of living a peaceful human life. Even though it’s a win/win situation, Asa won’t let that happen, and she begins to fear the War Devil, which breaks the War Devil’s control over Asa’s body.
Then, when they are in the Aging Devil’s realm, War Devil kisses Denji, pouring out her feelings for him, which proves that she only wants what is best for him. Asa punches herself in the face to remove War Devil’s control over her, so that she can continue the conversation, which shows that no matter how much War Devil proves it, Asa just can’t accept what is building between the two of them.
Denji, on the other hand, completely rejects War Devil (well, not entirely) in an uncharacteristic way. This entire time, Denji was hard up for some action… whether it was feeling Power’s boobs, Makima’s boobs, etc., Denji’s ultimate goal in life was to eat food and get laid; however, when War Devil kissed him, he shoved her away… claiming that he’s worried his whole life is nothing but good food and sex… then contradicts himself by saying that as long as good food and girls exist, he can be happy. The fact that he’s lost the plot shows just how much being Chainsaw Man has taken a toll on him. It’s like he still wants the same life he’s desired, but he cannot accept it until he stops being Chainsaw Man… and then in another contradiction… Aging Devil said he would free Denji is Chainsaw Man would eat him, but to do so, it would sacrifice the lives of a lot of children. Denji then says he won’t do it because Chainsaw Man is a superhero.
So, now we have another conflict. He doesn’t want to be Chainsaw Man, but he still holds onto the ideals of what Chainsaw Man means and represents… knowing that while he still is Chainsaw Man, he cannot just toss away those ideas for the sake of a quick fix. This is really shaping up to be a complex mindset in the series’s most simplistic character, and I love it.
Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed this volume because it showcased the internal conflict between both the War Devil and Chainsaw Man. While War Devil’s motivations are more self-serving than anything, she truly wishes to grant Denji his wish. Then again, Devils are known for doing just that, but with War Devil, you get the sense that granting Denji’s wish isn’t fully for personal gain. There is that romance aspect there, and something Denji said to Aging Devil tells me that he might just end up with her. He told the Aging Devil that when he loses family (Nayuta), he’ll just eventually get another one. And when that family dies, he’ll find another one, and so forth… becoming a perpetual motion machine.
Was that foreshadowing? He had a close friend relationship with Power, and she died. He fell in love with Makima/Nayuta, and she died… now War Devil is claiming her love for him. Will he give in and go out with her, setting up her death flag? Would that mean Asa would die, too? Who would be next on the list? It makes you think about the string of events that led us here, and it also echoes something Denji said in this volume… that everyone he gets close to just becomes miserable. It’s like he knows where this is going, and that plays right into his rejection of War Devil when she kisses him. Deep down, he’s rejecting her because he knows if she gets too close, she’ll just get sucked into his vortex like everyone else.
The action was okay, but this is what drove the volume home for me… that deep-layered psychology that you wouldn’t expect from an off-the-wall series like this. When you dig into it, this volume has some of the best character development and storytelling in the series to date!
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media.
