Chainsaw Man is undoubtedly one of the most popular Shonen Jump series in recent memory, which is surprising given how wacky, horrifying, and generally unique it is.
And, looking back, the series itself was made up of so many incredible Devil Hunters with absurd Devil-related powers or actual contracts with particularly powerful Devils. So, let's go through the strongest of the strong in Chainsaw Man and talk about what exactly makes them so powerful compared to all the rest.
Updated November 19th, 2022 by Jacob Buchalter: Now that the Chainsaw Man anime is out, the appeal for this series is higher than ever before. People are more obsessed with characters like Denji, Power, Makima, and especially Kobeni than ever before. And, one thing these characters all have in common is that they're Devil Hunters. The Devil Hunter Association is massive in Chainsaw Man, as they're the forefront fighting force against the Devils. So, with the new content provided in the manga and the big surge of appeal from the anime, let's comb through them all again and pick out the strongest of the strong.
Heavy manga spoilers are below, especially for the last entry.
14 Kobeni Higashiyama: The Peak Of All Nervous Wrecks
Thankfully, it's time to talk about one of the most beloved characters in Chainsaw Man, especially after episode 6, Kobeni Higashiyama. Kobeni was originally part of Makima's experimental squad and is best known for her absurdly cowardly nature, weak mental strength, and quick ability to give up completely.
She's almost always sweating, stumbling, stuttering, or screaming and she's easily scared by just about anything. Yet, funnily enough, she's by far the most capable human in terms of pure athletics, as seen when she easily handles both Katana Man in his human form and Akane during their retreat. If only she could do something about that timidness, Kobeni could easily make her horrible family proud.
13 Beam: The Shark Fiend
The Shark Fiend, otherwise known as "Beam", is a hilarious character. As a Fiend, Beam has a transformed head, as this is how Devil Hunters can differentiate Fiends and actual Devils. As such Beam is sporting a Shark's Fin on his head and a Shark's Snout in place of his eyes and forehead, giving him a pretty hilarious appearance. To add onto this, Beam is also almost always in swimming trunks, as his Devil abilities allow him to swim through any surface as if it was water.
Other than this Intangibility ability, however, Beam only has his Shark transformation as an offensive ability. And, while intimidating, compared to other Fiends and Devils, it's not all that powerful, which is surprising given how scared people are of sharks overall. Still, he's leagues stronger than most Hunters and especially regular civilians but is still at the bottom of this ranking list.
12 Quanxi's Fiend Squad: Pingtsi, Long, Tsugihagi, & Cosmo
People talk so much about Quanxi, but what about her squad of Fiend partners? Remember, where she goes, they go, and since Quanxi is a Chinese Devil Hunter, they are too. Individually, they didn't seem to be all the strong (save for Cosmo), but as a group, they're quite the handful. Since there are four of them, let's break down all the info on each one:
- Pingtsi: The pseudo-leader of the Fiend group, Pingtsi seems to be quite capable (if not a bit of a blabbermouth). In combat, she hasn't shown off much other than her ability to see what Devil (singular or plural) people are contracted with. Because of this, her eel-like living ponytail, and her over-sharing nature, fans have speculated that she's the Fiend of the Secrets, Knowledge, or even Exposure Devil.
- Long: Long is pretty quiet, always passive, and is actually chained at the wrists at all times. Not much is known about her, but because of her red hair, horns, and fire-breathing ability, people think she may be the Dragon Fiend, though it's never been confirmed.
- Tsugihagi: Actively the member that makes the least of an impression, Tsugihagi literally doesn't talk at all in any of her appearances. Because of this and the fact she doesn't ever fight, there's not much to speculate on for her or her Devil origin, but people like to think she's the Frankenstein or Patchwork Devil, which are, again, just speculations.
- Cosmo: By far the most powerful member of the group and the only one with a confirmed Devil origin. Because of her exposed brain, hanging eye, and lack of ability to say anything other than the word "Halloween", most fans thought that Cosmo was the new Zombie Devil or even the Halloween Devil. But, in a big twist, it turns out that she's actually the Cosmos Fiend and the Cosmos are pretty scary.
