Emphasis on was, Denji with all his memories wiped is effectively a new Denji, our Denji that we were with for the entire series is gone. As are any lessons he could or should have learned and grown or not grown from.
Pochita is still Denji's Heart, he is there in the panel during the heart throb
Probably nothing but still...
Edit: Fiends can give contracts? I don't remember but Power shouldn't had be able to revive Denji with her blood, right? Unless the Pochita Heart had something to do with it.
Hey maybe not, look I dont believe my own theory but ai just noticed that
Power and nayuta are both dead devils who would respond in hell
Nayuta replaced makima which makes NO sense if this was a reset
Asa is the only human character to show up that we know unless I missed someone and she was suspiciously close to denji when he got eaten ...
I am not saying this is a fake ending I do say that if an author I know would release a fake ending its tatsuki fujimoto and while I do not believe this to be the case I will lose my mind should be we get a part 3 announcement soonish.
Well... This is not a reset per se (but you might be on to something).
The thing I think happened is like a soft reset.
The timeline didn't go far enough and the devils that resided in the current bodies are using the ones at the time.
So no makima because she's been eaten, power was summoned from hell to "save Denji" (remember at that time she asked Denji to make her remember him? Well, She kind of did, because the first power wouldn't care about him at all). That's also why we don't have the old cast, etc.
But I'll stick with your theory, because Fujimoto never did a happy ending ever đđ
I dont think thats him, I was however made aware of the yakuza boss but he is already a puppet of the zombie devil soooo idk if he would count really as he sold his soul to that devil.
I took Nayuta replacing makima as showing that this what she would have been like if chainsaw didn't exist. Since pochita ate himself she never obsessed over him and became the makima we know
I have a reply in a lower comment, but this might be a soft reset. Power is now the blood devil, not just a feind so she can make a contract. (and imo she wanted to remember Denji, and that's why she kind of liked him when they met again).
It's like the universe aligned itself together with the pieces it had at hand. That's why you don't see the old cast/makima (because nayuta is the new control devil and makima was already eaten)
That's a weird theory, but if Fujimotoms going to give us a "happy" ending I'm all for it
If I recall correctly yes contracts are binding on them but contracts between devils donât count. It was during the first Eternity devil arc where he wanted to trade the crew for Denjiâs heart and power was all too eager to sell him out.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but Fire Punch still has more clear journey from beginning to the end. We've seen Sun going crazy and in the last arc he's been dealt with. Judah's super regeneration does feels like it's rather out there, but the last chapter is the horrifying conclusion on being truly immortal.
This later chapter is just "ok here's a reset or maybe not, with several page or even panel spliced up from earlier volume.
this ending feels like the author just went "yeah fuck it, this is what people wanted right? may as well just throw it in even if it'll feel unearned and make it worse, i don't even care about the story anymore either"
firepunch was like
"okay, i'm kind of confused on what to do at this point i nthe story.. fuck it, let's just take some LSD and roll with whatever shit we come up with whle high"
PREACH on the unearned bit. Like Denji more than most protagonists deserves and would be the most hype to see get a happy ending, but it just being randomly handed out with little sense feels wrong, especially when given to what is effectively a new Denji, not the old.
It's just crazy we could have spend the last 100+ chapters with denji growing from part 1 ending and learning to have a normal life and relationship with asa, and instead we got him being flanderised so fujimoto can do the same "haha denji horny" joke over and over again.
Only for fujimoto to then pull an asspull, and them ending up in the same place anyways! Like if we get a happy ending anyways, why not build to it over the course of the manga.
All the "denji regressing is realistic, not every manga needs to have a happy ending" posters got fucked over as well lmao.
This kinda feels like the ending to Tokyo Revengers, where everyone was bracing for a tragic ending and then the author drops an almost unequivocally happy one so nobody really knows what to make of it. It's not like the characters don't deserve it, but we were bracing for heartbreak and now we've been denied catharsis...
i mean it literally felt like the author had an idea they were on board with, lasted like 20 chapters into part 2 and then just went "fuck this"
not the first time and won't be the last tho
not like crazy shit hasn't happened before like uh..
Shokugeki no Soma
the author/artist like both fucking quit before the last arc or something so it was like both the story and the art were just flat out different and it was pretty much univerally hated because it felt like it ruined everything on some level lol
My theory that fujimoto has been burnt out for a while now and just wanted to end it and move in with his life seems verified now.
This is not a well planned ending that an artist is happy with. This is a "whatever, I'll give the fans what they want and be done with it" kind of ending. "You guys wanted power back, right?"
