In chapter 168 of Chainsaw Man we saw Denji and Asa sink into a condition of almost irreversible existential malaise, due to the emotional manipulations to which Yoru subjected them both. And the number 169 of Fujimoto’s manga should show the results of this process, and then extend it in a (perhaps) unexpected and even more radical direction.
From whatever perspective you observe it, Chainsaw Man 168 was a chapter dedicated to the evisceration of every feeling, and the (emotional, existential) oblivion to which this phenomenon destines those who suffer it. Never like now Denji and Asa they have reached such a deep level of mutual understanding, especially regarding their emotional spectrum; yet in the very moment in which the protagonist became aware of the girl’s feelings, through the “enigmatic” and evasive words of the War Devil, the boy sank further into a phase shift condition from which he is unable to abstract himself: as if he were incapable of putting order not only in his emotional/sexual sphere (which always remained at an infantile/primitive level) but also in his own thoughts.
The same argument must then be made for Asa, whose internal conflict Fujimoto has just eviscerated, according to all the anger and grotesque sense that characterizes the narrative, tonal (and also aesthetic) strategies of the manga. And it is no coincidence that in the penultimate table of the chapterin which both are framed in the carriage of a crowded train, while they gaze into space, she now appears to be in the throes of a excruciating confusion: almost as if he were no longer capable of combining the feelings he feels towards Denji with the disdain that his demonic host manifests, perversely, towards the girl’s emotional spectrum.
So this image, combined with the table on which Chainsaw Man 168 ends (in which we see the two arriving in front of the sushi restaurant) already offers in itself the basis for the plots that will mark the next issue of the work. From this point of view, it is reasonable to imagine that a good part of chapter 169 – out June 25thsince the manga will go on break for a week – it will be set inside the club, where in all probability the companions of the two characters, having observed the condition of embarrassment in which they find themselves, will question Denji and Asa about what happened shortly before in the alley.
After the two have attempted (perhaps even succeeded) to divert the discussion, we should move on to the heart of the chapter: to be traced in the possibility that Fami reveals to the protagonist having kidnapped Nayutain order to force him to pursue his sedition plans.
After all, it is morality that represents Denji’s biggest problem in Chainsaw Man, or rather the Devil Hunter’s inability to reach a sexual maturity that allows him to channel his impulses in a balanced way, from which the crises that then arise afflict him: which is why only the finding Nayutathat is, of the one who represents the “positive” incarnation of Makima and of the erotic/traumatic bearing previously acquired by the woman, can allow Denji to free yourself from impulses who are suffocating him. A factor, which if confirmed, will force the boy to serve, without understanding them, the most hidden fantasies of the Famine Devil.
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