Hey, welcome back to Screen Crush. I'm Ryan Ary and this is everything you need to know before Chainsaw Man the movie Res arc. The show aired way back in 2022 and in order to get ready for the next epic arc, we are going to recap that whole first season. Now, we are not going to spoil the manga for you or talk about anything that happens in the manga so you can watch without fear of the spoiler devil.
Chainsaw Man takes place in a modern day just left of our current reality. Devils haunt this world formed and powered by human fears. Things that people are very frightened of create the most powerful devils, while everyday objects create more low-level devils. For example, the gun devil is one of the most feared in the world, while the tomato devil is a pretty easy kill for devil hunters. I shudder to think of what the fireworks devil must be like.
Our protagonist, Denji, is a devil hunter for hire, working to pay off his dead father's debt. As a child, his father committed suicide. But the Yakuza his dad owed money to weren't going to let the newly orphaned Denji off the hook. "I want 700,000 yen by tomorrow, otherwise we chop you up and sell the bits."
Then Denji had a chance run in with an injured devil. He felt sympathy for the doglike chainsaw devil and let it drink his blood to heal itself. "If you don't want to die, then bite me." Ever since then, Denji and the dog Pochita have been a devil hunting duo to make money to pay back the Yakuza boss.
Denji, now 16 years old, lives a life of brutal poverty. He's been forced to sell his organs and body parts to make enough money to chip away at his massive inherited debt. "And that kidney I just sold was uh 1.2 million." Through no fault of his own, his life was basically ruined before it had the chance to even get started. Living in a tiny shack with Pochita, surviving on plain bread, he fantasizes about eating luxurious foods like bread with jam and imagines achieving his dream of having a girlfriend. "If dreams do come true and before I croak, I want to be with a girl."
Before too long, the Yakuza boss and his clan make a deal with the zombie devil to gain more power, not realizing that this will make them zombies under the devil's control. The zombie devil then has them arrange a trap for Denji. Denji and Pochita are both killed and dismembered by the zombies. Some of Denji's blood drips onto Pochita, allowing Pochita to use his devil abilities to recover from his wounds. He fuses with Denji's body to bring Denji back to life, having been touched by hearing about Denji's dreams for so many years. He wants Denji to make his dreams come true. And so in exchange gives Denji his heart. "In exchange, show me your dreams. That's all I ask of you."
So Denji is reincarnated as a half chainsaw devil, half man, and becomes the titular chainsaw man. Chainsaw pops out of Denji's head and arms, and he slaughters all the zombies. He's then intercepted by public safety devil hunters led by the mysterious Makima. "So then, this your handiwork?" Realizing he is only part devil, she gives him two options. be killed there and then or be kept by her as a pet devil. She offers him food if he accepts, so he does so happily. She treats him like a dog, but as she is the first kindness he's ever really known, he immediately falls for her.
Makima takes Denji to Tokyo to officially join the Public Safety Commission, a government sponsored devil hunter organization. She orders Denji to team up with Aki, another public safety devil hunter. Aki tries to force Denji to quit the organization as he tells him that he'll just get himself killed. But Denji is determined to stay so he can get closer to Makima. Makima orders Denji to join Aki's experimental squad, Special Division 4. She warns him that quitting or running away will lead to him being put down as a devil. Denji begins living with Aki and drives the more serious boy crazy with his rowdy habits and disastrous diet.
On the job, the duo kill a devil, but Denji shows some sympathy for it. Aki warns Denji against such sympathies. He tells him that a devil killed his entire family in front of him. "I witnessed a devil kill my whole family. Everyone's serious about this but you." But Denji doesn't think that all devils are necessarily bad. Thinking of Pochita, he meets another member of Aki's experimental squad, a fiend named Power. "You stand in the presence of power." Fiends are devils who have possessed a human's corpse, distinguished by the monstrous characteristics on their heads. Just like Denji, Power works for the public safety commission to escape being killed. Denji dislikes her egotistical personality immediately, but he agrees to work with her because he deeply desires sexual contact with the woman as part of his new lease on life. He and Power go on a job together, and he witnesses her abilities. the power of the blood devil. She can shape her own blood into massive weapons to use in battle. Denji and Power dislike each other, but she confides in him about her reason to hate devils. Before she was caught by public safety, her pet cat, Meowi, was kidnapped by a devil. "She offers to let him touch her chest if Denji will help her get her cat back, and he agrees wholeheartedly."
