Chainsaw Man continues to be an absolutely brilliant manga. Tatsuki Fujimoto is white-hot and cranking out chapter after chapter of emotionally intense and gripping reads. I have no doubt that Chainsaw Man Chapter 77 is going to be another excellent installment. Let’s hit this review!
Words: Tatsuki Fujimoto
Art: Tatsuki Fujimoto
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10
Cast:Denji: Denji is the Chainsaw Man! Denji was near death when his faithful chainsaw devil dog, Pochita, merged with him and made Denji something unique. Not Devil and not human. Denji is a member of Special Division 4 at Public Safety.
Power: Power is a fiend who is a member of Special Division 4 at Public Safety. Power is selfish and childish. But, she has become bonded to Denji.
Makima: Makima is a high ranking devil hunter who runs Special Division 4 of Public Safety. Both Makima’s personality and powers are mysterious. Makima’s powers are immense, but their source is unknown. Makima shrouds her goals from even her co-workers at Public Safety.
Angel Devil: Angel is a devil who is unique in that he is not hostile to humans. Angel works for Special Division 4 of Public Safety. Angel can steal people’s life spans in order to make weapons.
Aki Hayakawa: Aki is a devil hunter who works under the direction of Makima at Special Division 4. Aki has a contract with the Curse Devil and the Future Devil. Aki is in charge of both Denji and Power.
Synopsis: We begin with Denji standing and looking at the front door of his apartment. Suddenly, the phone rings. Denji answers the phone. It is Makima. Makima says that they failed to defeat the Gun Devil. Makima says that the Gun Devil has taken control of a corpse and created a Gun Fiend. That the Gun Fiend is now at Denji’s front door. Makima tells Denji to make sure that he doesn’t do any thinking while fighting the Gun Fiend.
Denji hangs up the phone. Power says that Makima is wrong and that it is Aki who is at the front door. Suddenly, the doorbell stops ringing. Denji tells Power that it is a Gun Fiend at the front door. Denji tells Power to take Meowy and exit the apartment via the balcony. Power protests but eventually acquiesces and grabs the cat and heads out the balcony.
Denji then walks to the front door. Denji says that Makima must be playing a joke on him. That the Gun Devil wouldn’t be this dumb. That it must be Aki at the door. Denji opens the front door. We see the Gun Fiend. (Who looks pretty badass!) The Gun Fiend calls Denji by his first name. Denji wonders how the Gun Fiend knows him.
We shift to Denji with a boy. They are outside in the cold. The boy comments on how it is freezing. The boy then notices that he had a snowball in his hand. The boy says that it is a snowball fight. The boy starts to throw the snowball.
We cut back to the present time in the apartment. The Gun Fiend blows away the wall and door to the apartment. The hail of bullets shreds Denji. Denji goes flying through the air and out of the balcony. Denji lands in the ground next to Power.
Denji tells Power to run. Power says that she smelled Aki’s scent in the hallway and that who was at the front door. Denji says that Power is wrong and that it is the Gun Fiend.
We see the Gun Fiend jump off of the balcony. The Gun Fiend lands next to Denji. Denji transforms into Chainsaw Man and covers Power to protect her. End of chapter.
The Good: Damn, Tatsuki Fujimoto does it again! Chainsaw Man Chapter 77 is another excellent read. Chapter 77 moves at a steady pace. The story is more controlled while focusing on a tense moment that is the quiet before the storm. I am fine with this approach to plotting and pacing Chainsaw Man Chapter 77.
The measured pacing of Chainsaw Man Chapter 77 is a perfect match for the overall tone and objective of Chapter 77. The past two chapters have been massive mindblowing chapters. Fujimoto answered so many big questions and there was a lot for the reader to digest and process. The point of Chapter 77 is to give the reader a moment to catch their breath and reflect a bit on what has happened leading up to this big battle between Denji and the Gun Fiend.