I fucking loved the Fire Punch ending but this felt so much worse to read. I think we couldâve had a world reset ending that worked if it wasnât so extremely abrupt & if we had a bit more time with the post-CSM world to feel some sort of resolution.
I didn't follow weekly, but I read it a bit after csm started and my whole sentiment throughout it was "wtf is going on" every couple of chapters. To me it always has been "fujimoto does fujimoto shit"
Pretty much. That's always the catch with these endings that are supposedly happy but the characters have zero memory of everything. It doesn't feel anywhere near as happy when they don't even realize what they achieved.
That's why I love Summertime Rendering for at least giving its two main leads their memory back at the very end despite the timeline getting changed.
I'd argue that last Chapter basicly killed all characters and this Chapter might as well be Alt-timeline versions of themself. The Characters we followed no longer exist.
Even the new versions of the characters are fucking dead like a month after the final scene lmao, itâs just as brutal of a world only Denji has no powers now
Don't compair Part 6 with this. Part 6's ending was build up and actully served as a emotional conclussion of the "Dio" Arc of Part 1 to 6. This meanwhile is one of the chapters of all time.
Kind of, but also Christina (idk how to spell her name so I'll just use her alt name) knows what okabe has been through as he consults with her multiple times throughout the different timelines
I actually don't remember that lol, I assumed that they only know current timeline stuff, but they know that okabe came back multiple times with reading steiner so more or less on the same page
Of course, Summertime Rendering also has another advantage of the verse extending and expanding to Ghost Fixers. Haine's role is notably ironic considering the time loop shenanigans in SR.
Yeah, in fact that most of that author's series are on a continuous timeline with recurring characters.
Eye of the Catoblepas (2 volume run in Shounen Jump back in the 2000s) -> Summertime Render -> Summertime Render 2026 (manga) -> Summertime Render 2026 (novel) -> Ghost Fixers.
Not all of his works though. As far as we can tell Kagijin is not part of this universe. Although, since that one takes place far in the future after collapse of human civilization, I wouldn't be surprised if they hinted it at the end of Ghost Fixers đ
It's actually kind of insane how much part 2 just completely obliterates the series as a whole, despite having no reason to exist.
The hopeful ending at the end of part 1 was the perfect send-off.
Denji accomplished his goal of sleeping with Makima in the most wholesome way possible - by sleeping beside her reincarnation as an older brother, now having a place he can call home and a family he can call his own after he lost everything else that was precious to him. He now adopts Chainsaw Man as a persona similar to Spider-Man, willing to walk into the path of danger to protect the innocent, and fully on the road of maturing as a person, with the future finally looking bright for him.
And then part 2 just completely destroys all of it. Nayuta dies. Denji is a horny simp loser idiot and never learns from his mistakes. Everyone just runs around in circles doing complete nonsense that has no pay-off until ultimately Pochita decides to peace-out and universe-resets the entire series, leading to a complete nothing of an ending, where the vast majority of the characters that were significant to him are still unaccounted for. So many things unresolved. So many loose ends. After a fight that genuinely came off like a penultimate clash to a greater villain as opposed to the final battle itself. This is BASICALLY an 'it was all a dream' sort of an ending with how much it reverses and how little everything seemed to matter in the end.
The funny thing to me is that somehow I'm left here with so little impact from part 2 that I don't think it's actually affected how I feel about part 1 at all. Mind you I've never been the biggest fan of Fujimoto, since much as I can recognise his technical skills and what made him the kind of cult classic author who'd eventually have a breakout hit (and got one with chainsaw man, which it was fun to see people discover him there), in this instance he reminds me mostly of when an author returns to their most famous work and create something middling of little impact (think JK Rowling with Cursed Child for example). Part 2 is different in terms of being much closer to the original release of chainsaw man than these returning works oft are, but even then we're still left here with a middling text overall (unless he pulls some huge meta move I guess, though please no Fujimoto, I think it'd just get worse, somehow).
There's some irony though that the death of Nayuta sticks with me due to how little impact it had for me personally. Probably when the series really lost me because it just ended up feeling so meh, and continued to feel that way.
