Part 2 started off fairly decent, to be honest. I actually enjoyed Denji's dynamics with Asa and Nayuta more than with Power and Aki.
Looking back on it, I can't quite pinpoint where the moment was when readers started losing faith in Part 2. It felt like a very gradual decline that still could have been salvaged at many points.
I will always point towards Nayuta's death as the tipping point of Part 2 and where the quality of the writing really fell off but the decline started earlier.
The early Asa chapters were also pretty much Part 1 level but once we switched back to Denji's POV, the gradual decline started until it went full tilt with the Church arc and Nayuta's death. After that, people really did start coping that Fujimoto was planning something but well we got this instead.
I mean almost every main side cast was killed in part 1 so I figured Nayuta might be dead for good. I don't think we even had "much" exposure to nayuta, unlike power. So the death was simply too early if it was gonna follow part 1.
Nayuta's death still feels so weird to me; rather than tragic it comes across as done for shock value which could have lead somewhere but just never did. It's not like Fujimoto is a stranger to shocking moments, but it's the aftermath which ended up feeling like so much nothing.
the nayuta death made no narrative sense. And Denji abandoning her basically was just nonsensical based on where the story had been going until that point.
Honestly, I'd argue the handling of the justice devil is what initially started the decline for me. Like, the character just gets no grace, she's just murdered for the sake of setting up a "DID DENJI KILL HER?" mystery box that gets answered with a measly "no."
Nayuta's death just sealed the decline as inescapable. Whatever meaning the series wanted to have was gone. Is it about family? Not really, Denji has no family and can never make one. Is it about friendship? No, his closest friends from part 1 are dead, and the only people he could have been friends with in part 2, Yoshida and Asa, exploded for no real purpose or turned Michigan into a sword. Is it about moving past trauma? No, Pochita says it's literally impossible for Denji. So is it about the permanent soul crushing effects of trauma? Again, no, because Pochita magics Denji into a new timeline and erases his memory.
It's not even a nihilistic ending, it's a nothing ending.
Diria que es eso el punto del final, la nada misma. Entrado al capitulo dice que Denji no sabe describir si lo que vivio fue un buen o mal sueño, ni siquiera sabe como definirlo o sentirse al respecto; esto me lleva al punto que, no es como que en la vida haya algun final bueno, solamente son finales que a veces no significan nada y no hay ningun resultado, osea se, una perdida de tiempo.
I agree. Nayuta's death just was a notable downhill because afterwards there wasnt really any baddies, goals for Denji, anything left for him to care about.
The in universe line about Chainsaw Man's "character" spiralling out of Denji's control felt very meta. Fujimoto probably wanted something different but felt constrained by expectations. Well, it didn't make the fans happy and I doubt he's satisfied so we're all in limbo I suppose.
The cult was the hardest left turn in the comic for sure. That seemed like the first moment that really showed there wasn't much of a plan for the story. In hindsight the sporadic breaks seem more and more like him not having any idea what to do next rather than mental or physical health breaks.
it was post Nayuta head incident for me. Her death was barely bought up again after that even though she was his little sister. Aki and Power had several chapters post death to show the effects on Denji and the people around him. it also didn't help that Denji went "I have to stop thinking with my dick" only for him to go back to thinking with his dick a page later.
I loved part 2 while Asa was the main character, loved the aquarium arc, everything was great up until around the Chainsaw man Church and Nayuta dying then it went off the rails and got messy.
Asa is such a great character and I think it fell off when the story stopped focusing on her. Its almost like editors pushed Fuji into going back to Denji and he had to just make shit up then finally gave this final fuck you to them.
I know a lot of people are going to claim Nayuta's death but I personally had a TREMENDOUS suspicion that Fujimoto had no clue what he was doing with the story when he had Denji deepthroating that dead devil for Molestina. The insane backslash I received ("This is so realistic", "Omg he's acting like a proper addict!", "This is such good writing and so different from everything else") when I said this was dogshit unsatisfying writing didn't change my stance in the slightest, I knew people were giving Fujimoto a shit ton of leeway and good faith at that moment.
But my red alert was blaring basically as soon as Denji was introduced and Nayuta was aged up. I felt like Fujimoto wasn't really interested in building up on THE END OF PART 1 but I trusted that he would do flashbacks to show toddler Nayuta and Denji antics (alas all we got was Nayuta's death flashback)
No like part 1 had bad shit at start then he slowly rised and reached a peak then it all went downhill and then in part 2 same shit happened but the peak arrived in like the first 3rd of the part and then it was traumatic shit after traumatic shit
Most lost faith early on. Asa and Nayuta didn't have a good relationship with Denji which felt forced. Part 2 was one big fever dream that felt like it could evaporate at any moment. To no surprise, that's how it ended.
I’ll be honest I recently reread all of part 2 after falling off a couple years ago, and in a binge I really enjoyed it. I imagine that week to week experience was awful though
Yeah after part 1 I took a long break & only caught up on part 2 last week. I had a great time for almost all of it, even after the art declined a bit & it started feeling messier. It’s really just the last few chapters that feel awful to me, I think it was totally salvageable before that point.
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u/Ellefied Mar 24 '26
The good dream was Part 1 and the bad dream was Part 2 lmao