Makima also explains to Aki the reason she has such high hopes for Denji. She believes that the public fear that powers the chainsaw devil will make him immensely powerful. "What's interesting is how Denji's part devil, the Chainsaw Devil at that." Power and Denji reach the house where Meowi is being held hostage, but Power unexpectedly betrays him. The devil holding her cat, wants a human to eat in exchange for Meowi's freedom, and she's going to make Denji that sacrifice. The devil holding Meowi, the Bat Devil, tries to drink Denji's blood, but finds it revolting. He swallows Meowi, and we see a flashback of how power came to love her cat. "It's now become strange to hear a voice that isn't screaming in terror."
The Bat Devil swallows Power as well, and Denji, realizing how he would feel if Pochita had been captured, attacks the Bat Devil. Denji and the Bat Devil engage in battle, and Denji finally defeats him. He rescues Power and Meowi, who are both still alive. However, he is immediately confronted by the Bat Devil's girlfriend, the Leech Devil. Denji is already weakened from the previous battle and struggles to summon his chainsaws because he's lost so much blood. The leech devil gains the upper hand against him, but Aki shows up in the nick of time, showing off his contract with the fox devil "cone." We learned that most devil hunters have contracts with devils to give them enough power to fight. Each time Aki uses the power of the fox devil, he has to feed it part of his body. Denji lies for power to save her from public safety, even though she betrayed him. Power also moves into Aki's home.
Power lets Denji touch her chest since he helped save Meowi, but he finds himself disappointed. "That's it. What did you expect?" He confides in Makima about how empty he feels after achieving his dream since it didn't live up to his expectations. Makima promises him a sexual encounter will feel more worthwhile if he feels romantic feelings toward his partner. She offers to grant him one wish in exchange for defeating the Gundevil. "Anything though? Like even yes, Denji. Any wish. 1 million years dungeon."
Makima explains more about the Gun Devil who killed almost 1.2 million people worldwide in only 5 minutes before disappearing. We learned that this was the devil who killed Aki's family. Now, since its disappearance, devil hunters have been trying to find and kill the Gun Devil, but to no avail. Public safety has been collecting pieces of the Gun Devil's flesh in the hopes of getting a big enough chunk to act as a homing beacon to find him. Lesser devils eat the Gun Devil's body to enhance their power so the hunters can find these pieces on missions. Denji is sent on a mission to recover a piece of the Gun Devil from a hotel where we meet the remaining members of Special Division 4. There's Himeno, Aki's partner. "The lucky hunter, who sends this devil to its grave, wins an amazingly sweet smoocheroo from Mwah."
Himeno's previous partners all were killed in the line of duty. So, she is determined for Aki to survive. "You best not die on me, Aki." She has a contract with the ghost devil where she sacrificed her eye to use the ghost devil's hand. There are also two newbie devil hunters, Arai and Kobeni. Arai is determined but not very talented. "Can we really entrust our backs to the two newcomers?" While Kobeni is terrifying but skilled. Now before long, the devil hunters realize that they have wandered into a trap. They are stuck on the eighth floor of the hotel as the geography repeats itself in every direction and time has stopped. That's the handiwork of the eternity devil. The Eternity Devil offers to let the rest of the Devil Hunters leave if they let it eat Denji. Most of the Devil Hunters want to take the Eternity Devil up on his contract, but Aki and Himeno refuse to cooperate.
Aki wants to use his secret weapon, the sword strapped to his back, but Himeno stops him. She reveals that using the sword dramatically shortens Aki's lifespan, and she doesn't want him to die. Kobeni tries to stab Denji, but Aki gets in the way, taking the knife. He wants Denji to help him kill the Gun Devil, and so he needs him alive. Power stops the bleeding using her blood abilities. Denji resolves to attack the Eternity Devil, even if it can't die. He drinks its blood to heal himself, and he attacks it, making him able to continuously attack without stopping. After several days of constant pain, the Eternity Devil offers up its heart to Denji to kill, just wanting the pain to stop.
Afterwards, Himeno arranges for a newbie welcome party for Division 4. She persuades Denji to forgive the team for trying to kill him. "About that kissing reward. I'll be sure to make it extra juicy and intense. So, please forgive us for trying to feed you to that stupid old devil." The group bonds and Himeno gives Denji his first kiss with unfortunate results. "Well, that's going to leave some drama." She takes Denji to her place and they almost sleep together. He decides not to, wanting to save his first time for Makima. Meanwhile, Makima is on a trip to Kyoto for public safety. On the train, she is ambushed and shot in the head. All over the country, devil hunters are suddenly attacked, including Kobeni and Arai. Arai takes a bullet for Kobeni and is killed.