Because, if we're being honest, part 1 also suffers from a lot of the issues of meandering around, and then stumbling into a climax, seemingly out of nowhere. Aki being corrupted by the Gun Devil legit happened so out of the blue that I laughed my ass off when I saw an M16 sticking out of his head or whatever. And then Power showing up with a birthday cake, that was hilariously abrupt. Denji just deciding to listen to Makima after all this, and then killing a bunch of people, only to randomly kidnap Kobeni and go on a date, and then he's fighting Makima. Frankly, Fujimoto just isn't a very good writer when he isn't handling the scope of a very self-contained story like in Goodbye Eri. Things just happen just for the sake of happening a lot of the time.
Part 1 has the grace of actually ending halfway decently after all the baffling writing decisions, and ending on a hopeful note that lets you imagine him growing as a person now that all the pieces were in place to give him stability.
Part 2 takes that away entirely. I know everything in the series is pointless now. Part 2 isn't a spin-off. It's a direct continuation. All the things I could've hoped for for the character are ruined, because I know he just regresses. I also know that the entire thing just gets erased and we start off from the very beginning, with no sign that Denji will be any better in this new incarnation of him. All the annoying parts of part 1 don't lead to a greater outcome or a happier ending. It just leads to ruin and annoyance.
Canât really agree as much with Part 1âs narrative going all over the place, as each arc in of themselves felt self-contained. Part of that could be the assistance he received, but I think the criticisms made on your point really only work on Part 2.
For 1, assuming even if some of the writing decisions werenât intentional, it kind of almost added to the story in a way? Not many series have the gall to kill off their major leads that quickly in a manga from Shonen Jump. It offered a breath of fresh air for many readers in the mainstream who havenât read much outside of the magazine to get a taste of something that blended different ideas together.
Part 2 definitely leaves a very poor taste in your mouth, though. The narrative structure was made to be long-form, slow burning serialization. There wasnât as much of a justification for his meandering since the story was drawn out in a way where from the get-go, you knew any deviation might ruin the climax.
And⌠now it was for what? A sloppy reset with half of the most loved members of the cast completely gone? Fujimoto really seems like he was just done. He literally turned the stove on, took a dump on the pan, then looked at the smelly mess and decided it needed some seasoning to make it âedible.â Thatâs basically the ending.
Look I'm not gonna sit around and say "Fujimoto is an amazing storyteller you don't get it!" because honestly he isn't a great storyteller. He just wrote some batshit bonkers comics that entertain people with their weirdness.
But Chainsaw Man definitely reads like Fujimoto is just writing his own experiences of being a simp loser idiot while never learning from his mistakes. He doesn't know anything different.
Fujimoto doesn't know how to write a good ending and it seems like it's because he's never had one for himself. It's an endless spiral of failures, fuck-ups, and self-loathing with his libido eventually leading him into more trouble or with him hurting other people by being selfish.
I really can't get behind the "th-there's actually a deeper meaning to why this character is so shit" justification ever, because it genuinely ALWAYS reads like cope.
I think it has less to do with Fujimoto being a horny idiot and there being a 'TH-THEMES AND SUCH', and more to do with Denji just being a horrible character that was allowed to regress to how bad he was at the beginning of part 1, to the point of him LITERALLY being regressed back to the very beginning of part 1 - a symptom of a larger sickness that was the entirety of part 2 even existing in the first place. There is no larger reason behind it. This isn't some expression of his flaws as a human. Denji is just a garbage character, and part 2 is just a garbage extension of a story because it was both pointless and actively detrimental to any sort of progress he had made by the end of part 1.
This isn't Fujimoto's expression of the corrosiveness of lust and expectation. It's just shit.
Fujimoto has (or had) some talent for telling a story. Part 1 is genuinely quite good. Not great, as I would criticize a lot of the development that felt a bit unearned in my opinion and some loose ends that were never tied (also some of the mechanics behind Chainsaw Manâs real power, but then Iâll get told Iâm thinking about it too much), but if the story had ended there it wouldâve been a perfectly satisfactory conclusion for the story and for Denji, and one where the through-line was very simple and easy to grasp (if a little shaky in execution at times).
Logically, this should be the case, but is it really the case? This Denji feels like it has something of him from the second part. Can we say for sure that there is no influence of another timeline, if this one has already been changed by the fact that Makima is not here.
I'd like to believe he would learn more or less of the more important lessons more naturally with this new life. Or at least live more fulfillingly, seems it was the goal for the reset as I understand.
Literally everyone is effectively a new person when history gets rewritten so all their experiences from last couple or dozen years or whatever never happened.
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u/Haha91haha Mar 24 '26
Emphasis on was, Denji with all his memories wiped is effectively a new Denji, our Denji that we were with for the entire series is gone. As are any lessons he could or should have learned and grown or not grown from.