Chainsaw Man vol. 6

Thinking back on it, we shouldn’t have been too surprised by the fact that Denji’s new girlfriend, Reze, turned out to be a Devil.  If she had been a normal human and genuine in her intentions towards him then the only options are that she hangs around to potentially get fridged by a devil or Denji runs away with her and is chased by Makima and the rest of Special Division.  The outcome mangaka Tatsuki Fujimoto has chosen for his protagonist here may have been the most obvious, but it also manages to be the most action-packed.  That’s because Reze’s devil power is one that happens to be very well-suited to a major Hollywood action blockbuster.  The level of carnage she inflicts on the town as everyone tries to get Denji in a place to actually fight back is truly impressive, as is the general spectacle of the action itself.  Too bad that it ends with something of a whimper as our protagonist finds a way to stop his girlfriend from fighting back in a way that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

It might seem like a fool’s errand to try and inject some real emotion amidst all the explosions… and Fujimoto doesn’t really try.  Which is probably for the best as he saves those beats for the beginning and end of the volume.  That the stuff at the beginning actually works is a testament to the mangaka’s skill as he gets you feeling that there’s something tragic about what’s going to happen between Denji and Reze.  As for what happens at the end, it’s on the predictable side as well.  Until it isn’t.  Without giving too much away, I’ll just say that if you haven’t picked up on the fact that a certain member of the Special Division is a genuine monster, then the ending of vol. 6 will leave no doubt about that in your mind regarding that.  It’ll also leave you hungry to know where the story is going to go next.  Maybe not as hungry as Denji, though…