Warning: the following article contains spoilers for Chainsaw Man season one, episode nine, “From Kyoto.”
The odds aren’t looking good for Special Division 4 in Chainsaw Man. A planned attack has left many hunters dead, but Makima has a trick up her sleeve to level the playing field.
Season one, episode nine, “From Kyoto,” picks up after the events of episode eight. Katana Man and Akane attacked Denji, Aki, Himeno, and Power, with deadly results. Katana Man has defeated Aki and Akane summons her Snake Devil to devour the Ghost Devil when she tries to save him. Himeno disappears, leaving only her clothes and her patented eyepatch behind, but there’s one final move yet. The Ghost Devil’s hands have remained and it pulls Denji’s pull cord, revving him up and transforming him into Chainsaw Man to battle against Katana Man.
On the train, the gunmen who killed everyone stand around talking until Makima seemingly rises from the dead and interrupts them. She defeats them and arrives at the train station as the only survivor. She tells the two devil hunters waiting for her, Tendo and Kurose, that she didn’t get shot and they tell her that Special Divisions 1-4 have come under attack. Most of the non-human devil hunters are dead, Tokyo has come under attack, and the Gun Devil is likely behind all of this.
Everything is in chaos and the surviving devil hunters can’t get accurate information. Makima is asked if they should go to Tokyo, but she comes up with another idea, since they won’t have the time. She has them gather 30 convicts with life sentences or worse from the Ministry of Justice and bring them to the highest temple they can find. They obey and the convicts are bused to a temple without knowing what’s actually going on.
Katana Man uses his sword-draw dash and slices Denji in half. Akane calls for reinforcements and his top half is carried off by a gunman who asks other gunmen for help. Strangely, a black bird perches nearby and the second gunman gets an eerie feeling. Next thing you know, he’s flattened and explodes in an array of blood and guts. Suddenly, other gunmen throughout the city start fearing for their lives and flatten as well, and each time there are black birds around.
Back at the temple, Makima has each convict blindfolded and lined up. She poses with her hands pressed together and has them repeat the names of the gunmen, which is the cause of the explosive flattening, then the convicts fall down dead. Tendo and Kurose have a conversation and it’s confirmed that they don’t know all of the contracts that Makima has because she reports directly to the Chief Cabinet Secretary and they don’t have the clearance to know the name of the devil Makima’s using. This one in particular allows her to cause immense damage from a great distance away and she uses it with frightening efficiency.
Makima has a connection with animals and she’s able to use rats, birds, and other life forms to do her bidding using her abilities of domination. Akane and Katana Man realize that Makima is behind this attack, and when Kobeni fights back against them, seeking revenge after Arai’s death, they leave Denji behind. What’s left of Special Divisions 1-3 will be absorbed into Special Division 4 and Makima will be overseeing this team. Her powers keep growing greater.
