Tatsuki Fujimoto

God damn. When I said that volume nine was a turning point, I was proved completely right with volume ten. The tone has COMPLETELY changed, and now I'm fully interested in what is happening with the plot and the world.

SPOILERS!!!
[ I had already been slightly spoiled, but Makima asking "Do you know what the Nazis did to the Jewish?" and Kishibe didn't even know what a Nazi is sent a chill down my back. How much of the world has been changed by this point?! The fact that the Chainsaw Devil show more can make things disappear from reality is an insane revelation. It means not just the world is in question, but reality itself. Also, even though Makima has said what her goal is, I don't believe her at all. If what she said ends up being the truth, I will honestly be shocked. Also, what the fuck is the Chainsaw Devil?! How the hell is a devil that embodies the fear of chainsaws THAT powerful? Sure, chainsaws are scary, but I doubt that many people are scared of them. I'm also finally interested in Denji as a character. The reveal that Denji's dumb horny teenager personality has actually just been his way of disassociating through all of his traumatic life was a shock. His entire "Don't know, don't care!" thing was in reality him ignoring any negative emotion so he doesn't have to feel bad. He even lets himself become Makima's dog, just so he doesn't have to make decisions, because those clearly lead to him feeling negative. He's basically just shutting off his entire brain. God DAMN, it's nice to see that Denji is not in fact a stereotypical Shonen character, but Jesus christ. Also, wow, my first impression of Makima being a master manipulator was correct. From the first volume, in the first scene, my gut reaction was "Oh, this woman is a huge manipulator. She doesn't give two shits about anyone but her own motives." This series is so good, I cannot wait to see the end when it comes.] show less

It's crazy how this just keeps getting better even as it leaves the rails and launches directly into space . . . to the moooooooooon!!! It's like one of those YouTube videos that starts with cute puppies jumping and swarming all over the place . . . then jump cuts to a hideous, blood-soaked clown lunging at you with a knife and a blood-curdling screech.

This book uses up all the WTFs in a ten-mile radius. Sorry, Omaha, no one else gets to say WTF today.

When Denji was a kid, his father committed suicide, leaving behind an enormous debt, which yakuza then expected Denji to pay back. On his own, Denji probably would have died. However, he happened upon a wounded devil that looked like a little dog with a chainsaw sprouting out of its face. He offered it his blood in exchange for a contract, and that's how Denji's friendship with Pochita began.

Even with Pochita's help, however, Denji occasionally had to resort to selling his own body parts in show more order to make the payments yakuza demanded from him. And eventually even that wasn't enough - the yakuza attempted to make their own contract with a devil and became zombies as a result, reducing both Denji and Pochita to pieces tossed into a dumpster. With the last of his strength, Pochita made another contract with Denji, becoming his heart in exchange for getting to hear more of Denji's dreams.

The first person to encounter the newly changed Denji is Makima, a public safety devil hunter. She agrees to add him to a public safety devil hunting squad, but only if he never quits. If he does, she'll kill him. Denji is just happy that someone is finally being slightly nice to him. It helps that that someone is a pretty woman.

I don't know if I like this or not, but it certainly is readable. I felt sympathy for Denji, who had it so rough throughout his entire life that his greatest dream, at one point, was to eat a slice of bread with jam on it. But dang was that kid easy to manipulate. All Makima had to do was promise him food and say that she likes him for him to basically agree to be her dog and do whatever she asked. She didn't even always have to follow through - at one point she made him leave a meal behind in order to hunt a devil, telling him that she didn't want her own noodles to get soggy.

This volume also introduces another couple characters, Aki Hayakawa and Power. Aki instantly hates Denji, which is awkward, since they end up living together. Power is something known as a fiend, a devil that's taken over a human's corpse. This is apparently different from Denji's situation, because you can see the effects on the person's head - Power has horns. For Denji, the most appealing thing about Power is the possibility that she might let him touch her boobs (his next wish, now that he's had bread with jam and been hugged by Makima).

I don't currently regret buying a few volumes of this - I do want to continue on - although I suspect it'll be a series I'll feel okay about offloading later on. I was worried about the level of gore, and yes, it's a lot, but it's also not drawn in a particularly detailed and/or realistic way. So far it's at a level I can handle.

Here's hoping we get to see more of Pochita, even if only in flashbacks. I liked the relationship between him and Denji, and I wonder how he got to the point where he was willing to consider a human a friend.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

Denji and the others have been trapped on the eighth floor of a hotel. They're going to starve to death if they can't figure out how to escape, but the only option available seems to be making a contract with the Eternity Devil that trapped them, which has said it will let the rest of them go if they let it eat Denji.

After the Eternity Devil portion of the story, the group winds down with some drinking (which Himeno also hopes will convince newbies Arai and Kobeni not to quit - their show more experience with the Eternity Devil was pretty traumatic). The volume ends with everything going all to hell.

This volume should come with a warning: if you're the sort to feel sympathetic nausea when stories include vomiting, approach this with caution. Or maybe flip forward several pages the instant Himeno kisses Denji. It's full-page awfulness, and Fujimoto milks every ounce of grossness out of it.

I don't know if Denji's age was previously mentioned, but in this volume we learn that he's about 16. Which puts another spin on Makima's efforts to seduce Denji into doing her bidding. Also, in this volume Himeno almost has sex with Denji - granted, she was super drunk, but I can't help but think about her relationship with Aki (who I think was a minor when he became her partner).

Not that there was any time to process any of that, because then the last bit of the volume happened and everything, as I said, went to hell. No punches were pulled, and yet it still wasn't enough. Denji's already proven that he won't let a little thing like "the villain is possibly immortal" stop him from throwing himself into a fight (speaking of which: I enjoyed the psychotic energy of his battle with the Eternity Devil). Still, things look really bad.

I'm interested in finding out how things turn out against this new villain, but here's hoping the series never includes anything like the vomit kiss again. I wouldn't blame readers who are on the fence about this series for stopping here. I, however, own a bunch more volumes, so I'll be continuing on.

Extras:

A four-page bonus comic devoted to Power. After the way the volume ended, the tone switch in the bonus comic just about made me dizzy. It was a relief, but still jarring.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less