Denji, Himeno, Aki, and Power are ambushed by the grandson of the Yakuza boss that Denji used to work for. "So the Gun Devil is after your heart." The grandson is revealed to be another part human, part devil. Like Denji, bonded with the katana devil, he is called Samurai Sword. Aki uses his cursed sword to fight back. After he pierces the man three times, his contract with the cursed devil kicks in and Samurai Sword is seemingly destroyed. A mysterious woman named Akane arrives and Samurai Sword gets back on his feet. Aki is mortally injured by his next attack. To save Aki's life, Himeno offers the ghost devil all of her body in exchange for all of its power. "You can cry for me now." Akane reveals her contract with the snake devil and swallows the ghost devil. Nothing is left of Himeno. With its final moments, the ghost devil activates Denji's chainsaws and he begins to battle Samurai Sword. He is defeated and knocked unconscious and the bad guy starts to load his body into a van.
Back on Makima's train, her attackers are shocked to see her seemingly rise from the dead. She brutally murders her attackers offscreen and claims to public safety that she wasn't shot. "I was able to avoid getting shot." She asked the public safety member she meets to fetch her death row convicts. Makima uses her mystery contract on the convicts to kill Denji's attackers back in Tokyo. She asked them to speak the names of her intended victims before her power kills both the convict and the victim. It's kind of like an even more brutal version of Death Note. As Samurai Sword and Akane try to recover from Makima's attack, Kobeni appears and attacks them with a ruthless efficiency. She partly rescues Denji. Makima returns to Tokyo, learning that the ambush killed almost all of the members of the public safety specials division. The higher-ups have decided to combine all members of the remaining divisions into Division 4 under Makima's command. Aki, recovering in the hospital, asks the cursed devil and his sword how much time he has left in his lifespan. "How many years do I have left?" He cries for Himeno alone in his grief.
Denji can't find it in himself to grieve and wonders if in becoming part devil, he has lost his human heart. Makima assigns senior devil hunter Kishibe to train Power and Denji. "Hobbies include drinking booze, getting ladies, and making devils dead." At the same time, Aki finds out that the fox devil has ended its contract with him. So, he needs to find another devil to make a deal with. Public safety brings him to the future devil. "The future rules." Now, the future devil tells Aki all he wants in the contract is to live in Aki's eye so he can see Aki's death firsthand. "You're going to go out in the worst possible way." Makima gets the names of every person who's contracted with the Gun Devil in the Yakuza. "Some articles we've acquired from the parents, grandparents, siblings, wives, and lovers of everyone here, namely their eyes." She is one scary lady. Division 4 prepares for a final face off with Akane and Samurai Sword.
The bad guys have a cadre of zombies courtesy of the zombie devil. In their battle with the zombies, we meet the rest of the new Division 4 members, the Shark Fiend. "All you can eat." The violence fiend. "We still have to drip feed this one with poison gas for our own safety. Hence the mask." The spider devil. "They'll kill you for looking at them wrong." And the nonchalant angel devil. "Make contact and you lose years off your lifespan." Aki faces off with the Ghost Devil, now working for the bad guys with the help of Himeno's advice. "The Ghost Devil doesn't have eyes. He uses fear to see." He and Kobeni defeat Akane. "Why stay with the force when you could have left?" "Because our bonuses are right around the corner." Denji has a rematch with Samurai Sword and reveals that he's learned to turn his legs into chainsaws, too. "Should have gone for the leg, sucker." Denji wins the rematch handily. "Wouldn't that be legally? Good one. High five." Samurai Sword, like Denji, can't die. So, Denji and Aki kick the crap out of him as revenge for Himeno. "And whoever gets the loudest scream out of him before the cops show up is the winner." Akane is killed by the snake devil before she can tell public safety anything. But public safety has finally seized enough of the Gun Devil's flesh to point them towards the fearsome devil's location. The season ends with Denji dreaming of a door, which Pochita tells him he must never open. We see a coffee shop while a woman's voice asks Denji, "If you had to choose between the country mouse and the city mouse, which would you rather be?" What does that mean? Well, you have to go see Chainsaw Man the movie in theaters to find out.