Back when the weapons being alive still was first mentioned in part 2. I wanted to redraw the initial panels of them declaring their love for Makima (it's out of order I know). However, I wanted to put a spin on it to where they're professing their admiration of Denji. Initially, I assumed it would be a twisted sense of admiration and I guess I was kinda right.
Originally posted 8/17/2023
Transcript below
Spear: Shall we turn this into a competition? The first of us to take its head wins the right to protect Denji, for instance.
Sugo: Gotta impress Denji a little on our first operation
Wow, a whole lot of questions have arisen from this chapter. Yoshida appears, Asa makes a move, the prophecy creeps ever forward as the Chainsaw Man church is captured. Fujimoto can make a lot happen in a chapter when they really want to.
So, Mr. Public Safety Devil Hunter here says two interesting things to open up this chapter. He talks about wanting War to mutually destroy Chainsaw Man, and he alludes to Chainsaw Man being God. Yeah, capital G there.
So, what do they mean? Clearly, Public Safety (through the Future Devil) became aware of the Nostradamus Prophecy a while back, and have understood that Denji has a key role to play in it. Fami corroborates this theory as she tries to weaken him.
And the second image. Well, that one's sort of obvious. Chainsaw is revered as a Devil unlike any other, the only ones we've not seen it conquer is the primal devils. Even then, he got pretty close with the Falling Devil.
Anyways, one of the big reveals of the chapter: the Justice Devil.
When you look at its design language, you see nothing of the fiendish appearances from previous instances of "justice devil" contracts. So what could be going on here?
There's a few ideas, but first its important to gather up the facts.
Firstly, the corpse of the Justice Devil was beneath the Chainsaw Man church. Secondly, Fami at the minimum had control of the Falling Devil. Third, the Justice Devil and Falling Devil appeared at sunset and the Falling Devil returned at sunrise. Fourth, the devil that has formed contracts with people throughout the story is claimed to not be the Justice Devil.
So, my first theory. The Justice Devil actually did form contracts with the individuals in question. However, these contracts weren't formed on Earth. Devils "forget" about Hell, but are a new iteration of themselves each time they appear on Earth. The "them" that exists in hell is the original, so what would happen if someone formed a contract with a devil in hell? It's not the most likely, as Fujimoto probably hasn't mislead readers with the identity of this Devil, but you never know.
The more likely theory though is that the Devil that formed a contract with these individuals under the guise of the Justice Devil, is the same one that gave Fakesaw Man his abilities. But what could it mean, is the real question. Does this unnamed Devil impart the abilities and nature of "Justice" onto individuals in how each person understands it? The class president and the Chainsaw Man church believer both sport at least a little similarity in design language with the idea of multiple heads, which makes sense given the selfish nature of each. Yuko's appearance though is largely different from theirs, which is once more understandable considering the difference in reasoning.
So, what could this devil that's been masquerading as Justice be? I think the one that comes to mind the quickest is "Desire", or something similar. The Devil requires the ability to fulfill the interests or needs of the individual, and to do so in a very direct way. Yeah, we've seen a lot of this "Justice" in Part 2, but we should remember that in part 1 almost all the devil contracts out there did not do anything to change the appearances of the individuals forming the contracts. The only example off the top of my head is the Zombie Devil.
But going further than that is the question of how Fami got this Devil on their side, and even further why she's playing so many angles at once. Betting on "both sides" she aims to kill Asa and Yoru, but also empower them through the Chainsaw Man church? There's a very long game going on here with Fami and the Nostradamus Prophecy, and I'm very very curious to see how it all ends up going down.
Anyways, here's another Asa door moment. Couldn't be a CSM protagonist without them.
Following this, two very big things happen. The first is the sun goes down. Drawing attention to this is signaling that another devil will appear. Whether it's a primal devil or not, or even potentially the revival of the Justice Devil I've no idea, but a threat looms on the horizon.
This idea begs the question of why the weapons were trying to create a massacre at the amusement park today though. It seems probable that their entire goal was to have a new devil appear come sunset (considering Barem's reaction), so it makes me wonder why they would try to do something so pointless.
The second though, is Asa's arm getting cut off. This is really big for two reasons. One, badass Yoshida in action looking like a young (and hot) Kishibe.
Secondly, and more importantly, it's the first time Asa's been severely injured since Yoru revived her. What are the mechanisms for regeneration and healing with Asa? How much can she heal, if it all? Is regeneration entirely on Yoru, does she have to be in control of the body to heal?
There's a lot of questions with this piece, because unlike all the other hybrids that have a "starter" for their transformation, Asa's is implicit. There's nothing that "kickstarts" her hybrid form, simply because she doesn't have one. Does that mean that she'd heal closer to how a Fiend might? That is, the act of transformation alone cannot regenerate or heal like it does for Denji?
I'm very very curious to see what happens here, because oddly enough this is a piece that can massively affect how we view exactly what Asa and Yoru are.
We're quickly barreling towards the date of July 18, 1999, the date of the last lunar eclipse of the 20th century, and with chapters like these we're piling on all sorts of curious odds and ends that will undoubtedly play a role in this impending night of terror. Really can't wait to see what Fujimoto does with it next.
But that fight was pretty much accomplished by Pochita raging out while Denji slipped on Aki's Public Safety uniform to deliver the coup de grace, so he wasn't there for that grand battle.
Fujimoto's hitting it out of the park with the Denji faces this month.
COULD THAT MEAN
THE RETURN OF QUANXI!?
I can't wait for Chapter 59 2: Electric Boogaloo, because Quanxi'd definitely be all over that. Anyways *Dragon Ball Z super speed noise*
From a tool to a weapon, so shifts the path of Denji, the Chainsaw Man, following his libido into the lion's den, about to cross paths with War and Famine...
