With the recent episodes of Chainsaw Man having shown an absolute massacre and blow to Public Safety’s Devil Hunter divisions, the center of the focus of the current arc happens to be the one foe that has been established to be a new obstacle for Denji, Aki, and those that remain from the Special Division 4. Katana Man has made his debut in the anime, and the impact he has wrought on the world and the audience is greater than expected. However, what exactly happened in episodes 8 and 9, and why exactly is Katana Man such an impact on the current arc of Chainsaw Man?
Episode 8, “GUNFIRE” of Chainsaw Man starts relatively slow with Denji and Himeno’s awkward night, but by the midpoint of the episode, a mysterious group with firearms targets all the Devil Hunter's within Public Safety. Later, we learn that this orchestrated attack is related to the Gun Devil, the antagonistic force the Public Safety Devil Hunters are supposed to defeat. And confronting the group of Denji, Himeno, Aki, and Power is Katana Man, the one whose actions kick-started a long series of events with an impact on the story, but also what it means for the world of Chainsaw Man.
The Gruesome Consequences
The Katana Man made a lot of head ways in the first few episodes in which he made an appearance, and they are not glamorous, or pretty. As soon as he arrived, he severely injured a major side character, and directly defeated Denji in a swift and gruesome fashion that it wasn’t a competition. Whatever that mission was, he would have succeeded. Katana Man sadly couldn’t achieve it due to Makima’s bloody counterattack on their forces, and Kobeni’s (surprising) lethality when he reverted to normal, eventually forcing Katana Man to retreat along with his ally.
However, despite having retreated, this was a severe loss for the main characters and their forces, with almost a good portion of their human Devil Hunters dead. This leaves Makima with only the non-human Devil Hunters, which could imply other Devils or Fiends like Power may make an appearance in later episodes. All these gruesome events happened over the course of two episodes, where Katana Man established himself as the next arc antagonist for Denji to overcome. However, with Katana Man’s appearance, and his strikingly similar abilities to Denji with severe differences, what does this mean for the arc and the rest of the story?
The Lethal Blade
Tatsuki Fujimoto did an interesting method of showing the strengths and scaling where every character is in strength. Up to episode 9, we have seen Denji defeating Devil’s and winning his fights relatively easily due to the nature of his abilities, as well as being able to exploit any Devil’s weaknesses to his advantage. However, Katana Man not only provided the possible theory that there are more like Denji out there, but he also proved to be Chainsaw Man’s first wall that he couldn’t overcome. It’s easy to say that Denji didn’t stand too much of a chance against Katana Man’s quick draw move, which split him in half.
However, what does this mean for the other characters that were directly affected by the Katana Man’s attack on their group? Power attempted to help Himeno, however, she doesn’t exactly have much of a reason to go after the Katana Man since the katana Man’s target was Denji, and possibly his devil’s heart. When it comes to Aki, however, it is very likely possible that Katana Man is indirectly involved in the death of Himeno and her sacrifice. It isn’t farfetched to say that Aki may hold some resentment and another motivation of revenge for Himeno’s sake since Katana Man is the one who shot Himeno and put her in such a state where she sacrificed her body to the Ghost Devil.
Not The Only One?
However, it’s also an important question to understand just how Katana Man became the hybrid he is right now. For fans of the anime, this could provide a lot of theories as to how to make more hybrids like Katana Man and like how we saw Chainsaw Man being formed. There could very well be the possibility of an Axe Man, considering the theme surrounding the two existing hybrids being weapons and as shown with Katana Man they could have specific abilities and specialties. As a possibility, the anime is only covering part of the Manga even during its first season, so it is more than likely the fans will see more like Katana Man in the future, and possibly dread the consequences the next obstacle may have on our characters.
Certainly, Katana Man has made impacts in the show that can be compared to various other characters that made a huge impact on their respective arcs in other Shonen arcs. In this case, Katana Man defeated the Denji and gave him his first big loss, all the while providing the fans some new details to chew on regarding the possibility of their being other hybrids like Denji and Katana Man. Now, whether that is true or simply up to speculation is up for debate for current anime fans, but it shouldn't be long into the near future until we see Katana Man once again. Perhaps, once Katana Man and Chainsaw Man face off for a rematch of the ages, either Denji will have learned how to defeat his opponent, or Katana Man will once again gain victory. The audience has something to look forward to at least, a battle between hybrids.