Warning: the following article contains spoilers for Chainsaw Man season one, episode eleven, “Katana vs. Chainsaw.”
Swords and chainsaws clashed in the Chainsaw Man season one finale, and although the good guys won, the war is far from over.
After the attack on Tokyo that ravaged the city and killed Himeno, Special Divisions 1-3 have been absorbed into Special Division 4 which consists of mostly non-human devil hunters that could be dangerous if they get out of control. Some of these include Angel Devil, Violence Devil, Spider-Devil, and Shark Fiend/Beam. They’re sent into the building that Akane, Katana Man, and their team are holed up in, and they fight the zombies in the basement while Aki goes after Akane.
Akane and Katana Man go down
Aki has a boost in power now that he’s made a contract with the Future Devil, giving him the ability to look into the future and foresee attacks, but Akane sends out the Ghost Devil, who belonged to Himeno when she was alive. Aki slashes through the Ghost Devil’s limbs, but there are just too many of them and he’s grabbed by a hand. He has a flashback to earlier in his devil hunter training when Himeno offered him a cigarette with the label “easy revenge.” He declines them because he’s underage.
In the present, the Ghost Devil offers him a cigarette from the same brand. Aki takes this as a sign. He remembers that the Ghost Devil can’t see, it only senses its’ surrounding based on fear, and he calms down, climbs on top of it, and cuts off its head. Kobeni sneaks up behind Akane and holds a knife to her neck. but Aki stops her from killing her. It’s all for naught though because the Gun Devil kills her for breaking her contract while in custody.
Chainsaw Man and Katana Man have a fight through the city across roofs that leads to a battle on a train. Chainsaw Man is outmatched by Katana Man’s speed and Denji’s arms get cut off, but when Katana Man goes for him a third time, Denji uses a chainsaw on his leg to cut him in half. Afterward, Denji removes his katana and puts both of his halves back together to bring him back to life. He ties him up and convinces Aki to rough him up as a way to honor Himeno.
Makima reports to a superior that she had Makima says that the terrorist attacks were orchestrated by Akane and that she had a contract with the Gun Devil that distributed guns to the yakuza. In exchange, Akane had to recover the Chainsaw Devil’s heart, but before she could answer the Snake Devil devoured her head. The Public Safety Devil Hunters were able to recover 1.4 kilograms from the building and combined it with the five kilograms that they had and now it’s leading them to the main Gun Devil.
Post-credit scenes
Denji and Power pass out after hanging out and eating, and Aki goes outside on his balcony to smoke an easy revenge cigarette. One can take this as Aki’s acceptance to take things further than he has before when it comes to devil hunting and to stop playing by the rules all the time. Breaking the rules can be beneficial at times. Ever since Denji and Power came into his life he’s been frustrated, trying to get them to act more civilized. Now, he’s more friendly with them and open to trying things in a different way.
Denji has a dream where he’s walking through an alley and he comes to a door. he says that he’s had this dream before. but then he always forgets it. He hears Pochia call out his name and he tells him to come out because at least he can pet him in his dream. Pochita tells Denji that he can’t open the door, and the scene zooms out until it’s nothing but blackness. The series began with Denji and Pochita, and his pet devil sacrificed himself to save Denji, taking the place of his heart, so this felt like a fitting end.
The last sequence shows people walking around on a sunny day. A voice asks Denji if he’d rather be a country mouse or a city mouse. In season one, episode five, “Gun Devil,” there’s a flashback sequence involving young Aki. His parents are reading The Country House and the City Mouse to his sickly brother, and shortly after, Aki’s family is killed by the Gun Devil. Denji still has to decide what kind of devil hunter he is and it’s a reminder that the Gun Devil is still out there.