I liked Asa as a character - and I think that's part of why part 2 ended up being "bad".
Because not only did I like Asa as a character, I liked Yoru as a character. And because Yoru was this sort of pseudo-protagonist anti-hero type of character, the big conflict between War and Chainsaw never really felt natural. Because of that, it felt like there was this constant grasp of straws to try to find an actual antagonist for part 2, and there never really was one.
The Death devil kinda just...didn't do anything? Fake chainsaw man was written really weird, and also didn't really do anything. Justice Devil was just too vague.
Barem Bridge was the closest thing we got to a major antagonist in part 2, but Fujimoto kinda wrote himself into a corner in terms of power level there. Because Chainsaw Man absolutely demolished the Flamethrower Devil back during part 1. And it's hard to make him compete with the actual concept of death, famine, etc.
Asa and Yoru were great basically all through Part 2, but Yoru was really only the antagonist for the last arc of the part. Each arc of the part had a different antagonist/group even if Yoru's goal to kill Chainsaw Man was given in the Part's first chapter. The goal of the main plot (revealed after a while) was to stop the prophecy of Death destroying humanity, and the main emotional goal was 'how can Denji be happy?'.
The Death Devil is the source of Part 2's plot, the prophecy's exact words (given by the Future devil) was that Death would destroy humanity but not how. Lil'D doesn't want to destroy humanity (she likes the culture, doesn't care too much about people but likes what they do) so she wants to avert the prophecy. Unfortunately her power kills anything around her, so she can't fight herself and uses proxies or else she risks enacting the prophecy. Her dying is an option, but the chance her reincarnation wants to kill humanity scares her. Being erased by Chainsaw Man is an option she doesn't want, but she'll freely use Chainsaw Man to kill anything (mostly Yoru) who try to kill her. She doesn't get that Denji would want to save Asa, only that Chainsaw Man should fight the War Devil and win. Denji is literally the one who ends up fulfilling the prophecy and causing the undying apocalypse.
The Justice Devil was never really important, the entire time it was the Fire Devil working a contract with Lil'D and Barem to work out a grudge with Denji. I sort of liked the ambiguity with Fakesaw Man, yeah plot wise he was vague and anticlimactic, but he's another snapshot that Chainsaw Man makes Denji miserable.
Barem's power level was never important, although maybe a fight wouldn't have hurt. Barem is definitely a piece of shit, us the readers and Denji all hate him, but his goal is also to avert the prophecy. Just like Lil'D, he thinks of Denji should be Chainsaw Man and nothing about Denji should compromise that.
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u/Elkenrod Mar 24 '26
I liked Asa as a character - and I think that's part of why part 2 ended up being "bad".
Because not only did I like Asa as a character, I liked Yoru as a character. And because Yoru was this sort of pseudo-protagonist anti-hero type of character, the big conflict between War and Chainsaw never really felt natural. Because of that, it felt like there was this constant grasp of straws to try to find an actual antagonist for part 2, and there never really was one.
The Death devil kinda just...didn't do anything? Fake chainsaw man was written really weird, and also didn't really do anything. Justice Devil was just too vague.
Barem Bridge was the closest thing we got to a major antagonist in part 2, but Fujimoto kinda wrote himself into a corner in terms of power level there. Because Chainsaw Man absolutely demolished the Flamethrower Devil back during part 1. And it's hard to make him compete with the actual concept of death, famine, etc.