11 Hirofumi Yoshida: The Prodigy Devil Hunter & His Octopus Devil
Hirofumi Yoshida is not a Devil Hunter that gets a ton of screen time, though that is starting to change with the manga currently taking place at his high school. Now, compared to other Devil Hunters or even Fiends who have contracts with terrifying Devils like the Chainsaw Devil, Violence Devil, or the Ghost Devil, Yoshida is in cahoots with an odd pick, the Octopus Devil. And, while an octopus isn't exactly the most fear-inducing creature to imagine, it seems to be well worth the contract based on what Yoshida has shown so far.
Not only can it be used to summon gigantic tentacles at will to restrain, attack, or catch prey, but Yoshida can also command the tentacle to spray ink that works to either blind his opponent or as a temporary smokescreen. Outside of his contract, Hirofumi is also a genius-level talent, as he's a Private Devil Hunter who is also in high school, with no one else in the Devil Hunters even close to his age.
10 Power: The Blood Fiend
Ah Power, the most popular character in the series and Denji's surrogate bratty sister. Power is the Blood Fiend and someone who trained side by side with Denji against Captain Kishibe in his homicidal training camp. As the Blood Fiend, Power has complete control over her own blood, using it primarily to form weapons such as hammers, knives, and spears. She can do this after the blood has left her body as well, such as when she used hidden bottles of her blood to summons spears from the ceiling in an attempt to turn an unsuspecting Kishibe into a pincushion.
She can also mix her blood with her enemies after cutting them and use her own blood to cause mayhem in their own blood and stop their regenerative abilities. And, the stronger the blood of the Devil she drinks from, the more strength Power gains.
Sadly, while she is present for a lot of the fights, Power doesn't actually fight exceedingly often, at least not at 100 percent of her power. So, her true strength hasn't been fully shown, but she'd likely be able to put up a strong fight against Angel, Galgali, and Captain Kishibe individually, but if people were betting on any of these fights she'd be the underdog for sure.
9 Angel: The Angel Devil
Angel has to be one of the more interesting characters in the series as he is a literal Devil, not a Fiend or a human with an Angel Devil contract. And, as a Devil, Angel is considerably strong, being ranked as only slightly weaker than Captain Kishibe, and that likely took Angel's laziness into account as well.
As the Angel Devil, Angel can siphon the life span of any human he touches and then uses that siphoned time to create supernatural weapons with unique effects. Additionally, Angel has wings that are powerful enough to stop bullets, so he has both offense and defense covered. The only thing putting Angel lower on the list is his laziness and reluctance to use his powers, but without those Angel would be one of the strongest characters in the series.
8 Galgali: The Violence Fiend
For how much they hint at the Violence Fiend's true power, Galgali never really gets to show it off, and when he does get the chance to try, it's against an enemy he has no hope against. From what the manga showed, the Violence Fiend has insane levels of strength, can shapeshift to some degree, is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and seems to be exceedingly quick as well.
Sadly, there's not much more that's known or has been seen of the Violence Devil's powers, but Galgali had to wear a poison-dispersing mask at all times just to keep his strength in check, and even with it on he's still one of the premiere fighters in Division 4, so he's likely very strong if they put this much in place just to keep him restrained.
7 Aki Hayakawa: The "Main Character" Devil Hunter & His Many Devil Contracts
Ah, Aki Hayakawa, the "straight-man" character of Chainsaw Man. Aki starts off as a no-nonsense rival to the main protagonist Denji but very quickly takes on the role of caretaker and friend to both him and Power once she moves in. As a Devil Hunter, Aki is absolutely one of the most capable ones within the organization.
Not only does he have contracts with multiple Devils at once like the Fox Devil, Curse Devil, and Future Devil, but his diehard dedication to the job and overall skills in combat are the real deal. That said, compared to someone like Captain Kishibe, Aki still falls quite short in terms of his individual skills. But, the gap between them is a lot smaller than most fans would probably expect or care to admit.
6 Captain Kishibe: One Of The Most Unhinged & Skillful Humans Alive
Originally the captain of Tokyo Special Division 1, Kishibe is one of the more interesting characters in the entire narrative, as well as likely the strongest "purely" human character that's not a Fiend or Hybrid. Kishibe has contracts with multiple Devils, though not all are known. The ones fans do know about, such as the Claw, Knife, and Needle Devils, seem to either give Kishibe the ability to spawn weapons or increase his damage or proficiency with them.