The pacing to Chainsaw Man Chapter 77 also helps to emphasize the incredible tension in this chapter. Fujimoto cranks up the sense of dread as he slowly builds up to the moment when Denji opens the front door. Everything up to this moment is designed to make the reader anxious and full of dread. It is perfectly crafted. I also like that Fujimoto throws a little misdirection in there by having Power say that it is Aki at the door and having Denji laugh off Makima’s warning as a joke. Everything leading up to Denji opening the front door is brilliantly constructed and has a strong impact on the reader.
As always, nothing is exactly what it seems. Fujimoto always creates some new mysteries with every plot reveal. This is the case with Chainsaw Man Chapter 77. The reveal of the Gun Fiend comes with two mysteries. The first is why does Power smell Aki’s scent? The second is who is the boy with a snowball in the flashback scene?
Initially, I thought that the Gun Fiend was going to be Aki. However, the Gun Fiend is lacking Aki’s trademark top knot. But, Power has the ability to smell people’s scents and it is highly unlikely that Power would be wrong about smelling Aki’s scent outside of the front door. Again, Fujimoto is fantastic at creating mysteries and I am excited to see where he goes with this one.
The scene with the boy with the snowball is even more interesting. This boy certainly looks like the Gun Fiend. Who exactly is this boy? Fujimoto implies that the boy knows Denji. Could this be one of Denji’s childhood friends? I am looking forward to Fujimoto fleshing out this plot-line further in upcoming chapters.
Now, let’s talk about the Gun Fiend. What a badass looking character. We have seen several different fiends during the course of this manga. All of the prior fiends have proven to be serious challenges for Denji to try and defeat. I would expect that the Gun Fiend will present the biggest test of Denji to date.
I find Makima’s advice for Denji to fight without thinking as rather interesting. In the past, Denji has shown a tendency to hold back when fighting fiends out of a concern for hurting the innocent human who has been possessed by the specific devil. It certainly would be cool to see Denji in his Chainsaw Man form finally cutting loose and hitting his full potential. Hopefully, we will see Denji achieving another new power level during this fight with the Gun Fiend.
As always, Fujimoto delivers plenty of quality character work. It is great to have both Denji and Power looped back into the story. We have not seen much of these two over the last few chapters. It has been a pleasure to watch Denji and Power evolve together. Fujimoto has managed to create some phenomenal chemistry between these two characters. The Denji/Power pairing is clearly the best in this manga.
Fujimoto continues to do a nice job with Denji’s character. I love Denji’s laid back demeanor. Even in the face of the Gun Fiend, Denji retains his trademark cavalier personality. Love Denji and his usual laid back demeanor. Fujimoto’s story can quickly get dark and serious. Denji’s personality serves as a nice counterbalance in order to bring some humor into the story.
I continue to enjoy how Fujimoto writes Power’s character. Initially, Power was a bit of a one-trick pony that I found to be rather uninteresting. However, as this manga has progressed, Fujimoto has managed to grow Power’s character in an organic fashion. This strong character growth has turned me into a big fan of Power’s character. That is a testament to Fujimoto’s excellent writing talent to get me to love a character that I initially disliked.
Chainsaw Man Chapter 77 does not offer the reader much action at all. But, the little bit of action that we do get at the very end of Chapter 77 is intense! I am fine with the small amount of action that we got in Chapter 77. The purpose of this chapter was to act as a moment for the reader to catch their breath and then transition from Makima v. The Gun Devil to the next big fight in the form of Denji v. The Gun Fiend
Chainsaw Man Chapter 77 also offers the reader plenty of fantastic artwork by Fujimoto. This is another great looking chapter. Fujimoto is a master of panels with no dialogue or narration. Fujimoto’s artwork is strong enough to completely carry the story in those moments.
The Bad: I have no complaints about this chapter.
Overall: Chainsaw Man Chapter 77 is another fantastic installment of this manga. Fujimoto relies on excellent character work and plenty of tension before arriving at an explosive ending that delivers a cool hook ending. Chainsaw Man is a manga that should appeal to readers who like action as well as readers who demand good character work. Seriously, if you still have not tried Chainsaw Man then you must check out this manga.
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