In terms of general stats, Kishibe is superhuman in strength, speed, and dexterity, being able to put up a relatively even fight against Quanxi, a Devil-Human Hybrid.
5 Reze: The Bomb Devil Hybrid
While big-name Devil Hunters like Santa Claus and Quanxi work for Germany and China, Reze the Bomb Devil Hybrid works for the Soviet Union. This secret-agent Devil Hunter is the main antagonist of the Bomb Girl arc and one of the most beloved characters in the series (especially by Denji). In her human form, Reze is deadly thanks to her many years of training growing up. In her Hybrid Transformation, however, Bomb Girl is an absolute weapon of mass destruction.
She can use her own body parts as explosives, and even flinging bits of her skin is enough to cause massive explosions. On top of that, she can also transform parts of her body into explosives such as missiles and grenades to cause even further damage or get around faster. Combine that with her immense creativity in the use of her abilities and her basically being immortal due to the absurd levels of regeneration that comes from being a Hybrid, and Reze is by far one of the strongest individuals in Chainsaw Man.
4 Quanxi: The First Devil Hunter
Quanxi, also known as "The First Devil Hunter" is basically the John Wick of this setting. Everyone knows her name, everyone fears her, and she always gets what she wants. And, if her human capabilities weren't enough, Quanxi is also a Hybrid (of an unknown Devil, sadly), which means all of her stats are already well past superhuman.
She is a master of hand-to-hand and sword-based combat, insanely fast, insanely strong, and absolutely cold-blooded. And, while transformed, all this is multiplied exponentially. The only person she really lost to is one of the Primevil Devils, the Darkness Devil. And, that's not really fair, since literally no human or Devil seems capable of defeating the Primevil Devils.
3 Santa Claus: The Devil Hunter With Mysterious Doll Devil Connections
In terms of sheer possibilities, Santa Claus might just be the most powerful Devil Hunter on the planet. Though, to be fair, it's likely that Santa Claus was just using one of their perfect dolls to masquerade as a Devil Hunter in Germany while their real body did whatever they pleased somewhere else.
As someone who has a contract with the Doll Devil (or may even be the Doll Devil themselves), Santa Claus is able to turn humans into puppets that serve Santa mindlessly with a single touch. The scariest part is, however, that these puppets can then turn others into puppets just as easily. So, one puppet becomes 3, becomes 20, becomes a thousand, and it keeps growing exponentially from there. These Dolls have the ability to change their bodies at will such as turning their arms into blades and so on. And all of this doesn't even take Santa Claus's own individual abilities into consideration, even before they got their hands on a piece of Darkness Devil flesh.
2 Denji The Chainsaw Man: The Chainsaw Devil Hybrid
Of course, Chainsaw Man is near the peak. That said, this protagonist is number two instead of number one, and there's a reason for that. Individually, no one can beat the Chainsaw Devil, AKA Pochita, but Chainsaw "Man" AKA Denji, has been defeated before, plenty of times.
Denji, as a hybrid, can only use a portion of the Chainsaw Devil's power and still retains his sub-par intellect (lovable though he may be). Still, in terms of regenerative ability, raw destructive power, and pure grit, Chainsaw Man is basically unparalleled and is even more of a "John Wick-type" existence than even Quanxi.
1 Makima: The Big Spoiler REDACTED
The dominating yet suspicious Makima is absolutely the most powerful Devil Hunter out there. As the Control Devil, Makima is able to force people into contracts with her and make them give all of themselves to her. She's done this with thousands of people, even the Prime Minister of Japan is under her control. It can't be understated how absurd this ability is, as contracts are the Devil's strongest tools and they require human cooperation, but Makima gets around this entirely.
Though, it only works on those who she believes are lower than her, which she believes to be everyone outside of the "real" Chainsaw Man. With the concept of "control" Makima has an absurd amount of overpowered abilities, such as being able to destroy a Fiend with just a point of her finger. But, her scariest power is the fact that she can use the powers of those under her control as her own, as she's used the abilities of the Angel, Future, Snake, Punishment, Spider, and Zombie Devil all in quick succession.